Such a disturbing and frustrating episode of the show.
The whole situation could have been avoided had this kid either A. Not had a cell phone at 12, or B. Had used his head. He literally had 4 hours of texting this random ass stranger he'd never even heard of to decide, "Hmm, maybe this isn't a good idea." But he just kept getting suckered back in. Why was he up so late anyway? And what was he expecting? What kind of "sexual acts" can 12 year olds even do with each other anyway? Have they even reached puberty yet?
I know it's a difficult situation to judge, especially from an adult perspective because most adults wouldn't be that naïve. Obviously he was only 12, but still. UGH. It was just so sad and I felt so horrible for his poor mother. This isn't one of those cases where the idiot parent is to blame for their kids idiotic behavior. There was nothing she could have done to prevent this from happening. Same with his poor friend who was with him in the house the whole time asleep. If only he had somehow woken up and convinced him not to go out.
But I have to say that even at 12 (almost 13), I knew never to get in a car with a stranger at 3 AM! That should just be basic common sense EVERY child is taught!
Sorry if this sounds at all insensitive. I stupidly watched this episode shortly before going to bed and I couldn't sleep well because I was so disturbed and angry at the whole situation this kid let himself get into. Such a shame and a waste of life. This poor mother will have to live the rest of her life imaging her kids last moments.
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cdjunkee-1
9 years ago
You would be surprised at how naieve adults can be. I am 30 and my friend was willing to move in with a stranger (they had not met!) because he "loved her" and "wanted her to be on his Cooking show." She still lives at home. Needless to say this show came to mind and I talked with her for awhile saying meeting up with strangers is how people get hurt or swindled. You just don't do it!!
~Keep on Trucking!~
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GraceFromSoCal
9 years ago
You didn't come off sounding insensitive to me at all. Just REALISTIC. And I'm a realist, so that's good!
You're so right about how this whole thing could've been avoided. One thing I disagree with, however, is the idea of not getting into a stranger's car. In THIS scenario, it was a taxi--and Justin THOUGHT his new 'friend' had ordered the taxi for him. In his eyes--his 12-year-old's naive, trusting eyes--the taxi was the 'safe' part. He had no idea that the taxi driver was actually the new 'friend' he was talking to online.
--
http://www.CaliforniaDreamsPhotography.com
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amarti76
9 years ago
No it doesn't sound insensitive. Even the mother seemed frustrated while she was retelling the story. She was angry with him but also sad because she wished he would have been more careful. Some kids today don't think and that's frightening for any parent to imagine. We wish our children heed our advice and listen to our when I was your age speeches but we can't help what they end up doing. There's a significant amount of predators out there that have access to our lives through social media. It's truly scary...
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justKryptonite
9 years ago
It all seemed too familiar to me. I had a friend at 13, when AOL was just becoming popular, he started talking to people online and then told me he was sneaking out in the middle of the night and taking off with them! I told my mom who then called his mom and that put a stop to it but he was not happy with me at all! He didn't seem to see the danger in what he was doing, this case reminded me of how trusting kids can be.
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Phantasm01
9 years ago
Hey when I was 12(and keep in mind I'm a female) but I already had my period. I had sexual feelings the few times I decided to stay up late and sneak around to watch Cinemax(or Skinimax as so many called it then). So the idea that him being only 12 would've prevented him from performing sexual acts is ludacris. Also at 12 I was allowed to stay up as late as I wanted as long as it wasn't a school night. So him being up late isn't all that unusal either at least not going by my childhood. But my mother was very smart about teaching me about "stranger danger" and I watched enough scary movies that I would've never gotten into a car like that. But kids/young teens can be really naive at times. Even the investigator interviewed about this case said as much.
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