IL IL - Judith Anderson, 15, Chicago, 16 Aug 1957

[wfgodot]

Not sure, though they say pedophiles are incurable.

From the LA Times blog story:
According to the Tribune, Nick Abbatacola was constantly supervised by the family after being convicted at the age of 15 of molesting a young boy who was a family friend. The Juvenile Court committed Nick to the Chicago State Hospital on April 12, 1955. He was discharged May 28, 1956, but had to check in periodically before receiving his final discharge May 25, 1957, the Tribune said. Nick once called the Andersen home and asked Judith for a date, her father said. "Judy refused him and she said he told her: 'Oh, you're falling for that sailor.'

 

[scriptgirl]

And who was this sailor?
I assumed Nick was gay since he molested a boy.
I don't get why her parents allowed her to hang out around a family whose son molested a child

 

[wfgodot]

And who was this sailor?
I assumed Nick was gay since he molested a boy.
I don't get why her parents allowed her to hang out around a family whose son molested a child

Kenneth Blevins, the sailor, was on leave from a naval air station in Oklahoma. He was back on the base when the murder occurred. Can't blame the parents though---in many ways, the times were more innocent and social mores were different, too.

The fact Abbatacola pere failed the lie detector twice and then was eventually "cleared" during another test, is bothersome in the extreme, as he would have been able to get advice on how to beat the test in the interim.

 

[scriptgirl]

Innocent or not, when has it ever been acceptable in any era to let your child around a family in which a member of it hurt a kid?

 

[wfgodot]

Innocent or not, when has it ever been acceptable in any era to let your child around a family in which a member of it hurt a kid?

Not saying it's acceptable. Just saying it's inexact to judge actions fifty+ years ago by today's standards; we have learned a lot in that interim. Judith Mae appears to have been rather a headstrong child, and her 'rents may have figured the Abbatacolas were keeping watch on the molestor.

 

[scriptgirl]

I don't think standards have much to do with it, I think it is just common sense. Her parents were too trusting and they paid a huge price for it.

 

[wfgodot]

Being old, I can remember when, forty-something years ago, a guy in my hometown had his daughters removed from the household after he molested them; he was a businessman and wasn't locked up and put only on the probation that he not see them. I was an only child and thus was raised with a good degree of carefulness, but I was never told not to go into this guy's paint and hardware store, just to "be careful" if I did so. Months went by, he re-molested his daughters, and was finally locked up. Had a similar situation arisen again, I'm sure my parents would have been informed by the previous incident and handled it differently. Unfortunately for the Andersens, they did not get that chance.

 

[joellegirl]

Could it be that Judith's parents weren't aware of Nick's past? I might have missed it if it was mentioned they knew, but maybe even Judith didn't. It could have been a family secret that only came out once Judith was murdered. The molesting may have been in the papers, but back then most stories weren't all over the news over and over (of course some were, Judith's murder and the other Chicago child murders were in the news a lot), and TV had no Fox News etc.
Was it ever mentioned how long Elena and Judith were friends? I'm not sure if they were friends for years or not. Of course everyone may have known, but this is just one angle. Again, I may have missed where it said everyone was well aware of Elena's brother's past.

 

[scriptgirl]

I think they had to have known. People gossip and you would be surprised how many "family secrets" are common knowledge. Being from a small town, there is so much gossip and stuff said behind closed doors. How did the Abbatacola's account for Nick being away from home when he was in jail? What did they tell people?

 

[Angels_Not_Forgotten]

i'm not buying Elana (sp?) story. Sorry, just not So many inconsistencies from saying We went riding all the time with boys at dairy queen to we only went ONE time and I didn't go but she did, oh i'm not blaming her, I talked her into going! then not answering the door, and saying they were NOT at the dairy queen the second time that night as the person who worked there stated they were. Why lie about it? So that LE has no idea you were with certain people? Because you know more? because you have something to do with it? I can see it being any of those reasons, but for NO reason can i see her inconsistent stories being told out of forgetfulness.

 

[joellegirl]

I agree. Something is not right with that family. They, including Elena, sounded like they were covering things up from the very beginning. I wonder if Judith even left that house alive, and if she did, was she under someone else's power and killed elsewhere?

 

[scriptgirl]

I wonder if Elena lured Judith to her house on behalf of Nick or another brother. Were Elena and Judith the same age?

 

[wfgodot]

I wonder if Elena lured Judith to her house on behalf of Nick or another brother. Were Elena and Judith the same age?

They were both 15.

 

[scriptgirl]

Could Elena have been jealous of Judith? I mean how good of friends were they really? Were they frenemies? Any adullt woman on this board can tell you how vicious teen girls can be

 

[wfgodot]

Could Elena have been jealous of Judith? I mean how good of friends were they really? Were they frenemies? Any adullt woman on this board can tell you how vicious teen girls can be

Could quite possibly have been. All the information I've seen dwells on Judith Mae's love life---her boyfriend in the Navy, riding around with another friend in cars with teenage boys, neighborhood guys being attracted to her. Not much on Elena's prospects.

 

[scriptgirl]

And it is very odd that so much attention was focused on a 15 year old's love life. She was 15 and it sounds like they are blaming the victim and trying to call her a ho

 

[wfgodot]

That's sort of what they had to go by. She was involved with the boys, and that was where they had to start: did teenage romance gone awry cause this killing? I say the senior Abbatacola's adventures with the lie detector, failing the first two tests and then later being cleared (evidently; money changes hands in Chicago) by a third one, is the eye-opener, given what we know.

 

[scriptgirl]

What do you mean by money changing hands?

 

[wfgodot]

People can be bought off. Cops can be mobbed up. Justice doesn't always triumph over money.

 

[scriptgirl]

Are you saying the Abbatacolas paid people off?