# Why is this missing kid garnering so much attention? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 7, 2010, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-missing-kid-garnering-so-much-attention/542310 "2010-06-07T17:52:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Palo\_Verde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-missing-kid-garnering-so-much-attention/542310/21 "2010-06-11T17:40:35Z")
Something is very odd about this case and I don’t think it is one of those rare stereotypical kidnapping cases. The police have said they can’t say that it is a criminal act, and they also said they are sure there is no public danger and that it is an isolated case. To me that screams that they know that it was a family member or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-missing-kid-garnering-so-much-attention/542310/22 "2010-06-11T17:48:36Z")
> [@Palo\_Verde](#): > > Something is very odd about this case and I don’t think it is one of those rare stereotypical kidnapping cases. The police have said they can’t say that it is a criminal act, and they also said they are sure there is no public danger and that it is an isolated case. > > To me that screams that they know that it was a family member or something like that. I’ve been hearing speculation that it was a minor who did it - either the older sibling of a classmate or some sort of school prank gone wrong and LE can’t talk about it while they investigate said minors. ---
**Author:** ![OneChance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/74df32/32.png) [@OneChance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneChance)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2010, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-missing-kid-garnering-so-much-attention/542310/23 "2010-06-13T02:23:20Z")
The article states that he’s not the kind of kid to go searching or wandering around. What kind of kid _doesn’t_ do that? I’ll bet he’s still at the school, perhaps wandered around and got locked in a room or stuck somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2010, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-missing-kid-garnering-so-much-attention/542310/24 "2010-06-13T04:14:17Z")
> [@kushiel](#): > > (we’re not allowed to name other forums here, right? Or is it just if we were to refer to them derogatorily?) I believe you can reference them, just not advertise them without permission. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2010, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-missing-kid-garnering-so-much-attention/542310/25 "2010-06-13T05:24:33Z")
It’s big news, partly because it’s a mystery. He was at school for a science fair before classes started. There’s a pic of him winning a prize there. His step-mom watched him walk toward his classroom, but he never made it to the class. It’s almost a locked room mystery, or the stepmonster is lying\*. - I have no idea if she’s a stepmonster or not. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2010, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-missing-kid-garnering-so-much-attention/542310/26 "2010-06-13T05:54:59Z")
Well, it helps that he’s white. ---
**Author:** ![InterestedObserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@InterestedObserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InterestedObserver)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2010, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-missing-kid-garnering-so-much-attention/542310/27 "2010-06-13T19:05:11Z")
Writing from Portland. This is a huge story because not only is it every parent’s worst nightmare (and that makes for good, dramatic copy), but people honestly care (yes, we do…Portland is, imo, one of the biggest small towns in the US in that way) AND it’s a fascinating, morbid mystery (people want to know WTH happened? 😕 An unusual case and the public wants to be kept updated and wants to get a satisfying resolution to the case…satisfying at least in that we eventually figure out WTH happened, if nothing else.) The plot-line here also raised some spin-off issues regarding school security (or the appalling lack thereof at this particular school). The school had NO procedure in place to notify parents in the event their child was absent (they do now…I mean, if my 18 yr old is even 30 minutes late to school, I get an automated call informing me he has missed one or more classes that day!) Also, the fact that the child was AT school and never made it back to his classroom and the teacher either didn’t notice or didn’t bother to check with anyone about it. HUGE ball drop! The school is surrounded by tall grass and woods, so that leaves open the possibility that the child wandered off and got injured somehow. And due to the science fair, the school was pretty much open to the general public that morning and things were a bit chaotic to boot, making it equally likely a stranger could have walked in and abducted the child. (there has been some focus lately on a known offender in the area, but I have not heard much follow-up on that.) The fact that the boy was living with 2 step-parents has raised a few eyebrows (maybe it shouldn’t, but it has) as has the reports that his stepmother and dad were back at the gym working out a few days after he went missing. OK, so people deal with grief/shock differently, but really? :eek::dubious: You wouldn’t be out helping in the search? Or even just prostrate with worry sitting by the phone? At any rate, plenty of elements to give armchair detectives reason enough to wildly speculate. I really hope the outcome is good here, but I strongly suspect it won’t be. The only way it could be is if a family member took the child and is hiding him out, but the police have, no doubt, followed up on all such possibilities (in the first days, they were in Washington state and interviewing family members elsewhere). I think if they had good reason to believe this was the case, the searching would have been suspended already, but last I heard, they are still out in force combing the area surrounding the school. And still asking the public for tips, reiterating that even the smallest detail you don’t consider important might be, and keeping his photo out there. This says to me that this is no longer a rescue mission but a recovery. They are searching for a body and clues/tips to apprehend a killer. (hoping someone may have seen the boy with someone that day or soon after and remember it and call it in). ☹ This doesn’t mean they have excluded all family members, just that they probably don’t believe he is still alive. JMHO. ---
**Author:** ![InterestedObserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@InterestedObserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InterestedObserver)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2010, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-missing-kid-garnering-so-much-attention/542310/28 "2010-06-13T19:14:32Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Well, it helps that he’s white. Eh, I don’t buy it. All things being equal, this would have been an equally huge story regardless of the child’s race/ethnicity. Yes, Portland is rather “White” as cities go, but also very diverse and with a multi-cultural/racial consciousness so acute it is sometimes almost annoying. A Black man can shoot a cop twice, be killed by police, and it is a huge story of possible racial discrimination and police brutality. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2010, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-missing-kid-garnering-so-much-attention/542310/29 "2010-06-13T19:23:34Z")
> [@InterestedObserver](#): > > Eh, I don’t buy it. All things being equal, this would have been an equally huge story regardless of the child’s race/ethnicity. Uh huh. Tell me with a straight face that such a story would be exactly as big if it had happened to a little black girl in Compton. Go ahead, I want to see just how self-deluded you really are. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2010, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-missing-kid-garnering-so-much-attention/542310/30 "2010-06-13T19:27:39Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Uh huh. Tell me with a straight face that such a story would be exactly as big if it had happened to a little black girl in Compton. Go ahead, I want to see just how self-deluded you really are. That’s not what he said. He said that _in Portland_, it would be just as big a story. ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2010, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-missing-kid-garnering-so-much-attention/542310/31 "2010-06-13T19:28:51Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Uh huh. Tell me with a straight face that such a story would be exactly as big if it had happened to a little black girl in Compton. Go ahead, I want to see just how self-deluded you really are. In Compton, you may have a point----As the missing child is in Portland, you don’t know what the mollyfock you are talking about… ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2010, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-missing-kid-garnering-so-much-attention/542310/32 "2010-06-13T19:31:41Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > That’s not what he said. He said that _in Portland_, it would be just as big a story. > [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > In Compton, you may have a point----As the missing child is in Portland, you don’t know what the mollyfock you are talking about… Oh, then I guess it just helps that he went missing in a heavily white area. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2010, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-missing-kid-garnering-so-much-attention/542310/33 "2010-06-13T19:48:43Z")
> [@InterestedObserver](#): > > The fact that the boy was living with 2 step-parents has raised a few eyebrows (maybe it shouldn’t, but it has) as has the reports that his stepmother and dad were back at the gym working out a few days after he went missing. OK, so people deal with grief/shock differently, but really? :eek::dubious: You wouldn’t be out helping in the search? Or even just prostrate with worry sitting by the phone? At any rate, plenty of elements to give armchair detectives reason enough to wildly speculate. Stuff like this plays a big part in a novel I just finished, _Breathing Out the Ghost_ by Kirk Curnutt. Two major characters are bereaved parents – one whose four-year-old has been missing for a year, and another whose daughter was missing for two days and found murdered. Another child is missing and both characters are helping with the search. They talk about what’s expected of them and how much more difficult the situation becomes when you have to worry about abiding by those expectations. I think that’s why many times the tears we see from these parents look phony – they’re cried out, but every time someone sticks a camera in their face, they feel like they have to cry again, because it’s what people expect. ---
**Author:** ![InterestedObserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@InterestedObserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InterestedObserver)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2010, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-missing-kid-garnering-so-much-attention/542310/34 "2010-06-13T20:12:53Z")
Yes, AuntiPam, I agree. Just pointing out that some found it hard to imagine a mother (stepmother who had raised him since infancy, in this case) could be back at the gym a few days afterwards…it fed into their speculations on it being an inside job. And yeah, on the race thing, this is not Compton or Houston (my hometown) or anywhere else. This is Portland and it’s a LOCAL child. The local news here still tends to be heavily local in nature and to focus on regional news as opposed to picking up sensational stories off the wire from elsewhere. Believe what you want, Rigamorole, but I’ve lived in this town over a decade all told and racism is simply NOT the issue that it is in places like, say, Houston. Not only is racism far less common among the general population, but the news media doesn’t always gravitate towards racial elements of stories. Talk about racism…the assumption that because the population of Portland is predominately White, it MUST be a hotbed of racism. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2010, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-missing-kid-garnering-so-much-attention/542310/35 "2010-06-13T20:46:19Z")
What kind of a name is Kyron? I was like “Is that a girl? Boy? A cat?” Yeah I know it’s a boy NOW, but I had to look at the link. This reminds me of a story I read on the Crime Library about these two older boys like ten years old and they took a five year old. They were leading the young boy all over the town, they were on cameras and everything. These two ten year olds wound up killing the younger five year old. But oddly enough no one noticed anything till one of the older boys got upset and confessed. It was only then did people remember seeing them. And frankly I’m bad with faces, even if I saw his picture, he could walk right past me and I’d never know. I reckon a lot of people are like me ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2010, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-missing-kid-garnering-so-much-attention/542310/36 "2010-06-13T21:57:34Z")
> [@InterestedObserver](#): > > Believe what you want, Rigamorole, but I’ve lived in this town over a decade all told and racism is simply NOT the issue that it is in places like, say, Houston. Not only is racism far less common among the general population, but the news media doesn’t always gravitate towards racial elements of stories. > > Talk about racism…the assumption that because the population of Portland is predominately White, it MUST be a hotbed of racism. :dubious: I never mentioned the R word nor is that what I meant at all. The OP asked why the media is making a big deal about it and I just offered that people care a lot more about missing white children in heavily white areas than they do about missing brown children in any other area. Nor did I say that’s the _entire_ reason it’s a big story, but it is definitely a factor that gets it more attention than a similar story would otherwise get. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2010, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-missing-kid-garnering-so-much-attention/542310/37 "2010-06-13T23:13:55Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > I never mentioned the R word nor is that what I meant at all. The OP asked why the media is making a big deal about it and I just offered that people care a lot more about missing white children in heavily white areas than they do about missing brown children in any other area. Nor did I say that’s the _entire_ reason it’s a big story, but it is definitely a factor that gets it more attention than a similar story would otherwise get. Back when Avery Stately and Tristan White went missing from their reservation in Minnesota it was big news for quite a while, getting tons of coverage as far away as Boston and Manchester, despite them being little brown children (the case ended when it was discovered they’d drown). Likewise Trenton Duckett’s case, despite him being non-white. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2010, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-missing-kid-garnering-so-much-attention/542310/38 "2010-06-13T23:48:07Z")
> [@tygre](#): > > … I wonder if any of the stepmom’s stops that day remember her stopping by. You think maybe she sent the Woodsman out with him, telling him to bring his heart home in a box? Honestly, what in the report inspired this comment? Anything other than the prefix “step”? [Off topic, I find the popular expectation for the family to perform for the media (and the t-shirts) really disturbing.] ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-missing-kid-garnering-so-much-attention/542310/39 "2010-06-14T01:26:52Z")
What t-shirts? ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-missing-kid-garnering-so-much-attention/542310/40 "2010-06-14T09:39:29Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > What t-shirts? The two sets of parents, in their first public appearance, wore t-shirts with printed with the missing child flyer. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-missing-kid-garnering-so-much-attention/542310.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-missing-kid-garnering-so-much-attention/542310.md?page=3)