One of the latest ongoing Denver news stories is of a missing girl, Aarone Thompson. Her father reported her missing on Nov. 14th. He said she ran off after an argument. After a few days, the police department received a tip that she actually has been missing for some time, perhaps dead. They changed their focus to look for a dead body.
Obviously in a case like this, there’s a lot not said. But I have some questions. Why is it that no one can vouch for seeing her in the last year to year in a half? She is six years old. Was she not enrolled in a school that has records of her being there? Does she not have playdates with friends whose parents can vouch for her? What about neighbors? The church? What have the other children in the house said?
According to the family spokesperson, Thompson told him Aaroné didn't enroll in school because her father couldn't get a copy of her Michigan immunization records. So she didn’t go to Sunday school or play with anyone outside the family? There seems to be an odd excuse for everything.
As for the neighbors, they were surprised to hear there were that many kids in the house. None of them were able to say they had ever seen Aarone. They also painted a picture of a reclusive family with a lot of domestic police calls.
The other kids in the family were interviewed. According to the news, those interviews further cemented that something had happened to Aarone some time ago. Another story explains why none of them said anything before now.
A week or so ago, the family held a news conference. They were represented by two grandfathers and a church minister. Both grandfathers pleaded with the public to continue to search for her. Ironically neither grandfather has seen her in the past year. One kept repeating the same incredibly annoying phrase over and over -- even when the question was not directed at him.
There have been reports that she didn’t have her own bed, that the family signed up for a Christmas charity list but her name was not included, that the family traveled to Disney World last year but she wasn’t included (okay, a side note... why would this family qualify for a charity toy donations, as well as low income housing, but can afford to take the whole gang to Disney World?).
The police department seems to be frustrated getting information out of the family. They also had a couple of missing children experts come in who came up with the same conclusions.
Generally there’s the idea of innocent until proven guilty. But when so many facts seem to be against them, you have to wonder. As for the family spokespeople, how are they so sure that the parents are innocent when none of them can vouch for seeing Aarone in the past year (and prove it).
So maybe the parents indeed did not kill her but maybe she’s been missing for much longer. Why report it now? Well, apparently there was a caseworker visit to the house for the family to continue to qualify for financial aid. That and Aarone’s birthday is today. Out of these two events, something came up and someone noticed she wasn’t around.
During the family press conferences with the minister and the grandfathers, someone brought up the Jon Benet Ramsey case. He seemed to imply that the Ramsey parents weren’t treated as suspects. Gee, what news were they watching? Perhaps the Ramseys cooperated with police better or just had better legal representation. But they were definitely considered suspects. That’s a whole other case.
As for the Thompson family, so far nothing seems to be proving their case. In fact, it appears one of the attorneys just quit. So it doesn’t bode well.
Happy birthday Aarone, whereever you are, I hope it’s a better place.
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