I’ve read of a few cases where the victim humanized themselves, at least, to the perp and thus wasn’t killed. I just read about one case a few days ago, actually. It was a little girl, about 9 years of age. She was taken by a predator who chained her to some furniture and assaulted her for days:
"Killers often dehumanize their victims," said Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Matt Braker, who prosecuted the case. Jeannette might have kept herself alive by talking to her abductor.
"Every step of the way, she was not just quiet, not scared to death to the point where she wasn't talking. ... She kept interacting to the point where she became a real person to him," he said.
Jeannette said it was hard to speak to her abductor.
"I really just wanted to punch him and hit him!" she said.
But she says she treated him like a "normal" human being and her plan began to work.
"He started trusting me," she said.
Jeannette Tamayo: How Did She Escape Her Kidnapper?
That being said, not everyone is a true crime junkie. And when you’re actually in the position, everything is different than what most think it would be like.
His not speaking out right away or since that pre-recorded plea, isn’t what makes me suspect him. Although it does combine with other things, for me, to make me question.
But to play devil’s advocate, I remember when little two year old Emmet Trapp went missing in AZ. His mom answered the phone during the ordeal and was asked questions by a reporter. She said something to the effect of that she didn’t want to talk and asked them not to air a segment on her missing child.
That was a huge red flag to some. Nancy Grace jumped on it. But her child got out of the house while she took a nap, got lost, wandered for hours and succumbed to the elements. His little footprints told the story.
In the end I suspect having her child’s story on the news would maybe make it too real for her. I don’t know.
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