There's no doubt that the rise of Facebook has changed these cases and that Facebook can have a real world effect on them. This is not the first case we've seen this happen and it won't be the last. The Hailey Dunn case is probably the most extreme...different family factions and locals have fought on Facebook and LE has issued at least one statement complaining that FB causes serious problems for the investigation. There are reasons that Websleuths is so heavily moderated...one is common decency but these kinds of issues, including defamation, are very real for Tricia.
Reading the Considering Everything page, I can understand how John's family gets upset with what's said. The people on the other side also get sensitive about being targeted for what they write, it's easy for people to bristle when they feel like they are being attacked. If, god forbid, I were in John's family's place I'd probably just avoid FB altogether and try to let that stuff roll off my back but there's no doubt that the FB chatter has a real life component. I'm sure John and his family hear about his guilt frequently in their daily life. I can imagine how difficult that must be to deal with. I also understand that people following the case sincerely care about Katelyn and justice.
I just haven't seen anything that makes me budge off the fence on this one. I just hope there are answers soon.
Very well said! The internet, in general, has changed a ton with how these investigations work. I think whenever any of these cases start - the majority of those involved (whether innocent or guilty, quiet or outspoken)
never imagine that intimate details of their life, which was once an anonymous speck, would be picked apart on a global scale. Because really, it's a crapshoot - given the sad reality that most missing persons cases still do not gain national attention. I doubt small-town JC would have ever imagined - in those early hours of calling 911 - that within a week he'd be in Nancy Grace's hotseat, and that people would be drawing inferences from live journal posts from 6 years ago. We know the internet is public domain, but for the vast majority of us, that still means "people who know us."
I am not saying that we
shouldn't be doing anything to sleuth - but it does make me very happy that Websleuths is so carefully moderated and not a giant rumor mill full of name calling a biases that we tend to see elsewhere.
I just wonder though - if my husband went missing, and I had to call 911... I think my expectation in those early moments would be that the police would come help and we'd find him. No one ever expects to be a headline case. And in the beginning, I think most are happy when they start getting media attention, because when the local news does a quick piece, it really does help spread the word. I think most of us could easily mis-step at this point; I'd probably stammer and say the wrong thing, or contradict myself out of nerves. And what if he were now missing for a few weeks and presumed dead? I'm not named as a suspect, but people are slamming me all over internet boards, digging up posts I'd made 10 years ago, "sleuthing" where I live and work... I know it's easy to say "anything to find my husband," but how far does that extend? Because if I were already grieving what is statistically likely to be a deceased love one, and still without closure, it sure would make my blood boil when some facebook poster figures out my second cousin has a criminal record, or that my dear grandmother owns a boat (or whatever).
I'm still on the fence about JC at this point, but I'm just saying that I
get it. For anyone involved, to have their lives picked apart by strangers like that, would be completely overwhelming. And think about how you feel if it were your child, your husband, or your dear old grandmother... JMO.
