A Cautionary Tale
IASCKIDS
In a recent news article, a 10 year old girl was murdered in a safe rural neighborhood by a 14 year old extended relative that lived not far down the way. Just a little more than a stone's throw away from the young girl. The 14 year old said "I set out from the get go to kill her". The girl was invited by this extended family member to go on a hike with him in a wooded park. When, without warning, he attacked and killed her.
In 1959, a little girl, known to the author, was asked by a close neighbor friend to go for a walk and camp in the woods in a nice rural neighborhood. She was 12 going on 10, he was 16 wanting to be 30. He used the same con on her "lets be friends". He spent the night torturing her and then finally stabbing her and hanging her to her death.
In both cases, separated by 63 years, the circumstances were nearly the same. Both boys were from abusive backgrounds. One learning to humiliate little girls from his family members. The other all those years ago was a child of scorn "not trusted" by his neighbors. His father in her case was a paramedic with medical book with graphic pictures. His mother was said to be rigid in her religious beliefs made the boy's life miserable.
Both boys were clearly disturbed. Something was clearly wrong. Everybody sensed it, spoke of it yet no one did anything to guide these boys away from the tragic path that they were headed down. Clearly something had to be done, yet it was not. Cruelty has a legacy and also a blindness. Instead of hearing "let me help you" he gets "go away". The hurt felt by these boys and left unanswered became their battle cry!
An interesting coincidence between these two cases was that each boy went home, showered, had a good night sleep and went out to move or view the body of their victims the next day. In the 1959 case, the boy go up, went to a birthday party and then went to view the body again.
Parents, be careful who you trust your children to. A 10 year old should not be taken anywhere by a 14 year old that you do not know or trust. Or a 12 year old should not be taken to the woods by a 16 year old. We all know these things, but we get busy or distracted and years of regret and sadness will follow.
As I look back, I think we need to teach our sons to become honorable men and our daughters need to be cared for at a young age and taught dignity as they
