GUILTY MD - Sarah Foxwell, 11, Salisbury, 23 Dec 2009

[mom_of_five]

I cant fathon how anyone can think this aunt is guiltless? She was this childs GUARDIAN... Do I seriously need to define the word?

These women need to learn that their bad choices that put these children at risk have consequences other than fund raisers. IMO.

Again, a child may still be alive if someone in her life cared more about her than themselves.

OF COURSE it is the perps fault. OF COURSE. But IMO, these women share the blame. Who should be held accountable for protecting them if not their mothers, or guardians? If you are in a car accident that could be avoided in a reasonable driving manner and you slam into another vehicle when you had time to stop, this accident will be deemed your fault as well for not reacting properly to the circumstances.

Is a child not worth as much as a car? Due dilligence. So many of these children were/are at risk because the people responsible for them did NOT practice due dilligence in protecting them. AND YES, IMO their negligence should be prosecuted. OF COURSE they have years of guilt ahead for what they should have done... jail or prosecution may not compare with what they have to live with... SO WHAT!

Not to mention that I can't imagine anyone would tell a KNOWN car thief where to find the key to his/her car. And this is a CHILD. :furious:

 

[sniperacer]

There is a difference in handing him the key and showing him or telling him where it was hidden...

either way gives a RSO entry into YOUR house where children live and sleep.

Either way, his access to this house was given, was implied... if she told him, showed him, or gave him the key.

Mom's - there really is no difference. Once someone knows where a key is hidden, it is a 5 minute visit to the key shop to get a duplicate. At which point un-hidding the key will not matter.

Arg.

 

[Patty G]

Hard to belive that this child's body was found burned and the focus is on the aunt and not the child predator murderer. By the way, if the kids are removed from her custody, where do you propose they be placed? just wondering. 3rd time asking TIA

IF the children need to be removed from the custody of the Aunt, more then likely they would go into foster care. IMO, Social Services needs to do a thorough evaluation regarding the Aunt to make sure she is even qualified to care for the children. As well as LE doing a through investigation on the Aunt regarding her whereabouts the evening Sarah was taken from the home.

The SO is in jail and it is up to the courts to deal with him based on the evidence they have against him. As far as I am concerned, he is basically finished and will eventually be sentenced.

 

[mom_of_five]

It is my belief that all of us here understand the perpetrator is the primary responsible party in Sarah's death. He has been arrested and will face trial. It's natural for us to wonder 'why' such horrible things happen to innocent children. That inevitably leads us down the road of how the had access to the child in question. Sometimes it's just a horrendous accident. Unfortunately, there have been many times (as all of us WSers are painfully aware) in which the child could have clearly been more protected. I agree that, in this particular case, allowing a known RSO the knowledge of where to find the key to a home full of (apparently unsupervised) children was not a protective measure.

 

[Patty G]

Some of us do want to discuss the aunt, because this case starts first within the home and the people the aunt surrounded herself with in the first place and what she did and didn't do.

I just learned today how Sarah was found, and for me, I don't even want to go into the graphics of how this was done. It is devasting enough to learn this was done to Sarah.

 

[Amster]

Hard to belive that this child's body was found burned and the focus is on the aunt and not the child predator murderer. By the way, if the kids are removed from her custody, where do you propose they be placed? just wondering. 3rd time asking TIA

I think the kids should be placed with someone who won't invite RSO's into their home....provide access to a key.....

Or, maybe, just leave the kids where they are and pray that the aunt will next time hide the key in a different location after allowing a RSO into her home. I wonder if she "gets it" yet that her ex bf wasn't interested in her? Wonder what she saw in him that caused her to throw all caution to the wind? Did he pay particular attention to the little girls and she think he was great "dad" material??

The killer is in custody. He'll get a trial and all the legal stuff. I want to know what the aunt was thinking. Where was she that night? What exactly did she know about the killer? WHY DID HE KNOW WHERE SHE KEPT THE SPARE KEY?

 

[Dee10]

This was dated the 26th.

Earlier in the day, law enforcement officials said they were talking with other potential victims of Leggs.

"We have been interviewing possible additional victims," Lewis said at an afternoon briefing. "There are several."

He did not provide additional details.

While many of the groups that scoured the Eastern Shore countryside all day were made up mostly of civilians, the body was discovered by a search team of law enforcement officers, including sheriff's deputies, Maryland state troopers and Salisbury police.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bal-md.abduction26dec26,0,7980679.story

 

[sadnpod]

What makes you think she 'told' 'showed' or 'gave' him the key? How do you know he didn't observe the children one day or find it on his own or cleverly got the info.

I have a suggestion - please go read up on the profile of a child sex predator - maybe that info will help understand how they operate. TIA

I dont know that he didnt observe the children one day getting the key.

I DO KNOW he shouldnt have been allowed access to OBSERVE them at all!!!!

I have a suggestion as well... read the definition of mother, guardian, caretaker. I know what a child predator is and how they operate. Women let the majority of them in their environment and that is how they get access.

 

[sniperacer]

It is my belief that all of us here understand the perpetrator is the primary responsible party in Sarah's death. He has been arrested and will face trial. It's natural for us to wonder 'why' such horrible things happen to innocent children. That inevitably leads us down the road of how the had access to the child in question. Sometimes it's just a horrendous accident. Unfortunately, there have been many times (as all of us WSers are painfully aware) in which the child could have clearly been more protected. I agree that, in this particular case, allowing a known RSO the knowledge of where to find the key to a home full of (apparently unsupervised) children was not a protective measure.

Ok, I understand how some of you moms are upset about blaming the aunt...

But here are my "take aways";

1) Mr. Leggs should not have even have known Sarah. Yet the caregiver introduced a stranger that turned out to be a RSO. Her fate was sealed. Do not do this.

2) Do not hide a key. Everyone in the world knows about flower pots, door mats, magnets, fake dog , fake rocks, above light, or watching someone access the key. Do not do this.

3) Train children better. A child should never leave with anyone other than their parents without a scream.

4) Keep children out of harms way as best we can and hope for the best.

 

[sadnpod]

Mom's - there really is no difference. Once someone knows where a key is hidden, it is a 5 minute visit to the key shop to get a duplicate. At which point un-hidding the key will not matter.

Arg.

(sorry,, I guess you couldnt hear my sarcasm)

 

[sadnpod]

Hard to belive that this child's body was found burned and the focus is on the aunt and not the child predator murderer. By the way, if the kids are removed from her custody, where do you propose they be placed? just wondering. 3rd time asking TIA

Seriously eyes, we all know the answer and Im sure you do as well, they would be placed in foster care if there was not a better family environment for them. So.. are we to assume that the care of someone who associates with RSO's is a safer, more suitable environment than foster care?

 

[sniperacer]

(sorry,, I guess you couldnt hear my sarcasm)

Sorry. No one picks up my sarcasm either. :snooty:

Mom's - there really is no difference. Once someone knows where a key is hidden, it is a 5 minute visit to the key shop to get a duplicate. At which point un-hidding the key will not matter.

I was just stating the obvious, which apparently is not obvious.

 

[OrdinaryLife]

I am totally baffled how this case has evolved around the Mother and not the who kidnapped/murdered this child....

 

[sadnpod]

I am totally baffled how this case has evolved around the Mother and not the who kidnapped/murdered this child....

I think its because we all know who he is... we all know what he is about, he is an RSO, we dont need to dig into his background to know this.. its right out in the open. We dont need to pick him apart to see why he did this. The answer is obvious. He is a sick piece of scum, he did it because he could. So the question to me is why could he? How could he? Who let him in or out? How was he able to get to this child? The judicial system. The guardian.

Someone said earlier that " maybe he is just not that into you.. maybe its your child(ren)." All moms/guardians of children need to give this some thought. Men speak up... seriously.. there are not many decent men I know who would consider dating a woman with 5 kids. That doesnt make them bad, just clear headed IMO. IF you are a single parent with 3 kids, 5 kids, however many kids you need to seriously ask yourself if it is YOU they are into. Not saying you arent worth it, just saying any man who is interested in that arrangement should be questioned thoroughly by you as to what their motives are.

 

[sniperacer]

I am totally baffled how this case has evolved around the Mother and not the who kidnapped/murdered this child....

LOL!! It has NOT "evolved around the Mother". Aunt maybe, but the mother has her own picadilos.

 

[dearmont]

Working on a memorial plaque to be placed (if permitted) at the site where Sarah was found. If anyone would like to offer suggestions on the memorial wording/layout, please do so.

 

[eyes4crime]

I am totally baffled how this case has evolved around the Mother and not the who kidnapped/murdered this child....

As someone mentioned earlier - this sounds like what the murderous predator's defense would present in court. Maybe it's an early view of what's to come. And since I don't care to defend a pedophile predator - I'm out of here. have a wonderful day. mho

 

[concentric]

Apparently he told her to get her toothbrush. Wonder what he said to her, when he woke her up?

 

[OrdinaryLife]

LOL!! It has NOT "evolved around the Mother". Aunt maybe, but the mother has her own picadilos.

So, now semantics of Aunt vs Mother. The woman was the legal guardian and was "Mom" to Sarah.

Frankly, I am lost as to how a victim of murder, their family, is responsible for her death at the hands of someone who planned it and carried it out.

Becoming very disillusioned as to what our part of victim/family advocacy is all about here......

 

[eyes4crime]

Apparently he told her to get her toothbrush. Wonder what he said to her, when he woke her up?

concentric - a link to an article earlier said they no longer believe the toothbrush found along with a lolly pop in his van belongs to Sarah. imo this murderous child predator has many more victims than Sarah. MOO