GUILTY TX - Alanna Gallagher, 6, Saginaw, 1 July 2013 - #8

Midwestmama78 said:

Found a blog post from today that says a father 14 miles away said the red truck with green splotch tried to abduct his kids. Has anybody heard anything about that?

Here's the blog, FWIW

http://thestir.cafemom.com/in_the_news/158617/search_for_6yearold_alanna_gallaghers

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human said:

Something to think about.

It is not just me but other parents I have talked to.

We made sure our homes were the ones that the kids wanted to come to.

If you can't afford a lot of stuff, kids need and love to play with sand and dirt and water.

Hubby says fire, too, and that is true. Having marshmallow roasts in the evenings are hits.

Providing plastic animals and building materials in the sand is good. Hiding buried treasures in the sand is something they love as well.

Having inexpensive treats such as homemade popsicles is a hit. Lemonade with ice.

If your house is the place to be, then your child will be happy with the playmates.

Hiding stuff around with a treasure map is cheap and fun.

Water "balloons" can be made out of sponges. There are a million cheap things to do.

But really, all you have to do is provide some materials and the kids will think of a million things on their own. It's fun to watch their creative minds at work.

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imkeylime said:

I don't understand the isolated case but family members aren't suspects, either, unless the family really is being targeted and/or it was an act of revenge. It can't matter if this was a perp's first, because that means a second could be next. It's perplexing.

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gitana1 said:

There is a huge difference, IMO, (and as a long time former preschool teacher and daycare worker), between a child crying, throwing a fit/tantrum towards his or her parents when they are told they have to stop something fun they are doing and a child who sobs to neighbors when told it's time to go home. The ONLY time I have known children to act like that, something has been wrong at home. My opinion on that is strengthtened if that same, sobbing child covers her face with her hands and says "I really can;t say. I can't talk about it" when asked about her home life.

Now I don't know if this neighbor was mistaken or exaggerating or lying or if Alanna was a strange anomaly, but that's what I know about child development and children. And that's what one neighbor reported as Alanna's behavior: http://m.nbcdfw.com/nbcdfw/pm_108123/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=QxqoT4Gn

Also, I'm sure with a simple google search one can find that my observations and opinion is part of what is known, professionally, to be a sign that something is wrong.

If true, that doesn't mean Alanna was harmed by a family member. In fact, at this point, no one from her home has been arrested and with so much evidence that must exist from finding Alanna the same day she went missing, the search warrants and lengthy interviews, if something happened to Alanna at home, the odds are there would have been an arrest by now.

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imkeylime said:

I apologize if this was discussed earlier, but I haven't been around for all the threads. But IMO, the belt itself, and its usage, is suspect in terms of sexual motivation. We really don't know if the belt was used in any way other than around the tarp, but a belt is a belt and usually holds up pants. That in itself makes me nervous. If the perp wasn't wearing the belt, it was either in a car or in a house, I'd think.

I don't understand the isolated case but family members aren't suspects, either, unless the family really is being targeted and/or it was an act of revenge. It can't matter if this was a perp's first, because that means a second could be next. It's perplexing.

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theyamqueen said:

I don't disagree. I am aware of the realities and warning signs. It just felt like an odd statement to make in the media right away. It feels like the kind of thing that a person would say after some evidence points in their direction. Sort of like a "I saw it coming" sort of thing and it feels... off right after the loss of this little girl. I'd also be really interested to know if the neighbors who were all so concerned before did bother to make a report? It just seems heavy handed to me. It's only my opinion of the wording.

LDHummingbird, on that topic, did LG ever talk about CPS ever being called on them?

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human said:

Something to think about.

It is not just me but other parents I have talked to.

We made sure our homes were the ones that the kids wanted to come to.

If you can't afford a lot of stuff, kids need and love to play with sand and dirt and water.

Hubby says fire, too, and that is true. Having marshmallow roasts in the evenings are hits.

Providing plastic animals and building materials in the sand is good. Hiding buried treasures in the sand is something they love as well.

Having inexpensive treats such as homemade popsicles is a hit. Lemonade with ice.

If your house is the place to be, then your child will be happy with the playmates.

Hiding stuff around with a treasure map is cheap and fun.

Water "balloons" can be made out of sponges. There are a million cheap things to do.

But really, all you have to do is provide some materials and the kids will think of a million things on their own. It's fun to watch their creative minds at work.

Click to expand...

MissUnderstood said:

For some reason when there is a case like this the perp is almost always referred to as a 'HE'. For some reason I feel like a woman is involved. Maybe not in the actually killing but in the disposal. I have no qualifications except some logic thought It just seems odd that she was bound and gagged and treated like nothing but then was neatly wrapped and secured with a belt. The murder part seems hasty but the wrapping seems different. My own opinion and all that jazz!!!

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pinkfly said:

Ohhhh, you may have hit the nail on the head about it being isolated but not parents. The burned car ties in to that too. Oh my.

snipped by me

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gitana1 said:

There is a 0.01% chance that MM wasn't questioned prior to that day. He is the one who reported Alanna missing. Formal, in station questioning is different than an officer taking down a police report.

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Alanna's father Karl Gallagher made a brief statement to reporters on Wednesday, asking for people to come forward with information about his daughter's murder

On Monday evening, Alanna’s father came to the Januses’ front door with a worried look on his face, saying that he couldn’t find his little girl.

“You could tell on his face, he didn’t know what to do,” Janus said. “It was like he was in shock and that he didn’t know where else to look.”

Janus said he offered to help him search and as they walked toward the street, two police patrol units pulled up next to each other on the corner. The officers were talking “car to car.”

The father approached the cars. Janus said he suspected that the man was asking about his daughter. The father turned back toward Janus, but one of the patrol cars pulled around to the father, Janus said, and the officer offered to drive him back to his house.

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Neighbor says the victim's Father knocked on his door asking if he had seen his daughter around 8pm

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