A 12 year old girl from Florida was kidnapped on Saturday night from her home. She has been found in the car of a 31 year old man she had recently begun speaking to on the internet. Police believe he was in the process of driving her back to his home in Texas. The entire time the man was talking to Megan Williams online he kept trying to get her name and phone number and address and she finally gave it to him. Megan's mother knew she was talking to the man, but he had been pretending to be a teenager. The mom was on top of the e-mails and texts her daughter was sending and the guy still managed to kidnap the girl. Can you imagine if the mom had not been on top of it and had all the information to provide to the police?
Thank Cthuhlu, she's safe. Good for the mother for being so alert. Parents need to know everything their kids are doing.
ReplyDeleteAs a parent, I find this terrifying - especially after the big FBI human trafficking sting here in the US. A lot of the kids they found had been lured from the internet, then imprisoned and forced into prostitution.
ReplyDeleteIt seems there is a market for raping kids out there because men will pay to have sex with a minor without any qualms whatsoever, or they will troll the internet looking for children to rape.
I worked with runaway teens, and their predators were usually "fine, upstanding" church going family men on the conservative side. They'd troll the streets for teens. My loathing for fuckers who prey on kids knows no bounds.
There are monsters out there...and now they have a new tool. This is Sick.
ReplyDeleteOh - the most important thing. I'm so glad she was found safe!
ReplyDeleteGlad this child's safe. Hope she's learned something from her ordeal.
ReplyDeleteGlad she's safe, and props to the mom for being vigilant.
ReplyDeleteThat's an awful lot of eye makeup for a 12 year-old. Just an observation.
She looks like she's 14 or 15...maybe even 16....
ReplyDeleteAnyways, glad she's safe. And kudos to the mom for being on top of things.
Uhm, if she gave him her address and phone number then her mother wasn't "on top" of anything. She either missed that or she's an idiot.
ReplyDelete@Texshan- that was the first thing to pop into my head too. My oldest is 11 and I'm uncomfortable with lipgloss and mascara that I allow her to wear. Girls today are trying to grow up faster than 15-20 years ago. I'm glad she is alright and am glad to hear about a parent being ontop of things for once.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad this girl is safe and that her mother had access to this information. However,I question the mother's parenting. She was aware that her daughter was conducting an online relationship with a man in his 30s and is considered "on top of" things. Awareness does not equal good parenting.
ReplyDeleteThis mother should have worked harder to shut this relationship down. I know kids want what they want and will do what they can to get it. However, there is something not right with this.
I had a girlfriend who would fly all over the US(in early high school) to meet guys she met online.thought there was nothing wrong with it once she flew out to meet w/ a guy and he brought her home, she knocked and broke over a vase-his mom's he was so mad.she called me and was terrified.but she still would keep meeting them. as long as there are willing women, there are men.
ReplyDelete@Texshan...great minds think alike, that eye makeup is WAY to old for that baby girl! I have a 10 year old, and this story is ssooo scary. Ariel has just learned how to use the internet, and I hover over her shoulder like a psycho hose beast! Thank goodness the mom was on top of things, or this story may have had a different outcome.
ReplyDeleteOne of my biggest fears right there. Mine aren't that age yet, but will be soon enough. Time for some safe internet classes.
ReplyDeleteshe's lucky he didn't rape her in the car.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't allowed to wear any makeup except colorless lip gloss until I was 14. And then my parents sent me to a model school so I would learn how to do my makeup and hair properly. But there were plenty of other girls my age who were wearing the full black-eyeliner-blue-shadow-tons-of-Great-Lash at age 12. I think it looks tacky.
ReplyDeleteBeth, the mom thought the girl was talking to a guy who was a teenager, not a 30 year-old.
I'm confused. Why is the young girl's picture posted and not the creepy peda-predator?! Why is this child's privacy being further violated by the media? Also, why is only the mother mentioned?! Does this kid not have a father? If so, sad, again. And, as far as the mom being on top of things, who knows - maybe the daughter gave the address, within the hour got a talking to by the mother about it, was sent to bed early, and was kidnapped in the night. Maybe not. We don't know. What we do know is this is very scary, it's sad what people do to kids, and it's sad how the media treats victims.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad she's safe. We just have to give the mom the benefit of the doubt - she thought he was a teen.
ReplyDeleteMy kids' middle school has a mandatory computer lit class (which seemed like a big waste o' time, as I think my kids were born with a mouse in their right hand) that turned out to be fantastic, because they were taught how to really type, and they got a come to Jesus multi-day lecture from a cyber crimes police officer that made believers of these confident kids re Internet predators.
He must have scared the shit out of them, which I totally approve and endorse. My 13 yo has been solicted on line - in an online game intended for kids. He screamed out, "Mom, come quick, someone's trying to pedobear me!"
Thank God this girl was found safe. Obviously, this is the most important part of the story.
ReplyDeleteThankfully I don't have to worry about this quite yet since my kids are so young, but I think if younger teens are going to be allowed to have a FB page, that maybe the agreement should be that the parents have the kid's password if they start noticing some strange behavior? I don't know - maybe that's too invasive, but having your own account as a parent is not enough with all the privacy controls your kids can use so you don't see the juicy stuff.
Sometimes i go on my stepdaughter's page and I'm horrified by the things these 16 year olds are saying and doing. Not to mention a lot of her friends post provocative photos, AND their profiles are public profiles that include their phone numbers and what schools they go to. Talk about dangerous
@Frufra "Mom, come quick, someone's trying to pedobear me!"
ReplyDeletelmao! LOVE IT!
@ Timebob - that is very true.. Lucky escape, I hope.
ReplyDeletewho gives a fuck about her eyeliner.
ReplyDeleteIf a man is going after a child he's not doing it for her makeup tips.
Glad she's safe. Just wondering but 12 seems kind if young for texts and emails, no?
ReplyDeleteSweet, naive AuntJess - I'm considered a total freak because my 10 year old doesn't have a phone! We just broke down last year and let the 13 yo get one - and he was like the last 13 yo in the universe w/o one.
ReplyDeleteFrufra But if they all have cell phones who ties up the land line for hours after school talking to her girlfriends about boys and finals and annoying their dweeby brothers...oh wait I think I see what you mean about naive.
ReplyDelete@AuntJess - remember emergency breakthroughs? At least that's what we called it here - when you'd call the operator and get her to break the line at some number you'd been trying to call for hours and only getting a busy signal? Hubby and I were talking about that the other day. Our kids literally don't know what a busy signal sounds like.
ReplyDeleteOr when you'd been on the phone too long, and your mom picked up the extension and embarrassed the hell out of you? Ah, the good old days.
There is a huge issue with these girls lying about their ages as well. The heavy eyeliner easily passes her for 16. So sad. They have their whole lives ahead of them and all some of these girls wants is a huge epic relationship to brag to their less savvy girlfriends about. Sickos of this world are more than happy to take advantage of these young girls with big ideas. :(
ReplyDeleteThose were the days. Sigh. I also remember a time when you actually had to answer the phone to know who was calling.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was 14, my parents put in a "children's line," which was basically "Texshan's line," because my brother, being both a boy and seven years old, was basically never on the phone. Irony -- now I hate talking on the phone.
ReplyDelete@Texshan- my cousins had a "children's line", which I think quickly became a "planning to cut school" line :-).
ReplyDeleteMy parents tried to lock the phone with this dinky finger hole padlock. My sister and I soon learnt how to pick it with a bobby pin.
ReplyDeleteGirls will always try to look older, I used to put oranges in my mums bras and wear them to the shop, so lets not start shaming or blaming her for a bit of male up.
*makeup*
ReplyDeleteI am so old I remember .. party lines.
ReplyDeleteTexshan.... I wish my parents had sent me to model school.... Wonder if I can go as an adult? I still don't know how to wear makeup... The time for looking foolish is a teenager, not grown....
ReplyDeleteAnd I think that anyone who is under 18 ... their parents should have their Facebook password... My kid is grown, but I saw his posts on the website he used. (We had to share the computer). And I knew his passwords.
Think back to when you were 16 years old. Did you want your mom going through your diary or reading the smart ass comments all those bad boys you had crushes on wrote in your school year book? To a lot of teens Facebook and other social network sites are their journals. I'm all for keeping a vigilant stance on the young ones but at 16? No.
ReplyDeleteThis is the kind of stuff that scares the beejesus out of me! My babies are too young for the Internet, but I worry about this stuff so much.
ReplyDeleteI have passwords to all of my daughter's accounts and phone. I check and/or log onto these accounts regularly. If the passwords are ever changed without my knowledge, she knows all electronic communication/devices will be taken away for a LONG time. She's 12 now, as she gets older, she can have more privacy but as long as she is a child, I reserve the right to see what she is up to.
ReplyDeleteWe have had several talks about the kind of people that can be on the internet (and in real life) and that there are people who want to hurt young girls in many terrible ways. We have discussed never posting anything (pictures or otherwise) that she would be embarrassed for her mother or grandmother to see/read and that everything you put out into the web is forever and always.
I try to be safe, I try to cover all of the bases I try to supervise. The computer is in the family room.
Having said that, there are people and things out there I cannot control and it sometimes scares me.
This mom sounds like she tried to do the right things to keep her daughter safe, but kids are kids...and even the most well informed/smartest kids are stupid sometimes (and plenty of adults), and that scares me too.
I am so very glad for her, and for her mother, that she is safe.
The very best thing I ever did was to have one computer, and located it in the middle of the house. Parents, please don't let your kids have their own computers in their rooms, you will save yourself so many problems.
ReplyDeleteUnknown, and that is precisely why parents need to be cautious and aware. Too many teens think, for some reason, that the Internet is the place to put all of your thoughts and secrets. It's not. They need to realize that Facebook, Twitters, etc. is about as far from private as you can get. Only one of my friends has an older child -- she'll be 17 in August. Her parents monitor her FB wall daily, etc. And I'm glad they do.
ReplyDeleteClaire, the model school thing sounds dumb, but it was actually really beneficial. It taught me how to put on my makeup to emphasize my good points and de-emphasize the bad while not looking overly done-up, and how to do my hair so that it was most becoming to my face. It also taught me how to walk, sit and stand correctly with good posture. If I had a young teen, I would absolutely send her to a modeling school for those things. But you know, you can find out how to do your makeup from the pros at the upmarket cosmetics counters, and it's free. Ask at Clinique, etc. Most of them offer tutorials. And they give you free stuff, too!