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Police nix search for murder victim's body

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by alleyallen, Mar 23, 2007.

  1. alleyallen

    alleyallen Guest

    This story has come out of the Houston/Harris County area the last couple of days. A 19-year-old college student home for spring break is allegedly murdered by her ex-boyfriend, who dumps her body in a trash container. That container has been emptied twice since then and police estimate her body could be under as much as 40,000 tons of trash.

    As a result, and facing a minimum cost of $7 per ton (the total cost could approach $250,000) to search, authorities have said they won't search for her body and instead try to build the case without her remains.

    It should be noted that both the victim and suspect are African-American.

    http://chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4654969.html



    As a parent, I'd be absolutely horrified and stricken if police told me they refuse to search for the body of my child because of the cost, and I don't think I could stomach knowing my child's final resting place is a trash dump.
    From the public servant perspective, though, I can understand why there's reluctance, given the cost. But considering the race factor, does this change anything?
     
  2. Rosie

    Rosie Active Member

    Wouldn't they be better off building a case against the suspect with the body? And heck, charge him with the recovery costs -- confiscate everything he owns and collect any low wages he makes in prison. It wouldn't be much, but it'd be better than nothing.

    I think that's horrible. Find the body. Since they don't know, the body might not be under 40,000 tons of trash, they might find it sooner than later.
     
  3. Football_Bat

    Football_Bat Well-Known Member

    And knowing Houston the last 18 months, they might find 10 or 12 more bodies in there.
     
  4. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    Maybe they could beat a confession out of the boyfriend.

    That way everyone is happy.
     
  5. alleyallen

    alleyallen Guest

    Well, he already confessed, so the beating would be for beating sake, I guess.

    Now the guy's saying he put her body into two separate trash containers, therefore her remains are likely located at two separate sites.

    Not sure I believe that, especially coming hours after the cops said they wouldn't try to recover her body. Maybe they beat THAT statement out of him.
     
  6. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    Well, if he already confessed, maybe the beating gave some peace to the family and some exercise to the cops.

    I still think they should try to find the body, though, unless the family of the victim asks them not to.

    I bet if it was a white girl from a well-to-do family, they'd be looking.
     
  7. Idaho

    Idaho Active Member

    In Salt Lake, they looked for Lori Hacking for a few months before finding her in the landfill.

    She was white.
     
  8. Armchair_QB

    Armchair_QB Well-Known Member

    According to the story I read today the victim is Aaron Glenn's niece.
     
  9. of course there were tax dollars spent to find Laci Peterson and Chandra Levy just to name a couple, but of course they'd have to give a damn about a black woman to find her, and considering it's Texas, I doubt they do.
     
  10. alleyallen

    alleyallen Guest

    Not quite sure I understand your meaning about the Texas crack, but I'm wondering if these circumstances would have the same response elsewhere...

    Like Philly, for example.
     
  11. Armchair_QB

    Armchair_QB Well-Known Member

    Or Boston.
     
  12. sportschick

    sportschick Active Member

    I'd think most places would keep looking for her body. Juries have been known to not convict and/or give the death penalty if there's no body.
     
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