Link (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/portugal_missing_girl)
PRAIA DA LUZ, Portugal - In a shocking twist, the mother of a 4-year-old British girl missing since May was named a suspect and called in for questioning Friday by police along with the child's father, after traces of blood were found in their rental car. You know, I had a real "wtf moment" when I first heard about this. Parents leaving their child alone while they trot off to have a lovely dinner by themselves? I may be reacting unfairly, but if they were capable of that level of irresponsible behavior, then I guess this wouldn't too much more to ask me to accept.

I couldn't care less about her.

This is a classical case of hypocrisy in my opinion. Some white rich girl gets kidnapped and suddenly "everyone" cares when there are probably hundreds of homeless or extremely poor children in third-world countries getting kidnapped every day.

And yeah, why did the parents leave her alone when they're having dinner? Meh. I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out that the parents killed her and made the whole story up.

I agree that her disappearance is no more tragic than any other, but I'm not sure how cleanly that translates into "I couldn't care less". At least for me anyway.

..and that's exactly what they are being accused of. :(

I agree that her disappearance is no more tragic than any other, but I'm not sure how cleanly that translates into "I couldn't care less". At least for me anyway.
...and that's exactly what they are being accused of. :(
I agree completely with this statement. The inoccent victim of this crime is no less tragic, no matter if she is rich or poor, black, white or green and no matter where she is from.

I am not to prepared to judge the parnets just yet, although the evidence seems stacked against the mother at least. The sad thing is you have to get a drivers license to drive in most places in the world, but any fool can become a parent.

I agree that her disappearance is no more tragic than any other, but I'm not sure how cleanly that translates into "I couldn't care less".
Well that's just my opinion :p still...I have no sympathy for her.

She is innocent I'll give you that, but I just hate celebrities in particular who pretend to give a damn about her just to boost their public image. Which always seems to be the case.

This is a classical case of hypocrisy in my opinion. Some white rich girl gets kidnapped and suddenly "everyone" cares when there are probably hundreds of homeless or extremely poor children in third-world countries getting kidnapped every day.

Half that problem is caused by many of the people in 3rd world countries. Do not blame the rich guy with money who gets attention when the powerful warlord with guns is starving his people.

Half that problem is caused by many of the people in 3rd world countries. Do not blame the rich guy with money who gets attention when the powerful warlord with guns is starving his people.
I'm not blaming anyone. I just think It's irritating.

It's kinda strange, imagine the scenario: Daughter gets kidnapped alone (Without any adult near) at home while sleeping with her brothers. At the same moment, the parents are having a tranquil dinner at local restaurant.

Parents draw A LOT of attention to the affair, though it may be very well work of the media, anyway, many global celebrities and VIPs start a campaign demanding hints on her whereabouts. Not exactly smart if the parents were responsible.

Due to lack of suspects and/or unexplained blood stains on the couple car, the parents get charged, and yesterday they were taken for questioning for the first time without the presence of the other.

Now, I refuse to believe that parents could do that to their own daughter (The husband is also a suspect), but recently, a Brazilian woman thrown her own 6 months daughter on a river, inside a bag. The children was found alive and it's all okay, but makes one think about humanity nature.

Well yeah its tragic. But its also media/people enjoying these kind of news on tv that boasted the event into epic scale. Yes it sounds twisted when I say that but yes we know that many actually "enjoy" watching the turn of these tragic even as if its a "tragedy sitcom" thinking that by feeling sorry for the poor victim they themselves have become a much better person.

And yes, this is just one of the many many similar stories that happens around the world everyday, and most of these evens aren't even known, let alone media coverage. And a reported event is no more/less tragic than the thousands of cases unreported happening now somewhere on this planet right now.

Half that problem is caused by many of the people in 3rd world countries. Do not blame the rich guy with money who gets attention when the powerful warlord with guns is starving his people.

That is certainly a big part of the problem. But we should remember that many of these nutcases with guns are directly/indirectly funded by various groups in the 1st/2nd world countries for their own benefit, be it power, resources, control, counter-control, etc. While I will not go as far as to say things like "the man" keeping 3rd world countries down, but you get the picture.

Aren't people innocent before proven guilty?

And there are some speculation that the evidence against the missing girl's mother may not be good. I really am not so certain there should be a real thread about this until McCann gets declared Guilty by a Jury of Her Peers.

Pho3nix--you're not required to post if you don't care, you know....

In a lot of kidnap cases in which there is no ransom note, it's usually the parent(s) that are the killers. If the parents left a tiny girl and a baby alone to go party even when the resort had a babysitting service on site, that family had huge problems. I just hope the find the girl soon, even though I suspect it will be her body.

I couldn't care less about her.

This is a classical case of hypocrisy in my opinion. Some white rich girl gets kidnapped and suddenly "everyone" cares when there are probably hundreds of homeless or extremely poor children in third-world countries getting kidnapped every day.

Well yeah its tragic. But its also media/people enjoying these kind of news on tv that boasted the event into epic scale. Yes it sounds twisted when I say that but yes we know that many actually "enjoy" watching the turn of these tragic even as if its a "tragedy sitcom" thinking that by feeling sorry for the poor victim they themselves have become a much better person.

And yes, this is just one of the many many similar stories that happens around the world everyday, and most of these evens aren't even known, let alone media coverage. And a reported event is no more/less tragic than the thousands of cases unreported happening now somewhere on this planet right now.Agreed, well, partly. Of course I care about her and want her to be found, like I want this missing woman currently searched for in Norway to be found. But yes, very many children die, get mortally ill and get kidnapped daily. How many of those who are worried about Madeleine without knowing her will actually do something to help her or other kids?

John Doe doesn't care about the thousands of kids kidnapped in Asia to work in dangerous hidden child labor camps. Phoenix's attitude is no different.

And yeah, why did the parents leave her alone when they're having dinner? Meh. I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out that the parents killed her and made the whole story up.Parents can be irresponsible. Doesn't make them killers. Regardless of what the media says, they're innocent as newborn Golden retriever puppies until proven guilty.

Parents draw A LOT of attention to the affair, though it may be very well work of the media, anyway, many global celebrities and VIPs start a campaign demanding hints on her whereabouts. Not exactly smart if the parents were responsible.Just about every parent raises one Hell of a fuzz when their kids go missing. I know I would, had I a kid. They did what's normal, nothing more, nothing less.

Parents can be irresponsible. Doesn't make them killers. Regardless of what the media says, they're innocent as newborn Golden retriever puppies until proven guilty.They're legally innocent until proven guilty, an unfortunate distinction that must be made. It's easy to find examples of people who were guilty, but were let off the hook for other reasons.

Just about every parent raises one Hell of a fuzz when their kids go missing. I know I would, had I a kid. They did what's normal, nothing more, nothing less.

Of course, it's natural. Though, if they committed the crime, it isn't a very clever procedure.

Frankly, if I were a parent, I would play every media card I had to try and raise awareness and find out anything about the whereabouts of a missing child.

Yes, it was stupid to leave their daughter alone, but people do do stupid things. It's a somewhat inevitable part of being human, I'm afraid.

It should also be taken into account that Portuguese law is very secretive, which hasn't helped, and the forensic experts over here have said that the Portuguese police may be putting too much emphasis on it - the police in Praia de Luz didn't even take forensic evidence until some time after the event, if I remember rightly.

As SilentScope said, they're innocent until proven guilty, and if they are, it's pretty awful, but hardly something never before seen.

interesting case, but I don't think it really has any particular effect on the population at large, unless it stimulates new laws or reworking of old ones, or generates some kind of landmark court case.

I'm not going to blame the parents for going to the media, as it was probably in their best interest to get the word out in a big way if they intended to save their child. However, I don't think this case is intrinsically more important than any other kidnapping, like the ones that most likely happened as I'm sitting here typing this.

I guess Stalin was right when he said "The death of one man is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic."

That's journalism for you.

Frankly, if I were a parent, I would play every media card I had to try and raise awareness and find out anything about the whereabouts of a missing child.

You're right, I would have done the same. Losing a child is a terrifying experience. I cannot tell you how horrible a feeling it is, that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach that nearly makes you sick, when you realize your child is missing.

When my son was just shy of 4, we moved from our townhouse to our current house. He was sitting in the living room playing with a few toys as we moved stuff out to the moving van, our car, and a rental car. We'd left the doors open on everything since all our hands were full of boxes.

Well, at some point, we realized our son was no longer in the townhouse. Jimbo thought I'd taken him somewhere, and I thought he'd done likewise. One of the worst moments of my life was when I realized that neither one of us knew where he was. We looked all over the place--closets, basement, rooms, outside, even up and down the prairie path that was next to the complex, and which also bordered on some train tracks that had frequent traffic. Nothing. I became very scared that something horrible had happened to him, and my mind raced with all the possibilities--kidnapping, fallen and injured, running on the tracks about to get run over, you name it, it crossed my mind.

Our neighbors got involved in the search. I called the police to report him missing--thank God the dispatcher stayed calm, because at that point I was completely panicked (something I don't often feel--after dealing with life threatening medical emergencies on a semi-regular basis, you learn how to control emotions through that). We ran around frantically looking all over the complex, the townhouse for the 40th time, around the boxes on the van, the prairie path (the cops actually drove up and down searching for him too) and so forth. I tried to stay calm and failed utterly.

It was probably only a few minutes--perhaps less than 20 or so, but it seemed like the whole horrible experience lasted an eternity. By chance, I looked again in the rental car. The doors were closed--I thought Jimbo had closed them. I happened to look through the windows and saw just a hint of little shoes on the floorboard of the driver's side. He apparently wanted to take a nap and had gotten into the rental car, pulled the door closed behind him, and had fallen asleep on the floorboard. Jimbo grabbed him up to make sure he was OK--it was summer, but fortunately the car had been parked in the shade so it wasn't hot. Happily, he was fine. At this point, the change from stark panic and terror to complete relief was so abrupt that all I could do was put my head down on my neighbor's shoulder and sob uncontrollably--one of only 2 times in my life--for several minutes while she hugged me and reassured me he was OK.

We were relieved, the neighbors were relieved, the cops were relieved, and our son just looked confused over what all the fuss was about. If he had gone missing for any longer period of time, however, I would not have hesitated to call the press, involve the church, and use any means possible to find him.

I fear what happened is someone did the old horizontal folk dance with her then killed her to cover it up. Whoever is responsible deserves the death penalty. The parents too.

On there being media coverage because she is rich and all that, I think the problem is what more can we say about the problem with famine in third world countries? We know that x amount of children die every day of hunger, reporting it on the news every night would be a grim and sobering way to make people do something but as harsh as this may sound there are no new developments in that story is there? What can you report on?