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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Hart Family Murder- Six children murdered by adoptive parents

63 replies

Brillopad78 · 11/04/2018 08:55

AIBU to think the press coverage of this case is woeful in comparison to that of the Turpin Family and all these children are Missing Presumed Dead. Its this an example of institutional racism in the media?time.com/5230702/california-cliff-crash-hart-family-child-abuse/

OP posts:

Kinraddie · 11/04/2018 12:36

I think it got quite a lot of coverage in the UK. I recall reading several articles about it in the newspapers and online. Very very sad.

GorgeousJaws · 11/04/2018 12:42

Can't speak for the US but I've read quite a bit of it in our press.

GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat · 11/04/2018 12:45

This is the first I’ve heard of it, reading your thread. Will have a read, thanks.

Johnnycomelately1 · 11/04/2018 13:18

Cant comment on US coverage, but how much coverage overseas news like this gets (as opposed to political/financial) tends to depend on what else is going on that day so if there's an imbalance in the UK press I wouldn't read too much into it tbh.

Johnnycomelately1 · 11/04/2018 13:20

Also, completely cynically, Turpin makes better press to keep rekindling because kids still alive to tell story from their perspective. Lots of exclusive story potential.

PattiStanger · 11/04/2018 13:25

I've read quite a lot about it, I'd say for something that happened in the US it's been pretty widely reported in the UK. Tbh I'd have to google to be sure who the Turpin family is (is it the family who kept their many children locked up?)

YouCantGetHereFromThere · 11/04/2018 13:32

I've been reading about this story since early on when it was still thought to be an accident. I think two things happened that have made it more of a 'slow boiler' of a story for the media.

One - initially the crash looked like an accident, so the stories really focused on how it was just very sad and a bit odd.

Two - more details then gradually appeared about how there was possible abuse. There was no dramatic discovery of children chained to beds and fed dog food. It was more a gradual 'This is a bit odd' message.

For those reasons I think the media coverage has not been as enormous as it was for the Turpin family, rather than institutional racism.

alphajuliet123 · 11/04/2018 13:46

Get yourself on Wesleuths - this is the 4th thread so there have been 3500+ posts about it.

www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?370688-CA-Hannah-16-Devonte-15-amp-Sierra-Hart-12-Mendocino-County-26-Mar-2018-4

alphajuliet123 · 11/04/2018 13:47

*Websleuths

Johnnycomelately1 · 11/04/2018 13:48

No! Otherwise it'll be 3am and I'll still be trying to solve that and 10 other cold cases

Battleax · 11/04/2018 13:50

Is “parents” plural accurate on the title? I read about it last week and not since, but investigators’ leaks seemed to be in line with the obvious suspicion that it was the driver acting alone.

It would be unfortunate to label the murdered wife as a murderer.

CiderwithBuda · 11/04/2018 14:01

I’ve read about it too. It’s shocking. Poor poor kids.

alphajuliet123 · 11/04/2018 14:02

No! Otherwise it'll be 3am and I'll still be trying to solve that and 10 other cold cases

Yes please!!!

GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat · 11/04/2018 14:05

It was the mother driving though?

AcrossthePond55 · 11/04/2018 14:07

I live in No Calif and this tragedy was covered extensively in our media. If it's dropped off the radar it's probably because the perpetrator is dead and there is nothing 'new' to report as far as the missing children.. With the Turpin case, you have 'living' perpetrators and ongoing court proceedings thus you have 'updates' to report.

If there is news about the missing children, it will be reported.

Personally, after the initial coverage I'm rather glad when the coverage dies down (other than information that could lead to an arrest or locating a missing person). The people who do this type of horrible thing do NOT deserve the publicity they get by being splashed all over the front pages.

SimonBridges · 11/04/2018 14:09

I don’t think the lack of coverage is racism at all.
I think that the Turpin family was the more ‘interesting’. The abuse must have been going on for years. What did neighbours see? Daring escape by the children.

Battleax · 11/04/2018 14:09

It was the mother driving though?

One of the two mothers.

SimonBridges · 11/04/2018 14:13

It was the mother driving though?

One woman was driving. The other was in the passenger seat.

Elendon · 11/04/2018 14:38

It certainly looks from the photos that there may have been a landslide? I wouldn't want to drive along that stretch of road!

Awful case. No one can be sure of what happened though. It's all speculation. I would conclude that they are all dead.

The Turpin family case is different. All the children are alive and hopefully getting all the support they need to proceed with their lives. It was an extremely brave act to escape and get help. The parents are alive too and both incarcerated, rightfully so.

The only similarities are the t shirts - but I assume that's a USA thing - though perhaps becoming less popular now!

steff13 · 11/04/2018 14:45

It's been pretty widely reported in the US. The whole story is just tragic. It breaks my heart that these kids were removed from one nightmare and placed in another.

Battleax · 11/04/2018 15:16

It certainly looks from the photos that there may have been a landslide? I wouldn't want to drive along that stretch of road!

The vehicle’s computer apparently showed that it was accelerating rather than braking in the last couple of minutes. No braking marks on the ground either.

A biggish MPV going off the edge probably would damage the cliff if it was prone to crumble.

LagunaBubbles · 11/04/2018 15:19

It certainly looks from the photos that there may have been a landslide? I wouldn't want to drive along that stretch of road!

Weve driven it, the best drive of my life. Reports say the car drove at speed off the road onto the gravel area before the cliff.

GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat · 11/04/2018 15:27

I wasn’t arguing! I was clarifying!

Jeez.

corythatwas · 11/04/2018 15:28

Am in the US atm. I'd say it's been pretty widely reported here. The bit I really don't get is how that family could have been allowed to adopt several more children after it seems concerns had already been raised. Seems very lax.

BrendasUmbrella · 11/04/2018 15:39

The bit I really don't get is how that family could have been allowed to adopt several more children after it seems concerns had already been raised. Seems very lax.

US restrictions don't seem to be very tight. I remember reading about an awful British couple who went to American to adopt a women's twin babies because they said it was much easier than trying to adopt here.

Trump recently praised a policeman for adopting the baby of a homeless heroin addict. The heroin addict herself seemed to feel she was forced into it.

And this year I read a case about a woman who was accused of trying to kill her children. I think she may have succeeded in killing one. Anyway, the attorney who was prosecuting her adopted her surviving children...

Personally I am more comfortable with "too tough" rules than too lenient and potentially emotion based rules.

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