The River Ridge Apartments in Canton, Georgia look exactly like thousands of other apartment complexes all across the nation. An abandoned apartment, # 9102, which is adjacent to the Rivera family’s unit, is the crime scene where 7-year-old Jorelys Rivera was killed. Near 5 PM on Friday (December 2nd) Jorelys leaves the River Ridge playground to fetch some soft drinks for her friends at her own apartment. It happens then.
Why it does is unanswered. Who did it is also a mystery. But the GBI has lots of evidence, and I suspect, someone in mind who exclusively had access to this ‘apparatus of opportunity.’ That is, the fingerprints of this unspeakable crime are all about the River Ridge. Who had a key or code to # 9102? Who knows the access code to the trash container, where Jorelys’s body was found on Monday.
Naturally, suspicions would point to a maintenance person or a repairman or service personage who would have access to this, I would think, vital, secured information. Come to think of it, it could even be an apartment manager, but I’ll not go there. The GBI are inside/out this investigation, and they have a lot more evidence than we usually see.
This is where I have to agree with Pat Brown (who appeared on JVM last night), that this crime lacks a certain amount of careful planning. Rather, it was an impulsive strike; hardly a well thought out abduction, where the victim would be removed from the property with a vehicle, and the actual crime scene would be an undetectable location. It was a crime of passion, and if I can be so bold, it was perpetrated by an uncalculating, blundering amateur!
One has to emphasize that GBI has asserted this was a carefully orchestrated crime, which is a pie-in-the-face to what I just said. But look, you don’t have to be Barnaby Jones to know that everyone and their dog is going to be pointing their finger at the stupid perpetrator, who had the key to the dumpster compactor, and had the key (or access code) to unit 9102.
Maybe this is where the GBI is coming from, when they say it was a well-thought out, calculated crime of opportunity. The killer knows it will cast suspicion on the maintenance man. He is setting this man up, when you look at it in this peculiar way. Maybe I’m getting over the edge a bit here, but why would the maintenance man be the child killer, when he knows perfectly well everyone knows he’s the only man with the ‘security codes?’
This one may be simpler than it ordinarily is. This is what’s throwing me off. Is this a clever crime or is it a stupid crime? If it’s a clever crime, then this smart bad person is setting up a patsy (probably the maintenance man) who will take the tumble. If it’s a stupid crime, then this ignorant bad person is reaping the benefits of over-wrought authorities who are painting a picture of sophistication and projection.
