We saw this picture all over TV and the web when Wade Steffey first disappeared, on January 13.
He still has not been found.
Is he in the Wabash River? A lot of other young college men who disappear seem to turn up in rivers that flow through their campuses. Especially in the Midwest. I wonder why that is. There are rivers flowing through many college towns, and many college guys get very drunk. The usual explanation of the phenomenon is that the men have got drunk and fallen in the river. Different colleges, different rivers, different men. One result: death.
It's enough to make a parent want their son to go to college close to home. Or, go to a college in a desert town without a river flowing through it.
http://www.theindychannel.com/news/10773142/detail.html
http://www.idsnews.com/news/story.php?id=40657&adid=news
This beautiful 19-year-old boy is a freshman. It is his first year in college. He has a history of good grades, and he is an athlete. His friends who were with him before he disappeared say he was not drunk. There is nothing about this boy that says he would just run off. something has happened to Wade Steffey. I hope it's not permanent.
It's been a while since I've visited there, but there used to be a thread on the Court TV message boards about the phenomenon of midwestern college men dissapearing or being found dead in the river. Some theorize a serial killer. I think it's an idea not without merit. I went to Michigan State University, where at least a couple of these young men have been found. Except for times in the Spring after heavy rains when the river floods, it's not that easy to just walk into the Red Cedar River. And everyone knows to stay away from the riverbanks at night. At least us girls had that pounded into our heads. It's a big campus with a lot of students and a lot of crime.
ReplyDeleteI hope Wade is safe somewhere and not in the Wabash River or somehow else met with harm. I hadn't heard of his disappearance, even though I now live in Indiana and the Wabash runs through our town, too. I don't think I've heard of any ISU students missing, but the media is very strange here, as is their choice of what is newsworthy.
I've followed several of those stories, and so has Loretta at www.misfitting.com. So often the cases get swept under the rug, because the cause of death is "accidental drowning," and, frequently, they have a lot of alcohol in their systems.
ReplyDeleteThis one has got to me more than most, because he has a "Laci Peterson" smile.
Wade went missing on Jan. 13 not the 17th
ReplyDeleteI apologize, and will correct later this evening.
ReplyDelete