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St. Cloud State University
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Panel discusses tragedy
By Derek Sullivan
Published:
Monday, April 5, 2004
Media Credit: Adam Hammer
Students, media and members of the greater community filled the Atwood Theatre Friday morning for the 32nd annual First Amendment Forum hosted by the Society of Professional Journalists. The morning session featured a newsmakers´ perspective panel including Linda Walker, Dru Sjodin´s mother, and Patty Wetterling, Jacob Wetterling´s mother.
Media Credit: Adam Hammer
Patty Wetterling discusses the importance of media in times of crisis. Also appearing on the panel (left to right): Gary Gilson, Linda Walker, Nathan Slinkard, Ben Theisen and Doug Standke.
Two mothers united by tragedy, patience and hope spoke and answered questions by future and current members of the press.
Friday Patty Wetterling, Jacob Wetterling's mother and Linda Walker, Dru Sjodin's mother headlined the First Amendment Forum at SCSU's Atwood Theatre.
The panel also included St. John's student and Josh Guimond's friend Nathan Slinkard, Waite Park detective Ben Theisen and Rocori High School principal Dave Standke.
The forum's morning session, "Under the Looking Glass," allowed the panel to discuss how the press handled their tragedies.
Walker believed she was an average citizen until the Nov. 22 disappearance of her daughter Dru Sjodin. Sjodin was kidnapped in the parking lot of the Columbia Mall in Grand Forks, N.D.
Walker said the media was instrumental in recruiting the 1,700 volunteers that participated in the search for Sjodin.
"We attribute the fact that Dru's face has been on every major network and every major newspaper to the efforts put forth by the media," Walker said.
Sjodin has become a national figure. The national attention mirrors the coverage given to Elizabeth Smart.
Smart was abducted at gunpoint from her Salt Lake City, Utah home June 5, 2002. The national press covered the search and the investigation of her kidnapping until the 15-year-old was found March 13, 2003.
Walker said she was surprised to hear that Smart and Sjodin got so much national coverage because the girls came from wealthy families.
"I can't speak for Elizabeth Smart's family," Walker said. " Dru's family is smack out of middle-class America."
The University of North Dakota student had just finished her shift at Victoria's Secret when she was abducted.
Later that afternoon Steve Lee mentioned her attractiveness as a media coverage factor. Lee, writer for the Grand Forks Herald, pointed to a new billboard in Grand Forks. The billboard displays a picture Sjodin took of herself while she was in a car.
"It is a really fetching photo, an eye grabber," Lee said. "We don't like to say it in our society. Other people who are not that attractive, or don't have those things that grab our attention, don't grab our attention. It is that simple."
One of the major reasons why missing children receive national attention is because of the work of the Jacob Wetterling Foundation. The foundation's founder, Patty Wetterling, sat next to Walker and described her 15 years of working with the press.
Wetterling became a national figure during the search for her then 11-year-old son, Jacob. Jacob was kidnapped at gunpoint Oct. 22, 1989 in St. Joseph, Minn. Jacob was walking home with his younger brother, Trevor and good friend Aaron Larson after renting a movie from a local convenience store. The kidnapper told Trevor and Larson to run into the woods and abducted Jacob.
After Jacob's disappearance, Wetterling needed to get her son's picture in front of the public, even if it meant going on television.
"I never wanted to be on TV," Wetterling said. "I just wanted Jacob's picture on TV."
Wetterling mentioned how nervous she was at the beginning of the search. In early press conferences, Wetterling asked law enforcement to participate with her.
"I would ask law enforcement to hold joint news conferences," Wetterling said. "I was frightened, I would say the wrong thing."
While each mothers' overall outlook toward the press was positive, they shared a couple negative experiences.
Walker's family received hundreds of phone calls from the media in the days following Sjodin's disappearance. The phone calls came at all hours.
"The calls started as early as 5 a.m. and continued as late as midnight," Walker said. "It did not give us time to get the rest we needed. It was tough to get any rest at all."
At a press conference following the forum, Walker discussed the criticism received when she stayed in Pequot Lakes instead of going to Grand Forks, N.D. Walker said a call to Wetterling helped her get through the criticism.
"I remember calling Patty and wondering, am I doing something wrong? Are people thinking I am not concerned because I am not (in Grand Forks)?" Walker said. "She told me she also had to be at home. At home for the possible phone call."
Wetterling told the audience of rumors involving her husband, Jerry. A major rumor involved Jerry's religion; Jerry is Baha'i.
"The rumor going around was that Baha'i kill their first son," Wetterling said. "That was incredibly painful and ridiculous, but it went around."
Following Jerry Wetterling's early interviews with the press, over 50 people called local authorities blaming Jacob's father for the boy's disappearance.
"People just did not like how he looked on TV," Patty Wetterling said. "After that he just stopped working with the press."
Both women said they are surprised when people ask if they are bitter or jealous when a missing child is found. The forum was held the same day it was announced that Audrey Seiler allegedly faked her abduction.
Wetterling told the forum's crowd she is happy Seiler is home, despite conflicting quotes that she said were attributed to her.
"The other day I was quoted, when Audrey was found, that it was bittersweet for (me)," Wetterling said. "It was not bittersweet for me. It was sweet."
Seiler is a University of Wisconsin-Madison student that disappeared March 27. For four days, citizens searched for the 20-year-old sophomore.
March 31, Seiler was found alive, claiming she was abducted by knifepoint. Police circulated a sketch of her alleged abductor.
However, rumors began to spread of inconsistencies in Seiler's testimony. When asked if Seiler's deception could be detrimental to the cause of missing children, Wetterling said the press was missing the important aspect of the Seiler story.
"One way or another, she seems to be traumatized," Wetterling said. "This is a troubled young woman. She is now in a safe place."
Walker mentioned a phone call she received after Seiler was found. The reporter wanted to know if Walker was hurt because Seiler was found, and Sjodin was still missing.
"It set me back. I was not hurt. I was elated that she was found," Walker said. "It still hurts that I don't have Dru back."
A new tool to help find children is the Amber alert program. The program began in Arlington, Texas following the 1996 kidnapping of nine-year-old Amber Hagerman.
Despite the many tragedies discussed at the forum, Patty Wetterling mentioned some good news on the missing children front. The Amber alert program in Minnesota has been a major success.
"So far in Minnesota, we have had 10 Amber alerts, and 10 children have returned alive," Wetterling said. "Most kids are found because an everyday citizen who knows the story, saw the pictures and takes the final step of calling the police."
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