GUILTY OH - Reann Murphy, 9, raped & murdered, Smithville, 14 Dec 2013

[azure]

Every child in this neighborhood needs to see a psychologist, immediately. I find it impossible to believe that if this perp played with young children under blankets, this was the first time he molested a child.

 

[hambirg]

I just want to say, I DO believe he probably has the mentality of a 7yr old. . .maybe up to 9. No way does he have the mentality of a teenager. Have you seen his FB? And teenagers are competent liars. Judging by how quickly this was solved, he knew enough to lie (6 yr old mentality) but he wasn't very good at it.

I am in no way defending what he did! I just don't like to see people assume that because he committed this type of crime, he must be more mentally able than he really is. Unfortunately, some mentally disabled people are quite capable of this type of crime. It happens. I know it.

This is from The Arc. . .

Some studies found that these individuals are more likely to commit sexual offenses, while others found they were not. One comprehensive review of sex offenders found that approximately 10% to 15% of all sexual offenses are committed by people with intellectual disabilities, which is only slightly higher than the general population (around 9%) (Murphy et al., 1983). Another study found that almost 50% of incarcerated offenders with intellectual disabilities and 34% of those living in the community had been convicted of sex offenses (Gross, 1985). Research from Day (1997) found sex offenses to be the second most common crime among people with intellectual disabilities and that sex offenses are crimes for which most offenders with intellectual disabilities are incarcerated. . . .Such behavior often stems from not having enough opportunities for appropriate sexual expression, ignorance of what is considered appropriate, inadequate social education and poorly developed or absent self-control.

http://www.thearc.org/page.aspx?pid=2456

 

[tlcya]

I am still on the fence as to the "mental age" of this perp. I am not prepared to take the neighborhood scuttlebutt as factual and anecdotal accounts by laymen (neighbor moms) are not enough for me to go on yet. I will wait for the actual evaluation by trained professionals before I can comfortably weigh in on his mental capability and culpability level.

 

[tlcya]

WOOSTER, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio man is set to be arraigned on charges in the rape and strangulation of a 9-year-old girl found dead in a trash bin at the trailer park where they were neighbors.

The Wayne County prosecutor's office says 24-year-old Jerrod Metsker will be arraigned Thursday on charges of aggravated murder, kidnapping and rape.

Records for the county court do not list a current attorney for Metsker.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/26/jerrod-metsker-arraigned_n_4503395.html

WOOSTER, Ohio, Dec. 26 (UPI) -- The man accused of killing his 9-year-old neighbor earlier in December pleaded not guilty Thursday at his arraignment in a Wooster, Ohio, court.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2013...-not-guilty/UPI-10131388082060/#ixzz2octqLSlu

Ohio resident, Jerrod Metsker, 24, pleaded not guilty Thursday in a Wayne County court for the rape and strangulation murder of his neighbor, Reann Murphy, 9. The young girl went missing the evening of Dec. 14, and her body was found in a trash bin Dec. 15 near her home, after an intensive search involving authorities and local neighbors, including Metsker himself. He was arrested the same day Reann’s body was discovered.

On Dec. 20, Metsker was indicted on specific charges of two counts of aggravated murder, three counts of kidnapping and two counts of rape. If he is found guilty of these charges, he could face the death penalty. Metsker has been held in jail on $1 million bail since the day of his Dec. 15 arrest.

http://guardianlv.com/2013/12/ohio-man-says-not-guilty-in-rape-and-murder-of-young-girl/

 

[LarkBunting]

The mental age & culpability discussion frustrates me.
My oldest child is 8yo, & he absolutely, positively, 100% totally knows that it's wrong to hurt or kill someone. He knows not to throw dead children into dumpsters, then lie about it.
I work with children & truly, only the most profoundly disabled I have encountered don't understand right from wrong on the extreme level of killing someone. We're not talking about swiping a candy bar from a gas station or lying about who threw a baseball through mom's window. To most people, the (non-self-defense related) cold blooded murder of a child is clearly wrong.
Further, it isn't even like this killer committed a "more childish" murder, like punching someone for knocking down his snowman, then leaving the body to fall where it would, & running to hide under his bed, for instance. He raped her & strangled her & threw her body away like trash.
I honestly don't care what the mental age of this brutal killer turns out to be. I may not be the popular opinion here, but I hope he gets the death penalty. Our society puts down animals who hurt people & animals certainly don't know killing is wrong. They are deemed dangerous to society, deranged, brain-damaged, etc. Is it a far stretch to wonder whether society would be safer if we dealt with killer humans like we deal with killer dogs?


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[elmomom]

The mental age & culpability discussion frustrates me.
My oldest child is 8yo, & he absolutely, positively, 100% totally knows that it's wrong to hurt or kill someone. He knows not to throw dead children into dumpsters, then lie about it.
I work with children & truly, only the most profoundly disabled I have encountered don't understand right from wrong on the extreme level of killing someone. We're not talking about swiping a candy bar from a gas station or lying about who threw a baseball through mom's window. To most people, the (non-self-defense related) cold blooded murder of a child is clearly wrong.
Further, it isn't even like this killer committed a "more childish" murder, like punching someone for knocking down his snowman, then leaving the body to fall where it would, & running to hide under his bed, for instance. He raped her & strangled her & threw her body away like trash.
I honestly don't care what the mental age of this brutal killer turns out to be. I may not be the popular opinion here, but I hope he gets the death penalty. Our society puts down animals who hurt people & animals certainly don't know killing is wrong. They are deemed dangerous to society, deranged, brain-damaged, etc. Is it a far stretch to wonder whether society would be safer if we dealt with killer humans like we deal with killer dogs?


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I have a dog that is a biter. Lucky for both of us she is small enough that she has never caused permanent injury, and is small enough that I can control her well enough not to let her get into dangerous situations again.
You are wrong, she DOES know biting and agressive behavior is wrong. What she lacks is IMPULSE CONTROL. that is the hallmark of immature brains, as well as seen in many mental handicaps. I don't want people put to death for something that they cannot control. I do not want my dog put down for it either.
It is time that we act like the intelligent beings that we are and devise ways to deal with this type of situation without resorting to barbarism.
MHO.

 

[Ghostwheel]

The mental age & culpability discussion frustrates me.
My oldest child is 8yo, & he absolutely, positively, 100% totally knows that it's wrong to hurt or kill someone. He knows not to throw dead children into dumpsters, then lie about it.
I work with children & truly, only the most profoundly disabled I have encountered don't understand right from wrong on the extreme level of killing someone. We're not talking about swiping a candy bar from a gas station or lying about who threw a baseball through mom's window. To most people, the (non-self-defense related) cold blooded murder of a child is clearly wrong.
Further, it isn't even like this killer committed a "more childish" murder, like punching someone for knocking down his snowman, then leaving the body to fall where it would, & running to hide under his bed, for instance. He raped her & strangled her & threw her body away like trash.
I honestly don't care what the mental age of this brutal killer turns out to be. I may not be the popular opinion here, but I hope he gets the death penalty. Our society puts down animals who hurt people & animals certainly don't know killing is wrong. They are deemed dangerous to society, deranged, brain-damaged, etc. Is it a far stretch to wonder whether society would be safer if we dealt with killer humans like we deal with killer dogs?


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Here is the deal, though. If a 6,7, 8, 9 whatever year old were to sexually molest another child and accidentally kill them in the process, should that child be sentenced to death? If a person could answer yes to this, then the sentiment than any individual with a mental capacity of the same said age should also be sentenced to death might make complete sense for them.

If any individual would say that no, a 6,7,8, 9 whatever year old didn't truly understand what the results were going to be for their actions and should not be sentenced to death, then it should also apply to anyone with a similar mental age. Which then makes the mental age important.

But that is logically speaking, not emotionally speaking.

 

[No Stone Unturned]

I don't buy into the 7 year old capacity one second. When my son was 7 he certainly knew right from wrong and had no idea about sex, much less rape. Phooey.

JM's facebook(s) are/were loaded with an obsession for Miley Cyrus half nude and a ton of "smut".. not really -- just smut.

He's a monster.

Also to note, I have a family member with central auditory processing disorder who is 15 and has the maturity of a 5 year old and language skills of a 2 yr old. Her sense of right and wrong is clear as a bell.

 

[hambirg]

The mental age & culpability discussion frustrates me.
My oldest child is 8yo, & he absolutely, positively, 100% totally knows that it's wrong to hurt or kill someone. He knows not to throw dead children into dumpsters, then lie about it.
I work with children & truly, only the most profoundly disabled I have encountered don't understand right from wrong on the extreme level of killing someone. We're not talking about swiping a candy bar from a gas station or lying about who threw a baseball through mom's window. To most people, the (non-self-defense related) cold blooded murder of a child is clearly wrong.
Further, it isn't even like this killer committed a "more childish" murder, like punching someone for knocking down his snowman, then leaving the body to fall where it would, & running to hide under his bed, for instance. He raped her & strangled her & threw her body away like trash.
I honestly don't care what the mental age of this brutal killer turns out to be. I may not be the popular opinion here, but I hope he gets the death penalty. Our society puts down animals who hurt people & animals certainly don't know killing is wrong. They are deemed dangerous to society, deranged, brain-damaged, etc. Is it a far stretch to wonder whether society would be safer if we dealt with killer humans like we deal with killer dogs?


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I was in no way implying that he isn't culpable or didn't know what he was doing was wrong. He most definitely knew what he did was wrong. He put her in a dumpster and then pretended like he didn't know what happened to her.

My point was, that some young men with mental disabilities can be dangerous. Even if their mental capacity is that of a seven year old, their bodies are that of a teenage boy, or in this case, a grown man. It can be quite a dangerous combination. They have physical urges (read: sometimes raging hormones), lack the mental capacity to understand about sexual appropriateness, and poor, if any, impulse control.

You won't be able to convince me that his mom didn't know she was dealing with this potentially dangerous combination. IMHO we are failing these young men, as well as their victims, by not being open and honest about the situation. They NEED sex education. We have to stop treating them like they are 7 yr olds. They're not! They are grown men with mental disabilities.

I don't buy into the 7 year old capacity one second. When my son was 7 he certainly knew right from wrong and had no idea about sex, much less rape. Phooey.

JM's facebook(s) are/were loaded with an obsession for Miley Cyrus half nude and a ton of "smut".. not really -- just smut.

He's a monster.

Also to note, I have a family member with central auditory processing disorder who is 15 and has the maturity of a 5 year old and language skills of a 2 yr old. Her sense of right and wrong is clear as a bell.

BBM

But this perp in NOT a 7 year old. He is a grown man. He may have the mental development of a 7 year old , but he has the body of a 24 yr old. It's not the same thing. They both know the difference between right and wrong. But the 24 year old might have the normal sexual urges and feeling of a normal 24 yr old. What he lacks is the knowledge and understanding of how to deal with those appropriately as well as normal impulse control.

I think it's really important for people to understand this. Maybe if someone understood that in this case, Reann would still be here.

ETA- I don't want to imply that this applies to all young men with mental disabilities. They aren't all dangerous. Thankfully some of them lack normal sexual development or are taught how to appropriately deal with those feelings if they do have them.

 

[TxLady2]

I just want to say, I DO believe he probably has the mentality of a 7yr old. . .maybe up to 9. No way does he have the mentality of a teenager. Have you seen his FB? And teenagers are competent liars. Judging by how quickly this was solved, he knew enough to lie (6 yr old mentality) but he wasn't very good at it.

I am in no way defending what he did! I just don't like to see people assume that because he committed this type of crime, he must be more mentally able than he really is. Unfortunately, some mentally disabled people are quite capable of this type of crime. It happens. I know it.

This is from The Arc. . .



http://www.thearc.org/page.aspx?pid=2456

Well, to me, it really doesn't matter what his mental capacity is, the bottom line is that apparently he knew it was wrong, or he would not have lied about it. But you are right, there have been children who are capable of murder. I recall a case from several years ago where an 8 y.o. boy killed a man and there was a big controversy because the prosecutors wanted to charge him as an adult.

As for blaming the neighbors, or the girl's stepdad, or even his mother... had anything like this happened before? Had he always played with the kids in a group? Or did he ever try to single out one child? Those are important factors do consider when we're throwing blame around. If no one had any reason to suspect he might harm a child, then why blame anyone else because this happened? IMO, the blame falls squarely on his shoulders, not the other people.

 

[MsFacetious]

“I watched them take my daughter out of the trash can,” Richard Murphy, who lives in Creston, said.

http://fox13now.com/2013/12/16/father-saw-daughters-body-removed-from-garbage-receptacle/


Hambirg is 100% correct. (I have a daughter with Down syndrome.)
Children with disabilities are victimized far more than typical children.
They are less likely to understand it's wrong, so they may in turn victimize as well.
They may simply do what they learn without realizing the consequences of those actions.

A huge part of this is that they are not given the same education as other children.
BOTH of my children know where people aren't supposed to touch them.

People look at the mind and forget that the hormones and the body can still be that of an adult.
I have seen cases where adult women with disabilities were convinced that sex was a game.
They were not taught it was inappropriate because they had the mind of a child.
The abuse was discovered when they became pregnant or got an STD of some kind.

These young men have to be taught what is appropriate and what is not.
Just like we should be teaching our children that, children in adult bodies must learn it too.

There is a guy who works in this field... Dave Hingsburger.
He teaches about sexuality in people with disabilities, even sexual offenders.

http://diverse-city.com/books/


He also has a blog as well:

http://davehingsburger.blogspot.com/


This is an uncomfortable subject, but that is why this stuff happens.
Because we are too uncomfortable to do anything about it. :twocents:

It's also more complicated than just "7 year old mentality," that isn't a black and white area.
My daughter is almost 11, probably on close to a 8 or 9 year old level on most things.
She can lie, hide things, or manipulate if she chooses. She can read, write and do math.
But death is a concept she simply does NOT grasp.

When we go to a funeral she gets angry if anyone is loud because the person in the casket is sleeping.
She is smart, pretty close to on track with A LOT. But she does NOT grasp death at all.
A kid with a 7 year old mentality still might not understand that death is permanent. :twocents:

 

[mck16]

Apparently his mother thought he was mature enough to stay at home by himself at least for overnight. I don't know what the duration of being alone was. jmo

 

[tlcya]

I feel for parents of adult children who have special needs or issue. They do not get breaks, they constantly worry "what about when I am dead, who will look after him/her?"

That said, if this young man had a 7 year old's mentality or even close I also must question along with mck16, why on earth was he unsupervised abd staying at home alone while she visited her daughter who lived out of town? Why was he not taken with or someone arranged to stay with him.

I think once we have an expert evaluation we will be better able to judge which balls were dropped and by whom, if any.

 

[MsFacetious]

Reann’s father, Richard Murphy, Jr., a resident of Creston, had joined the neighborhood search that Saturday. He was supposed to have had Reann for visitation that weekend.
After seven hours, he watched as they pulled Reann’s body out of the trash.

http://guardianlv.com/2013/12/rape-strangle-kill-jerrod-metsker-calls-911-to-report-missing-girl-9/


He says he’s separated from Reann’s mother and his daughter was supposed to be visiting him the weekend she disappeared.

http://www.newsnet5.com/news/local-...r-old-wayne-co-girls-murder-pleads-not-guilty


I don't remember seeing this before. :waitasec:
Why didn't Reann's father get her for visitation that weekend?
It was Saturday, normally they go Friday to Sunday for visitation.

 

[tlcya]

Authorities have said the death penalty would be available as punishment if Metsker is convicted of murder.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/26/jerrod-metsker-arraigned_n_4503395.html?utm_hp_ref=crime

 

[hambirg]

Hmmm. . .I wonder if that means they didn't find him to be mentally disabled. The Supreme court in Atkins vs Virginia ruled "Executions of mentally retarded criminals are “cruel and unusual punishments” prohibited by the Eighth Amendment."

Here's the opinion. . .http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/00-8452.ZS.html

And an article that discusses it a bit more. . . http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/06/death-penalty-supreme-court_n_4399162.html

 

[sophiebelle]

I think when the article was written, he didn't yet have an attorney. Not sure why he wasn't assigned one right off. Once he has one of record, the attorney will start the mental assessments. The DA or police can say and do what they want before that, I suppose.

 

[hambirg]

Yeah, I don't understand why he wasn't assigned one right off. Anytime they are dealing with someone with diminished metal capacity, I kind of worry. Not necessarily in this case, but in general. Just from my experience in working with this population, some of these guys would confess to anything just to make the questioning stop, kwim? They could be easily tricked into agreeing to just about anything.

 

[Tulessa]

Animals have more of a paternal instinct, than humans do.

 

[watcher9]

Metsker waives right to speedy trial.
Next hearing in March.

http://www.19actionnews.com/story/2...-waives-right-to-speedy-trial-in-wayne-county