flowerlady
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Moses' badly decomposed body was found August 23, 1997 [other reports say the 22nd] under a tree next to the on-ramp to Highway 101 South at Petaluma Boulevard South in Sonoma County, Northern California.
She had been missing since August 13th, when she was last seen in the company of an unknown adult male near the intersection of Dutton Avenue and Sebastopol Road in Santa Rosa CA.
Abducted and murdered at the tender age of 12 like Polly Klaas, her body was found on the west side of Petaluma, not far from Polly Klaas's house. Like Polly, Georgia was bright, beautiful, intelligent and well-loved by her circle of friends. But that's where the similarities end. While Polly Klaas was "America's child," Georgia Lee Moses was America's throw-away child, according to those who mourned her death in 1997 and the way it was treated by the community. While Polly's abduction and death was front-page news around the country, Georgia's tragedy was relegated to short news stories about the discovery of her body near the freeway and the unsuccessful search for her killer that followed.
The difference between the death of Polly Klaas and the killing of Georgia Moses, say those who were critical of the lack of apparent sympathy for Georgia, is that Georgia was a poor black child of a single, mentally incapacitated mother. She was also a sometime runaway and a school truant, most likely attempting to escape from the sad conditions of her life. After her death, many people who rallied to her cause blamed school officials and Child Protective Services officials for letting her slip through the cracks. They also criticized the media for portraying her and her family in less than respectful terms, almost making it appear that she was the cause of her own death.
Among the many Sonoma County agencies that had failed to act in the face of repeated indications that Georgia's family was in severe distress was the office of the District Attorney -- (at that time) Mike Mullins. In both late April and early August of 1997, just weeks before Georgia's murder, Mullins had refused to file charges on new sex offenses against Eddie Pope, a convicted child molester who had moved in on Georgia's disabled mom. Friends say Georgia hated and feared Eddie, who is suspected by many to be the murderer and by others to be the reason Georgia was driven in the streets.
From narrative of training materials for "A Time to Smile", community outreach non-profit organization for young, at-risk girls in Sonoma County:
"When Georgia Moses, a young Black girl from a poor family, was murdered in the same county as Polly Klass (a 12 year old white girl whose murder drew national attention) the community barely took notice. Georgia took care of both her mentally ill mother and her 7 year old sister. She had been doing so since she was 7. She was a 12 year old woman and not by her own hand. She reached out to the community as a 12 year old with no boundaries and no rules and there was no one there to got to bat for her. Georgia sought her validation from men and was taken advantage of in the most horrific way."
No one has, as yet, been arrested for this horrible crime even though suspicion had squarely centered on the mother's live-in sex-offender boyfriend.
At the time, police were looking for an African American male, approximately 25 to 30 years old with closely cropped hair and medium complexion, for questioning in connection with the Georgia's death. They said man was driving a small, white, four-door vehicle.
In memory of Georgia, musician Tom Waits wrote and recorded a song called "Georgia Lee". Lyrics to his song can be found: HERE
Tom graciously also maintains the texts of many of the articles written about Georgia by reporters with local newspapers on that same page.
WHY NO JUSTICE FOR GEORGIA LEE?
She had been missing since August 13th, when she was last seen in the company of an unknown adult male near the intersection of Dutton Avenue and Sebastopol Road in Santa Rosa CA.
Abducted and murdered at the tender age of 12 like Polly Klaas, her body was found on the west side of Petaluma, not far from Polly Klaas's house. Like Polly, Georgia was bright, beautiful, intelligent and well-loved by her circle of friends. But that's where the similarities end. While Polly Klaas was "America's child," Georgia Lee Moses was America's throw-away child, according to those who mourned her death in 1997 and the way it was treated by the community. While Polly's abduction and death was front-page news around the country, Georgia's tragedy was relegated to short news stories about the discovery of her body near the freeway and the unsuccessful search for her killer that followed.
The difference between the death of Polly Klaas and the killing of Georgia Moses, say those who were critical of the lack of apparent sympathy for Georgia, is that Georgia was a poor black child of a single, mentally incapacitated mother. She was also a sometime runaway and a school truant, most likely attempting to escape from the sad conditions of her life. After her death, many people who rallied to her cause blamed school officials and Child Protective Services officials for letting her slip through the cracks. They also criticized the media for portraying her and her family in less than respectful terms, almost making it appear that she was the cause of her own death.
Among the many Sonoma County agencies that had failed to act in the face of repeated indications that Georgia's family was in severe distress was the office of the District Attorney -- (at that time) Mike Mullins. In both late April and early August of 1997, just weeks before Georgia's murder, Mullins had refused to file charges on new sex offenses against Eddie Pope, a convicted child molester who had moved in on Georgia's disabled mom. Friends say Georgia hated and feared Eddie, who is suspected by many to be the murderer and by others to be the reason Georgia was driven in the streets.
From narrative of training materials for "A Time to Smile", community outreach non-profit organization for young, at-risk girls in Sonoma County:
"When Georgia Moses, a young Black girl from a poor family, was murdered in the same county as Polly Klass (a 12 year old white girl whose murder drew national attention) the community barely took notice. Georgia took care of both her mentally ill mother and her 7 year old sister. She had been doing so since she was 7. She was a 12 year old woman and not by her own hand. She reached out to the community as a 12 year old with no boundaries and no rules and there was no one there to got to bat for her. Georgia sought her validation from men and was taken advantage of in the most horrific way."
No one has, as yet, been arrested for this horrible crime even though suspicion had squarely centered on the mother's live-in sex-offender boyfriend.
At the time, police were looking for an African American male, approximately 25 to 30 years old with closely cropped hair and medium complexion, for questioning in connection with the Georgia's death. They said man was driving a small, white, four-door vehicle.
In memory of Georgia, musician Tom Waits wrote and recorded a song called "Georgia Lee". Lyrics to his song can be found: HERE
Tom graciously also maintains the texts of many of the articles written about Georgia by reporters with local newspapers on that same page.
WHY NO JUSTICE FOR GEORGIA LEE?
