Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Sarah Ridgeway's Denial

When a reliable denial is not issued initially, we wait.  We wait for more statements to be made.  In this case, the mother has yet to issue a reliable denial, and referenced her daughter in the past tense.  She said that the backpack being located, however, gave a "sliver" of hope. 
We need more sample from the mother.  

 Statement Analysis is in bold type.
The parents of missing Colorado 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway spoke publicly for the first time today and denied any involvement in the disappearance of their daughter, calling her "the rock" in their lives.
"I know I didn't do anything. Everybody that's here knows I didn't do anything," Jessica's mom Sarah Ridgeway said, surrounded by 10 family members, including Jessica's father, Jeremiah Bryant. "Nobody in this room did anything to harm her or a tiny hair on her little head.
Please note that a reliable denial has 3 components:
1.  First Person singular
2.  Past Tense
3.  Event or allegation specific
any additional words mean it is not reliable denial. An unreliable denial does not mean the person "did it"; it only means that they have yet to issue an unreliable denial.  By saying she "knows" she didn't do anything, she is weakening her denial.  It allows for someone else to "know" otherwise. This could have come due to accusation by the FBI where she feels the need to emphasize confidence within herself.  We must note that the father, who was out of state, referenced the FBI, who asked him if he believed that Sarah was involved.  He said he did not.  Her denial could come from that accusation.  It is not a strong denial, and it is, as said, deemed unreliable.  We need to hear more of her sample to know more.  We don't know, for example, why she has been silent since Jessica went missing.  

"Nobody in this room..." is actually stronger, but still does not use the pronoun, "I" in her statement. She introduces "harm", but we need all three components to conclude reliability. 
"If they have to eliminate me, go right ahead," she said. "I know it's something that has to get done. They have to get it out of there."

This would have been a perfect place for her to say she did not do it. 
Bryant said FBI investigators asked him whether he believed Jessica's mother could have anything to do with her disappearance, and he said no, as he was sure she had said when asked about him.
"I don't see how any parent could do something like that to their child," he said.
Jessica Ridgeway vanished Friday when she left to walk three blocks from her Westminster, Colo., home to meet friends for the walk to school. It was a route she took every day, but this time she never got there.

An Amber Alert was issued Oct. 5 for the 10-year-old, nearly eight hours after she disappeared.When Ridgeway didn't show up for class, school officials called her home, but because Sarah Ridgeway works the overnight shift at a tech company, she was asleep. She didn't get the message until later, which delayed her calling police
.to describe "door" in this manner indicates that Sarah Ridgeway may have been sexually abused as a child. 

"She wants to be a teenager before she's a teenager," Sarah Ridgeway said. "I watch her walk out the door and I shut the door and that's the last time I saw her ... walking through that door. I need to walk back through the door."

Being a teenager "before" she's a teenager may indicate angst and it may be that there were relationship issues between mother and daughter that mother may be concealing.  The repetition of "door" is sensitive and may indicate that Sarah, herself, was abused in childhood.  

Sarah Ridgeway talked about her daughter's typical daily routine. Her alarm would go off at 7:45 a.m. and she would go downstairs, watch TV, eat a granola bar and go back upstairs to get dressed. When she came back down, mother and daughter would peel oranges for Ridgeway's school snack and fill up her water bottle.
Ridgeway said Jessica loves school and would never miss it, so she knew something was wrong when she got the call.
We do not have the quote here, but it may be that this is the reason she thinks her daughter is dead; or that police may have told her.  We do not have any quotes from police.  We look to see natural, maternal denial, which is not here.  Yet, she apparently did talk about losing hope, but we are not given the quotes:  

Ridgeway described losing hope little by little as she went to all of Jessica's favorite places -- the park, her friend's house, school -- and discovered that her daughter was not at any of those places.
"Then you get the pit in your stomach that you don't want any parent to ever experience in their whole entire life," she said through sobs.
Police say Jessica's father, who lives out of state, is in a custody battle with Jessica's mother. But both parents were present for the interview and held hands with family members from both sides of their families.
They described a bright and happy 10-year-old girl who loved school, especially math and physical education.    
"She's all of our rock. She's the one that when you're kind of down she's going to come along and she's going to make you laugh, she's going to give you a hug, she's going to give you a kiss," Ridgeway said. "She was the light of the house. With all the people there, it's still too quiet. It's way too quiet. It needs to be lively and happy again."
Please note that the child is described as the "rock" rather than the parent being the rock.  Please note the past tense reference as an indicator that the mother knows or believes that the child is dead.  What has caused the mother to say this?  Is Jessica no longer the "light" of the house?  With "all the people" living there, does the mother suspect that one of them did something to her child?  Does the mother know more than she is letting on?
Jessica Ridgeway's backpack and water bottle were found on Sunday, six miles from where she was last seen. Police say the backpack is vital evidence in a case that has precious few leads.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

How sad that Jessica's backpack and water bottle was found six miles away from the park where she was expected to meet her friends. That is a give away that this little girl will not be returning unless she was abducted by some pedophile who finally decides to let her go, which, as we all know is highly unlikely and almost unheard of. Only if she is being held captive and can somehow break away.

I can understand the mother saying Jessica was more like a teenager as my 10 year old daughter is the same way; I tell ya, it's a sight to behold. There are no relationship issues here, that's just the way she is, as is all of her little girlfriend, all giggly teeny boppers.

I can also understand her saying that Jessica was the happy "rock" in the home, always smiling, happy, keeping everyone else uplifted, hugging and kissing. Exactly like my daughter. She is such a happy child that everyone seems to want a piece of her. My home would be a gloomy and silent place if she wasn't here, so I CAN relate to that too.

But what I do NOT understand is why this mother waited five days to go public and plead for her daughter's return. FIVE DAYS?! THAT makes no sense no matter what she uses as the excuse. I would have been screaming all over the streets and to every media outlet on the planet within minutes of being aware that my daughter was missing. They would have had to sedate and lock me up to stop me. But she waited FIVE DAYS? Now, THAT speaks loudly.

Another thing that turns me off is her statements about them staying strong and they will always stay strong and for HER to stay strong. How in the HELL can anyone stay strong when their child is missing; and how in HELL can they tell their child to stay strong when that child is in a very dangerous situation if even still alive? And, what makes them think the poor frightened child would ever even HEAR them making such a stupid statement. There is a way to plead with Jessica to try to stay strong and to be assured they will find her without being so stupid and this ain't it.

For these two reasons and the mother's lack of sincere and emotional pleading for Jessica, I question everything this mother has said and am looking for her steadfast "I didn't do it" denial, which I don't yet see. I also question whether she had knowledge earlier in the day about Jessica not showing up for school. Why WOULDN'T she answer the cell phone at some point rather than claiming she slept for eight hours. Did she? I hear you Peter, on all these discrepencies. She's definitely on my radar.

New Vintage Studio said...

Sarah's explanation for not answering the phone was ridiculous (the college keeps calling her?).

Anonymous said...

"anything to harm her or a tiny hair on her little head." ???

Rachael said...

Watching the video of the family, it seems that Mom has taken a note from C. Anthony and D. Bradley.

Carry a tissue for those fake tears! She didn't cry at the pit in her stomach that no parent should have to feel. She pretended to. No moisture, no redness, no nasal congestion... nuthin! Compare her to Jessica's fathers presentation.

Anonymous said...

No tears when camera zoomed in to moms face. No actual tears, just noise.

skip said...

"Tiny hair on her little head"... that to me has always pointed to the person saying it having anger issues. I'm not jumping to conclusions on this yet, and apparently there were two sightings of her in Maine, but I'm interested to see more of what momma here has to say.

Vita said...

I am in the midst of watching the video, of the family, primarily mother speaking
Whoa, Jessica is 10 yrs old, and was who's appointed " gopher", her mothers.

n. A low-ranking employee who is made to do the bidding of their superiors. So-called because they are often running around doing various small tasks.

Everything up to the point, where I have listened, is about tasks, obedience and Jessica being dubbed by her own mother, " Our Helper". " I just want our helper back" mother says @ 4:14. Not daughter, not Jessica, but OUR Helper. So many added words I could put here, but I wont.

The verbage of what Jessica did do, as her mother says, She pretended to. She to say of Jessica, she pretended to give foot massages, "She likes to pretend to give foot massages, wipe off of your feet with lotion"

No, she wasn't pretending to give a foot massage, she did give a foot massage. As her mother ends the statement with, wipe off your feet with lotion. Her mother's words though, are " she likes to pretend" to give a foot massage. Therefore, the foot massages given by Jessica didn't qualify as real ?

She then goes on to how Jessica would pretend to be a Waitress. Did Jessica invent this? to make meal time a little lighter? not so " awful" ? put some comedy into it? creating distance between she and her mother. She to say, Jessica would make up names, as she pretended to be a " Waitress". I bet if Waitress "Betty" made an error, Betty wasn't yelled at for it.

She reiterates Jessica's teachers, that Jessica was always the one to stay behind, put up the chairs and so on. Was this how Jessica was trained? she though in school did the extra duties without being asked, without being told. She felt it was needed and necessary, don't all adults need to be appeased?

There is a common thread within the so far said, is that Jessica was a trained monkey.
Not being a smart axx, no. Every tasking that Jessica is said to have done, were to make mother's world an easier task free life. This wasn't a 10 yr old pretending to be a teenager. This was a 10 yr old on auto pilot to keep her mother happy, keep her from flipping out, from mother's retaliating.

Still listening, mother at the 5:45 end is not offering the " last time" she witnessed Jessica, she is using revisiting language, of what she could recall as her daughters normal mornings.

Video: http://kdvr.com/2012/10/09/family-of-jessica-ridgeway-makes-first-public-statement/

---
This doesn't sound good

Anonymous said...

Her comment about "two fisted" was troubling as well. She was too distraught to speak to the media for 5 days but then found the ability to laugh during the interview.
Other than the mother, who was the last person to see Jessica and when? The positioning of her backpack on a sidewalk seems like a planted item. If Jessica was snatched and dropped the backpack, it would be in the 3 block area of the home. To be 6 miles away would mean someone got out of a car and placed it in plain view on the sidewalk. Why would anyone do that other than to mislead police?

Anonymous said...

I didn't think of it that way but now that you say it, sounds like she is trying to disguise having Jessica give her foot massages, bring her food, and who knows what else.
Did Jessica stay behind to help teachers or just looking for some approval from an adult.

New Vintage Studio said...

Exactly, I also have a feeling that Jessica, at 10, was pretty much left on her own. If you listen to her mother's recant of the morning of, most of it is singular (she came downstairs, she watched TV) until she says we made oranges for her lunch. Not buying this at all and neither is LE.

Anonymous said...

According to Dexter Main Police Sergeant Alan Ginnell, a woman claimed she saw a girl that looked like Jessica at about 4 p.m. on Sunday in Dexter, about 30 miles northwest of Bangor, Maine.
The woman said the girl was in a light blue Buick with Colorado license plates. The car had roof racks but she did not see the license plate number.

The woman who called police said she did not know about the missing girl investigation until Tuesday when she was surfing the internet and saw the information about the search for Jessica.


Would you remember having seen a specific girl two days earlier when there was nothing significant about the girl at the time you saw her? She saw her on Sunday but didn't see a picture of the missing girl until Tuesday. Sounds like someone trying to insert themselves into the spotlight.

Lucy said...

Yes, that bothered me as well! Awkward and unnatural language, like storytelling.

Lucy said...

Susan Smith.

rob said...

A few questions:
How many people live in the house? Who are they?
Who was the last to see her, other than the mother?
Why does the dad think he can get custody, if he has a record? What is he saying in court about the mom, the homelife of his daughter?

Lis said...

She says Jessica "was" the light of the house, but then she also says "she's going to come along and she's going to make you laugh, she's going to give you a hug, she's going to give you a kiss," which seems future oriented?

Anonymous said...

Dads tears were real. He was distraught. They say there is no formula for grief, terror, fear panic. I agree. But grief, fear, panic is the emotion one has when one does not know where ones minor child is for five days and in order to be labeled as grief, fear, panic one must be exhibiting symptons appropriate for the category (tears, wailing, anger, stress, trembling etc). I just don't buy that a person psychologically can experience a tragedy and ones entire being not be changed in some visible, evident form by it. Even Deborah Bradley conjured up enough sorrow over the wrong she had to really cry.

Anonymous said...

Wrong she had done to really cry, displaying obvious tears. These people can't even fake it and get it right. GEE.

Anonymous said...

Vita, I agree with your observations about this woman. Here is why I think Jessica loved school and would stay after helping put up chairs etc and it's because Jessica loved school because it offered a reprise for her from her dreadful home and mother and she stayed after school, helping with chairs etc because she tried anything to delay having to go home. I am very interested in finding out why the father was fighting for custodial rights. Didn't he see how miserable she was in that house? Ten years old with no one to wake her up to a nice breakfast just the clanging alarm on her dresser and a candy bar.

Jessica didn't pretend to give her mother foot massages. IMO she hated doing it and did as little as she could, probably squirted a bunch of lotion on and wiped it around and off as fast as she could. Wonder what else this child had to do for her awful mother...

New Vintage Studio said...

Sorry, I can't help but be a bit snarky. Denver FOX 31 posted a video from a "Body Language Expert".

Traci Brown says BOTH of the parents were being truthful.

Here is an except from Traci's Bio: She enjoys using the body language and unconscious persuasion skills she teaches in her presentations in all sorts of business negotiations, with personal clients and has even adapted the skills to talk herself out of an embarrassing number of traffic tickets.

Traci holds a business degree from the University of Colorado and is a certified master practitioner of Neuro Linguistics, Hypnosis and Hawaiian Huna.

New Vintage Studio said...

I believe you are SPOT ON. Yes, she was their ROCK. When the Rock rolled, she was kicked down the hill. So Sad!

New Vintage Studio said...

You should be so inclined PETER!

Anonymous said...

As someone who lived in Dexter, maine. There are less than 4000 people, it's a virtual time warp. Everyone knows everyone, Maine street is full of shops all independently owned. If someone saw an out of state plate, they would most likely remember it..even if it was a few days earlier. Word spreads like wild fire there.