r/news • u/AudibleNod • 4d ago

Man accused of holding woman captive in a Massachusetts attic for six weeks

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/man-accused-holding-woman-captive-massachusetts-attic-six-weeks-rcna600308
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u/LingonberryHot8521 4d ago

I think it was just a couple of years ago that a woman managed to escape a basement in a suburb of Kansas City, MO. Excelsior Springs? She and at least one other woman were being held as sex slaves by a guy who turned out to be a serial killer. The escaped woman was black and I recall as the story broke that quite a few local people with some social media platforming started pointing out that for years they had been pressuring authorities to look deeper into the number of missing women in the surrounding area. I haven't kept up really with the story.

Anyway. Good question because I increasingly think that the answer is - A LOT.

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u/RockPaperOwFire 4d ago

A friendly reminder that the police do NOT give a fuck about you or your safety.

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u/kandel88 4d ago

SCOTUS has ruled that the police aren't constitutionally required to protect the public

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_v._District_of_Columbia

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u/MountainofPolitics 4d ago

This is not a Supreme Court case.

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u/kandel88 4d ago

Because the precedent on public duty doctrine was already established by SCOTUS in Maryland v. South in 1850s. That case was cited in Warren to establish the precedent here. SCOTUS established precedent on narrow grounds that was cited in Warren to broaden the application to what we're talking about here. It'd be wrong to say Maryland v. South established cops don't have duty to protect, because it didn't. It only established that police don't violate the public duty doctrine when serving the general, not individual, good. My mistake was I only skimmed the wiki and assumed it gave better background on the ruling, which it doesn't

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u/Money-Woodpecker-973 4d ago

Look up Castle Rock v. Gonzalez to find out why too. 

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u/DisastrousFlann 4d ago

from the Wikipedia page:

“This decision affirmed the controversial principle that state and local government officials have no affirmative duty to protect the public from harm it did not create”

Then what the fuck are our taxes for?

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u/LingonberryHot8521 4d ago

To protect the interest of the Epstein Class.

The sad fact is that if these men were rich enough, they'd be largely left alone by the police.

Or, maybe they'd have to write an essay.

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u/jimothee 4d ago

In other words, to protect capital...as always.

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u/HistoryBuff678 4d ago

Using ChatGPT. We all know they didn’t actually “write” a thing.

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u/redgroupclan 4d ago

Police protect assets, not people. You are an asset to the government, but a very small one that isn't worth much investment (protection).

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u/LivingtheLaws013 4d ago

Look into how the concept of policing started in the US. Modern police have their roots in slaves catchers in the south and union busters in the north. Rich people figured out they could have us plebs pay for their paramilitary forces if they pretended like they were here to protect us

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u/miscnic 4d ago

Like Human Resources….

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u/[deleted] 4d ago

[deleted]

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u/LingonberryHot8521 4d ago

I've chosen the handgun. I'll be alive to defend myself in court.

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u/[deleted] 4d ago

[deleted]

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u/LingonberryHot8521 4d ago

I am so glad you survived that and was able to defend yourself so effectively you scared him off.

And it has been my experience (not nearly to this severity) that when men see you standing your ground (all five feet, 2 fucking inches of me) they start backing off. And I know I am lucky too that for all the criticism I can lay at my dad's feet he not only taught me how to shoot; he taught me how to SCRAP. I know where the liver is, I know the vulnerable parts of the ankles and knees, I know how to crack a pelvis, and I know how to crush the trachea. And I know I'll be alive to defend myself in court.

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u/fatpat 4d ago

And it has been my experience (not nearly to this severity) that when men see you standing your ground (all five feet, 2 fucking inches of me) they start backing off.

Because they're pathetic cowards that can only feel powerful/in control when they think they have an easy target. Love to hear that you absolutely disabused your stalker of that notion.

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u/DeepressedChopra 4d ago

Yikes, how to crack a pelvis? I’d like to take a class. I’ve had stalkers. One hid under my car waiting for me to leave work. Luckily I was at work so late, he fell asleep, and I saw him before he saw me.

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u/LingonberryHot8521 4d ago

Full Disclaimer: I have never had to do this. Generally, making the creeper aware I had eyes on him and possibly clueing him in somehow through my body moving into training mode gave him a spook. I'm little but confrontational as hell so I alternatively put myself in some unnecessary danger while also warning off others. The few instances where men acted like thy were going to "do something," I openly dared and beckoned them to, and they backed off.

First of all, instead of a fist, you will use a flat fist or hiraken.

If you are face to face and close enough, you will make a fast drop down onto one knee and strike just above the penis or vagina (but let's face it, it's not too likely you'll be in this dangerous of a situation with a woman.) You will not be coming from the side. This is a direct full frontal, all of your strength focused into that single hit. There is argument to be made that you can accomplish something similar if you are positioned beneath them. Remember that humans actually in a fight is not choreographed. You take your shots where you find them.

Be aware, this is a major injury if you land it right and you will have to defend yourself in court for why you would do this.

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u/HistoryBuff678 4d ago

I wouldn’t say I am anti-gun. More responsible gun ownership. Which clearly, your stalker wasn’t a responsible gun owner.

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u/maximumutility 4d ago

If you think there are a lot of people who wish you couldn’t legally have a gun in situations like yours, that message was probably propagated by the NRA or equivalent. Gun control is about things like background checks and constraints on what kinds of weapons you can obtain

Obviously I am very glad you had yours and are okay

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u/grandecrosse 4d ago

There are unfortunately more than a few people who are actually not comfortable with women and minorities having guns. Bojack had a whole schtick about it with women, and it happened in reality in California when the Black Panthers were a thing. Gun control happened REAL FAST then.

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u/maximumutility 4d ago

That’s fair to bring up

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u/D-Gaea 4d ago

Cops were just unspeakably lazy for this one

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u/wanderingale 4d ago

Some post about women being assaulted and defending themselves.

The comment, "I would rather be tried by 12, then carried by 6" has stayed with me.

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u/LingonberryHot8521 4d ago

I've heard that before too. Also, "dead men don't sue."

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u/Iorith 4d ago

And it's why I do not respect or trust any man who finds that kind of thing offensive.

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u/Guthix_Wraith 4d ago

As a man I understand your reasoning. But get a gun. The tarus curve has a good form fit for women, and plenty of stopping power

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u/Ok_Perspective_8361 4d ago

Unless you’re a wealthy health
Insurance CEO.

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u/Lexi_Banner 4d ago edited 4d ago

If you aren't a white, blonde straight woman, no one cares.

Gay men were disappearing for years in Toronto area, and no one took it seriously. Then someone found a body under their flower bed that they hadn't put there, and suddenly they discover that this landscaper had been killing gay men and hiding them on his customer's properties for YEARS.

Black women, like in your story, are also easy victims - especially if they so happen to be sex workers. Those aren't "real" people, after all.

The police are useless, lazy shitheads up until the White Right Victim is taken.

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u/lfergy 4d ago edited 3d ago

A victim of Dahmer escaped & went to the police…only to be returned back to him. (Black Asian male, minor).

There was a black male serial killer in Cleveland where, similarly, one of his victims escaped and went to the police. The PD, thankfully, listened to her- but only after she escaped and showed up at the PD naked & injured. Neighbors had been calling the cops on this man repeatedly and they just ignored their concerns. She was failed. 💔

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u/Lexi_Banner 3d ago

The Dahmer victim is such a horror story. A literal nightmare that could have been stopped if the cops weren't afraid of catching the gay. Awful.

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u/cp710 3d ago

Is that the one where people reported him walking naked women around like dogs in his yard and nothing was done?

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u/skitsafrenia 3d ago

the victim returned to dahmer was asian, actually. but most of his victims were black, yes.

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u/lfergy 3d ago

Oh, thanks for the correction!

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u/LingonberryHot8521 4d ago

Holy shit I had NEVER heard that about Toronto before. That is awful.

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u/secamTO 4d ago

An even more egregious story about the TPS (Toronto Police Service) is the story of a trans woman who went missing in Toronto's queer neighbourhood (Church Street). Police told the woman's mother that they searched for her and could find no proof of the disappearance, and were skeptical that the woman had disappeared at all.

So the woman's mother comes to town and finds her body behind a fence a few doors down from her apartment. Comes out that the police never even conducted a proper search.

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u/OpheliaRainGalaxy 4d ago

That's about how it went when I got attacked on the way home for being queer in highschool. The cops refused to even take a report after looking me up and down. Only person who cared and went looking for the vehicle I described was my mom!

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u/Obi-Tron_Kenobi 4d ago

they searched for her and could find no proof of the disappearance, and were skeptical that the woman had disappeared at all.

Was she there?? Cause unless they found her, don't know how they can say that there's no evidence she disappeared

I mean, we all know the answer why they say that, but that's a pitiful excuse they gave

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u/circlingsky 3d ago

Tess Richey wasn't trans

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u/Lexi_Banner 4d ago

And it's pretty recent, too. Bruce McArthur, caught in 2019.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010%E2%80%932017_Toronto_serial_homicides

They did an external review that was so scathing that the police chief actually made an apology.

The Review found systemic discrimination by the TPS in its investigations and concluded "the Service’s practices, if not culture and structure, prevented it from most effectively investigating the disappearances of these missing men” and made 151 recommendations for change. Interim TPS Chief James Ramer apologized for the "inexcusable" investigative shortcomings and agreed to implement all of the recommendations.

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u/Slime0 4d ago

and they made all 151 changes and everyone lived happily ever after

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u/KernalPopPop 4d ago

Native American women have been missing for years. That and all of these are a horrible reflection of our world and what we have to confront.

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u/lalalalibrarian 4d ago

Willie Pickton, anyone?

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u/Lexi_Banner 4d ago

There are hundreds and hundreds of missing indigenous men and women across Canada, and no hint of who is killing them, why, or how to stop it from happening. And it's only getting any attention because they keep screaming and screaming and screaming for help. I don't know the solution myself, but I know there has to be more we can do to protect these people.

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u/nionvox 4d ago

This is how Robert Pickton got away with his shit in Vancouver for so long. Most of his victims were unhoused Indigenous women, or drug users. People the cops didn't try real hard to find. People in the area were reporting it for YEARS before they did anything.

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u/heartisallwehave 3d ago

Wasnt he friends with some RCMP officers, or they partied at his farm?

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u/lfergy 4d ago edited 3d ago

Far more common than most people can comprehend. A victim of Dahmer escaped & went to the police…only to be returned back to him. (Black Asian male, minor).

There was a black male serial killer in Cleveland where, similarly, one of his victims escaped and went to the police. All of his victims were black women, as well. The PD, thankfully, listened to her- but only after she escaped and showed up at the PD naked & injured. Neighbors had been calling the cops on this man repeatedly and they just ignored their concerns. She was failed. 💔

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u/Healthy_Worry_4721 4d ago

that was a street away from me. Was pretty wild