GUILTY WI - 12-Year-Old Girls Stab Friend 19 Times for Slenderman, Waukesha, 31 May 2014 #1

[katydid23]

I'm so dang tired of herobrine and minecraft songs lol! My younger two "swear" herobrine is real, but only real in the sense that they think he is a secret character hidden in minecraft somewhere by the programmers, and they keep trying to find him in the game lol. Not that he is real as in "real life"

See here is what's funny to me. We all grew up with these kinds of stories, I referenced above a couple I remember - hook hand killer and the babysitter killer ghost (from which came the old line "the call is coming from inside the house!!!"), so stories like Slenderman don't bother me. Or indicate any special or unique problem with "kids these days". We had stories like this long before the internet, and some were far more gruesome.

There's really sometime wrong with this duo - either individually, or the way they relate to each other, to buy into the idea that this character is real. Even my first grader knew, in preschool, via his older siblings, about Slenderman, and knew he wasn't real-real. It's the kind of thing where it's fun/scary for kids to think he COULD be real - like hook hand or babysitter killer. But for ten year olds to actually think not only that he's real, but they should kill for him?? hoh: it's really similar to the two NZ girls, and their belief in the fantasies they made up together. I'd love to read the psych reports on them

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

BBM

True, we always had these stories. But we were told the stories, by a campfire, by REAL people. Or at home, by an older cousin, trying to scare us on Halloween night. But we had lots of family members and neighbors and family friends, surrounding us as kids.

Kids today learn these horror stories on the net, combined with gruesome video clips and games, that help desensitize them to violence. And they are often alone, for many hours, day after day, with far fewer real personal interactions. Latchkey kids who come home alone and log on. So it makes sense that they 'believe' the stories, because the internet is where they get their homework, and their research, and their email, and their entertainment...why doubt it now?

 

[AnaTeresa]

Yes and one of those "girls" is a highly successful novelist today, Anne Perry.
There were insinuations that that murder was based on the two girls lesbian relationship and wanting to be together.

That aside, I think we have to start trying children like this as adults. It is becoming far too prevelant. Yes, I do not doubt that the internet adds to the problem and maybe, and this is still a maybe in my mind, some parental neglect. However, I am tired of excuses. A twelve year old may not grasp every nuance of right and wrong but they darn well know that killing someone is wrong.

Time to stop making excuses for killers regardless of their age and or gender.

The thing is, when you try these children as adults, you're not locking them up forever. So you have a twelve year old who spends a very long time, their formative years, usually in an adult prison and isolated from others for their safety. Or, they are at juvenile facilities, but without the rehabilitative programs, as they are being punished as an adult.

Well, you can't hold a twelve year old for life. So ten, twenty, thirty years down the road, they're let out. And now what? You have a child who has spent their formative years in prison, who has had little in mental health treatment or rehabilitation programs, and is now supposed to integrate into society?

Yes, these types of crimes are horrific, but you also have to think about the cost to society. How will society fare if these young perpetrators are released back into society with little to no rehabilitative efforts put forth for them? Juvenile sentencings are far more tailored to help the offender so that they do not commit crimes again, whether there is a mental illness component or not. Adult sentences have far less emphasis on rehabilitation. But when you have a twelve year old that is eventually going to be released back to society, I sure as heck hope there's been some effort at rehabilitation. Otherwise, you're going to be dealing with a far worse problem when that child is released back into society as a maladjusted adult.

 

[Linda7NJ]

The whole thing is absolutely bazaar!
I know nothing of this slender man thingy...never heard of it.
Sounds like straight up crazy to me.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Ravynne]

Yes and one of those "girls" is a highly successful novelist today, Anne Perry.
There were insinuations that that murder was based on the two girls lesbian relationship and wanting to be together.

That aside, I think we have to start trying children like this as adults. It is becoming far too prevelant. Yes, I do not doubt that the internet adds to the problem and maybe, and this is still a maybe in my mind, some parental neglect. However, I am tired of excuses. A twelve year old may not grasp every nuance of right and wrong but they darn well know that killing someone is wrong.

Time to stop making excuses for killers regardless of their age and or gender.

BBM : Yes, this is what I've been trying to put into words since I read this horrific crime into a short concise way.

It's just hard for me to do it without writing a book. Thank you.

R

 

[chlban]

I guess I'm a little surprised this doesn't happen a lot more often. 12 year olds are SO SUGGESTABLE. Heavens. Look at Hitler Youth.

I guess it's a blessing that despite months of planning and stabbing her 19 times they were only able to injure this girl, who sounds like she'll make a full recovery from this concerted effort to kill her.

Um, it wasn't just the "youth" that followed Hitler.

 

[JeannaT]

Um, it wasn't just the "youth" that followed Hitler.

No, I know. But it was the "youth" that he knew he could completely indoctrinate, and change their belief about what was wrong and right. Adults typically followed him out of fear and relief that he was going to do something about their poverty situation. it was the youth who saw him as a God.

We can argue this all day long and it would derail this thread - not my intention.

[modsnip] -

 

[Gardenlady]

BBM



True, we always had these stories. But we were told the stories, by a campfire, by REAL people. Or at home, by an older cousin, trying to scare us on Halloween night. But we had lots of family members and neighbors and family friends, surrounding us as kids.



Kids today learn these horror stories on the net, combined with gruesome video clips and games, that help desensitize them to violence. And they are often alone, for many hours, day after day, with far fewer real personal interactions. Latchkey kids who come home alone and log on. So it makes sense that they 'believe' the stories, because the internet is where they get their homework, and their research, and their email, and their entertainment...why doubt it now?

I don't know, I live in the city, I never told a story around a campfire until I was nearly 30 lol. These stories were talked about amongst us kids - at school, on the bus, or jut out and about, no special occasion. "Don't ever go park with your boyfriend at XYZ place, that's where that couple got murdered". Or I remember yapping on the phone one night while babysitting when my friend reminded me about te babysitter killer. I wanted to kick her arse for that lol.

And latchkey kids aren't anything new either. My dad was a latchkey kid in the 30s and 40s in Harlem and Boston, most of my friends were latchkey kids when I grew up in the 80s (my mom was in fact the only parent who got home before my bus in my neighborhood). The myth Of the idyllic past with two parents and mom always at home was only ever true for a certain class Of people in a certain select time and place.

I dunno, there's really nothing new under the sun. Stories originate, get passed around, kids have their own worlds that their parents know very little about, in all eras. Crime is down but everyone always thinks things are worst *now*. I think it's important to be realistic, and for kids to NOT constantly hear how awful/different/uncaring kids and parents are these days. Doesn't give them much incentive to be other than what people expect of them, IMO.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[katydid23]

I hear ya, GardenLady. I guess it is just hearing about 12 yr olds gang raping 10 yr olds, that is getting me down. It really seems like there is a downward spiral. But maybe I am too jaded.

 

[nightwatch]

I'm so dang tired of herobrine and minecraft songs lol! My younger two "swear" herobrine is real, but only real in the sense that they think he is a secret character hidden in minecraft somewhere by the programmers, and they keep trying to find him in the game lol. Not that he is real as in "real life"

See here is what's funny to me. We all grew up with these kinds of stories, I referenced above a couple I remember - hook hand killer and the babysitter killer ghost (from which came the old line "the call is coming from inside the house!!!"), so stories like Slenderman don't bother me. Or indicate any special or unique problem with "kids these days". We had stories like this long before the internet, and some were far more gruesome.

There's really sometime wrong with this duo - either individually, or the way they relate to each other, to buy into the idea that this character is real. Even my first grader knew, in preschool, via his older siblings, about Slenderman, and knew he wasn't real-real. It's the kind of thing where it's fun/scary for kids to think he COULD be real - like hook hand or babysitter killer. But for ten year olds to actually think not only that he's real, but they should kill for him?? hoh: it's really similar to the two NZ girls, and their belief in the fantasies they made up together. I'd love to read the psych reports on them.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks for the explanation of these stories. I had never heard of slender man. My children are grown, but with a two yr grandchild I'm trying to remember the bubble guppies characters.

ciao

 

[JeannaT]

I hear ya, GardenLady. I guess it is just hearing about 12 yr olds gang raping 10 yr olds, that is getting me down. It really seems like there is a downward spiral. But maybe I am too jaded.

I think you're too "informed". 20 years ago we didn't hear about everything that happened everywhere - now we do hear. We hear when some kindergartner gets put on the wrong bus after school, and everytime a child goes missing for a day on a camping trip, and this where two mislead oddball girls attempt but completely fail to murder a friend.

This has been going on since the dawn of time. We just had no access to the information.

 

[Ravynne]

I don't know, I live in the city, I never told a story around a campfire until I was nearly 30 lol. These stories were talked about amongst us kids - at school, on the bus, or jut out and about, no special occasion. "Don't ever go park with your boyfriend at XYZ place, that's where that couple got murdered". Or I remember yapping on the phone one night while babysitting when my friend reminded me about te babysitter killer. I wanted to kick her arse for that lol.

And latchkey kids aren't anything new either. My dad was a latchkey kid in the 30s and 40s in Harlem and Boston, most of my friends were latchkey kids when I grew up in the 80s (my mom was in fact the only parent who got home before my bus in my neighborhood). The myth Of the idyllic past with two parents and mom always at home was only ever true for a certain class Of people in a certain select time and place.

I dunno, there's really nothing new under the sun. Stories originate, get passed around, kids have their own worlds that their parents know very little about, in all eras. Crime is down but everyone always thinks things are worst *now*. I think it's important to be realistic, and for kids to NOT constantly hear how awful/different/uncaring kids and parents are these days. Doesn't give them much incentive to be other than what people expect of them, IMO.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

ITA:All eras have good and bad teenagers. These horrific things that happen are not new, they're just based or idealized on different stories. Things aren't worse than in past generations, it's just that more people know these things happen sooner than they would in the past because information takes seconds to transfer via internet.

 

[Ravynne]

All I know is I was stunned by this crime, because when I was twelve I was rescuing stray kittens and bringing them home, and sneaking them into my house.

I also knew one of my friends my age was having sex with an older boy in our school.

I think they should be tried as adults because these teenagers were in an "older" state of maturity. Some mature more quickly than others. It's obvious by what they told LE. I'm twisted as well because they need long term mental health care. I don't want them free in 25 years because if they can be twelve and stab a friend, literally, whose to say they won't do it to some one else when and if, they get out.?

 

[Gardenlady]

My pet theory is that it's part of getting older - we are coming to grips with what a crappy place the world can actually be, and we only tend to remember the best things of our own childhoods and overlook the bad. So everything suddenly looks ft worse than it's ever been.

Sometimes it does take a conscious effort to remember that things actually ARE safer. There are stories of crimes involving kids that scare the bejesus out of me, and I have to think back and remember that what I grew up with was Much worse than what my kids experience day to day. And that there are horrifying stories out of history that are just as bad as this one, or any other modern crime involving kids.

And I mean, I'm 41 - and is it just me, and where I grew up, or was there some seriously shady chit going on back in the 70s and 80s?! hoh:

These girls tho... I dunno, 12 is very young to lock up and throw away the key. Even Mary Bell, and the two girls referenced earlier by all accounts were rehabilitated and have lived productive lives. Maybe we can take them as a model of how to handle certain young offenders?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Ravynne]

My pet theory is that it's part of getting older - we are coming to grips with what a crappy place the world can actually be, and we only tend to remember the best things of our own childhoods and overlook the bad. So everything suddenly looks ft worse than it's ever been.

Sometimes it does take a conscious effort to remember that things actually ARE safer. There are stories of crimes involving kids that scare the bejesus out of me, and I have to think back and remember that what I grew up with was Much worse than what my kids experience day to day. And that there are horrifying stories out of history that are just as bad as this one, or any other modern crime involving kids.

And I mean, I'm 41 - and is it just me, and where I grew up, or was there some seriously shady chit going on back in the 70s and 80s?! hoh:

These girls tho... I dunno, 12 is very young to lock up and throw away the key. Even Mary Bell, and the two girls referenced earlier by all accounts were rehabilitated and have lived productive lives. Maybe we can take them as a model of how to handle certain young offenders?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

BBM: Precisely! JMO...:truce:

 

[T4Tide]

I asked my four children, boys ages 14, 12, and almost 11, and 7 year old girl, if they had ever heard of Slender man. The younger 3 just shook their heads, and the 14 year old said, "One of my friends posted something about it on Facebook before, but it looked stupid, so I didn't pay any attention to it. Tall man with like no face?"

My poor, poor home schooled, sheltered children who have internet access but only in the family room downstairs and only approved websites, who are told to put iPads, phones, and laptops up and go outside to play or read a book.... who are never dropped off at malls, skating rinks, movies, or other tween-babysitter hangouts. Poor, poor kids!

You know... a long time ago, in the Stone Ages when I was learning about computers, someone used the acronym "GIGO." It means "Garbage In, Garbage Out." That's what happens to your soul, as well, if you keep filling your mind with internet trash. :twocents:

 

[ScarlettScarpetta]

I asked my four children, boys ages 14, 12, and almost 11, and 7 year old girl, if they had ever heard of Slender man. The younger 3 just shook their heads, and the 14 year old said, "One of my friends posted something about it on Facebook before, but it looked stupid, so I didn't pay any attention to it. Tall man with like no face?"

My poor, poor home schooled, sheltered children who have internet access but only in the family room downstairs and only approved websites, who are told to put iPads, phones, and laptops up and go outside to play or read a book.... who are never dropped off at malls, skating rinks, movies, or other tween-babysitter hangouts. Poor, poor kids!

You know... a long time ago, in the Stone Ages when I was learning about computers, someone used the acronym "GIGO." It means "Garbage In, Garbage Out." That's what happens to your soul, as well, if you keep filling your mind with internet trash. :twocents:

Amen. Just amen..

 

[Elley Mae]

He declined to say whether the suspects had blood on their clothes, but added: "There was evidence that was readily apparent when the two were taken into custody."

That evidence included a large kitchen knife inside a purse that Geyser identified as one of her mother's old purses, according to the complaint.

Both girls spoke readily with police, the complaint said.

http://www.localnews8.com/news/police-12yearolds-stabbed-friend-19-times/26300790?item=1

 

[x_files]

I don't see mental illness here. I see kids that have been allowed to immerse themselves into this culture, without supervision. Think back to that time in your life when you are obsessed with all things melancholy and sad and emotional and mystical. That is a normal part of a teen girls life, however that is when parents are supposed to be on guard, watching, looking, keeping balance...

I don't think this is mental illness. I think this is teen angst gone awry.

teen angst?! This is way beyond teen angst. Teen angst listen to metal or rock music and write bad poetry in sad journals or run with a drinking, smoking, partying crowd.
The two are delusional, mentally ill or psychopaths.

 

[x_files]

I guess I'm a little surprised this doesn't happen a lot more often. 12 year olds are SO SUGGESTABLE. Heavens. Look at Hitler Youth.

I guess it's a blessing that despite months of planning and stabbing her 19 times they were only able to injure this girl, who sounds like she'll make a full recovery from this concerted effort to kill her.

Hitler Youth were brainwashed and controlled 24/7 by the their government that they trusted, if children are so swayed by an internet meme or urban tale then they need mental help.
At age 12 I knew right from wrong. Absolutely zero excuse.

 

[appleeye]

I am just appauled by this.

I am a mom of a 10 and 8 year old. I will ask them tonight if they have heard of Slenderman.

My Daughter does hang around on youtube but has never mentioned slenderman. They do, though play minecraft.

I don't think that these kids did this because of the slenderman meme. I would be interested to see if they have come across someone posing as slenderman somewhere and see their internet accounts to see what has been accessed. They seem to have a lot of knowledge that I HOPE my children don't have and a lust for blood which is sick.

They should be tried as adults. They know right from wrong. They tried multiple times that night from what I Can read to kill this other girl and made an informed choice to leave her there and not get her help. Even told her how to slow the bleeding (which was a lie!).

I think, though that if I created this slenderman character, I would be pulling it. Deleting it. Stopping it. I couldn't live with myself otherwise. I don't believe in censorship. I believe in making responsible decisions when the costs are too high.