commentary by Patrick H. Moore
I’ve been a bit hesitant to write about the tragic death of little Jenise Paulette Wright. Perhaps it’s a shallow observation on my part, but there is no doubt that Jenise truly fit the category of “cute as a button.” The thought that a nearly adult male would rape and murder this child is immensely disturbing but that’s exactly what happened. The authorities have arrested the alleged perpetrator, 17-year-old Gabriel Gaeta.
Now we discover that Jenise’s father, Jim Wright (who also faced a child molestation charge some time back), had befriended Gaeta, an Olympic High School student, and was trying to help steer him in a positive direction.
NBC News writes:
The Washington state teenager accused of killing 6-year-old Jenise Paulette Wright is a family friend whom Jenise’s dad had taken under his wing and was trying to teach how to be “responsible to his community,” her father told NBC News on Monday. Gabriel Zebediah Gaeta, 17, a student at Olympic High School, was held on $1 million bail pending adult charges of first-degree murder with multiple aggravating circumstances and first-degree rape of a child. He could face life in prison if he’s convicted.
“It was hard learning [the suspect] was a friend of the family,” James Wright said outside the family’s home in a mobile home park in rural Kitsap County. “We were friends. We fed him. He split wood with me at my house. I was trying to teach him to be responsible to his community — even when we leave home, we are responsible as men.”
Does this suggest that Jim Wright had taken his own “fall from grace” to heart and was trying his best to “be responsible” even as he was attempting to teach Gabriel to do the same? Perhaps, but on the other hand, one cannot help but be taken aback by the fact that when Jenise first turned up missing, Jim and the family didn’t bother to report it until sometime the next day because the 6-year-old often wandered freely around the area, apparently with very little supervision. The child went missing on Friday August 2nd, and was not found until the following Thursday.
Gabriel Gaeta’s responsibility for Jenise’s death seems quite incontrovertible based on the evidence. On Monday afternoon, Kitsap County prosecutors detailed probable cause to hold Gabriel Zebediah Gaeta, 17, on one count of first-degree murder and one count of first-degree rape.
In a probable-cause document, a detective wrote that Gaeta had been linked to the slaying of Jenise Wright through a match of his DNA to DNA found on bloody clothing recovered near Jenise’s body. Jenise’s body was found submerged Thursday in several feet of water in a muddy bog in a heavily wooded area. It was covered by a small wood pallet.
The autopsy revealed the horrible triumvirate of blunt-force trauma to Jenise’s head, strangulation by ligature and sexual assault.
According to a detective, when he was interviewed by investigators after being picked up on Saturday, a highly distraught Gaeta “clearly nodded yes” when he was asked if he was solely responsible for Jenise’s death.
The probable cause document further reveals that in a search of Gaeta’s bedroom investigators recovered the following evidence: blood-stained underwear, a shirt covered in blood and mud, blood-stained shorts and a bloody towel.
Because prosecutors everywhere love to rack up charges like an NBA team running up the score, the murder allegation included the following aggravating circumstances: 1) concealing commission of a crime and sexual motivation; and 2) victimizing a particularly vulnerable victim.
Based on the strong evidence, unsurprisingly, a judge found probable cause to hold Gaeta at a court hearing Monday afternoon and set bail at $1 million. He will be formally charged as an adult when those court papers are filed, according to the Kitsap County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
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On Monday, Jim Wright and his wife Denise Wright argued at a court hearing to regain custody of their two older children, who were removed from the family home after the disappearance of Jenise.
No…
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In an interview, Jim Wright said of Gaeta, “It’s devastating and it’s going to be hard to forgive” (him). Wright further stated that the teen had been to their house “many, many times” and was a friend of their older children. Gaeta’s mother had also been to their home, according to Wright.
Is anyone else feeling sick yet? What I’m particularly struck by is how vulnerable little Jenise was. A “cute as a button child” wandering freely around the neighborhood with little supervision. Her dad is an alleged child molester. He befriends a teenage boy, ostensibly to help him, who ultimately rapes and kills the child.
Maybe I’m being too harsh, but the amount of faith I have in Jim Wright would not fill a thimble. And where was her mother Denise through all this? I’m plagued by the unsettling feeling that Jenise lost her life in the horrible manner described above because she was being raised in a heavily sexist environment where her life simply wasn’t worth very much.
I’m not trying to sound holier-than-thou for the simple reason I’m not holier-than-thou. But to show so little respect for your 6-year-old daughter that you let her wander around a neighborhood filled with one or more predatory males at all hours without supervision is just plain wrong. As the record so clearly indicates…