"Eight years old. Eight fucking years old", I murmured to myself yesterday. This female victim was the same age as my youngest daughter who turned eight yesterday. ( sorry for profanity but that's I truly felt)
The Story
Okay, Mom is with her 3 daughters at a Dollar General. Mom has a little trouble paying for some items. A man by the name of Donald Smith notices and outside the store he confronts her to see if he can help. Smith says he has a Walmart gift card and that he would like to get the woman and her family some items to help. He says his wife will bring them the gift card . So they wait. She doesn't come so Smith says to go ahead and go over to Walmart with him. Mom agrees and they all get in his van. They go to Walmart. Smith's wife doesn't show up. They go into Walmart. Mom gets a little concerned especially after this man offers to buy her young daughter some high heels. Mom tells him she would not even wear them herself as they're too high. Man says he can take the 8 yr old to Mcdonalds in Walmart as the family was getting hungry. Mom AGREES... Mom AGREES. ....Mom AGREES.
The last picture on the security Cameras shows the man walking out of Walmart with the girl . Next day she is found dead in a creek. She has been raped and sodomized by this man. An autopsy later shows she was strangled with such force that she was bleeding from eyes and mouth. And it was a long slow, painful death. They described it as extreme torture for this poor little girl :(
My Feelings
It's been awhile since something in the News has really shook me. But this did. ( it happened in 2013 but he was finally Convicted yesterday and shall soon be sentenced, just took a whole 12 minutes for juries decision) I guess since the girl was the same age as my youngest is the main reason. I try to visualize my own daughter and this happening to her. And tears just come to my eyes. I couldn't sleep for awhile last night after reading about this.
What Should be Done, imho
I have always fancied myself as a person who was fair and compassionate towards my fellow man. It's been a cornerstone of how I operate in this World ( And I do not mean that arrogantly because I do have my frailties too)
I have been back and forth on the Death penalty. But the last 10 years or so I have been for the most part against the Death Penalty
BUT
when it comes to serial killers and child murderers I make an exception.
I think most are indeed conscienceless psychopaths . And actually the longer they survive the more they can relive their horrendous deeds going over and over in their head as well as talking to other inmates about it. Which they highly enjoy ( it's well documented of this happening). So Iam going to have to say in this case, imo, the guy needs to be put to Death. I have not seen a perpetrator so worthy of the death chamber as this guy is in a long, long time. The violence and torture he administered on this little girl is unspeakable. Heck, the medical Examiner testifying yesterday broke down at the photos of the autopsy in court. They were that bad and the Court had to take a 5 minute recess.
What Do Parents Need to Do To Stop This Madness
I have an old 8yr. old and 9 yr. old. We have told them countless times what they need to do around strangers. If any stranger ask them to come with them or if they come at them,,well they need to turn the other way and run like hell. And while doing this to yell as loud as they can for help. If they do grab them to kick and claw like there is no tomorrow and yell and scream. Like bloody murder . We have prepared them for this. And go through drills on and off the last couple of years. I know it's never enough but we do have to try with our kids.
Some parents may say you are making your kids scared of the World. Well, they are not scared but just cautious. All it takes is a few seconds and Mommy and Daddy' s lives are crushed forever.
Conclusion
I am not sure what was going through this Mom's head when she let Smith ( a convicted child predator dating back 40 years ago) take her daughter to MCdonalds in that Walmart. The 911 Audio and Video is right below. At one point the t Mom says to the 911 operator , "I had a strange feeling when I first met him but he took her to the dressing room twice and I was hoping she would be okay and I didn't want him to think I was overprotecting or freaking out".
WTF !! I repeat WTF !!! ( EDIT : Okay, I just found this video below after I started writing this and had not heard this specific part up until writing this last paragraph. So I'm shocked as I'm writing)
I do not believe I need to tell anyone that this is absolutely a nutcase Mom. So I will not further expound on that. It's obvious !!
But I would just tell any parent do NOT let any stranger ( yes even a woman) to take your child away from you even 10 yards. Just don't let it happen under any circumstance. If your car is rolling down a hill and you have to run after it and leave your child with a stranger ?? Well, let the freaking car go. Yes, it's that serious. Like I said just don't leave your child with any stranger. EVER !!
End of Story !!
Robert
( DISCLOSURE - The textual content above is all my original work. The video is NOT my original work. SOURCES- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-DASmdTOQFVvsCxBdSMxbQ)
(Sources of first photo commons.wikimedia.org )
It is such a wicked world indeed
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The mom was just so careless... I didnt even express what i feel well.
Even if you have 30 kids you dont act this careless with your child.
If it happened in Nigeria, people would have said the stranger used hynotic voodoo on her.
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@kachee I totally agree. Unbelievable she could be this naive :(
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Hey my friend. As a parent with a 9 year old daughter and a 2 year old son. I understand your pain and frustration. We all live in fear of something like this happening and when we are confronted with it, t causing churning and frustration, mixed with anger and disbelief. I am always saying I just cannot understand how anyone could harm a child like this. I just can't get it. But here we are constantly seeing it. Our criminal justice system unfortunately is not designed to deal with people like this. I am not sure it could be designed to do it, but it certainly cannot now. So people like him who do not get the death sentence sit there and do nothing. Because of this my tendency is to agree with you on how he should be sentenced. In other words, having him sit is a waste. However my friend we have to be careful about trading our humanity for revenge. I know you understand and I struggle with it all the time. And if I were in that courtroom, I cannot tell you what I would do when I saw him, but as a society, our response cannot be to kill as our fallback position because in the past it has done as much harm as good. I am saying this and it pains me brother, but e must keep a clear head and realize there are no special circumstances for murder. It is all heinous. We need to find way to avoid it and when it occurs to hand out punishment equally and in a detached way. In light of ANOTHER school shooting, with children lying in the hallways and on school lawns I am saying this brother and believe me I feel it. But the alternative scares me to death and I do not trust the country to draw a line that makes any sense. Sorry if I am not too clear. Read my post if you like about the school shootings I just wrote and know you man. Keep your babies safe and keep your eyes open. there are videos going around with a guy who shows how easy it is to get kids to come with him and the parents are right there man. It is chilling. Anyway, all the best to you and again thanks for your post and I am following you. https://steemit.com/news/@davidallenjones/the-school-shooting-in-florida-and-how-we-can-prevent-them-in-the-future
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I just found the video I was talking about. If you have not seen it watch it. Chilling brother. Keep an eye on your kids.
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Damn that video is scary. This dad better have a wake up call after this. ( Boy, wait til wifey gets this dad by himself at home) thanks for this
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I agree brother. SCARY. How many times have we been distracted on a call and not paying attention to is what is most important. We have to keep in mind that there are bad people in the world.
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@davidallenjones. Thank you ,friend , for the sincere reply. Yes it is something I have struggled with my entire adult life..the death penalty. There are many people in the US who have been put to Death and later they found out it was a mistake and they were totally innocent. That is scary and we cannot let this happen.
I will check that Post out. Again thank you friend for taking the time to come on my blog to post such a thorough and heartfelt reply :)
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@robertandrew. I appreciate the kind words and as I sad my friend. I feel it too. The challenge is that we are all being left to figure it out for ourselves. There needs to be serious attention paid to freaking mental issues and we have to stop trying to understand everyone and just call behavior what it is. Our trying to accommodate everyone sets a bad precedent. No one speaks out any more for fear of being labeled. As a result we let our guards down. Anyway sir keep being a great dad and keep your babies safe. All the best to you and your family and please keep up the great posts. Talk soon.
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this is something really bad....
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Makes me want to tear my ears and eyes off my head. This is awful and it goes without saying that the Mom will have to live with this for the rest of her life. So naive, but some folk just don't think people can be evil until it's too late. This guy needs to be fried, slowly.
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Yep, really naive. Thank for your reply
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