I can't really remember what it was that compelled me to start looking for articles about just what the odds are of a stranger abduction but here are just a few of the things I found. It really seems like cover up whether it's for prior molestation or another form of abuse are great motivators for a family member to kill. As the age decreases the chance of it being a stranger seem to decrease also. IMO being a family member is also a great motivator for staging the crime scene. Just some statistics: In part this fascination is triggered by rarity. Americans kill one another all the time, but the most uncommon homicide is strangers killing children. In 2002, 16,229 homicides were committed in the United States. Only 11 of the victims were girls between 6 and 11 killed by a stranger. Erika was one of 11. Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/19/AR2010011904296.html By family members vs. strangers: Murdered children have been murdered by relatives in most occurences. According to Friedman et al., of murdered American children younger than five years old, 61% were murdered by their parents (30% murdered by mothers, and 31% by fathers); homicide was the fourth leading cause of death amongst American preschool-aged children, and the third leading cause of death amongst American children five to fourteen years old. The killing of children is often closely related to instances of prolonged periods of child abuse. Some victims are murdered by parents as part of a murder-suicide. Parents sometimes begin administering corporal punishment that quickly escalates into severe abuse and occasionally murder, as, for example, in the Victoria Climbie case which occurred in London. A number of murderers of children are pedophiles who commit lust murder or kill to cover up their other crimes. These latter cases are more notorious, although killings by family members are more common. In the U.K. the number of child homicides has averaged 79 a year for the last 28 years. The Home Office also provides unpublished figures on the relationship between the child victims of homicide in any one year and the principal suspect. Latest figures for 2000/2001 show that parents were the principal suspect in 78 per cent of child homicides. There have been a number of moral panics related to child murder, of which the most notable is the satanic ritual abuse phenomenon, where reports of organized killings of large numbers of children by satanic gangs have failed to be corroborated in spite of decades of investigation. Several cases of exorcism carried out by family members or religious groups have resulted in the murders of children. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_murder Statistics on Child Abuse - Parents Fear Kidnapping More Than Car Accidents - What are the Odds? September 11, 2009 Lisa C. DeLuca Parents seem to fear kidnapping more than anything else. Some say that excessive television news coverage of child abduction causes parents to have a fear that is overblown. In 1999, only 115 children were abducted by strangers with the intent to keep, kill or hold them for ransom. Though horrifying for those 115 and for society as a whole, the number does seem small, especially considering that there are 40 million children in the US. This would place the odds of a child being kidnapped and held or killed by a stranger at 1 in 347,000. But statistics show that lots more children are taken by acquaintances or people they know, primarily for the purpose of sexually assaulting them, so the parental fear may not be as overblown as it seems. Confronting the fact that heinous crimes are committed against children probably makes people feel worse, regardless of whether the statistics show small or large numbers. But staying informed and knowing the facts can be useful when considering how to instruct children. Here are some statistics: According to the FBI and The US Dept. of Justice: 800,000 juveniles (under 18) are reported missing each year, but this includes runaways. "Family kidnapping" accounts for nearly 50% of all child kidnappings. Approximately 80% of acquaintance and stranger kidnappings are sexually motivated. For every 10,000 missing child reports (including runaways) around one child was killed, according to the U.S. Justice Department in 1990. 29,000 Children Sexually Assaulted, Mostly Girls According to David Finkelhor, Director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire in conjunction with the United States Federal Justice Department, 58,000 children in 1999 were taken for short periods of time (i.e. not overnight) mostly by people they knew excluding relatives. Of those, nearly half were sexually assaulted and many were killed. (The report says "fewer than 1% were killed" but 1% of 58,000 is 580, a substantial number.) Nearly two-thirds of these abductees were girls, most of whom were teenagers. http://child-abuse.suite101.com/article.cfm/statistics_on_child_abduction
Thanks for the info, Little. It will be tomorrow before I can read this carefully, but I agree with your summary. JonBenet was in a very low risk category for such abuse and murder perpetuated by a stranger/intruder. Oh, this morning I saw a news report/debate on a news channel about a seven year old little girl in Brazil being scheduled to dance in a large festival there. She is something like a champion samba dancer. Of course, the panel brought up JonBenet and how she was sexualized in pageants. What are parents thinking? That fame at any cost is worth the risk? What a mistake.
These seems to be some pretty cold hard stats KK, not that a person can be convicted based upon statistics, but it certainly gives validation to some of the theories about the who and why. For some it seems to be more comfortable to believe that some unknown, unnamed, invisible ghoul assaulted little JonBenet. The more realistic view, albeit disturbing, is that some very close to her committed multiple crimes against her. The RST has to broaden the timeline for the specific crimes against her on the 25th and 26th. They have to allow someone to be in the house all evening, wait for the family to go to bed and fall asleep, then give them several hours to do what it would take someone familiar with the layout and props of the home to do in the narrower timeline. IMO this is a mix of a long-term assault on JonBenet of one nature, and a separate flash of anger, matter of minutes assault. Two different crimes, one resulting in a nervous little girl, one resulting in a dead little girl.
Spot on, Little. And one or more of the three people who were in the home and survived that night are responsible for all of it, IMO. It takes an incredible amount of denial of the facts and evidence in this case to see it any other way.
