I just wanted to take a moment to add my thanks to Wondergirl for linking the engrossing series of articles Angels & Demons about the horrific 1989 murders of Jo, Michelle and Christe Rogers in Tampa, Florida. It didn't take me long into reading it to see why the writer -- Thomas French of the St. Petersburg Times, won the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing for this excellent work. It was lengthy to get through with everything else I had going on over the weekend, but well worth the time, and I encourage anyone who has yet to read it to check it out.
http://reprints.longform.org/angels-demons
More importantly, I believe it would be very beneficial to this case if the investigators in Indiana familiarized themselves with the Rogers case and took some lessons from it to apply here. Consider the following Angels & Demons quote from the lead Detective in the Rogers case, Glen Moore of the St. Petersburg PD -- speaking at a press conference before releasing handwriting samples of the suspect on billboards on July 30, 1992 (the suspect was captured from a tip generated from this decision not long after in Sept. 1992), on justifying why they decided to release more information to the public than they normally ever would have, as a case in point:
“
Normally our policy is not to discuss evidence, or have the public view evidence, in unsolved homicide cases,” Moore said about the handwriting. ”However, the Rogers case is so unique, and the necessity to capture the killer so compelling, the need to display this evidence overrides normal procedures.”
Longtime Pinellas County commissioner, Barbara Sheen Todd was next and as writer Thomas French put it:
"When it was her turn to speak, Todd was sincere and impassioned. She said exactly what was needed."
“The thing to emphasize,” she said, “is there is no doubt this person will kill again.”
Sadly, Mrs. Todd was already correct when she made this statement, as the animal they were searching for, Oba Chandler, is now known to have committed -- at least -- one other murder after the Rogers triple homicide in June of 1989 as his DNA linked him to a murder in Coral springs in Nov. 1990. How many other victims may be out there we don't know as he wasn't finally apprehended until Sept. 1992.
IMO, and I believe it is the opinion of many of the Sleuthers in my perusing the thousands of posts on these 27 threads, we are faced with a similar situation here, in that, it sure doesn't stand to reason that the suspect who abducted and brutally murdered Abby & Libby hasn't committed a violent crime towards someone else prior to this major league event. This was not a rookie committing a starter crime. This was a cold, calculated killer most likely escalating from previous heinous crimes. And while heartbreakingly, we can't go back in time to prevent what's happened, the clock is ticking to catch this guy before he acts out again. And who knows who or where he'll strike, as he most likely will take his weird act on the road. And nobody wants that blood on their hands because they didn't do everything possible to take this out of circulation and throw him in a cage ASAP.
That is why I am urging the LE decision makers on this case to take a lesson from the Rogers case and please give the public something more to work with so that we can help you get him out of the game before he adds to his crimes. I understand very well the arguments over protecting the case that LE must build against the suspect, but I also believe that -- just like in the Rogers case, we have a unique situation here with two young girls brutally murdered with no known witnesses and a suspect who appears to be experienced and will most likely act out viciously again in the near future if he's not brought down. And that warrants marshalling the huge public resource of highly motivated people who are -- right now -- following this case closely and want to help LE in anyway possible to bring this to justice.
We are now a month in and I worry about this case growing cold which not only means that, Abby & Libby won't receive the justice that they so richly deserve -- which would be an absolute abomination, but it also would serve to further embolden this sick *advertiser censored* going forward and you can bet the next time, he'll fine tune things where he doesn't leave any video or audio captures behind, making him even harder to catch. But let's face it folks, today we're a month in here, and even with about a quarter of a million dollar reward attached to this , he's still in the wind, and that's not very promising.
And it's because -- unfortunately, a couple grainy, highly pixelated pictures of a guy bundled up and looking downward, and a three word audio snippet, just isn't going to cut it in helping the public -- one of LEs greatest assets of eyes, ears and associated memories, find this . There is no doubt that Websleuths has some very dedicated and talented individuals who do a remarkable job of bringing their unique abilities and perspectives to bear in trying to assist LE in getting the bad guys out of circulation and giving a voice to the victims, and I find myself continually impressed with these Sleuthers efforts and always look forward to their thoughts and visual displays. That said, some other stuff that's posted here borders on the absurd. But you've got to take the good with the bad I suppose. And both have been on full display over these 27 threads. But I think when your dealing with such a dearth of information -- such as 3 word audio snippets, and poor quality images -- like the two blurry video captures of BG, and you chew on it over and over again, sometimes you find yourself overreaching and seeing, hearing, thinking things that aren't there, so while I'm fairly certain -- or at least I should hope -- that everyone's intentions are well meaning, I think the reason for this is that until LE gives us something more to work with -- as much as I hate this expression...sometimes it seems that we're beating a dead horse.
So once more, I urge LE to help us help you, and please give us a little more to go on so that one of us out here in the public can give you the tip that brings this homicidal predator to justice before he starts feeling comfortable and starts feeling that itch to act out once again, which we absolutely can't allow to occur. But until he's caught, he's out there in our world, with our children, and that's something that mustn't be allowed to stand. We can't let this freak walk off and disappear as he blends into the crowd like Hannibal Lector at the end of Silence of the Lambs, off to kill again -- that scene always creeped me out! And if anyone knows someone on the LE task force for this case -- or one of their family or friends, please encourage them to take some time to either familiarize themselves with, or refamiliarize themselves with, the Rogers case as it's so eloquently recreated in Angels & Demons, so that maybe they can see another path to reaching a successful end to this case. And thank-you again Wondergirl for linking this award winning series of articles in the first place. I love a lot of you for what you do, and my hat is off to your efforts. Now hopefully if we can get LE to give us a little more, someone out there can shine a bright light on this creature who's trying to remain in the shadows from where he can pounce again, and LE can instead snare him and make him pay for his crimes. Now that would be a beautiful day. Here's wishing to see it soon. We owe it to Abby & Libby and all of the children out there who depend on us to make this a better, safer world. Somewhere where two girls can go on a simple hike and safely make it home again. In America, is that asking too much anymore? It can't be that way...it just can't be.
can't ever say websleuths doesn't teach me lots of random information! 
