July 11, 2004
A Week
A week ago tomorrow, Tamara Jewel Keepness disappeared. According to media reports, her mother says she was put to bed at 11 pm. and gone in the morning. The police refuse to characterize the disappearance as anything more than a "missing person", which I suppose is beaurospeak for "we have no clue where she went or how."
Question: This little 5 year old simply got up at 3 am and walked out the door? Do you know of any 5 year old, up until 11 pm, who would not be dead to the world until well into the next morning? Things about this disappearance don't ring true on a lot of levels, including the media's insistance on describing the father as deeply distraught and "pleading" for the safe return of his daughter - the actual taped interviews of the parents show remarkably calm, underwhelmed individuals. It may be cultural.
I don't have any search and rescue expertise, and I suspect that there's information they are not releasing to the public, but it seems to me that the restricted area the police concentrated on for the first couple of days (9 block area) was a strange approach. They've since expanded the search and are finally including fields outside the city, but to me, this is very little - and very late, if this little girl had indeed just wandered away.
When I was under 2 years old, "Butch", the farm collie, and I took a saucepan and walked a mile to the neighboring farm in the space of an hour or so. I suspect I was running away in rebellion over some disciplinary action by my mother - the saucepan suggests I planned to fend for myself. Turned myself in to a neighbor, instead.
But, the notion that a lost or anger motivated 5 year old would only make it a few blocks before hunkering down or getting trapped somewhere is illogical.
 | Regina's Crimestoppers number is 306-545-8477 |
There's a live news conference on right now. Some twit just asked if any native elders have had "visions" that have been followed up on. *sigh*
We can onlyhope they find her with a disgruntled relative, or somewhere equally benign. Otherwise, propsects are pretty dim.
Posted by Kate at July 11, 2004 1:00 PMTrackBack URL for this entry:
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Normally when children go missing in the middle of the night like this, a neighbor or family member is involved.
Posted by: Cousin Kevin at July 11, 2004 8:29 PMYou live in Regina - are you hearing anything that isn't being reported in the media?
Posted by: Kate at July 11, 2004 9:33 PMIf you watched the news, you'd have noted that kids are out on the street until 11pm all the time. You would have also noted the street was a known place for prostitution. You may also have noted that people/relatives came and went through their house at all hours, so losing a kid for a few hours, even in the middle of the night, would have gone unnoticed.
Given all those facts, no one panicked over even called the police for days.
Ordinary parents would have had a fit. In the above setting, clearly her parents did not.
She was ripe for the picking by any evil-doer. No-one should be surprised.
Posted by: Tim G at July 12, 2004 8:28 AMThe only thing I am hearing is that the police are buying into all this PC crap about visions and dreams and getting sidetracked in their search. Tim is right, I see young kids out on the street at all hours. This poor kid could be anywhere.
Posted by: Cousin Kevin at July 12, 2004 11:06 PMDid you notice the description of what she was wearing when last seen? A pink haltertop and jeans? And she was "tucked into bed" at 11 pm?
Fully clothed?
I call bullshit.
Posted by: Kate at July 13, 2004 1:24 AMI thought the halter top & jeans was a little odd, too. However, knowing that in both Regina & Saskatoon these kids are running around on the streets at any hour of the day (or night), I really can't expect that the parents would bother putting them to bed wearing pj's. There's a lot of stories about this case that don't really add up.
Posted by: Jacquie at July 14, 2004 1:32 PMI live in Regina, near the Wascana Park. I was out of town on Saturday, July 10th. On Sunday, my neighbour told me that while I was away, some search and rescue volunteers went through my backyard, rummaged under my deck, went through my garage, and inspected my vehicle as no one was home. These same volunteers had questioned my neighbour if her garage was empty. Even though she said it was, they made her open it up so they could judge for themselves. This is the result of following a "vision". This type of search was conducted throughout the neighbourhood. No search and rescue "volunteer" would provide identification.
WTF is going on? What kind of "vision" does this create? If law enforcement pulls more of this, they will not have any community support. Do they think Regina is populated by thousands of criminals who won't report a missing child?
Posted by: Larry at July 14, 2004 4:29 PMThank god the other children were taken away
Posted by: linda at August 30, 2004 4:05 PM