GUILTY AR - Jersey Bridgeman, 6, raped & murdered, Bentonville, 20 Nov 2012 #1

[Londonrraine]

I think it happens more often than we might think but they probably get filed under the headline "a child was found dead" more than "a missing child was found dead". JMO.

If a child is found within a twenty second's walk from the home I'm not sure there is anything unusual if it happens quickly.

LE may have brought in K9's from the start, which could have led them to JB very quickly.

 

[Moxie Vi]

The Huffington Post has an article that talks about what a sweet child she was and has a beautiful picture of her. It seems like the adults that interacted with her really liked her. She was a fighter becaus she had to be but still enjoyed life. So sad.

I wonder if she had Pica. That would explain her eating the seemingly odd things that her dad and stepmom felt the need to chain her up to keep her away from. I'm not condoning their methods at all, I've just seen stories of other parents that get pushed to extremes to keep their Pica kids from getting into and eating stuff that could harm them. That is irrelevant to this case though, I was just curious.

Does anyone know how cold it got last night? Perhaps she died of hypothermia and/or exposure. If her dad felt he needed to chain her then perhaps she was a night time adventurer oe sleepwalker. The temp doesn't have to dip super low to cause death over a period of time. I was a bad sleep walker at around 5/6 and it was a difficult and scary time for everyone. Now I only sleep walk on occasion, I usually only know I did it by things being displaced when I wake up.

Sorry if some of my thoughts have aleeady been discussed. I read most but not all of the thread. I may be reaching at straws for a less violent COD but I really don't want such a seemingly lovely girl to have suffered.

 

[Abby Normal Again]

LE may have brought in K9's from the start, which could have led them to JB very quickly.

I am reasonably sure based on the questions I've asked of people who were close enough to see more that dogs were not brought in. No proof of this, so JMO MOO, but as of yet I have not found anyone who saw any dogs brought in and the news hasn't mentioned it yet either. I know from past experience dogs are not typically a part of the first responding unit for missing child call.

But another poster up thread was right that while one lead person talked to the family and checked the home, many other pairs of officers were actively searching the neighborhood for a child. Even before a full description many LEO were circulating and looking in depth for any child. They have a very organized approach to getting men on the ground, quickly, for missing children. I can't help but suspect they've had some specific training in this area.

 

[matou]

Sorry if this has already been answered: did she share a room with her sister? Were both adults in the home when she disappeared? Were there other adults in the home that night? TIA

This little jewel is so beautiful. RIP Jersey. xo

 

[matou]

I'm reading that the house had dogs. Were these dogs inside that night or outside? Did anyone hear barking from the dogs or them acting agitated?

 

[Moxie Vi]

Here is a picture from the Huffington Post:

 

[Londonrraine]

Here is a picture from the Huffington Post:

What a beautiful child. Unbelievable....
How adorable she was doesn't matter...no child should ever be hurt or have to endure abuse, of any kind. It appalls me beyond words.

It does seem that everything happened so fast at the start, now i'm waiting to hear what actually happened and who knew what. I hope we all get news soon.
RIP Pretty little angel.

 

[ImWithTheBand]

LE may have brought in K9's from the start, which could have led them to JB very quickly.

I think that probably more than one officer was sent out on the call. Beginning to canvas the area, the second house wouldn't be that far to be one of the first places visited, abandoned or not. Imagining~ "you get the trailer, I'll hit the next house". The fact that is was abandoned likely made it faster too. Strange indeed that she was found so close to home, but I don't think the time frame in which they located her is all that strange MOO

 

[Lois Lane]

The Huffington Post has an article that talks about what a sweet child she was and has a beautiful picture of her. It seems like the adults that interacted with her really liked her. She was a fighter becaus she had to be but still enjoyed life. So sad.

I wonder if she had Pica. That would explain her eating the seemingly odd things that her dad and stepmom felt the need to chain her up to keep her away from. I'm not condoning their methods at all, I've just seen stories of other parents that get pushed to extremes to keep their Pica kids from getting into and eating stuff that could harm them. That is irrelevant to this case though, I was just curious.

Does anyone know how cold it got last night? Perhaps she died of hypothermia and/or exposure. If her dad felt he needed to chain her then perhaps she was a night time adventurer oe sleepwalker. The temp doesn't have to dip super low to cause death over a period of time. I was a bad sleep walker at around 5/6 and it was a difficult and scary time for everyone. Now I only sleep walk on occasion, I usually only know I did it by things being displaced when I wake up.

Sorry if some of my thoughts have aleeady been discussed. I read most but not all of the thread. I may be reaching at straws for a less violent COD but I really don't want such a seemingly lovely girl to have suffered.

Weather Underground historical data for Bentonville, Arkansas on Tuesday, November 20 was a low of 41 degrees (would be around 4:00 am to 6:00 am-ish) warming up that day to 68 degrees (later that afternoon after she was found dead.)

Not particularly windy (3 mph -- max 10 mph)

http://www.wunderground.com/history/

 

[jjenny]

It could be something like this:

Mom goes to wake Jersey around 6:30am -- JB is not in her bed, and mom can't find her anywhere in the house or yard.

Maybe JB has been playing in the abandoned house (I would have been at that age -- playing house, hide-and-seek with friends, etc., if entry to it was easy). Mom knows that, and since mom can't find her after calling out her name in the neighborhood, she goes to the house & finds her -- or a helpful neighbor finds her -- or mom tells police about her previously playing in the house...

Or not. :waitasec:

Then why police be called before she was found? If mother knew JB liked to play in the abandoned house, the logical thing would be to check the house first.

 

[jjenny]

Weather Underground historical data for Bentonville, Arkansas on Tuesday, November 20 was a low of 41 degrees (would be around 4:00 am to 6:00 am-ish) warming up that day to 68 degrees (later that afternoon after she was found dead.)

Not particularly windy (3 mph -- max 10 mph)

http://www.wunderground.com/history/

A child shouldn't be dying of exposure or hypothermia with those temperatures.

 

[Lois Lane]

The Huffington Post has an article that talks about what a sweet child she was and has a beautiful picture of her. It seems like the adults that interacted with her really liked her. She was a fighter becaus she had to be but still enjoyed life. So sad.

I wonder if she had Pica. That would explain her eating the seemingly odd things that her dad and stepmom felt the need to chain her up to keep her away from. I'm not condoning their methods at all, I've just seen stories of other parents that get pushed to extremes to keep their Pica kids from getting into and eating stuff that could harm them. That is irrelevant to this case though, I was just curious.

Does anyone know how cold it got last night? Perhaps she died of hypothermia and/or exposure. If her dad felt he needed to chain her then perhaps she was a night time adventurer oe sleepwalker. The temp doesn't have to dip super low to cause death over a period of time. I was a bad sleep walker at around 5/6 and it was a difficult and scary time for everyone. Now I only sleep walk on occasion, I usually only know I did it by things being displaced when I wake up.

Sorry if some of my thoughts have aleeady been discussed. I read most but not all of the thread. I may be reaching at straws for a less violent COD but I really don't want such a seemingly lovely girl to have suffered.

I also had some sleepwalking episodes as a child, mine were around 7-8. If I ever ventured outside during any of mine, my parents either never told me about those or they didn't know. Believe me, if my mother knew about any outdoor escapades she would have told me.

 

[Moxie Vi]

A child shouldn't be dying of exposure or hypothermia with those temperatures.

It's not likely but from what I'm reading it could happen. The temperature just has to be low enough to cause the body's temp to decrease. WebMd cites this as being possible at 50 degrees fahrenheit for an adult. Assuming that Jersey wasn't all bundled up, I could see her getting cold very quickly. Where this theory falls apart in my opinion is that instead of staying outside and being cold/uncomfortable I think that she'd just go back inside as opposed to staying in the abandoned house and potentially succumbing to the cold(ish) temps. I'm assuming that she'd be able to get back inside her home once she left. It was just a thought that I had based on some wilderness show that I recently watched but I don't think that it holds much weight.

Wed Md

 

[Londonrraine]

I really hate to say this, and I don't want to cross any lines here, but just how pissed must Daddy and step-mom be. They got some pretty stiff sentences last year.
I hope this is not going to be a case difficult to solve. Poor kid deserves justice!

 

[Abby Normal Again]

It's not likely but from what I'm reading it could happen. The temperature just has to be low enough to cause the body's temp to decrease. WebMd cites this as being possible at 50 degrees fahrenheit for an adult. Assuming that Jersey wasn't all bundled up, I could see her getting cold very quickly. Where this theory falls apart in my opinion is that instead of staying outside and being cold/uncomfortable I think that she'd just go back inside as opposed to staying in the abandoned house and potentially succumbing to the cold(ish) temps. I'm assuming that she'd be able to get back inside her home once she left. It was just a thought that I had based on some wilderness show that I recently watched but I don't think that it holds much weight.

Wed Md

Based on quickly and surely they called it a homicide investigation, and how quickly and how surely the stated that the abandoned house is where she passed away without (to my knowledge) cadaver dogs, I suspect that the crime scene made it pretty apparent. That is my unfortunate suspicion anyway. JMO of course.

 

[STEADFAST]

The Huffington Post has an article that talks about what a sweet child she was and has a beautiful picture of her. It seems like the adults that interacted with her really liked her. She was a fighter becaus she had to be but still enjoyed life. So sad.

I wonder if she had Pica. That would explain her eating the seemingly odd things that her dad and stepmom felt the need to chain her up to keep her away from. I'm not condoning their methods at all, I've just seen stories of other parents that get pushed to extremes to keep their Pica kids from getting into and eating stuff that could harm them. That is irrelevant to this case though, I was just curious.

Does anyone know how cold it got last night? Perhaps she died of hypothermia and/or exposure. If her dad felt he needed to chain her then perhaps she was a night time adventurer oe sleepwalker. The temp doesn't have to dip super low to cause death over a period of time. I was a bad sleep walker at around 5/6 and it was a difficult and scary time for everyone. Now I only sleep walk on occasion, I usually only know I did it by things being displaced when I wake up.

Sorry if some of my thoughts have aleeady been discussed. I read most but not all of the thread. I may be reaching at straws for a less violent COD but I really don't want such a seemingly lovely girl to have suffered.

The coroner ruled her death a homicide, so she didn't die of exposure.

According to her dad when he was charged, Jersey was getting up eating pies, cereal, and bread -- That doesn't indicate pica to me. In fact, looking at her stepmother, I'd bet that she was the one eating all the pies, cereal and bread and blaming it on Jersey.

 

[Abby Normal Again]

I think he also said that she had gotten into non-food items at times, but that may have been to lend more merit to his solution.

In my work we see sneaking of foods at night as often being associated with forbidden foods. When there are certain foods the adults buy that they don't want the kids to have either for health or monetary reasons. It's not uncommon at all, actually. If they are hoarding foods, including staples, that indicates something else entirely- so there are a number of reasons Jersey may have done this, if in fact she did.

 

[borndem]

I don't think Jersey's house or the murder house are mobile homes. The one in the middle is a trailer with a deck and porch built on. Zillow lists Jersey's house as having 1056 sq ft. http://www.zillow.com/homes/704-se-A-st.,-bentonville,-ar_rb/

I kept looking at the little house where Jersey & her mom lived, and I just couldn't see that house having 1,000+ sq.feet, so I double-checked on the addresses of the two houses on Post #14 on Page 1 of this board, which is the source of the quote below, and obtained the street numbers of Jersey's mom's house & the murder house.

"Tuesday morning, November 20th, 2012, at 6:43 AM the Bentonville Police Department received the report of a missing 6 year old female. The child was reported to be missing from her home at 608 SE A Street. A neighborhood search resulted in the discovery of the child's body within a vacant house at 704 SE A Street at 6:53 AM."
from:
http://nwahomepage.com/fulltext-news?nxd_id=383462



Then I looked up the two houses again on the site you so helpfully gave us (Thank you, STEADFAST! and love your mountain!) -- if the addresses are correct on the Page 1 article, I got the dimensions on both houses. (It bugged me because our first house was a little matchbox thing having 950 square feet -- small but fine for two newlyweds -- we have since separated from the little house, but not, Thank You Lord, from each other!)

Also, although the rent estimate of the 608 A Street house, while not sounding like a very large amount to many of us, is a lot when you're a young single mom with 2 little ones (and very most likely no child support!!) -- I have also wondered if her new BF/roommate may have offered to help with monthly expenses, and that may be the way he got in the door...


608 SE A St, Bentonville, AR

Not for Sale

• Zestimate®: $57,054
• Rent Zestimate®: $661/mo
  Est. Mortgage: $199/mo
  • See current rates

• Beds: --
  Baths: 1.0
  Sqft: 704
  Lot: 9,583

----------------------------------------------------


704 SE A St, Bentonville, AR

Not for Sale

• Zestimate®: $67,486
• Rent Zestimate®: $691/mo
  Est. Mortgage: $236/mo
  • See current rates

• Beds: --
  Baths: 1.0
  Sqft: 1,056
  Lot: 10,890

--------------------------------------------------

 

[STEADFAST]

I kept looking at the little house where Jersey & her mom lived, and I just couldn't see that house having 1,000+ sq.feet, so I double-checked on the addresses of the two houses on Post #14 on Page 1 of this board, which is the source of the quote below, and obtained the street numbers of Jersey's mom's house & the murder house.

"Tuesday morning, November 20th, 2012, at 6:43 AM the Bentonville Police Department received the report of a missing 6 year old female. The child was reported to be missing from her home at 608 SE A Street. A neighborhood search resulted in the discovery of the child's body within a vacant house at 704 SE A Street at 6:53 AM."
from:
http://nwahomepage.com/fulltext-news?nxd_id=383462



Then I looked up the two houses again on the site you so helpfully gave us (Thank you, STEADFAST! and love your mountain!) -- if the addresses are correct on the Page 1 article, I got the dimensions on both houses. (It bugged me because our first house was a little matchbox thing having 950 square feet -- small but fine for two newlyweds -- we have since separated from the little house, but not, Thank You Lord, from each other!)

Also, although the rent estimate of the 608 A Street house, while not sounding like a very large amount to many of us, is a lot when you're a young single mom with 2 little ones (and very most likely no child support!!) -- I have also wondered if her new BF/roommate may have offered to help with monthly expenses, and that may be the way he got in the door...


608 SE A St, Bentonville, AR

Not for Sale

• Zestimate®: $57,054
• Rent Zestimate®: $661/mo
  Est. Mortgage: $199/mo
  • See current rates

• Beds: --
  Baths: 1.0
  Sqft: 704
  Lot: 9,583

----------------------------------------------------


704 SE A St, Bentonville, AR

Not for Sale

• Zestimate®: $67,486
• Rent Zestimate®: $691/mo
  Est. Mortgage: $236/mo
  • See current rates

• Beds: --
  Baths: 1.0
  Sqft: 1,056
  Lot: 10,890

--------------------------------------------------

Thanks! I did confuse the body house with Jersey's house.

eta. The house is small, but I don't seen it as being too small to adequately raise a family of 3 (or 4?). It's got a yard, and I wouldn't be surprised if Jersey's mom was pretty delighted to be able to furnish that "luxury." I think the house looks fine, considering the circumstances of the family.

 

[Moxie Vi]

I think he also said that she had gotten into non-food items at times, but that may have been to lend more merit to his solution.

In my work we see sneaking of foods at night as often being associated with forbidden foods. When there are certain foods the adults buy that they don't want the kids to have either for health or monetary reasons. It's not uncommon at all, actually. If they are hoarding foods, including staples, that indicates something else entirely- so there are a number of reasons Jersey may have done this, if in fact she did.

I recall him mentioning nonfood items as well, I believe one or more of the articles mentioned medicine. That seemed unusual to me and the Hannah Overton case is fresh in my mind so my thoughts immediately jumped to Pica. Granted, that is completely self serving for the father so even if he did make that claim I'm not sure how much truth there could be. Even if the Pica longshot was true, using a belt to chain her up was unnecessary and deserved a harsh sentence.