Here's another one for the books -

[kyburg]

When they finally found her this week, tending chickens on a secluded East Texas ranch and sharing a trailer with the escaped convict who kidnapped her a decade ago, Bobbi Parker wasn't sure if her husband would want her back, she told acquaintances.

Eleven years. Kidnapped, held prisoner - even if it wasn't under 24/7 surveillance. She didn't try to escape.

No subjective judgement calls - I don't know the players.

But it does make you wonder -

Just how many situations can people get themselves into that become impossible to stop, because they've gotten the impression they can't?

It feeds nicely into the cognitive therapy post from the other day. How persuasive WAS this guy?

Jeez.

Comments

[zoe-me.livejournal.com]

I have been locked in a hotel room and happened to catch this on Hard Copy which apparently part of "America's Most Wanted".

okay so this lady supposedly had 2 little girls she was extremely devoted to. I of course relate to this too much. I buy she feared they would be killed.

two, think about battered wife syndrome. those ladies don't leave in fear the guy will kill the kids.

Something like a book was writen about the guy, and they had it, and it went into lurid detail of how dangerous this guy was. Even mafia connections or something wild. But it made it seem very plausible he would have her daughters killed should she be late for anything.

Now I would be a sucker and think if I called the FBI first, and said "pick up my kids" I could get into a witness protection program. But this guy had worked the system and escaped from prision. Her husband was a prision warden and she must know people *do* escape, or have people on parole come kill you.

He really seemed to old and creepy for her to be in love with him. And it was rural America: how many Tom Clancy movies did she have memorized?

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

All that makes sense, except the 11 years part.

That's an incredible number of days - nights -

[zoe-me.livejournal.com]

apparently they kept seperate bedrooms.

[lorriejharris.livejournal.com]

I wonder if it's a case of Stockholm Syndrome?

[sylvia-says.livejournal.com]

That's exactly what I thought when I read the newspaper article today.

[lysana.livejournal.com]

I'll second Stockholm Syndrome as possible. Not to mention how easily gulled some people can be into how impossible their situation is by someone who shows enough swagger to sound undefeatable. Consider, if you will, how EST worked once upon a time. They'd tell you the doors were locked. They'd yell at you if you questioned them and force you to bow to their allegedly stronger wisdom. And they never were. Brainwashing works.

[moropus.livejournal.com]

I'll go with Stockholm syndrome. I can't think of another possible reason she would have stayed with him, unless she actually liked him.

[ecstaticlght.livejournal.com]

When that happened in the first place, I wondered what the true circumstances were. It still seems very iffy to me. My biggest memory of the story is that it ate up entirely too much air time on the daily news around here.