I can't help but compare how the Sheriff's Dept. in Orange County reacted to the abduction of Samantha Runnion to the way the Ramseys--particularly Patsy, were treated by the BPD. In Sheriff Crona's eulogy, he says:'Samantha wasn't a cop, though. She was a little girl. Little girls aren't
supposed to die. Little girls aren't supposed to die the way Samantha died.
'There is one thing that Deputy Riches, Deputy Parsons and Samantha have in common, at least for me. And that's the eyes of their mothers.
'I've had to look into the eyes of those mothers, and I've seen exactly
same look. The sadness, the fear, the loneliness, the pain that only the
parent who has lost a child can feel.
Patsy was never given the same respect and compassion from the BPD--instead she was villified, and made the scapegoat for the mistakes the BPD made---mistakes the BPD took the heat for in the media. Even JBR got lost in what should have been done. You had all the freaky sideshows like Steve Thomas and Governor Owens; Boyles; Judith Phillips; and a tabloid frenzy that would print anything to sell their rags. The old "under the umbrella of suspicion" line kept the focus on the Ramseys.
The BPD should do the right thing, and let someone else look at this case--give it to someone like Steve Ainsworth(?) and the County's sheriff's department.
Hindsight is 20/20---but the BPD can still do the right thing, and I think it's owed to the Ramseys to set the record straight once and for all.
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