# Story Brought To Mind



## 911 (Nov 26, 2014)

*WARNING!!>>>This story contains an event (murder of a child) while I worked for the PSP. Please do not read it, if these types of posts bother you. If the Moderator finds it unsuitable, please remove it.*

Today, in my part of PA, it is snowing and also the day before Thanksgiving, all of which brought a sad story to mind and I thought that I would share it. However, if anyone does not like sad stories that end badly, please feel free to close this post.

In Pennsylvania, several small out in the country areas do not have police protection, so the State Police are assigned to cover those areas. It was back in the mid 80's, on a Wednesday before Thanksgiving and it was snowing pretty heavy to the point where schools dismissed early. I was working what most people call second shift, (we rotate shifts), and it was about 4:30 in the afternoon when a call came over my radio for me to see the woman at a given address for a missing child.

When I got to the home, the lady was standing on the front porch with no coat on. As soon as she saw me driving down her lane, which was about 100 yards long, she started to run towards the car. She said the kids got off school early at noon because of the snow, so her 13 year old daughter should have been home. The lady said they also have a younger daughter, which gets home a half hour after the 13 year old gets home and she said that her sister wasn't home when she got home. In PA, we take missing children's reports immediately, There is no 24 hour waiting period.The father was still at work.  

After asking all of the usual questions and taking notes, I asked the lady to please go in the house and call all of her friends and find out if any of them had seen her. I got back in my cruiser and did the paperwork and was just completing it when the lady came back out and said no one has seen her. I then radioed dispatch and asked them to get in touch with the school and find out if the bus driver remembered dropping her off and if she noticed any people, cars or trucks that may have been parked in the area that looked out of the ordinary. This took sometime to accomplish, so I backed out to the road and got out of my car and looked around to see if I could see any tracks or footsteps in the snow. By then the snow was just flurries, but I could not see any tracks, only deer and turkey tracks.

I called for backup for all available officers and within 20 minutes, we had 5 State Police Troopers and 3 Detectives on the scene. I also put in a call for all local available police officers and Deputy Sheriffs to report to the address, as well as the 2 fire departments in the area. We ended up with 17 cops and 9 firemen. There was a large woods to the rear of the house and also at the one side. I got my clipboard out of the cruiser and roughly drew a lay of the land and made a grid. I assigned each officer and fireman at the site an area to search. There was a small creek that was not yet frozen that ran through the woods in the rear of the house. We were searching for 15 minutes when one of the officers from a local police department found her lying half in and half out of the creek. She was deceased from strangulation and had been sexually assaulted. Most all of the officers, myself included, were sickened by what we found. We did find footprints in the rear in the woods. There was a small hill at the back end of the woods and he must have came across the open field and then over the small hill and was standing in the woods.

It was reported that the little girl was wearing a purple ribbon in her hair when she went to school, but did not have it on her when she was found. It took 13 months to the day to make the arrest.The man was married with two children of his own. His wife found the little girl's purple ribbon in his truck and called police. She said that she was suspicious of him when it happened because he was acting "very strange" that day. We also learned that the couple had their own daughter removed from their home for 8 months because he was accused of touching the girl inappropriately and she told her teacher at school. He had to undergo court ordered treatment, but then did get their daughter back. (Keeping the ribbon or any property of their victim is something these sickos do as souvenirs.)  

When the warrant for his arrest charging him with first degree murder and ****** assault on a minor and two other charges was issued, another Trooper and myself was given the job of picking him up and doing the booking. I told my partner on the way to this guy's place of employment that I wanted to put the cuffs on. 

He went to trial 10 months later and tried the insanity defense which didn't fly for him. He was given life, plus an additional 25-life for the SA charge to be served consecutively. He will die in prison. 

I hope no one was harmed by this story. It is very tragic. Today being what it is with the snow and the day before Thanksgiving, brought it all to mind, which it does anyway every year. But this needs to be a lesson to all of us to watch our Grandchildren and the children of others carefully. Never take anything for granted and if anything ever looks suspicious, don't be shy about calling the police. The officers would rather go on a wild goose hunt and have nothing be wrong than to have someone notice a car or truck parked in the neighborhood with  someone sitting in it for a longer than normal period of time and not call the police and have something like this happen. Make that call.


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## Bee (Nov 26, 2014)

Very sad story 911.


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## Pappy (Nov 26, 2014)

Sad indeed, but good advice on making the call if necessary.


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## Geezerette (Nov 26, 2014)

So sad for you having to live with that memory, & bless you for doing all that you could do, & for the reminder not to take anything for granted if it feels off or wrong in any way.


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## SeaBreeze (Nov 26, 2014)

That is a tragic story 911, far too many of them these days.


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## drifter (Nov 27, 2014)

Even though it was tragic, you're insight and details made the story interesting nonetheless. I'll bet you have lots of stories. Perhaps you'll share more of them them. Americans are becoming harder and harder to shock, these things happen so often.


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## oldman (Nov 28, 2014)

OMG, I just read this story. I can't even imagine having to go though something like that as a parent or a cop. How do you cope with these types of situations, especially when children are involved? I have often wondered watching shows on TV that depict crimes against children, if the police that are involved in these cases ever have to go through any type of therapy or just go to a psychologist to talk about it? Personally, I think you should have put the cuffs on around his neck.


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## 911 (Nov 29, 2014)

So, in 1998, I did a traffic stop on I-81 in Pennsylvania about 40 miles north of Harrisburg. I clocked a Chevrolet Tahoe at 71 in a 55. We were doing random stops at  71+ that night. When I approached the driver, I thought to myself that the driver looked really young. I asked for his license, registration and proof of insurance and did notice that he had his seat belt on and that his inspection was up to date. I asked the driver if he knew why I had stopped him. He said that maybe he was going a little over the speed limit. I didn't notice any smells of alcohol or marijuana and he did speak and act coherently, so I told him to stay put and I'd be with him shortly. 

When I got back in my cruiser, I ran his plate and there was no o/s warrants or other issues connected with his license or registration. It was dark out and not real bright in the car, so I put my flashlight on his picture and the picture appeared to be that of a much older man. So, I'm thinking, OK, maybe this is his dad or neighbor or somebody else, but the driver sure isn't the guy in this picture.

I went back up to the car, hand on my Glock and asked him to step out of the vehicle. He asked why and I asked him again to step out of the vehicle. He asked me what happens if he doesn't. (Never been asked that.) So, I told him that he was coming out of his truck one way or another, his choice. So, he gets out of the vehicle and now I see that he is only maybe five feet or so. I go to pat him down and I ask him if he has any weapons, knives, needles or anything that I should know about and he said NOPE!. I patted him down and then I made him put his hands on the hood of his truck and told him to stay. 

After I thought for a minute or so of how I was going to handle this, I decided to call for a Trooper, (I was a Corporal), and we waited. When the Trooper arrived, I filled him with what was going on and then I asked the driver, OK, just how old are you really? He said 37 and I said yeah, and I'm 115 to which he said I fooled him because I didn't look a day over 80. (OK, so now I have it figured out that I have some smart ass kid here.) I asked him if his Daddy knew that he had his truck. Nothing, but cold silence. So, I told him that he either talked to me now or we were going for a ride. 

That got him talking and I couldn't shut him up. He said that his dad was home drunk on the sofa and he just had to get out of the house and get away because his dad came home drunk and beat his butt and then laid down and went to sleep and if he woke up and he was still there he would probably get beat again. I told him OK, I'm taking you home and calling for a tow truck to haul the car back to your house. When I get to your house and if your dad convinces me that you are lying, your going to be in big trouble. He asked me what if he's not lying, am I taking him to child services? I asked him where his mom was. She was with his sister in another state because she just had a baby. I asked him if he had a relative close by that would look after him and he said that he did, his Uncle. I told him if he's telling me the truth, I'll take him to his Uncle's and will check back on him tomorrow. 

When I got him to his house, it took several door bell rings and pounding on the door until dear old dad finally answered still drunk. I told him to go back to bed and we'll talk tomorrow. I took the kid to the Uncle's who told me that he was his mom's brother and that dad does have a drinking problem and does beat the kid every now and then. I got the mother's phone number where she was staying and called her the next day and filled her in on the details, which she already had heard from her brother. I told her that she didn't have to rush home, but we will need to talk when she does get home. I went and saw daddy dearest that same next day and filled him in and told him that when mommy gets home, we are going to have a serious conversation, but until that time comes, he cannot hit the kid. If he does, I'll be back. The kid has my personal cell phone number.

 Five days later, I went back and spoke with junior and I asked him if he knew what he did was wrong and he put a lot of people in danger, including himself? He said that he was just really scared and didn't see any way out in a hurry. I cited him for driving w/o a license and reckless driving, but passed on the speeding fine. I cited daddy for child endangerment and neglect, but passed on the more serious child neglect that may have caused a catastrophe. I told mommy to get all three of them into counseling immediately, which they all agreed to do, because if they didn't, they would be dealing with this again sooner or later and maybe more serious consequences. By the way, before I left, I asked the mom and dad if they loved each other, which is really none of my business. They said they did and then I told them, well, if you two do, you have a chance and getting through this and having a good family life. I didn't want to preach, so at that point, I left. 

I watched for follow-ups (arrest reports) for about 3 months and nothing came through, so I hope that things did get better. I did all that I could do legally. 

I have for the most part always believed that people, especially families, want to have a good life and provide a good, safe home for their kids. Just like in this case, mom is out helping her daughter take care of the newborn baby. If they were bad people, they wouldn't do that. As a police officer, I have learned to look for signs from people. The signs will tell you if they are being truthful. People don't wake up and decide to have a bad day or make their family's life hell. Not good people, but I know there are families out there that this is their life. They want to get drunk and beat on the mother or the kids then say I'm sorry, I'll never do it again. And then they do it again. I have been to homes where domestic abuse has occurred and the lady is bruised and bloody and we cuff the guy and we are ready to haul him to jail and the lady says,no, I don't want him to go to jail. I still love him. It was my fault. We call this, job security.


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## Pappy (Nov 29, 2014)

Great story, 911. Bet you have a book full.


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