My husband and I were born, grew up in, and raised children in Greeley.
Alot has changed over the years. But there are some basics that I am going to give my OPINION about- that apply to Greeley.
Greeley has IMO 3 very distinct groups of people living in it. I apologize in advance as I am not going to be PC here, but this is how I think I can give you the best "feel" for the community. Greeley has a large portion of "white folks" that reside primarily in the west side of town. Greeley has a large portion of hispanics that reside primarily in the east/north side of town. Greeley has a large portion of college students that live in the east/central part of town. Now the living areas I know don't apply to everyone- but there truly is an invisble line of what some might call the wrong side of the tracks- depending on your skin color... There is definitely an air of racial division in the community. It is strong and I feel the tension has become extremely worse over the years. Over the last 10-15 years "gangs" have popped up. At first it was a "wannabe" type thing mirroring the "Bloods and the Crips" but now I think these gangs have evolved into their own namesakes and certainly have done their share of damage and violence in Greeley. It is a very sad thing to see the youth getting caught up in.
I know from my own personal knowledge that some of the apartments in that exact area that Kayleah lives do NOT run background checks and that a past with a sex offender conviction is not a problem to rent there. I will also add in that Weld County/Greeley court systems also have offered plea bargains that do not require convicted sex offenders to be listed in the registries. :furious: Don't get me started on that. Yes you may be required to check the convicted of a felony box on the rental agreement, but you might not be listed in the public registry for a sex crime-. I personally know of 2 invidividuals that this has happened to.
The area where Kayleah lived is in a lower income chunk of neighborhood of Greeley. It isn't "bad-bad" but I know of stories and people who have lived in the apartments that span 28th street and not all of them are positive. It is what it is and there is no judgement towards Kayleah's mother at all from me for thinking it would be safe for her to walk to the mall from where she was at. It generally is a busy & populated area with several businesses close by & the public often doesn't have the fear of kidnapping on their brain like so many of us at WS do.
I am not saying THIS is what happened, but I can speculate that when the police got the call they took the runaway "report" and didn't jump on the possibility of it being something different based on the area that Kayleah lived in, the outward appearance of the dynamics of her home living situation, *possibly* the previous foster care past, and the area of town that she was walking to/from, coupled with the knowledge of her having an older boyfriend. Sadly, I think it was easily brushed off as just a runaway situation. Do I think that Kayleah's mom should have done more protesting and demanding that they search NOW for Kayleah and not just put out a be on the lookout bulletin for Kayleah, YES, absolutely! Do I think the GPD should have done more right away because she IS only 12- YES, absolutely!
Based on some of the statements put out by the police department after the fact- Kayleah's good grades, unknown drug or gang involvement, no troubles at home, etc... I think that the GPD finally realized they potentially had a much bigger problem on their hands then just a "runaway." I still feel like if Kayleah lived on the "right side" of the invisible tracks with an "intact" family situation and a few donations in the right political campaigns bucket- this would have started off a lot differently and perhaps maybe evidence found and salvaged from the start.
I pray Kayleah is safe and ok, but each minute my heart sinks lower in my chest. I hate that another child may not come home. When Jonelle Matthews went missing- it affected me greatly and still does to this day. It is what makes me on guard, not so trusting, and definitely more aware of my surroundings and protection for my own children. Her disappearance is what sparked my interest in true crime and criminal justice. So I sit here on the edge waivering of jumping in head first into this case or stepping back because already it is tearing at me to think that another one of Greeley's children might not be coming home.
Anyway, I didn't mean to write a book. Just sharing a few heartfelt thoughts from my viewpoint.
