commentary by Patrick H. Moore
Millions of American true crime fans, and I include myself among them, fantasize about being CRIMESTOPPERS. In fact, someone recently sent me an excellent book called The Skeleton Crew by Deborah Halber, which describes how amateur sleuths by combining curiosity, patience, a passion for justice and the internet are increasingly collaborating with law enforcement, with some success, to crack cold cases that have been languishing for years.
These so-called amateur sleuths are obviously mostly adults who, in most cases, have been enthusiastic followers of true crime for years or even decades.
Now, however, we have a truly heartwarming case out of Ferndale, Washington in which – believe it or not – a 4-year-old girl cracked a case leading to the release of a wrongfully arrested individual and the apprehension of the real criminals.
Rheanna Murray of Good Morning America writes:
A 4-year-old girl helped solve a crime after her babysitter staged a burglary at her home, police said.
The babysitter reported that two black men armed with a gun and knife barged into the Ferndale, Wash., house where she was watching three children on Wednesday, the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office said.
In what appeared to be a reasonable story, the teenage babysitter told police that the burglars forced her to take the children and leave the house while they did their dirty work. To add insult to injury, the villainous babysitter then led police to a neighbor who fit her description of the suspects, and he was promptly taken into custody, according to Whatcom County Sheriff Bill Elfo.
Thus, it briefly appeared that the babysitter had succeeded in successfully pointing an accusatory finger at the perpetrator. The babysitter’s ruse soon unraveled, however, when the 4-year-old told police the burglars were white, not black.
Not only did this heroic child set things straight but she did it in rather “colorful” fashion. We’ll let Sheriff Elfo describe:
“She described the suspects as having peach-colored skin as opposed to having dark-colored skin.”
Once the little girl “spilled the beans”, it didn’t take long for law enforcement to get to the bottom of things. Although the specific details of the interrogation of the baby-sitter are not available, we can probably assume that the investigators put the fear of god in her. In any event, she eventually admitted to police that she, her 16-year-old boyfriend, and another 18-year-old friend were the ones who actually carried out the burglary. She served as the inside point person and let the two inside the house, where they absconded with around $1,500 worth of the family’s belongings, including laptops, game system components and a piggy bank, according to a police report.
(My god, these kids were so lowdown that they even stole the piggybank. That alone suggests they should be tried as adults. Not! Though, of course, the 18-year-old burglar will automatically face adult charges.)
The babysitter and her boyfriend’s name haven’t been released because they are not of age. The third accomplice is Ruben J. Benjamin, age 18. The three conspirators were arrested and face theft and robbery charges.
Once the officers had sorted things out, the African American neighbor who had been taken into custody was released.
Oddly enough, even though this was a relatively small-scale burglary, the Sheriff’s Department could not resist calling in the SWAT team.
“It caused us to use a large scale of our resources. We had our SWAT team on the scene,” Sheriff Elfo said. (When will they learn? Or should I say, “They never will learn.”)
* * * * *
The good news is the wrongfully arrested and racially-profiled neighbor was released and the real culprits have been apprehended, all because a little girl just happened to point out that the villains were “peach-colored”.
Good morning, America!