[Noachian]

As much as I hate to think about how children are treated by society's sickos I hate the idea of throwing out Constitutional rights more.

If we did away with our rights every time a child or adult was preyed on by the animals that walk our streets we'd have no rights at all.

There is NEVER a time when Constitutional rights can be curtailed without unforeseen consequences. The writer (probably liberal) who is so quick to curtail our rights should wonder what would happen to children if we had no rights at all, and left the Socialists in charge.

It's interesting that the writer, who is so quick to do away with Constitutional rights, never mentioned applying existing law to this case. The man was arrested twice before in cases involving children that would make a search of his home probable cause and they could enter it with a warrant. So why wasn't existing law applied? Why is the writer so quick to jump to throw out the Constitution?

[Maigrey]

First of all, you are correct. The writer is a liberal for a liberal paper in a liberal town. (if you go to my profile page, you can see how I define living here!)

The issues here revolve around how the case was handled in the early hours following her abduction. The person who was eventually arrested and charged for her death did not live at the residence where she was found, but lived there previously. The residence in question was vacant, and had upkeep by the landlord by a caretaker, giving the impression that the residence was still occupied. So, the police, operating under the assumption that the residence was occupied, knocked on the door, and when they did not get a response, looked elsewhere.

The immediate community thought it was an abduction and tried to get police to issue an Amber alert for her, where the local media along with the state-wide authorities could begin looking for her. (and with that, there needs to be a car involved, which there wasn't at the time.)

Eventually, (2 days later) the caretaker came to the residence to check on it, and smelled something coming from the residence. That is when she was found.

The parents are up in arms that the police didn't break every law on the book to look for their little girl, and the community is wondering where the communications breakdown occurred. (at least by the police.)

Had the people of the community informed the police that there was some arrests made at the residence previously, they could have made it enough for a search warrent for the residence, and maybe made a difference.

I too am saddened over the loss of such a innocent child to such a vile creature, but if the current laws on the books are not enough for the law enforcement to do their job, and the people in the community wish to ignore the Constitution, then the real problems will begin to surface and there will be no rights for the kids who are still alive.

I'd rather fix the problem at hand, and save a child further down the line, than trample the current laws on the books "for the children" and lose so much more.