http://footprintsattheriversedge.blogspot.com/2010/02/012210-jon-lacina-21-ames-ia.html
As some of you may have heard in the past months, a student at ISU named Jon Lacina has been missing since January 22, 2010 in Ames, Iowa. He was last seen at about 9:30 that night and no traces of him were found. The police did many different investigations to try and find him, but nothing helped. There were also helicopter and local waterway searches, but still nothing was ever found.
On April 14th, Jon's body was found by an ISU police officer in the Dairy Pavilion, owned by ISU, about a mile from Central Campus. They forensics department is still looking to figure out how he died and they won't know for weeks.
This tragic circumstance is something that police and other officials should not dismiss. Lacina's family and friends knew him to be a smart, loving person with a love for music and art and he was not a person who takes risks. All of these aspects of his life make you wonder what really happened, since he seemed to be a well-rounded young man. It also makes me wonder why the police didn't check the dairy barns more extensively, since it is in a more remote location but still in range of campus. Another thing that bothers me is what if he was killed? How would we ever find the killer? Is that person still in Ames walking around campus? It is a frightening feeling and now that the police found the body, the investigators should be doing lots more research to find out what really happened.
This is a very tragic story and at least now the parents know what happened to their son. I found a news report from KETV 7 that stated the ISU police had checked that barn in February and continued to check that area as the snow melted. This brings up some interesting questions. If the police had checked the area where Lacina was found different times then either Lacina died there after their last check, his body was placed there after he was killed or the police suck at searching. If I was in Ames I would be a little scared that a killer is loose and might strike again.
I will be interesting to see what the autopsy report has to say about when and how Lacina died. Things like this that are close to where you live, hit you more than when you hear about crimes in other states. It sounds like Lacina was a normal happy college student who suddenly went missing. It scares you that it could happen to you or even happen on your campus.
Here is a website that gives some details about the case:
http://www.ketv.com/news/23159061/detail.html
When i had heard that he had been found I was relieved. I had been thinking these last few months if they were still even searching. It seems like they do that in a lot of cases. When it first happens you hear about if for a week or two, but after that it just seems to die down until something happens again. I think it would have been benificial to keep the public aware that there was still a search going on for his body and keep that message of his missing in the air of Iowa.
I too was kind of shocked that they didn't search the remote areas of ISU, like the barn he was found in. I guess it is easy for us to say now, that "hey, I would have looked there, why didnt they". But in all reality, why wouldnt they have looked in all areas like that closely. To the comment above by UniGirl, i totally agree. If they did in fact search that area in the month of Feb, and did not notice him then that raises some questions. Was he alive all this time and then killed and placed there? Was he dead and then been moved there? In my own opinioni i think he was murdered. From his profile given and statments of people that knew him he most certainly did not seem like the person to put himself in a harmful situation. He also left at a fairly relatively early hour to head back home. He was not said to be intoxicated or anything like that, and if he was that would have been a lone 15 min walk by himself to that remote barn.
I understand that the details of the investigation has to be somewhat quiet about things until they figure it out themselves, but i would like to know what they are thinking in terms of how was got there and what happened. Especially if they had already searched that area and then now just found him. I am waiting to hear more on this case and continue to follow it. It is a message for college students to be careful, even if you are a male walking at night.
I followed the original blog link and read the article. After reading the article I was interested to see what people commented. I read comments for over an hour and still did not finish. The article was written when Jon was first found to be missing and had been updated since he has been found. Commenters were very suspicious, paranoid, annoyed, defensive, and all pretty sure he was dead. I almost found these interactions as interesting as the information they presented. At one point, the people weren't even discussing the case, but plagiarism. It seemed as though everyone wanted to get their two cents in, even if that meant repeating an idea that had been stated multiple times. You could tell that even though these people found the story to be a tragedy, they enjoyed discussing and theorizing. Whenever there are people psychology is present and I enjoyed observing these peoples' interactions.
I also have been struggling with how this case was all over the news even a long time after he was missing, but when they find the body the story seemed to fade into the background. Aren't we worried about a potential killer still running around? I just googled to find the latest news on this, and what came up was this.
http://www.amestrib.com/articles/2010/04/23/ames_tribune/news/doc4bd1c2c071ca3055015724.txt
This link talks about the memorial service for two ISU males, including Jon Lacina. It tells about the great loss ISU is suffering but says nothing of the case or what is happening with it. Quite frankly it scares me that we don't know anything else, and not even that, but it scares me that as a society no one seems to care. Our media shuts out stories the minute they even hint at coming to a close. I think our media plays a much bigger role than we give it credit for. It influences us so heavily. The only other article I could find was one stating that the cause of death might not be known for months yet after the autopsy was done. I find this whole thing really concerning. And it scares me how easily we all forget about things like this with the help of the media moving us along to the next story.
http://www.amestrib.com/articles/2010/04/20/ames_tribune/news/doc4bcdcddb6f14f766145077.txt
What I find most shocking about this article is that Jon was only one mile away from campus. I can't believe that police didn't search the areas surrounding campus more accurately. It's extremely eerie that he was found in a dairy barn, it just shows that the killer knew what he was doing and knew where to hide the body. It frightens me that this person is still out walking around. Cedar Falls isn't too far away, so what if a college student here is next? I can't believe that his friends didn't see him after 9:30 either. I know that it's usually girls that stick together, but I think that everyone should. It's nuts that this stuff is happening in small towns in Iowa. That would be horrifying to be the family and have someone really close to you be missing, and not know whether they're dead or alive. Although it's a tragic ending, I'm sure knowing where their son is, and hopefully knowing what happened to him, will bring some sense of closer.