Not all these cases are specifically of abuse, but more of neglect & again..ignorance. I could also add irresponsibility & just plain stupidity, but I don't want to be too harsh because I believe in some way or other we have all made the same type of mistakes. Mistakes that exposed young innocent lives to predators that might not have had a chance to commit ruthless crimes against children if something had been done differently.
It is because of this that I want to write about these stories, so we can become more aware of the consequences of these small mistakes & how they can be monumental in comparison.
The mistakes that the people made in some of these stories could have been made for many reason, some because of the culture of the country, or the culture of the time, but the fact remains the same something could have been done & wasn't & a child payed dearly for that mistake.
The first story is probably one of the worst, the story of 4 year old Billy Gaffney that on Feb 11th 1927 was abducted, tortured, mutilated & killed by Albert Fish, one of the worst child abusers & killers of all time.
In this story there are some key parts that if they had been done differently by these individuals then the child might not have reached such a terrible end.
Point #1: The boy was left playing in the hallway of his apartment with a 3 yr old neighbor boy. They were not being watched by anyone except periodically by his 12 year old brother that was baby-sitting his baby sister sleeping in the apartment.
Obviously the first mistake, very young children left on their own in a public place. If they were in the apartment it wouldn't have happened ( even just with his teenage brother, not ideal , but better), if an adult had been with them it most certainly wouldn't have happened.
Point # 2: On the trolley that Fish took with young Billy to meet his terrible fate the motorman noticed how the boy cried uncontrollably & how the old man tried to keep him quite. He also saw the man dragging him on & off the trolley.
He was suspicious, he had a doubt, but did nothing.
If the man had just drawn some attention to the old man, there is a great possibility that he would've fled for fear of being discovered, but he did nothing & let the old man drag the poor child to his death.
There are a few points from other crimes of Albert Fish that I will touch upon briefly. Because I believe that is important to know that monsters like Albert Fish can only do their terrible deeds if we let them.
On one occasion, during his preying of an earlier (1924) victim Francis McDonnell, a neighbor (adult) saw the old man staring at the kids & following young Francis. Yet again, nothing was done & the child met his end later that day.
This is I think one of the most sad stories, because this was a consequence totally due to her parents ignorance. The case of Grace Budd, this was the case that helped authorities finally apprehend Fish.
Fish posed himself as someone else, offering work to the Budd's older son. He went twice to their house & on the second visit they let their young daughter Grace sit on his lap. He then proceeded to invite Grace to a birthday party & although the mother was apprehensive, the father said it was OK. That was the last time they saw their little girl.
I think that nowadays that would be something very difficult to happen, but I mention it because the mother should have followed her gut feeling & the father should have ever been so trusting of a stranger. An extreme case, I know, but nonetheless worth mentioning.
1996
Another story is a little more recent & it hasn't been resolved, so there is no details on what happened, but what we know is that this boy was kidnapped. This story is a sad & unfortunate story, mainly because the mistake made in this story is a very human & easy to make mistake.
But it has some important details that must be pointed out, details that could have been done differently & the fate of this child could have been very different.
Its the story if 11 year old Jacob Wetterling. He was left at home babysitting his younger brother and sister 10 & 8 years old.
It was past dark & he wanted to go to a convenience store to rent a video, he knew that his parents didn't want him out after dark, but he decided to call his mom & ask anyway. She said no because she was afraid that the drivers wouldn't see them on their bikes in the dark. But in the words of Steve Irsay of Court TV about Jacob "At age 11 he was savvy enough to know that if mom said no, dad just might say yes."
So he proceeded to ask his Dad coming up with a better plan, all three boys ( one was a neighbor boy that was 12) would go in their bikes, one caring a flashlight, the other wearing a white vest & the other a reflective orange vest.
The father thought that was a sound plan & let them go. On their way back, a man with a gun came out of the bushes, ordered the neighbor boy & his younger brother to run away & took Jacob who was never seen again.
I think that the mistake made by the father is one that many parents can relate to. We make rules for a reason & just one time that we don't stay firm to these rules can make us pay for the rest of our lives, not to mentioned our children's lives.
1989
These last two stories have made a great impact on me for a huge variety of reasons which I will mention further on, but these are other classic cases of parents not keeping a watchful eye & mainly letting their young children be out on the street alone.
The first one is about 11 & 10 year old Cole & Billy Leer, they were late to get home, it was Monday night. They decided to take a shortcut when they were met by Weslley Allan Dodd, one of the worst criminals against children, I will skip the details, but they met a very very tragic, painful, untimely & unnecessary death.
The reason why I mention this story is because the criminal wasn't caught until after he was able to commit yet another crime against a 4 year old this time, young Lee Iseli.
Lee was allowed by his father to go to a nearby playground with his brother ( a child).
He was soon left alone, exposed to the predator Allan Dodd who took him to his home & eventually killed him after abusing him.
First of all the children needed to have an adult present, especially when young chidlren are involved ( 4-year-old Lee) and second children need to be taught to never go with a stranger to his car.
Although Lee had initially said no to going with Dodd, when Dodd gave him his hand he took it, probably on instict.
Children trust adults because adults are supposed to protect them, not hurt them & in the case of Dodd, he didn't look like the scary stranger that kids tend to picture when told not to speak to strangers.
Dodd was finally caught because there was one six- year-old that was brave enough fight & cause a scene that led to his capture.
Apparently his mother had taught him this & that saved his life & the lives of many, many other children.
But I must mention that this six year old was alone in a men's bathroom at the movies & that was the reason that the abduction attempt was able to be performed.
I am aware that these are very extreme cases, very tragic, sad, & disturbing.
It actually took an extra long to write this post, not only because of the research, but because these stories are very difficult to read, especially if you have kids.
But I believe that the point has to be made that even extreme cases could have been avoided if some basic mistakes hadn't been made.
I think the most important thing to mention is that a lot of criminals that have performed crimes against children did not begin with strange children, they did not begin murdering them, they began molesting early on with kids that they knew & that trusted them, they probably even knew their parents, maybe were even close.
I will quote something from the crime library because I think it expresses the point I'm trying to make.
"Children are more likely to be sexually abused or hurt by someone they know, including a relative, than by a stranger. While Dodd became known as a stranger abductor, he began by molesting kids in his own family, and later, children of acquaintances.
The vast majority of his victims were children that knew him and, and in some cases, whose parents knew him. Dodd preferred to molest a child that knew and trusted him, and only began abducting unknown children when the ones he knew were no longer available. “I don’t think I could have done it if I’d have known them,” he said of his murder victims."
That's why its important that something be done about abuse early on & not left as a phase that may or may not go away, because the life of small children depend on it.
So there are some basic points that need to be made & most of them are expressed above but it wont hurt to make a list. ( this list has been adapted from a list from the crime library.com)
1. Never leave young children alone in public places, even if that means the apartment hallway, if its not your home its a public place.
2. When you are in doubt of a situation involving a child & an adult...speak up, you just might save a child's life.
3. Parents should always go with their kids to public restrooms...ALWAYS!!
4. Parks & arcades are the "waterholes" for pedophile predators, never think that its a safe place for young children to be alone. They should always be accompanied by at least one adult.
5. Do not leave your children home alone & if you have to for some emergency, have some basic & defined rules of how they should behave. Example: lock all doors, do not open for anyone, do not tell anyone know they are alone etc...
6. If a child gets lost in a public place, make sure to prepare them before hand by telling them they should go for the checkout counter or office instead of wandering around.
7. A child should be taught to say "NO" to an adult who asks for "help". If an adult truly needs help, they should ask another adult.
8. Under no circumstances should a child get into a car with someone they don't know,or accept money, even if it's for a "job" from a stranger. ( I think that I will go a bit farther to say that a child should be taught to NEVER accept money from any adult for any reason)
9. The child should be prepared to kick & scream if a stranger grabs him or her, and yell "THIS IS NOT MY PARENT" loud & clear. Make a scene to get attention, even if it seams no one else is around.
10. Some people may not agree with me on this one, but I believe that kids under 16 should not babysit outside of the home & without close supervision. Even if they are their brothers & sisters. Something very easily can go wrong. Preteens are easily distracted & can leave the younger children alone for too long.
One very important point that was made by NCMEC, "Its situations, not strangers" that children need to watch out for. And here are some safety rules for parents & children that may help kids to watch out for those situations. ( crimelibray.com)
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If someone asks a child to share a “special secret,” they must say “NO” and tell a parent or schoolteacher.
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Children should tell a parent or teacher if someone wants to take a photo of them.
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Children should not allow anyone to touch a part of their body that a bathing suit would cover, and children should never touch anyone else in the “bathing suit” areas.
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Parents need to inform their kids never to accept a present from anyone without first telling them.
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If daycare is necessary, ask if criminal checks are routinely run on employees. In finding a babysitter, personal references are best, but if not available, ask the sitter for references, and check them.
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Watch for an adult or teenager who is paying extra attention to your child, or giving inappropriate gifts.
We always need to be with our children, they are helpless without us & we need to teach them how they can do their part in protecting themselves as well.
James T. Walsh said that mankind's most basic duty is to protect the innocent. And I couldn't agree more, as adults we need to always be alert to protect the ones that can't do it on their own & that is most true about children.
Please don't let a child pay for your failure to do something.
2 comments:
It's a travesty how something as simple as caution & common sense could have spared so many such terrible pain.
Great work.
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