CO - Jessica Ridgeway, 10, Westminster, 5 Oct 2012 - #14

[DylansMom34]

The other thing that is interesting about Ketner Lake is it seems to be surrounded by houses and a road and there doesn't appear to be many tree or bush areas and at least from Google Earth, I can't see a parking lot. Maybe he had a car parked along the road or something. Otherwise if he had been able to subdue the victim, where would he have taken her?

 

[carbuff]

I have a few more questions about rosaries, if y'all don't mind.
1. When does a child receive his first rosary? Is it from a godparent or as a baby gift? Or is it First Communion? If both, which would be the one that would be used most?
2. If a rosary breaks, is there a special procedure or something one does with it?

Things are moving so fast that somebody probably already answered this, but--around here (New England) the Catholics are primarily of French-Canadian, Italian, or Hispanic background. In the spring, which seems to be when most First Communion happens, there are ads all over the place for crucifix necklaces, rosaries and Bibles to give as gifts. Most of the crucifixes are silver, though I have seen a few wooden ones. A couple of years ago, crosses carved from olive wood from the holy land were popular.

It's not a design I would associate with First Communion. It looks more like a personal devotional object to me.

 

[mck16]

Has anyone put this yet?It kind of looks like this.A crooked cross made that way on purpose. I don't know who would make a necklace or key chain one.


http://www.etsy.com/listing/1089426...age=2&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery

I have several of these that I bought for Christmas gifts for family. They are large and heavy. Could never be worn. Plus no two are the same. Beautiful story behind the history of the artist. jmo

 

[concentric]

If Jessica ripped the cross off a rosary the perp. was wearing, then there could be some forensic evidence of her and also the perp. on that cross.

 

[DylansMom34]

Has anyone put this yet?If so,I'm sorry.I think it looks kind of like this.

Can you see it?I'll try to upload a picture my self ok?



http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=221121850476

Close, except the hole through the middle of the top rather than through the side (if that makes sense)

 

[mysticrose]

I hope this picture does not blow the margins ! If you look at the hole in the cross it is not worn so I dont believe this person wore this as a necklace maybe kept in their pocket. Also looking at the etchings it looks as if they were done and then the cross was stained after the fact. I am under the impression that this is hand made,possible by the perp or bought, it in moo is certainly hand stained recently with a stain/polyurethane mix (cherry/or deep mahogany) because it looks sticky, it will do that if you dont sand in between coats.
I am also under the impression that this may be of teak wood looking at the grain of the wood and how it is pitted.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...7378734305.523602.141296864304&type=3&theater

 

[carbuff]

The other thing that is interesting about Ketner Lake is it seems to be surrounded by houses and a road and there doesn't appear to be many tree or bush areas and at least from Google Earth, I can't see a parking lot. Maybe he had a car parked along the road or something. Otherwise if he had been able to subdue the victim, where would he have taken her?

It doesn't take a rapist much time or space. If you read the reports from city police forces, women are raped in places like hallways around the corner from busy elevators and in shrubbery 20 feet off busy streets.

But I'm betting his car was very near the abduction site and he was planning to drag her to it as soon as she was unconscious.

 

[ChuckMaureen]

There also are what appear to be multiple knife-tip jabs or very short slide-cuts on the one side of the cross as if the perp practiced or visualized 'what he does' by doing it to the cross .. but far short of destroying it?

 

[absentia]

why are there so many flipping attempted child lurings going on???
are these guys coming outta the woodwork b/c they are inspired by JR's killer? seems anyone with common sense would lay low right now.
this is just ridiculous. in an exasperated way.

Hello All, I have been trying to catch up on the threads! I agree with a few posts I've seen that it may have been a gift to the killer by someone (GF, cell mate) but looking at the zigzag from many pics now I keep thinking it's just a bad attempt at the letter "S" that someone added to it.

I was on fb looking at WMpd from an earlier post and saw the link for this cold case. Pretty creepy- both were found 20ft-ish from road not far off of I-70. Maybe it's nothing, but I got that "hinky feeling" ya'll been talking about!
http://blogs.denverpost.com/coldcases/2011/06/05/womans-dismembered-body/2284/

Also, saw on the web that there have been 2 (yes TWO) alleged luring attempts in Southern Colorado today. It looked like the puppy ruse in both but diff suspects and one was boy, the other 2 girls. http://www.kktv.com/home
I hope they catch every single one of these can't say what I'm thinking right now- Its not very ladylike.

back to reading I go....:dunno:

 

[Ms Suzanne]

I have several of these that I bought for Christmas gifts for family. They are large and heavy. Could never be worn. Plus no two are the same. Beautiful story behind the history of the artist. jmo

I know it can't be worn.What I put was for a wall.I'm wondering if someone used the crooked cross idea and made a necklace or rosery necklace out of it.

 

[Cybermom]

Did someone send LE that eBay cross ( large) that was posted last night?
The item was bigger, but the cross part was exact replica. I noticed the seller was in Littleton, CO and listed stuff he may have gotten at garage /estate sales.

Here is the link.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hand-Carved-Wooden-Cross-Mexico-/230861824879

 

[Ms Suzanne]

Close, except the hole through the middle of the top rather than through the side (if that makes sense)

Yes,maybe someone else made one similar to this idea of a crooked cross rosary necklace.

 

[Sigh Sister]

Something that struck me as I was reading Janine Johler's thread. A poster made a comment about there being "a new fancy development" behind the apple orchard where her remains were found. Here a link to the post:

[ame="http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3878021&postcount=158"]Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - View Single Post - Found Deceased CO- Janine Ann Johler, 38, Aurora, IDed as UID found in orchard 13 June 2009[/ame]


This set off a lightbulb in my head. I can't find it, but wasn't the area by Ketner lake surrounded by a nice, new development as well? I could be wrong, but that's what I remember reading. Could it be that the perp lived in the nice development in Aurora and then subsequently moved to the nice development by Ketner Lake?

I thought I'd add an excerpt about awareness space:

"At this point, perhaps the best path to solving this particular murder rests with the ability of law enforcement’s geographic profilers to identify the killer’s awareness space, which is defined as that geographic area that individuals have become familiar with over their lifetime. It is composed of those places that have been incorporated into a person’s memory by repeated exposure.

A person’s, including a criminal’s, awareness space is centered around those locations that are most important to them, starting with their home and including other locations such as work, a friend’s house, the primary stores where they shop, favorite walking paths, etc. It is also composed of the transportation corridors used to connect those locations to one another.

Defining the perpetrator’s awareness space is critical to solving Jessica’s case, because in the vast majority of child abduction murders, as well as other crimes, researchers have found that the perpetrator lives within his awareness space, commits his crimes close to home and within that awareness space, and disposes of his victims and other evidence at the outer edges of the awareness space, generally along the space’s transportation corridors.

This is because when it comes to operating in our comfort zones, criminals, even sociopaths who murder children, have been found to be just like the rest of us. We tend to operate within the areas that we know best.

In the case of Jessica Ridgeway, we can start to see at least a portion of her killer’s awareness space depicted on the maps, based on where Jessica was abducted, where her backpack was found and where her body was ultimately dumped. The maps are located at http://goo.gl/maps/Tf2tR (large map) and http://goo.gl/maps/fyPyI (inset map)."

Janine was found in an apple orchard along I-70, a transportation corridor.

Jessica was found along a transportation corridor as well, right?


(Ok, now that I've previewed my post, I'm not sure it even makes sense! I'm posting it anyway, though. Took me too long to compose it. Ha!)

 

[Ms Suzanne]

When I first saw the cross I thought of gangs for some reason.I'm starting to think it looks Gothic.Goth.

 

[Geralyn]

Recent comment made by Westminster PD on their Facebook Page

Westminster PD: Westminster Police have received a number of tips associated to the cross and suspect description from the Ketner Lake incident. We appreciate the tips that are helping in our Investigation. Police are not looking for explanation or meaning of the markings, but we are looking for who may have worn or had one of these, has or displays other items with identical marks and in particular, a person that fits the suspect description: light skinned male, medium build, average height. Thank you.
18 minutes ago
http://www.facebook.com/westminsterp...65009636971765

Just a thought....possibly a tattoo of a similar cross with similar markings? A man of that description who 'displays' a similar tattoo? Perhaps one that could have been seen on the Ketner attacker? At first I dismissed that idea, thinking it would have been part of the description of the attacker. But then it occurred to me that perhaps the victim in that case was shown the cross and it jogged her memory? I dunno..just thinking out loud here.

Origin of the Cross? My first thought when seeing the cross pics...was Renaissance Fair/Festival. I've seen many similar pieces of wooden "jewelry" at these events. Both worn and sold, but particularly worn by those who 'dress' for the occasion. This appears to be quite crude/rustic..handmade. I haven't yet looked into whether that area of Colorado has RenFairs.

 

[carbuff]

When I first saw the cross I thought of gangs for some reason.I'm starting to think it looks Gothic.

We had a couple of WSers last night who had some familiarity with Goth culture who said it wasn't. But I don't think they ruled out gangs.

 

[Sigh Sister]

I also want to add that the state of their remains is similar ( at least that seems to be the case). Janine's dismembered remains were found in a trash bag that animals apparently dragged into the orchard. I seem to remember that a black trash bag was seen by some at the site of Jessica's remains?

 

[mysticrose]

Westminster PD: Westminster Police have received a number of tips associated to the cross and suspect description from the Ketner Lake incident. We appreciate the tips that are helping in our Investigation. Police are not looking for explanation or meaning of the markings, but we are looking for who may have worn or had one of these, has or displays other items with identical marks and in particular, a person that fits the suspect description: light skinned male, medium build, average height. Thank you.
18 minutes ago
http://www.facebook.com/westminsterp...65009636971765

Just a thought....possibly a tattoo of a similar cross with similar markings? A man of that description who 'displays' a similar tattoo? Perhaps one that could have been seen on the Ketner attacker? At first I dismissed that idea, thinking it would have been part of the description of the attacker. But then it occurred to me that perhaps the victim in that case was shown the cross and it jogged her memory? I dunno..just thinking out loud here.

Origin of the Cross? My first thought when seeing the cross pics...was Renaissance Fair/Festival. I've seen many similar pieces of wooden "jewelry" at these events. Both worn and sold, but particularly worn by those who 'dress' for the occasion. This appears to be quite crude/rustic..handmade. I haven't yet looked into whether that area of Colorado has RenFairs.

To my knowledge yes, my neighbor goes every year ! Along with a couple of other friends I have....

 

[Yellow]

Has someone called the tip line with this information?

ETA: I called it in. Let us all hope this helps break the case.

That's the cross. It looks to be an exact match. I wonder if this place in Georgia gets it from some group of crafters. It does not seem like it would be something mass produced.

EDIT; I saw the picture wrong, I wonder if others are too. The picture from the Georgia place is the tiny picture whereas the JR actual cross is the big one. I thought both were from the GA place, based on how it was posted.

 

[sfbaynancydrew]

As someone who grew up with rosaries EVERYWHERE lol, listen, they aren't worn around the neck, they're wrapped around the wrist for praying. They rarely break. I can't remember any rosaries breaking. We had cheap plastic ones, expensive silver ones, ornate beaded ones, wooden ones. They are weirdly durable. But again--no one wears them. Normally the crucifix at the end of the rosary is fairly ornate. Oh and that's another thing--every rosary I ever had did not have a cross at the end but a crucifix (meaning that Jesus was on the cross, it wasn't plain).

To ME, being Catholic, that looks like the necklaces the altar boy's wore with a white string through it. They had a thick, large wooden cross around their necks that hung sort of low.

Edited to add: yes, I know some people DO wear them around their necks, but those people aren't Catholic. They're just confused .