home

Media Over-Saturation With Missing Bride

By Jeralyn, Section Crime in the News
Posted on Sat Apr 30, 2005 at 09:26:42 AM EST
Tags: (all tags)
Share This: Digg! StumbleUpon del.icio.us reddit reddit

How many stories about the missing bride, whom we now know fabricated her abduction, have you seen in the past three days on cable news?

Where is the coverage of Barbara Dehl, the one-time Bush administration crusader against domestic violence, an Ashcroft appointee to the National Advisory Committee on Violence Against Women, now charged herself with kidnapping and methamphetamine offenses.

Barbara Dehl, 49, conspired with her live-in boyfriend and another man to abduct a young couple after the three found money, jewelry and drugs missing from Dehl's safe, police said in court documents....Dehl was indicted by a grand jury this week on two felony counts of kidnapping and one count of trafficking methamphetamine. The men also were indicted on a variety of charges.

Will she blame it all on an abusive boyfriend?

Five years ago, Dehl stood teary-eyed next to Gov. Dirk Kempthorne as he signed a law named after her deceased daughter, Cassandra. The 17-year-old was killed in 1999 by her boyfriend when he purposefully drove off the road while they were arguing. ....After Cassandra's death, Dehl, a divorced mother, tirelessly lobbied state lawmakers to extend domestic abuse protections to teenagers trapped in abusive dating relationships. When "Cassie's Law" passed, Kempthorne said Dehl's efforts would become "one of those lasting legacies ... that will save lives in the future."

In 2002, Dehl was appointed by Attorney General John Ashcroft to serve on the National Advisory Committee on Violence Against Women. She attended a ceremony at the White House the next year when President Bush announced initiatives to combat domestic violence.

She appeared on national talk shows, won state citizenship awards and formed an educational nonprofit foundation dedicated to teen domestic violence prevention.

I'd much rather hear about Ms. Dehl than the missing bride.

Update: It gets worse. There was a corpse found in Dehl's home - of a 22 year old man. Very gruesome story.

< Gov. Arnold Invites Minutemen to California | Comments Now Require Registration >

  • The Online Magazine with Liberal coverage of crime-related political and injustice news

  • Contribute To TalkLeft


    • Display: Sort:
    Media Over-Saturation With Missing Bride | 5 comments (5 topical)
    Re: Media Over-Saturation With Missing Bride (none / 0) (#1)
    by Che's Lounge on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:35 PM EST
    What do you expect? Laci's dead Scott's on death row. Terri's dead. The three month funeral of the Pope is over. We need new material! Why does this bother you? It's perfectly predictable. I'm sure her fiance was more than happy to be interrogated for three days over this. Lucky for him he passed the lie detector. If he had failed, she would have been home free!

    Re: Media Over-Saturation With Missing Bride (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:35 PM EST
    Except that he passed a private polygraph which didn't satisfy police, who wanted their own polygraph - which he was willing to take if they agreed to videotape it, which they wouldn't. How long would it have taken until the media declared him a suspect and the public determined him to be guilty had she not surfaced?

    Re: Media Over-Saturation With Missing Bride (none / 0) (#3)
    by veloer on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:35 PM EST
    The "Bride" story and others of its kink is the reason I seldom, if ever, Watch CNN, MSNBC etc. I have the Fox channel blocked.

    Re: Media Over-Saturation With Missing Bride (none / 0) (#4)
    by pigwiggle on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:35 PM EST
    Until the polygraph I assumed he was guilty. Not being privy to the inside facts I was running on the odds. Sadly, when a woman is murdered it is likely the spouse.

    Re: Media Over-Saturation With Missing Bride (none / 0) (#5)
    by pigwiggle on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:35 PM EST
    I suppose they could be running the story about the member of the Saudi entourage that was denied entry during the last presidential visit. He was on the no-fly list, suspected of ties to active terrorists. Missing the glitz of a soap opera I guess.

    Media Over-Saturation With Missing Bride | 5 comments (5 topical)