CO - Jessica Ridgeway, 10, Westminster, 5 Oct 2012 - #10

[nursebeeme]

folks: we are not going to discuss Jessica's mother or why she was cleared. She was cleared and that is where we are going to leave it. Thanks so much.

 

[MisterMayor]

MisterMayor! Great job on the radio show! I just listened to it. Thank you for painting a picture of the local area. I am sorry your community has to go through this... :-(

Thank you, happy to help in any way I can. Everyone here seems to be in a state of shock...this kind of thing just doesn't happen in Superior - we don't even have our own police force. i would often run out for the day and leave the doors unlocked; not anymore.

 

[human]

I really wonder how much of the sex offender registration being for silly crimes is rumor perpetuated by sex offenders.

I know plenty of situations where I live where older men have gotten teenagers pregnant and nothing has happened.

The court systems are so overrun with real crimes, that I cannot imagine some big hoopla being made over public urination. There is neither the time nor the money

But I may be wrong I often am. And if it does happen, it's probably rare and the rumor mill has turned it into a daily occurance

 

[Jax49]

It is my understanding that LE investigated a RSO near 4th and Santa Fe in Denver but he was later cleared.

Where did you hear he was cleared? I heard his mother said that but did LE? TIA

 

[passionflower]

I remember ted bundy always looked for names on things so he could call out the girls name as a way to start a conversation. After that my family stopped buying personalized things. Jessica had her name on a keychain and water bottle and what else. This creep may of hunted like bundy. JMOO

 

[twall]

I feel the need to defend my opinions regarding the sex offender registry. As I said, I believe it could be better.

However, if my neighbor goes down to Walmart and shows his privates, I want to know about it. My 17 year old twin girls were in Walmart several years ago and one of them was grabbed by a man who had been flashing before. She screamed and was able to break free. The man ran, got into his car, and the police gave chase. He was apprehended. We went to court and he agreed to receive counseling if we would agree not to have his name in the SO registry. I hope we did the right thing.

Now, we can say that many flashing cases do not end up being serious and that these peeps do have "escalating" behavior. That might be true in many cases....however, if it even happens once out of 100 times, would it be worth to have all 100 registered? I think it would but others may not.

I do believe there needs to be categories within the registry so we can know who the most dangerous offenders are....

There are categories aka classifications. They are called Tiers. It is a federal law the states must abide by if they want to receive federal funding. The conviction determines how they are classified. There are 3 Tiers with Tier 3 being the worst type of sex offender. The Tier determines how often and how long the convicted have to register. Here is a link to explain the law, it is called the "Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006." RIP Adam.

http://www.cga.ct.gov/2006/rpt/2006-r-0765.htm

 

[Gabby66]

folks: we are not going to discuss Jessica's mother or why she was cleared. She was cleared and that is where we are going to leave it. Thanks so much.

OK sorry about that. I wasn't so much as trying to understand why she personally was cleared, but how in general LE can do that without certain facts to prove otherwise. I won't bring it up again - sorry.

 

[Celt1997]

I remember ted bundy always looked for names on things so he could call out the girls name as a way to start a conversation. After that my family stopped buying personalized things. Jessica had her name on a keychain and water bottle and what else. This creep may of hunted like bundy. JMOO

We don't buy personalized items, either, but the Schools do require names on all items for daily use (i.e. Water bottles & backpacks). That being said, we put the name inside the backpack, and the water bottle goes inside, as well.

It does seem, though, that some Schools seem to be oblivious to some of these kind of safety procedures. I was shocked that a local Elementary School, in the name of Health Week, did a "Walk to school day" last week. They hung signs and advertised it all over town! I understand the Teachers and Parents were taking part, but it just seemed strange to me to be advertising when all of these school aged children would be out walking.

 

[mck16]

Thank you, happy to help in any way I can. Everyone here seems to be in a state of shock...this kind of thing just doesn't happen in Superior - we don't even have our own police force. i would often run out for the day and leave the doors unlocked; not anymore.

This may be one reason this area was chosen. So, this leans toward a local or at least someone from the surrounding area. Where I live there is a camera on every red light and tree. I would think there would be cameras at least in the park. jmo

 

[twint4goat]

Have you done anything to determine whether he was, in fact, at work that day? Before saying anything to LE, I would want to have more reason to suspect him than the geographical ones you mention.

JMO

I really have no way to verify that he was at work that day. The only thing that really made me suspicious was one of his wifes Facebook posts. She had a very graphic, detailed description of what condition the body was in when found which has since been removed. She is a waitress/bar tender in Lafayette which is minutes from Superior. A customer in LE apparently shared that info with her, which I find odd seeing as how professional this case has been handled by LE so far.

 

[sayd]

I feel the need to defend my opinions regarding the sex offender registry. As I said, I believe it could be better.

However, if my neighbor goes down to Walmart and shows his privates, I want to know about it. My 17 year old twin girls were in Walmart several years ago and one of them was grabbed by a man who had been flashing before. She screamed and was able to break free. The man ran, got into his car, and the police gave chase. He was apprehended. We went to court and he agreed to receive counseling if we would agree not to have his name in the SO registry. I hope we did the right thing.

Now, we can say that many flashing cases do not end up being serious and that these peeps do have "escalating" behavior. That might be true in many cases....however, if it even happens once out of 100 times, would it be worth to have all 100 registered? I think it would but others may not.

I do believe there needs to be categories within the registry so we can know who the most dangerous offenders are....

The registry I was looking at does have those designations. http://sor.state.co.us/index.cfm?SOR=home.caveat&e=101 Notice how you can click on Sexually Violent Predators, Multiple Offendor, or Convicted Felon?

I haven't had much experience with those kinds of people, thank goodness, but I will relay an experience our community had with one of these individuals who had committed a crime in another state. According to him, he was framed, the kid lied, nothing really happened, blah, blah, blah, blah. When his actual crime was made public we discovered why he had been charged and convicted of attempted murder.

Made me realize that these people will lie, lie, lie and can be very convincing. Just because someone tells you something, don't believe it. Go read the truth. The internet is our friend.

 

[absentia]

yah, I think anyone who knows anyone over there is wondering the same thing about them. It's hard to balance between a witch hunt and recognizing what the FBI is looking for.

After looking at the map of where the BP was found and coming to the realization that this person more then likely either lived in superior or had spent some time there I got to thinking about wether or not I know anyone that lives/lived there. It turns out that one of my wifes friends and her kids/husband who moved within blocks of where JR lived about a month ago also used to live in Superior.

Although I don't really like the husband, I don't necessarily think he's the type of person to do something as atrocious as this, but you never really know. Chances are he was at work that day which would clear him immediately.

I brought this up with my wife and she doesn't think it's anything, in fact she called me paranoid. While I agree with her thinking that it's highly unlikely, I also know that it could be some small tip like this that could solve this case very easily.

 

[TheTruthWillOut]

Could the perp be leaving messages? eg: In the backpack/with the body?

 

[absentia]

well, the investigators have to eat, so being a waitress would mean she might hear some stuff the rest of us do not.

I really have no way to verify that he was at work that day. The only thing that really made me suspicious was one of his wifes Facebook posts. She had a very graphic, detailed description of what condition the body was in when found which has since been removed. She is a waitress/bar tender in Lafayette which is minutes from Superior. A customer in LE apparently shared that info with her, which I find odd seeing as how professional this case has been handled by LE so far.

 

[18RAO18]

Where did you hear he was cleared? I heard his mother said that but did LE? TIA

Maybe "cleared" wasn't the right word, police left the scene and he was not arrested.

 

[Gabby66]

O/T Regarding the personalized items......our family is soon taking a trip to Disney. When I called to stay in a Disney Resort, they requested my children's names. I asked why and was told that they would write their name on their resort key, to be used all over the park to "purchase' sodas, food, etc., which would be charged to our room. I told them that I've stayed in hotels literally all over the world and have NEVER been asked for my kids' names. In the end, even after speaking with a manager, there was no way to make a reservation for 4, withou giving my kids' names. I was literally appauled. One would think that Disney, of all places, would be more considerate of the protection of children. The guy even said that the call was "confidential". Really, well once he puts their names on their keys, to be flashed all over the parks, that kinda ends that, don't ya think? To top it off, we have a child with special needs who would likely go with anyone who called her name. Needless to say, we took our money elsewhere and will NOT be staying on property.

 

[Tokalu]

I remember ted bundy always looked for names on things so he could call out the girls name as a way to start a conversation. After that my family stopped buying personalized things. Jessica had her name on a keychain and water bottle and what else. This creep may of hunted like bundy. JMOO

I think you're on to something, passionflower. I'm convinced it's someone local that is totally unknown to the family. He would have had to use a ruse to get her to trust him if he was unknown. If it was someone with ties to the Ridgeways, I think the FBI and PD would already be onto them. And maybe they are, and just not telling ... (I hope and pray this is the case!)

Another theory that really rings a bell - if it was someone working for the school department, they MIGHT have a list of teachers and students names, often times with phone numbers and maybe addresses. A family member of mine worked for the school department for several years, and was always given a booklet with the above information. This was as recent as 2005. Anyone know if this was the case over there in Westminster/Superior? And what really makes makes me wonder about this particular thing, is that the dogs supposedly tracked her to another school, if I heard and read correctly. I'm really thinking it could be someone employed at a school or with a child that is school age. Does anyone know if the local schools have Columbus Day off?

 

[absentia]

I can't even look at her pix anymore, knowing what happened to her.

Same here. Every time I watch, I cry. You can see that she was a very sweet girl with a good heart. Makes me sad!

 

[MisterMayor]

This may be one reason this area was chosen. So, this leans toward a local or at least someone from the surrounding area. Where I live there is a camera on every red light and tree. I would think there would be cameras at least in the park. jmo

It's not a park in the traditional sense, with landscaped lawns, gardens, playground equipments or a ball field. Open Spaces are essentially pockets of wilderness within an otherwise urbanized area. They are not "maintained" in the same way a traditional is...in most cases you're basically just looking at trails that cut through open, rolling prairie (lots of draws and ravines...that kind of thing.) You are encouraged to stay on trail at all times so as to prevent disrupting wildlife habitats and to ensure minimal impact. There MAY be some kind of camera at a trailhead or two, but other than that, there is really nowhere to put a camera.

 

[GrainneDhu]

I really wonder how much of the sex offender registration being for silly crimes is rumor perpetuated by sex offenders.

I know plenty of situations where I live where older men have gotten teenagers pregnant and nothing has happened.

The court systems are so overrun with real crimes, that I cannot imagine some big hoopla being made over public urination. There is neither the time nor the money

But I may be wrong I often am. And if it does happen, it's probably rare and the rumor mill has turned it into a daily occurance

Someone I know personally was ticketed for "lewd and lascivious display" for urinating in an alley at 1:30 am after a night of too much beer. He paid the fine and forgot about it.

Many years later, the state created the sex offender registry and made it retroactive.

In the early years of the registry there were lots of men who got there via "lewd and lascivious display" for being caught in a gay bar. There were quite a few who had been caught for public urination.

There was a case of a guy who was listed because he had sex with his 16 year old girlfriend when he was 17 (back in the days when the age of consent was 18). They marry, have daughters and when the daughters were teenagers, he was suddenly required to leave the home because he was a sex offender and they were "in the range he targeted." It took over 3 years for that family to get everything straightened out and their children spent a couple months in foster care because the wife would not divorce her husband.

And then there was the case where a 12 year old girl was brutally raped and beaten by her foster father. When she was being interviewed at the hospital by a social worker, the social worker asked "was that the first time?" meaning "was it the first time your foster father raped you?" The girl misunderstood the question and confided that she had sex with her 12 year old boyfriend the month previously.

The social worker was a mandated reporter, so she went to the police. Both kids were charged (age of consent in Iowa is 14 at the earliest step). His family could afford a private attorney and got him into a diversion program.

The girl, on the other hand, became suspicious and uncooperative with LE. She had a public defender and a guardian ad litem, neither of whom she would talk to. She was sentenced to juvenile detention because the report to the judge said she was uncooperative.

The foster father? Got off scot free because the girl refused to testify (or even talk to any adult). This happened just before the development of DNA testing.

Her name also went into the sex offender registry.

Hey, for all you know, I'm not a legally blind crippled middle aged woman, I'm a sex offender who wants people to think the register in my state is stupid.

Or maybe I'm a concerned citizen who wants her state to be the best it can be and sees a way in which it is not doing the right thing.