Girl in the Picture - Netflix

[Anonymous]

Anyone seen it?

I just finished it and what a crazy case! I'd never heard of this one even though I listen to tons of true crime podcasts.

This documentary left me saying "wait, what??" so many times while watching it!

It left me wondering something about the 80s/90s but I'll wait to see if people have seen it before asking. I don't want to spoil anything b/c this one is so good!

[Anonymous]

I want to watch it but can’t stomach anything about child abuse - is this part of it?

[Anonymous]

There was a thread on this, but it may have gotten deleted. Not sure why. I can’t find it anymore.

Anyway, yes to the PP, it’s about child abuse, so you should skip it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I want to watch it but can’t stomach anything about child abuse - is this part of it?

Yeah the entire part. I turned it off. Just torture porn.

[Anonymous]

Why was the previous thread deleted?

Anyhow, I watched it. I actually thought they did a good job of not going into graphic details. The story itself is horrific and I actually have more questions about why no one did/reported anything.

[Anonymous]

The whole story was so horrible that I stopped watching it several times but did eventually make it to the end. There was some positivity at the end.

These murder shows make me look at people differently. We really have no idea what is going on with the people around us. He and his "daughter" had friends who noticed horrible things but continued to be friends with them. It's like a lot of the sex abuse scandals we've learned about in that people saw the behavior but refused to believe what was in front of them. Look at the number of people who went to incredible lengths to defend Nassar, Sandusky etc.

I tell myself things are different now and that he would have been caught after escaping jail for his first horrific crime. I tell myself that people will listen when someone speaks up about abuse now because of all we know. I know I'm lying to myself at the same time.

[Anonymous]

OP here and this is what I wonder... exactly HOW prevalent was kidnapping in the 70s and 80s?

I was born in the late 80s.

I mean, the girl in question's mom had here 3 kids taken by this guy but according to her, the police treated it as NBD!? She said she eventually found 2 at an orphanage and then just what? Chalked the other one up to gone forever? Could none of the other 2 kids tell police what happened??

And then one of Sharon's friends said she couldn't believe that Sharon's mom never tried to find her because she too was taken as a child and her mom hunted her like crazy for years. I mean... what?

Did the police just not care or take kidnappings seriously if the parents were on the lower class, lower income side of life? That's how it seems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here and this is what I wonder... exactly HOW prevalent was kidnapping in the 70s and 80s?

I was born in the late 80s.

I mean, the girl in question's mom had here 3 kids taken by this guy but according to her, the police treated it as NBD!? She said she eventually found 2 at an orphanage and then just what? Chalked the other one up to gone forever? Could none of the other 2 kids tell police what happened??

And then one of Sharon's friends said she couldn't believe that Sharon's mom never tried to find her because she too was taken as a child and her mom hunted her like crazy for years. I mean... what?

Did the police just not care or take kidnappings seriously if the parents were on the lower class, lower income side of life? That's how it seems.

The mom was married to the kidnapper which was the big problem. The police, rightly according to the law, told her that it's not illegal to take your kids somewhere without your spouse's permission. Kidnapping was a huge cultural fear during this time, but I think being taken by family members was just beginning to be recognized as something problematic. It's messed up that neither the mom nor the bio dad (although people don't seem as bothered by him) tried to find their child.

[Anonymous]

What I wonder is, was/is it really so easy to change your name and assume a new identity? Crazy story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here and this is what I wonder... exactly HOW prevalent was kidnapping in the 70s and 80s?

I was born in the late 80s.

I mean, the girl in question's mom had here 3 kids taken by this guy but according to her, the police treated it as NBD!? She said she eventually found 2 at an orphanage and then just what? Chalked the other one up to gone forever? Could none of the other 2 kids tell police what happened??

And then one of Sharon's friends said she couldn't believe that Sharon's mom never tried to find her because she too was taken as a child and her mom hunted her like crazy for years. I mean... what?

Did the police just not care or take kidnappings seriously if the parents were on the lower class, lower income side of life? That's how it seems.

The mom was married to the kidnapper which was the big problem. The police, rightly according to the law, told her that it's not illegal to take your kids somewhere without your spouse's permission. Kidnapping was a huge cultural fear during this time, but I think being taken by family members was just beginning to be recognized as something problematic. It's messed up that neither the mom nor the bio dad (although people don't seem as bothered by him) tried to find their child.

It didn’t make a lot of sense to me. Why would a stepdad want to abduct only one of the stepkids? He never had any parental rights unless he adopted her. I’m on Reddit and the hate for the mom is mind blowing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here and this is what I wonder... exactly HOW prevalent was kidnapping in the 70s and 80s?

I was born in the late 80s.

I mean, the girl in question's mom had here 3 kids taken by this guy but according to her, the police treated it as NBD!? She said she eventually found 2 at an orphanage and then just what? Chalked the other one up to gone forever? Could none of the other 2 kids tell police what happened??

And then one of Sharon's friends said she couldn't believe that Sharon's mom never tried to find her because she too was taken as a child and her mom hunted her like crazy for years. I mean... what?

Did the police just not care or take kidnappings seriously if the parents were on the lower class, lower income side of life? That's how it seems.

The mom was married to the kidnapper which was the big problem. The police, rightly according to the law, told her that it's not illegal to take your kids somewhere without your spouse's permission. Kidnapping was a huge cultural fear during this time, but I think being taken by family members was just beginning to be recognized as something problematic. It's messed up that neither the mom nor the bio dad (although people don't seem as bothered by him) tried to find their child.

It didn’t make a lot of sense to me. Why would a stepdad want to abduct only one of the stepkids? He never had any parental rights unless he adopted her. I’m on Reddit and the hate for the mom is mind blowing.

The mom is a mess. She married a predator and got arrested and lost track of one of her kids when the predator took her. It’s not that kidnapping was more prevalent back then to the Pp who asked, but it was easier to get away with. People could truly disappear. No phone signals to ping , no camera footage everywhere, and police agencies didn’t communicate with one another even town to town. This is why Ted Bundy could be so successful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here and this is what I wonder... exactly HOW prevalent was kidnapping in the 70s and 80s?

I was born in the late 80s.

I mean, the girl in question's mom had here 3 kids taken by this guy but according to her, the police treated it as NBD!? She said she eventually found 2 at an orphanage and then just what? Chalked the other one up to gone forever? Could none of the other 2 kids tell police what happened??

And then one of Sharon's friends said she couldn't believe that Sharon's mom never tried to find her because she too was taken as a child and her mom hunted her like crazy for years. I mean... what?

Did the police just not care or take kidnappings seriously if the parents were on the lower class, lower income side of life? That's how it seems.

I don't know about statistics, but I do have a friend who was kidnaped by non-custodial parent and was featured on a milk carton in the 80s!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here and this is what I wonder... exactly HOW prevalent was kidnapping in the 70s and 80s?

I was born in the late 80s.

I mean, the girl in question's mom had here 3 kids taken by this guy but according to her, the police treated it as NBD!? She said she eventually found 2 at an orphanage and then just what? Chalked the other one up to gone forever? Could none of the other 2 kids tell police what happened??

And then one of Sharon's friends said she couldn't believe that Sharon's mom never tried to find her because she too was taken as a child and her mom hunted her like crazy for years. I mean... what?

Did the police just not care or take kidnappings seriously if the parents were on the lower class, lower income side of life? That's how it seems.

This stunned me too. I was born in the mid 1970s and never heard of anything like this. So bizarre.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here and this is what I wonder... exactly HOW prevalent was kidnapping in the 70s and 80s?

I was born in the late 80s.

I mean, the girl in question's mom had here 3 kids taken by this guy but according to her, the police treated it as NBD!? She said she eventually found 2 at an orphanage and then just what? Chalked the other one up to gone forever? Could none of the other 2 kids tell police what happened??

And then one of Sharon's friends said she couldn't believe that Sharon's mom never tried to find her because she too was taken as a child and her mom hunted her like crazy for years. I mean... what?

Did the police just not care or take kidnappings seriously if the parents were on the lower class, lower income side of life? That's how it seems.

The mom was married to the kidnapper which was the big problem. The police, rightly according to the law, told her that it's not illegal to take your kids somewhere without your spouse's permission. Kidnapping was a huge cultural fear during this time, but I think being taken by family members was just beginning to be recognized as something problematic. It's messed up that neither the mom nor the bio dad (although people don't seem as bothered by him) tried to find their child.

It didn’t make a lot of sense to me. Why would a stepdad want to abduct only one of the stepkids? He never had any parental rights unless he adopted her. I’m on Reddit and the hate for the mom is mind blowing.

The mom is a mess. She married a predator and got arrested and lost track of one of her kids when the predator took her. It’s not that kidnapping was more prevalent back then to the Pp who asked, but it was easier to get away with. People could truly disappear. No phone signals to ping , no camera footage everywhere, and police agencies didn’t communicate with one another even town to town. This is why Ted Bundy could be so successful.

You could tell the producers didn't believe a word of the mom's story -- they basically had two people rebutting her directly after she was interviewed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What I wonder is, was/is it really so easy to change your name and assume a new identity? Crazy story.

Yes, it was. The internet has REALLY changed things. My heart goes out to domestic violence victims because it's so much harder now for them to disappear from their abuser.