Unspeakable Tragedy Times Two

All murders are tragic.  Along with those elsewhere, the citizens of Chicago seem to be experiencing this on an unthinkable scale these past few weekends.  Persons fatally shot, the loss known and felt only by their families, while remaining largely anonymous to the nation at large.  But sometimes individual murders capture the attention of the media, and thus, the nation, for any number of reasons.  Murders made ever more personal the longer the media keeps them in front of us.  Such has been the case of two unspeakable tragedies, as stories and pictures pulled us so closely into them, it’s almost as if we had become, a concerned national family.

After five weeks of the nation wondering, and hoping, that she would somehow be found alive, the remains of college student, Molly Tibbetts, were discovered, then revealed to us, nationwide, via print, electronic, and on-line media yesterday (8-20-18).  Her body was found in a field, under a pile of corn stalks, on a farm said to be a very few miles from where Molly was staying.  Left there all those weeks by her alleged killer, an illegal, undocumented immigrant. Finally tracked down by authorities, say reports, based on security camera video, provided by a resident(s), showing a vehicle apparently following Molly as she ran past.  Authorities were then able to track down that vehicle, in this small community, leading directly to the apprehension, and reported confession, of the alleged killer. He, Cristhian Rivera, said to be from Mexico, is being held on a $5-million cash bond.

Bad enough to be killed by a disturbed fellow citizen, but even more tragic beyond words to be murdered, allegedly, by an undocumented immigrant, who’d been working here at that farm for several years, and who had, it is reported, successfully passed the federal government’s E-Verify employment verification system (although that may now be in question!).  Regardless, this undocumented foreign national appears to have committed the unthinkable crime.  And Mollie’s crime?  Going out for an evening run after-work, as she had likely done many times before in this peaceful, secluded, rural Iowa community.  The kind of town, rapidly disappearing due to crimes like this, where folks rarely, if ever, had locked their doors.  You can be certain that, now, the residents of Brooklyn, Iowa, like elsewhere, will indeed be keeping their home doors locked.

But were it not for this clearly, emotionally unstable alleged murderer, allowed to be and remain here in America, bright, personable, much loved Mollie Tibbetts would still be alive.  And then neither she, nor Brooklyn, Iowa, would likely have ever been known to the nation.  And for obvious reasons, we all wish that had remained so.  A young woman, in a small town, simply living her life joyfully as planned.  Now dead, dead at the hands, it appears, of an illegal immigrant.  An unspeakable tragedy for her family, and for our nation, as we hear far too often of serious crimes being committed by individuals with no valid documentation, thus with no real right, E-Verify process aside, to be here.

This on-going foreign invasion, underway for far too long, that we have blindly allowed to take place.  Regardless of federal immigration laws, on the books now for decades, that we’ve carelessly allowed to remain unenforced.  And that, principally the fault of weak political will to deal with the law and reality, by those in Congress and in the White House, prior to the Trump Presidency.  May justice be firm and swift, for this jaded individual, and without the rampant, too often legally-entangled delays, so often purposefully exercised within our judicial system.  And if determined to be guilty by jury, may he not be deported, but rather severely punished by the country he so selfishly tarnished, by virtue of his senseless and violent act.

The second unspeakable, very recent tragedy, also followed for several days by the national media, and thus the nation, involved the Colorado murder of two very young children (3- and 4-years old), and their mother, Shanann Watts, allegedly by her husband and their father, a family previously considered by friends to be a very loving one. The wife was found in a shallow grave at the husband’s place of work.  His two daughters were found nearby, submerged in oil drums.  All were discovered within just a few days, after having at first been reported as missing by the husband!  News reports indicated that he has allegedly confessed to the murders, or at least to that of his wife, all to be sorted out by prosecutors and, eventually, a jury.  Currently he is being held without bond, awaiting legal proceedings.

Two senseless tragedies, four Americans taken from our midst, and thanks to the extended media coverage, it indeed felt like they were taken from us all. And, sadly, in the relative blink of any eye, these tragedies will fade from our memory, replaced by the media’s next barrage of events.  And, then, inevitably, only the families and those close, will be left, alone, to deal with their loss. Families and those close, whose lives, like ours, will go on. But will never be the same.