Not a young blonde (which is why this isn't news, I guess)

[MADem]

Here we have a fascinating guy with a rich life, who was a bit mysterious, who is dead....killed in brutal fashion, with no clues. You'd think the media would be ALL over this story--it's got questions, it's got angles, it's got a ton of people who would be great interview subjects...but what it doesn't have is pictures and videos of some young girl in skimpy outfits, so we don't see anything about it on our Tvs...

http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/news/ci_5109413

Mystery surrounds campsite slaying
By Ruby Gonzales, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 01/29/2007 12:16:53 AM PST


ANGELES NATIONAL FOREST - Alexander Ivan Roglinov once told a friend that when he was up in the forest, he felt close to God.

For 20 years, he regularly made camp there.

On Dec. 12, a maintenance worker found his campsite in disarray and Roglinov dead with multiple shotgun wounds...The killer ransacked the 61-year-old's 1984 Honda Civic CRX but did not touch his bank card, his car keys or a small amount of cash.

Roglinov's digital camera, however, is missing.

Who killed him and why remain a mystery. Detectives say they have no leads...The man himself was a mystery. Few knew that he was homeless .....

[Cabcere]

1. That's so sad.

:( I hope they find out who killed this man. :kick:

[MADem]

2. Me, too. I think a little media coverage would probably solve the case, too.

It's a fascinating story, the guy lived a very interesting life, he had many friends. This case could be solved, I think, if the media would bother to report on it...

[SteppingRazor]

3. To address the "why isn't the media on this" angle...

according to the FBI, in 2004, more than 6,000 murders went unsolved in the United States.

Source: http://ask.yahoo.com/20060531.html

Given that, it's difficult to say that national media attention should be specifically focused on this death. If the national media were to focus on every unsolved murder in the country, that would mean about 20 unsolved murder stories each day. So, obviously, it's logistically impossible.

The question should not really be why isn't the media all over this, but rather, why does the media insist on covering local crime stories when they involve pretty young white women?

[MADem]

4. This isn't your average murder, though. Most murders are committed by relatives

or someone the victim knows, and they usually get killed at home. When homeless people get killed, the person is often isolated from society, mentally or physically ill, with substance abuse problems--this guy doesn't fit any of those 'typical' profiles...

Here we have a homeless-by-choice, free spirit guy, from abroad, who had an interesting career, who had varied interests, who had all these friends...he's not your average murder victim. He wasn't killed in the kitchen with a knife after a drunken brawl, he wasn't clunked over the head with a fireplace poker by his wife's boyfriend, none of his stuff is missing, save his camera (was there a pic of the murderer in it???), there were multiple shots, suggesting it WAS someone he knew and the crime was one of passion, he wasn't robbed, he has a load of friends who want to know what happened...it just seems ripe, to me, for a LITTLE coverage, anyway. It's more interesting than your average, pedestrian murder. It's the most curious murder I've read about, lately....

[SteppingRazor]

5. I grant you it's not like most murders, but...

the ones you're talking about -- where someone gets stabbed in the kitchen during a drunken brawl, to use your example -- are among the ones that get solved. Even assuming that many of the 6,000 murders that went unsolved in 2004 were just these "average" homicides (caveat: I know that seems kinda cold, given that somebody died, and died horribly, in each of these instances, but you know what I mean) -- say, 90 percent (and I think I'm being very liberal here) -- that would still leave 600 murders a year that would have some outre factor that would entice media coverage. That's still about two murders every day.

I don't think it's the national media's job to cover local crime stories. In fact, if the media is going to help bring a killer to justice, it's a job that's probably better left to local television and newspapers.

Of course, that is just my opinion.

[MADem]

6. I dunno, to me, this whole story reads like the script of a COLUMBO episode.

I find it fascinating, and I'm curious to know who did it, and why.

It's funny how some murders are "pick and choose" events for media coverage, and the media prefers to cover the "helpless female" murders, over and over and over, it seems--there was the Crista Worthington murder, which got a load of coverage (but then, there was a live child found at the scene), the Natalee Holloway murder, which was a young blonde, the Laci killing (pregnant woman), the JonBenet business ... it just seems that the media cares less about older people, even fascinating ones, and that's a shame. We should care about every murder.


If maybe the media reported on a few more of them, and maybe pumped up the quantity a bit, instead of rehashing the same old stories over and over, people might be inclined to tell what they knew and solve a few more of these things. It might also make people realize that there IS crime in America. I don't think it's an accident that AMERICA's MOST WANTED is one of the most popular TV shows...they do what the cable news outlets should be doing.

[SteppingRazor]

9. Good points, certainly...

but I worry whether even more focus on sensational crimes is what the media should be focusing on. Bowling for Columbine springs immediately to mind.

[A Simple Game]

7. And just what would you have them do if they did catch them?

Let some of those dangerous pot smokers they spend all of their time catching out of prison to make room for a paltry 6000 murderers?

What kind of American are you anyway?

[SteppingRazor]

8. ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!!

Clearly, the answer is to build more prisons :eyes:

[A Simple Game]

10. You should have said privately run prisons!

Why do you hate capitalism?

LOL