FL - Somer Thompson, 7, Orange Park, 19 Oct 2009 #3

[Carolina Girl]

severely off topic.. and sorry for being so..

but the reasons we all are here are varied. Mine has to do with the abduction, rape and murder of my gradeschool classmate Tina Marie Harmon who was abducted on the way home from my small town Ohio school while we were in elementary school together... It has never left me.. this fear of some sicko taking you from the store while you try to buy penny candy after school.. .after you get off the bus and are in the fluffly part of the cloud of dozens of other kids while it happens!

http://www.indeonline.com/local_new...in-1981-wants-investigtors-to-reopen-the-case

this above link happened to my classmate...my friend... my school... my town.. When I see Somer's case I cannot help but draw parallels to a child walking home from school and getting taken! It breaks my heart! It takes me painfully back too. I want whomever did this FOUND....and RIGHT AWAY!

Nurse, I am sorry for you and her Family. I expect a lot of people are still waiting for closure.

I also want to thank you and anyone else for feeling compassion for the officers that found the body today. I am married to a retired police officer that had many things happen during his career that he never got help coping with, and pray those days are over. I pray those guys today have counselors standing in line to help them.

 

[nursebeeme]

Please Do Not Attack Poster... Please Don't fight and argue with each other.. This is hard on all of us.. Just take a few breathes and remember WHY we are here.. We all have great hearts and are just so upset at this situation.. Please ......

bumpin' this mommaD! your words are the elixir of websleuths!

 

[CHICANA]

Oh, Come on. that is what Grandma's are for! Do you have Grandchildren? You help the parents while they work!

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that Somer might not have had a Grandma to walk her to school. Her mom obviously had to work to support her children and she couldn't force her boyfriend or anyone else to walk to the school to pick up Somer. I can't imagine letting my children walk home either, but I think her mom was doing the best she could and the criticism of the mother by a couple posters really bothers me.
I'm sure Somer's mom is filled with guilt right now for those very reasons, but she might not have had a lot of options.
Let's see.. allow my child to walk home with a group of other kids or quit my job, lose my home, not feed my kids and lose them for not being able to support them ? If it's the law that kids go to school and our taxes pay for it, the state should make sure the kids get to school and home safely.

 

[floridamom]

Why do sex offenders kill their victims so quickly after the abduction? It seems in most cases, the children are dead within the day. What is the psychology of it? Just to avoid detection?

That said, maybe this isn't a SO. I keep having this bizarre and persistent thought that it could have been a hit-and-run and they deposited her body in the first available dumpster. Weird thought, I know, but it was my first thought and it's stuck with me all day. Atypical for me.

What really boggles my mind is that she must not have left that area, at least by much. They knew exactly where to track that garbage. I cannot believe they didn't have SOME clue on where to look. I just can't buy that it was simply routine. Whether it was a dog hit or a tip, I think they know something.

Even if the BF had Somer inside the house when the kids got home, he would have had to leave during the melee of the search. Something would have been noticed, right?

Just my unconnected thoughts. I just don't get this. And I don't blame the mom for letting her kids walk home from school. "Safety in numbers" all that. You get complacent in a mindset and don't think of the little things that the girl running ahead, etc. You think "Okay, there are a lot of kids walking that street. She's with her siblings." It's sure making me reevaluate how I picture my future as a parent of school-age kids more and more. I'm just not going to get all holier-than-thou on a parent who just lost their angel and who never once thought that this could happen to her daughter. You don't have to be a 'pudge-face' to lose a child. You just have to be really unlucky. It can happen to ANYONE, and even if you walk the 20 miles through the snow with them, it doesn't mean you can keep harm away. There's no need for blame-casting here, IMO. Save it for the people who truly neglect their children.

Mine bolded...thank you!!! So true!!!

 

[interested_in_facts]

I was wondering about the distance from schools and such myself. I could have sworn there was something somewhere stating they could not live with in x miles from schools, parks and such but maybe its just a state thing I am think about.
It bothers me alot the little amount of time some offenders are spending in prison. My step father is serving 7 life sentences for assault on a minor and Lewd or lascivious battery charges. I dont understand how they determine this one is worth life and this one is only worth 2 years or 5 years. Why do they not all get life? It is not fair to all the innocent little kids! I fully support just taking them out to the prison yard and filling them full of holes. They should never be allowed to be out of prison or even alive. I know there is something somewhere but I realy dont want to hunt that says once they commit this crime they are x% more likely to do it over and over again. How fair is that to just let them go!

 

[Carolina Girl]

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that Somer might not have had a Grandma to walk her to school. Her mom obviously had to work to support her children and she couldn't force her boyfriend or anyone else to walk to the school to pick up Somer. I can't imagine letting my children walk home either, but I think her mom was doing the best she could and the criticism of the mother by a couple posters really bothers me.
I'm sure Somer's mom is filled with guilt right now for those very reasons, but she might not have had a lot of options.
Let's see.. allow my child to walk home with a group of other kids or quit my job, lose my home, not feed my kids and lose them for not being able to support them ? If it's the law that kids go to school and our taxes pay for it, the state should make sure the kids get to school and home safely.

I expect that the buses will be running here soon. I heard one of the neighbors tonight say, "no more walking..so it is a mile, send the bus."

 

[jnTexas]

what is going on in our country right now! I want this wobbly moon to go away!!

We had an attempted abduction of a middle school boy.

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=7076408

and an abduction and rape of a high school student.

http://www.khou.com/topstories/stories/khou091021_nlc_conroe-student-abducted-raped.23d60a948.html

 

[momtective]

Glad you brought that up Carolina - I thought the same thing. But my guess is the excuse will be the probation officers are overworked and don't have time to check on everyone.

Again, why must the tax payer pay for babysitters for these sick pukes? Save our money and save our children...if they've killed a child execute them. If they are found guilty of sexually assaulting a child give me LWOP.

 

[mikeysmommom]

I have a theory on another difference between now and when we were little that impacts the rise in attacks on children. I had, and I bet most of us had, neighbors who knew every move we all made, and not only made sure our parents knew what we were up to, but had no problem making sure we stayed in line. Today, people don't pay attention to the people around them. Alot of parents have such a "not my angel" attitude that if a neighbor went to their door, they are told off for suggesting someones "perfect child" did wrong, so people don't bother. I had a neighbor all us kids in the neighborhood called Nebnose Rose. We all hated her, but our parents loved her. Nobody had a problem telling someone elses kid to cut out the bs or they would get a spank. Not these days, you can't dare correct bad behavior because for all you know the parents might be even worse than the kid as far as behavior goes.
I have no problem telling any kid I see doing wrong to cut it out, or kid not being safe to stop what they are doing. My kids say it's embarrassing, but I don't give a flip. I have made a point of knowing not just my immediate neighbors but people throughout the neighborhood. People know who my kids are and who they belong to, if they see them with anyone else they know there is a problem.
Everyone needs to get back to knowing eachother, helping eachother, protecting eachother and supporting eachother. When I was a stay at home Mom, I saw it as my responsibility to keep an eye on the neighborhood kids whose parents were at work. Their parents were out doing what they had to do, not their fault. I was lucky to be there. They probably think I was Nebnose Rose, but I didn't care. Back to our roots, IMO would help alot.

That is how I grew up also we got away with nothing ever!By the time you walked home your mom knew what you did.I was a stay at home mother and I also watched out for all the kids.I still do and always will.I was in a super market the other day and a dad walked a way from a 2yr old sitting in the cart and I saw him try to stand up I ran to him and told him no honey you have to sit and I waited till the dad got back and i told him his son has to be watched because if he fell out on his head you would no longer have a son . now if I had wanted to I could have walked off with that child.He was aisles away on a cell phone.Unreal

 

[Carolina Girl]

I was wondering about the distance from schools and such myself. I could have sworn there was something somewhere stating they could not live with in x miles from schools, parks and such but maybe its just a state thing I am think about.
It bothers me alot the little amount of time some offenders are spending in prison. My step father is serving 7 life sentences for assault on a minor and Lewd or lascivious battery charges. I dont understand how they determine this one is worth life and this one is only worth 2 years or 5 years. Why do they not all get life? It is not fair to all the innocent little kids! I fully support just taking them out to the prison yard and filling them full of holes. They should never be allowed to be out of prison or even alive. I know there is something somewhere but I realy dont want to hunt that says once they commit this crime they are x% more likely to do it over and over again. How fair is that to just let them go!

It is not, fair...oh the frustration that cops have for making the arrest and they get a slap on the wrist...But the amazing thing is that any of them make it out of jail, once they get there. Child molesters, don't fair well in prison.

 

[gitana1]

I vote castration, or round them up and put them in g-tmo bay. There are SO many sex-offenders here in San Diego, I can't keep up. They're as close as a mile away from my child's school. Yes, I'm an obsessed over bearing, protective parent. I drop him off, I pick him up, I drive him to his friends house. I don't think this kids feet have ever hit the pavement.

Maybe when he's 18

Mel

And it's a darn shame. I had freedom as a child. We played and developed away from the constant surveillance of parents. But, it's just not worth the risk to allow that kind of freedom with what we know today. There was so much kooky stuff happening in my neighborhood as a child - stuff that could have easily led to the situation we see with Somer. But, our parents did not know the risks the way we do now. (I also wholeheartedly agree with the poster above, can't remember who, who said society's isolationism and unwillingness to get involved and be real neighbors and caretakers for others' children has increased the risk).
But, I think we can immediately reduce that risk, and fairly easily. Why the he!! do we have all these registered sex offenders to worry about? Why the he!! are they on the street at all?
We have to start really becoming activists for kids and demanding that predators who harm children, whether their own or someone else's, be incarcerated for LIFE.
These monsters are so dangerous to the lives and souls of our kids. They breed more just like them as well. Nothing will stop them. Most people seem to know that. Lawmakers seem to know that. So what is the problem? Why are putting up with minimal sentences for hideous crimes against children? 7 years, for example, for sexual battery of a minor? WTH?
And another thing, before I get off my soap box, instead of calling these crimes by euphemistic sounding names, such as LL battery, lets start calling them what they are: Gross sexual perversion and destruction of a child. Rape of a baby. Etc. And lets start making it easy to see exactly who these creeps are, on the registries, such as: "Sikes, child molester, child rapist, pedophile".
I am so outraged right now. I wonder if people will look back at humanity a thousand years from now and think, "Geez, they really didn't care much for their kids."
We can't stop all of this but we can sure as heck make some simple changes that will create a much safer world for our babies.

 

[Bewildered Gram]

((HUGS)) to nursebeemee, I lived in the area of northern Ohio until I was six and then our family moved down more northeastern,still in Ohio. Two years ago in Akron, my nephew who was a cab driver was murdered in his cab, shot in the back of his head, and they found the perp and he was a juvenile. These crimes are just horrendous!

 

[not_my_kids]

Instead of just hollering about the sick SOB's, let's do something about it.
I don't like them, you don't like them.
But laws don't get passed, statutes don't get revised, parole isn't denied because we sit here and complain. We have to take it out there into the world.
Into the heart and mind of every single lawmaker and lobbyist and judge in this country, not that I'd mind an international effort. Make them see that today it was Somer, and last week it was another child, and last month, another. But the bigshots don't care, because it has never been THEIR child. It's always somebody else's child. So let's make them see that it could be their child. Any one of us, regardless, of job, title, money, marital status.
Let's throw out the idea of a village raising a child and get the whole country in on this.
Face it America, it's time to put up or shut up!

 

[tiredblondy]

Nightline is covering missing children right now...Jacob Wetterling's mom is on...That's how I got started with Abducted Children

 

[nursebeeme]

thanks for all the hugs! Tina's family needs them more. In fact, tomorrow I plan on starting a thread for her case again. Did you guys know that Robert Buell, the perp who was alleged, but not completely connected, to her case ate an olive pit before his death hoping he would turn into a tree eternal? Talk ABOUT SICK!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks again for the hugs from all. And sorry for the oversharing on my part. THIS IS ABOUT SOMER. I am in no way or means a thread hijacker! I just wanted to say that this is why I am here for her and other lost kids..... they touch my heart and I want to help in any way I can........................

 

[cleo612]

I'm all for dead, forget wasting tax payer $$$$ on castration, housing them in our prisons and studying their pathetic brains to see what makes them tick. I say justice should be swift, trial and conviction within 90 days, no appeals, and certain death within 120 days of the crime of killing a child. No three strikes you're out, no registry, and not a chance in hell they will ever harm another child! Cruel? Maybe but I'm fed up...I've had it. If they have killed a child, I want them all dead, flat and simple. I think once we start executing them rapidly, those who might offend or are thinking about offending just might learn how to control their urges. :furious::furious::furious:

A click on the Thanks button was simply not enough, momt.

I would like to give you a STANDING OVATION for that post.

 

[CHICANA]

I have a theory on another difference between now and when we were little that impacts the rise in attacks on children. I had, and I bet most of us had, neighbors who knew every move we all made, and not only made sure our parents knew what we were up to, but had no problem making sure we stayed in line. Today, people don't pay attention to the people around them. Alot of parents have such a "not my angel" attitude that if a neighbor went to their door, they are told off for suggesting someones "perfect child" did wrong, so people don't bother. I had a neighbor all us kids in the neighborhood called Nebnose Rose. We all hated her, but our parents loved her. Nobody had a problem telling someone elses kid to cut out the bs or they would get a spank. Not these days, you can't dare correct bad behavior because for all you know the parents might be even worse than the kid as far as behavior goes.
I have no problem telling any kid I see doing wrong to cut it out, or kid not being safe to stop what they are doing. My kids say it's embarrassing, but I don't give a flip. I have made a point of knowing not just my immediate neighbors but people throughout the neighborhood. People know who my kids are and who they belong to, if they see them with anyone else they know there is a problem.
Everyone needs to get back to knowing eachother, helping eachother, protecting eachother and supporting eachother. When I was a stay at home Mom, I saw it as my responsibility to keep an eye on the neighborhood kids whose parents were at work. Their parents were out doing what they had to do, not their fault. I was lucky to be there. They probably think I was Nebnose Rose, but I didn't care. Back to our roots, IMO would help alot.

I remember getting told what to do/not do by the neighbors. My mom never got mad at the neighbors for telling on me, she got mad at ME, and I got in even more trouble for being a brat in public.
Thank you for keeping an eye on the neighborhood kids, I'm sure those working parents (I wish I could afford to stay home) really appreciate it.

 

[gitana1]

There's a poster with the signature name of GladysKravitz on W/S. Remember her from the old Bewitched series. She was always looking out her windows and knew what was going on with everyone in the neighborhood. I think we need to go back to the days when we all did a little window snooping, especially when there are kids playing in their front yards, walking home from school, and wandering off from the unwatchful eye of their parents.

I hear you. I am one of the nosy people. Anything slightly funky and I'm out my door making sure it's okay. And if I see parents not attending to their children, I tell them. It happens in my neighborhood all the time - a baby younger than two being allowed to wander into the street ahead of her dad, a street where cars whip fast around the corner - I went out and scolded him: "Hey, that's dangerous! You need to hold your baby's hand! She could get hit by a car!" "Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." "Don't apologize to me! Take care of your kid!" Another time, a toddler on a balcony, positioning her body halfway through the bars and easily able to fall out. I marched up to her mom's apartment and let her know - "Your baby is in serious danger of falling through the bars. I don't want to see you crying when the ambulance comes to take her away." Etc.
They may not like me, but I have to get involved when I can (but always safely, cause' there are some nuts out there). Websleuthers are great at this, I think. Now, how do we get the rest of the country to do the same?

 

[Hippy Chick]

I just got to sit down (long day) but i had read today @ work that they found a little childs body this is sad I can't imagine how her mom & her family must feel. I have a grown daughter and thinking back to when she was 7 this is truely heartbreaking. i think violent, predetory SO hould be put away for the rest of their lives and not be given ANY free pass out of jail cards. They say its for good behavior(PLEASE) The sex offender list I feel @ this time is to broad and so many people look after the guys that had sex w their girlfriends him 18 her 16 or got caught urinating at Mardi Gras , they really don't have enough people to mointor them all so why don't we keep these people off the list and the ones that really need to be there watched doublely close. Also the prisons with people doing time for posession of weed let those people go and lock these perverts up instead. Makes since to me. When will our law makers get a clue and use some common sence. Sorry for the rant but I am so mad, hurt and angry over another innocent child dead @ the hands of yet another I could scream

 

[mysticrose]

what is going on in our country right now! I want this wobbly moon to go away!!

We had an attempted abduction of a middle school boy.

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=7076408

and an abduction and rape of a high school student.

http://www.khou.com/topstories/stories/khou091021_nlc_conroe-student-abducted-raped.23d60a948.html

We have a Bank Robbery and a man arrested for child abuse resulting in injury here tonight just read on our news...