Eccentric people I've known - Part One

You might wonder what the above picture is about. Well, you know I'm going to tell you.

I don't know why but at some point today the old adage "a pound of flesh" flashed in my head. That led to the memory of a man who I knew years ago that deserves to be in the upper echelon of the "Eccentric people I've known" category.

This man (we will call him Larry) was an architect AND an attorney back home in Memphis. His wife was an architect and an interior designer. His daughter was an attorney.

I met Larry when I worked for the first attorney I ever worked for way back in 1990 or 91. My attorney represented a stripper who fled the strip club in her car and was chased through the streets of Memphis by her boss in his car. She stopped at a light and he didn't causing him to crash his great big pimp mobile into her little bittie stripper car. Needless to say, she sustained injuries in the crash. He refused to pony up and she sought legal counsel (my boss).

One day, Larry walked into our office. He was an older man (in his late 50's or early 60's) with gray hair that hung down his back. He was gaunt and dressed as if he hadn't changed clothes since at least 1964. Our office was on the street level at the corner of Main street and Adams so we were accustomed to vagrants walking in the doors and begging or simply staggering in not knowing where the hell they were so when I saw Larry walk in the door, I thought he was a vagrant and got up from my desk to escort him back outside. But then he introduced himself to me and told me that he represented the strip club owner and that if we knew what was good for us, we'd drop this matter and mind our own business.

My boss, being the junk yard dog that he was, promptly called our client and fired her. Larry, being satisfied gave me his card and told me if I ever wanted to work for a real attorney to give him a call.

My boss and I sat in his office for a while after Larry left and he regaled me with stories and urban legends about Larry that had circulated Memphis for years. I thought them all too fantastical to be true so I made it my mission to find out. Below are my findings:

Legend number 1.
Larry owned a modest ranch style house on Mendenhall that he rented out to whomever had the cash in their hands to give to him. Needless to say, he kept the house full of destructive partying college students, drug dealers, crackers and the like. The neighbors would tolerate it just so far and then they would get together and petition the courts to force Larry to evict the offenders of the month.

A couple of years before I met him, Larry got into a very heated disagreement with the company from which he rented his office space and decided to turn the house on Mendenhall into his and his wife's offices since it was zoned both residential and commercial. It was in a very visible location on a very busy street with plenty of parking available (he had poured concrete over the front yard so he wouldn't have to make sure his tenants mowed the lawn which was another one of the neighbors complaints). However, the simple one level ranch house just didn't have the umph that was necessary to be his office space SO he set about re-designing the house to make it more suitable for their offices. Several years went by. He had taken the roof off the house and had framed in a massive upstairs addition complete with a turret-type thing on the roof (on a ranch house - what a sight!) but then for some unknown reason, he stopped working on it.

And for about 5 years the neighbors were faced with this topless monstrosity whenever they returned home from work. SO they again circulated a petition asking a Judge to either tear it down or force him to finish it in a style that behooved the rest of the neighborhood so as to not lower their property values.

Larry's solution was to buy all of their houses. He bought about 30 of the houses on and near that intersection and the neighbors moved away. End of problem for Larry. Then he let THEIR houses sit empty for a couple of years. I guess he didn't want to deal with renters?? For nearly 10 years whenever you would drive down Mendenhall you were greeted with a nice street filled with modest homes whose lawns were immaculate. It was a pleasant drive until you reached Larry's block. On the right side were nice houses that were well taken care of and then you turned to the left and there was Larry's block of empty houses with overgrown lawns and the last house on the left was Larry's never finished office/ranch house.

Finally the city took action and Larry finished his office space (picture above) and rented the houses around it out on a "lease to own" basis which made him even richer.

Lease to own was a very popular scam in Memphis for years and years. The owner would put a price on the house (we'll say $100,000) and he would demand 20% down and then would owner finance the rest of it at an enormous monthly amount with 20% of your payment (and the down payment of course) going towards the principal and you were responsible for all repairs and/or renovations. So if you stayed in the house for about 75 years, you just might get it paid off. Don't want that - there's no profit if they stay, so owners like Larry would get folks with the worst credit in the world (don't know where they got the $20K to put down) and sure enough he could turn the house over again and again. It should be noted that if you lost the house, you didn't get your down payment back. Nice gig.

The photo above shows you what the house looked like after he was finished with it. Today the house is actually for sale listed at $149,000. I have actually been inside it both before and after he finished with it and I have to say it is VERY nice inside. The atrium is to die for! Lovely inside.

Legend number 2:
When Larry's daughter passed the bar, she went to work for her dad. Now I have heard several different versions of why she and her father got into a very heated and protracted argument that eventually landed them both in court in adversarial positions but the end result was that she won and Larry lost.

Now it should be said that when the argument started Larry's weight had blossomed up to about 300 pounds but by the time the case went to trial, Larry had lost so much weight that rumors were rampant around town that he either had AIDS or he was on drugs because he lost all that weight in a flash!

As a side note, he later bought into the company that marketed the diet pill he used and again made a ton of money. Once the FDA started making noise about pulling it, he was quick and smart enough to see the proverbial writing on the wall and sold his shares so when the company went belly up - Larry was still sitting pretty.

Anyway, after he lost the case to his daughter (who, I might add, was still practising law with him) he decided to go to a plastic surgeon to have all the excess flab removed. He had the doctor save a pound of it.

After he had recuperated, he took the pound of his flesh and he Fed-exed it to her with a note that simply said "Here is your pound of flesh". Larry was very nearly disbarred over that one! Didn't phase him. He got a chuckle out of it and didn't take the whole possible disbarment thing too seriously since it wasn't the first (nor the last) time he had been threatened with that.

At some point, I got into the habit of dropping by to visit with Larry whenever I was in his neighborhood. He was just such fun to listen to and he loved an audience.

Legend number 3:
Larry represented a client in divorce proceedings. His client's spouse was murdered prior to the completion of the divorce. (Rumors flew all over town about that!) Larry's client was a suspect in the murder and Larry was aware of this. With the assistance of a lock company, Larry entered the deceased's home without the authorization of the court or the owner of the residence and removed certain personal property. During the criminal investigation, Larry did not initially admit taking certain property, but in a later deposition acknowledged doing so.

Another sanction by the Board of Professional Responsibility. He was banned from practicing law for a while but continued to do so and actually served a tiny bit of jail time as a result.

Legend number 4:
Rumor has it (and Larry did not refute this nor affirm it. When I asked him about it, he simply shrugged his shoulders and smiled at me) that Larry made his fortune representing local mob figures.

It should be noted that until probably the early part of the new millennium Memphis had a fair amount of mobsters who were very active and visable. There were a handful of attorneys in town (and we all knew who they were) that made their names and fortunes representing these guys. No one thought anything about it to my knowledge. Mobsters were something Memphis had always had and like Elvis and Beale Street, it was just part and parcel of life in Memphis. Everyone took it in stride and didn't give it another thought.

My daughters best friend all through school was the son of a prominent mobster lawyer. When "Aaron" turned 16 one of the mobsters delivered a brand new paid in full Jaguar to his house for him to drive. Of course before his dad would allow Aaron to drive it, he had a bomb expert sweep it to make certain it was safe. Doesn't everyone have to do that?

I know the above legends are true. There are other legends that are much more colorful and enticing about Larry but I think I'll stop with the ones above. The others could land me in some really hot water. As much as Larry likes me, he would have no qualms about taking swift action against me should I divulge any legends that weren't fluff.

I miss our chats and wish I got back home more often so I could sit in his office and listen to him for an afternoon.

But that's just me.

Serial Killer???

Since October or so, I have noticed reports of missing women and bodies found in and around Birmingham, Alabama. A couple of the missing women have been found alive. Women who decided to start over or were running from the law (such as the case of the Alabama woman who disappeared after being charged with child neglect or the Alabama preacher's wife who disappeared and then surfaced in New York living under an assumed name). But there are many who have not been found alive and well. There are also bodies that have been found but not identified.

When I decided to write this post, I tried to find reports of these bodies and missing women, but could only come up with a few. Most of the time, I find the Internet highly over rated when it comes to research. Or at least FREE research. Honestly I think it's more of a "users" issue.

So below is the list I have been able to compile. I will update this list as necessary. Hopefully I can become more adept at "keywords" because apparently I kinda suck at it right now.

I have only gone back as far as 2006. However, when I have more time available, I intend to take a closer look at the years 1995 - 1999 because most of the missing women I have found were from that time period but right now, let's concentrate on more current dates. Fodder for my next post I suppose.

2006
Sherry Milton. Age 26 - from Tuscaloosa. Disappeared 08/2006 while visiting in Birmingham. Her car was found the next day in the Ensley area (near the same spot that a more recent missing woman's - Nadia Kersh - car was found abandoned). Sherry was slender and had collar length light brown or dark blond hair (this is the most common thread among all of these women).

Lori Ann Slesinski. Age 24 - from Auburn. Disappeared 06/2006. They found her brand new car on fire 5 days after she went missing. Again, slender with shoulder length blond hair.

2007
Britney Jenae Wright. Age 19 - from Vernon. Disappeared 07/2007. She was last seen at her residence. All of her personal items were still there when the police investigated. She has not been seen or heard from since that date. She again fit the general description of the other women.

2008
Lisa Green. Age 44 - from Brookwood. Disappeared 07/2008. Now Lisa is well over the "normal" age bracket if these are all connected. However, Lisa is a slender blond who easily could be mistaken for someone years younger in that she dressed & wore her hair in a style much younger than her age and her facial features belie her age well. Lisa was last seen at a grocery store in Brookwood.

Jennifer Lee Hampton. Age 21 - from Florence. Disappeared 9/2008. Jennifer was last seen at a hotel where she was attending a conference for work. Same general physical description as the others.

Shannon Ellis. Age 31 - from Birmingham. Disappeared 9/2008. Had darker hair but otherwise is the same general physical description as the other ladies.

Nadia Kersh. Age 23 - from Homewood. Disappeared 10/2008. Her abandoned car was found blocks from where Sherry Milton's car was found. Same description. Slender, blond or light brown hair above the collar length.

Brianna Parish. Age 21 - from Daphne. Disappeared 11/2008. Body located. Last seen at a local bar. Killer unknown.

Emily Phillips Milling. Age 23 - from Leeds. Disappeared 11/2008. Body located. Suspect has been arrested but no conviction or confession at this time. Same description.

2009
In January a body of a young female was discovered just off Rocky Ridge Road. She was nude and her clothes were near her body. She has not as of yet been identified. Police have stated that she was not at her location for very long after her death.

That's 10 total that I have been able to find. How many more are out there that I have not been able to find out anything about? My rule of thumb has always been if I can find 1 then there are probably 2 more out there.

None of the above may be related or they may all be related. Also, there are other missing women and found bodies, that I have run across during my informal searches that I neglected to bookmark and now cannot find them.

Alabama doesn't have the history of making serial killers that some other states "enjoy". We had a few home grown serial killers. Daniel Siebert (killed 13 total - 5 of which were actually in Alabama), Donald Wayne Darling (I can't find a total on his victims) and Jack Trawick (6 known kills). We had the 18 year old girl (from Alabama) and her much older husband who traveled around Alabama and the surrounding states killing people and then in the early 1900's we had the infamous "Axe killing" serial killers. These were a small group of black men who roamed Birmingham, Alabama killing folks with an axe. I guess I should include Rhonda Belle Martin in this list. I hesitate only because she killed only family members. She poisoned 6 and attempted to poison another 9 before she was caught and eventually executed in 1957.

Am I excited about the possibility of an Alabama serial killer on the loose? Lord no! However, I am curious about it. As I said before, I will research the '90's timeline and see what else I can come up with. Maybe the northwest and states with cold/wet climates are not the only places that breed serial killers? We shall see.

Be on the lookout for updates on this subject. Gruesome as it may sound, this subject matter intrigues me greatly. I mostly hang with the ultra liberal crowds and our hottest debates have always been about environment causing predatory behavior.

You see I believe that predatory behavior and the ability to act upon that behavior, is born - not caused in 99% of these cases. I believe that people are just more evolved animals who, for the most part, have learned how to restrain their basal animal instincts.

However, from time to time there comes along the human who for whatever reason either cannot or will not restrain that urge. When that occurs ultimately a serial killer is born into our society.

I never understood people who were shocked at this occurrence. After all it is animal nature to prey on the weaker animals. Only in the animal kingdom it is done for food or survival. Somehow once it crosses over into the human arena, it becomes more for sport than survival. It's more a case of "I do it because I can" scenario.

That is the part that intrigues me. The total and complete lack of empathy for their victims. The part of them that actually enjoys the pain and fear that they are inflicting upon their victims. The complete and utter control they have over their victim(s). The part of them that doesn't even attempt to explain their behavior. the "it is what it is" kind of attitude.

Many of these killers mouth excuses "my parents beat me" or "I felt I had no control in my life and this gave it back to me" but I have always felt they were simply mouthing what they had read or what shrinks had told them as a last ditch effort to either make themselves appear less of a monster or as an attempt to influence their possible future endeavors to either get out of prison or at a minimum off death row.

We can study these killers from here to eternity and we will never know how to actually spot them early on and prevent them from allowing their killer instincts to run rampant. We simply must admit and accept the fact that there are people born into this world with this need and drive to kill. The best that we can hope for is that we will be more vigilant in protecting ourselves from them and in our ability to catch them early.

But that's just me.

Leading Civil Rights Lawyer Charles Morgan Jr., 78, Dies

In my opinion, Charles Morgan was one of the finest individuals ever produced in this country. I am saddened to see his voice silenced. His book "A Time to Speak" published in 1964 is an absolute MUST READ for every child and/or adult in this country. It should be mandated to be included on the reading list at every public school in this nation.

The following is from an article posted today by the NY Times.

Charles Morgan Jr., a leading civil rights lawyer who was often vilified and threatened by fellow whites during the turbulent 1960s in the South but who pressed on to win a landmark lawsuit that helped establish the so-called one-person-one-vote rule, giving blacks more equitable representation in legislative districts, died Thursday at his home in Destin, Fla. He was 78.

The cause was complications of advanced stages of Alzheimer’s disease, a family spokesman said. In 1962, Mr. Morgan and other young Alabama lawyers filed a lawsuit to force the reapportionment of the Alabama Legislature. The rural counties of south Alabama had many times the voting strength of the more urban north, allowing the old planter elite to control the Legislature. In 1964 the Supreme Court ruled in the case, Reynolds v. Sims, and ordered a more equitable apportionment. Along with similar cases from other Southern states, Reynolds established the doctrine known as one-person-one-vote, which increased the political power of African-Americans and urban voters.

Among his many cases as a civil rights lawyer, Mr. Morgan sued to desegregate his alma mater, the University of Alabama; forced a new election in Greene County, Ala., that led to the election of six black candidates for local offices in 1969; and successfully challenged racially segregated juries and prisons.

After the civil rights movement began to subside, Mr. Morgan, as a leader of the American Civil Liberties Union, fought three celebrated court cases involving protests against the Vietnam War. He represented Muhammad Ali in his successful court fight to avoid being drafted. He represented the civil rights activist Julian Bond in the early stages of an ultimately successful lawsuit after Mr. Bond had been denied a seat in the Georgia legislature because of his antiwar views. And he defended an officer when he was court-martialed for refusing to help instruct Green Berets headed for Vietnam.

Mr. Morgan lost the Green Beret case, but his attack on the military judicial system brought international attention to the restrictions on the free speech of soldiers.

Mr. Morgan, who was known as Chuck, also led the A.C.L.U. effort to have President Richard M. Nixon impeached.

Mr. Morgan, one of the most colorful lawyers in a region known for them, first came to public attention because of a speech that got him run out of his hometown, Birmingham, Ala. The day after the Ku Klux Klan bombed the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church and killed four black girls at Sunday school in 1963, he had taken to a podium and blamed the pillars of Birmingham for the killings: politicians who catered to racist votes and newspaper editors, church leaders and business leaders who refused to take responsibility for the pervasive racial hatred in the city.

“Every person in this community who has in any way contributed during the past several years to the popularity of hatred is at least as guilty, or more so, than the demented fool who threw that bomb,” Mr. Morgan said.

The speech destroyed his budding law practice, which he had already damaged by taking on unpopular civil rights cases, and it led to death threats against his family. He moved to Atlanta to become the Southern director of the A.C.L.U. in 1964, the same year he published a book on his Birmingham experience, “A Time to Speak.”

Charles Morgan Jr. was born March 11, 1930, in Cincinnati and reared in Kentucky. When he was 15, the family moved to Birmingham. He met and married Camille Walpole at the University of Alabama, where he earned a law degree. They had a son, Charles Morgan III. Besides his wife and his son, Mr. Morgan is survived by four grandchildren.

A bulky man, Mr. Morgan held court every day after work in his smoky, whiskey-stained office in Atlanta or, if he were traveling, propped up in a hotel bed in some distant town. His visitors were fellow lawyers, reporters, civil rights advocates and liberal politicians who hovered at the center of the 1960s civil rights movement. He enjoyed performing, whether in the company of friends or in the hearing room of the Supreme Court.

He moved into the campaign against the Vietnam War in 1967, when he represented Capt. Howard Levy at his court-martial at Fort Jackson, S.C. Captain Levy had refused an order to teach dermatology to medical aidmen in Special Forces, known as the Green Berets, saying he considered them “killers of peasants and murderers of women and children.” A military court sentenced him to three years in prison; he served more than two years and became a cause célèbre in the antiwar movement.

Mr. Morgan’s best-known case after he became head of the Washington office of the A.C.L.U. was Mr. Ali’s. Citing his Islamic religious beliefs, Mr. Ali had claimed conscientious-objector status in refusing to be drafted and had been stripped of his heavyweight boxing title because of that stand. After Mr. Ali was convicted of draft evasion in a lower court, Mr. Morgan and the A.C.L.U. took over an appeal of the case, which went to the Supreme Court. It ruled in Mr. Ali’s favor in 1971.

Mr. Morgan’s growing disaffection with the national headquarters of the A.C.L.U. came to a boil in early 1976. At a Washington party, a New York liberal told him that he opposed Jimmy Carter of Georgia for president because, he said, “I could never vote for anybody with a Southern accent.” Mr. Morgan replied, “That’s bigotry, and that makes you a bigot.”

When the encounter was reported in The New York Times, Mr. Morgan was reprimanded by Neier, the executive director of the A.C.L.U., and Mr. Morgan resigned.

Mr. Morgan spent the rest of his career in private practice. He earned large fees and incurred criticism from old friends when he represented large corporations against what he portrayed as government efforts to abridge their rights. He once represented the Tobacco Institute in its opposition to no-smoking laws. He also won major cases for Sears, Roebuck & Company over accusations of race and sex discrimination brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

But it was as an effective voice for civil rights and equal treatment under the law that Mr. Morgan was most remembered in public statements after his death. Less frequently noted was that he also considered himself a proud son of the South and an optimistic champion of its better nature.

“The civil rights movement is freeing the Negro from the bondage of slavery,” he once told a group of Southerners in the 1960s, “and the South is being freed from the bondage of the Negro, and the nation will be freed from the bondage of the South. And then you know what we’re going to do? We’re going to recreate America.”

RIP Mr. Morgan (and thanks)

But that's just me.

What's in a Name????

Adolf Hitler Campbell and his younger siblings (JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell and Honszlynn Hinler Campbell) were removed from their parents home in New Jersey by DHS. The Chief of police in their township said there were no reports of abuse or neglect. Apparently, the children (ages 3 & under) were removed because their of their parents choice of names.

Hmm. My very obvious concern about this is, what right does the government have in removing normal, healthy, happy children from parents who are not on government assistance and have admittedly NOT abused or neglected them simply because of their name?

This whole nightmare started when mother (being the monster she is) ordered a birthday cake for little Hitler and the "cake lady" upon hearing of the child's name, called DHS. I see. Ordering a birthday cake for your child ranks right up there with chaining him in the basement to a radiator while systematically starving and beating him. Good job DHS!! You are on top of these nasty abusers!

Who do you think paid to yank these kids from their homes? Who do you think paid to emotionally scar and terrify these kids AND their parents? Taxpayers. Yep. What a great use of taxpayer money. Now, who do you think is going to pay to defend the county/state when these parents sue (and pay the monetary damages when they win) because of this? Yep. Taxpayers again. I don't live in New Jersey so it won't be any of MY tax dollars at stake but if I did, there would be a lot of hell being raised in the state capital right about now.

Are there no other children in New Jersey that really are actually being neglected and/or abused that DHS could have targeted? No one beating their kid for being so loud that mom couldn't hear Jerry Springer or because he left the trailer door open when he went outside? No?? Well then I guess buying a frigging birthday cake for your kid will just have to do then won't it?

Now, I agree with the governmental agencies on one thing (and one thing only). These are just not great names for their kids. Really not good choices. But, they're not illegal choices. To my knowledge no laws have been passed stating you could not name your child after Hitler and his henchmen. They have admitted there were no reports or evidence of abuse or neglect. They said they thought the parents were causing their kids trauma when they got older because of their name choices. WHEN THEY GOT OLDER??!!

Still, that doesn't equal abuse/neglect. It equals ass beatings in the school yard and drunken fights outside bars (when they're MUCH older - at least 12 or so) it equals pissed off kids at their folks and it may even equal kids going to court when they're older and asking to have their name(s) changed. But it doesn't equal abuse/neglect.

If they are going to start snatching kids with inappropriate names who is the decider of what names are inappropriate?? I remember when I was a teenager there was this Mexican family that moved into our town (the ONLY Mexican family in the entire county - at that time). The dad's name was Jesus. What an uproar that caused!! You would have thought that he had a burning upside down Jesus effigy in his front yard. How blasphemous the town cried!! I thought the poor guy was going to get lynched before it was all over. Update: He and his family moved out of state within a few months of hitting our little town. But I digress.

So, is there going to be a list published of the "offending" names? Will Shithead be on it? Let me digress one more time here while I explain Shithead.

When I worked for DLF back in Memphis, part of my job was to interview prospective clients to see if we would be interested in their case. One day this HUGE ghetto lady rolled into our office dragging the largest 5 year old girl I have ever seen (even to this day) with her.

I took her (and her mammoth daughter) into my office and began to find out what kind of case she thought she had. Mammoth girl was like a spinning top. She simply could not be still. She was playing with the blinds (until they fell) she was grabbing stuff off the desk, she was trying to fool with the phone. Each time she would act out, her mother would scream obscenities at her threatening to beat that ass and then would reach into her purse, pull out some sugar candy and toss it to her like she was tossing treats to her dog. Like the child needed more sugar.

As for their reason for being in my office, it would appear that ghetto lady and her mammoth child had just been to Walgreens doing a little shopping. Ghetto lady saw a friend from church there and was standing in the aisle chatting with her and not watching mammoth girl when all of a sudden ghetto lady heard this loud crash followed with immediate wailing coming from mammoth girl. Ghetto lady rounded the corner and saw that mammoth girl had decided she wanted a bag of chips located at the top of the wire display shelf and had tried to climb up to it when the wire display filled with potato chip bags came crashing down on top of her. The clerk at the Walgreens had the audacity to ask ghetto lady to please keep an eye on her kid. Now ghetto lady wanted to sue them.

Trying as hard as I could NOT to roll my eyes and heave exasperated sighs, I began to take her identifying information (so I could send her a letter stating we would not be interested in her case because I was NOT about to tell this woman to her face for fear that both she and her mammoth child would sit on me and I'd never be seen again). After I got ghetto lady's name and address I asked for mammoth girls name. It is pronounced she-theed so I asked how it was spelled and she (with a straight face) said, "S-H-I-T-H-E-A-D". Wow. It was all I could do. That was the toughest interview of my life.

Now I would say that this lady needs mammoth girl taken away from her because of that grossly inappropriate name but, something tells me that between ghetto lady and mammoth girl, they will be able to trounce anyone who dares to tease her about her name. I was one of the 2 people who watched Norbit (the movie with Eddie Murphy?) The entire time I watched it, I thought, "Norbits wife is shithead!!" She is exactly how I would imagine Shithead would grow up to be. Exactly. Big, mean and abusive.

To this day whenever I hear that someone has come up missing in Memphis, I always wonder if they made fun of Shithead and are now just a greasy spot on the sidewalk. Maybe the detectives should focus on all sidewalks within a mile radius of any school that shithead attends for clues whenever anyone goes missing. Might find some DNA in those grease spots that could lead to closing many files on their desks.

Then there was Whatupmaman Jones. (I'm not making this up) I don't mind using this man's last name because I seriously doubt he and/or any member of his family can read and I have always thought it hilarious that he had such a common last name. When I asked him his name and he said "What up my man", I thought he was giving me a greeting again so I answered, "nothing, what up with you?" He looked at me humorlessly and repeated himself at which time, it dawned on me that was his name. This guy was in our office because he stepped in a hole in a vacant lot which happened to be owned by the city and twisted his ankle. He was on Medicaid and unemployed so he didn't have any medical bills or lost wages to get replaced, so we declined to represent him on that basis. But, it should be noted that this particular vacant lot was surrounded on all 4 sides with an 8 foot chain link fence and was heavily posted with no Trespassing signs. Mr. Jones admitted having to crawl under it at a spot where water drainage had caused some of the dirt to have been washed away causing there to be about a 2 foot space between the fence and the ground. He never told me (and I never asked) why he wanted in that vacant lot so badly. Another rejection.

Now in case whoever is reading this is thinking "she is just so racist" please let me explain. There are stupid people in every race. EVERY race. Hell, little Adolph's parents are lilly white. However, the 2 examples listed above just happened to win the award as far as my personal experience with stupidity goes.

SO, the point of this blog is, who has the right to decide that a child's name is so horrendous that they should be taken away from their parents and put into an already overflowing and traumatising system "for their own protection"?? Why is this okay? Someone really needs to check out the Sheriff or Constable (whoever) as well as the DHS workers who made this decision. They obviously do not know the laws or their jobs well.

But that's just me.

Quotes of the Day

Let's begin with a little story. Since the presidential campaign is over, I figured some political

humor might be in order. The following is a funny and true story told by KC Williams who

teaches High School Government. In one of KC's classes, they were discussing the qualifications to be president of the United States .

It was pretty simple. The candidate must be a natural born citizen of at least 35 years of age.

However, one girl in the class immediately started in on how unfair was the requirement to be a natural born citizen. In short, her opinion was this requirement prevented many capable individuals from becoming president.

KC and the class were just taking it in and letting her rant, but everyone's jaw hit the floor when she wrapped up her argument by stating .. "What makes a natural born citizen any more qualified to lead this country than one born by c-section".

And someday she'll vote!

Now how about some "Quotes of the day"? I wish I had a machine that made bumper stickers!! These are great!

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." George W Bush, Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004

"sometimes they misunderestimate me" President George W. Bush

"Life's tough......It's even tougher if you're stupid." -John Wayne

When Shaquille O'Neal was asked if he had visited the Parthenon on a recent trip to Greece, he replied, "I can't really remember the names of the clubs we went to."

No list would be complete without a quote from Dan Quayle "It's great to be here in the great state of Chicago!"

Becky Marzo case

WARNING: LONG BLOG TODAY

Yesterday (or maybe the day before) I blogged about the Becky Marzo/Carl Rodgers case. Then much to my surprise and excitement I found the video that aired on 20/20 last night about this same case. Of course, I watched it.

Below are a few "afterthoughts" of mine concerning this case and a few inconsistencies that I have noticed on both sides. Please feel free to comment.

Karren Kraemer is just not a sympathetic spokesperson for this case (or any other) in my opinion. It is very obvious that since she has gained her "celebrity" status, she has had a major make over and to that point, she looks better (MUCH better) but still, she absolutely GRATES on my very last nerve.

She appears to be doing rather well for herself now that she is the poster child for grieving mothers everywhere. She also appears to consider herself an expert in this field without having to go through all the pesky hassle and expense of actually going to college and getting a degree in counseling that the rest of us had to suffer. Bully for her!!

Also, Ms. Karren (yes, this is how she spells her name - it is not a typo) also seems to "color the truth" a lot to her benefit. Now she is the first to shout LIAR!! at anyone else, but she apparently feels it's okay for her to lie. Oh yeah!! She's the grieving mother. I keep forgetting that. That's probably why she feels so entitled (there's that word I bandy about in every blog) to destroy the lives of everyone she encounters. I get it now.

To be fair to Ms. Kraemer, I truly feel that in the very beginning of this entire mess, her intentions were to prove that Carl had murdered her daughter. I don't doubt that. However, VERY early on, it is obvious to me, that her motivation changed from proving Carl murdered her daughter to more of a "I'm not a bad mother and didn't raise a bad daughter" motivation.

Had I read that when they first learned she was missing the father went over to Carl's house and beat the crap out of him in an effort to get at the truth, I would have gladly ponied up some money to help with his bail/defense. Sure. Or even if I had read that Karren had gone to his job and confronted him square on. Same thing. But the odd thing about all of this is, neither of them ever did that. Instead a behind your back, shadow, sneaky cat and mouse game was initiated. I have no patience for that or for the people who do it. I don't care what your reasoning behind it is. Of course, I'm from the South and we tend to handle these situations a little differently down here.

Let's get to the inconsistencies and outright bull of the matter shall we:

1. Karren said Becky never missed a day of work. Everyone else said Becky never could keep a job.

2. Karren said Becky was studying for her CPA. Becky hadn't even finished community college. I doubt seriously she was studying for her CPA.

3. Karren stated a manager of one of the T&A clubs in Florida told her that Becky was given a job bartending because they felt sorry for her. The FBI in their official report stated Becky was a pole dancer who was prostituting herself and selling drugs. Now who does she think we are going to believe?? A manager of a club who more than likely felt sorry for Karren and didn't know how to tell her that her daughter was being pimped out (IF indeed a manager actually even said that) OR the FBI who put it in their official report! Come on here! If you are going to go on national television - you need to tell the truth. The good, the bad and the ugly of it. If you want people to back you in your "quest" then you need to be honest and present all sides or just stay the hell at home. If she truly wants to find her daughter, she needs to put it all out there in the hopes that someone will say "hey, I remember this hooker/dancer/addict who sounded like her!" You don't need to color it too far in any direction because if you insist that she is a church going saint if someone sees a hooker that they think might be Becky, they'll just shrug it off - couldn't be her! She's a hooker and Becky is a saint.

4. Karren would have us believe that Becky and her 4 siblings and her entire family were so very close. Then why is it that whenever Becky did one of her disappearing acts, she never (not once) contacted one of her siblings or her parents? As a matter of fact, Becky told the FBI when they found her in Florida (this is also in their official report) that she hated her family and wanted nothing to do with them which should be evidenced by the fact that she and her family had not spoken in over 8 months before her final disappearance. When Becky came back from Florida did she move in with her parents or a sibling or an aunt? No, she moved in with a friend and then went back to Carl. Doesn't sound so very close knit to me. Karren didn't even know that Becky had gone back to Carl until she was told that Becky had disappeared again.

5. Karren wants to say that Becky was this innocent, simple, God fearing, selfless perfect virginal girl. Again, if you are going to go on national television, you need to be honest. If you want to perpetuate that illusion don't go on national television. Especially if you are going to allow her closest friends to be on there too. They were on the 20/20 show last night. ROUGH looking girls. All of them. ROUGH. There is NO way I would let any one of them inside my house if they were going to hang out with my daughter. No way. Carl's stepfather said it succinctly when he stated that there was a "hardness" about Becky. That she had this "edge". I believe that if her friends are any indication. He further said he felt it was as if Becky had been through some things in her life that had hardened her. Well, being a prostitute at the age of 21 should do that to you. Along the lines of Karren's spin on the virginal Becky is the ever present sickening Pooh bear story. If I hear one more time how a grown woman is in love with Pooh bear and all Disney movies, I will puke. To me that either indicates Becky had emotional issues (seriously, I'm not being facetious. Whenever a grown woman still sleeps with teddy bears and watches Disney movies rather than material more suited to her age group, it usually indicates a deep and severe emotional fear of abandonment, insecurities and a plethora of other possible issues) or that Karren didn't know Becky past the age of 12 OR that she is trying to spin Becky's image so we will forget all about the prostitute thing. Didn't work. Only made me nauseous. Word of advise, Karren, slow down the spin machine a bit. You have cranked it up WAY too high.

6. Karren states that when Becky disappeared this last time and she was told that Becky might be back in Florida she went down there with thousands of posters and thousands of dollars in cash in her pocket to walk around the prostitutes and drug addicts paying for information about Becky but she didn't get any so to her that was proof that Becky was not there! Wow. What a Sherlock Holmes this woman is don't you think?? One might think that until they discover that not only did she have cash and flyer's but was also flanked by police. I don't hang out with prostitutes as a rule but I can imagine that were I a prostitute or drug addict and I was approached by this old white woman flanked by cops and she began to ask me questions, I am pretty sure I'd feign ignorance too. I doubt they'd get any information out of me. Pretty sure of that. What a putz.

7. Now about this whole Becky's terrified of Carl thing. I actually did counsel abused and battered women for about 5 years as a licensed professional. I realize that just may not be as high a qualification as those of Karren but let me just try to get this right. Bear with me here. Becky is terrified of Carl yet she goes out most nights with her friends and they stay out at the bars until closing time and she comes home as late as 3 a.m. Carl calls and texts her numerous times during the evenings and she turns off the phone and goes back to her partying. Do I have that right?? Here is my take on that. Becky is most certainly not afraid of Carl. No way. Women who are in abusive relationships and who are genuinely afraid of their abusers do nothing that would risk enraging their abusers. NOTHING. Were she truly an abused woman, first she probably would never have gone out with her girlfriends without him, secondly had she been brave enough to have gone out without him when he called or texts her, she would have answered each and every time and third when he said come home - you can bet if she had to walk there, she would have gone home immediately. Another reason I do not see Becky as a battered woman is the fact that it breaks all known patterns. Abusers use control (mostly through isolation) and fear to keep their mates. Carl never would have allowed Becky to "run the streets" if he had been an abuser. He would never have allowed Becky to even have friends if he were an abuser. Abusers isolate their victims. That's part of the control and fear process. They convince them that they (the abuser) is the ONLY person in the entire world who really loves them. LOOK IT UP KARREN!

8. Karren and Becky's friends cite as proof that Carl killed Becky the fact that the last time she disappeared, he never called any of them looking for her. Most people, when they have a fight with their mate and the mate leaves do indeed try to track them down so they can talk with them because they want to make up and reunite. However, once any person is done trying to make a relationship work, they are finished which means they no longer try to track the other person down. It means they start rebuilding their lives and try to find someone new. If he's done with her - why would he call any of them to try to find her?? Come on.

9. Karren states that another bit of proof that he killed Becky is that fact that several months after her disappearance he traveled to Canada to meet a woman he had met online. Yep. That's what she said. Makes you turn your head to the side and say "huh?" doesn't it? Well, the good "Dr." Karren says that when a person wants to know if the police are watching them, they ALWAYS take a long trip to see if they are followed. AHHHHH. NOW I get it. Of course! It wasn't that he wanted to be in a relationship or find a wife who would share his and his children's life. It was just so he could see if he was being followed. Why didn't I see that???

10. Karren said she knows her daughter is dead because she let her Wisconsin DL expire and hasn't renewed it. Well, Karren, if she's not living in Wisconsin why would she want to renew it? Hello?? Also, by Karren's own admission it was nearly 2 years before Becky was listed with NCIC as an endangered missing person. If Becky, during those 2 years, got a new DL in a different state I doubt NCIC would have picked up on that 2 years later.

11. She also states that her social security number hasn't been used. If she's hooking, I don't believe they declare taxes - do they? Maybe she's not hooking. Maybe she's living with a guy (or girl) who makes enough to support them both and she's not working at all? Maybe she's in Mexico or Canada at which point her social would be pretty useless. Ever think of that?

12. Karren also states she left behind her last paycheck and her credit cards. Look. If I were going to run away at the spur of the moment and I knew that the last time I ran away mom had the FBI all over me, do you think I'd bother with waiting around to pick up my last paycheck OR my credit cards? No. I wouldn't.

13. Karren (and Becky's friends) went on a bit about her not taking her cell phone with her and how she was practically addicted to her cell phone. Just because you don't take the cell phone with you doesn't mean you can't get another one where ever you land. Also, if she is trying to disappear, why would she want to take a cell phone with her that everyone has the number to? That would really be stupid.

NOW. Let's turn to Carl's inconsistencies:

1. Why didn't he put a stop or at least try to put a stop to this harassment? Why didn't his family at least try? Did they try and I just don't know about it? Could be. From all I've read no one tried. I find that really odd. Carl had no obligation to prove his innocence but at the same time, when you are getting fired from job after job because of this crazy woman coming to your job and passing out flyer's stating that you killed her daughter and your family is being stalked, wouldn't it be a good idea to speak to the police or a lawyer about making her stop this nonsense?? I mean really?

2. Carl continued to pay her cell phone bill for several months after she disappeared. I do find that odd. Why would he do that? I can think of only two possible reasons that he might do this. One to make people think she was still alive for a time or secondly to be able to see who is calling her so he can maybe get a reading on where she might be? Still, that part doesn't look too good.

3. Why would he tell the police and Karren during his first interrogation (possibly his only interrogation I'm not sure on that point) that 2 black men kicked in his door and kidnapped her telling him they were taking her to Florida to be a prostitute? Do kidnappers often tell the witnesses they leave untouched where they are taking the victim and for what reason?? Mighty polite of them I'd say. And if the above really happened, then why didn't he call the police? I find that very strange. As an extra note, this is the only time that I could find that he ever repeated this story. From that point on, he simply stated he kicked her out because she was hanging with some people he didn't want around his kids. Maybe when he was being interrogated in front of Karren he decided to spit that at her to hurt or frighten her? I don't know. People do and say stupid stuff when they are cornered.

Now on this point, I'm not sure whether to slap this onto Karren or Carl's list so I'll just put it out here by itself. What about Becky's stuff? If she was living with Carl wouldn't her stuff be there? Was her stuff there when the police finally came and tested his apartment with the luminol? That is never mentioned in anything I've read or watched and I find that odd. For one thing, as far as the police are concerned, I would think if her stuff was still there when they came to test for blood it would raise a large red flag. Or at least it would with me. Women don't usually leave their stuff. They might leave their man but they're taking their shoes. So what happened to her stuff? Did the police go through it for clues? Did Karren get it? Did Carl refuse to let anyone have it? Did some of her stuff turn up in a dumpster or in the Goodwill donation boxes? This point bothers me because it's never addressed. If I were Karren and Becky's stuff was still there or found its way to a dumpster or whatever, I would be telling the world about it because to me, that might indicate that she might not have left alive. So it almost tells me that all of her stuff was gone because I can't believe Sherlock Karren would miss the opportunity to throw that bit of information around.

Okay. Let's tally up now. I have 13 issues with Karren and 3 with Carl and 1 that is just kinda out there. Still, a little top heavy wouldn't you say??

Now let's move on to the "witnesses" shall we?

First there's the EX-stepmother of Carl. Operative word being EX. Karren and the ex are BFF's. Of course they are. Ex-stepmother dislikes the Rodgers family. She is ready, willing and able to spew whatever dirt she can think of at the Rodgers family. Just not a credible witness to me. Really not. Besides the only information she had to offer was that Carl had a bad temper. She didn't cite any examples or say she ever actually saw his temper. Just that she knew he had one. (get the electric chair ready! That's enough for a conviction!).

Then there is June. She was the most recent girlfriend after Becky. She was the girlfriend that Carl had broken up with just very shortly before he committed suicide. June was on the special last night. Please forgive me when I say that June appeared to (how can I say this?) have a very low IQ??? She didn't appear to be "all there"?? She had all the class of a wet mop used last to clean up the overflow from a public toilet. I have no idea what Carl saw in that person. Seriously. Does this tell you that I didn't buy one single word that came out of this person's very oddly shaped mouth? Does this tell you that I firmly believe - it is my fervent opinion - that she was paid to file rape charges against Carl and she gladly did it? Her story last night about how he chased her around the house with a belt actually made me chuckle. The reporter asked her for specific examples of the abuse she said Carl bestowed upon her and that was as good as she could get?? She also never said the word rape. She said he had "intercourse" with her after she told him no. She told her story without emotion, without detail, without conviction. I found it reprehensible that 20/20 would even allow her to tell that story without following it with the disclaimer that Carl had an airtight alibi for the time June said he had raped her and that the charges were dismissed. Three days after she filed the charges against him, he committed suicide. CARL WAS OUT OF STATE WHEN THE ALLEGED RAPE OCCURRED. HE HAS AN AIRTIGHT ALIBI. The police were in the process of dropping the charges against him when he killed himself.

When Karren was asked about this last night she replied that she felt if she couldn't get him on murdering Becky then just maybe she could get him for raping June. Her eyes literally gleamed when she said this and she leaned in towards the reporter. She was gleeful with her "master plan". It literally sickened me to watch.

Although I can't find proof of this, many people have alleged that when Carl kicked June out of his house, Karren let her live with her and June was well taken care of for her role in the whole rape charge business. I don't doubt this at all. I feel confident that Karren would resort to this type of behavior and I feel equally as confident that it wouldn't take much to convince June to do it.

It should come as no surprise when I say that Karren Kraemer is a phony. She actually could be suffering from a form of Munchausen Syndrome. While Munchausen Syndrome refers to a factitious disorder with primarily physical symptoms, the term is sometimes used to refer to factitious disorders in general. I believe Ms. Kraemer to exhibit the general factitious disorder whereby she is uncontrollably seeking attention in a grandiose manner. This would be considered a personality disorder.

To further explain (please forgive the technicality my blog has taken for a second - I just want to qualify my feelings in this regard) A personality disorder would be characterized by the chronic use of mechanisms of coping in an inappropriate, stereotyped, and maladaptive manner. Personality disorders are enduring and persistent styles of behavior and thought, not atypical episodes. The personality disorders encompass a group of behavioral disorders that are different and distinct from the psychotic and neurotic disorders. The official psychiatric manual, the DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association , Fourth Edition), defines a personality disorder as an enduring pattern of inner experience and behavior that differs markedly from the expectations of the individuals culture, is pervasive and inflexible, has an onset in adolescence or early adulthood, is stable over time, and leads to distress or impairment. Personality disorders are a long-standing and maladaptive pattern of perceiving and responding to other people and to stressful circumstances.

Karren is certainly behaving and has behaved throughout this ordeal in a pervasive and inflexible manner. Her behavior certainly has differed markedly from the expectations of her culture.

To end this tirade, I will say that if Karren Kraemer has anyone that loves her, they need to step in and get her the help she so desperately needs. Karren does not need to be counseling prisoners or victims of abuse. She does not need to be the keynote speaker at "womens luncheons". She does not need to receive (not does she deserve to receive) awards for her "work" in furthering victims rights. She needs to be hospitalized with intense psychiatric help and if she had anyone in her life that gave two shakes about her, that is exactly where she would be right now rather than systematically ruining an entire family's lives and means of support by her vigilantism.

Let's be frank for a minute. Becky had a long and turbulent history where her relationship with her family (especially her mother) was concerned. She had exhibited long periods of complete abandonment of them. Couple this with the fact that maybe (if Karren is to be believed) her relationship with Carl wasn't going so well (Carl himself told his family that he had kicked her out that night). Undoubtedly Becky had friends from her days in the T&A club that she still knew. After all it wasn't that long ago from the time she finally disappeared for good. Maybe Becky decided that Wisconsin and all the headache and heartaches associated with it was just not for her and she left.

People up and leave every day of every month of every year in this world. They aren't all killed. Most of them are starting their lives over without the pressures of their old lives. She may never again contact her friends and family in Wisconsin but then again, she might.

When asked last night if Karren would feel bad for her actions if Becky walked in the door alive, she said no.

That in a nutshell should sum up the entire character of Karren Kraemer.

But that's just me.

HAPPY NEW YEAR???

This is only the 1st week in 2009 and so far the news has not been encouraging. Below are just 3 examples:

1 - ISRAEL AND THE GAZA STRIP

BBC reports that 4 children were found "weak and terrified next to the bodies of their mothers" in the Gaza Strip after Israel's latest round of bombing. I posted a comment on that story but I doubt seriously it will be published. It was as follows: "I am so saddened that Israel never learns from their past. They illegally take a country & treat the inhabitants shamefully then they are surprised when bad things happen? Instead of trying to work things out peacefully & amicably, Israel retaliates which brings more retaliation & it never stops. When children, women, old people are subjected to this terror, it should be considered a war crime punishable by death to the leader(s) who ordered it - not the soldiers who did as they were told. I am ashamed of Israel & what it has become. An intolerant, bully who holds no value to any life other than a Jewish life." I toned it down considerably from my original thoughts, but it is still doubtful that it will make the cut.

2 - ADAM HERRMAN

A boy has been missing for nearly 10 years and was just reported as missing this week. Hmmm This story is beyond sad and perplexing. The adopted parents continued to receive an adoption check (I don't know what that is) from the state all this time and I am certain they will go to jail for that. However, I doubt they will ever be punished for the child's fate (whatever that was). Had they not taken money to which they were not entitled, I doubt anything at all would ever happen to these monsters.

Apparently, they were reported numerous times (mostly by relatives) for abusing this child but nothing ever came of it and the boy was left in their "care" each time. One of the natural sons of these monsters was quoted as saying "my mom is actually a good person except when she gets mad".

They made the child sleep in the bathtub without a blanket and/or pillow, the mother pulled his hair, punched him in the face and threw him against the wall, she made him do all the housework, he was not allowed to play with others, she eventually took him out of school after they reported her for abusing him, she would not feed him.

He was only 10 when he disappeared. There are police reports that he had run away a couple of times before he eventually went missing (imagine that!). Relatives have come forward to tell the police that for the past 10 years, the parents have said they gave the child back to the state because he was too much trouble. They concocted elaborate stories of how he was eventually placed in a mental institution and about his progress or lack thereof.

The "parents" latest story is that Adam ran away in 1999 but that they did not report him missing because they assumed he had connected with a sibling or gone back to his biological parents. (a 10 year old who was adopted when he was not even 2 has "connected with a sibling"?) But relatives of the Herrmans have said the couple told them the boy was returned to the state Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services. They also say that they didn't call to report him missing because they didn't want their natural children taken away from them. WHAT?? Why would they think their other children would be taken away?? That was such a weak effort on their part to excuse their behavior. Honestly.

3 - BECKY MARZO AND CARL RODGERS

There is a 23 year old white girl from Wisconsin (Becky Marzo) who has been missing since 2004. From all accounts, she was a bit of a wild child and by the age of 23 was living with a young black man who had custody of his 3 children.

She was apparently a party girl who would go out at night with friends leaving her boyfriend at home with the kids and would come in at all hours. She would show up with bruises and other evidence of a fight. She told her mother it came from her boyfriend. However, it should be noted that there are absolutely NO witnesses first hand or second hand (other than her mother) who can substantiate that accusation.

It should also be noted that she and her mother hadn't spoken in over EIGHT months prior to her most recent disappearance.

This is not the first time that she had just up and disappeared. The last time she disappeared was barely a year prior to her last disappearance, and her mother reported her missing. The FBI located her in Florida working as a pole dancer and "possibly prostituting herself and selling drugs".

The mother took it upon herself to be this young man's worst nightmare and has harassed him relentlessly for the past 6 years. According to the pieces I read, she did things like calling his neighbors, family, friends, employers and telling them that he had murdered her daughter. Every year on her daughter's birthday, she orchestrated "30-40" women to call his phone repeatedly for the entire 24 hours of her daughter's birthday. She vandalized his property and attempted to get his children to talk with her against their father.

After several years of the police rolling their eyes at her, she got in touch with a new detective on the police department and convinced said detective that this young man killed her daughter, drove her to his uncle's funeral parlor and put her in a casket with another body that was about to be buried.

She was so convincing that they allowed her to have a couple of bodies exhumed to check for "extras" (which they didn't find). You see boyfriend shared a car with his uncle, who happened to own a funeral home. Around 4 a.m. on the morning Becky disappeared, the car had been parked in the alley by the funeral home and had received a parking ticket. Now, from what I've read, no one has bothered to ask if uncle had the car that night or if boyfriend had it. "Mom" just jumped to the conclusion that boyfriend had it and he must have used it to transport Becky's body to the funeral home. To be fair, I probably would have jumped to that same conclusion. The only difference is, I would have made the effort to try to determine who was in possession of that car at that time.

Finally this story ended with the young man going into his garage and committing suicide.

Whether he did it or not, I don't know. What I do know is at some point the police should have stepped in and told this "mother" to back the hell off. I firmly believe that had this young man been a young woman and the mother of the missing girl been the father, the police would have been all over it and the parent would be facing at the very least, a restraining order or an arrest for impeding an ongoing police investigation.

The young man wasn't perfect, he had a couple of collars to his name and there was a report that he had indeed struck his first wife. However, striking someone years ago (however that is defined) and killing someone are two different things regardless of what the libbers would have you believe.

Everything else would point to the missing girl as being a loose cannon who did as she pleased and used whomever she could.

I hope her mother is pleased with herself because her vigilante behavior has accomplished one thing.......it has adequately closed this case. Now that the young man is dead with no confession, no body, no blood, no evidence of a struggle or witnesses (even the man's children deny that they ever saw or heard their father hit, shove or otherwise abuse this girl), she will never know what happened to her daughter. Great job "mom"!

My bet is, eventually the daughter will come home on her own probably with no money, hooked on drugs and toting a kid (or two) on her hip. Will her mother at that point feel remorse for her actions leading to this man's death? No. People like that never feel remorse. She will just shrug her shoulders and say "oh well" I never liked him anyway.

Was she right in pursuing her vigilante instincts? Would any mother have done what she did in her situation? No and no. She was NOT right to harass him. I don't care what her "mother's instincts" told her or what her gut feelings were. There is not one person in this world who has not been betrayed by their "gut feelings" or instincts at some point in their life. Just because we know something in our hearts does not always necessarily make it true.

There were other avenues available to her to trap him into a confession or to prove to the police that he should be considered a person of interest. Did she take those routes? No. She decided to use the fact that she was a woman and a mother to her advantage and pointlessly harass him.

This behavior didn't find her daughter. It didn't elicit a confession out of him. It only served to put more pressure on him causing him to commit suicide. Daughter still gone and the last person on earth (the mother believes) who could tell her where her daughter is and what happened to her is now silenced forever. Case closed.

I realize that most people that might read this are sitting with their mouths agape thinking that all bets are off if their daughter is missing and their gut points them in the direction of the person responsible. However, if they were to really - truly think about it, they wouldn't do the sorts of things this woman did. Especially men. Men normally have a much more direct (and effective) way of dealing with their gut instincts whereas women like to play games. Especially when we know that we have the cover of law to hide behind. And that's what she had. The police didn't make an attempt to stop her, so she saw no reason to stop.

All I know is people have a right in this country to be innocent until proven guilty. It's the old "charge me or let me go" or the "cuff me or get out of my house" routine. And that's the way this should have gone. Either charge me with her murder or get that crazy bitch away from me.

How do we know he had anything in the world to do with her disappearance? For Pete sake, girlfriend went out partying to all hours of the mornings all the time. How does her mom know that someone she met while partying didn't off her and dump her body somewhere? How does "mom" know that girlfriend didn't just take off with someone she met while partying? Remember, she has run off before without telling anyone. (mother said she was a "bartender" at the T&A club but the FBI said otherwise - I think I'll believe them)

Also, Becky had a history of depression and erratic behavior. If, as "mom" claims, Becky went home after 2 a.m. from a night of partying and she and Carl (boyfriend) had gotten into a fight, she may very well have gone off and committed suicide in an alcohol fueled state of depression. It's for certain we'll never know now, will we?

Boyfriend seemed to me to be the more responsible person in that relationship. He's the one who got custody of his children. By "mom"'s own admissions, he's the one who was home whenever girlfriend decided to come home after being out all night. I can promise you this. If he were MY son and this happened, I'd be sitting in my lawyers office the next morning suing "mom" for every last cent she ever even looked at for the years of harassment she provided him. I'd be the one sitting in the police station bothering them to lock HER up.

It's shameful that a person can get away with this type of behavior in this country. It's also shameful that the police, her husband and the rest of her family allowed her to continue like she did.

The family/friends of Carl Rodgers, III should mount their own campaign against Becky's mother. She is going to prisons and anywhere else she can to talk about her "journey" and has even founded a foundation for mother's of missing children. She not only talks about HER journey but mentions Carl by name, as Becky's murderer! Can someone not sue this broad already!! Someone needs to take her to task and make her shut her crazy mouth!


I feel so badly for boyfriends kids and his family.

But that's just me.