The news in the case of missing 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway is confusing this morning. Police in Westminster, Colorado say they've found a body, but they won't say whose body they've found. It's led some to pump their fists in celebration, surely that means the remains don't belong to the fourth grader who disappeared Friday morning. But let's just hold off on the celebrating, OK?
The cops who called the news conference were quick to say, "We are unable to make a connection to the disappearance of Jessica Ridgeway." So it's probably not Jessica. But do I really need to spell this out? OK, I will.
The police found a dead body in Colorado while searching for Jessica Ridgeway.
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If it's not Jessica -- which is where everything is pointing right now, despite some news reports to the contrary -- that's good news ... for Jessica and her family. Sadly it's still bad news for the guy or girl who was found, and for their family.
We tend to get so wrapped up in these missing child cases that anything that isn't about the child in particular gets dropped, ignored as we hyperfocus on the goal: getting this kid home. As a mother, I know the stories of missing kids haunt me long after I've shut down my computer or turned off the TV. I look at my own daughter and put myself in the shoes of people like Sarah Ridgeway and her ex-husband, Jeremy Bryant. I can only imagine they're in agony.
We're allowed a tinge of relief that a fourth grader is not dead. She's a fourth grader, after all, a 10-year-old girl, an innocent child.
But there is still a life lost, a family in mourning. Let's not let the case at hand overshadow that fact. Let's give this poor lost soul their due, at least for a moment, before returning our hearts to the family of little Jessica Ridgeway.
What was the feeling that came over you when the police said the body was not linked to Jessica's disappearance?
Image via Westminster Police
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Comments 26
I will be sending up prayers for all the people who love this little girl. Please Lord watch over this child and bring strength to her family.
I live in Colorado only an hour away from where this girl went missing. It's a terrible story, the girl was missing for 8 hours before the mother even knew she was missing. They are not saying anything about the body that has been found, and the news can be very misleading because every time they talk about the body found, they plaster her picture with it. I feel it could be so traumatizing for her family and unless they know for sure, they need to stop putting her face to the articles. A woman is also missing in Arvada (where the body was found). Either way, a family has lost someone.
My thoughts exactly. That was the first thought that I had while watching the news this morning. How can people selfishly celebrate and hold hope that it's not the child so publicly in the news? Two parents are missing a child regardless.