Delayed Justice

Social media may well be helpful in solving crimes; we’ve seen it used before with some remarkable success as a channel for tips and building community.  Newaygo Chief of Police Patrick Hedlund shared wth us that there now is a Facebook site for Shannon Siders.  For some reason it took me a little while to find it but here it is.

Shannon was a 18 1/2 years old when she was murdered July 18, 1989.  She’d be 40 now, the age of he father when she was murdered.  Bob Siders has a lot to say about his daughter, her life and struggles, and her death.  And we were there to listen: yesterday, videographer Phil Blauw and I drove to Newaygo to speak with Bob and his mother (Shannon’s grandmother).  Their interviews will likely serve as the emotional heart of the new film.

How is this going to play out?  I’d had an idea, a vision of a sort, of how this might work if I could afford to bring my team to bear on this.  And I am working and thinking my way through it.  There are a lot of people to speak with.  We don’t know how its going to be funded, or when it will be done.  Those two go together: if it’s another back-pocket production, it will take a lot longer.

Our prayer always is that in telling the story we might knock something loose…convince the one person who knows something to come forward to the police.  In this case, the jurisdiction is split between the Newaygo City Police and the Michigan State Police.

Oh, there is a story here…a powerful one.  And justice is needed.  Please pray for Shannon, her family, the police, and us.

And if you want to help us tell this story, please let me know.

This time in the 2004 murder of Tahari Braggs in Grand rapids.  Here’s the story from The Grand Rapids Press.

Well done.  Every case solved adds that much more pressure to those that remain unsolved.

The last several months have been spent in finishing up the film, StarybyStar: Naomi Long Madgett, Poet & Publisher.  The premier took place in Detroit April 20th, and then there were some revisions I wanted to make…tweaks, I suppose: additional still images, leveling audio, all the kinds of things that can make a film a little better.  When I work on a film it’s not unusual for me to develop a great deal of caring about the subject.  It happened in Who Killed Janet Chandler?, Heritage Hill Bride, Finding Diane, Jack in the Box.  But it’s not just murder victims.  I also care very deeply for Herb Martin, and Naomi Madgett, and David Wagoner…and a host of others.  I suppose it’s part and parcel of the idea that you cannot remain indifferent when you get to know someone.  I think that’s a gift we’re given so that we can care for each other.

One of my interviewees in one of my cases wanted his video file pulled.  I wouldn’t do it.  Why?  Well, sure, I have a lot invested in each of the on-line interviews, but there is more to it than that.  I believe that the information contained in it ultimately will be to his benefit.  Ultimately.  How do I come to that conclusion?  Prayer.  Experience.  Trust.  …With the proviso that I may be wrong.  And telling him “No” was intended for his benefit.  Only time is going to tell.

I was interviewed today for an article about a presentation I’ll be doing in August at the Grand Rapids Public Library on the murder of Shelley Speet Mills.  The reporter–who I thought very able–started typing away whne I joked that my family motto was “Often wrong but never in doubt.”  “Don’t write that down!” I cautioned and laughed.  She’ll use it if she likes.  And it points to the danger of being too sure of ourselves.  I need to be reminded of that on a regular basis.  I may THINK I know what’s happened, but I may be wrong.

A case that relates to that is Bobby Lee Thompson from Muskegon.  That’s upcoming.