Consider this scenario - Would a guilty person keep their case alive for many years?

[G-Unit]

Don't you see though GUnit,   how easy it would have been to have let the case disappear into history?   If they lost the support then they could have just let it fizzle out,  they didn't they fought and fought hard.  You have to admit that even now nine years later they still make the headlines,   even if it's negative it all helps to keep the child's name in the news doesn't it?

Fame and the faux love and admiration from fans seems to be addictive. That's one possible answer.

The faux love and admiration from fans helps to spread the 'We are a heartbroken family who are determined to search for ever for our child. How could we possibly be guilty of wrongdoing' message. That's another possible answer.

Once the 'not guilty' message is accepted the real work could begin; educating and advising others who have missing relatives. Lobbying governments all over the world to implement cross-border alerts and cross-border police operations. That's another possible answer.

[Alfie]

Fame and the faux love and admiration from fans seems to be addictive. That's one possible answer.

The faux love and admiration from fans helps to spread the 'We are a heartbroken family who are determined to search for ever for our child. How could we possibly be guilty of wrongdoing' message. That's another possible answer.

Once the 'not guilty' message is accepted the real work could begin; educating and advising others who have missing relatives. Lobbying governments all over the world to implement cross-border alerts and cross-border police operations. That's another possible answer.

What is this "faux" love and admiration?  Are you saying that the fanbase only pretends to love and admire?  Why would they do that?  Love and admiration from fans, faux or otherwise, can be earned in ways that don't have to involve the government or the police.  And why would someone as morally deficient as our protagonist who has  engaged in years of deception, including the burial of their own child and the fraud perpetuated off the back of it, wish to get involved in benevolent activities such as educating and lobbying against child abduction?
This is a far-fetched fantasy IMO. 

[G-Unit]

What is this "faux" love and admiration?  Are you saying that the fanbase only pretends to love and admire?  Why would they do that?  Love and admiration from fans, faux or otherwise, can be earned in ways that don't have to involve the government or the police.  And why would someone as morally deficient as our protagonist who has  engaged in years of deception, including the burial of their own child and the fraud perpetuated off the back of it, wish to get involved in benevolent activities such as educating and lobbying against child abduction?
This is a far-fetched fantasy IMO.

It's OK to love and admire people in the public eye if that's what you want. You have to be aware, though, that the person you love and admire is a 'public persona' created and presented for public consumption, not the actual real person. Your love and admiration is fake in that it's directed at a fake person.

For that reason you can't pretend to know the real person. You can't pretend to know what drives their actions and motivations. Those who think they can are deluding themselves just as a teenage girl does when she imagines she 'knows' the object of her devotion.

[carlymichelle]

It's OK to love and admire people in the public eye if that's what you want. You have to be aware, though, that the person you love and admire is a 'public persona' created and presented for public consumption, not the actual real person. Your love and admiration is fake in that it's directed at a fake person.

For that reason you can't pretend to know the real person. You can't pretend to know what drives their actions and motivations. Those who think they can are deluding themselves just as a teenage girl does when she imagines she 'knows' the object of her devotion.

kinda like when teens get obsessed with a fave actor/actress/singer etc they  soon grow  out of it  because they realise the person they admire is human

[Alfie]

It's OK to love and admire people in the public eye if that's what you want. You have to be aware, though, that the person you love and admire is a 'public persona' created and presented for public consumption, not the actual real person. Your love and admiration is fake in that it's directed at a fake person.

For that reason you can't pretend to know the real person. You can't pretend to know what drives their actions and motivations. Those who think they can are deluding themselves just as a teenage girl does when she imagines she 'knows' the object of her devotion.

"Faux" meaning not genuine, fake or false is not the right word for what you are describing.  You were describing love and devotion towards someone in the public eye, it is possible to genuinely love and admire someone in the public eye, though obviously that love and admiration is seldom reciprocated.  It doesn't necessarily follow that you also claim to know them or what motivates them. 

It's also possible to be interested in, and have respect or concern for people in the public eye without either loving them or admiring them. 

[sadie]

Sadie,

I don't think you have yet grasped that this is a purely hypothetical scenario which has nothing to do with reality.

Therefore I am free to come up with reason after reason, explanation after explanation, without fear of upsetting anyone reading this hypothetical tale.

Up until Alfie introduced the hypothetical files, I didn't know such files existed.  Nor have I studied the hypothetical files for a second.  I can't have as they are purely hypothetical.

Oh yes I have.  Don't kid yourself on that Shining.

But of course you are free to come up with reason after reason if your conscience allows it.

Likewise we are free to counter your reasons.

[John]

Most posters have embraced the fact that this thread relates to a hypothetical case, it does not relate to any person(s) living or dead. I have edited several posts which contained inappropriate content. 

Please be careful what you post.

[G-Unit]

"Faux" meaning not genuine, fake or false is not the right word for what you are describing.  You were describing love and devotion towards someone in the public eye, it is possible to genuinely love and admire someone in the public eye, though obviously that love and admiration is seldom reciprocated.  It doesn't necessarily follow that you also claim to know them or what motivates them. 

It's also possible to be interested in, and have respect or concern for people in the public eye without either loving them or admiring them.

Your hypothesis was that only innocent people would act in a particular way. Many other reasons have been offered for their behaviour which you have rejected. Even so, no-one knows who's right because no-one knows what happened or what motives are driving the people's behaviour. If we all believed in others just because they said and did certain things we would make a lot of mistakes in my opinion.

[ShiningInLuz]

Oh yes I have.  Don't kid yourself on that Shining.

But of course you are free to come up with reason after reason if your conscience allows it.

Likewise we are free to counter your reasons.

My conscience has no relevance in a hypothetical scenario, because it is merely a simple exercise in creative thinking.

Scenario.  Guilty person keeps a case alive for years.  Explain why.  This exercise reminds me of the type of debate put to our grandchildren to develop their capacity for incisive thinking.  The one I remember was - can a dog or a child commit a crime?

All the respondents to this thread have to do is trot out reasons for this behaviour.  And so multiple reasons have been trotted out.  There is no point in then saying these can be rejected on the basis of probability, because probability does not work that way.

What the thread does prove is that there is no forum consensus that a guilty person would simply slink off into the distance.

[Alfie]

Your hypothesis was that only innocent people would act in a particular way. Many other reasons have been offered for their behaviour which you have rejected. Even so, no-one knows who's right because no-one knows what happened or what motives are driving the people's behaviour. If we all believed in others just because they said and did certain things we would make a lot of mistakes in my opinion.

Not quite.  I started this thread to examine what possible motives there may be for guilty people determinedly keeping the world's attention on them, whilst also petitioning their goverment to put pressure on their police to review the evidence of their crimes.  We've had a number of possible motives put forward, some of which (mad, pyschopathic) are more believable than others.  Some of the possible motives put forward are simply nonsensical IMO, as I have already pointed out.

[mercury]

The hypothetical guilty person(s) had no choice as the media kept their attention on them after they courted the media maybe. The hypthetical person(s) could not be expected by anyone to stay out of the news given what had happened. And round and round it must have gone. Get on tiger, hard to get off. Hypothetical gulty person(s) knowing there is no real evidence have nothing to lose asking for a review of their case, it adds to the innocent persona ,they would never ask police though to reopen and reinvestigate, let alone two or more police forces.

You might consider a dfferent thread, would hypthetically innocent people follow ridiculous leads and ignore extremely pertinent ones, would they refuse police cooperation, would they spend money lawyering up and sueing right left and centre, etc

[pathfinder73]

Psychopaths are very manipulative and can easily gain people’s trust. They learn to mimic emotions, despite their inability to actually feel them, and will appear normal to unsuspecting people. Psychopaths are often well educated and hold steady jobs. Some are so good at manipulation and mimicry that they have families and other long-term relationships without those around them ever suspecting their true nature.

When committing crimes, psychopaths carefully plan out every detail in advance and often have contingency plans in place. Unlike their sociopathic counterparts, psychopathic criminals are cool, calm, and meticulous. Their crimes, whether violent or non-violent, will be highly organized and generally offer few clues for authorities to pursue. Intelligent psychopaths make excellent white-collar criminals and "con artists" due to their calm and charismatic natures.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wicked-deeds/201401/how-tell-sociopath-psychopath

[mercury]

scary but true
Happens all the time in front of everyones eyes even if they dont see it at the time

[Miss Taken Identity]

Not quite.  I started this thread to examine what possible motives there may be for guilty people determinedly keeping the world's attention on them, whilst also petitioning their goverment to put pressure on their police to review the evidence of their crimes.  We've had a number of possible motives put forward, some of which (mad, pyschopathic) are more believable than others. Some of the possible motives put forward are simply nonsensical IMO, as I have already pointed out.

So, you have recieved many replies and suggestions! time to shut this thread down now. unless...

[Venturi Swirl]

Scenario:

Your child dies whilst you're on holiday and (for reasons best known to yourself) you claim he or she must have been abducted.

As a result, the case attracts the attention of the world's media but more importantly the police forces of both the country in which you were holidaying and from your own country. 

The police are suspicious, the media which was supportive in the early days has turned on you, printing all sorts of uncomfortable headlines heavily hinting that you have done something untoward with your child. 

Eventually you are made chief suspect in your child's disappearance and every aspect of your holiday, your relationship with your child and family and friends, your comings and goings etc is put under the microscope.  The police bust their guts trying to find some evidence that you hid your child's body.

Meanwhile most people in your home country and in the country in which you holidayed are convinced you're guilty of something.

Eventually, after months of investigation and trying to build a case against you, the police concede they lack any evidence against you, and you are no longer suspects.  The case is shelved indefinitely.  You sue the media for libel and settle out of court - a nice big juicy payment for your bank account.

Now, at this point you'd be forgiven for going to ground, issuing one final statement to the media along the lines of "we have come to terms with the fact that our daughter is gone, and just want to be left alone to grieve", then slink away into obscurity to spend all that lovely lolly you screwed out of the public and the papers. 

But no.  This is not what you do.

Instead you spend a small fortune on various private investigators, you write a book which gets serialised in the country's biggest circulation newspaper, you appear on TV chat shows, all allegedly to keep your child's profile high in the public consciousness even though you know what happened.

Then to cap it all, three whole years after the case was shelved you go to the highest man in your land,  the prime minister, by sending him a letter demanding:

"a joint INDEPENDENT, TRANSPARENT and COMPREHENSIVE review of ALL information held in relation to our child's disappearance".

You are granted your wish and the country's most esteemed police force is drafted in to sift through all the evidence all over again, at great cost to the public purse. 

You make yourself available for more TV appearances, BBC Crimewatch even, appealing for people to come forward who may have actually seen something.

The question I have to ask you is:

ARE YOU F@@KING MAD????

If not, what is your motivation for doing all of this?

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Seeing as how resurrecting old threads is a bit of a trend atm, just thought I’d quote this rather sensible post by some chap called Alfie, just for a laugh like.