Where is 8 year old Tori Stafford?
The little Woodstock girl hasn’t been seen since she left school on Wednesday afternoon. A surveillance camera did capture her walking with an unidentified woman but that brief bit of tape is the only evidence police have to go on. There are some strange occurences surrounding the way this terrible incident is being handled, too.
First, police did not issue an amber alert. They now say it’s because they didn’t have evidence at the time that Tori had been abducted. If your blood pressure isn’t rising as you read this, then you don’t understand the amber alert system because it is meant for exactly the circumstances that surrounded Tori’s disappearance. She is a mere 8 years old. She hadn’t arrived home from school. That is reason enough, once family and friends all confirm that she isn’t with them. The system failed because of someone’s lack of judgment, end of story.
For the unitiated, Woodstock is literally on the 401. Without the awareness at the border, on overhead signs, to all other media and police outlets that Tori was missing, she could have been taken anywhere. We don’t know that for a fact at this point but it certainly remains possible because the alert wasn’t issued. An alert doesn’t guarantee anything except the instant spine-chilling awareness to as many people as possible, in the crucial early moments of the crisis, that someone may be taking a child who is not their own. To have missed that opportunity is a critical mistake.
Now, Tori’s Mom and Stepdad have instructed family members not to talk to the media. This is another massive error and I’d like to make a direct appeal to those parents, Tara McDonald and James Gorris.
This is the time when the media is actually your FRIEND. Please talk to them, let them have photos of Tori and attract any and all attention that you can. Keep Tori’s name in the headlines and on the airwaves and don’t let people forget for a moment that your little girl hasn’t yet come home. Public awareness is your ally now so use it and make sure that Tori’s story takes up as many inches of newsprint as possible. Staying quiet is exactly the wrong tactic and whatever your reasons for it, I urge you to reconsider and talk until you’re hoarse. This is no time to stand on any shaky principle or worry about an invasion of privacy. It’s the time to do absolutely everything in your power. Please, don’t turn away any more reporters now, when their work can actually be of assistance. They want what you want, and that’s for Tori to come home.