FL - Somer Thompson, 7, Orange Park, 19 Oct 2009 #25

[camcneishg]

IMO....you should NEVER take your eyes off of your young children.....heck, mine don't even play outside without an adult present....you just never know....and with so much going on with all of the missing kids today....I have to wonder WHY any parent would let such young children walk home from school....pay a teen $20 a week to walk them from school to home every day....school offers after care more than likely....there is always an answer for your children, you just don't let them walk a mile home....I would NEVER dream of it.....I have always been over protective of my children tho, but that's just me...mine will never get taken, this I know.....not under my watch....

 

[Noway]

In that same community, by the boatload from what I've read, they let their kids walk that route. And from what the crossing guard said, it's siblings in charge, not adults. NOW if he doesn't see someone with their brother or sister, he asks. So some parents are still letting their kids walk without an adult?

 

[txsvicki]

It's hard to believe that any babysitters or the other kids never told on Somer and how she'd wander off after school and, as according to the neighbor, at other times looking for kids to play with. I guess it doesn't matter now, but I wonder if Somer was ever grounded or gotten onto for doing that sort of thing, and even if other parents ever reported it to DT.

 

[ccane]

I hope they hurry up and figure out where Somer was killed. I just don't see any way that she was nabbed of that street where 30 other kids walked and probably other kids, parents, and teachers came up that street even a little later. I don't know if her school had tutoring after for kids practicing to pass those tests in the Spring, but if so, even more kids and parents could have headed up the street around 30-45 minutes later. It's so odd that Somer would have wandered off to the park alone before any of the other kids even got home and maybe went out to play since she is said to have been so social. Where the heck did she go, or was she lured into the burnt house.....

So far we only read the narrative on the police report. Maybe she walked home with a friend and crossed the 2nd crosswalk and the cross guard doesnt remember. There maybe more info or sighting of her that was not released yet

 

[eyes4crime]

Dr Fessel

You seem to remember things that I had no notion of.. and you speak as if they are facts and not opinion. I would appreciate links to interviews or other ways to verify. ST told me he was paying support. IDK if he was or not, only that he said so. I have no reason to think he would lie, as I have no history of him lying to me. Is any of what you are saying fact? Do you know he didnt pay?

I find it incredibly interesting that, all of a sudden, you are asking for 'facts'. There have been pages ad nauseum put down as fact about mom D. over the holiday and nobody questioned ANY of the carp until a couple days later. Also, I find it very strange that you should know so much about mom D. and so very little about dad T.

 

[Noway]

So it is just D who persists in calling her outfit a jumpsuit and not a sweatsuit? It is just another one of those peculiar things I guess about this case. My association with jumpsuits is like a with military on the one hand and chartreuse and orange psychodelic print stuff I saw people wearing on Tv in the 70's when I was a kid!!

I don't know who was the first one to use jumpsuit. Whether in her state of distress Diena used the wrong word or whether the LEO wrote down jumpsuit for sweat suit or jogging suit.

In the video, the description is that it is two piece.

 

[Ms Suzanne]

I also agree that DT was negligent in letting those children walk home....they are too young...IMO...as a parent, you just don't assume that your two 7 yr old children, and 10 yr old will make it home from school without supervision....as a parent, you have to KNOW these things....there is nothing more precious than your child....not your job, not your boyfriend...nothing! MO

Many children walk home in Jacksonville.I use to live there.I feel very strongly the school system should never allow children to have to walk home.Some people like myself do not drive or have a car and cannot walk them home all the time.I walked my kids to school for as long as I could.But sometimes I was very sick and pregnant and just couldn't do it.I did not know any one who could take them.I thank God we had to move in the military and where we moved had the bus stop.I do blame the school system.These kids are too little to walk and the school needs a bus system for these little ones.

 

[zannah]

So it is just D who persists in calling her outfit a jumpsuit and not a sweatsuit? It is just another one of those peculiar things I guess about this case. My association with jumpsuits is to the military on the one hand and chartreuse and orange psychodelic print stuff I saw people wearing on Tv in the 70's when I was a kid on the other!

Scary--think I might have owned a jumpsuit like that in the 70's . . .:crazy:

 

[camcneishg]

ya know, even on field trips with schools, they assign an adult to every 4-5 kids.....kids require adult supervision, weather they are in the yard playing, or walking home from school. MO

 

[Noway]

Early on in the threads, someone posted a picture of a sweat suit that matched the description now given. It was just her (his) opinion that what they were talking about was more like what she posted and not the one piece military-type or 70s-type thing.

I have looked for it when I've been digging for other things but haven't come across it again. Just thought I'd throw that out there if anyone else remembers it. I didn't know the clothing would still be discussed 20 some threads later (well, I dreamed about having a subforum that's why).

 

[Dr.Fessel]

Hunters and trappers understand their prey and know how to use natural obsticles to funnel the prey into a certain spot. An area between two houses is just like that it limits the movement and makes a person walk in a certain place, a gate really does that, a slimeball sitting in a house could watch for kids cutting through his yard or maybe sit in a shed by a gate just waiting for that lone kid someday. He could see her coming, go out and stand by the edge of his house and grab her when she started cutting through his yard and carry her inside all in about 10 seconds. If I was there I would be looking for possible shortcuts and where a childs movements would be funneld. I used to hunt antelope in Idaho and they refused to jump a fence and would usually crawl under it. All you had to do was find the spot they crawled under and sit back and wait.

 

[ccane]

So it is just D who persists in calling her outfit a jumpsuit and not a sweatsuit? It is just another one of those peculiar things I guess about this case. My association with jumpsuits is to the military on the one hand and chartreuse and orange psychodelic print stuff I saw people wearing on Tv in the 70's when I was a kid on the other!

I would look to the socks for clues, blue socks doesnt go with cranberry and a red bow and the sheriff asking to look for shoes is a mystery

 

[camcneishg]

I know the schools in Clay Co offer after school services, even day care centers send their little buses to the schools to pick up the children whose parents work, and they keep them til the parents pick them up...not sure what they charge, but DT being a single parent of so many children, I am sure she would have been given some assistance, just like she probably gets the "free" lunches that they offer.....

 

[camcneishg]

I often wondered who dressed Somer for school, or who helped her pick out her clothing.....cranberry jumpsuit with pink strips, black T, blue striped socks, red hair bow, and rainbow colored shoes........??

 

[ccane]

I also agree that DT was negligent in letting those children walk home....they are too young...IMO...as a parent, you just don't assume that your two 7 yr old children, and 10 yr old will make it home from school without supervision....as a parent, you have to KNOW these things....there is nothing more precious than your child....not your job, not your boyfriend...nothing! MO

I think more then the walk home with alot of school kids is who watched them from 3:05 untill whatever time parents came home. SP babysitting was a one time thing. They had a pool too and kids dont follow the rules thats a fact

 

[Noway]

It's hard to believe that any babysitters or the other kids never told on Somer and how she'd wander off after school and, as according to the neighbor, at other times looking for kids to play with. I guess it doesn't matter now, but I wonder if Somer was ever grounded or gotten onto for doing that sort of thing, and even if other parents ever reported it to DT.

If Diena had a list of friends for MR to call, then she must have experienced Somer wandering off.

I think her saying that Somer had never done anything like this was that she never had stayed away hours and hours without a call. That is JMO though.

If not then the contradiction between what MR said and what Diena said would be a red flag to check out.

 

[Dee10]

IMO....you should NEVER take your eyes off of your young children.....heck, mine don't even play outside without an adult present....you just never know....and with so much going on with all of the missing kids today....I have to wonder WHY any parent would let such young children walk home from school....pay a teen $20 a week to walk them from school to home every day....school offers after care more than likely....there is always an answer for your children, you just don't let them walk a mile home....I would NEVER dream of it.....I have always been over protective of my children tho, but that's just me...mine will never get taken, this I know.....not under my watch....

Cam I appreciate your views & you should got with your instincts as a parent, wish more people valued their children as you do. But you also have to consider if you had to pay that teen $20 or that babysitter after school...there are always risks that you can't foresee. Luckily, being vigilant on family & acquaintances takes care of the most part...at least according to stats at this point anyway. It is just so important, not to drop your guard here on those you know.:blowkiss:

 

[Noway]

I often wondered who dressed Somer for school, or who helped her pick out her clothing.....cranberry jumpsuit with pink strips, black T, blue striped socks, red hair bow, and rainbow colored shoes........??

My guess was that it was Somer -- all Somer!

I have an almost 4 yo and have started letting her pick what to wear. Not just from the two choices in front of her but from all her clothes. I have to grin and bear it with some of the outfits but it gives her a sense of pride and accomplishment. I only hope her sense of style is better than mine.

ETA: So far not much hope.

 

[eyes4crime]

I often wondered who dressed Somer for school, or who helped her pick out her clothing.....cranberry jumpsuit with pink strips, black T, blue striped socks, red hair bow, and rainbow colored shoes........??

Looks to me like little Somer was beginning to dress herself. At some point, all parents have to deal with the little person's need for independence. the way she was dressed really sounds adorable - just like a 7yo. mho

 

[zannah]

I often wondered who dressed Somer for school, or who helped her pick out her clothing.....cranberry jumpsuit with pink strips, black T, blue striped socks, red hair bow, and rainbow colored shoes........??

When my 4 were little, it was a good day when you could find any two shoes that matched each other. Matching the outfit wasn't even a consideration.