Toronto girl gone missing in a chat room
Toronto Police have issued an alert for a missing girl. I've been subscribed to the alert service for some time, and this is the first one that I recall mentioning where she hangs out on the Internet.
Here is the alert:
Missing girl, Yee Wah Ho (Eva Ho) 17, 52 Division
Monday, October 16, 2006 - 3:07 PM
52 Division
416-808-5200The Toronto Police Service is requesting the assistance of the public in locating a missing girl.
Yee Wah Ho (Eva Ho) 17, was last seen on Monday, August 14, 2006, in the Scarborough area.
She is described as Asian 5'8", 155 lbs., with long black hair with brown streaks, and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a black hoodie with a monkey on the back and front, dark blue jeans with pink or red belt, Puma black flip-flops and a Guess purse.
Eva frequents the Pacific Mall, in the Kennedy Road/Steeles Avenue area, as well as various internet chatrooms, including MSN. [emphasis added]
Anyone with information is asked to call 52 Division at 416-808-5200 or Crime Stoppers at 416-222-TIPS (8477), or online at www.222tips.com.
Just to be sure, I went through the last dozen alerts in my inbox, and this is the first that provided information about where the virtual girl likes to frequent, in addition to where the physical girl is likely to be found.
I'm sure this is not the first missing girl in Toronto who happened to frequent chatrooms.
Are the police hoping she will enter one of her favourite e-haunts from wherever she has run off to? Are the police hoping someone will contact her via the chatrooms and convince her to come home?
Or do the police have information to suggest that her disappearance is somehow linked to the chatrooms? Are they hoping that someone out there will recall which room Eva was in most recently, and the conversations she was having?
Either way, it seems like a long shot. Still, it's an interesting move on the part of the police.
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Comments
Last seen August 14th and they are only issuing the alert now?
Posted by: Stephen at October 16, 2006 02:58 PM
Good point, Stephen. I guess we don't when the police were first contacted about her situation.
Might be significant.
Posted by: Steve Janke at October 16, 2006 03:32 PM
Our poor kids. Parents need to be far more vigilant, or maybe they're not aware of the kinds of predators "out there," meaning right under their noses, on the prowl for kids who frequent chatrooms in their own homes.
Canadian kids are particularly vulnerable since our laws, over 10 years ago, lowered the age of consensual sex to 14. Wow. That was really proactive of "open" and "tolerant" Canada in the fight against global child molesters. We've been more open and tolerant to the aiding and abetting of sexual predators than to the protection of our children: great Librano Legacy.
This young lady could be anywhere in the world now--or nowhere. She could have been bought a plane ticket to any destination in the world by a predator on the chatline, which is something that happened to the 16-year-old child of friends, who was bought a ticket to a Canadian city thousands of kms from their rural home, without their having any knowledge of what was going on. (Thankfully, their child eventually left the situation and is doing very well.)
My heart goes out to the parents and friends of this girl. My prayers too.
Posted by: 'been around the block at October 17, 2006 09:55 AM
batb
"Only girls under 12 were absolutely unable to consent to sexual intercourse until 1890, when the age limit was raised to 14. With the advent of the Criminal Code in 1892, the strict prohibition against sexual intercourse was retained for girls under 14 (not married to the accused) and the law was strengthened to make an accused’s belief about the young woman’s age irrelevant. That age limit has not changed and remains in place today, with narrow exceptions for consensual activity between young persons less than two years apart in age."
http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/library/PRBpubs/prb993-e.htm
Cheers
Posted by: J.M. Heinrichs at October 17, 2006 07:59 PM
batb, also this:
"Although some mistakenly believe that the age of consent was lowered in the 1980s, the age of consent to sexual activity has been 14 years since 1890 when it was raised from 12 years."
http://www.justice.gc.ca/en/dept/clp/faq.html
Posted by: at October 17, 2006 09:40 PM
J.M. Heinrichs: Huh?
Why all the fuss, then, about the age of consent for consensual sex being raised to 16?
I'm not making this up.
Posted by: 'been around the block at October 22, 2006 08:19 PM
BTW, Steve, do you know if this girl has been located?
Posted by: 'been around the block at October 22, 2006 08:23 PM
 
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