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

[spoonco]

So this was in Louisville, North of Superior and NW of Broomfield?

No, the attempted abduction of this boy was May 10th 2012 at Ketner Lake. Same lake where jogger attempted abduction occurred three weeks later.

 

[MLO]

Where I grew up, it was a summer ritual. On the last day of school, you threw your gym sneakers (which lived in your locker all year at school) up over the power lines. It was a celebratory thing, and extremely common. Read the snopes link, it certainly isn't thought of as just a gang symbol.

Interesting. In our country is is thought to be a sign of a drug house. You throw a pair of shoes up to advertise that you were selling drugs. You'd have to be pretty stupid to do it though!

 

[Ms Suzanne]

Where I grew up, it was a summer ritual. On the last day of school, you threw your gym sneakers (which lived in your locker all year at school) up over the power lines. It was a celebratory thing, and extremely common. Read the snopes link, it certainly isn't thought of as just a gang symbol.

Well,That did bother me a little.I would rather think the sneakers were just thrown in fun LOL and not gang members or drug dealers marking their territory.But sadly we do live in a drug area and I do think that's what it was for.I do feel better we have security around here now.

 

[pinto]

This happened just weeks before the Bolder Boulder and this guys certainly sounds like a runner. He was wearing a Bolder Boulder t-shirt and many of us who do this event make it an annual thing. Green and white running shoes also seem significant - the green would have to be pretty noticeable, I think, for this to be remembered.

Brightroom takes pictures of the BB. There are over 270,000 pics this year, but I wonder if LE should look through them for someone in the running waves, at least, with green shoes. You can recover the bib number and see name/location/age.

Long, loooong shot...but if they don't have any other leads, it seems perhaps worth it. OR, if the kids remembered what the design of the t-shirt he was wearing was, they could also deduce what year the shirt is (they do a different design every year) and also look at those pics.

Also, the description here and in the profile for the attempted jogger abduction Memorial Day weekend seem like this is a runner-type body and not a "big" guy. Makes me wonder if - if it's the same guy - if he's failed with the adults because he's just not strong enough to succeed, but did with a much younger victim. Just another thought.

This is about the first thing I've read all day that makes much sense. I know the Bolder Boulder is a huge race, but it does narrow down the field at least a little bit. I'm guessing this has already been done, however.

 

[cakegirl0905]

1. Why are we just now hearing about this? Has it been previously reported? Was the public ever notified of this attempted kidnapping?
2. I live in the area and am a runner, run several times per week. I am so working out on the treadmill now. Lawd have mercy.

 

[otto]

Which would explain why no neighbors saw her because most kids were probably not walking. Even Jessica's friend J's dad was going to take them to school from the park.

I read comments from local people ... they said that was the weather and temperature overnight from Friday to Saturday. I don't know about Friday morning, but maybe someone from the area can fill us in.

 

[Ransom]

I think this is the first case I have ever followed where we have a body, but no real suspects and no arrest made almost immediately.

respectfully snipped:

Somer Thompson case. Her mother was raked over the coals. Eventually the perp was found. Took a long time.

 

[otto]

I wonder how long it will take before people are more or less back to their normal routines (letting kids play outside, walk to school) if the case isn't solved and the perp doesn't strike again. I also wonder if the killer is waiting for everything to quiet down.

I think it will take about three months ... then the abduction attempt reports will stop and everything will go back to normal ... except for Jessica's family.

 

[Ghostwheel]

A lot of guys wear these crosses with a black cord or leather cord. Either would polish the wood not nick it. Also maybe the cord is gone because he used it to strangle her. LE needs to look for that cord. It would also have dna from either her neck or his.

If it had been worn with any kind of cord, even once, there would be a wear mark on the wood or finish. I don't see anything even remotely resembling a wear mark on this hole. First hand knowledge of this, as I work with wood, and almost every kind of cord and chain imaginable. IMO, it just doesn't look like it was attached to anything.

 

[cindersoot]

I think it will take about three months ... then the abduction attempt reports will stop and everything will go back to normal ... except for Jessica's family.

Otto, I get you on this. :rocker:

 

[Jan]

Where we live, I was told by a prevention specialist that I work with that shoes tied together and thrown over a power line indicate where to find a house to buy drugs. Since her career is in drug and alcohol prevention, I think she probably has some insight into this. It may be different in different areas, what the shoes mean. I didn't even know there was any meaning behind them at all until my coworker told me this. I see shoes like that all around the city but not in the suburbs.

 

[izzyblizzy]

Yay! Now I know I'm not alone. I had been wondering if anyone else was thinking what I am thinking but didn't want to say it. Did anyone listen to the radio show? I tried but could get it to work.

I saw some excerpts from it, but I think I joined discussion after the actual show...

I am not sure we are thinking the same things though. I think this guy had some ideas, etc. and was not involved in any way, but that his posts were just jumped on.

Is that your impression?

 

[cindersoot]

If it had been worn with any kind of cord, even once, there would be a wear mark on the wood or finish. I don't see anything even remotely resembling a wear mark on this hole. First hand knowledge of this, as I work with wood, and almost every kind of cord and chain imaginable. IMO, it just doesn't look like it was attached to anything.

Maybe he didn't have it that long.

 

[carbuff]

Where we live, I was told by a prevention specialist that I work with that shoes tied together and thrown over a power line indicate where to find a house to buy drugs. Since her career is in drug and alcohol prevention, I think she probably has some insight into this. It may be different in different areas, what the shoes mean. I didn't even know there was any meaning behind them at all until my coworker told me this. I see shoes like that all around the city but not in the suburbs.

The two pairs slowly dying in our half-suburban neighborhood are in the middle of an intersection (those belong to the neighbor on the uphill side) and a bright pink and green pair hanging off the cable line beside a vacant lot.

 

[Ransom]

I'm on my phone and can't look this up to link, but wasn't there recently a "groping" suspect still at large who is a bald white guy? I see the sketch clear as day in my head, hope I'm attaching it to the right case.

are you talking about this??????? :http://kwgn.com/2012/09/18/denver-police-serial-groping-suspect-arrested/

He was arrested.

 

[otto]

Otto, I get you on this. :rocker:

That's what happened in Evansdale ... locals slowly reported from about 6 weeks on that everything was returning to normal.

 

[NC Analyzer]

You know if this is the first time this perp has killed, isn't it rare to spend the extra time with the body dismembering it? If it is rare, then this guy has done this before.

There is always a "first" kill. We can hope this will be his last.

 

[Ransom]

If it had been worn with any kind of cord, even once, there would be a wear mark on the wood or finish. I don't see anything even remotely resembling a wear mark on this hole. First hand knowledge of this, as I work with wood, and almost every kind of cord and chain imaginable. IMO, it just doesn't look like it was attached to anything.

AMEN and I so AGREE. NOT worn ever, ever, ever. IMO and those that I know and respect informed me about that "hole". lol

 

[jenandemmie]

No, they mean the person had light skin. So somebody who is white or who could pass as white. I just don't see how people are interpreting this to exclude any group. I don't see how they could have been any clearer.

Exactly! It isn't meant to indicate race, it's meant to indicate color. Anthropologists/Forensic artists use numbered shades to distinguish the color range, not names of races. We did a lab in Physical Anthropology and compared ourselves to the scales. I'm a pale white girl but I'm a "19" on the scale. So really "light skinned" is only meant to imply just that, lighter colored skin.

 

[nikb]

Interesting. In our country is is thought to be a sign of a drug house. You throw a pair of shoes up to advertise that you were selling drugs. You'd have to be pretty stupid to do it though!

Funny I was just about to post this too. I heard this on an a cop show many years ago (can't remember if it was "Cops" or something similar, but it was a reality show). Sounds like there are many reasons people might do this. I guess I can stop worrying about the questionable house up the street quite so much now.

I'm a little bit behind, apologies if this has already been discussed, but were there shoes found? Or is this whole shoe discussion coming from something else such as maybe the cross or something else was found in a tree?