Kidnapped girls were raped

ABC News | 8/2/2002 | ABC News

[Gigantor]

Reports coming in that both girls were sexually assualted.

[GummyIII]

FYI ping

[Brad C.]

While I would agree that no 16 year old should be out on the streets at 1:00 am, I would have to say it is difficult and sometimes impossible for parents to be there 100% of the time. My teenager girls regularly spend the night at their friend's house, and we call occasionally to verify. But nothing actually prevents them from venturing out from the home they are staying in.
Even if they just want to "run over to the store", a parent has no way of knowing if that is the final destination. Hopefully, my kids were raised with enough common sense to know what is right or wrong, but that doesn't mean that some whacko won't grab them when they least suspect it.

[CaptainAwesome]

i bet if petronski were in that situation he would be screaming "take my girlfriend just please dont hurt me!!" real tough guy here but i doubt that translates into reality.

[diggerwillow]

The guy was a predator and he would have found any prey that night. Anyone could have been at the wrong place at the wrong time.

[spetznaz]

I am thankful they are safe ....but terribly saddened that they were raped. However they still have their lives and THAT is a good thing. Nope .....a GREAT thing.

[Petronski]

1 -Rape and kidnapping arw not an appropriate punishments for parking.

And I said they were 'appropriate punishments' where exactly?

2 - If the boys had fought back they would have been killed. You've been watching too many Arnie movies, macho man.

So says you, coward.

P.S. What's an Arnie movie, slug?

[Guillermo]

Don't be stupid.

Asking the legitimate question of where parental control was isn't akin to saying they deserved to get raped.

[Jeff Gordon]

They were raped,...

You appear to be delighted with this idea.

[Petronski]

i bet if petronski were in that situation he would be screaming "take my girlfriend just please dont hurt me!!" real tough guy here but i doubt that translates into reality.

You lose, Private Awesome. Will you be providing your dates/wives with an advance disclosure of your attitude toward their safety?

[ValerieUSA]

The rapist was a native American and he had been charged with raping a relative. If that had happened on a reservation, it is not a surprise at all that the rez cops didn't catch him.

[CaptainAwesome]

do you think the parents of the boyfriends would have wanted their sons to fight a guy with a gun pointed at them? its real easy for you to act as if you are some tough guy here but i seriously doubt you would do so if you switched places with the boys on that night.

[Bad~Rodeo]

Well WHY DON"T we just Muzzle AND LEASH our 16 and 17 yo.'s. You obviously are NOT a parent, or at the very least not raising any children yourself. What a stupid comment.

[Aliska]

Maybe it's elsewhere, but it was reported on radio news that an animal control officer first spotted the vehicle and alerted police. Kudos for those people being on the ball!

[hole_n_one]

From what I've heard directly out of the mouth of one of the "boyfriends" was that he was of the belief, by virtue of the Ratliff's demeanor, that not only was his life not in danger, but that he didn't even believe that the gun that was brandished was loaded.

Yet he allowed himself to be bound with duct tape?

[Petronski]

The guy was a predator and he would have found any prey that night. Anyone could have been at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Agreed, except that each individual can control their exposure to that predator by THEY'RE OWN choices.

How many people here are actually endorsing permitting a 17- or 16-year-old being out at 1am+, and parking behind a petrol storage farm?

[MJY1288]

I was afraid this would be announced. 12 hours of terror for those girls. I pray they will find a way to get over what they have been through. Very sad news, the only bright spot is Ratcliff will never harm anyone again

Pray for the Girls

[kdmhcdcfld]

It's also a great thing that it ended the way it did...the girls are safe, and the perp is dead. Justice has been served the way it should be for criminals like that.

[Petronski]

do you think the parents of the boyfriends would have wanted their sons to fight a guy with a gun pointed at them? its real easy for you to act as if you are some tough guy here but i seriously doubt you would do so if you switched places with the boys on that night.

"So, son, if you're date is abducted at gunpoint, hold still while he puts the duct tape on you're wrists. That way, YOU won't be harmed."

[sinkspur]

If the boys had fought back they would have been killed.

Actually, a couple of experts I heard today said that they wouldn't have been killed. Of course, they didn't know that.

If a perp is going to kill you, he's going to kill you early on, in the vast majority of cases. If any one of these four had run off or disrupted the scene, it's likely none of this would have happened.

[luckodeirish]

I don't think too many parents would endorse their kids being out at that time. However, I can remember at that age (OK so it was 20 years ago) having that silly "adolescent immortality", where my friends and I never thought we would get hurt, or suffer the consequences of poor judgement. I can think back on a couple of situations that I got into that were not very prudent, can't we all?