Posted on 02/09/2008 10:47:48 AM PST by TheRealDBear
Jake Miller admitted it was difficult to separate his emotions from doing his job as a newsman for WGEM once the station found itself in the middle of a investigation involving a fire that destroyed a Northeast Missouri church.
Details were made public Friday about the station's role in providing authorities with information that led to the apprehension of a Marion County, Mo., juvenile.
"This is a perfect example of how everyone can work together for the betterment of the community," Miller said. "This was truly a team effort."
WGEM reporters and editors ended up playing key roles Thursday in an investigation following a fire early that morning that destroyed Mission Hill Baptist Church near Palmyra and its Christian academy.
The fire was originally phoned in to Marion County 911 at 1:57 a.m. Thursday by a passing truck driver.
Local, state and federal authorities have labeled the fire an arson. Authorities said the fire was deliberately set by a teenager who attended the church's school. An arrest was made about 8 p.m. Thursday and the juvenile was later transported to a detention center, according to investigator Chris Flynn of the Marion County Sheriff's Department.
Miller said WGEM received information via e-mail from two different sources saying the fire was no accident. That lead reporters to Web sites where a poster "bragged about burning a church down," he said.
Miller said the Web postings included visuals of what the poster had claimed to have done.
"We obtained copies of the posted messages and pictures and contacted local authorities with that information," Miller said.
Information about the crime surfaced on the www.gamefaqs.com Web site. WGEM videographer Ray Boone did extensive research, sorting through numerous transcripts and related information and after news director Patrice Jordan stumbled across an e-mail that had been filtered into the station's "junk" e-mail file.
Separate e-mails from Florida and Wisconsin were received at WGEM, tipping off the station about the contents of some of the posts.
"It is a site where gamers go to get clues and to chat with other gamers about a variety of topics," Miller said. "On Wednesday night, a poster using the name jediknight12345 asked others on the site's current events page if (the poster) should burn down a church and school."
Miller said the responses treated the post as a prank.
On Thursday morning more Web posts showed pictures taken with a cameraphone plus commentary.
One jediknight12345 post read, "Oh and the best part ... the whole school caught up on fire from three simple little fires. One was a bunch of computers, another a bunch of Bibles and the last was towels in an oven."
Information from jedi-knight12345 directed readers to WGEM's own Web site for more details.
Mission Hill associate pastor Jeremiah Lewis told The Herald-Whig the church always kept its doors unlocked in case a transient needed a place to sleep or someone needed to pray.
"These were good-hearted folks who were taken advantage of," Miller said.
Miller said the story "tested my experience as a journalist and a human being."
Mission Hill, with a congregation of about 200, will hold services at 10 a.m. Sunday in Palmyra High School.
“How do kids get like this...(sigh)”
Stupid parents.
When I was in grade school, the nondenomination community church used the school (two rooms) on Sundays.
After years of saving, they were finally able to build (while I was in college) their own building; and a new minister was hired to replace the retiring pastor.
Just after installing the new organ, but before the first service had even been held, the building burned to the ground.
After investigation, it was found that the new minister's young teenager son had done it. He was angry that his dad had taken the new post, forcing him to move to a new area, and leave his friends & school behind.
I can say that if it weren't for the people on that webstie a ton of evidence may never have reached the auhthorites.
Church fire? Has Bill Clinton been notified? /s
Fortunately he wasn’t attending public school, otherwise he might have done something much worse. /s
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