We Are All Guilty Here (North Falls, #1)

by Karin Slaughter

In nearly half of missing children cases, a parent or family member is the perpetrator. The victim is usually under the age of six. Typically, there is a bitter divorce or custody dispute involved, but there is sometimes a sexual assault component.

Twenty-seven percent of cases are acquaintance abductions, and in most instances involve a juvenile offender. The victims tend to be teenage females. The motivation is almost always sexual assault and often involves a component of physical assault.

Fewer than one percent of child abductions were committed by predatory kidnappers. The victims tended to be almost exclusively females with the aggregate age of fourteen. They were more likely to be taken in an outdoor setting and to be coerced with a firearm. The kidnapper was more often than not

driving a car. In forty-four percent of cases, the victim is murdered within the first hour. Seventy-eight percent die within the first three hours. Within twenty-four hours, virtually all of the victims are dead.

Small men can’t handle grown women. They go after girls because most girls are pliable and desperate for outside approval. At that age, you’ll do almost anything for attention, even if it feels bad and you know it’s wrong.”