Anniegirl
Have you ever thrown a fist full of glitter in the
Tabitha- still waiting for you to come home..
TN TN - Tabitha Tuders, 13, Nashville, 29 Apr 2003
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johnny
New Member
I did received permission from Matt Pulley and the Nashville Scene to re-print this article.
Missing
Mayor, council, city fail to help with Tabitha Tuders reward money
By Matt Pulle
Just what kind of job have Metro Government and the people of Nashville done in helping to solve the Tabitha Tuders case? Neither the Metro Council nor Mayor Bill Purcell can figure out how--or even if--they want to contribute to the reward leading to her safe return, which now stands at a paltry $10,000, all from private donations.
"The mayor talked to the police chief, who did not think that that additional reward money is necessary," says Deputy Mayor Bill Phillips.
Other cities find a way to generate more reward funds. For instance, when Heaven Lashae Ross, from Northport, Ala., turned up missing last month, over $50,000 poured into the reward total. And nearly $300,000 was raised for anyone with information leading to the return of Elizabeth Smart.
On April 29, Tabitha Tuders, a sweet 13-year-old girl with sandy blond hair and blue eyes, disappeared from her East Nashville neighborhood without a trace. In one of its last acts before the August elections, the Metro Council unanimously approved a resolution requesting that Metro Government contribute $10,000 to the reward total, which would effectively double the current amount. When the legislation arrived on the mayor's desk, Purcell did not take out his pen and sign it. Instead, he shuffled it to his legal director, Karl Dean, for an opinion. Dean replied that the mayor does not have the authority to pay the reward. Instead, the council has to submit an ordinance--not a resolution--authorizing the payment.
The mayor, however, has no plans to ask the new council to submit new legislation for the reward fund. For its part, the family has been trying to figure out the fate of the resolution for weeks. Purcell's office has not called Tabitha's family to explain why the mayor did not sign the reward money resolution.
"It was unanimously approved by the Metro Council and then we haven't heard another word about it," says Johnny White, a spokesperson for the family who has been aiding in the search. "We'd call and ask questions and nobody seems to know what's going on."
Replied Phillips, "That's the first we heard that the family called Metro." As far as why the Tuders family has not been communicated with, Phillips says, "The police department is in constant contact with the family."
Meanwhile, many members of the Metro Council assumed that once they approved the resolution, the reward total would be increased. "There was nothing in our deliberations that gave us the indication that the mayor's office had a problem with it," says now former at-large Council member Leo Waters. "We felt like this was in the public's good and once it was approved Metro government would add to the reward."
The miscommunication over the reward ordinance is symptomatic of Metro's efforts to crack the case. After Tabitha turned up missing, the Metro Police Department held on to the theory that she might have run away, which effectively dampened public concern over her plight. Police officials might have had evidence that suggested she left home voluntarily, but her family and friends insisted from the first night that she would never have done that.
A recent straight-A student, Tabitha hardly fit the profile of a runaway. After two months, acting Police Chief Deborah Faulkner switched gears, announcing that the investigation would focus on the likelihood of foul play.
Even then the police department struggled to make up for lost time as it belatedly launched an exhaustive search. As it did so, officials seemed to cast doubt on the family. Again and again, they told reporters how the police department did not know she was missing until 10 or so hours after she was last seen. In fact, the father woke his daughter up on the morning in question, but then he left before his daughter did for his job as a short haul trucker. Earlier that morning, Tabitha's mother had already departed for Tom Joy Elementary School, where she works as a cook in the school cafeteria. Neither parent had any reason to suspect that their youngest daughter never made it to school that morning until she did not come home on the bus later that afternoon.
On the plus side, police detectives have worked exhaustively to try to crack the case, scouring local housing projects, interviewing pimps and sex offenders, and making sure that fresh eyes continually examine old evidence. They've also tracked a flurry of leads, some of which have placed her in a Memphis prostitution ring, another at a Red Roof Inn in Williamson County. None of them have proved fruitful--some of them have been little more than urban legends--but the department has carefully checked out each one.
When Tabitha first turned up missing, various child search agencies were startled at how few volunteers gave money to the reward fund or turned up to look for the missing girl. Few members of the city's business and donor classes, who can whip out a five-figure check over dinner to their favorite charity or political fundraiser, have contributed any significant dollars to the reward total. Contrast that to how Northport Alabama, on the outskirts of Tuscaloosa, bound together to help search for their missing girl.
According to the Birmingham Post Herald, more than 100 businesses gave all sorts of helpful items to the family, including ice and tents that nearly surround the girl's home. In addition, a local businessman, Stan Pate, is offering a $50,000 reward for the missing girl's return, which is more than five times the reward money offered for Tabitha.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- By Matt Pulle
Missing
Mayor, council, city fail to help with Tabitha Tuders reward money
By Matt Pulle
Just what kind of job have Metro Government and the people of Nashville done in helping to solve the Tabitha Tuders case? Neither the Metro Council nor Mayor Bill Purcell can figure out how--or even if--they want to contribute to the reward leading to her safe return, which now stands at a paltry $10,000, all from private donations.
"The mayor talked to the police chief, who did not think that that additional reward money is necessary," says Deputy Mayor Bill Phillips.
Other cities find a way to generate more reward funds. For instance, when Heaven Lashae Ross, from Northport, Ala., turned up missing last month, over $50,000 poured into the reward total. And nearly $300,000 was raised for anyone with information leading to the return of Elizabeth Smart.
On April 29, Tabitha Tuders, a sweet 13-year-old girl with sandy blond hair and blue eyes, disappeared from her East Nashville neighborhood without a trace. In one of its last acts before the August elections, the Metro Council unanimously approved a resolution requesting that Metro Government contribute $10,000 to the reward total, which would effectively double the current amount. When the legislation arrived on the mayor's desk, Purcell did not take out his pen and sign it. Instead, he shuffled it to his legal director, Karl Dean, for an opinion. Dean replied that the mayor does not have the authority to pay the reward. Instead, the council has to submit an ordinance--not a resolution--authorizing the payment.
The mayor, however, has no plans to ask the new council to submit new legislation for the reward fund. For its part, the family has been trying to figure out the fate of the resolution for weeks. Purcell's office has not called Tabitha's family to explain why the mayor did not sign the reward money resolution.
"It was unanimously approved by the Metro Council and then we haven't heard another word about it," says Johnny White, a spokesperson for the family who has been aiding in the search. "We'd call and ask questions and nobody seems to know what's going on."
Replied Phillips, "That's the first we heard that the family called Metro." As far as why the Tuders family has not been communicated with, Phillips says, "The police department is in constant contact with the family."
Meanwhile, many members of the Metro Council assumed that once they approved the resolution, the reward total would be increased. "There was nothing in our deliberations that gave us the indication that the mayor's office had a problem with it," says now former at-large Council member Leo Waters. "We felt like this was in the public's good and once it was approved Metro government would add to the reward."
The miscommunication over the reward ordinance is symptomatic of Metro's efforts to crack the case. After Tabitha turned up missing, the Metro Police Department held on to the theory that she might have run away, which effectively dampened public concern over her plight. Police officials might have had evidence that suggested she left home voluntarily, but her family and friends insisted from the first night that she would never have done that.
A recent straight-A student, Tabitha hardly fit the profile of a runaway. After two months, acting Police Chief Deborah Faulkner switched gears, announcing that the investigation would focus on the likelihood of foul play.
Even then the police department struggled to make up for lost time as it belatedly launched an exhaustive search. As it did so, officials seemed to cast doubt on the family. Again and again, they told reporters how the police department did not know she was missing until 10 or so hours after she was last seen. In fact, the father woke his daughter up on the morning in question, but then he left before his daughter did for his job as a short haul trucker. Earlier that morning, Tabitha's mother had already departed for Tom Joy Elementary School, where she works as a cook in the school cafeteria. Neither parent had any reason to suspect that their youngest daughter never made it to school that morning until she did not come home on the bus later that afternoon.
On the plus side, police detectives have worked exhaustively to try to crack the case, scouring local housing projects, interviewing pimps and sex offenders, and making sure that fresh eyes continually examine old evidence. They've also tracked a flurry of leads, some of which have placed her in a Memphis prostitution ring, another at a Red Roof Inn in Williamson County. None of them have proved fruitful--some of them have been little more than urban legends--but the department has carefully checked out each one.
When Tabitha first turned up missing, various child search agencies were startled at how few volunteers gave money to the reward fund or turned up to look for the missing girl. Few members of the city's business and donor classes, who can whip out a five-figure check over dinner to their favorite charity or political fundraiser, have contributed any significant dollars to the reward total. Contrast that to how Northport Alabama, on the outskirts of Tuscaloosa, bound together to help search for their missing girl.
According to the Birmingham Post Herald, more than 100 businesses gave all sorts of helpful items to the family, including ice and tents that nearly surround the girl's home. In addition, a local businessman, Stan Pate, is offering a $50,000 reward for the missing girl's return, which is more than five times the reward money offered for Tabitha.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- By Matt Pulle
Police review tape for sign of Tabitha
http://tennessean.com/local/archives/03/09/39051117.shtml?Element_ID=39051117
http://tennessean.com/local/archives/03/09/39051117.shtml?Element_ID=39051117
johnny
New Member
The tape was given to the police on friday June 06 and the video tape was taped on the Saturday prior. We have viewed the tape and blown the pictures up and the family has also viewed the tape.
In an earlier posting you will see where a man was staying at the same hotel who was planning a kidnapping of a young girl.
http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/03/08/38055138.shtml?Element_ID=38055138
Ginsburg also allegedly told the cooperating witness that ''he was in town to arrange a kidnapping of a child who was going to be taken to California and placed with an older man,'' something that the FBI is investigating.
After the Wednesday meeting at Shoney's, agents arrested Ginsburg at the Brentwood Red Roof Inn
In an earlier posting you will see where a man was staying at the same hotel who was planning a kidnapping of a young girl.
http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/03/08/38055138.shtml?Element_ID=38055138
Ginsburg also allegedly told the cooperating witness that ''he was in town to arrange a kidnapping of a child who was going to be taken to California and placed with an older man,'' something that the FBI is investigating.
After the Wednesday meeting at Shoney's, agents arrested Ginsburg at the Brentwood Red Roof Inn
johnny
New Member
Serial rapist's victims tell their stories on television
http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny--captivewomen0908sep08.story
http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny--captivewomen0908sep08.story
johnny
New Member
Tennessee's AMBER ALERT is a statewide program that partners the State's law enforcement community, media broadcasting agencies and the public in locating abducted children. It provides the public with immediate and up-to-date information about a child abduction via widespread media broadcasts and solicits the public's help in the safe and swift return of the child. The State's AMBER ALERT is modeled after the nationwide AMBER Plan, which was developed in 1996 after nine-year-old Amber Hagerman was abducted and brutally murdered near her home in Arlington, Texas. Under the AMBER ALERT concept, the State's law enforcement community employs the assistance of local radio and television stations to interrupt normal programming and request public assistance in locating children who have just been abducted. Emergency bulletins and photographs of the missing child are relayed from law enforcement agencies to the media through the Emergency Alert System and Locater Poster E-mail system.
TBI's Missing Children
Center for Missing and Exploited Children
The Tennessee Clearinghouse for Missing and Exploited Children considers the disappearance of a minor child to be an investigative priority whether it is a result of unknown circumstances, a runaway incident, or a non-family abduction. In each of these incidents, based upon the specific case circumstances, department heads and supervisors must make decisions about the proper level of manpower and resources needed in order to bring the situation to a successful conclusion. While each of these incidents has the potential for harm to the child, the non-family abduction is the one situation that experience has shown will most likely result in the injury, sexual assault and/or death of the child.
In those situations in which a child is known or thought to have been abducted by a non-family member, it is the sheriff or police department's policy to respond in a manner that holds the greatest chance for the safe return of the child and the apprehension of the suspect. This policy includes an aggressive investigation that is conducted in a timely manner, that is adequately staffed with manpower and resources, and that follows a comprehensive investigative plan. This investigative plan will be known as the AMBER ALERT Protocol.
Return to Top
The purpose of this plan is to establish procedures to be followed in a child's abduction. This plan will outline the department's response in a manner that holds the greatest chance for the safe return of the child and the apprehension of the suspect. The first few hours of the investigation of child abduction may determine whether the eventual outcome is successful or not. Experience has shown that in cases where children have been victims of stranger abductions, there exists a "window of opportunity" lasting only a few hours in which police are likely to successfully recover the child unharmed. To capitalize on this opportunity, it is imperative that the investigation be "front loaded" with as much intense investigative efforts and resources as possible.
The reason for stranger abductions are many and varied. The motivation involved may be related to sexual gratification, narcotics, revenge, money or any other provocation the mind can imagine. It is therefore crucial that all investigative units in the department research their respective activities and files to determine if any connection or motive can be established related to the child's disappearance.
Return to Top
An AMBER ALERT must be submitted by a law enforcement agency where the following conditions are met:
To activate an AMBER ALERT, there must be accurate information on at least one of the following:
1) description of child
2) description of suspect
3) description of vehicle
Child must be 17 years of age or younger
There must be a belief that the child is in imminent danger of bodily injury or death. The following factors may be considered as placing the child in imminent danger:
The missing child is believed to be out of the zone of safety for his or her age and development stage.
The missing child is drug dependent, on prescribed medication and/or illegal substances, and the dependency is potentially life threatening.
The missing child has been absent from the home for more than 24 hours before the incident was reported to the police.
Based on available information, it is believed that the missing child is in a life-threatening situation.
Based on available information, it is believed that the missing child is in the company of adults who could endanger his or her welfare.
Now someone tell me how Tabitha didn't qualify?????
TBI's Missing Children
Center for Missing and Exploited Children
The Tennessee Clearinghouse for Missing and Exploited Children considers the disappearance of a minor child to be an investigative priority whether it is a result of unknown circumstances, a runaway incident, or a non-family abduction. In each of these incidents, based upon the specific case circumstances, department heads and supervisors must make decisions about the proper level of manpower and resources needed in order to bring the situation to a successful conclusion. While each of these incidents has the potential for harm to the child, the non-family abduction is the one situation that experience has shown will most likely result in the injury, sexual assault and/or death of the child.
In those situations in which a child is known or thought to have been abducted by a non-family member, it is the sheriff or police department's policy to respond in a manner that holds the greatest chance for the safe return of the child and the apprehension of the suspect. This policy includes an aggressive investigation that is conducted in a timely manner, that is adequately staffed with manpower and resources, and that follows a comprehensive investigative plan. This investigative plan will be known as the AMBER ALERT Protocol.
Return to Top
The purpose of this plan is to establish procedures to be followed in a child's abduction. This plan will outline the department's response in a manner that holds the greatest chance for the safe return of the child and the apprehension of the suspect. The first few hours of the investigation of child abduction may determine whether the eventual outcome is successful or not. Experience has shown that in cases where children have been victims of stranger abductions, there exists a "window of opportunity" lasting only a few hours in which police are likely to successfully recover the child unharmed. To capitalize on this opportunity, it is imperative that the investigation be "front loaded" with as much intense investigative efforts and resources as possible.
The reason for stranger abductions are many and varied. The motivation involved may be related to sexual gratification, narcotics, revenge, money or any other provocation the mind can imagine. It is therefore crucial that all investigative units in the department research their respective activities and files to determine if any connection or motive can be established related to the child's disappearance.
Return to Top
An AMBER ALERT must be submitted by a law enforcement agency where the following conditions are met:
To activate an AMBER ALERT, there must be accurate information on at least one of the following:
1) description of child
2) description of suspect
3) description of vehicle
Child must be 17 years of age or younger
There must be a belief that the child is in imminent danger of bodily injury or death. The following factors may be considered as placing the child in imminent danger:
The missing child is believed to be out of the zone of safety for his or her age and development stage.
The missing child is drug dependent, on prescribed medication and/or illegal substances, and the dependency is potentially life threatening.
The missing child has been absent from the home for more than 24 hours before the incident was reported to the police.
Based on available information, it is believed that the missing child is in a life-threatening situation.
Based on available information, it is believed that the missing child is in the company of adults who could endanger his or her welfare.
Now someone tell me how Tabitha didn't qualify?????
johnny
New Member
I'll give you the answer ...because she wasn't submitted by Law Enforcement!
johnny
New Member
7 Secrets from the Pros on Keeping Your Children Safe from Abduction & Seduction
Secrets 1-3
1. Child molesters do their homework.
It is common knowledge among law enforcement that child molesters often carefully target their victims. Something as innocent as children's bicycles in the yard is information that will help a child molester find out how many children you have, their sexes, and their ages, according to oe 911 operator.
Other "homework" that molesters do include: targeting children in the morning on their way to school and then stalking them in the afternoon after school. "They will notice," says Major Calvin Jackson, "if a child is alone, if the parents walk them to the bus stop, and they'll look for ways to get in and out of the area quickly and for secluded places into which they can attract the child."
In the words of one child molester, who has since been put to death for abducting and killing many small boys: "On Saturday morning I headed into Portland to find a boy I could spend the day and night molesting, and to experiment on, on Sunday."
One item, which many parents have used, ironically, to keep their children safe has been used as a tool by child molesters and abductors -- the "tot finder" window stickers parents stick on their children's bedroom windows so that firemen could quickly locate the children in case of a fire. " Paret who now know better are not using these "tot finder" stickers any longer," notes Major Jackson.
What's more, molesters know that all kinds of toys, including bikes and video games are excellent ways to "lure" children into their homes. In fact, says Major Jackson, "Their yards often look like playgrounds. They have all of the latest toys, games, and videos like Barney, the Lion King, and Donkey Kong. That's what children want and they want children."
Former child sexual abuse investigator and current Executive Director of the Child Abuse Forensic Institute and a counselor of law, Seth Goldstein, Esq., agrees. He says that many molesters have been apprehended with the tools of their trade on them, in their cars and in their homes. These "tools" include decks of cards, coins, dolls, and candy -- anything they can use to get a child's attention and get them to do what they want.
When one child molester in Austin, Texas, was arrested the police found bikes and other toys in the yard and house. The parents in the neighborhood said they noticed that the single man had these items, but they never thought anything about it.
2. Molesters and abductors plan their lives around attracting children, from where they live to the type of car they drive.
One convicted child molester, now serving a 20-year sentence, admits that when he decided to move from one town to another he picked a house that was near an elementary school and a go-cart amusement park. He was often spotten talking to young boys at the go-cart park and taking them for rides on his motorcycle.
During one investigation of a string of child murders in a Michigan community, law enforcement officers uncovered 782 unreported incidents of attempted or actual molestation from other children. During that investigation, police learned that the type of car most commmonly used by child abductors and molesters in their own cases was a two-door sedan and the most common color was blue. Forthy percent of the molesters/abductors used a two door sedan, because it is the most difficult to escape from. Twenty-sex percent of them felt that blue cars most closely resemble police cars and thereby were the most effective in helping to convince young children that they were law officers and that the child must come with them. What's more, according to Goldstein, is that abductors frequently modified their cars to prevent escape by removing door handles and locks.
Further, it is common knowledge among law enforcement that most child molesters have used "authority lures" at one time or another, by which they falsely represent themselves as figures of authority such as policemen or security guards. Using this lure they convince the child that they must come with them. Along with a blue car, they often own uniforms or at the very minimum a blue shirt and pants, and almost all abductors/molesters carry a fake badge.
3. Child molesters justify their action in their minds and, often, in the children's minds.
This point is brought to stark light from a passage in an investigators' text book written by Goldstein, called The Sexual Exploitation of Children. The book quotes a spokesman for a national pedophile (child molester) association: "The majority of the people who are arrested for molesting children have only given in to the child's constant pleadings for sex. The molester can no longer resist the child's advances. He complains that the problem is the law, that the child is prevented from being sexually satisfied, and that the law should be changed."
Further in a report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, one molester reported that a child, who he fondled while holding in his lap did not say anything, so the man took this to mean the five-year-old was consenting to his actions.
In a television special investigation recently, a habitual molester, in jail for the past six years, explains that he told the boys what he was goig to do before they entered his home and they still came inside, so he feels that they made the choice to participate.
However, child psychologists point out strongly that young children's minds have not developed to the point that they can participate in this type of logic. Just as they are not old enough to drive or to vote, children are not old enough to make decisions on whether to begin a sexual relationship or not. "More likely, they child molesters have 'groomed' the children prior to making a sexual advance," explains Major Jackson. "In other words they have given that child affection in the form of attention and things, all the while ever so slowly making that child feel secure with them. By the time they make a sexual advance the child is in so deep emotionally that they feel they cannot back out and say 'no' to this person."
"It's very much an emotional issue for the child involved," notes Jackson. "Children don't want to lose a friendship. Kids that age simply cannot make those kinds of adult decisions.
What's more, to feel justified in their actions child molesters often use psychology to convince the children that they, in fact, brought on the activity. They do this by making the children feel like "sexual partners" rather than sexual victims. The following are some actual statements made by molesters to children in order to accomplish this goal:
"Do you have any idea what your mother would do if she knew the kinds of touching we've been doing?"
"If your breasts hadn't grown, I would never have allowed you to touch me like this."
"Because I love you so much, I won't tell your mother what you've been doing with me."
When a child feels like a partner rather than a victim, the abuser can encase the child in guilt and secrecy, and continue the sexual involvement
Secrets 1-3
1. Child molesters do their homework.
It is common knowledge among law enforcement that child molesters often carefully target their victims. Something as innocent as children's bicycles in the yard is information that will help a child molester find out how many children you have, their sexes, and their ages, according to oe 911 operator.
Other "homework" that molesters do include: targeting children in the morning on their way to school and then stalking them in the afternoon after school. "They will notice," says Major Calvin Jackson, "if a child is alone, if the parents walk them to the bus stop, and they'll look for ways to get in and out of the area quickly and for secluded places into which they can attract the child."
In the words of one child molester, who has since been put to death for abducting and killing many small boys: "On Saturday morning I headed into Portland to find a boy I could spend the day and night molesting, and to experiment on, on Sunday."
One item, which many parents have used, ironically, to keep their children safe has been used as a tool by child molesters and abductors -- the "tot finder" window stickers parents stick on their children's bedroom windows so that firemen could quickly locate the children in case of a fire. " Paret who now know better are not using these "tot finder" stickers any longer," notes Major Jackson.
What's more, molesters know that all kinds of toys, including bikes and video games are excellent ways to "lure" children into their homes. In fact, says Major Jackson, "Their yards often look like playgrounds. They have all of the latest toys, games, and videos like Barney, the Lion King, and Donkey Kong. That's what children want and they want children."
Former child sexual abuse investigator and current Executive Director of the Child Abuse Forensic Institute and a counselor of law, Seth Goldstein, Esq., agrees. He says that many molesters have been apprehended with the tools of their trade on them, in their cars and in their homes. These "tools" include decks of cards, coins, dolls, and candy -- anything they can use to get a child's attention and get them to do what they want.
When one child molester in Austin, Texas, was arrested the police found bikes and other toys in the yard and house. The parents in the neighborhood said they noticed that the single man had these items, but they never thought anything about it.
2. Molesters and abductors plan their lives around attracting children, from where they live to the type of car they drive.
One convicted child molester, now serving a 20-year sentence, admits that when he decided to move from one town to another he picked a house that was near an elementary school and a go-cart amusement park. He was often spotten talking to young boys at the go-cart park and taking them for rides on his motorcycle.
During one investigation of a string of child murders in a Michigan community, law enforcement officers uncovered 782 unreported incidents of attempted or actual molestation from other children. During that investigation, police learned that the type of car most commmonly used by child abductors and molesters in their own cases was a two-door sedan and the most common color was blue. Forthy percent of the molesters/abductors used a two door sedan, because it is the most difficult to escape from. Twenty-sex percent of them felt that blue cars most closely resemble police cars and thereby were the most effective in helping to convince young children that they were law officers and that the child must come with them. What's more, according to Goldstein, is that abductors frequently modified their cars to prevent escape by removing door handles and locks.
Further, it is common knowledge among law enforcement that most child molesters have used "authority lures" at one time or another, by which they falsely represent themselves as figures of authority such as policemen or security guards. Using this lure they convince the child that they must come with them. Along with a blue car, they often own uniforms or at the very minimum a blue shirt and pants, and almost all abductors/molesters carry a fake badge.
3. Child molesters justify their action in their minds and, often, in the children's minds.
This point is brought to stark light from a passage in an investigators' text book written by Goldstein, called The Sexual Exploitation of Children. The book quotes a spokesman for a national pedophile (child molester) association: "The majority of the people who are arrested for molesting children have only given in to the child's constant pleadings for sex. The molester can no longer resist the child's advances. He complains that the problem is the law, that the child is prevented from being sexually satisfied, and that the law should be changed."
Further in a report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, one molester reported that a child, who he fondled while holding in his lap did not say anything, so the man took this to mean the five-year-old was consenting to his actions.
In a television special investigation recently, a habitual molester, in jail for the past six years, explains that he told the boys what he was goig to do before they entered his home and they still came inside, so he feels that they made the choice to participate.
However, child psychologists point out strongly that young children's minds have not developed to the point that they can participate in this type of logic. Just as they are not old enough to drive or to vote, children are not old enough to make decisions on whether to begin a sexual relationship or not. "More likely, they child molesters have 'groomed' the children prior to making a sexual advance," explains Major Jackson. "In other words they have given that child affection in the form of attention and things, all the while ever so slowly making that child feel secure with them. By the time they make a sexual advance the child is in so deep emotionally that they feel they cannot back out and say 'no' to this person."
"It's very much an emotional issue for the child involved," notes Jackson. "Children don't want to lose a friendship. Kids that age simply cannot make those kinds of adult decisions.
What's more, to feel justified in their actions child molesters often use psychology to convince the children that they, in fact, brought on the activity. They do this by making the children feel like "sexual partners" rather than sexual victims. The following are some actual statements made by molesters to children in order to accomplish this goal:
"Do you have any idea what your mother would do if she knew the kinds of touching we've been doing?"
"If your breasts hadn't grown, I would never have allowed you to touch me like this."
"Because I love you so much, I won't tell your mother what you've been doing with me."
When a child feels like a partner rather than a victim, the abuser can encase the child in guilt and secrecy, and continue the sexual involvement
johnny
New Member
7 Secrets from the Pros on Keeping Your Children Safe from Abduction & Seduction
Secrets 4-7
4. Boys do not report sexual molestation as often as girls do.
In fact, boys report molestation four times less often than girls. There are two main reasons: one is that boys are afraid that their parents will restrict their freedom and more closely supervise their lives in their efforts to keep their sons safe. In one real life situation, a boy had been approached by a man a couple of times on his way to school. The boy told his younger brother that a strange man was bothering him, but instructed his brother not to tell his parents. One day soon afterward, the boy was missing and never seen again.
The second reason that boys do not tell that they have been approached and/or molested is the stigma attached to such a degrading assault by a man. Boys do not want to be called "homosexual" or be ridiculed by their peers.
5. Child molesters are rarely convicted.
What's more, when they are convicted they often serve very short sentences. In the words of one habitual child abductor/molester, Wesley Allen Dodd: "In a 16 year period, I was reported to police 12 times, made full confessions the last 11 times, was arrested only 6 times, and prosecuted only 3 times, spending no more than 4 months in jail twice, and only 19 days the other time."
Molesters are rarely convicted largely due to four issues:
a. Children make poor witnesses. It goes without saying that children are too young to participate competently in the very adult world of the courts and of sexual abuse.
b. Family members back down as witnesses. "Due to internal family pressures, often family members will not follow through with child molestation charges," noted Major Jackson, who has successfully prosecuted hundreds of cases over the years. "Often the wives are afraid to break up the family and be left having to financially support her children on her own."
c. The judicial system does not understand the problem. "Most family law attorneys are untrained and unprepared to evaluate or present the evidence of child abuse," says Goldstein. "They simply do not recognize the complex issues involved in child abuse cases." Further, most judges don't understand the dynamics of sexual abuse, because most judges never see cases like this.
d. Societal perceptions. As Special Agent Ken Lanning, FBI Behavioral Science Unit, has said: "The final frustration for the police officer comes in the sentencing of a convicted child molester. If a man lured 20 children into his home, tied them down, and smashed their knees with a hammer so that they were physically cripples for the rest of their lives, society would demand that such an offender be locked up forever or even executed. But if a man lured 20 children into his home seduced them, lowered their inhibitions, and had sex with them so that they were emotional cripples for the rest of their lives, it's a different story. Particularly when character witnesses testify that the defendant is a nice man who goes to church every Sunday, is kind to his neighbors, and works hard. The children have no physical injuries for the jury to see. The result is that such offenders are sentenced to little or no jail time."
6. Parents have unknowingly sent their children into potentially dangerous situations.
We like to think of our world as mostly safe, with only a few potentially dangerous situations from which to steer clear. But today's world is not like the world when we were children. We cannot let our children walk home from school alone or play in the nearby woods without fear. We can't even let them play unsupervised in a video game arcade or allow the teenager down the street to baby-sit without carefully following up on personal references.
From baby-sitters to public bathrooms, parents have unwittingly helped their children to be victimized. One devastated grandmother told us a story of how a trusted male family friend, who often baby-sat her grandson, was found to have been abusing the child at every opportunity.
Public restrooms are among the most dangerous places you can send a child alone. It gives child molesters easy access to their victims, the privacy to commit their act, and the ability to get out and get lost in a crowd. (One side note about public restrooms: In a report from a Dallas policeman, one of the local gang initiation rites involved waiting in a mall bathroom for the next young boy to walk in alone and then cut off his penis; the next boy to walk in was eight years old.)
The bottom line: parents today have to take every precaution to ensure that their children's safety and innocence is not compromised in a world that can be less than kind.
7. Children who are given the wisdom to think on their feet are the safest children of all.
Every morning for years, one mother told her daughter before she walked out the door to school: "If anyone ever tries to grab you, hit, kick, scream, run. Do anything you have to, but get away." Her concern for her daughter's personal safety paid off - possibly saving her daughter's life from the hands of a habitual child abductor and murderer. One morning while walking to school a man approached the 12-year old. After talking to her for a few minutes he reached out to grab her, she moved quickly and he got a hold of her backpack. She quickly wiggled out of her backpack and ran, screaming down the street. A man helped her and got the license plate number of the would-be abductor's van.
Other children have also thought fast on their feet, and stayed safe, in dangerous situations:
In one news report, a ten-year-old boy saved his five-year-old brother from being abducted when an old man pulled up in a car, grabbed the five-year-old, and threw him in the back of the car. The 10-year-old sprung to action and "kicked him where it hurts."
Police say that once a child, who was being abducted, kicked off one of his shoes. Thanks to the boy's quick thinking the police were able to identify where the child was last seen and get more details from people in that area on the type of car the abductor was driving. Then the police were able to locate the child and apprehend the abductor
Secrets 4-7
4. Boys do not report sexual molestation as often as girls do.
In fact, boys report molestation four times less often than girls. There are two main reasons: one is that boys are afraid that their parents will restrict their freedom and more closely supervise their lives in their efforts to keep their sons safe. In one real life situation, a boy had been approached by a man a couple of times on his way to school. The boy told his younger brother that a strange man was bothering him, but instructed his brother not to tell his parents. One day soon afterward, the boy was missing and never seen again.
The second reason that boys do not tell that they have been approached and/or molested is the stigma attached to such a degrading assault by a man. Boys do not want to be called "homosexual" or be ridiculed by their peers.
5. Child molesters are rarely convicted.
What's more, when they are convicted they often serve very short sentences. In the words of one habitual child abductor/molester, Wesley Allen Dodd: "In a 16 year period, I was reported to police 12 times, made full confessions the last 11 times, was arrested only 6 times, and prosecuted only 3 times, spending no more than 4 months in jail twice, and only 19 days the other time."
Molesters are rarely convicted largely due to four issues:
a. Children make poor witnesses. It goes without saying that children are too young to participate competently in the very adult world of the courts and of sexual abuse.
b. Family members back down as witnesses. "Due to internal family pressures, often family members will not follow through with child molestation charges," noted Major Jackson, who has successfully prosecuted hundreds of cases over the years. "Often the wives are afraid to break up the family and be left having to financially support her children on her own."
c. The judicial system does not understand the problem. "Most family law attorneys are untrained and unprepared to evaluate or present the evidence of child abuse," says Goldstein. "They simply do not recognize the complex issues involved in child abuse cases." Further, most judges don't understand the dynamics of sexual abuse, because most judges never see cases like this.
d. Societal perceptions. As Special Agent Ken Lanning, FBI Behavioral Science Unit, has said: "The final frustration for the police officer comes in the sentencing of a convicted child molester. If a man lured 20 children into his home, tied them down, and smashed their knees with a hammer so that they were physically cripples for the rest of their lives, society would demand that such an offender be locked up forever or even executed. But if a man lured 20 children into his home seduced them, lowered their inhibitions, and had sex with them so that they were emotional cripples for the rest of their lives, it's a different story. Particularly when character witnesses testify that the defendant is a nice man who goes to church every Sunday, is kind to his neighbors, and works hard. The children have no physical injuries for the jury to see. The result is that such offenders are sentenced to little or no jail time."
6. Parents have unknowingly sent their children into potentially dangerous situations.
We like to think of our world as mostly safe, with only a few potentially dangerous situations from which to steer clear. But today's world is not like the world when we were children. We cannot let our children walk home from school alone or play in the nearby woods without fear. We can't even let them play unsupervised in a video game arcade or allow the teenager down the street to baby-sit without carefully following up on personal references.
From baby-sitters to public bathrooms, parents have unwittingly helped their children to be victimized. One devastated grandmother told us a story of how a trusted male family friend, who often baby-sat her grandson, was found to have been abusing the child at every opportunity.
Public restrooms are among the most dangerous places you can send a child alone. It gives child molesters easy access to their victims, the privacy to commit their act, and the ability to get out and get lost in a crowd. (One side note about public restrooms: In a report from a Dallas policeman, one of the local gang initiation rites involved waiting in a mall bathroom for the next young boy to walk in alone and then cut off his penis; the next boy to walk in was eight years old.)
The bottom line: parents today have to take every precaution to ensure that their children's safety and innocence is not compromised in a world that can be less than kind.
7. Children who are given the wisdom to think on their feet are the safest children of all.
Every morning for years, one mother told her daughter before she walked out the door to school: "If anyone ever tries to grab you, hit, kick, scream, run. Do anything you have to, but get away." Her concern for her daughter's personal safety paid off - possibly saving her daughter's life from the hands of a habitual child abductor and murderer. One morning while walking to school a man approached the 12-year old. After talking to her for a few minutes he reached out to grab her, she moved quickly and he got a hold of her backpack. She quickly wiggled out of her backpack and ran, screaming down the street. A man helped her and got the license plate number of the would-be abductor's van.
Other children have also thought fast on their feet, and stayed safe, in dangerous situations:
In one news report, a ten-year-old boy saved his five-year-old brother from being abducted when an old man pulled up in a car, grabbed the five-year-old, and threw him in the back of the car. The 10-year-old sprung to action and "kicked him where it hurts."
Police say that once a child, who was being abducted, kicked off one of his shoes. Thanks to the boy's quick thinking the police were able to identify where the child was last seen and get more details from people in that area on the type of car the abductor was driving. Then the police were able to locate the child and apprehend the abductor
Juliana
Well-Known Member
This is scary, scary stuff. As a normal person, my mind just kind of shuts down as I read it, thinking I don't want to know this. As a parent, I know if have to read it, I have to know this so I can help protect my kids, and the kids around me. God help us...
Juliana
Well-Known Member
Another thought... has anyone started a "child identification program" at their school or other organization? I have been thinking for months, ever since I started reading this forum, that I really need to initiate one of the child identification programs at my son's school, with fingerprints, phtotographs, etc. Does anyone have any advice?
johnny
New Member
Past sex offender charged with indecent exposure
GALLATIN A man convicted of molesting an 11-year-old girl in Texas in 1997 has been arrested in Goodlettsville's Moss-Wright Park and charged with indecent exposure, police said.
Kevin Alan Cole, 41, was being held in the Sumner County Jail yesterday. He faces a hearing Oct. 6 in Sumner County General Sessions Court.
Police said Cole's identification showed that his address was in Demotte, Ind. His listing on Texas' online sex offender registry says he was convicted in 1997 of one count of indecency with a child. The listing also says that he lives in Indiana.
Meanwhile, Indiana's online sex offender registry also says Cole lives in Demotte and that he had been sentenced to six years in prison for the Texas conviction.
Cole was alone at the park Tuesday, near the football field, when police say a woman saw him and called police.
''We're not sure what he's doing here. He may be just passing through. If that's the case, he would not have to register as a sex offender in Tennessee,'' Goodlettsville police Capt. Ken Jenkins said.
Cole could not be reached for comment as Sumner County Jail rules prohibit inmate interviews
http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/03/09/39564149.shtml?Element_ID=39564149
GALLATIN A man convicted of molesting an 11-year-old girl in Texas in 1997 has been arrested in Goodlettsville's Moss-Wright Park and charged with indecent exposure, police said.
Kevin Alan Cole, 41, was being held in the Sumner County Jail yesterday. He faces a hearing Oct. 6 in Sumner County General Sessions Court.
Police said Cole's identification showed that his address was in Demotte, Ind. His listing on Texas' online sex offender registry says he was convicted in 1997 of one count of indecency with a child. The listing also says that he lives in Indiana.
Meanwhile, Indiana's online sex offender registry also says Cole lives in Demotte and that he had been sentenced to six years in prison for the Texas conviction.
Cole was alone at the park Tuesday, near the football field, when police say a woman saw him and called police.
''We're not sure what he's doing here. He may be just passing through. If that's the case, he would not have to register as a sex offender in Tennessee,'' Goodlettsville police Capt. Ken Jenkins said.
Cole could not be reached for comment as Sumner County Jail rules prohibit inmate interviews
http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/03/09/39564149.shtml?Element_ID=39564149
johnny
New Member
New information should be coming out soon...Thursday a person of high interest was served with a search warrant and the vehicle, aboat and a shed was searched, also luminol was used to try and find blood stains....also the person has been subjected to two lie detector tests......the person came forward with a tip about where they said they thought they saw Tabitha.........this man has been written about in a previous article but his name has not been used.
from the 8/20 article...This has to be the guy of current interest..
Another person of interest whom police have interviewed lives nearly a mile away from the Tuders family. Because he has no criminal charges pending and might actually be able to help police crack the case, the Scene is not identifying him by name. But even he acknowledges that he's a natural suspect for two reasons: One, he claims to have seen Tabitha on April 29, the Tuesday morning she disappeared, on the corner of Lillian and 14th. Second, he has befriended several young boys and girls on both his street and Tabitha's. One of the girls, whose mother is his friend, lives just two houses away from Tabitha and used to be one of her closest friends. Finally, at press time, the Scene learned that the man and his wife are under investigation by the state Department of Children Services for child abuse. According to spokeswoman Carla Aaron, the agency currently has custody of one of the couple's children and is working with law enforcement to complete the investigation.
In an interview with the Scene, this person says that he had been around Tabitha and "might wave" to her when he saw her. Still, he says, he had never spoken with her and didn't take her fishing, fix her bike or do any of the things he has done for other children in the neighborhood. Throughout the course of the interview, he seemed helpful and friendly. He may well have nothing to hide. But a part of his story seems relevant to the investigation. He says that before he saw Tabitha at around 7:45 on the morning she disappeared, he picked up a boy at 19th and Shelby who had missed his bus to Stratford High School. He didn't know the name of the boy, only that he was black and that he was in ninth grade at the time. He says, though, that the boy knew who he was and called him by name. The problem with his story is that if he took the student to Stratford from 19th and Shelby, he was far afield from Tabitha's route to the bus that morning. How, then, could he have seen her?
Even if he could answer that question, this man has elicited the attention of Team Tabitha, the citizen-led volunteer group that's working with the family and police on the case. Johnny White, the family friend who has interviewed dozens of neighbors as a part of the group's search efforts, says that this mysterious eyewitness might hold some important clues. If his story of spotting Tabitha at 7:45 that morning on her normal route to the bus is correct, then it dispels once and for all the theory that Tabitha ran away. But White has concerns about him, because White has picked up reports that the man has disparaged the 13-year-old girl in conversations with others. In fact, talking with Scene reporters, the man noted crudely--complete with hand gestures--that Tabitha was beginning to develop physically, and he speculated that she may not have been as innocent as everyone assumes.
"There are variances in his story in how he approached the family and how he approached the police department," White says. "Plus, he has spoken ill of Tabitha, and no one else has. And when he talks about Tabitha, it's as if he knows her very well, but when you talk to Tabitha's family, they don't believe she knew him."
Another person of interest whom police have interviewed lives nearly a mile away from the Tuders family. Because he has no criminal charges pending and might actually be able to help police crack the case, the Scene is not identifying him by name. But even he acknowledges that he's a natural suspect for two reasons: One, he claims to have seen Tabitha on April 29, the Tuesday morning she disappeared, on the corner of Lillian and 14th. Second, he has befriended several young boys and girls on both his street and Tabitha's. One of the girls, whose mother is his friend, lives just two houses away from Tabitha and used to be one of her closest friends. Finally, at press time, the Scene learned that the man and his wife are under investigation by the state Department of Children Services for child abuse. According to spokeswoman Carla Aaron, the agency currently has custody of one of the couple's children and is working with law enforcement to complete the investigation.
In an interview with the Scene, this person says that he had been around Tabitha and "might wave" to her when he saw her. Still, he says, he had never spoken with her and didn't take her fishing, fix her bike or do any of the things he has done for other children in the neighborhood. Throughout the course of the interview, he seemed helpful and friendly. He may well have nothing to hide. But a part of his story seems relevant to the investigation. He says that before he saw Tabitha at around 7:45 on the morning she disappeared, he picked up a boy at 19th and Shelby who had missed his bus to Stratford High School. He didn't know the name of the boy, only that he was black and that he was in ninth grade at the time. He says, though, that the boy knew who he was and called him by name. The problem with his story is that if he took the student to Stratford from 19th and Shelby, he was far afield from Tabitha's route to the bus that morning. How, then, could he have seen her?
Even if he could answer that question, this man has elicited the attention of Team Tabitha, the citizen-led volunteer group that's working with the family and police on the case. Johnny White, the family friend who has interviewed dozens of neighbors as a part of the group's search efforts, says that this mysterious eyewitness might hold some important clues. If his story of spotting Tabitha at 7:45 that morning on her normal route to the bus is correct, then it dispels once and for all the theory that Tabitha ran away. But White has concerns about him, because White has picked up reports that the man has disparaged the 13-year-old girl in conversations with others. In fact, talking with Scene reporters, the man noted crudely--complete with hand gestures--that Tabitha was beginning to develop physically, and he speculated that she may not have been as innocent as everyone assumes.
"There are variances in his story in how he approached the family and how he approached the police department," White says. "Plus, he has spoken ill of Tabitha, and no one else has. And when he talks about Tabitha, it's as if he knows her very well, but when you talk to Tabitha's family, they don't believe she knew him."
johnny
New Member
On target Doyle!
johnny
New Member
Suspects Questioned
Police track neighbors and a Memphis prostitution ring in missing girl case
Last Thursday, on a pleasant, late summer evening, Metro police vans and cars pulled up outside a tiny all-brick duplex overlooking East Nashville's Shelby Bottoms Park, a few hundred yards up a hill from the Cumberland River. Police detectives had an appointment with a maintenance worker whom they had labeled an "active person of interest" in the disappearance of Tabitha Tuders. Because there are no criminal charges pending against him and because he might actually be able to help police crack the case, the Scene is not identifying him by name. But even he has admitted that he's a natural suspect.
Nearly six months after the 13-year-old A student vanished on the way to her East Nashville bus stop, police investigators are no closer to figuring out what happened than they were the night they arrived at her family home. But police continue to track so-called "people of interest," a category that, among others, includes the maintenance worker, a husband and wife accused of raping a minor, and a notorious gang of ringleaders in a Memphis-to-Nashville prostitution outfit. Even while the police department's efforts have yet to yield a breakthrough in the case--and at times, have appeared impotent--investigators still haven't forgotten about the sweet blond teenager who loved scary movies, Vince Gill and, perhaps most of all, her parents Bo and Debra.
Criminal investigations are all about figuring out who the suspects are and who they aren't. After last Thursday's search, the police might be easing up on the maintenance worker, who, through his previous words and actions, had elicited the attention of investigators, his neighbors, even Tabitha's family. Last Thursday, when the police arrived at the maintenance worker's home, they told his neighbors to turn off their lights. According to a pair of sources, investigators needed a dark setting because they were using a substance called Luminol that can detect traces of blood not visible to the naked eye. It can also detect how the blood splattered, often providing clues as to the exact nature of the crime. According to two neighborhood sources, police used Luminol on the man's car, his fishing boat and his shed. It's not clear if they used it in his house.
Police spokesman Don Aaron wouldn't comment on what the officers were doing at the man's house, except to say that the man was "very cooperative." In fact, Aaron says that the police didn't even need to obtain a search warrant. The man allowed the police to conduct their search. According to a source, he also volunteered to take a lie detector test the following day and, while Aaron wouldn't confirm that, the man told the Scene a month earlier that "he had nothing to hide." Aaron does say, though, that "the level of interest in him has lessened to some extent."
Why all the suspicion to start? Well, for one, the man, who lives only a mile or so away from Tabitha's Lillian Street home, claims to have seen Tabitha on the corner of Lillian and 14th Street on the morning she disappeared. But by his own account, he was driving a teenage boy to Stratford High School that morning after picking him up at a bus stop at 19th and Shelby. The problem with that story is that if he took the student to Stratford from 19th and Shelby, he was far afield from Tabitha's route to the bus. How then did he see her?
Second, he has befriended several young girls and boys on both his street and Tabitha's, buying them bicycles and taking them fishing. One of those girls, whose mother is the man's friend, lives just two houses away from Tabitha and used to be one of her closest friends before the two had a falling out. Meanwhile, the man has disparaged the missing 13-year-old girl in conversations with others. In fact, talking with Scene reporters last month, he crudely noted, complete with hand gestures, that Tabitha was beginning to develop physically, and he speculated that she might not be as sweet and innocent as she's been portrayed.
"He has spoken ill of Tabitha and no one else has," Johnny White, a spokesman for the Tuders family, said in an interview with the Scene last month. "And when he talks about Tabitha, it's as if he knows her very well, but when you talk with Tabitha's family, they don't believe she knew him."
Finally, the man and his wife are currently under investigation by the state Department of Children's Services for an incident involving one of the couple's children. DCS is still working with law enforcement to complete the investigation. The man didn't return phone calls for comment, and his wife told the Scene that he had no interest in talking any more about the case.
Amazingly, this man knew another person of interest in the Tabitha Tuders case, Timothy Oldham, who is now in jail on a rape charge. Oldham lived just five houses from Tabitha and was arrested on May 16 (after her disappearance) for raping a minor at his home. His own son walked in on him and caught him in the act, according to the arrest warrant. Police also arrested Oldham's wife Kim for playing a role in the crime, allegedly pressuring the young girl to remove her clothing, telling her that the husband "did not take 'no' for an answer." The two remain in custody awaiting trial.
Both Timothy Oldham, who has been arrested at least 20 times, and his wife Kim are considered people of interest in the Tuders case, although none of the neighbors the Scene has interviewed ever remembers seeing Tabitha with them. Still, the very nature of the charges against the couple, their close proximity to Tabitha and the fact that they were not yet in jail the morning Tabitha disappeared make them a likely target of any police investigation.
The police also have their sights set on the "Memphis Boys," a believed prostitution outfit with criminal activities in Nashville. People familiar with the investigation relay stories about the Memphis Boys that seem like the stuff of urban legend: One of the ring leaders supposedly drives a Gold Lexus, while another makes decisions from state prison. Meanwhile, the prostitutes are all branded with snake tattoos. But while the group's existence seems wrapped in bad movie imagery, police detectives acknowledge that they've responded to dozens of leads about the group. "We've received tips that people who run prostitutes both here and in Memphis have had something to do with Tabitha's disappearance," says youth services Capt. Karl Roller. "We have followed up on those leads." Detectives have interviewed several men believed to be associated with the group, while the Shelby County Sheriff's Office tracked down another. But none of those leads turned up anything. Just last week, a crack addict approached a member of Tabitha's family, talking again about the Memphis Boys and how they kidnapped the young girl. He has claimed to have seen her at a Dickerson Road hotel. The Scene also has received tips about the Memphis Boys.
"We actually were responding to a tip about Tabitha being at a hotel, and we ended up finding a missing 19-year-old-girl from Oklahoma," says White, the Tuder family friend, who has looked for Tabitha in local housing projects and seedy hotels. "The girl was working as a prostitute, and there she was in a vehicle with one of the Memphis Boys."
Police say there is no hard evidence linking the Memphis Boys to Tabitha's disappearance or even to people in her neighborhood. But it appears that the sheer volume of leads about the group has made it impossible for investigators to dismiss their involvement altogether. They even briefed Tabitha's family about the group. In fact, last July, Bo Tuders, Tabitha's brother Kevin, along with two family friends, went to Memphis to look for the missing girl.
"We passed out flyers of Tabitha to prostitutes, but nobody had seen her," Bo Tuders says.
His friend, Tim Crague, whose daughter Chelsea was one of Tabitha's best friends, also went on that trip to Memphis. "We were going on information we received from the police department that there were tips that she was with these guys and she was being run back and forth to Memphis," he says. "The police didn't suggest we go or suggest we don't go, so we went."
Together, the group combed through the inner-city streets of Memphis, talking to prostitutes and other area inhabitants to see if there were any signs of Tabitha. "There were four of us, so we just watched each other's back. We had a child missing. We didn't worry about the rest," Crague says. "We knew it was a long shot, but we figured we'd beat the bushes as best we could."
Police detectives acknowledge that they've chased some futile leads, but that happens in any investigation. Sometimes, though, the most ordinary tip can yield the most dramatic breakthrough. Right now, they continue to pour over a list of questionable figures--with no end in sight.
http://www.nashvillescene.com/cgi-b...:September_25-October_1_2003:News:City_Limits
just added the link for reference...
Police track neighbors and a Memphis prostitution ring in missing girl case
Last Thursday, on a pleasant, late summer evening, Metro police vans and cars pulled up outside a tiny all-brick duplex overlooking East Nashville's Shelby Bottoms Park, a few hundred yards up a hill from the Cumberland River. Police detectives had an appointment with a maintenance worker whom they had labeled an "active person of interest" in the disappearance of Tabitha Tuders. Because there are no criminal charges pending against him and because he might actually be able to help police crack the case, the Scene is not identifying him by name. But even he has admitted that he's a natural suspect.
Nearly six months after the 13-year-old A student vanished on the way to her East Nashville bus stop, police investigators are no closer to figuring out what happened than they were the night they arrived at her family home. But police continue to track so-called "people of interest," a category that, among others, includes the maintenance worker, a husband and wife accused of raping a minor, and a notorious gang of ringleaders in a Memphis-to-Nashville prostitution outfit. Even while the police department's efforts have yet to yield a breakthrough in the case--and at times, have appeared impotent--investigators still haven't forgotten about the sweet blond teenager who loved scary movies, Vince Gill and, perhaps most of all, her parents Bo and Debra.
Criminal investigations are all about figuring out who the suspects are and who they aren't. After last Thursday's search, the police might be easing up on the maintenance worker, who, through his previous words and actions, had elicited the attention of investigators, his neighbors, even Tabitha's family. Last Thursday, when the police arrived at the maintenance worker's home, they told his neighbors to turn off their lights. According to a pair of sources, investigators needed a dark setting because they were using a substance called Luminol that can detect traces of blood not visible to the naked eye. It can also detect how the blood splattered, often providing clues as to the exact nature of the crime. According to two neighborhood sources, police used Luminol on the man's car, his fishing boat and his shed. It's not clear if they used it in his house.
Police spokesman Don Aaron wouldn't comment on what the officers were doing at the man's house, except to say that the man was "very cooperative." In fact, Aaron says that the police didn't even need to obtain a search warrant. The man allowed the police to conduct their search. According to a source, he also volunteered to take a lie detector test the following day and, while Aaron wouldn't confirm that, the man told the Scene a month earlier that "he had nothing to hide." Aaron does say, though, that "the level of interest in him has lessened to some extent."
Why all the suspicion to start? Well, for one, the man, who lives only a mile or so away from Tabitha's Lillian Street home, claims to have seen Tabitha on the corner of Lillian and 14th Street on the morning she disappeared. But by his own account, he was driving a teenage boy to Stratford High School that morning after picking him up at a bus stop at 19th and Shelby. The problem with that story is that if he took the student to Stratford from 19th and Shelby, he was far afield from Tabitha's route to the bus. How then did he see her?
Second, he has befriended several young girls and boys on both his street and Tabitha's, buying them bicycles and taking them fishing. One of those girls, whose mother is the man's friend, lives just two houses away from Tabitha and used to be one of her closest friends before the two had a falling out. Meanwhile, the man has disparaged the missing 13-year-old girl in conversations with others. In fact, talking with Scene reporters last month, he crudely noted, complete with hand gestures, that Tabitha was beginning to develop physically, and he speculated that she might not be as sweet and innocent as she's been portrayed.
"He has spoken ill of Tabitha and no one else has," Johnny White, a spokesman for the Tuders family, said in an interview with the Scene last month. "And when he talks about Tabitha, it's as if he knows her very well, but when you talk with Tabitha's family, they don't believe she knew him."
Finally, the man and his wife are currently under investigation by the state Department of Children's Services for an incident involving one of the couple's children. DCS is still working with law enforcement to complete the investigation. The man didn't return phone calls for comment, and his wife told the Scene that he had no interest in talking any more about the case.
Amazingly, this man knew another person of interest in the Tabitha Tuders case, Timothy Oldham, who is now in jail on a rape charge. Oldham lived just five houses from Tabitha and was arrested on May 16 (after her disappearance) for raping a minor at his home. His own son walked in on him and caught him in the act, according to the arrest warrant. Police also arrested Oldham's wife Kim for playing a role in the crime, allegedly pressuring the young girl to remove her clothing, telling her that the husband "did not take 'no' for an answer." The two remain in custody awaiting trial.
Both Timothy Oldham, who has been arrested at least 20 times, and his wife Kim are considered people of interest in the Tuders case, although none of the neighbors the Scene has interviewed ever remembers seeing Tabitha with them. Still, the very nature of the charges against the couple, their close proximity to Tabitha and the fact that they were not yet in jail the morning Tabitha disappeared make them a likely target of any police investigation.
The police also have their sights set on the "Memphis Boys," a believed prostitution outfit with criminal activities in Nashville. People familiar with the investigation relay stories about the Memphis Boys that seem like the stuff of urban legend: One of the ring leaders supposedly drives a Gold Lexus, while another makes decisions from state prison. Meanwhile, the prostitutes are all branded with snake tattoos. But while the group's existence seems wrapped in bad movie imagery, police detectives acknowledge that they've responded to dozens of leads about the group. "We've received tips that people who run prostitutes both here and in Memphis have had something to do with Tabitha's disappearance," says youth services Capt. Karl Roller. "We have followed up on those leads." Detectives have interviewed several men believed to be associated with the group, while the Shelby County Sheriff's Office tracked down another. But none of those leads turned up anything. Just last week, a crack addict approached a member of Tabitha's family, talking again about the Memphis Boys and how they kidnapped the young girl. He has claimed to have seen her at a Dickerson Road hotel. The Scene also has received tips about the Memphis Boys.
"We actually were responding to a tip about Tabitha being at a hotel, and we ended up finding a missing 19-year-old-girl from Oklahoma," says White, the Tuder family friend, who has looked for Tabitha in local housing projects and seedy hotels. "The girl was working as a prostitute, and there she was in a vehicle with one of the Memphis Boys."
Police say there is no hard evidence linking the Memphis Boys to Tabitha's disappearance or even to people in her neighborhood. But it appears that the sheer volume of leads about the group has made it impossible for investigators to dismiss their involvement altogether. They even briefed Tabitha's family about the group. In fact, last July, Bo Tuders, Tabitha's brother Kevin, along with two family friends, went to Memphis to look for the missing girl.
"We passed out flyers of Tabitha to prostitutes, but nobody had seen her," Bo Tuders says.
His friend, Tim Crague, whose daughter Chelsea was one of Tabitha's best friends, also went on that trip to Memphis. "We were going on information we received from the police department that there were tips that she was with these guys and she was being run back and forth to Memphis," he says. "The police didn't suggest we go or suggest we don't go, so we went."
Together, the group combed through the inner-city streets of Memphis, talking to prostitutes and other area inhabitants to see if there were any signs of Tabitha. "There were four of us, so we just watched each other's back. We had a child missing. We didn't worry about the rest," Crague says. "We knew it was a long shot, but we figured we'd beat the bushes as best we could."
Police detectives acknowledge that they've chased some futile leads, but that happens in any investigation. Sometimes, though, the most ordinary tip can yield the most dramatic breakthrough. Right now, they continue to pour over a list of questionable figures--with no end in sight.
http://www.nashvillescene.com/cgi-b...:September_25-October_1_2003:News:City_Limits
just added the link for reference...
johnny
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