GUILTY NE - Kerra Wilson, 8, Mitchell, 21 Sep 2011

[cluciano63]

The truth is that very few children have ever disappeared from school, either inside or at the drop-off point. And even fewer that were not really a family-related event. It seems clear to me that Kerra was most likely nowhere near the school on the day in question and that in this case, the school is irrevelant to the case.

 

[blue_the_puppy]

It was as I feared. I teach 3rd grade. I just loved on all my kiddos today and prayed long and hard that they are safe within their own homes. I feel so deeply for Kerra's teacher and the children in her class. How do you respond to the pain and confusion? Answer questions you yourself are asking? Try to bring normalcy and stop second guessing every 'clue' you may have missed? nightmarish

i feel so sorry for her teacher and classmates. how horrible it must be to see her empty desk, her school supplies, her empty cubbyhole..
i pray they are able to have a good school year despite this awful beginning.

 

[Melanie]

OK 2 things :furious:

Why the F*%%*^&%$# can't these guys let the children live, and take their #^$&%**&Y&Y selves and run far away .. to another country, disappear!???

WHY kill them ?????? :furious:

Second: I know it's not legal, or out there ... but we NEED citizens to sit/walk around the schools, and make sure all are inside safely. The same for school bus stops/pick-ups, and many other areas, situations!

We can't keep talking about it, we need to DO it.

LE won't allow it, doesn't want it, disagrees with it, yada yada yada, and our children keep on being taken, and killed!!!!!!!!!

:furious:

BBM - I definitely hear what you're saying. Unfortunately, this sweet child was never at school. Never taken to school.

We have lots of parent volunteers where my son goes to school. High school not so much, but middle school and elementary was awesome. There was always 1/2 dozen parents by the gate and surrounding areas making sure the children were getting to class. Especially after we had a pedo flash one of the girls on her way to school. Yes, we have over 200 predators within a 2 mile radius.

If you're a parent, or know a parent, encourage them to volunteer at school to make sure all children get to class safely. I was shocked at the number of young children who had parents allow them to walk to school. I'm talking little kids here!

We can all do our part -- one way or another.

Hugs!

Mel

 

[Dee10]

It is unclear when Kerra was killed and police say the motive is still unknown. They also say it is unknown whether or not Kerra's mother, Amanda Lopez, was involved.

http://news.google.ca/news/section?pz=1&cf=all&ned=ca&hl=en&q=topic:scotts_bluff_county_nebraska

According to a search of Nebraska court records, Lopez is not listed as having any previous extensive criminal history. In 2010, he was convicted and fined on a charge of speeding. In 2008, he was convicted on a misdemeanor charge of no proof of insurance and making an improper turn.

http://www.nptelegraph.com/articles/2011/09/24/news/40002537.txt

Investigators, initially, were unable to find the body due to the terrain surrounding the body being so rugged. Investigators also said they are still trying to determine when and where the girl was killed, Nebraska State Patrol Lt. Monica Bartling said.

Sorry lost link.

 

[mrsu]

Hm. If I knew my child was dropped off at school, and I got a routine call from the school notifying me that my child was marked absent that morning, I don't think I'd panic. In my life, that happens quite frequently - for some reason, my kids have been marked absent when they were there exactly where they were supposed to be. OR, they got sick in PE and sent to the nurse's office, where they are now asleep on one of the beds. My kids have been counted absent many times, and it's always been fine. If the mother fully believed - in good faith - that her daughter was dropped off at the door of the school, I don't think she should be faulted for not panicking.

Hmmm...I don't know. I have to respectfully disagree. I am the one who drops my kids off every day and even if I dropped them off and saw them go into the building like I do every morning, if I was called and told one of them was marked absent for the day, I would be in my car and at the school in 2 seconds flat looking for them.

Now I will say we don't know what role stepdad had in the delay of them getting up to the school. Perhaps he was assuring mom the daughter had been dropped of and they were taking their sweet time. If he was manipulating the situation, I won't fault her.

Personally, I don't understand why there would even BE a meeting with the school 2 hours later. I mean, if she was dropped off at 8am, they waited for mom to call her in absent, then called mom at noon, there is a good chance if they can't locate her in the school after FOUR HOURS she's not there, why then the school meeting SIX HOURS after she had been allegedly dropped off? IMO it's not the school's job to question the parents as to whether she was really dropped off or not. Call the frickin police! Let them do their job.

 

[DianaElaine]

That wouldn't have helped in this case though. The poor girl didn't even get to school.
RIP Kerra.

I know ... with this one, refer to my first comment. :sick:

 

[DianaElaine]

I don't know why you think it would be illegal. That sort of thing is done at a number of schools that I know of by parents and community helpers. Your local school might even have that sort of thing already and you can just join up and help out. Depending on where you live, there might be minimal requirements such as a TB test or fingerprint check (both of which are trivial). You could even be a crossing guard or yard supervisor, which requires minimal time commitment and you get paid. I'm fairly involved at my son's school and it's rewarding (and of course you get to know all the teachers, parents, and kids). You don't need to be some Guardian Angel action hero, just being "around" is wonderful.



So do it. Don't complain that others are not doing it. YOU do it. "If not you, who? If not now, when?" I'm not calling you out; I'm trying to inspire you (and anyone else who feels the same way) to action.

You're right, and I live 2 blocks from a Middle School, that I'm going to ask, to see if they have anything like this yet. And if not, will ask if I can at least sit around in my car or walk around, mornings and afternoons, when the kids arrive and leave.

I wish I could be more than one place at a time though.

I wish more of us would do this ...

 

[DianaElaine]

BBM - I definitely hear what you're saying. Unfortunately, this sweet child was never at school. Never taken to school.

We have lots of parent volunteers where my son goes to school. High school not so much, but middle school and elementary was awesome. There was always 1/2 dozen parents by the gate and surrounding areas making sure the children were getting to class. Especially after we had a pedo flash one of the girls on her way to school. Yes, we have over 200 predators within a 2 mile radius.

If you're a parent, or know a parent, encourage them to volunteer at school to make sure all children get to class safely. I was shocked at the number of young children who had parents allow them to walk to school. I'm talking little kids here!

We can all do our part -- one way or another.

Hugs!

Mel

Another good idea! Offer to walk small children to school, or back home. Or at least walk a little behind.

Oh, and I didn't mean it was illegal to volunteer at school, I was referring to getting involved in other ways, that might be only for LE.

I also think sometimes, when a child is first reported missing, if we had a group of citizens, that would just get in their cars and start driving around, just looking and watching, in case they see something.

Many times, we're told to stay home, and let LE do the work, but sorry to say, many times they're too late. We need ACTION ... and FAST.

I'm going to start doing whatever I can anyway ...

 

[cluciano63]

I don't think this man ever took here anywhere near the school on that morning, so I not sure what the drop-off policies have to do with this case...JMO. Are they even sure if it was Wednesday she was murdered at this point?

To add: I don't mean to rude, but it does seem as though the school and its policies (other than not calling home at once) are really not relevant to what happened to this child.)

 

[lookieloo]

I wish not only on here but on shows such as NG, when there are stories like this,they would be worded using the word "allegedly", such as "Girl allegedly last seen at school". We cannot take the word of the last person who has seen the person alot of the time. Even with Caylee, instead of her being "missing" for 31 days, it should have been "allegedly missing".

 

[Kimster]

I don't think this man ever took here anywhere near the school on that morning, so I not sure what the drop-off policies have to do with this case...JMO. Are they even sure if it was Wednesday she was murdered at this point?

To add: I don't mean to rude, but it does seem as though the school and its policies (other than not calling home at once) are really not relevant to what happened to this child.)

Yeah, I know what you mean. It makes me wonder if this perp was familiar with Kyron Horman's case and thought he'd try the same excuse. Only in Kyron's case, there was actually a pic taken of him at the school that day.

 

[TxLady2]

Woohoo! I got something right! LOL

Seriously, though, before joining WS I thought that premeditation meant that the murderer had to have some sort of "plan" in place for the murder. I didn't realize that premeditation could occur on the spot. It was on some case a long time ago that I learned the true definition of premeditation and I was really surprised!

When he decided not to drop her off at school, that was his plan. He may have only constructed that plan in his mind a few minutes beforehand, but still it was a plan, so his intention was to kill her.
We've had several cases in our area where babies have been beaten to death by the boyfriend while mom was gone to work. One was an infant, just a few months old. Even if the act was not intentional, IOW not intended to kill, they still caused injuries that had the potential to be fatal.

 

[TxLady2]

OK 2 things :furious:

Why the F*%%*^&%$# can't these guys let the children live, and take their #^$&%**&Y&Y selves and run far away .. to another country, disappear!???

WHY kill them ?????? :furious:

Second: I know it's not legal, or out there ... but we NEED citizens to sit/walk around the schools, and make sure all are inside safely. The same for school bus stops/pick-ups, and many other areas, situations!

We can't keep talking about it, we need to DO it.

LE won't allow it, doesn't want it, disagrees with it, yada yada yada, and our children keep on being taken, and killed!!!!!!!!!

:furious:

What exactly do you mean by that last sentence, if I may ask? I don't mean to be rude, but what exactly does LE not allow and doesn't want, etc.? IMO, I think LE would LOVE for parents and citizens to be more watchful and protective of these kids or for people to report anyone or anything that looks suspicious, especially around schools, playgrounds, etc. But, I don't think it has anything at all to do with the school, or when her absence was reported, or what time the mother showed up after hearing her child was absent.
There are many, many people who are actively working on better laws to protect our children and grandchildren, but sometimes these things just happen. Let's not place blame on the school or on LE... they can't be expected to know where every child is at every minute. It's quite possible that NO ONE could have expected this to happen to this child, not even the mother or grandmother.
If this guy had no criminal record, and never showed any signs that he could be a child killer... how on earth could the mother, the teachers, or LE be blamed for this happening? It's HIS fault... he chose to do what he did.

 

[CarolinaMoon]

I am so sad for Kerra Wilson. I am so angry with the SF, I can't write what I feel towards him.

As I've read the pages of the thread, there have been many comments about schools calling home. As a retired teacher, I did that "duty" for a number of years. It's a major responsibility. Many parents will say their children left for school or took the bus (secondary school). Attendance was double-checked with the current teacher/class and many times it was an error or the student tried to cover up lateness by appearing at the first class but not homeroom where the attendance was taken. Unfortunately, in our school, the daily attendance list was usually pages long, with two columns per page. The first person on duty would listen to the tapes and mark in green the parents who had called their children in. I was second and would call down the list for as long as possible. It was rare for me to be able to finish the list in the time I had. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough personnel to complete the list and office staff had to do it in their rare free moments. Finances didn't allow for a full time position to do this task.

What always frightened me the most were the parents who covered for their children. They didn't know where they were, but didn't tell us that. However, after 31 years of teaching and seeing this process work sometimes and not work sometimes, we never had a student abducted from school grounds that we knew of.

Elementary students are of much more concern. They are so much more vulnerable to abduction and it is so important to take safety precautions that I have read about in other posts, so I won't repeat.

One thing I do know. Safety precautions at schools need to be a top priority. I hate when they are subject to budget cuts. Every school needs someone to call the parents personally (not a computer). To contact the parent of one child can take numerous calls. My priority was the home phone, parents' work phones, and if available, cell phones. There were days when a total of six calls were made for one student, only to leave six messages on voice mail.

While, as many of you have said, it made no difference in this case, it could have and will possibly be beneficial in future situations.

 

[Bravo]

I think anything anyone does to ensure child safety is a wonderful way to honor Kerra :rose:

 

[tk71texas]

i have not been to ws in a while and just caught up on this thread. RIP sweet one. But I hate to see the single mother arguments on here. I understand that kids must come first but I also understand first hand the longing to continuously be with someone. I've been single 9yrs....my kids are 18 and 14 now. I have dated, they have moved in, and they have turned out to be losers. It's a cycle and I'm obviously not perfect but I am independent and finacially stable. My daughter is a freshman in college and my son a freshman in hs.

It's hard. I want so desperately to find someone I can be happy with. However, I won't put my kids in the way. First red flag I see and the door is closed. I've accepted it and love my relationship with my glass of wine.....but I do understand how it's so hard for some of these women to fall in the "trap"

 

[chasing.halos]

I think anything anyone does to ensure child safety is a wonderful way to honor Kerra :rose:

I am a PTO mom and am going to start organizing with our volunteers to take turns during the week manning the bus stops and front of the school. I can try, right? All the volunteers have had a background check run.

I know this wouldn't have helped Kerra but I started thinking about this after learning of Kyron and now just need to do it!!! Maybe I can name it the "K" project for both of them.

 

[Bravo]

I am a PTO mom and am going to start organizing with our volunteers to take turns during the week manning the bus stops and front of the school. I can try, right? All the volunteers have had a background check run.

I know this wouldn't have helped Kerra but I started thinking about this after learning of Kyron and now just need to do it!!! Maybe I can name it the "K" project for both of them.

Awesome :clap:

 

[cluciano63]

Has there been a child actually taken by a random perp from inside or outside of a school in the part decade or so?

 

[CocoChanel]

I am a PTO mom and am going to start organizing with our volunteers to take turns during the week manning the bus stops and front of the school. I can try, right? All the volunteers have had a background check run.

I know this wouldn't have helped Kerra but I started thinking about this after learning of Kyron and now just need to do it!!! Maybe I can name it the "K" project for both of them.

:clap: :clap: :clap:

That would be awesome chasing.halos.