The Jessica Ridgeway case has shaken parents across the nation. But nowhere more than in her quiet, suburban town of Westminster, Colorado, where the 10-year-old disappeared on her walk to school and was found days later, her body "not intact."
It's a terrifying story made perhaps even more terrifying by where it happened. People move to the suburbs for safety. They move to raise their kids away from the danger and noise of the city. Things like this aren't "supposed" to happen in places like Westminster. It's the reason more than 2,000 people came to Ridgeway's memorial to mourn her. This could be anyone's daughter.
And yet, that sense of security was always false. There really is no town, no place that is safe. The truth is, that's always been the reality.
As a mom, it makes perfect sense to me that some people are looking for that mythical place where no one will harm our kids and they can be free outside to do what they want. We imagine that 50 years ago, it was a safer time when things like this didn't happen.
Stories like this terrify us. But the fact is, there have always been evil and random, scary acts like this. There have always been killers who lurk in seemingly innocuous places and little girls who tragically disappear. It's scary, but it's also freeing in some ways, too.
As a mom, the thought of anything happening to my kid is beyond awful, but knowing that there is very little I can change or alter about my lifestyle to avoid it somehow makes it feel less overwhelming.
Ridgeway's parents didn't do anything wrong. Her community isn't any more "unsafe" than anywhere else. It was a horrifying act committed by a sick person who is still at large.
These are scary facts. But there is no larger lesson to learn or anything we need to change about our lifestyles because of it. Sick people have always walked among us, sometimes even in seemingly "safe" places.
Ridgeway's death is a senseless, senseless tragedy and trying to make sense of it or learn "lessons" from it will only make our heads spin. The only lesson here is that evil is alive and well and it lives everywhere.
Do you plan to change anything because of this case?
Image via Westminster Police
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Comments 13
It doesn't change the way I live.. more like, confirms it. My daughter will not be walking anywhere alone or roaming the neighborhood without supervision. I wasn't allowed to, and she won't be either. It's not about raising kids in a bubble either, it's about learning independence safely and in due time.
She's 10 years old (a minor) she shouldn't have been walking anywhere by herself. I think things would have turned out differently had she been walking in a group, but I can't confirm that. It's so unfortunate that this turned out this way, and I hope that she gets the justice she deserves.
Her parents DID do something wrong, though - They let Jessica, a 10 year old child, walk to school alone. Many parents do this, so they were not alone, but every single one of them put their children at risk of abduction and murder. There is no excuse for not making sure your child gets to and from school fully supervised. They could have drove her to school, had someone else drive her to school or put her on a school bus. Jessica's fate was a preventable tragedy that would not have happened had her parents been more responsible. This story has nothing to do with safe/unsafe neighborhoods, it has to do with parents not doing their job properly and their children suffer the consequences!
Christina Mancuso-Henry said it all.
Natalie, just because someone doesn't agree with you doesn't mean they are a "complete idiot". One job that parents are required to do, is to keep your child safe.