When searching for a missing person I don't think it is wise to 'forget' anything. Our right to privacy is a big obsticle in a case like this.

The child was probably dead BEFORE she was even reported missing. I am sure they (those seaching for her) did try to contact all she knew first.

This article seems to indicate if they had checked with people she knew first she would still be alive. Very misleading indeed.

The officers searching for her should be commended. The family should be comforted. Those with 20/20 hindsight without using the facts of the case should remain quiet or at the very least not be "published" as an article in the local paper.

"Stranger danger" seems way over-emphasized in our society, and one sad side-effect seems to be that we are all so fearful of anyone we don't know personally.

Children who might actually benefit from assistance are afraid to ask. Children who are lost have avoided would-be rescuers. And men in our society don't dare help a child in trouble for fear of being seen as a pedophile.

Perhaps we need to lose a little of our paranoia. I was sexually abused as a child, but it was by a trusted piano teacher. I've never been hurt by a stranger.

What I'm afraid will happen if we keep labeling all strangers as "potential enemies" to our children, is eventually that's what they may become. When we become afraid to even talk to a stranger, that stranger seems even more strange.