Sex Offender Alert

West Fork Sex Offender Fails To Register, Deputies Say
Posted on: 3:35 pm, January 21, 2014,
by Shain Bergan


Deputies on Monday night found and arrested a West Fork man accused of running off after failing to register as a sex offender in Washington County, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Michael Roth, 39, was arrested on suspicion of failure to register as a sex offender. He remained Tuesday in the Washington County Detention Center on $10,000 bond. His arraignment is set for Feb. 3, according to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.
Sex offenders are required to register with the Sheriff’s Office every six months to verify their home locations. Roth began registering with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office in March 2012, but failed to re-register with the county the following year, according to an arrest warrant for Roth.
A detective with the Sheriff’s Office attempted to contact Roth at his West Fork home after his failure to register, but was notified by the landlord that Roth had not lived there in about a month. Authorities later located Roth and arrested him, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Roth was arrested in 2002 on suspicion of incest and other felony charges. As part of a plea deal, he pleaded guilty in 2004 and was sentenced to four years in state prison, according to court documents.
The suspect fled from authorities following the plea deal, but was located and arrested in 2007, court documents show.
Roth’s only other appearances in Washington County court records are in two protection order cases. Roth had two domestic abuse protection orders placed against him by two women, one in 2003 and the other in 2007, records show.

AMBER ALERT THROWBACK - Bush Unveils Upgrade of Amber Alert System

Bush Unveils Upgrade of Amber Alert System

By ELISABETH BUMILLER
Published: October 3, 2002

President Bush listened with tears in his eyes today to wrenching stories from the parents of missing or murdered children, then announced that the federal government would spend $10 million to improve the Amber Alert systems set up to notify the public about abducted youths.

Mr. Bush also said that the Justice Department would name a new Amber Alert coordinator, and that it would develop a national standard for Amber systems -- which include broadcasting messages on television and radio stations and posting information on electronic freeway signs -- to try to accelerate the dissemination of alerts.

''The kidnapping of every child is a parent's worst nightmare,'' Mr. Bush said at a White House conference on missing, exploited and runaway children, with a large backdrop of photographs of missing children behind him. ''Yet too many moms and dads have experienced this nightmare across America.''

Mr. Bush added that he and his wife, Laura, had just met with parents ''who have had the most precious person in their lives suddenly and brutally taken away from them.''

Those parents included Rebecca DeMauro Petty of Oklahoma, whose 12-year-old daughter, Andria, was abducted, raped and murdered by an uncle in Arkansas in 1999. Ms. DeMauro Petty, who wore a lapel pin with her daughter's photograph, told Mr. Bush of how the killer even took part in the search for her daughter.

''God bless you,'' Mr. Bush said.

The president also heard from Sharon Brooks of Lancaster, Calif., whose 16-year-old daughter, Tamara, was kidnapped in August with another teenager, Jacqueline Marris, in a nationally publicized abduction. The two were later found through the Amber Alert program, and their abductor, a man identified as Roy Dean Ratliff, was shot to death after resisting when sheriff's deputies pulled over his car and ordered him out.

''The Amber Alert system is, I'm sure, what saved Tamara and Jackie,'' Ms. Brooks said.

Mr. Bush met with Ms. Brooks and the other parents a few blocks from the White House at the Ronald Reagan Building, where the conference was held. Mr. Bush announced the conference this summer as concerns about a rash of kidnappings heightened across the country, even though statistics show that the number of child abductions by strangers has fallen in recent years.

According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, about 100 children are abducted by strangers each year, down from a range of 200 to 300 during the 1980's.

Amber Alert programs have been adopted in at least 20 states in recent months, including New York, New Jersey, California and Florida, and in dozens of smaller areas. The system was named for Amber Hagerman, a 9-year-old girl who was kidnapped six years ago from Arlington, Tex., and killed.

Last month, the Senate passed a bill to provide $25 million to help establish a national Amber Alert system. Mr. Bush urged the House of Representatives to pass a similar measure.

Overcoming Victimization Through Empowerment and Education

By Rebecca Petty

The abduction of a child is every parent’s worst nightmare. In the event of a child abduction, that child can be taken away from their family at the rate of a mile per minute. Within an hour of an abduction, a child can be as far away as 60 miles, staggering if you think about it in those terms. In the event of a child abduction, swift action must be taken and law enforcement called immediately. Many people are still under the misconception that law enforcement cannot be called in until the 24 hour mark is reached, but this is simply not the case anymore. Sadly, we have all learned that time is of the essence in the case of a missing child. In 76 percent of child abduction murders, the victim was killed within 3 hours of the reported abduction, and in 89 percent of child abduction murders, the victim was killed within 24 hours. (Gregoire, C., US Department of Justice Office of Juvenile Justice and Deliquency Prevention. 2006)

The importance of contacting law enforcement cannot be stressed enough. In the event of a true child abduction, a myriad of people will become involved in the search for the missing child including the community in which the child lives. The people in the community can help immensely in the return of a missing child by holding candlelight vigils to bring awareness to the missing child and by assisting in the search for the missing child. Community involvement is sometimes the key in the return of the child, whether alive or deceased.

May 15, 1999, 12-year-old Andria “Andi” Nichole Brewer was babysitting at her father’s rural Arkansas home when a knock came at the door. Her two younger stepsiblings said it was “Uncle Karl,” and that he said her grandparents were ill and she must immediately come with him. Brewer left under the assumption that she was going to her grandparent’s house. A three- day, state-wide search ensued, which included local and state police, the FBI, and hundreds of community volunteers who collectively scoured the rural area in the Ouachita Mountains. The frustrated Sheriff, Mike Oglesby, commented that Andi seemed to have disappeared off the planet.

The nightmare is not knowing what happened to your child and not knowing who did these terrible things to your child. (Walsh, 1997). “Uncle Karl,” an uncle by marriage, confessed to kidnapping Brewer and taking her ten miles away to Cove, Arkansas. He drove her down an old logging road west of town where he brutally raped and strangled her to death. He then covered her nude body with scrub brush and threw her clothes in Buffalo Creek. He then proceeded to his parent’s house where he shared a cup of coffee with his father and then, upon a frantic call from his wife, returned to help search for Brewer. He assisted in the search for her for three days and finally confessed to the state police and FBI upon the failing of a polygraph test, shortly thereafter, he led authorities to her body.

Andria “Andi” Nichole Brewer was my daughter. Her short life set my own life on a path of creating a legacy for my daughter and made me realize that the only way to overcome victimization was through empowerment and education. It became my passion to ensure that this sort of thing never happened to another child. However, first on the agenda was something that only stood in line behind burying her. That was to attend the capital murder trial for the man who murdered her.

Abduction and Capital Murder
On Tuesday, May 18th 1999, Karl Douglas Roberts was charged with the capital murder of 12-year-old, Andria Brewer. He pled not-guilty in front of a stunned Polk County Circuit Court in the small town of Mena, Arkansas. Prosecutor Tim Williamson was set with the task of not only dealing with Brewer’s family, but also with the task of controlling a community who wanted to hang Roberts on the front lawn of the courthouse. Death threats were coming in for Roberts and even his own family cowered in fear in their homes. Williamson did his job to the best of his ability considering he had only prosecuted one capital murder case and never a case involving a young child. This quickly became a learning event for everyone involved, the State of Arkansas, the community, law enforcement, and the victim’s family. Some of the larger issues were regarding the media, and Williamson handled them with grace. Additionally, to deal with the victim’s family, Williamson assigned Jo Mitchell, a victim advocate for the Prosecutors office. She helped answer tough questions and was there for the family when they needed emotional support. It was after strong support and encouragement from Jo Mitchell that I realized that, one day, I could help others and be there for the hurting families. I was treading on a path few had walked and had empathy for people I never felt before. It was then my stirrings for helping others were born.

Coping with Becoming a Crime Victim Overnight
Coping is one of the hardest things to learn after becoming a victim of violent crime. Trust is nonexistent, hope is out the window, and belief in God is questioned. There are many things to learn. One of the most astounding things I learned was how evil the world could be. Being raised in a middleclass family and not being associated with any type of crime, I was stunned to learn that the average victim of abduction and murder is an 11-year-old girl who is described as a low-risk, “normal” child from a middle-class neighborhood who has a stable family relationship and whose initial contact with an abductor occurs within a quarter of a mile of her home. (Gregoire, C., US Department of Justice Office of Juvenile Justice and Deliquency Prevention. 2006). My knees came out from underneath me as I learned that my young daughter had been brutally raped before being strangled. I will never forget the prosecutor telling this me this fact and his face becoming shadowed to my view as I began to pass out. This happened while picking out a casket, too. When the door opened to the room lined with about twenty caskets for me to choose from that shadowy darkness enveloped me once more and my knees again became weak.

A child’s funeral is awful. The way I remember it was that all of the faces seemed out of place. People that I knew from every aspect of my life had filled the room. My parents. My church friends from Oklahoma. There were people who lined the wall. I recall wailing. Someone said I wailed, but I do not remember this. All I remember is a casket. Pepto Bismol pink. And I remember Amazing Grace, and the drone of a sermon, and pink balloons, and watching that Pepto Bismol casket lowered into the ground. But, I wanted only one thing. To be inside of it, holding her, caressing her, telling her I was sorry I hadn’t been there to stop this, and to tell her I loved her. This was truly the moment when I knew that no parent should ever have to bury a child. It was then I knew that I must be the one to advocate for victims of crime and children.

In the State of Arkansas, a person commits capital murder if they commit murder in the commission of another crime. (Arkansas General Assembly. 2013). In this case, Williamson decided to charge Roberts with the rape and murder. He left the abduction out of the charge in the rare event that something went awry at the trial and he needed to charge the abduction at a later time. In the fourteen years since this crime was committed, he has never had to charge for that felony kidnapping. Karl Douglas Roberts was charged with first degree capital murder and the only hope he had was to receive life without parole. This wasn’t likely in a rural Arkansas county where truly, as politically incorrect as it seems, even blacks were told not to be seen in town after dark. Seems there were two things not tolerated in Polk County, blacks and child killers, although I never could understand the racism issue and blamed it on the character of the Deep South. Wanting to kill a child murdered was another story.

Watching Roberts being led into that courtroom, I could only think of one thing. Andi was dead and cold and he was warm and alive and beginning the fight for his life. Hate had a new meaning, and it was standing in front of me. He was vile and disgusting and hate consumed my heart. I knew even then that this wasn’t right and I was in for the biggest challenge of my life, to live through a capital murder trial.

Facing a Capital Murder Trial
Prosecutor Williamson informed the Brewer family that it would be about a year for the trial to begin. And true to his words the trial began exactly one year to the day Andi was kidnapped, raped and strangled to death. Prior to the trial, I had to admit to myself that I knew absolutely nothing about the criminal justice system or how it worked. This was when my training and the journey of empowering myself began. The wealth of data on the information superhighway became my best friend and was where my true learning started. I became a self-taught lawyer, advocate, and law enforcement guru. Over the previous year, I had already become an advocate of sorts. People began to tell me things such as they had been raped as a child. Whenever another child went missing, the news media would reach out to me for comment as though I had all the answers. I found myself speaking in front of crowds of parents, law enforcement, and my community, and teaching them the dangers of predatory crime against children. I was invited to Washington D.C. to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to become a member of Team HOPE, a group who offers peer support for families with missing or sexually exploited children. And in this, I taught and memorized the language of the law, what law enforcement lingo meant, some of the Latin that was used in terms of the law, actus reus (guilty act), per curium (through the court), modus operandi, (manner of operation or M.O.), and habeas corpus, (to secure the person’s release unless lawful grounds are shown for their detention), the latter is a word that often haunts crime victims for many years in death penalty cases.

The process of grief is difficult. Asking, “why me,” or “why my child,” is a normal human reaction, but not a human reaction that is welcome. It is the wee hours of the morning that are the most difficult and suffering from post-traumatic stress leaves a person exhausted.

Something learned about “why,” was to question whether it was nature, was Roberts some freak of nature? Or was it nurture?

What always is a debate, is it a nature or nurture thing? I can say from the people who I have interviewed, on death row or in prisons around the country, most of them will have some type of violence, psychological, physical violence, sexual violence in the background. However, I’m kind of tough on this because I still don’t believe it should be a mitigating factor, they still have the ability to make choices and [use] free will and they’re making these choices and it’s the wrong choices. (Douglas, J., Olshaker, M. 1999)

To sit through a capital murder trial and realize what a predatory monster did to your child is heart rending. And when Karl Douglas Roberts was sentenced to death for murdering my 12-year-old daughter, I thought that justice had been served. I was wrong on so many levels. I have since learned this was only the beginning of many years of appeals and a lot of work for the State of Arkansas, ACLU, and many appellate judges. All in all, I have learned, a death penalty case, is a cash cow.

Becoming an Advocate for Children and Victims
Being taken seriously became a big area of concern for me. I began to speak out on many issues advocating for victims and children. I found myself in court with victim families, doing media interviews, along with photographing and fingerprinting children at safety fairs. My face and my child’s face became synonymous with keeping children safe. The only problem was that I always seemed to be the mother of that “poor little girl.” People sometimes were overcome with grief when they saw me and at other times I heard people talking bad about all the money I was making by promoting my dead child. It wasn’t true, I never made a dime, but I knew that I had to be taken more seriously. I realized that my lack of education made me seem weak. Even though I had been invited by the White House to discuss the issue of a National Amber Alert in a private round-table discussion with President Bush who ultimately signed it into law, I still knew I had to do more. I needed a college education. I was scared to death when I enrolled in the Criminal Justice program at Tulsa Community College part-time. I began what has been a ten year trek of trying to raise a family, be an advocate, and a student. However, I always knew someday I would complete my degree. Being an advocate for victims and children has opened many doors for me. However, I will never shy away from saying that if I could have one more second with Andi, I would give it all up in a heartbeat. It has always been about creating a legacy for her, not me having a job. But, the more I talked about the case, the more people wanted to hear what I had to say. And they listened.

Still Learning the Ropes
Empowering myself through education has been the key in this tough field. It has been fourteen years since the death of my daughter and I am still fighting for her legacy. It is surreal to think that Andi would be nearly 27-years-old now. For fourteen years, I have fought for crime victims and children. I have met President Bush, shared Andi’s story with him. I have shared her story with Jamie Lee Curtis, Bryan Cranston, Patrick Dempsey, Morgan Freeman, and sat on Oprah’s couch and told her as well. I have become a consultant for the Department of Justice’s Office for Juvenile Justice and Delinquency as well as Fox Valley Technical College. I train law enforcement on the family perspective of child abduction, and I suppose that does make me the expert now. I have lobbied on Capitol Hill for the Adam Walsh Bill and become friends with other advocates, Colleen Nick, John Walsh, Marc Klaas, and Ed Smart, all victims who taught me through the school of hard knocks.

I am also glad to report that nightmares do not come as often as they used to. Fourteen years is a lot of time to heal. I have worked hard, and my skin had to become tough in the face of naysayers who have told me to “let the dead rest,” and that I should be fighting “against” the death penalty, to which I reply, “I was not a juror in this case.” I have faced many challenges and obstacles and in December, I will be proud to walk across the stage and finally, finally, finally receive my bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice. However, I am not stopping there. I plan on advancing forward to graduate school. When that is over, politics seems a logical path for me. City council, state representative, senator, governor?

The event that led me to this career path, is not something I would wish on anyone, the price is too high and no one should have to lose a child. That being said, I won’t stop, a legacy is still in the making and it is for a 12-year-old girl everyone called Andi. A girl who had a mega-watt smile and an infectious giggle. She was taken from this planet far too young and will always remain in my mind as a gentle apparition, one forever trapped at the tender age of twelve. But she will have a legacy. I will see to it.

Always Loved, Never Forgotten

Monday Matters: Murder Victim’s Mother Becomes Advocate, Wants Resolution

Monday Matters: Murder Victim’s Mother Becomes Advocate, Wants Resolution

Andria Nichole Brewer is seen about six months before she was killed in May 1999.

From left, Dexter Thompson, Melanie Thompson, Kristin DeMauro, Rebecca DeMauro.

From left, 10-year-old Andria Brewer, Rebecca DeMauro holding Kristin DeMauro, and Melanie Thompson.

By Jeff Arnold
Times Record • jarnold@swtimes.com
Almost 14 years after 12-year-old Andria Nichole Brewer was raped and strangled, her killer remains on Arkansas’ death row and her family waits for justice.

Melanie Thompson, 24, was 10 years old when her older sister by 20 months was killed by their uncle, Karl Douglas Roberts, on May 15, 1999. The date was the 4th birthday of their half sister, Kristin DeMauro, who will turn 18 and graduate from high school this year.

Thompson, who’s married now and the mother of 2-year-old son Dexter, said she and Brewer were so close that people often thought they were twins.

Now 14 years later, Thompson said what stands out most vividly about the sister she looked up to is her eyes, which Thompson described as “vibrant and full of energy and fun” regardless of the circumstances, even when the sisters got in trouble.

Rebecca DeMauro, 42, Brewer’s mother, said “Andi” loved kids, loved Christmas, loved to laugh and loved to have a good time.

“I don’t want to make her this perfect angel, but she was a good kid. She was kind of a prankster. She loved to ride her four-wheeler. She was just a nice person. She would have been an asset to society,” DeMauro said.

Andi was abducted and killed May 15, 1999, but it wasn’t until two days later, after Roberts offered to help search for his missing niece, that he confessed to her rape and murder and led authorities to her body on a remote logging road near Cove in Polk County.

Roberts’ signed confession offered a chilling and disturbing account of his crime; it was presented at his trial, which started a year to the day after his confession, on May 17, 2000.

Appeals Process

After convicting Roberts of capital murder, the Polk County jury sentenced him to death. Since then, DeMauro said instead of justice for Andi, both Roberts and the justice system have revictimized her family.

After insisting for almost four years that he wanted to be executed, on Jan. 6, 2004, after he’d been served his last meal and met with his family for the last time, Roberts allowed his defense team to file a motion to stay his execution.

While Roberts met with his family, DeMauro and several members of her family were confined to an office where they were to witness the execution on close-circuit television, and remaining members of her family were sequestered in a tent outside in freezing weather.

A federal judge granted a stay, but the matter languished in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Arkansas when the judge fell ill, and it wasn’t assigned to a new judge until after he died in 2007.

The new judge ruled Roberts must return to state court to exhaust appeals before a federal appeal could move forward.

Roberts’ defense team then filed a petition in Polk County Circuit Court claiming he had ineffective counsel, couldn’t receive a fair trial in Polk County and that he was incompetent to stand trial.

In January 2009, Circuit Court Judge J.W. Looney rejected the petition and determined Roberts’ claim of ineffective counsel wasn’t filed in a timely manner.

But an order was entered until 2010, which was necessary for Looney’s decision to be appealed to the Arkansas Supreme Court.

DeMauro said after Roberts was convicted, then-Polk County Prosecuting Attorney Tim Williamson’s office had limited contact with her, and she learned about the delayed order only when reading about it in the Times Record.

Now with the Arkansas Attorney General’s Office in charge of handling the appeal in the Supreme Court, DeMauro said Laura Shue, the deputy attorney general handling the case, is pretty good about giving her regular updates.

Still, the appeals process leaves DeMauro always wondering what will go wrong next and acknowledges it’s impacted her personal life.

“I feel like it’s my job as her mother to see to her last business on this earth,” DeMauro said. “That’s my job as a mom; I don’t think my job as her mother is over and it never will be. I have to make sure everything happens.”

Advocate For Victims

Not long after becoming an advocate for her daughter, DeMauro also became an advocate for children/victims’ rights.

Several years ago, DeMauro said, she held some resentment toward family and friends who suggested maybe it was time for her to move on or let Andi rest in peace, but that resentment is gone.

Through her advocacy work, DeMauro came to understand most people simply don’t know how to deal with victims, and her family and friends came to understand why what she does for Andi and others is so important to her.

However, DeMauro said her passion for advocacy did contribute to the end of her 16-year marriage to Kristin’s father in 2010.

DeMauro is now living in northwest Arkansas and is a consultant for Fox Valley Technical College, where she trains law enforcement on aspects of the Amber Alert, doing a “family perspective presentation.”

“I can’t keep it inside. So it’s sort of a cathartic measure when I go to speak. I put a face to what these police officers are learning about,” DeMauro said. “Basically I start out showing a video of Andi’s life … by then end of the video, I see these officers wiping tears, and then I tell them what went right, what went wrong and what we can do to improve.”

She is also studying criminal justice at Arkansas Tech University with plans of becoming a professor and training police officers.

Thompson said she never resented the energy DeMauro dedicated to justice for Andi or her advocacy work.

She also credits the decisions and strength of her mother made with getting her through the trauma of losing her sister and setting an example for her.

“Her still fighting, still advocating makes me want to be that type of mother,” Thompson said.

Uncertain Justice

Although the advocacy helps DeMauro deal with Andi’s loss, the “what if” aspect and frustration with the appeals process remain.

As she watches Thompson and Kristin grow, achieve and reach milestones in life, she can’t help but wonder if Andi would be a mother, and if she would be in medical school or a teacher like she wanted to be. Even in her grandson, Dexter, DeMauro sees Andi at his age, a “wild child” Andi surely would have egged on.

DeMauro said justice for Andi remains uncertain and ever-present.

When asked if she could accept a life sentence if Roberts successfully avoids the death penalty, DeMauro said she’s accepted that it is out of her hands.

“If that’s what a jury of what 12 people say … then that’s what supposed to happen. I can’t live my life wishing for the death of another human,” DeMauro said. “But I feel the first sentence should stand.”

Regardless of the outcome, DeMauro said it’s time for things to end.

“There needs to be a resolution … one way or another,” DeMauro said. “I want this to be closed.”

Jersey Bridgeman

RIP SWEET GIRL

Jersey Bridgeman


The Bentonville girl who was found killed Nov. 20 died of asphyxiation, according to an affidavit of probable cause released by authorities Wednesday.
A rape charge was added the same day to several other charges against the man accused of killing 6-year-old Jersey Bridgeman.

A swab test on Jersey’s body showed traces of sperm, according to the affidavit. Zachary Holly, Jersey’s accused killer, consented to cheek swabs for DNA comparison. He also gave authorities clothes he had worn since going to bed the night of Jersey’s death, the report states.

Investigators also collected DNA samples from other persons of interest in the case, although police would not elaborate in the probable cause affidavit.
Holly will be held in jail without bond, Benton County Circuit Judge Robin Greene said Wednesday in a bond hearing.

Holly, 28, was arrested Monday on suspicion of killing Jersey Bridgeman. He also faces charges of capital murder, kidnapping and residential burglary.
Several family and friends filled the courtroom during the hearing. Holly’s arraignment was set for Jan. 7.

Holly’s only spoken words during the hearing were, “Yes, ma’am,” when the judge ordered him to have no contact with the Bridgeman family.
Greene revealed she denied a request from Jersey’s father to attend the girl’s funeral, which was held Tuesday.

David Bridgeman is in prison after police said he chained Jersey to a dresser last year at their Rogers home.
Holly lives in the trailer next door to Jersey’s home in Bentonville. He also lives between Jersey’s home and a vacant house where her body was found Nov. 20.
Jersey lived at 608 S.E. A St. with her mother, who called the police early in the morning to report her daughter was missing. Officers found Jersey’s body fewer than 15 minutes later, in a nearby vacant house at 704 S.E. A St.

The probable cause affidavit states Holly and his wife babysat Jersey the night of her death while DesaRae Bridgeman and Bridgeman’s boyfriend were working. Holly later carried Jersey back to her house shortly after Desarae Bridgeman returned around 11 p.m.. He told police he had nothing to do with Jersey’s death, according to the report.

Holly’s wife has been booked four times into local jails since 2007, according to records from the Washington County Detention Center and the Benton County Jail. She was booked into Benton County in July on suspicion of driving with a suspended license and contempt of court. The wife was booked into Washington County twice in 2010, once on suspicion of failure to pay costs, and the other time on suspicion of failure to have proper insurance.

She was also booked into Washington County jail in 2007 on suspicion of writing hot checks, according to records.

Holly went to the nearby E-Z Mart at about 3:30 a.m. for Pepto Bismol stomach medicine and is seen on surveillance video, the probable cause affidavit states. He told police he went to bed after getting the stomach medicine and woke up at 6:30 p.m. to get his four-year-old stepson ready for school.

DesaRae Bridgeman called police at about 6:45 a.m. to report her daughter missing. Jersey and her younger sister shared a bed, but Jersey was nowhere to be seen, the report states. Police estimated her death to have been between midnight and 6:45 a.m.
While on the phone with police, Bridgeman became so upset that she had to hand the phone off to Holly’s wife.

While searching for Jersey, an officer noticed the back door to 704 SE A St. was open. Jersey’s body was found minutes later inside the vacant house.

Attorney General's Missing Children's Day.

Missing Children's Day on Channel 11, Little Rock

Attorney General hosts annual Missing Children's Day Ceremony

I spent the better part of Monday and Tuesday writing a speech for the Arkansas Attorney General's Office for Missing Children's Day. I put the link above in case anyone wanted to watch it. Channel 11 out of Little Rock did a nice piece and I, even though I look calm and collected was, as always, somewhat jittery. It gets me every time thinking that the worst of the worst happened to my daughter. She didn't deserve any of that. AT ALL.

But, in the past 13 years I have learned how to talk to the media, I have learned how to hook a wireless microphone (clipped on the back of my skirt and mic wire up through my jacket to my lapel) to myself. I can say the things I need to say without fear, I can talk about missing children and the things to do to prevent it all day long. Sad that I know all the statics in regards to missing children because I wanted to be a rock star when I grew up and I'm not kidding. I know, everyone wants to be a rock star but I was so certain that I sent a letter to Mutt Lange when I was twelve and he wrote me back (oh, how I wish I still had that letter) and expressed my desire. He told me to work hard, form a band and never give up. As with all the "rock star" dreams of a twelve year old, I put it aside and went on living my life.

Anyway...back to the past 13 years of knowing how to say the right things in front of a camera when you are speaking in terms of your beautiful little daughter who has been brutally murdered by a predatory monster. I know what to say and how to say it. 13 years is a lot of practice. But, one thing I was not prepared for yesterday was the face of one man. This man knows something very personal about me that I would rather be erased from his memory, from my memory. And there he was in that room full of people, ready to sit down to hear what I had to say. I was terrified. How could I talk about it with him looking at me, knowing what he knows, what he had to do to me, what he had to say knowing it would forever change and possible destroy my life forever?

It was Sheriff Mike Oglesby. Oh, he isn't the Polk County Sheriff anymore he's now a US Marshall and rightfully so, but when he told me "that thing," that life altering, heart ripping, thing he told me, my life changed forever. The Rebecca I was five moments before he walked in the door and told me "that thing" he knew is now forever dead. Not saying that he is responsible because he had to say it, had to put an end to the agony of me waiting for my missing child to come home safe. The knowledge he possessed when he walked in the door to tell me must have been an awful burden. I cannot image facing the mother of a 12-year-old girl and telling her "that thing."

He said it slow. While I was trying to run away from him, I saw his face, the grim look of death etched deep in his brow. And I tried to make my own door through the back of the room and only ended up in a corner like a caged animal. I had no other choice but to listen to his words of icky death from the pits of hell and when he said them it seemed to be in very slow motion...

"Beccccccccckkkkkkkkkiiiii, she's deaaaaaaaaaaad and Karrrrrrrrrrrrllllllllll Robertsssssssss hassssssss admittttttttteddddddd to killlllllllllllllllling herrrrrr."

All slow and the room spun.

So, yesterday when I saw him. My heart gave a big leap. He knew I had collapsed that day. He had heard me scream ,"Noooooooooooooooooooooooo!" He knew. He knew it all. And I had to give a speech and speak about how in the past 13 years, I have finally found hope and peace and love again. How through the last 13 years I had come to hate God and then decide I still loved Him. While I gave my speech I looked at Sheriif Oglesby a few times in the back of the room, I could see the outline of his head, but the light was too bright in my face and I couldn't tell if he was crying or not, but most everyone else was crying. I can only assume he got somewhat choked up. I mean, I would have.

I have thought about this a lot in the past 24 hours and after seeing the band Aerosmith last night (it was a busy day) and watching these real rock stars perform I have come to a conclusion about my own life. We are all equally important, whether we make money to perform music to make people happy or we stand up and use our own experiences to help others cope with their own losses. Even if it is one person, even if it is making 17,000 people smile because your music is classic. It doesn't matter. We are all here for a purpose. And I had to smile at something Bill, this wonderful man who God put in my life, put on my FaceBook today and I quote: "Your speech was perfect today! Little Rock's Channel 11 did a great report on you and the entire event. I think you're the rock star. Aerosmith who??? :)"

I'll take that compliment, and even if he's the only one who thinks that, I guess that makes me a rock star. :D And I didn't need Mutt Lange after all.