Somer Renee Thompson #2 10/29/09 - 4/26/10

[Brandi]

O/T Thank you again Brandi for the Avatar. It is so darn cute. I figured out how to upload it on here. My husband got a kick out of it. He was giggling and said it was perfect.

Oh, I am so happy it worked out!

You are very welcome.

[Heart]

I'm listening to the show now. I wonder what church if any do the Thompsons attend?

It may very well be a person she has seen before or barely knew who started watching her.

For those who watched the Amber movie. did you realize that Glen Clark is now out of jail after only 5 years? He kidnapped a child and thats all he got.

Well, the Memorial service and Funeral were held at First Baptist Church of Orange Park. So, if they were members of a church, I'd assume that would be their church.

And I agree, it had to be someone with whom she was somewhat familiar. Someone she'd trust to go with a short distance or so. (Like a worker she saw many times at the Gano house or someone similar.)

JMO.

No, iirc the pastor at First Baptist Church of Orange Park stated that the Thompsons did not belong to a particular church and that is one of the reasons he offered his church for the service.

Found it!

Tarkington, the church’s pastor, told Florida Baptist Witness in a previous interview he offered his congregation as the Thompson’s “church family” after learning Diena Thompson, Somer’s mother, didn’t have a church home.
http://www.floridabaptistwitness.com/10958.article

[Brandi]

I'm listening to the show now. I wonder what church if any do the Thompsons attend?

It may very well be a person she has seen before or barely knew who started watching her.

For those who watched the Amber movie. did you realize that Glen Clark is now out of jail after only 5 years? He kidnapped a child and thats all he got.

Well, the Memorial service and Funeral were held at First Baptist Church of Orange Park. So, if they were members of a church, I'd assume that would be their church.

And I agree, it had to be someone with whom she was somewhat familiar. Someone she'd trust to go with a short distance or so. (Like a worker she saw many times at the Gano house or someone similar.)

JMO.

No, iirc the pastor at First Baptist Church of Orange Park stated that the Thompsons did not belong to a particular church and that is one of the reasons he offered his church for the service.

Found it!

Tarkington, the church’s pastor, told Florida Baptist Witness in a previous interview he offered his congregation as the Thompson’s “church family” after learning Diena Thompson, Somer’s mother, didn’t have a church home.
http://www.floridabaptistwitness.com/10958.article

Thanks, Heart! Good sleuthing.

So, as I said, "So, if they were members of a church, I'd assume that would be their church."

Apparently, they were not members of any church.

I do know that the community has rallied around this case and the Thompson family. It would be normal for a church to present itself to help out.

[Kat_Gram]

I know most of you don't believe as I do on who I think did it this. But I want to point out that in all the news coverage I have not heard of one person that said they saw her looking for her child or calling the friends parents to see if she was at there houses. Sorry in advance if this offends some of you

Do you know any of the friends parents ? Because you did post a link to the uncle of the girl who she was walking home with and that little girl was questioned.

[luvmyboys]

Do you guys mind telling me who you think killed somer? You know just opinions

[klaasend]

Hi darla!

I am thinking the first opportunity for an "announcement" will be tomorrow, Monday.

If one does not happen then, I will be disappointed.

I sure hope you're right Brandi.   

Corrected my post to read "If one does not happen then, I will be disappointed."

Also .. I read that LE is continuing the daily pressers, but they are getting harder and harder to find. Anyone have a source that covers these?

O/T: What is with the mustaches and the O in your lower left corner? Sorry, is driving me crazy. LOL

Mustache is for Movember - to support men who have gotten prostate and testicular cancer.  I figured I supported the women and it's only fair to support the men 

The "O" in the lower right is for the University of Oregon (football), who trounced USC yesterday    The emblem on the lower left is for the Yankees.  If I can't have the Angels I'm rooting for the Yankees 

[klaasend]

Do you guys mind telling me who you think killed somer? You know just opinions

luvmyboys - I'm at a loss.  My guess is someone she either knows or has seen around alot.  Someone that didn't scare her.

[Kat_Gram]

I am at a loss too. But it has to be as Klaasend says, someone who didn't scare her, someone who she had seen or rather the someone who saw her and who Somer didn't think any more about him as they " belonged " where they were. If the workmen were at the house daily and they had a good reason to be there, the first day, people around would notice, that being out of place would wear off and the workmen would be taken for granted after a while. Or for that matter anyone who didn't live in that neighbourhood but "belonged"  there. No one noticed any big bad bogey men around wearing a neon sign saying I am a child predator.
Because the house at 1080 Gano received so much attention, it has to come back to that house and someone who was working there. LE is probably checking out Vinson's payroll records to see who worked there. Even if he was paying them on a daily labor rate to gut the house ( unskilled ), he would be keeping track of the costs for his tax records and for the bill for the reno. The Kyle guy who we pulled up. He is young, he was into kiddy porn
and dammit, the guy looks normal and not creepy unlike some of the others.
Wish someone could get into his records and find out just how he operated.

[Brandi]

Hi darla!

I am thinking the first opportunity for an "announcement" will be tomorrow, Monday.

If one does not happen then, I will be disappointed.

I sure hope you're right Brandi.   

Corrected my post to read "If one does not happen then, I will be disappointed."

Also .. I read that LE is continuing the daily pressers, but they are getting harder and harder to find. Anyone have a source that covers these?

O/T: What is with the mustaches and the O in your lower left corner? Sorry, is driving me crazy. LOL

Mustache is for Movember - to support men who have gotten prostate and testicular cancer.  I figured I supported the women and it's only fair to support the men 

The "O" in the lower right is for the University of Oregon (football), who trounced USC yesterday    The emblem on the lower left is for the Yankees.  If I can't have the Angels I'm rooting for the Yankees 

I must be out of the loop. Never heard of the Movember thing. Good to learn about. Thanks. (Should I encourage my hubby to get tested this month? ...prolly.)

Figured out the Yanks symbol. I am in VA .. so supporting the losing Phillies (although I did live in Manhattan for a while.)

Thanks for the answers, and I apologize for the O/T. But it was making me wonder!

[Brandi]

Do you guys mind telling me who you think killed somer? You know just opinions

luvmyboys - I'm at a loss.  My guess is someone she either knows or has seen around alot.  Someone that didn't scare her.

I join Klaas on this one.

My first hit on the hinky meter is Clayton William Graham, having been listed on the police report. I also am suspicious about Cruise, Kyle, George Christopher Vinson, and a little of Kuhn.

But it could be anyone at this point, as far as I can see.

Looks like a crime of opportunity to me. The mood struck, the time was right, there was a child. Her name was Somer.

[Brandi]

I am at a loss too. But it has to be as Klaasend says, someone who didn't scare her, someone who she had seen or rather the someone who saw her and who Somer didn't think any more about him as they " belonged " where they were. If the workmen were at the house daily and they had a good reason to be there, the first day, people around would notice, that being out of place would wear off and the workmen would be taken for granted after a while. Or for that matter anyone who didn't live in that neighbourhood but "belonged"  there. No one noticed any big bad bogey men around wearing a neon sign saying I am a child predator.
Because the house at 1080 Gano received so much attention, it has to come back to that house and someone who was working there. LE is probably checking out Vinson's payroll records to see who worked there. Even if he was paying them on a daily labor rate to gut the house ( unskilled ), he would be keeping track of the costs for his tax records and for the bill for the reno. The Kyle guy who we pulled up. He is young, he was into kiddy porn
and dammit, the guy looks normal and not creepy unlike some of the others.
Wish someone could get into his records and find out just how he operated.

You talking about Kyle Rose?



Somehow, I doubt he would call into a TV station and say he was the last person to have seen Somer.

JMO.

I think the "Kyle" who called in had no record. Just my gut saying that. And he was trying to cover his tracks. He may be involved, I dunno.

[candycane]

I know most of you don't believe as I do on who I think did it this. But I want to point out that in all the news coverage I have not heard of one person that said they saw her looking for her child or calling the friends parents to see if she was at there houses. Sorry in advance if this offends some of you

Do you know any of the friends parents ? Because you did post a link to the uncle of the girl who she was walking home with and that little girl was questioned.

I do not know the friends parents. She was questioned by the police and I didnt hear them say that the Mom called and came by asking any questions. When the Mom was out looking for her were did she look? It is kind of strange also (if you ask me) that when the body was found and she was asked if she knew about the vacant house her response was ..."I know about the house. I know about the fire. I didn't know that they were investigating it. I don't know really much more than what y'all know," said Diena Thompson, Somer's mother.
 She Didn't even skip a beat. I think I would have dropped dead on the spot if thought I was picking my son up in that location OPAA so near to my childs possible crime seen.

[FindingAnswers]

Candycane you are entitled to your own opinion but I do think you have this situationand case all wrong. I don't think ANY of us know what we would do or how we would react in certain situations such as this unless it is way out of the norm for the situation. I have not seen any actions way out of the norm in this case concerning the mother. But You feel differently. I can't say you are wrong or right. I can only give my opinion.

In my opinion you are wrong but I could be wrong.

[Brandi]

I know most of you don't believe as I do on who I think did it this. But I want to point out that in all the news coverage I have not heard of one person that said they saw her looking for her child or calling the friends parents to see if she was at there houses. Sorry in advance if this offends some of you

Do you know any of the friends parents ? Because you did post a link to the uncle of the girl who she was walking home with and that little girl was questioned.

I do not know the friends parents. She was questioned by the police and I didnt hear them say that the Mom called and came by asking any questions. When the Mom was out looking for her were did she look? It is kind of strange also (if you ask me) that when the body was found and she was asked if she knew about the vacant house her response was ..."I know about the house. I know about the fire. I didn't know that they were investigating it. I don't know really much more than what y'all know," said Diena Thompson, Somer's mother.
 She Didn't even skip a beat. I think I would have dropped dead on the spot if thought I was picking my son up in that location OPAA so near to my childs possible crime seen.

Personally, that reply about the burned house on Gano raised no red flags to me.

I think it is very plausible that one would be aware of a burned house in the neighborhood, which Diena said she was, but know nothing more about it nor why it was being investigated, unless LE told her.

Her daughter went missing on her way home from school, that house was on her way home, so was the OPAA, where she picked up her son, Andrew.

I just don't see what you are seeing, candycane.

[candycane]

I know most of you don't believe as I do on who I think did it this. But I want to point out that in all the news coverage I have not heard of one person that said they saw her looking for her child or calling the friends parents to see if she was at there houses. Sorry in advance if this offends some of you

Do you know any of the friends parents ? Because you did post a link to the uncle of the girl who she was walking home with and that little girl was questioned.

I do not know the friends parents. She was questioned by the police and I didnt hear them say that the Mom called and came by asking any questions. When the Mom was out looking for her were did she look? It is kind of strange also (if you ask me) that when the body was found and she was asked if she knew about the vacant house her response was ..."I know about the house. I know about the fire. I didn't know that they were investigating it. I don't know really much more than what y'all know," said Diena Thompson, Somer's mother.
 She Didn't even skip a beat. I think I would have dropped dead on the spot if thought I was picking my son up in that location OPAA so near to my childs possible crime seen.

Personally, that reply about the burned house on Gano raised no red flags to me.

I think it is very plausible that one would be aware of a burned house in the neighborhood, which Diena said she was, but know nothing more about it nor why it was being investigated, unless LE told her.

Her daughter went missing on her way home from school, that house was on her way home, so was the OPAA, where she picked up her son, Andrew.

I just don't see what you are seeing, candycane.

Well all I can say is I hope I am wrong

[trimmonthelake]

http://www.projo.com/news/content/GREENVILLE_GUILLOTINE_11-02-09_GHG9SPO_v8.353c06a.html
What he would do to child killers

01:00 AM EST on Monday, November 2, 2009
By Donita Naylor
Journal Staff Writer

SMITHFIELD — Robert Croft, 74, has 10 great-grandchildren, if you include his step-great-grandchildren. Six of them are girls.

Inside his house, at 86 Pleasant View Ave., he displays family photos.

Outside his house, next to the Smithfield High School track, he displays a working guillotine.
Croft, who ran the biker bar Bonnie & Clyde’s for 35 years and now cleans at his daughter’s sports bar, Taylor’s Dugout, has strong feelings about people who commit unspeakable crimes against children.
I go back to Polly Klaas,” he says, which is 1993. She was abducted from her Petaluma, Calif., bedroom during a slumber party. When her body was found two months later, the Polly Klaas Foundation had already begun the work that has led to Amber Alerts, child-safety kits and three-strikes laws for repeat offenders.

Croft’s feelings are so strong that in 2005, after he heard about Jessica Lunsford, 9, a Florida girl who was kidnapped, raped, held prisoner and buried alive in garbage bags, he had a gallows built near his bar and hung an effigy of the suspect, identified by a sign as “child molester John Couey.”

Couey got the death sentence in 2007. A month ago, he died of anal cancer. Last year, when Croft heard about Caley Anthony’s body being found in a Florida swamp in a trash bag, “I blew my top.”

He thought: “Something’s got to be done.” So he hired a carpenter.

“I took $900 out of the bank. Me and a carpenter built this guillotine. We built it because I couldn’t take it no more.”

It’s a working, life-size guillotine, built from plans the carpenter found at the library. Standing in Croft’s driveway, the guillotine can’t be seen from the school grounds, and the sign on top is too small to be read from a passing car. But people on foot or in vehicles slowed by high school traffic can see that it says: Cure for child abuse.

The guillotine, developed during the French Revolution as a humane form of execution, was legal in France from 1792 until 1981, when the death penalty was abolished.

Croft put the guillotine in his driveway in August.
“I see it out there,” said John Cunningham, 75, a neighbor on Rosewood Drive. He said Croft kept it covered at first.

Cunningham wondered aloud Friday why the police haven’t paid a call, then said: “It’s Halloween, and people do crazy things.”

People honk their support, Croft said. After Somer Thompson was reported missing in Florida on Oct. 19 and her body was found two days later in a Georgia landfill, some people stopped and knocked on his door, he said. They were distraught. He said some advised him to call The Journal. “This should be in the paper nationwide,” he decided.

Somer Thompson was buried Oct. 27. He called the Journal Oct. 30.

“If I can save just one child’s life, it’s worth it, to me.”

Why didn’t he make the blade from cardboard and tinfoil?

“Because it wouldn’t get the message across,” he said. To buy the stainless steel and have it cut on an angle and sharpened, he said, cost $300.” That’s how serious I was about it.”

“These aren’t just little girls getting killed — these are barbaric crimes, what these girls have to go through.” He alternates between tears and anger.

He tells of a child (Jennifer Schuett, of Texas, 9 years old in 1990) sexually assaulted and left for dead in a field, her throat cut. She is 27 this year, and DNA evidence recently identified a suspect, who was arrested Aug. 14.

“They got the guy! They finally got this guy!” Croft said. Lethal injection is too easy a death. “You can’t put him to sleep on a table.

“These are barbaric crimes, and it takes a barbaric punishment… Do you think it would deter some of these idiots if they were dragged into Greenville” for a public beheading? He said he would be happy to do the job.

He cares so much, he said, because of his great-granddaughters. “If anything ever happened to her,” he indicated a photo in the kitchen, “I would go insane.” He worries that the crimes continue and the victims are forgotten.

What if using violence to stop violence only leads to more violence? What if the only way to stop child abuse is to forgive?

“I couldn’t do it,” he said.

“This is my answer.”

dnaylor@projo.com

[theboyzmom]

http://www.projo.com/news/content/GREENVILLE_GUILLOTINE_11-02-09_GHG9SPO_v8.353c06a.html
What he would do to child killers

01:00 AM EST on Monday, November 2, 2009
By Donita Naylor
Journal Staff Writer

SMITHFIELD — Robert Croft, 74, has 10 great-grandchildren, if you include his step-great-grandchildren. Six of them are girls.

Inside his house, at 86 Pleasant View Ave., he displays family photos.

Outside his house, next to the Smithfield High School track, he displays a working guillotine.
Croft, who ran the biker bar Bonnie & Clyde’s for 35 years and now cleans at his daughter’s sports bar, Taylor’s Dugout, has strong feelings about people who commit unspeakable crimes against children.
I go back to Polly Klaas,” he says, which is 1993. She was abducted from her Petaluma, Calif., bedroom during a slumber party. When her body was found two months later, the Polly Klaas Foundation had already begun the work that has led to Amber Alerts, child-safety kits and three-strikes laws for repeat offenders.

Croft’s feelings are so strong that in 2005, after he heard about Jessica Lunsford, 9, a Florida girl who was kidnapped, raped, held prisoner and buried alive in garbage bags, he had a gallows built near his bar and hung an effigy of the suspect, identified by a sign as “child molester John Couey.”

Couey got the death sentence in 2007. A month ago, he died of anal cancer. Last year, when Croft heard about Caley Anthony’s body being found in a Florida swamp in a trash bag, “I blew my top.”

He thought: “Something’s got to be done.” So he hired a carpenter.

“I took $900 out of the bank. Me and a carpenter built this guillotine. We built it because I couldn’t take it no more.”

It’s a working, life-size guillotine, built from plans the carpenter found at the library. Standing in Croft’s driveway, the guillotine can’t be seen from the school grounds, and the sign on top is too small to be read from a passing car. But people on foot or in vehicles slowed by high school traffic can see that it says: Cure for child abuse.

The guillotine, developed during the French Revolution as a humane form of execution, was legal in France from 1792 until 1981, when the death penalty was abolished.

Croft put the guillotine in his driveway in August.
“I see it out there,” said John Cunningham, 75, a neighbor on Rosewood Drive. He said Croft kept it covered at first.

Cunningham wondered aloud Friday why the police haven’t paid a call, then said: “It’s Halloween, and people do crazy things.”

People honk their support, Croft said. After Somer Thompson was reported missing in Florida on Oct. 19 and her body was found two days later in a Georgia landfill, some people stopped and knocked on his door, he said. They were distraught. He said some advised him to call The Journal. “This should be in the paper nationwide,” he decided.

Somer Thompson was buried Oct. 27. He called the Journal Oct. 30.

“If I can save just one child’s life, it’s worth it, to me.”

Why didn’t he make the blade from cardboard and tinfoil?

“Because it wouldn’t get the message across,” he said. To buy the stainless steel and have it cut on an angle and sharpened, he said, cost $300.” That’s how serious I was about it.”

“These aren’t just little girls getting killed — these are barbaric crimes, what these girls have to go through.” He alternates between tears and anger.

He tells of a child (Jennifer Schuett, of Texas, 9 years old in 1990) sexually assaulted and left for dead in a field, her throat cut. She is 27 this year, and DNA evidence recently identified a suspect, who was arrested Aug. 14.

“They got the guy! They finally got this guy!” Croft said. Lethal injection is too easy a death. “You can’t put him to sleep on a table.

“These are barbaric crimes, and it takes a barbaric punishment… Do you think it would deter some of these idiots if they were dragged into Greenville” for a public beheading? He said he would be happy to do the job.

He cares so much, he said, because of his great-granddaughters. “If anything ever happened to her,” he indicated a photo in the kitchen, “I would go insane.” He worries that the crimes continue and the victims are forgotten.

What if using violence to stop violence only leads to more violence? What if the only way to stop child abuse is to forgive?

“I couldn’t do it,” he said.

“This is my answer.”

dnaylor@projo.com

I LOVE IT! The best part is that people are paying attention. Every parent that pays attention is one child who is less likely to get hurt or killed!

[cookie]

snipped from Klaas post:

Mustache is for Movember - to support men who have gotten prostate and testicular cancer.  I figured I supported the women and it's only fair to support the men 
  klaas....thank you for the support...did not realize that Movember is for the men...

snipped from Brandi:

I must be out of the loop. Never heard of the Movember thing. Good to learn about. Thanks. (Should I encourage my hubby to get tested this month? ...prolly.)

Brandi...definitely have hubby tested...if caught in the early stages, there is a good cure rate......the test is a simple blood test to have PSA numbers....

[Fanny Mae]

I have a sinking feeling it is going to be an older teen or young adult that is a sibling to some of the children that live in the neighborhood. After what I have been reading over the weekend of the MySpace's and other blogs on Elizabeth Olten's case, I guess it is pushing my mind in that direction.

I understand now that it is a pretty normal thing for there to be such thoughts and sometimes they are acted upon. Who better would know the neighborhood, and when the garbage would be picked up and such. They would not stick out to anyone, because they belong there.

It makes me sick to my stomach to go in this direction. 

[klaasend]

O/T Another missing baby in Florida 

http://scaredmonkeys.net/index.php?topic=6410.msg1002396#msg1002396