The Cleveland Kidnapper

[Guest fountainhall]

Like almost the entire civilised world, I have been horrified at the events in Cleveland where 3 girls were abducted and then kept imprisoned, tortured, raped and God knows what else for more than 10 years. Yet I am not shocked!

 

Anyone remember the 1965 movie with Terence Stamp, "The Collector"? In the movie, a loner collects butterflies and realises he wants someone to share his passion. He begins stalking a young student, eventually capturing her and locking her in the dungeon of a house. His attempts to make her love him fail. When the girl realises this may be her only chance of escape, she makes advances on him. But he become suspicious of her motives. Eventually, after she tries to kill him and he goes to a hospital for a few days, he returns to find her very ill. Unlike the Cleveland trio, she dies.

 

Even with a loner, surely someone somehow should be able to connect dots. In the Cleveland case, even one of the monster's daughters is now saying that many strange things are finally "falling into place." So, her father disappeared during dinner with no explanation! He kept parts of the house locked up! Even when shown a picture of the young daughter, she found another explanation.

 

Where did these guys buy their groceries and other basic essentials? Couldn't someone over the years have realised these were for more than just for those who they were told lived in the house?

 

We all know of others who have got away with such horrific abductions. I was in Austria just days after the discovery of the monster who locked his daughter in a windowless basement for 24 years and fathered 7 children with her. When 3 of the children were left on the doorstep of his home, his wife assumed they were illegitimate grandchildren and took care of them.

 

Yet even before then, who considered raising red flags when baby clothes, food and other essentials were being regularly purchased? No-one.

 

Our world has developed in such a way that we see little of what goes on around us. We live in high rise blocks and have almost no interaction with neighbours. We live in suburban communities in our ivory towers. We live in communities where noticing something out of the ordinary is considered spying. What is wrong with us?