No matter what channel you turn your TV to lately, it seems the media is highlighting one of these awful cases of missing or murdered children or young mothers. I was saddened by the North Carolina case where the murdered mother was found with bloody footprints around her body from where her toddler daughter was wandering around her body. As far as I know, this case disappeared from media coverage and is unsolved – except for suspicions surrounding the husband/father. I was disgusted by the case in Florida where the young mother was kidnapped and law enforcement could have saved her but for the incompetent 911 dispatchers in Charlotte County, Florida. And then there is the recent case where the 2 year old girl was missing for 30 days before the mother or grandmother even reported her missing.

In case anyone thinks that I think only of the criminal defendants and not the victims, it’s not true. I feel for these families and cannot imagine the pain they must be in. I too, want to make these sorry-excuses for human beings pay for what they have done. These are real criminals. The perpetrators need to be locked up forever. These people are the reason that prison cells were created – to protect the vulnerable among us. But I also believe they deserve constitutional rights, and access to legal counsel. If not given to these scum-bags, then they (the precious constitutional rights) will not be preserved for the innocent – which someday could be a loved-one of yours, or even you.

I don’t know if I will ever forget the details of the kidnapped/murdered mother in Florida. Several witnesses saw the woman pounding her fists on the windows of her kidnapper’s car, one of whom was trailing the vehicle while on the line with a 911 dispatcher. Others saw the screaming and pounding, but neglected to actually dial 911. Tragically, the two idiot dispatchers failed to let the law enforcement officers on that very road about the call. Less than 10 minutes later, she was dead and in a shallow grave on the side of a highway, brutally raped and murdered. On several occasions she could have been saved. Then the elected Sheriff had the gall to get on TV and claim that his department did a good job. Ironically, the murdered woman’s father was a deputy in that department. That is extremely revealing about the character of that politician/sheriff. But, like I have said before, oftentimes, that is what you get in Florida.

But as for the other cops that tried desperately to save this woman’s life, I have no doubt that any of them would have laid down their own lives to save hers. And that is something that I do admire about the law enforcement profession.

– John H. Bryan, West Virginia Attorney.