Brooke Bennett, 12 years old Randolph VT #12

[MCDRAW]

Here's a link http://http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,377281,00.html


The charges in Alabama are that Gagnon — who was 12-year-old Brooke Bennett's stepfather for about five years — had child stored at his former home in Cullman, Alabama.

So he still owns this house in Cullman? Or does he have a relative that lives there?

 

[VTGirl81]

I have the utmost sympathy for AR, and I wouldn't send her to jail, but if I'm going to be consistent about generally not considering that child abuse/bad childhood/drug problems etc. are realistic excuses for committing crimes, then I can't absolve AR for her role in this tragedy.

I also believe that AR did not just leave the house while Jacques and Brooke went upstairs. It doesn't fit with the email exchanges or the plan.

I am open to re-evaluating AR's culpability if/when more comes out about exactly what she has endured and why she says she wrote those emails.

I do agree. I have a history of dealing with children with sexual abuse; I completely understand that they get scared and keep things quiet. However, I feel that AR went above and beyond that. She participated in luring Brooke back to the house, lied to her, wanted her to suffer, to urinate in her mouth, etc. and I don't fully believe that she left before the take down happened.

I don't think she should go to jail, but I do think that she should be held responsible some way. She definitely needs to spend some time in a psychiatric hospital.

 

[Medea]

tsk tsk tsk:tsktsk::tsktsk::tsktsk:
Sadly, I've never seen a MINOR victim attacked here before. :shakehead: :shakehead:

If she had shot her step father I would give her a medal! Conspiring to abduct and rape her 12 year old cousing, wishing her to suffer and be urninated on and covering up until she was caught, to me crosses the line.

Minors are tried as adults every day in this country for violent crimes. Conspiracy to commit kidnapping and rape is a serious crime.

There is a difference between acknowledging that she is a victim and she is what Jacques made her and still also acknowledging that she is culpable to some degree for her actions.

 

[LI_Mom]

Great photos IMBY..THANK YOU!

Where was Brooke's body found buried? Was it in the area of the Sugar House? Was it near the area of any of the other pics? It looks like a lot of vegetation all around that area. If someone disturbed it to dig a grave
it would have been noticable.

I believe it was off the side of the road at that intersection.

They mentioned it was a shallow grave & noticeable that it was recently dug.

 

[SuziQ]

So he still owns this house in Cullman? Or does he have a relative that lives there?

The newspaper in Cullman said the house was vacant.

 

[LaLaw2000]

I've posted some pictures of the area (taken a few minutes ago):
http://web.mac.com/th0r/bb/Photos.html

Thank you so much, IMBY!
Thise are fresh ruts by the sugar house, aren't they? Also, that is a U-Haul truck at the rental house, isn't it?

 

[Tom'sGirl]

It's not that simple. My sister let it go on for over 10 yrs before telling. She was 22 when she finally got the courage.

At one point she lived 3 hours away in college, he would go there on weekends, she would still comply. They brainwash you. It's so scary and so hard to understand. I too was molested (not by the same family member), but I told right away...my sister, she just couldn't....I was angry at first, asking, 'how could you let this go on for so long w/o telling??"....It was when he molested my other sister that my oldest sister got him to leave the house w/just her, still not telling, but getting him away from us.

I do not believe that blame should be put on AR, she was a victim.

Christine,

Many of us here have worse stories regarding our past and Sexual molestations with the family that went on for years, but don't speak of it here, or elsewhere. In some ways it helps us understand why so many children never tell even though they know what is going on is not normal, and wrong.

Because one has been a Sexual victim over years does not mean you could, or would be a partner in any type of crime like in the case of Brooke!

 

[Liz]

Why is this guys picture NOT easily accessible?
I've followed a lot of cases but never one in which the prime suspects pictures are not shown to the public. :banghead:

Strange, isn't it?

 

[oceanblueeyes]

Sure she has been abused and brainwashed. That doesn't change the fact that she actively, and by her emails willingly and eagerly assisted in planning for the abduction and rape of Brooke Bennett, including wishing that she SUFFERED and that someone would urinate in her mouth and further that with the FBI and VSP looking for her cousin she still failed to admit to anything until confronted with irrefutable evidence of her involvement.

This crosses the line from victim to victimizer in my opinion.

I agree, it does pose quite a quandary. When does it become okay for abused victims to then harm another and try to use this excuse why they are the way they are?

Isn't these the ones we are fearful of............ that 30% who does cross the line? The ones who are abused and then go onto commit violent acts and have violent thoughts against others?

To be subjected to abuse is totally a different thing than someone wanting some other innocent person to suffer in such a demeaning, sadistic way.

Now I could understand her rage if it was toward her abuser and she fantasized about him being tied down and suffering.

To me AR sounds like other females who have been known to group up with males to participate in the most horrific things.

At almost 15 years old I am not sure therapy is going to fix that warped sense of being that is so deeply instilled in her now.

I try to look at it openly and honestly and if it was another teenage male or female that had conspired to do harm I would not give them the abuse excuse for one second. It is rare that the abused victim also willingly follows in the foot steps of their abuser so this makes AR in a much different category than most abused childhood victims who do not want to do harm against other children. It is undeniable imo that for some reason AR seems to have become just like her abuser in so many ways.

I am sad for Brooke that happened. Maybe if AR had been overprotective of her young cousin she may be alive today.

imoo

 

[philamena]

Yes, & my point was that lots of really horrible criminals were the products of THEIR environments also.

I'm NOT saying that I think AR should be thrown into jail.... I'm simply saying it's very important to know the full scope of her psychology in the present time so they know how to give her a chance at a normal life.

Oh, I got your point.

 

[twinkiesmom]

If all he wanted to do was kill her he could have come up with a streamlined reason for going into the convenience store and them leaving separately, picked her up, raped and killed her and dumped her body. No accomplices. No email trail. He could have stuck to "I dropped her at the convenience store" and if no physical evidence could link him to her death he would have stayed free.

This is too simplistic...He was acting out a fantasy...her death was not the object, his fantasy was. This is about sexual sadism ending in death...It was planned, he just wasn't as savvy as law enforcement...and the number of coconspirators just points to his desperation and lack of intelligence.

 

[philamena]

Strange, isn't it?

Hey Liz,
Real strange!~

 

[LaLaw2000]

I wonder if any of it are the pictures of AR and her boyfriend?

I certainly wouldn't discount it, VTGirl81. Hopefully, none are of Brook!

 

[RR0004]

tsk tsk tsk:tsktsk::tsktsk::tsktsk:
Sadly, I've never seen a MINOR victim attacked here before. :shakehead: :shakehead:

philamena...I think we all believe that AR is a victim here...but if she had gone out and plain out killed her cousin (with no MJ involvement) and used (and I mean no disrespect for that choice of words) "I've been abused for 5 years by my Uncle"...though we'd understand that this is in fact a broken person, would we no doubt also consider her a perpetrator of the crime? I need to see all the facts before I say exactly how I feel about her role...my anger sometimes leads me to scream...but I do know this is a person who needs to be in a therapeutic environment...and protected from those around her. JMO.

 

[VTGirl81]

If we start excusing victims completely, it turns into a very slippery slope. MJ was probably a victim when he was younger as well, that's how most of these SOB's start. In the past of most of these disgusting criminals, you are bound to find abuse.

I think that evidence needs to be looked at very closely. Being that AR is still only 14, I have hopes that she can be "fixed" and become a productive citizen in society. She needs some major psychiatric help and to start a new life somewhere, away from Vermont, definitely away from her "mother" (and I use the word mother VERY loosely when it comes to Denise).

 

[oceanblueeyes]

Christine,

Many of us here have worse stories regarding our past and Sexual molestations with the family that went on for years, but don't speak of it here, or elsewhere. In some ways it helps us understand why so many children never tell even though they know what is going on is not normal, and wrong.

Because one has been a Sexual victim over years does not mean you could, or would be a partner in any type of crime like in the case of Brooke!

Amen! How totally true!

 

[MCDRAW]

Do you know the area of Anniston, Alabama? If so what is it like, and have you heard of anything going on in that area?

I don't know anything about Anniston. Sorry

 

[Medea]

If we start excusing victims completely, it turns into a very slippery slope. MJ was probably a victim when he was younger as well, that's how most of these SOB's start. In the past of most of these disgusting criminals, you are bound to find abuse.

I think that evidence needs to be looked at very closely. Being that AR is still only 14, I have hopes that she can be "fixed" and become a productive citizen in society. She needs some major psychiatric help and to start a new life somewhere, away from Vermont, definitely away from her "mother" (and I use the word mother VERY loosely when it comes to Denise).

To me, there is also a HUGE difference between killing your abuser or those who didn't help you and seeking out a fresh victim. I'm probably in the minority here, but I had sympathy for the Menedez brothers and believed they were abused by their father.

Helping your abuser find new prey and by your own words, wishing harm on that innocent person? That can't be excused under the rubric of victimhood. Most victims NEVER harm anyone, let alone procure someone to be abused.

 

[CarpeDiem]

Thanks for the great pics.

It's easy to see why LE had trouble locating Brooke.

It sure is. The pics make all the difference. There couldn't have been a better location(s) for committing these crimes.

 

[VTGirl81]

I agree, it does pose quite a quandary. When does it become okay for abused victims to then harm another and try to use this excuse why they are the way they are?

Isn't these the ones we are fearful of............ that 30% who does cross the line? The ones who are abused and then go onto commit violent acts and have violent thoughts against others?

To be subjected to abuse is totally a different thing than someone wanting some other innocent person to suffer in such a demeaning, sadistic way.

Now I could understand her rage if it was toward her abuser and she fantasized about him being tied down and suffering.

To me AR sounds like other females who have been known to group up with males to participate in the most horrific things.

At almost 15 years old I am not sure therapy is going to fix that warped sense of being that is so deeply instilled in her now.

I try to look at it openly and honestly and if it was another teenage male or female that had conspired to do harm I would not give them the abuse excuse for one second. It is rare that the abused victim also willingly follows in the foot steps of their abuser so this makes AR in a much different category than most abused childhood victims who do not want to do harm against other children. It is undeniable imo that for some reason AR seems to have become just like her abuser in so many ways.

I am sad for Brooke that happened. Maybe if AR had been overprotective of her young cousin she may be alive today.

imoo

I think a lot of what went wrong with AR stems back to Denise. So many young girls are abused but when an adult figure in their life (in this case her "mother") they USUALLY will step in to help the abused. However, I think that AR didn't feel like she had anyone in her corner. She was alone, being abused, having that abuse COMPLETELY overlooked by her "mother," and God knows what else was happening to her.

I think had Denise stepped in when she saw those things and showed some love and protection for her daughter, AR would not have felt so alone and gone over to the "dark side" that is MJ's way of life.

Does that make any sense or am I just rambling? I guess I am very torn when it comes to AR and VERY VERY angry with Denise.:furious::furious: