FL - Somer Thompson, 7, Orange Park, 19 Oct 2009 #34

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hoppyfrog

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We expect all posters to follow the TOS, including but not limited to:

1. Do not sleuth minors.

2. Do not tell other posters not to hit the alert button.

3. Stay on topic. This thread is about Somer, not about how one should parent, how safe one feels in one's city, what one's curfew was as a teen, etc. This thread is about Somer. If you want to start a thread on another topic, go to the Jury room and start it there. This thread is about Somer.

Hoppy
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We expect all posters to follow the TOS, including but not limited to:

1. Do not sleuth minors.

2. Do not tell other posters not to hit the alert button.

3. Stay on topic. This thread is about Somer, not about how one should parent, how safe one feels in one's city, what one's curfew was as a teen, etc. This thread is about Somer. If you want to start a thread on another topic, go to the Jury room and start it there. This thread is about Somer.

Hoppy
mod


When do you think we will have a press conference from LE about DNA lab results? I wonder if we can find out anything about this murder investigation.
 
ok, what have I missed here, haven't been here in a long time....anything new??
 
When do you think we will have a press conference from LE about DNA lab results? I wonder if we can find out anything about this murder investigation.

I hope LE has a press conference about the DNA results soon too.I pray there is an arrest soon.
 
WOW! Is all I can say.....why can't this be discussed here? Oh there is so much here to discuss.....

We have already been here and done this and discussed this in the last thread.Too much.We already determined the social services determined there was no basis for the report and it was unfounded and the case was closed.Many many children walk home from school.Somer was with her siblings.She was not alone.Maybe the school will think about a bus system now.It's pretty much a closed case.
 
this is the original article - the event was investigated in 2008 and closed 2 weeks later.

* By Jim Schoettler
* Story updated at 6:10 AM on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010
ORANGE PARK — A social worker at Somer Thompson’s school warned about the danger of the 7-year-old girl’s walks from school a year before a killer snatched her on her way home, state records show.

The unidentified worker told the Department of Children and Families that Somer and her three siblings got lost at least once walking from Grove Park Elementary School and were found in woods with a stranger. The worker indicated that Somer’s mother needed to pay more attention to the children’s safety and get them into day care at the school.

But a two-week probe by Children and Families concluded the allegation about the children getting lost and being found with a stranger had no basis. It also found Diena Thompson properly arranged for her children to be taken to and from school, about a mile away, and that it was acceptable for them to walk home when necessary. Day care was suggested to her as an option, but not a requirement.

The case was closed without any findings of wrongdoing, according to the records provided to the Times-Union last week.

Thompson continues to grieve over Somer’s Oct. 19 disappearance and slaying, which remains unsolved. She said that she has always cared for her children’s well-being and allowed them to walk home on rare occasions when she worked and couldn’t get them a ride. Somer disappeared on one of those days. Her siblings have received rides every day since, Thompson told the Times-Union Wednesday.
“I’m always second-guessing myself as far as them walking home, but I did what I could as a single mother with absolutely no help from anyone else,” said Thompson, 35. “Children should be able to walk home without being afraid of being attacked by a monster.”

Children and Families spokesman John Harrell said he couldn’t disclose by law who made the report and whether the agency had fielded other reports from Somer’s school. The school’s principal, Lynda Braxton, declined to comment.

Harrell said the case was handled properly.

“Our investigator did the right thing and went above and beyond ... by checking to make sure if these services were being followed up on,” Harrell said.

The social worker called the agency’s abuse hot line on Oct. 9, 2008.

“There is overall concern for the safety and well-being of the children,” the investigator wrote, based on the social worker’s statement.

Thompson told the investigator she was unaware of her children ever getting lost in the woods or being found by a stranger. Somer and her older brother told the investigator they never got lost. Somer’s twin, Samuel, said he got lost once, but gave no details. Somer’s sister was never asked. Thompson said a family friend had been transporting the children and that would continue.
Thompson also told the investigator the school suggested the children attend an off-campus YWCA day-care program. But she said it ended before she could pick them up from work and she couldn’t afford the cost of picking them up late.

Thompson was later told the day-care program was at the school and that school officials were trying to arrange for Somer to attend for free or at a reduced rate. She said she would consider the option, though the children weren’t sent.

A Children and Families supervisory review of the case on Oct. 12 - three days after the initial report - states that the “risk is low” and that “the children are old enough to walk to school.” It also states that if Thompson can’t afford day care, she shouldn’t be placed in a “financial bind.”

Two weeks into the case, Thompson reiterated to the investigator that her friend was helping with transportation, “but on occasion the children still do walk,” the records show. The family friend told the investigators she had been transporting the children.

The investigator concludes that the “risk remains low” and that Thompson had been very cooperative.

“No services necessary at this time,” the report said.
Thompson said she is hopeful the public will not to use the report to criticize her parenting ability, a problem she had to endure from some people after Somer’s death.

“Walk a day in my shoes,” she said.
BBM
My question: Why was this given to a hot line and not LE? Children in the woods with a stranger doesn't belong with a social worker, it belongs and should be investigated by LE MY OPINION ONLY
 
We have already been here and done this and discussed this in the last thread.Too much.We already determined the social services determined there was no basis for the report and it was unfounded and the case was closed.Many many children walk home from school.Somer was with her siblings.She was not alone.Maybe the school will think about a bus system now.It's pretty much a closed case.
I cannot find the last thread! We do not know that Somer was not alone, first we hear that she was with AT and ST, then we hear that she ran ahead, then we hear that she was with AT and that ST lagged behind to talk to a friend.....we really don't know for sure what the case was....all that we do know is that she is now gone.....if she was with her siblings, then why didn't they see who took her....this tells me that she was not with her siblings....kwim?
 
I think all that we know for sure is that Somer went to school that day, left when school was out, never made it to the second crossing guard.....she then ended up in the landfill....
 
I cannot find the last thread! We do not know that Somer was not alone, first we hear that she was with AT and ST, then we hear that she ran ahead, then we hear that she was with AT and that ST lagged behind to talk to a friend.....we really don't know for sure what the case was....all that we do know is that she is now gone.....if she was with her siblings, then why didn't they see who took her....this tells me that she was not with her siblings....kwim?

The thread was pulled for review.Yes,she ran off.No one could have known that would happen.
 
I cannot find the last thread! We do not know that Somer was not alone, first we hear that she was with AT and ST, then we hear that she ran ahead, then we hear that she was with AT and that ST lagged behind to talk to a friend.....we really don't know for sure what the case was....all that we do know is that she is now gone.....if she was with her siblings, then why didn't they see who took her....this tells me that she was not with her siblings....kwim?

cam- beginning way back in thread #1 it was established that Somer was walking home with her siblings, had a tiff, and ran ahead. That was always the case as I remember it. Children that age do this all the time - they get upset, if in their home, run to their bedroom or play area or in this case, run ahead of their group. Somer being upset and, therefore, vulnerable, was the perfect prey for this monster. mho
 
but she couldn't have run too far ahead if she never made it to the second crossing guard....that road is busy at the time that school lets out....someone would have seen something....
 
http://www.cfnews13.com/News/Local/...d_somer39s_mom_year_before_death.html?cid=rss
ORANGE PARK (AP) - A school social worker reportedly warned a northeast Florida girl's mother about the danger of the child walking home from school a year before she was abducted and killed.
The unidentified worker told the Department of Children and Families that 7-year-old Somer Thompson and her three siblings got lost at least once walking from Grove Park Elementary School and were found in woods with a stranger. But a DCF probe concluded the allegation had no basis. It also found the girl's mother, Diena Thompson, properly arranged for her children to be taken to and from school.............................SNIPPED

Another news article based on the older report kindly posted above---
Really non-news in my opinion since the case was closed---
Allegation had no basis =was the finding.
 
but she couldn't have run too far ahead if she never made it to the second crossing guard....that road is busy at the time that school lets out....someone would have seen something....

cam - way back in one of the first threads, momtective put a time-line up showing there was a couple minutes at the most where someone could have abducted Somer. It was amazing and frightening how quick it happened. Predators don't waste time when they see their prey. moo
 
but she couldn't have run too far ahead if she never made it to the second crossing guard....that road is busy at the time that school lets out....someone would have seen something....

IIRC, I don't remember it being confirmed or verified by LE that Somer never made it to the second crossing guard. I thought it was bantered about that the second crossing guard doesn't remember for sure, might have not seen her or maybe Somer went by later, etc. But that was just speculation and not announced by LE.

.........hopefully, someone did see something and LE has that info.
I just wish it would lead to a solid arrest soon.
 
People, people, people..........<sigh>

If you go back--please--and read the opening post in this thread, you will see a list there

1.

2.

3.

of why the last thread was pulled for review.

Do you see fighting, arguing or bickering on the list? No. Disrespectful behavior? No.

When you guys were discussing the article, you were doing just fine. Kudos.

But there were dozens of off-topic posts, in addition to the other reasons stated above.

It takes a lot of time to go through a thread and clean out posts that violate TOS. I can't do it while the thread is still in the forum because as I'm editing posts, posters are adding them on even faster.

That thread will be back here soon, though it is closed.

Please don't spend this thread speculating the reasons I pulled the last one. I ALREADY GAVE YOU THE REASONS!

Thanks,

Hoppy
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