Alcala photos discussion thread - latest updates, news, questions

[rosierider]

Dulcimers are bluegrass instruments commonly seen in at least some parts of the country. I have been to bluegrass festivals in Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, and North Carolina. I actually made a dulcimer in 1975 and knew several people who played them then.

 

[Billylee]

Dulcimers were common in the 60's. Lots of "hippie girls" owned them. They were always common where there were communes. I had a sister in law that was in a commune and played a dulcimer. Speaking of this picture, since both girls are apparently nude, I was wondering if it was taken at a nude beach somewhere?

 

[Redbird]

This is something that really disturbs me, all the pictures of topless girls. They don't look very happy and they don't really look like the kind to pose topless. I wonder how he would have made them model topless against their will.

 

[Pink Panther]

I think that this man thrived on and surrounded himself with women who were easily manipulated...The lost, the runaways, the "free-spirited". I doubt that he killed many of the beautiful women he photographed but he most certainly hung onto their images for a reason. Perhaps because he thought he could have taken them, or because he'd managed to convince them to do things that weren't part of their characters...Who knows!? I just hope that they're all found alive and that his trophy stash ends up just being the trophy stash of a sick demented man who has nothing to do for the next twenty years but find stupid loopholes in the judicial system (that we could perhaps learn about and change).

 

[xlurker]

I think one reason this has caught my attention is that I was a shy, easily manipulated teen in the early 70's. I was just lucky during that time not to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

 

[Filly]

ok the good name thing-made me laugh

A name says alot. Sometimes people capitalize off other people's names.:sick:

Thanks for all the work with the dulcimer girls you guys. I hope they respond.

 

[Pink Panther]

Given that they took it to release these photos to the public in search of answers...I think that they should remove photos of those that have been identified and state clearly that they have located individuals who are no longer posted and that they request the public's understanding that those individuals may not wish to make any statements. At the very least, we wouldn't be spending any more time trying to figure out who the "identified" are and could concentrate more effectively on those who have not been identified!

MOO

 

[Billylee]

Ditto that!!! Has anyone asked them to? Maybe that's all it would take?

 

[tut med]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/04/10/police-id-women-serial-killers-photos/?test=latestnews

Police ID 21 women in serial killer's photos

AP
Police say none of the 21 women matched up to a missing persons case or an unsolved homicide

 

[Donjeta]

So glad they found them living!

So did none of the missing persons leads turn out credible? I thought they had family members recognize somebody.

 

[Billylee]

So glad they found them living!

So did none of the missing persons leads turn out credible? I thought they had family members recognize somebody.

As I understand the article, the 21 people were matched by the PD and we don't know how many if any of those 21 came from the pictures they released to the public. They could very well all be from the other 900 or so they have. The way I understand the article these 21 probably include the 3 we already know of listed here and it has nothing to do with the family members who are recognizing someone missing. I do believe the other reports said that there were nine people who called and recongized themselves from the public ones though and I wish they'd remove their pictures from the site!

 

[RubyRed]

Given that they took it to release these photos to the public in search of answers...I think that they should remove photos of those that have been identified and state clearly that they have located individuals who are no longer posted and that they request the public's understanding that those individuals may not wish to make any statements. At the very least, we wouldn't be spending any more time trying to figure out who the "identified" are and could concentrate more effectively on those who have not been identified!

MOO

I agree, it is a waste of time.

 

[archivist]

I wish that law enforcement would invest some time in rendering these and other images from Alcala's storage locker viewable by the extraordinary resource of this hive mind.

Photo editing tools can be used to obscure nudity or other objectionable imagery while still leaving more clues available for sleuths to peruse. Some of these cropped images are so vague as to be useless.

I recall about five years ago a child sex abuse victim was Photoshopped out of hotel room interiors and the images circulated to the public, which resulted in identification of the location and the child being found.

Why release this stuff seeking public aid in such a half-hearted fashion? If there is a worry that the more extreme images would find a prurient audience, their circulation could be limited via locked forum topics to Websleuths and other websites' members with high levels of site karma (thanks from other users).

Seems like a wasted opportunity to me.

 

[Mr. E]

Yes, I think LE could put more thought into the display of these photos. A centralized website, maybe, rather than having to search through Nancy Grace's blog and other media sites. An indication of which photos were identified.

Some people are speculating that some of the photos (like the girl in front of the Christmas tree) might be Alcala's sister, or some kids' photos might be nieces/nephews. Why would LE release photos that are so easily identified? Obviously, it would be easy to rule out if photos are of Alcala's relatives.

 

[Billylee]

I think it's pretty obvious that LE (most of them, anyway) are not used to using the public as "friends" and "sleuthers" or "helpers" however you want to call it. As CarlK was noting on one of his searches, some of them don't even give out the names of missing people that have been ruled out when we're trying to ID them. (Which IMHO, is totally ridiculous.) Using the public and the internet as a discovery tool I think, is just now coming to fruition with some LE agencies. (For instance, them not entering people into Namus, etc.) I really think there should be Federal laws on how missing persons and the unidentified victims in this country should be handled. Don't know if that will ever happen though, our lawmakers are to busy doing something(?) else. lol

 

[Donjeta]

I wonder how much they did to try and identify these people back in 1979 or the early eighties when they were first investigating, if it was a priority.
It would have been a lot easier to identify the people back then if the photos had been published. More people would have remembered them and the ones who came forward themselves would have had better recollections of where, when and how they met Alcala.

Now some of them may have already died due to unrelated causes and vital clues may have been lost with them.

 

[brandi]

I wonder how much they did to try and identify these people back in 1979 or the early eighties when they were first investigating, if it was a priority.
It would have been a lot easier to identify the people back then if the photos had been published. More people would have remembered them and the ones who came forward themselves would have had better recollections of where, when and how they met Alcala.

Now some of them may have already died due to unrelated causes and vital clues may have been lost with them.

According to the People article, they (LE) did not introduce the photos as evidence in his 1980 trial and did not have any way to "publish" the photos. Their reasoning also was it would "slow down the case."

 

[Billylee]

According to the People article, they (LE) did not introduce the photos as evidence in his 1980 trial and did not have any way to "publish" the photos. Their reasoning also was it would "slow down the case."

BBM


Does it really say that? You mean it would have taken more than 31 years to bring closure for his victim's families? What a joke!!!

 

[brandi]

Yes, it says that.:shakehead:

 

[Mr. E]

According to the People article, they (LE) did not introduce the photos as evidence in his 1980 trial and did not have any way to "publish" the photos. Their reasoning also was it would "slow down the case."

I still have a Newsweek magazine from the 80s that has a missing boy's photo on the cover. The cover article is about missing children. Many photos of the missing children were published in the article. Couldn't LE have run a photo spread in a major magazine like Newsweek or Time to publish those photos back in the day? I know that now people tend to get that information from the internet, but back then people relied on those news magazines for information.

I don't buy LE's reasoning. I can't think of any logical way that publishing the photos back then could have slowed things down.