Hey, there! Log in / Register
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
I wonder
What would happen if they found her taking a little vacation, and she didn't want to come home? She is, after all, an adult. Not hard to get to NYC from Newton by bus or train, either.
As a mum of a similarly-aged person, I'm hoping that is all that happened here - a bit of a walkabout.
That is incredibly
That is incredibly assumptious of you. Her brother wrote this on Reddit:
Hi reddit, My sister Karen Douglas, 18 year old resident of Newton MA was last seen yesterday at 1pm my my mom in our house. She left her car at the Newtonville Shaws over the Pike and train station. She had $120 in her pocket. She is 5'11 and about 150 pounds (built like a supermodel and athletic). She has long brown hair and brown eyes and sometimes dresses like a hippie/hipster. She has been missing since last night October 3. Police are involved and have been searching Cabot Woods.
Karen left a goodbye note to one of her best friends and has struggled with bulimia and depression in the past. Numerous social media sites are on it. I'm afraid it will be treated as "some Newton brat ran away" when it's being treated as a very serious suicide attempt.
PLEASE, if anyone sees her, call the hotline 617-796-2100 Newton Police number. Here's the link to the missing person's page.
[1] http://newton.patch.com/groups/police-and-fire/p/h...
Thank you so much reddit.
Well then she wouldn't be missing!!!
And her family wouldn't be worried sick. So "they" might suggest she go home and relieve her family's anxiety.
Where do you come up with this stuff? Good grief.
And yes, I think we're all hoping this turns out to be harmless.
Where do I come up with this "stuff"?
1. I have teen kids
2. They have friends
3. Older teens don't always tell their family or friends when they decide to just take off. I've seen it happen many times.
4. Leaving town for the weekend does not require notifying your family or friends.
So, yes, she is missing because, if she did take off, she didn't tell her family where she was going.
She is, however, not a runaway at her age. A legal adult and can go where she pleases, stay in hotels, etc. and nobody is required to report her whereabouts and she cannot be compelled to return if she is found and doesn't want to go home.
I had a high school classmate that bailed in a similar manner - just up and left - and was found safe in California two years later, but refused to reunite with her family - and her family had no way to make her.
It is good that such unexplained disappearances are now a source for concern, however. Thirty years ago, a woman or man her age disappearing like this used to be called "taking off" or "moving out" (even when it was possible that there was foul play).
Let's hope that this is just a short "walkabout" to get away for whatever reason.
Where do I come up with this "stuff"?
Respectfully, your experience is happily limited. Not every story like this has a tragic ending, but sadly too many do. Karen's family and friends are right to be worried. I'm going to hope that you continue to live in a happy bubble, but also hope you can understand that not all teens are "adults", and for that matter that our own responsibilities as parents don't end when our kids hit the magic age of 18.
Do your kids go on walkabouts to NYC often?
You make it sound like your kids just wander in and out of your life. If one of your teenagers doesn't come home or contact you for a couple of days, do you just assume your child is on a lovely jaunt exploring the world? What circumstances would make you worry about your child?
I turned one loose for most of a week
My son got to explore Switzerland solo while I worked. He has also gone solo to a couple of college visits, and flown cross-country and taken buses to NYC on his own. I of course knew where he was according to a check-in plan - just as us parental adults check in during our travels.
We all operate - adults and teens - on the rule that we let each other know where we are, when we leave home, work, school, etc. That's basic courtesy and safety. But, as I said, an adult is an adult whether they are still in high school or not. This particular young lady has the ability to go anywhere she wants to without permission - the point I was making. She won't be stopped from boarding a train, a plane, a bus or even crossing an international border. She also cannot be detained by police and required to return home.
She is missing as she told no one of her plans and people with concern for her reported her missing - but that's what happens with any other adult. She will thus be more difficult to locate than if she was 14 or 15.
Bear in mind that I have been running my own life - money and all - since I was 17. Perhaps that gives me a different perspective on what people this age are capable of.
Concern is the main point here
No one is saying that she doesn't have a right to do all the glorious and wonderful things you keep mentioning but this is a young woman with a history of having some not so perfect days. Her family has a right to be concerned.
We get it - you're very proud that you raised independent adults who can run the world by the time they're 18 but can you understand that most 18 year olds are just kids? Can you understand that most parents would be concerned if their kid disappeared all of a sudden? I'm 45 and I hope that my parents would be concerned if no one heard from me or saw me for a couple of days.
True, but
You missed a larger point here, just like everyone else.
She is an adult. She has a lot of options that may not be under consideration if she is viewed as a "missing girl" or "missing teen" or "missing high school student". Just because she left her car doesn't mean that she didn't leave the city, the area, or even the country.
The more people consider what her options actually are, the more likely it is that information will get to places where people might see her. It doesn't matter that "most 18 year olds are just kids" when they can move around far more freely than younger people can. This story needs to get out beyond Boston, but I've seen little evidence that it has gone much beyond Newton and a brief mention in the Herald.
Swrrly
Just stop. You have no idea what you're talking about with regard to the missing Newton girl.
Hope That's the Case
I would love it if that were the case, but as it stands my 18 year old sister is an at-risk individual with a history of depression and suicidal attempts. A goodbye note was found by her friend in their ceramics class Friday morning. I hope that puts it in perspective. I want nothing more to believe that my sister is just taking a "walkabout," anything so that she'll be alive and healable.
Your sister and family are in my thoughts, Sonya
Despite some of the strange comments I think it's safe to say we're all wishing for your sister's safe return.
UH is a good community and I'm sure many here would be happy to help. Please let us know if anything is being organized that the public could help with
Couldn't say it any better than Neil so...
... I agree with everything he said.
Just to say
I am so, so sorry for your loss. I've been thinking of your sister since I first read about her here and was so sorry to hear the news this morning.
So sorry for your loss
Dear Sonya,
We are so very sorry to learn about Karen. Our hearts go out to you and your family as you make your ways through this nightmare. Please know we are thinking about you and wishing with you that you did not have to bear this tragedy. There are no words for this.
With deepest sympathies.
So sorry for your loss
People, remember to tell others you love them.
So very sorry for your loss
Sonya, I was so sad to hear about the demise of your beloved sister. I read many things about her and she seemed like a loverly young woman who was troubled. It is so difficult to get through high school and maintain mental health. I hope that you and your familt can make peace with your sister's choice.
Could be serious
More than the abandoned car, if people can't reach her with text messages or calls on her cell phone, that's serious. An 18 year old girl out of cell contact is like a diabetic without insulin - seizures or coma could result if she doesn't get a phone soon.
Limit your comments to your jihad against bikes
Please.
We'll all be much better off. Good Lord.
Markk you do understand...
... that this is a real person we're talking about here, and not a fictional character? You failing to understand that is the only explanation I can come up with for your willingness to make a comment like that.
Disappearance to be taken seriously
While I hope for walkabout, my point is that a teen girl who is not using a cell phone is clear indication that something unusual is going on, without sounding too depressing about it and alluding to missing persons reports sometimes include how the person needs vital meds. Also unusual is a woman with $120 in her pocket, based on how often I see women go to an ATM to only get $40. I really hope she is found and reunited with all the people who know and love her. She is young and beautiful with so much life to be lived.
Can you get any creepier?
So, you are spying on people using an ATM?
Observant much?
If I'm in waiting for the ATM and hear it spit out only a couple bills vs. chunking out bills longer, then they didn't get much money out. You are back to your normal self, attacking people, but at least you didn't challenge the generalization.
Use ATMs much?
I don't think I've seen one spit out bills one by one in, like, a decade or more. Only the old ones with the burned in screens did that. They now vend a stack in a single shot.
Walkabout? Really?
Her people and others are concerned for her safety. This isn't the time to be spewing a bunch of foolishness about 18 y.o.'s rights or downplaying the situation.
If anyone recognizes her I'd like to think they'd try to help her or let her know how worried her parents were or contact authorities ASAP.
Not wish her a G,day,mate.
But good on ya, Swirly for filling us all in on your past experiences with troubled teens. Very helpful. (Rolls eyes.)
Here's wishing for her safe return and I'll be trying to help her if I see her.
Foolishness about rights?
Um, you do realize that those rights mean that she can do a whole bunch of things that make it much easier for her to disappear?
Like, without any permission or notification she can:
get on a plane
join the military
get a job anywhere
get on a train or bus
cross an international boarder
sign a lease
sign a contract
refuse to contact her family
refuse to divulge her whereabouts
etc.
18 years old = legal adult, which has implications for those searching for her. Whether you like it or not.
I sincerely hope that she's just breaking away for a while instead of doing something more drastic - I just get tired of how people lump 18 and 19 year olds in with 14 year olds. They are very different creatures - at least, they should be.
Thanks Miki
For explaining what everyone over 18 already knows.
Walkabout?
What the heck is a "walkabout" anyway? Who says "I'm going on a walkabout"? What is this, Middle Earth?
No, bush down under
Mate, its what ppl say in the bush down under.
Given the circumstances let out by the family
I do wonder why the police did not include it in the report to the public. I'm sure there's a way to alert the public that we're looking for an at-risk person in need of assistance. They manage to alert the public when a missing person is autistic, diabetic, has Alzheimer's, etc., etc., yet when it's a teen, they gloss it over as "oh, just another kid being a kid." This does a huge disservice to the teens who are truly in trouble and are in true need of assistance.
Missing Newton North student
I hope and pray that Karen Douglas is found safe. My heart goes out to her family and her friends.
Really, I think we should all confine our comments on this site to things that are helpful, right? Clearly her family and friends are understandably scared and upset, and baseless speculation on her motives for her actions, or for that matter her legal right to engage in those actions, really isn't helpful. Be kind, people.
Sad news
According to a post on Reddit, this young woman has been found deceased. Prayers with her family and loved ones.
http://www.reddit.com/r/boston/comments/1ntv9q/kar...
According to a post on reddit
According to a post on reddit, she was found, apparent suicide. RIP.
Apparent suicide
Her sister has confirmed on Reddit that Karen was found and it was an apparent suicide.
update on karen
http://www.reddit.com/r/boston/comments/1ntv9q/kar...
Update above. Her body was found in the woods.