It’s a long, but interesting story of the times our children are growing up in.
It began, as it always did, with a phone call to 911. “Now listen here,” the caller demanded, his voice frantic. “I’ve got two people here held hostage, all right? Now, you know what happens to people that are held hostage? It’s not like on the movies or nothing, you understand that?”
“OK,” the 911 operator said.
“One of them here’s name is Danielle, and her father,” the caller continued. “And the reason why I’m doing this is because her father raped my sister.”
The caller, who identified himself as John Defanno, said that he had the 18-year-old Danielle and her dad tied up in their home in Security, a suburb of Colorado Springs. He’d beaten the father with his gun. “He’s bleeding profusely,” Defanno warned. “I am armed, I do have a pistol. If any cops come in this house with any guns, I will fucking shoot them. I better get some help here, because I’m going fucking psycho right now.”
The 911 operator tried to keep him on the line, but Defanno cut the call short. “I’m not talking anymore,” he snapped. “You have the address. If I don’t have help here now, in the next five minutes, I swear to fucking God, I will shoot these people.” Then the line went dead.
Officers raced to the house, ready for an armed standoff with a homicidal suspect. But when they arrived, they found no gunman, no hostages, no blood. Danielle and her father were safe and sound at home — alone. They had never heard of John Defanno, for good reason: He didn’t exist.
All the kid needs is a computer so he can blog.
I here there is growing interest in the “magnetic/electric flux” but any conspiracy theory would do as well, or repuglican think tank leader?
All good stuff.
Thanks for generating some fond memories, Uncle Dave.
Even though this story is about recent events, it took me back in time over twenty years and made me young again, at least for a few minutes.
Everything old is new again…
The story dances around the biggest issue of all without touching it. The kid needed counseling.
Maybe if the mother had sufficient insurance she could have had the kid get the help he needed. Maybe if the first FBI investigation sent the kid to a shrink instead of just letting him off. Maybe if the sentencing court insisted upon counseling as a condition of his sentence. The whole problem is the kid needed mental help and there was no one to help him. They wanted HIS help and only empowered him.
Maybe, just maybe, if better health care was available, most of the problems the story highlighted could have been dealt with before they became major.
The guy was nothing but a punk!
Hey gotta go someone is banging on my door.
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Adolescents are all potentially monsters. They are developing adult brains but their consciences are stunted, or even nonexistent. They have no empathy, no experience of pain, hardship or loss to make them feel bad about inflicting those things on others. This is why for thousands of years the occasional beating of one’s apprentices was considered sound policy. I still think the occasional whap upside the head can be a positive thing.