2010.06.21 ~ CNN says focus of investigation not on TH

[Calliope]

I wonder if Tony has deep suspicions as to who the perp is. If so, what would be the point of a plea besides to satisfy the public?

What other purpose does a plea serve in any case?

 

[glorybug]

This is true. Does anyone recall any case where a perp brought a victim back because they saw the parents pleading for their return on tv? I don't. All I've seen it do is give people something to gossip about if they didn't do it the 'right' way.

OT- both times I was pregnant, if I'd had a girl I was going to name her Calliope Joy. Alas, I had boys.

What other purpose does a plea serve in any case?

 

[RoughlyCollie]

What other purpose does a plea serve in any case?

It can keep the case in the forefront of the media, especially if the family can come up with some ideas to make each occasion different from the previous one. What do they call that? A hook?

 

[glorybug]

True, but for what purpose? To give the media a slightly new story to report? Will people really stop caring about being on the lookout for a child if the parents don't provide a new press conference each day. I think it would be a much better use of time to have every news station just use that time to post a picture, list all the details, and ask people to call in if they have tips. That would keep the child's picture out there much better than having the parents plead. Honestly, I think having the parents plead on camera is more for the tv stations and to somehow placate the public than it is to help solve missing children cases. When is the last time the media solved a case through this tactic?

It can keep the case in the forefront of the media, especially if the family can come up with some ideas to make each occasion different from the previous one. What do they call that? A hook?

 

[Tzedek]

Perhaps. But it's still his mom and stepdad.

I don't find any of their behaviours suspicious. Everyone reacts differently. I wonder if Tony being a police detective doesn't play into this somehow.

I see some claim they'd be screaming from the mountaintops. Well, not everyone would behave that way. I myself could NEVER get in front of the media.

From what we have seen of her, Desiree seemed so emotionally destroyed that I just cannot imagine her making the rounds of the media.

 

[RoughlyCollie]

When is the last time the media solved a case through this tactic?

If I was the parent of a missing child, my thought would be that this may be the first time media attention has led to finding a missing child.

Actually, I don't know if anyone has ever found a missing child because of something they saw in the media -- including advertising on milk cartoons, flyers, t.v., radio, internet -- any method of keeping the child's picture and status before the public. I say it is possible that these sources have led to finding a child.

If my child were missing, I'd take any slim chance I could get. Frankly, I would be too terrified not to. I would not want to think that my child was not found at all, or in time to still be alive, because I left any stone unturned.

 

[GrainneDhu]

What other purpose does a plea serve in any case?

Public titillation, basically. I'm not aware of a single case where the tearful family plea led to any actual results.

I posted several days ago what my public relations strategy would be in a case like this: lay low until the first swell of media attention started to ebb, then send out one family member at a time to make statements and appearances in order to keep media attention high.

To me, it looks like the family is following that pattern. They laid low the first week or so, when media interest was high. Then they released a statement read by LE. Then the two fathers made statements. There have been a couple other statements and now DY's open letter to Kyron has been released.

Due to a previous life, I have experience in luring the media, feeding the media and getting the media to keep coming back for more. Everything I have seen so far suggests to me that Kyron's family either has similar experience or is getting advice from someone with similar experience.

 

[cluciano63]

I don't think the media needs luring in this case, I think they would love to have something new to print every day and certainly the public is interested...

 

[seekingjustice**]

What other purpose does a plea serve in any case?

The plea is a way to humanize your child to the public and let them get to know you and who your child is. There can never be enough help and to get the public and media on your side is a good thing. MOO

 

[GrainneDhu]

I don't think the media needs luring in this case, I think they would love to have something new to print every day and certainly the public is interested...

At this point in time, no, the media doesn't need any luring. So why does the family need to be out there? By not being out there, they are helping keep the story going.

At some point, though, media interest will flag. It always does. And that is the point at which having some fresh "bait" will bring that interest back.

To carry the fishing analogy further than it probably deserves: don't throw the entire bucket of chum into the waters all at once. Only toss in as much as you need to keep the sharks coming back for more.

 

[sofia76]

What baffles me is ... LE seem to be looking for a body. But we are all supposed to be keeping our eyes open for him? The police have not said in recent days, "We believe Kyron could be out there, ALIVE." It feels so hopeless. And they don't want any "civilians" out there searching, either.

 

[CharlestonGal]

I don't know why these particular parents are behaving the way they are with the media. The reasons are probably as individual as they are.

When a child is missing the media is simply one of the many tools that can be used to your advantage to find him/her. I don't understand why this family is choosing not to use every tool available to them, such as the media, to find Kyron; but, to each his own I guess.

I'd use everything in my arsenal to find my missing child, personally. I'd go all out. But that's just me. I'm ambitious.

 

[CharlestonGal]

What baffles me is ... LE seem to be looking for a body. But we are all supposed to be keeping our eyes open for him? The police have not said in recent days, "We believe Kyron could be out there, ALIVE." It feels so hopeless. And they don't want any "civilians" out there searching, either.

I think LE has been looking for a body since 2-3 days into this case, when their whole tone changed. Something came to their attention at that point and I think that "something" changed their view of the case. But, I think, they also kept up the "looking for a live Kyron" avenue on the slim chance they were wrong about what they think happened.

If they really had good reason to think Kyron could still be alive, they'd have continued having press conferences as long as the media was interested in showing up.

 

[Karen Anne RN]

Any LE investigator is not going to just swallow anybody's statement when something as important as a missing child is at stake. Whether she set her watch fast or not, believe me, LE has investigated every movement she made that day. They will have looked at the camera, they will have looked at the time-stamp on the upload of the photo. They know exactly when the photo was snapped, and exactly when it was uploaded. That would just be part of an even basic investigation.



I hate to harp on this, but we do not know if her cellphone pings contradict her being at the school. We know some unidentified persons who were not involved in this investigation say there is a problem with her cellphone pings.




Rumor, IMO. I have read several people saying that a reporter asked a question after the PC was over, but before cameras were turned off. I have read one person say they believed LE was informing media that there was a problem with the cellphone pings. I believe this poster may have mis-heard, because it is simply impossible for me to believe that WW would rely on unidentified LE officials who are NOT involved in the investigation if the sheriff or anyone who IS involved in the investigation had out & out informed them of any problem with the pings.




I agree that it would make sense to be truthful to LE even if what you had to say was unsavory. It would be ridiculous for a person to not know and fully expect LE to check out one's story in a case like this. (I know people DO lie to LE, but how dumb that is!!)

Terri may not have made any public comments about her cellphone pings, but why would she?




SM is an idiot if she has not retained a lawyer. We, as citizens of USA, are guaranteed the right to retain counsel to represent our interests.

This is not directed to you, SuziQ, but I really hate the term "lawyering up" because it implies that only guilty persons retain legal representation. And that is just not true.



Can you point me to where you read that? I haven't seen that before, and I'm curious to see if there is a link to back up that she did not have her cell phone with her.

I don't think it would be strange at all to walk to the end of one's driveway without a cellphone.....heck, I NEVER take my cellphone with me to walk to the end of my driveway, or when I go out of the front door to check the mail! So I wouldn't find it odd at all that SM didn't have her phone on her, I'm just wondering if it is a verified fact that I can add to my list.

BTW, my understanding is that the bus is equipped with a communications system on-board, so the driver was able to quickly contact the school to find out if Kyron had missed the bus, etc.

I will look for the post in a minute...

 

[kgeaux]

Our child's school scans the ID of anyone coming in . It checks against some type of registry .Not sure if it's a SO registry or just a school registry of people not allowed in. For instance,in some child custody cases a parent may not be allowed access for various reasons.
After they scan our ID a sticker comes out with your picture on it and you sign in.Doesn't matter if you come twice a day ,every day,they do it every time .

What type of id do they use? Is it one provided by the school? (just asking because I don't think I own any type of id that can be scanned!)

If it is an id provided by the school, I wonder what they do when the school is hosting an event such as the one that was taking place at Kyron's school that day?

I did not like that former Multnomah County LE official mentioning the Jon Benet case. I already am getting bad feelings that LE is lost on this case and is still clingirng to the circle closest to Kyron since that is what statistics tell them to do. It has been far too long to:
A. Not have found Kyron
B. Not have verified Terri's whereabouts for that entire day

I fear that Kyron will not be found for a very long time and it will be an accidental discovery by a community member and that very little will be able to be determined as to what happened. I think that the only way LE finds Kyron is with a confession and it does not look as though that is happening anytime soon. As always with such glum feelings, I hope I am wrong.

We really do not know that Terri's whereabouts have not been verified.

The plea is a way to humanize your child to the public and let them get to know you and who your child is. There can never be enough help and to get the public and media on your side is a good thing. MOO

But, so what? If it doesn't humanize your child to the perpetrator, what good does it do? Unfortunately, in today's world where anyone can get on a computer and post their thoughts about a case, parental public appearances seem to have become more about being fodder for the public to parse and criticize.......fodder for rumors, fodder for gossip, instead of humanizing the child.

What baffles me is ... LE seem to be looking for a body. But we are all supposed to be keeping our eyes open for him? The police have not said in recent days, "We believe Kyron could be out there, ALIVE." It feels so hopeless. And they don't want any "civilians" out there searching, either.

As recently as Friday, Gates spoke directly to Kyron. LE has not ruled out recovering a living child, IMO.

 

[cluciano63]

If they have verfied her whereabouts for Friday 6/4, why the flyer/questionnaire? Is it just to ask who saw her and when? I really do not get the whole flyer thing and still fear they are opening a can of worms by ending up with a whole lot of conflicting info from what they first gathered, which will put them back to square one.

Also, if the family was already thinking in terms of how to best "lure" the media in the early days of Kyron's disappearance, I find that very strange. I do not feel that regular PR applies to the situation of a missing child who might possibly be alive but in any case needs to be found ASAP. I am not liking the thought that any PR is involved here and personally do not feel that it is. The local media seems to be ready to print almost anything pertaining to Kyron, and have to wait for scraps.

But then again, in the early days, KOIN's survey showed that almost 50% of their readers were already tired of the story getting too much attention. So maybe I am wrong about the general public wanting fresh stories every day, maybe it is more of a sub-population who is waiting on edge of collective chairs.

 

[Calliope]

From what we have seen of her, Desiree seemed so emotionally destroyed that I just cannot imagine her making the rounds of the media.

And why wouldn't Terri be just as emotionally destroyed? Or Kaine? Or Tony?

I watched the two press conferences. I didn't see 'step' anything. I saw four devastated parents.

 

[MBLover]

Most all driver's licenses have the capability of being scanned. Look at the back and there is a barcode.

Fortunately LE has not had to scan mine, but have seen it done at Target and Wal-Mart when writing a check.

When you're pulled over in traffic all the LEO has to do is scan your ID and they don't have to type anything into their computer...it all just automatically shows up.

I'm guessing the poster who posted about their school having this technique available is something similar to what LE uses.

 

[2goldfish]

But, so what? If it doesn't humanize your child to the perpetrator, what good does it do?

snipped by me


if it helped even once - and I dont claim to know that it does or doesnt help- then it would be worth it to always do it.


you dont get if you dont ask, ask and ye shall receive, all that. I'm a shy and private person. I dont know HOW I would manage begging my child's abductor or possible god forbid killer to please have mercy but I've no doubt in my mind I would find a way.

 

[kgeaux]

snipped by me


if it helped even once - and I dont claim to know that it does or doesnt help- then it would be worth it to always do it.


you dont get if you dont ask, ask and ye shall receive, all that. I'm a shy and private person. I dont know HOW I would manage begging my child's abductor or possible god forbid killer to please have mercy but I've no doubt in my mind I would find a way.

I am a shy and private person also. And I would ask, I would beg. At least, sitting on my couch right now, knowing where all of my children are, I THINK I'd ask. If I were actually in their shoes, I might react differently.

Either way, I must admit, after seeing how every blink has been torn apart and noted as evidence of guilt, I do think I'd hesitate to expose myself to the kinds of vilification I've seen on the internet. I would have to make my decision based on knowing how ineffective victim statements have been in the past.