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| Girl's Abduction Has Rare Happy Ending, Sad Moral Chicago Sun-Times July 5, 2007 http://www.suntimes.com/news/commentary/456397,CST-EDT-edits05b.article The story of the kidnapping of 6-year-old Linnea Miller is a tale of joy and caution. The joy part is that the little girl was returned safely to her parents, Jay and Cindy Miller of Oak Park, within hours of being abducted. The man who kidnapped her drove Linnea around for a couple of hours and then released her on a Chicago street, instructing her to tell a mail carrier that she was lost. The U.S. Postal Service employee quickly took the girl to a family he knew on that street. That family asked Linnea her name and used the MySpace Web site to help find her family — a rare bit of good news coverage involving the combination of Internet and children. Linnea was soon reunited with her family. As we've seen all too often, the kidnapping of a child by a stranger rarely ends well. So Linnea's safe return to her home is indeed something to celebrate.
The caution part comes in the circumstances of the abduction. Linnea was playing alone in a sandbox in the backyard of her home behind a chain-link fence. The kidnapper lured her out of the yard and into his car and drove her away. Most parents think of the backyard as a safe haven from the risks in their worst nightmares. So another one of life's illusions has fallen by the wayside. "I've never had a fortress mentality, and I don't want to start," said Jay Miller, "but I don't know . . ." We understand how he feels. |
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