At the same time as five prostitutes were murdered in Ipswich, the bodies of four sex workers were found in a ditch near Atlantic City. That is as far as any similarities go.
While Suffolk police worked closely with the local community in tracking down the killer and have charged a man, the detection techniques used across the pond could not be more different, their killer is still on the loose. The dead women were Molly Jean Dilts, 20; Kim Raffo, 35; Tracy Ann Roberts, 23; and Barbara V. Breidor, 42.
This thought provoking article in The New York Times, and forwarded to me by psychoanalyst Nancy Kobrin, describes how the Suffolk killings attracted nationwide sympathy, how police worked with the local community.
But in Atlantic City, it seems the equally shocking deaths have all but been brushed under the carpet. They remain unsolved, there are no public appeals for help, no warnings for women to be on their guard.
Writer Serge Kovaleski notes that they were similar crimes committed around the same time, and questions the different responses from both police forces:
“Part of the answer may have to do with the nature of the communities where the killings occurred, and part with public attitudes towards what are gently referred to as sex workers”.
One suggestion for keeping the deaths low-key was not to “spook” any of the 34 million tourists who visit Atlantic City and its grand casinos each year. Yet one of these women had been strangled, another asphyxiated and the other two were too badly decomposed for a cause of death. A killer is clearly on the loose. It is also feared their killer has struck six times, and a seventh survived after her throat was slashed. Yet the official approach has been low-key.
One public official has admitted that had the victims been housewives, schoolgirls, or even clients of prostitutes, there would be more demands for answers. I cannot believe how the official, Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson, can admit to saying that, but he did, as well as this:
“I do believe the lack of outrage is because of the women’s unfortunate lifestyles.”
Yet one of the victims had been “mom of the year” before her marriage broke down and she and took to drugs. Just like our murdered prostitutes, she was also a human being, a mother, a sister, wife, daughter and friend.
Kovaleski noted that while Suffolk police posted about 30 press releases and took 11,000 calls from the public, as well as publishing a timeline of the case and appeals for discarded clothing, the website for the Atlantic County prosecutor carries no information on their local murders. The mayor and police chief have also been reticent, none of them attended a vigil for the victims. The County prosecutor merely commented that he was satisfied with the information he had received, but has refused to say how many tips his task force had received, he is very tight-lipped about the whole business.
Reading the NYT’s article made me feel proud of our police and civilised society, the public support this case generated, how the media was curious to know the reasons why these young women’s lives turned out the way it did. They were not condemned for being prostitutes. Atlantic City needs a strong local press to stand up to police and officials and demand that they be kept fully informed and given assurances about their search for a possible serial killer who could strike again. But perhaps they are also concerned about the impact of this on local tourism and their advertising revenue.
It is tragic to know that these shocking murders is being largely ignored because the victims were prostitutes. At least one killer is still on the loose there, how can their community feel safe? How many deaths will their officials turn a blind eye to? Should tourism and casino revenue be considered more important than justice?
Thanks for this post, really excellent.
Whilst I’m not sure I’ll go so far as saying I’m proud of the police I do think the public reaction in this country really did us credit (for a change?)
If the murders have been “played down” for the sake of casino revenue that is appalling. I can’t believe what Levinson admitted, either! Yet it is not all that long ago, in the UK, that women’s lives were held cheaply.
Jim Jay, I meant to add in my post that I have had personal experience of Suffolk police’s handling of murder hunts too and always found they were very helpful to the press and did not look down their noses at us like other forces. For example, if they said they were going to ring me at home on a Sat night night with an updated statement, they kept their word. That was a first for me.
Great post Ellee I agree with you entirely- I found that the absense of condemnation for these women being prostitutes was very heartening, apart from Richard Littlejohn, I didn’t read any condemnation. I wasn’t aware of the contrast before this with the American experience but thanks for bringing this up.
To echo the other commenters, Ellee, this is an excellent, if sobering, post. I suppose we would have to hope that, if British attitudes can change for the better over a relatively short time, so might American attitudes.
Whilst the difference in the approaches taken by the two sets of officials is clear, is there any indication of what, if any, stances were taken in media coverage of the Atlantic City murders?
Ian, If you read some of the links with this post, they refer to newspaper reports from Atlantic City, but they are factual reports, they do not show that the paper is proactively taking a lead and demanding answers. Nobody seems to be.
Fascinating stuff and – although the context is rather ghoulish – it’s certainly a good antidote to some of the ‘British society going to hell in a handcart’ stories we often see in the news. Compared to some, I think we’re still doing alright.
Drive by shootings, gun lobby – it’s a violent society over there. Even hire cars show no markings for fear of attracting attack.
Well, Ellee, I spent an hour responding to this last night… and the lengthy response vanished into the ether. Sorry.
I’m delighted to get a mention from David Brain,
President & CEO of Edelman PR Europe, on his Sixty Second interview post, many thanks. We are talking big boys here.
Curmudgeon, I’m sorry that your comment didn’t come through for some reason, I know it would have been excellent because of your legal background and living in the States too, but thanks for your time. I checked moderation and it wasn’t there, I don’t recall this ever happening before.
Thank you Ellen for posting about the differences in the cases. Thank you for stopping by, reading my personal story.
This quote speaks volumes about the attitudes relating to how we view women in the sex trade industry. Women have been forced into this industry and have no help. These women are our human beings and deserve a voice.
“But in Atlantic City, it seems the equally shocking deaths have all but been brushed under the carpet. They remain unsolved, there are no public appeals for help, no warnings for women to be on their guard.”
Women need to be aware about sex assaults in our communities. It does not happen in many communities. The education awareness of officers is still important to bring awareness in prevention and understanding the impact of sex related crimes in our society.
Sincerely Holly Desimone
Holly, Let’s do what we can to bring it to the attention of the public and officials in Atlantic City via our blogs, hopefully the message will filter back to them.
Good post, Ellee. When prostitutes are not safe potentially no women are safe, as was learnt from Peter Sutcliffe.
Ellee, I totally agree with you, we need to do more to let the Atlantic City Officials know the women murdered have a voice.
The murdered women should not die in vain, we can bring this to the officials. We want justice for the murdered women. I look forward to blogging about the case.
Email me when you can Ellee.
Sincerely Holly Desimone
I believe the silence of these women’s voices has been made quite clear by the complete lack of value placed on these women lives with the statement “the lack of outrage is because of these women’s lifestyles.” An elected official made this quote and unfortunately his remarks although repulsive are repeated quite frequently and in many other ways against women. Unfortunately Dennis Levinson is the highest ranking elected official in this area and the leader of the reigning political party, the only newspaper in town follows his lead.
Although our police and investigators work tirelessly, the voice of a man who obviously would benefit from therapy is the only one heard. As a people we should and I am ashamed he is the one to speak to the world the thoughts of the people in this area, as I do NOT share his beliefs.
I remain hopeful the perpetrators will be brought to swift justice, I pray the investigators are allowed to continue working without his loathsome beliefs slowing them down.
His statements would have us believe the police work according to the want of the public rather than the doing the work of the Justice system. As the Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson has the duty and responsibility and is in fact required to treat his constituents equally, ensure justice equally, access to government and as we read he does not value women.
Unfortunately Elle, if you look to Dennis Levinson your words will fall on deaf ears.
Jacquelyn, I’m really sorry to hear that, why doesn’t anyone question Dennis Levinson about this?
I’m going to a meeting in Ipswich soon to discuss the police handling of this case and will refer to the differences with Atlantic City Police. Maybe we should send you some of our officers to assist.
[…] I’ve written about this subject before, and raised the question of legalised brothels, and the many comments give a valuable insight into various views on this. We clearly need to tackle the drug issue, the reality is that prostitution will continue and forcing it underground will not help their safety. […]
[…] You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. 2 Responses to “Would you recognise this abductor?” 48) { this.width = 48; this.height = 48; } ; if (this.width < 48) { this.parentNode.title = ‘Iscriviti a MyBlogLog.com!’; this.src=’http://www.mybloglog.com/buzz/images/pict_none.gif’; this.onload=void(null); }” alt=”MyAvatars 0.2″/> 1 Tom Paine says: May 10th, 2007 at 11:10 am I don’t profess to be an expert in these matters, Ellee, but I sure that the British approach is not always right. […]
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How America’s murdered prostitutes compare to those in Ipswich