I haven't seen this on Hatrack yet -- I apologize if someone already posted it.
But I was just reading This Article about a Provo, Utah girl that is missing. (well, she was in Oregon when she went missing, though, not Utah at the time.
Wondered if any of you Utah people knew her.
Farmgirl
[ June 22, 2004, 09:03 AM: Message edited by: Farmgirl ]
Posted by Dante (Member # 1106) on :
I don't know her, but the news unnerved me when I heard last night. She just finished her freshman year; she could easily have been one of my first-year comp. students this past year. I hope she's okay.
Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :
How cynical am I? The first thought that went through my head when I read the circumstances of how she disappeared was "Where was her brother-in-law?" It says that her sister and brother-in-law manage an apartment complex and that Brooke was "was cleaning the bulb covers of the tall lamps that line the complex's parking lot Monday morning when her sister left for a few minutes." Brooke was gone when she returned.
First of all, they mention that the sister and brother-in-law manage the complex, then completely leave out any information as to the brother-in-laws whereabouts. Sounds like an episode of Law and Order in the making.
(And see, this is why it's just better to stay in the damned house. A bunch of crazies out there, I tell you.)
Posted by jebus202 (Member # 2524) on :
This makes me sadder than if it was just a normal girl who had gone missing.
Posted by Brinestone (Member # 5755) on :
It sounds like she was working with her sister at the time. Probably the brother-in-law was working inside another apartment or in the office or something. I can't imagine that all three were working together; probably she was just helping her sister or talking to her or something . . . that is, until her sister left.
Edit: Why is that, jebus?
[ May 26, 2004, 04:13 PM: Message edited by: Brinestone ]
Posted by Wussy Actor (Member # 5937) on :
quote: This makes me sadder than if it was just a normal girl who had gone missing.
Not to draw focus from what is truly important, but this statement offends me on several levels.
Posted by MyrddinFyre (Member # 2576) on :
Chill, guys. He's pushing your buttons. Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
I think he was being sarcastic.
--
As in, it's so sad when 5'4", 110 lb, blue-eyed blondes wearing little hoop earrings are kidnapped. Sad enough to make the news. So much sadder than when all those other thousands of people are kidnapped or murdered every day.
Posted by Brinestone (Member # 5755) on :
That's what I thought, actually. I'm guessing that one reason this is on the news when other similar stories aren't is because her mother made such a fuss about it on public television (didn't the article say something along those lines?). I honestly doubt it has much, if anything, to do with her looks or earrings.
at Katie
[ May 26, 2004, 04:27 PM: Message edited by: Brinestone ]
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
How did her mother get on public television?
Same thing with Elizabeth Smart and Jon Benet Ramsey. I am in NO WAY criticizing their families - I'd do anything and everything possible and take every advantage out there as well - but can anyone give a single name of a five-year-old brown boy who was kidnapped or killed?
[ May 26, 2004, 04:38 PM: Message edited by: katharina ]
Posted by MyrddinFyre (Member # 2576) on :
Nope. Posted by ludosti (Member # 1772) on :
What about little Elias Gonzales (I think that was his name)? Although it was a little different situation....
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
Okay, not a brown boy, but a black child who was kidnapped here in our town. Never got national coverage at all.
But of course, she disappeared September 5, 2001, and we all know what happened nationally just six days later. The timing of her disappearance was just so that the nation was focused on other, bigger stories at the time.
FG
Posted by Dante (Member # 1106) on :
I don't know a lot of names, but I remember a little girl abandoned in Baltimore the other day; she was national news. I remember the girl kidnapped in (I believe) Chicago a few months back, the one that ultimately got away from her kidnappers. I believe both girls were black.
But no, off the top of my head, I can't think of a five-year-old brown boy. Can you think of a five-year-old white boy?
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
Nope. Looks like in order to be memorable, you need to be female, blond, and either inappropriately sexualized or just barely reaching sexual maturity.
Posted by Dante (Member # 1106) on :
quote: Nope. Looks like in order to be memorable, you need to be female, blond, and either inappropriately sexualized or just barely reaching sexual maturity.
Huh. Well, to be memorable to katharina, apparently.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
Bite me, baby.
Posted by Jim-Me (Member # 6426) on :
Ok, Kat... name the last five "Amber Alert" children in the DFW area? I know at least two of them were hispanic. I don't know any of their names...
[ May 26, 2004, 04:56 PM: Message edited by: Jim-Me ]
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
To understand the dynamics here, you need to take a look at the statistics.
There were 58,200 non-family abductions of children in 2002. Of these, 33,000 were missing long enough to be noticed missing by their caretakers, and 12,100 were reported missing to the police. There were 115 "stereotypical kidnappings" defined as "A nonfamily abduction perpetrated by a slight acquaintance or stranger in which a child is detained overnight, transported at least 50 miles, held for ransom or abducted with intent to keep the child permanently, or killed."
99% of non-family abducted children are returned alive, 57% of the stereotypical kidnap victims are returned alive.
Although this data is incomplete, it appears that 10% of non-family abductions last 24 hours or more, which leaves something like 5,820 per year lasting long enough to make the national news. It is likely that only those reported missing to the police will make the national news, but the data wasn't presented to compare reported missing children to length of time missing.
Deciding why some events get coverage is difficult. In this case, the ability to pinpoint the exact time she went missing and the lack of any suggestion she left on her own probably contributed to the urgency of the case.
Dagonee
Posted by Dante (Member # 1106) on :
quote:Bite me, baby.
Wow...rhetoric has just reached a new all-time high. You might want to at least examine the possibility that you remember all the young, blonde females because they stick out in your mind because you get so angry that it's all about young, blonde females.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
*refers Dante to her previous post*
Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :
Right now, on the FBI missing persons list, there are 35 missing females and only 9 missing male investigations that are ongoing, non of whom I've heard about.
65% of non-family abductions of children had girl victims, and 59% were 15-17.
Dagonee
Posted by jebus202 (Member # 2524) on :
Actually, my point was the emphasis on the fact that she's a Mormon girl.
[ May 26, 2004, 05:06 PM: Message edited by: jebus202 ]
Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :
You know, when taking the title of the thread and jebus' comments together, it would seem to infer that he's more upset when a nice Mormon girl is kidnapped, than when it's just a normal non-Mormon girl. At least, I could see how it could be interpreted that way. Maybe he really meant that it affects him more when the girl is Mormon. Maybe he's Mormon, so it hits closer to home. Maybe, because he posts here at Hatrack, where he's come to know and like more than a few LDS members, it saddens him to know that one of their own has been kidnapped. Maybe he was being sarcastic, because yet another pretty young thing was kidnapped and it made national news, when so many go missing that don't. It could be a lot of things.
What's with the petty bickering?
Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :
Dang it Jebus!
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
Well, it seemed relevant here because there are lots of Mormons on the board, lots of them live in Utah, so it's possible they might have met her.
It got one graph in the article, and at leasdt half that was about information the police needed to hear - boyfriend whereabouts are prime information for such an investigation.
Dagonee
Posted by Shigosei (Member # 3831) on :
She was abducted from my hometown. It's very weird, since Corvallis is pretty small. I can't believe something like this could have happened here. In fact, I was pretty close to the dorm she was last seen at yesterday. I work on campus, so I'm in the area.
The newspaper said that a lot of people turned out to search for her. I hope they find her alive and well.
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
Jebus
I put the word "Mormon" in the title of the thread simply to get more people to read it! After all, we all know that Hatrack has a higher-than-average population of LDS participants, so there was a greater chance of some other LDS person here actually knowing this gal.
That is all I meant by that -- don't read anything into it that wasn't meant.
FG
Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :
::eyes Shigosei suspiciously::
Where were you Monday between 8 and 10:30?
Posted by Dante (Member # 1106) on :
FG,
Don't worry--we knew what you meant.
Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :
Didn't you know, jebus? They all know each other. That's how Donny Osmond ended up posting here.
Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :
Just for the record, if she had been from a state where there is a bunch of Hatrackers, I bet the title would have been "Hey Dallas people, do you know this missing girl?" Or "Hey, Provo people, do you know this missing girl?"
Or are you concerned with the national media's obsession with missing Mormon girls?
Posted by Zamphyr (Member # 6213) on :
Is it me or are more missing college kids making the news the past year or so ?
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
I'm becoming politically correct....
FG
Posted by jebus202 (Member # 2524) on :
quote: I put the word "Mormon" in the title of the thread simply to get more people to read it! After all, we all know that Hatrack has a higher-than-average population of LDS participants, so there was a greater chance of some other LDS person here actually knowing this gal.
Ooooh! ::slaps forehead:: Well that makes it much better!
Well I'll try not to read too far into it, but what that *seems* to imply is that you think Mormon hatrackers will care more if it's a Mormon girl.
quote: That's how Donny Osmond ended up posting here
I have no idea who that is.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
Are people in general being abducted more now than in past times? We live near where Molly Bish was killed, and we definitely freaked right out. But is it really more dangerous now than at other times? Are there more scary people, or just more people?
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
Farmgirl, I got what you were doing. If I saw that someone from Manchester or Wisconsin or Columbus Ohio was missing, I'd think of asking Hatrackers if they had known them, too.
As almost always, my comments were directed against the media in general, NOT Hatrackers at all. Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
quote:Well I'll try not to read too far into it, but what that *seems* to imply is that you think Mormon hatrackers will care more if it's a Mormon girl.
No, what it *does* imply is that she thinks a Mormon hatracker from Utah is more likely to know a Mormon from Utah.
What you inferred from it says more about you than her.
Dagonee
Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :
quote: I have no idea who that is.
How old are you and what country did you grow up in? How in the world can you not know who Donny Osmond is? He's a little bit rock and roll and his sister Marie is a little bit country. http://www.osmond.com/donnyandmarie/
(okay, I used to think Donny was hot, but then I looked at his website. There are, apparently, several pictures that might pop up on your screen, but the one that I first saw was him in a white shirt, blue jeans and no socks!! Gross!! I have such a foot fetish, he'll never be hot again to me. http://www.donny.com/ Some of the other pics that might pop up are nice though.
Posted by jebus202 (Member # 2524) on :
quote: What you inferred from it says more about you than her.
::sigh:: Right, OK, I guess it does. I'm not arguing about this in this thread.
quote:How old are you and what country did you grow up in?
Yea, nice try.
Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
Donny Osmond was my heart-throb when I was in junior high. I remember my room filled with posters of him...
*man, this is really getting de-railed, isn't it?*
Farmgirl
Posted by Olivetta (Member # 6456) on :
Donny Osmond always struck me as a jerk. Marie always talked about how he teased her about being fat, and she was never fat when they were popular. Maybe most guys are jerks to their sisters. Mine never was.
I think the fact that most stranger abductions involve girls of a certain age has more to do with what they were abducted for than media bias.
Part of it is probably human wiring, too. By which I mean that people have stronger impulses to help young females than young males, since females are physically weaker in general.
Posted by Donny Osmond (Member # 5349) on :
You people are hurtful.
Except you, Farmgirl. Here, have a copy of my latest CD.
Posted by flyby (Member # 3630) on :
Dude, I was reading this earlier today, but I didn't think I knew who this girl was, because I only knew two Brookes, and there are tons of Freshmen at BYU, and I figured it'd be one that I didn't know, but then I logged onto the BYU site, and they had a picture of her, and this is a girl that was in my Sign Language class. I guess that just made it hit home so much more, makes me feel like it's more possible for something like that to happen to me, because usually when I hear about this stuff, I'm sad, but I just write it off as something unusual and something that won't happen to me or anyone I know. Guess I was wrong this time...
Posted by ssywak (Member # 807) on :
This has become such an odd thread.
I looked around on Hatrack when I first read about this girl being abducted, but there wasn't a thread for a day or so (at least).
I figured that since we all have ties of various strengths to Utah, and BYU (even if it's no more than we know a certain Mormon author, and know that many members here do have ties to Utah), I'd see how people were responding, and offer a little compassion and sympathy, if and as required.
But instead, I found somewhat of a snipe-fest.
At least there are still some here with their hearts and minds in the right places.
I've got kids who will be going to college themselves in 4-6 years (my oldest is a girl); for some reason, I'm becoming more sensitized to these things...
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
I had no idea who Donny Osmond was when I came out to BYU, and I had been a mormon my whole life.
Posted by fallow (Member # 6268) on :
MPH,
can you explain this thread to me? please.
fallow
Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
My teenage cousin knew who Donny Osmond was but didn't know that he was Mormon. I got a kick out of that.
Posted by Richard Berg (Member # 133) on :
I had to google Donny Osmond Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
quote: authorities also are looking at the man, Richard Wilson, 39, of Walla Walla, as a possible suspect in an Idaho murder and the disappearance of a Brigham Young University student in Oregon
Just an update for those who want to know.
FG
Posted by michaele8 (Member # 6608) on :
I know the family and I hope and pray she is alive.
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
quote: In the affidavit, Detective Bryan Steed of the Portland Police Bureau refers to Kim as a suspect in the Wilberger case. He states that a search of Kim's computer by Newberg police yielded 40,000 pictures of women being tortured and raped. Newberg police also found videos of two women doing laundry at Concordia University in Portland. The women were unaware they were being watched.
This is a sick guy
Farmgirl
Posted by Shigosei (Member # 3831) on :
For those of you who want to follow the story more closely, my local newspaper has updates every day on the search for Brooke Wilberger. It's in the community section at http://gazettetimes.com.
It doesn't look good, but I'm still hoping they'll find her.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
Too bad about her abduction....not looking good after all this time.
I had someone from out of state find out I was from MA, and the first question he asked was if I knew the Bish family.....I thought that was weird. I know NE states are tiny, but really, what are the odds I'd know them out of the millions of people in the area.
Posted by Shigosei (Member # 3831) on :
I don't know any of the people involved, but Corvallis is a small town, and I think a lot of people are still shocked that something like this can happen here.
When I walk out to my car at night after work (I work at Oregon State University) I pay very close attention to my surroundings. It's kind of sad, actually, to feel even slightly unsafe here. This is the sort of place where many people still leave their doors unlocked...
Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
I thought he was Jewish. (Referring to Osmond)
[ June 23, 2004, 06:36 PM: Message edited by: PSI Teleport ]
Posted by Shigosei (Member # 3831) on :
quote:Although police do not plan on publicly discussing the latest developments in the Brooke Wilberger investigation until Wednesday afternoon, a 39-year-old man being held in a New Mexico jail has been charged with aggravated murder in the case.
They haven't found her body, but I guess the police don't think she'll be found alive.
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
I always have a very hard time understanding how they can prosecute for murder in cases where they can't even prove she is dead (no body found).
This might be a tough case for them to pin on him unless they really have some very good evidence.
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at Katie ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
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