This thread in GQ 54 years later, train ticket leads to arrest in death of 7-year-old? - Factual Questions - Straight Dope Message Board got me to wondering…
I’ve noticed that often, after someone has been arrested for and charged with a sex crime many years after the alleged crime occurred, people come forward with claims that the accused also sexually assaulted them.
The accused in the above-referenced thread was in law enforcement and thus was a trusted authority figure with access to many young people in vulnerable circumstances. So, have more people come forward with claims of having been abused by him? Is anyone claiming rumors had circulated about the accused (long before his arrest) w/r/t inappropriate behavior towards young people? A quick Googling produced no hits, except for maybe some huffpost links I can’t be bothered to click on.
Based on the evidence mentioned in news reports, it’s not possible for me to decide whether the accused in the above-referenced thread had anything to do with the girl’s disappearance and/or death and I’m sure the prosecutors have evidence they are withholding from the press for now. That said, I think, if I were trying this case, I would try to track down people who can testify to the accused having sexually asssaulted them (if he did), get convictions on those charges, then go for the murder trial, and make sure the jury in the murder trial knows about the sex-assault convictions.
What is the likelihood the accused has left a string of sex assault victims in his wake? How soon will they come forward? Will the prosecutor be able to use these accusations to get a plea deal? A “no contest”? A confession?
This isn’t GQ, so feel free to post your assumptions, conjectures, speculations and WAGs. But please weasel-word ‘em with “allegedly” “supposedly” "claimed’ and so on. Innocent until proven guilty and all that.