My phone gets emergency text messages. Yesterday I was very glad to get a text message saying that there had been an arrest made in Jessica Ridgeway's case. I've been keeping an eye on the case though law enforcement has been holding their cards close to their chest, as I would expect. It is good to know they were working hard and took a predator off the streets.
A couple of days ago they announced a link to an attempted kidnapping of a woman jogger in the same area that Jessica was kidnapped in. So this guy has probably fantasized about taking someone and doing horrible things to them for a while and then made plans to act on it. His first attempt was not successful. Thank God that woman fought him off. However, that probably made him decide to prey on a more helpless victim, an innocent child walking to school.
I eagerly waited for more information after the text message. I was shocked to see though that this predator was a 17 year old boy. 17 years old and already evil enough to abduct, murder and dismember a child. There is something so wrong inside of him. By all accounts I've read though, he hid the evil pretty well. People seemed to think he was a nice person and very smart.
One thing I think about is how often high intelligence levels come with a catch. People who are very very intelligent often have social problems or mental illness. In this case, something very very wrong and evil. I would really like to know more about him and his life. Were there any warning signs? Was his family structure normal or did it contribute to his behavior? Nature vs. nurture.
It is entirely possible that his family did not wrong and could not have done anything to change him. Honestly, I do believe some people are just born with something in them that makes them bad. There are all these studies going on now about is there a genetic link to criminal activity? In the case of serial killers and psychopaths, I think there probably is one. Who knows if we will ever identify it or be able to do anything about it. But in the case of run of the mill criminals, I think that is more nurture over nature.
Anyway, I'm glad they caught him. I hope that his arrest brings some measure of safety back to the community. Though he is innocent until proven guilty, I think a lot of people are going to feel safer. I'm not sure what the family must be feeling. I'm not sure anyone can until they are in that position and I hope never to be. Either they're glad that the guy is caught and will be seeing justice or they are dreading the trial where there will probably be facts of the case revealed that no one really wants to know. I think I would be feeling both if it was me.
I hope they convict him (if he is the guy who did this of course) and he should get a stiff sentence. I support the death penalty in cases like this. The death penalty isn't about an eye for an eye. It is more about there are some people in this world that don't deserve to be a part of it. We'll see what happens with his trial but I'm glad they got him off the street. Though since he is under 18 when he committed the murder, the Supreme Court recently ruled that juvenile offenders are not eligible for the death penalty or mandatory life without parole. I'm not sure how I feel about that in this case. Can someone who has done something so evil be rehabilitated? I think there is probably something fundamentally wrong with him that can't be changed. I'm worried that killing is a part of him and he'll do it again if or when he gets out of jail. Unsettling.
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