I really haven't had much time to think about extraneous things the past few months, so my psychology current events research has had to be cut in large part. It's sad, but not too upsetting, because I know my love of all things psychological won't ever fade, and eventually I'll have more time to brush up on these things--in like five year, but who's counting really?
I thought about writing about the Penn State sex scandal, which is sad, to say the least, but there is a story that caught my eye even more because of the blatant and alarmingly obvious inconsistencies throughout the entire situation. I'm referring to the "Baby Lisa" kidnapping scandal, which strikes me as even more bizarre by the day. Mostly, I'm disturbed because I can't personally decide for myself what I believe: did an intruder kidnap her or was it foul play within the family? This is disconcerting primarily because I RARELY have trouble forming a quick opinion/idea based on my gut instinct; sometimes it changes after more facts trickle down, but typically my beliefs on the matter stay pretty much the same as that gut instinct.
The thing is, I WANT to believe that the parent(s) are in no way to blame, and that may be driving my inability to decide what I believe really happened. Of course, it doesn't matter what I think in the long run, or at all haha, but it disturbs me that I just can't settle on one belief of guilt. If I go with family involvement, I think the mother seems to be the most likely to be involved, based on a few (seemingly) minor aspects of her story that seem to go back and forth. Yet again, it's such a strange story with some odd "coincidences", which brings me back to wanting to believe the intruder theory. Ahh! I hate being indecisive.
Before I go any further, I feel the need to express my feelings on the mother's actions the night of the kidnapping, according to her words and police reports quoting her side of the story. Allegedly, Lisa's mother (Deborah Irwin) had a friend over and, after the children were in bed, the two drank some wine and had a relaxing movie/chatting kind of night, at which point in time the friend left to walk (I believe) home. I'm not certain of the exact time the friend left, but I've seen both 8:30 PM and close to 11 PM as possible times. Fine and dandy, right? I like wine, and I'm not opposed to parents having a glass (or perhaps two, but that's really all I can justify) once the kids are in bed. Obviously, I can't really condone getting fall down drunk when young children are under the same roof. Should an emergency arise, parents need to be fully aware and functional to assist in any situation, no matter if the emergency is with them or the children themselves. Really, I would assume I would want to have somebody be completely sober at the home too, in case driving is necessary. Initially, my understanding was that Deborah only partook in a couple of glasses, and in no way was more than perhaps slightly tipsy. Not totally okay in my book, but nothing I would personally berate or judge the poor woman for doing. However, each new report that surfaced showed the opposite of sobriety to be Deborah's state the night of the kidnapping. Though it is hearsay, and I can in no way be certain as to the factual nature of the story, it seems that Deborah was actually fairly intoxicated that night. Indeed, she even said she "may have passed out", and doesn't remember if she checked on her daughter again after her friend left for the evening. THIS is where my problems begin with Deborah. Honestly, as much as I try to not be overly judgmental (in my life in general, and also in this case), I'm pretty sickened at the idea that Deborah could have been falling down drunk while her children slept in the house. I'm sure she thought no emergency would arise with her children, who were safely in bed, but such assumptions are dangerous. Moreover, her intoxicated state may have gotten in the way of her regular night safety precautions, as in locking all doors and securing all windows. If an intruder did break in, on the ONE night shift Jeremy Irwin (Deborah's husband and Lisa's father) was working a night shift in recent history, perhaps they saw that one or more entrances were left unlocked; she would have certainly made their task much simpler if this is the case. Drunk or not, she really should have checked on the entry points in her house.
As the story has unfolded, it seems that cell phones also went missing the night that Lisa did, and a phone call was made from one of the stolen phones within the conceivable hours Lisa could have been kidnapped. It was a very short call (I want to say either 50 seconds or 1 minute and 50 seconds--either way, an extremely quick call), and the person that received the call has said she has no idea as to who would have even answered her phone at such an hour. Allegedly, she has no memory of talking to anybody about anything around that time. Now, they are also saying that surveillance video in the surrounding area shows suspicious activity by an unidentified person around the Irwin house during the possible kidnapping time. These two facts sway me towards the intruder theory, and leave me praying that the family had nothing to do with it. From what I can tell. while the Irwin family wasn't poor, they don't come off as exceptionally rich either, which makes a kidnap for ransom scenario possible, but not probable. Children who are kidnapped this young are often taken by either family members, or by people who are unable to have or for other reasons do not have children of their own. Psychologically disturbed most often, these people can often convince themselves, and often close friends and family, that the child is in fact theirs. Sometimes they feign a pregnancy, but with a child nearly age one, I would assume that, if this is the scenario, they kidnapper would claim adoption of the child. Either way, the would consider the child theirs at that point. Rare cases, typically not in the US but more common in other countries, have the parents working with the kidnappers to somehow get money out of the deal. How this works, I'll never know, but think Man on Fire, starring Denzel Washington and Dakota Fanning. But, once again, that family was extremely well off--and people knew it.
The bigger part of me wants to believe in the parents' innocence, and I assume this stems from my disdain by the sheer number of children being kidnapped in the US as of late. Part of me is jaded by this, causing me to automatically want to blame the parents because all excuses tend to SOUND made up after hearing these stories more often these days. But the other part of me wants to believe in good parents, ones who love their children and want only the best for them. My heart wants to believe that they could have nothing to do with it, because why would a person (or people) have a child, begin to bond and love and nurture the child, and then assist in a kidnapping--or worse, be part of the killing (and subsequent cover up) of that child. I'm sure accidents do happen, and I'm sure it would be hard to go to the police with the knowledge that, accidentally or not, you were responsible for the death of your child. But, if that's the case, I would think that their would be a break down in your emotions--producing not flaws and/or changes in their story, per se, but inconsistencies in emotions and the ability to keep up the facade. Knowing I've never been in this type of situation, and also that I don't even have children of my own at this point, I realize my opinion on this part of the story may seem irrelevant. I just hope I know myself well enough to believe that I would be honest, and that justice would be what I most want for my child.
Deborah Irwin has admitted that she was drinking that night, so perhaps an accident did occur. Tragic, avoidable, and heart wrenching to think about, yes, but possible. Where the breakdown occurs is, if this scenario is the right one, how could you dispose of or hide the body of your now deceased child? Again, I don't know what happened, and I don't want to jump to any conclusions or pass judgement on people I have never met who are going through immense amounts of pain. This story always brings back the memory of hearing about the death of JonBenet Ramsey, and I never thought the parents did it. That case is still unsolved, and maybe I'm naive, but they were all ruled out by DNA evidence, and I just never saw them as the type to go to such lengths to make it appear that an intruder broke in, sodomized and killed their daughter, and then left her body in the house like old trash. People always say that their emotions just weren't right, but how in the hell would we--any of us--know such a thing? Even those who have experienced the same type of loss never experienced THAT PARTICULAR LOSS, so they could empathize, but not fully relate. Poor Patsy Ramsey was harrassed because she was too emotional, even in public for her DAUGHTER'S FUNERAL. Seriously, people think it was AN ACT? Outrageous. The worst, I feel, is what John Ramsey had to go through when people accused him of being too stoic too soon after JonBenet's death and funeral. Here's what's up: John lost a daughter, Beth, in 1992 (I think) in a tragic car accident, so he had a method of dealing with grief that may be different from what is seen as typical. I read the Ramsey's book, and though I'm aware it's skewed since it's only their side of the story, John stated that he was able to keep it together in public--as was his nature, according to him and close friends and family--but had a particular room in his brother's house where most of his grieving took place. He would also grieve behind other closed doors. Also, people often forget that they still had a young child at home (not forgot enough to name him as a suspect for a while--he was 9--that accusation makes me ill) who was most likely scared and overcome with emotion over losing his sister, emotions he may not have known how to express or fully deal with at that age. Nine year olds are aware of what is going on around them, and certainly far smarter than we give many credit for, but the loss of a sister, your built in best friend in childhood...I'm not sure how I would have handled that situation, or what emotions I would have been able to understand and express, when I was only 9 years old.
Perhaps my interest in the Ramsey case, and my hope to this day, nearly 15 years later, that JonBenet will get her justice, even though Patsy has passed away and Burke and John have been aged well beyond their years by these life events, perhaps that case is a big reason I want to believe so badly in the innocence of the Irwins.
I guess I didn't talk much psych in this blog, but that's because I'm still unsure as to what pertains to this case. Psychosis and delusion? Munchhausen's by Proxy? Sociopathy? Perhaps I'll write again once more comes to light in this story.
I hope that will be a happy post.
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