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finnerpeace t1_itsi33z wrote

Reply to comment by black_flag_4ever in Investigation underway into daughter's allegation Iowa man was prolific serial killer by livestrong10

>"Every time I went to the well or into the hills, I didn't think I was coming down. I thought he would kill me because I wouldn't keep my mouth shut."

She was a brave-ass girl. Despite this indeed told people.

You know, with the Dahmer case etc folks always tell about how no one believes black folks. Which I don't doubt. Yet here was a white family in the middle of a white-ass state. And she still wasn't believed. I'm sure some was that she was a kid, and some that she was a girl rather than boy. But I'm thinking what's up is people just don't want to believe these things, either from horror, fear, not wanting to have to deal with it, or the simple surprise-disbelief when we see something absolutely insane and our minds can't process it, especially not quickly. And all these factors become excuses to look the other way.

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finnerpeace t1_itsjcjb wrote

Thinking more about this, I mean, if a kid told me something like this, I sure as hell wouldn't want to have to deal with it. And I'm very ethical, and have done shit pretty regularly like jump in pools to save a kid, yoink an attacking dog off a smaller one, etc. So I'm likely among the more-likely to respond types. Yet still if a kid told me this, I'd be terrified to act, and beyond that terror, I'd simply have no idea what to do. Call the cops and report? But then I'd worry I'd be getting the kid killed...

Anyone know what we actually do if someone does tell us about serious, needs-intervention crime?

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SofieTerleska t1_itstg8s wrote

Also, we don't know how direct she was about reporting. It sounds bad now but if you have a 12 year old saying something indirect like "I just get a really bad feeling about that well" or calling in a tip anonymously then it's hard to know how serious it is. And I wouldn't blame her one bit for not just spitting it out, because in that sort of situation, if you tell the wrong person and they roll their eyes, send you home, and possibly even tell your father what you said, you could have just punched your own ticket.

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