CO - Jessica Ridgeway, 10, Westminster, 5 Oct 2012 - #20

[otto]

The Judge has issued a gag order.......no more police info for awhile.

Until Tuesday, when he's moved to adult court and county jail.

That will be an interesting reality check for the 17 year old murderer.

 

[AstroKitty]

So all they had to do was open a door. What does searching a house consist of? Making sure there isn't blood splatter everywhere? In Jessica Lunsford's case, she was being held in a closet. Police missed her because they just did a quick peek in each room. Why you would not open doors of rooms, closets, crawl-spaces, etc? What if Jessica was being held?

Not sure. I would think they would ask to come in and do a walk through, and would open doors but if the crawl space door (mine is on the floor in a weird spot) was on the floor, covered by carpet etc, and he was the only one home and said "I don't know where it is", they might have left it at that. I really have no idea. They did a search where I live for a missing person, but they just came to the doors and asked if we heard anything - noticed things and to "stick around in case they need to come back". They did search some houses near by but I think they were associated with her. To this day she's not found, but her boyfriend did say he murdered and how, he wont' give up where the body is. Someone threw a medical skeleton in the river here and called it in as a tip. Sick people I swear.

Anyway, if they were collecting DNA and he was really compliant etc, maybe it wasn't something they pursued. So many questions but I feel they were diligent and might have planned a second sweep of the homes. Anything is possible.

 

[otto]

Are anyone else's margins blown?

No ... refresh and check the resolution ... in my opinion.

 

[pinto]

....Why is it okay that they didn't check the crawlspace (Just open a door) because she was already dead?

They might have. THey were looking for a whole person, not bits.

 

[Pensfan]

This past weekend, a lady came to my daughter's craft booth. We got to chatting and she mentioned she works at a State Mental Hospital. Her facility deals with sexually violent predators. It was an interesting, yet sickening conversation.

She talked about voluntary civil commitments, which previously I did not understand. Under the circumstances, it would seem Siggs would benefit from an civil commitment. I wonder if the State will consider this approach, either voluntary or involuntary?

A voluntary civil commitment is a voluntary admission. The patient can check themselves out of the hospital under this agreement IF the doc believes they are not a danger to themselves or others.

Most mentally ill inmates are kept and treated inside the prison and not in state psych hospitals. Your local prison may not have the capacity to care for its huge number of mentally ill inmates and they may be sent to the state psych hospital for this reason.

If Austin knew right from wrong at the time he committed this murder, the court will not view him as insane regardless of what diagnoses he may have.

http://www.doc.wa.gov/community/sexoffenders/civilcommitment.asp
Would a judge lock him up as a sex offender after he has served his prison time? Hmmm. Let's hope so.

 

[cluciano63]

I don't really see the point of searching a house, if they are not truly going to really search it, from top to bottom. Otherwise, it's like they are just trying to see who allows it. In which case, that did not work, since they allegedly "searched" his house and found nothing of interest.

I don't see there being an accomplice in any way. The one consistent thing we have heard is that this guy is always seen alone.

 

[otto]

So all they had to do was open a door. What does searching a house consist of? Making sure there isn't blood splatter everywhere? In Jessica Lunsford's case, she was being held in a closet. Police missed her because they just did a quick peek in each room. Why you would not open doors of rooms, closets, crawl-spaces, etc? What if Jessica was being held?

There would be huge outrage if Jessica was still alive when they were searching the home. Why is it okay that they didn't check the crawlspace (Just open a door) because she was already dead?

They didn't look in the dryer or the crawl space because everything, in a cursory glance, appeared fine. What more would you expect from officers taking a walk-through in a presumed innocent residence?

Jessica's backpack and clothing were left in a different neighborhood on Saturday evening. It's generally assumed that she was no longer alive at that time, and stats support the idea that abducted children rarely survive for more than 2 hours after abduction (which happened at 8:30 am). Do you really think that Jessica was still alive whe police visited the neighborhood homes?

 

[Bonnie Blue]

Are anyone else's margins blown?

That happened to me yesterday. I had to close the page and reopen it.

 

[sfbaynancydrew]

I don't see there being an accomplice in any way. The one consistent thing we have heard is that this guy is always seen alone.

In his instagram he has a girlfriend and other friends he is skiing with.

On the news, the lady at the park said he freaked her out when he was walking with his two friends and eyeballing her.

How is he consistently alone?

 

[nursebeeme]

The Judge has issued a gag order.......no more police info for awhile.

Good. Which also means all these so called reports are very likely not entirely factual

 

[eileenhawkeye]

They might have. THey were looking for a whole person, not bits.

If they opened the door, and shined a flashlight, they would've found the rest of her body.

 

[cv1964]

Ot but where do I find the scanner thread when using tapatalk?

Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk

 

[Pensfan]

In his instagram he has a girlfriend and other friends he is skiing with.

On the news, the lady at the park said he freaked her out when he was walking with his two friends and eyeballing her.

How is he consistently alone?

High school classmates and neighbors stated that Austin was always alone and was never seen with friends.

 

[maureen718]

No ... refresh and check the resolution ... in my opinion.

that didn't work for me

 

[otto]

There is nothing like telling your mom I killed somebody....

I highly doubt he told his mom what he did. I suspect that mom asked him a question that he couldn't answer, then she told him that she would contact police, then there was an outburst (similar to the Casey Anthony scene) and police arrested him an hour later.

 

[CHERIE.T]

----------------
Otto, I was looking for the same post! I read it too. He has Public Defenders and I'm glad. I dont think they will horse around as much as a hired atty.. They are good. I nearly feel over when I read he asked for release on bond. He chopped the sweet girl up for gods sake and he should get bond? he should never see the light of day!!! :denied:

Really? The little asked for bond? :furious:
Agreed, he should never see the light of day again.
:moo:

 

[cv1964]

Nevermind, found it....you have to be logged in...

Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk

 

[otto]

If they opened the door, and shined a flashlight, they would've found the rest of her body.

A cursory search doesn't include climbing into crawl spaces in every house in the neighborhood. Clearly, police failed in this regard ... but they had 500 houses to look through, and were not looking for a teenager.

 

[nursebeeme]

If they opened the door, and shined a flashlight, they would've found the rest of her body.

How do we even know what was there? Also in light of there being a gag order it is unfair to speculate about law enforcement

 

[Jean517]

Interviewing people regarding the disappearance of a child is what is the norm in investigating a missing child case. I'm sure they interviewed hundreds of people.
That does NOT mean that you can search their homes, look in crawl spaces, etc if there is no probable cause to believe that person committed a crime. Even if they had their suspicions they would not be allowed to search without PC or permission and I'm sure they didn't have hours to spend on each tip they got.
I have done this before and the leads come in fast and furious and it's all you can do to answer the calls and follow up on the most promising.
Please don't be quick to blame LE for not knowing that AS was the killer right away. I think they did an amazing job.