Somer Thompson, Elizabeth Olten and Shaniya Davis – Angel Wings

Somer Thompson

In just a matter of a month the families and friends of Somer Thompson, Elizabeth Olten and Shaniya Davis have suffered losses beyond words. Our country and even the world has been riveted by the tragic abductions and deaths of the innocence of these beautiful little girls. These abductions and murders are so remote from each other – yet ending for each was the same, all three children have received their wings from our Spiritual Father.

The twists and turns of each case is outlandish – Elizabeth and Shaniya’s abductors and murderers have been found, arrested and charged but the community that Somer was a part of lives in fear on a daily basis as her assailant is still at large.

Elizabeth Olten

We will all sit and wait, glued to the media that will report any piece of information that may make any remote sense to all of us for the loss of these precious children.

Shaniya Davis

Please keep all families in your thoughts and prayers and please don’t forget all of the other children who are not high profile cases that have simply vanished or have received their wings prior to the girls.

To assist parents I would like to share some guidelines to help you to make your child/children more safe.

The first step in protecting your child from potential abductors is to know what you’re dealing with. Here are some important — and potentially surprising — facts about child abductions in the United States:

• Every 40 seconds in the United States, a child becomes missing or is abducted.
• In 2001, 840,279 people (adults and children) were reported missing to the FBI’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC). The FBI estimates that 85 to 90 percent of those (roughly 750,000 people or 2,000 per day) reported missing were children. The vast majority of these cases are resolved within hours.
• Based on the identity of the perpetrator, there are three distinct types of kidnapping: kidnapping by a relative of the victim or “family kidnapping” (49 percent), kidnapping by an acquaintance of the victim or “acquaintance kidnapping” (27 percent), and kidnapping by a stranger to the victim or “stranger kidnapping” (24 percent).
• Family kidnapping is committed primarily by parents, involves a larger percentage of female perpetrators (43 percent) than other types of kidnapping offenses, occurs more frequently to children under 6, equally victimizes juveniles of both sexes, and most often originates in the home.
• Acquaintance kidnapping involves a comparatively high percentage of juvenile perpetrators, has the largest percentage of female and teenage victims, is more often associated with other crimes (especially sexual and physical assault), occurs at homes and residences, and has the highest percentage of injured victims.
• Stranger kidnapping victimizes more females than males, occurs primarily at outdoor locations, victimizes both teenagers and school-age children, is associated with sexual assaults in the case of girl victims and robberies in the case of boy victims (although not exclusively so), and is the type of kidnapping most likely to involve the use of a firearm.
• Only about one child out of each 10,000 missing children reported to the local police is not found alive. However, about 20 percent of the children reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in nonfamily abductions are not found alive.
• In 80 percent of abductions by strangers, the first contact between the child and the abductor occurs within a quarter mile of the child’s home.
• Most potential abductors grab their victims on the street or try to lure them into their vehicles.
• About 74 percent of the victims of nonfamily child abduction are girls.
• Acting quickly is critical. Seventy-four percent of abducted children who are ultimately murdered are dead within three hours of the abduction.
• One in five children 10 to 17 years old receive unwanted sexual solicitations online.
• In a 1998 study of parents’ worries by pediatricians at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, nearly three-quarters of parents said they feared their children might be abducted. One-third of parents said this was a frequent worry — a degree of fear greater than that held for any other concern, including car accidents, sports injuries, or drug addiction.

Sources: Federal Bureau of Investigation; National Crime Information Center; U.S. Justice Dept.; Vanished Children’s Alliance; Redbook, February 1998; State of Washington’s Office of the Attorney General; United States Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Juvenile Justice Bulletin, June 2000

IN MEMORY OF ALL OF THE CHILDREN THAT ARE MISSING OR HAVE RECEIVED THEIR WINGS………..

I am a tiny angel …
I’m smaller than your thumb;
I live in people pockets,
That’s where I have my fun.

I don’t suppose you’ve seen me,
I’m too tiny to detect;
Though I’m with you all the time,
I doubt we’ve ever met.

Before I was an Angel …
I was a fairy in a flower;
God, Himself, hand-picked me,
And gave me Angel power.

Now God has many Angels
That He trains in Angel pools;
We become His eyes, and ears, and hands …
We become His special tools.

And because God is so busy,
With way too much to do;
He said that my assignment
Was to keep close watch on you.

Then He tucked me in your pocket,
Blessing you with Angel care;
Saying I must never leave you,
And I vowed to stay right there!

~ Virginia Ellis ~
Copyright © 1999

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children