Among Friends

[CalminHeart]

Iowa has had 48 young people go missing in the last month.  Located where I-80 and I-35 meet, it's the perfect area for child trafficking, pedophiles, deviants, and killers.  

Another sad aspect to this is that one young person comes from money so her story is all over national and local news a dozen times every day while the other 47 are never mentioned.  

Data/Reports are that these kinds of crimes are on the rise so I'm sure other states are seeing an uptick too.   

My heart breaks for all theses families and young people.

[Imaoldhippie]

I had no idea, so sad.

[riley1]

We aren't far from Rte 95 and this is a huge human trafficking route. It is so sad

[Mominohio]

It might not be 'fair' or 'right' that the wealthy family gets the media attention, but at least it is attention that might help bring light to the subject and help someone else avoid going through this, or help find others in the same circumstance. Things like this tend to start out with one or two 'faces' but can blossom over time as it becomes more of a movement, so maybe that will happen here.

And the rise must be happening for a number of reasons, that I thing would be a real focus of the media. 

Young people often tend to feel invincible and take fewer precautions in their interactions with strangers, drug use, social media making young people (and many less discerning older people too) think they "know" people and connecting them to strangers much easier, disengagement with parents, family, school, friends, and many other reasons might explain why younger people are falling prey to this. Media focus on the possible causes for these people going missing might be of great help in prevention.

[Shanus]

---

@CalminHeart wrote:

Iowa has had 48 young people go missing in the last month.  Located where I-80 and I-35 meet, it's the perfect area for child trafficking, pedophiles, deviants, and killers.  

Another sad aspect to this is that one young person comes from money so her story is all over national and local news a dozen times every day while the other 47 are never mentioned.  

Data/Reports are that these kinds of crimes are on the rise so I'm sure other states are seeing an uptick too.   

My heart breaks for all theses families and young people.

---

@CalminHeart  Could it be that this one family out of 48 was willing to bring it to the attention of the media and the other families decided to remain anonymous? As long as it’s made public and the crime is somehow curbed, I’m not sure their income is relevant.

[Jaspersmom]

I tried to check out your story but couldn't find anything specifically mentioning the interstate.  I did find the following, however, from one of the Iowa news station:

The quest to find Mollie Tibbetts, the 20-year-old who was reported missing in the town of Brooklyn, has brought attention to the hundreds of other missing Iowans.

More than 400 people are currently listed on the Missing Person Information Clearinghouse, and approximately half of those are children. However, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation says the state is not seeing a spike in missing kids.

An average of 12 juveniles are added to the clearinghouse daily, but many are runaways who typically return home or are brought home within 24 hours.

[Just Bling]

I also understand drugs are a big problem.  The farmers give up their land for "plants" of all kinds, I was told by a really close friend, you don't go out at night.

I did not know about the child trafficking, if that's what happened recently, she's gone already.

[Carmie]

Our state police here in Pennsylvania tell us that many of these traffickers go through here on Rt. 81 on their way to NY and back.

Many have been caught. They have a task force to work on this issue.

 Girls from the Ukraine and other areas of Europe, Asia as well as the USA have been rescued. There have been boys rescued too.

It is difficult to believe that humans (using that term loosely) are still enslaving people in our time.

[riley1]

The other part that is strange with the case of missing Mollie - why the heck did she going running alone at night? I don't care where one lives - running alone at night is never a good idea.

[Peaches McPhee]

I was traveling with hubby several months ago and stopped at a rest stop/restauant on an interstate.  Must have been in FL.  For the first time ever, I saw signs in the ladies room about how to get assistance if you were a victim.