Posted on 07/10/2004 6:55:31 AM PDT by I got the rope
BNSF Spokesman: Act Was 'Incredibly Cruel'
POSTED: 9:02 pm CDT July 8, 2004 UPDATED: 9:52 pm CDT July 8, 2004 WELLINGTON, Kan. -- In the pitch blackness of the rural Kansas night, the object lying on the railroad tracks looked like a traffic cone someone had thrown onto the line.
The members of the train crew asked each other, "What is that?"
They certainly didn't think it was a human being.
But the sound of the impact didn't sound like it came from a traffic cone. The train screeched to a stop. Its crew searched the tracks.
Nothing.
(Excerpt) Read more at thekansascitychannel.com ...
OMG, that's really sick.
What a sick, sick, sad world...
What a nightmare. And almost certainly, in a small town place like that, it will turn out to be a person or persons the victim knew well.
Seriously creepy.
From the article...."I grew up in rural America ... You still tend to think of it as a place where there are still solid values and people look out for one another and care for one another -- and this flies in the face of that, this shocks that sentiment," said BNSF spokesman Steve Forsberg."
I was just at my 35th HS reunion, and there are a lot of things going on in small rural towns in Okla. Meth labs, murders, multiple affairs - everone in that town is trying to sleep with everyone else, judges using penis pumps DURING trials..... It is more shocking when it is a small town.... but small rural towns can be seedy. I couldn't get out of my hometown fast enough. I could never live there again.
Last summer the 23 year old son of a friend of mine was senselessly murdered at a party.
God bless this poor boy's family!
My brother-in-law told me about this story. He's a Conductor for BNSF (Burlington Northern Santa Fe) railroad.
I can't imagine what the parents are going through.
Interesting, I don't believe the word "murder" was even
in that article.
And God bless the locomotive crew.
There wasnt a thing in the world they could do to stop the tragedy, but they will still have to live with it.
.
WELLINGTON, Kan. -- In the pitch blackness of the rural Kansas night, the object lying on the railroad tracks looked like a traffic cone someone had thrown onto the line.
The members of the train crew asked each other, "What is that?"
They certainly didn't think it was a human being.
But the sound of the impact didn't sound like it came from a traffic cone. The train screeched to a stop. Its crew searched the tracks.
Nothing.
It was the crew of the next train that passed that found the nude body of Jacob "Jake" Allen (pictured, left), lying more than 10 feet from the tracks. His black sweatshirt and red sweatpants were found further down the line.
The 19-year-old -- who in May graduated as Argonia High School's valedictorian -- had apparently been tied with baling wire to the tracks.
Some of the details of that night were first reported by the Mid-America News Network, based on an unnamed source at the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. The Associated Press since confirmed those details and pieced the rest of the story together through various railroad and law enforcement sources connected with the case.
The train hit Allen's body just before 3 a.m. Monday along one of the busiest main lines of the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe Corp.'s system. Every 15 to 20 minutes, a train passes along the single-track section near Milan, Kan., which is part of the railroad's premier line between Chicago and Los Angeles.
Sumner County Sheriff Gerald Gilkey identified Allen as the victim on Thursday, and declined to answer all other questions about the investigation into his death, saying only it was ongoing. Calls to the KBI were referred to Gilkey.
On Friday, a shocked, grieving community will gather in nearby Conway Springs for a rosary service for Allen. The funeral Mass is Saturday at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Conway Springs.
"I grew up in rural America ... You still tend to think of it as a place where there are still solid values and people look out for one another and care for one another -- and this flies in the face of that, this shocks that sentiment," said BNSF spokesman Steve Forsberg.
Allen's family declined Thursday to talk with The Associated Press.
The day after Allen's death, more than 40 students gathered in an Argonia church to meet with counselors and ministers. More of such sessions will be put together as needed, said Julie Dolley, Argonia school superintendent.
"It is a terrible tragedy to lose this young man," she said.
Allen had planned to attend Northeastern Oklahoma University. He was considering a major in optometry, Dolley said.
Allen was an athlete in high school, where he competed in football, basketball and track. He was an honor student, a member of the National Honor Society, the speech and forensics club, the math club and a member of the schools' service club.
"It is an unbelievable situation," Dolley said.
Allen attended parochial schools in Conway Springs until the sixth grade, said the Rev. Thomas Hoisington, the priest at the St. Joseph Catholic Church, where Allen was a parishioner. The family was active in the parish, and Allen was active in the church's group of young men.
Forsberg, who was paged in the middle of the night when the body was found, said he is still having a hard time thinking about it days later.
"It is one of those incidents so shocking it stuns the senses. And the more you think about it, the angrier the average human being becomes," Forsberg said. "We are hoping that law enforcement has the ability to resolve this because it is one of those incidents that desperately needs to be resolved. It appears to be an incredibly cruel thing that was done."
I'm speechless........
..something to do with witnessing drug transactions during the Clinton years in Arkansas....
..I know..there are Freepers here who remember this story and know better details.
May God be with his family...May he guide the officials to the perps who committed this atrocity....Horrifying story...
It took more than one...I imagine someone that sick will brag about it and be found out.
"It appears to be an incredibly cruel thing that was done."
It appears it was a sadistic murder.
I pray for the family.... as for those who perpatrated this act... I have whole other thought for them....
This makes me ask the question some times, how far will society let itself slip?
Had a thought, perhaps too wild,
when I read he was Catholic, &
close to the Priest & other Cath.
young men. Sex abuse scandals just
popped into my head. Some kind of
connection here???
Maybe so; maybe no.
No more Mayberry RFD, that's for sure... What a horrible tragedy.
That thought did cross my mind, too. The crime seems to be one of hatred, vengeance, and bloodlust. I pray to God there was nothing "gay" involved.
As if somehow people for no reason at all just happen to have bailing wire tying them to railroad tracks. Just because it's a small town doesn't mean there's no one there who is capable of murder.
More than one perp involved, so
it was something "known" to at
least the victim + multiple
others.
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