Three people were killed earlier this week in Cole Camp, killed were the grandparents and granddaughter who lived with them, 61, 64, and 15 years of age respectively. The authorities have now declared it a triple murder. Motive? Either it was a robbery gone bad or someone had a grudge. My sympathies go out to the family and I in no way am making light of this tragedy by writing about it. Read more here. I didn't know these people but I'm sure I knew them to say hi or recognize them. They were close friends of one of my best friends. There is a news conference in an hour or so and I'm hoping there is some closure and answers.
My memory is sometimes faulty but there have been few murders close by here. A VERY close family friend in the 70s who left 3 young sons was killed in a robbery gone bad, a man was found dead laying in the highway not 300 ft from our house, he'd been laying there either dead or alive when a car ran over him, that happened in 2004 I think. Two people were killed in the 80s by a family member about 7 miles west of here as the crow flies. A boy I knew evidently went nuts and started shooting @ his family members in the 90s, someone shot someone in a trailer we had listed when I was a real estate agent in 1991. A boy whom I grew up with was shot and killed a few years ago when he walked back in a house he'd been in as a guest, I mean he walked out and walked back in? We aren't heavily populated here but crime isn't non existent but traffic tickets make up a great bulk of police work here in the country and smaller towns. This is a shock to our systems. I hope it reminds everyone to pull their loved ones closer, watch out for your neighbor, and we will all be locking our doors more frequently. I don't know if our low crime is due to the heavy German population and Mennonite population or the fact everyone knows everyone and we all have guns?
I hope anyone who has information will come forward to shed some light on this senseless tragedy.
Postscript: It's Saturday and I should be doing my eternal yard work but this crime is still preying on peoples minds around here. Cole Camp had not had a murder in all 170 years of it's existence, the other crimes I cited were in neighboring towns, none of which can boast of such a record, not even our little town of maybe 75 with 500 people in the suburbs (small farms and acreages surrounding the town). The news media and police have descended on the town en masse as you can imagine. People are locking their doors more, even when they are home and awake which is unheard of here and taking the keys out of everything they can think of. My personal feelings? It's rumored to be someone the victims knew well, if so it was perhaps a robbery but perhaps also a crime of passion, this is a horrible scenario but almost better than the alternative. If it was a random act of robbery from a stranger it could happen to anyone anytime anyplace. After visiting and living in larger cities in the 1990s I always said here where we live if you got shot you knew who did it and probably why, not like the larger cities where crime is not only more rampant but is often completely random.
We moved here from the Portland, OR area where crime was an everyday occurance. When you start to recognize the members of the swat teams it's time to move.
ReplyDeleteSmall towns seem to be getting more and more of these types of crimes, or maybe we are just better imformed these days. It is all tragic either way.
Judy
We lived and worked in Gulfport Biloxi for two years, you know the towns where Katrina hit and crime was supposed to be bad? Never had anything stolen, a couple times things happened that weren't quite right but mostly people were nicer than nice.
ReplyDeleteWe come back to Missouri and not here but in a town that shall remain nameless but has over 200,000 people and is 50 miles away crime is rampant! Shootings and murders and robberies galore. I used to go shopping there but don't go unless I have to now.