Disturbing

The Pirate with a Permission Slip had a link to this LawDog Files post, where I found this VERY disturbing story.

Now, I believe I have a pretty strong stomach. When I was younger, I looked forward with great anticipation when the local locker would come out and do on the farm butchering of cattle and hogs. .22 mag to the skull, a quick slice of the throat, and get to cutting. I have seen pictures of people severed in half in car accidents, and the chunks of a body in a wagon after going through a silage chopper. But this story really made my skin crawl, to the point of a slight bit of nausea. And then throw a heaping helping of anger on top.

For those of you who didn't read the story, here is a short rundown. 24-year old Meredith Emerson was out for a walk/run along the area of the Appalachian Trail in Georgia. 61-year old Gary Michael Hilton had spent some time walking with here, but was not able to really keep up, so finally, he got ahead of her and accosted her on the trail with a knife. She fought back, caused him to lose the knife, and he pulled a baton, which he also lost in the fray. The two ended up falling down the side of a hill. Finally, Hilton overpowered Emerson, bound and kidnapped her. She would continue to fight to stay alive for 4 DAYS until Hilton murdered her. During the time that Emerson was still alive, police had named Hilton as a "person of interest" in the disappearance of Emerson. On the first night of her captivity, Hilton raped Emerson. He tried to rob her by getting her ATM card and trying to make withdrawals. Emerson gave the wrong pin number multiple times, still fighting. In the end, Hilton would bludgeon Emerson with a tire iron and decapitate her.

In his interviews with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Hilton would give the details of the days, saying that Emerson nearly overpowered him in the initial fray. He talked to authorities about taking walks together during the captivity, claiming she was "free" but if she ran he would shoot her. This case is so demented that Hilton said it was "difficult" to kill her, because they had spent the 4 days together.


One of the telling parts of this story, is a quote from an agent from the GBI:
"That's one thing that broke my heart in this case," Bridges said. "She was doing everything she was supposed to do to stay alive, and we didn't get there in time."

4 days was not enough time. But what about 3 minutes. If Miss Emerson had been armed with a personal protection firearm, this may have been a very different story. Or what if it had happened at an apartment. I live in the country, about a mile outside of town, and 1/16 of a mile from the county line. The only time law enforcement comes by my home, is in pursuit of someone. The odds are that it would take at least 2-3 minutes for the town cops to get to my house, and the county would be 5-10 minutes at minimum. There is a whole lot that can happen in 3 minutes. Or put yourself in a situation that I read in Ted Nugent's "God, Guns, and Rock n' Roll." Picture this. You are in a fast food restaurant in a busy shopping mall, enjoying a hamburger. There is a young woman sitting a couple of tables over. In the blink of an eye, two men grab the woman and drag her out of the restaurant and into the commons area. What would 3 minutes feel like to this woman? What could transpire in 3 minutes? How many people could be killed in 3 minutes? How far could you run in 3 minutes? Could you get to a parking lot? What about with 5 minutes? But, an armed citizen who doesn't panic in a high stress time, could take a kidnapping, or a murder, or a massacre and turn the tables. It is like the attacks at Virginia Tech and NIU. One person armed and willing to take action to protect themselves or others, can and will make a difference. And while we have very good Law Enforcement Officers who lay their lives on the line, they cannot be everywhere all the time.

It is time to Stop Making Victims.