My heartfelt sympathies go to the Sanderholm family.  Hopefully they will find the peace they need in order to get through this.

  A job well done to the Police, Sheriff and all other agencies involved.  A fine job done by all.

  Living in a large city now, it's required that we always be aware of what is going on around us.  Ark City is the one place that I can come "home" to and be able to drop the large city mentality.  Unfortunately, that isn't the case!  Please, everyone, don't let your guards down.  This may have been an isolated case, but, we can't take the chance.  Teach your daughter's that an elbow is one of the best weapons she has, to immediately lock the doors when you enter your car, if wrecking the family car is one way to get attention and get rid of an entruder, do it!  If you are on a stretch of road that is dark and isolated, except for those flashing lights behind you, turn your "hazard" lights on and drive to the nearest public place.  No amount of "self protective training" will save each and every one, however, if it will save one child, it's worth it.

Remebering Jodi Sanderholm, as I will forever! I'm glad to get Thurber off the streets,  

unfortunatly, it was after one crime too many. I didn't know Jodi, but from what I hear, is    that she was a GREAT person, someone that cared, someone that could of been a positive influence on her family, friends, and the young people of tomorrow, now thats a person I would of like to grown up with.  Jodi, will always remain in my heart. God bless Jodi, her family, and friends. I sure God and his angels are enjoying your presence in heaven.   

He complains of chest pains and taken to a hospital, why is he then released out into the public?  Why was he not then taken to jail?  We all know that Jodi would still be here if that had been the case.  Makes me sick.

This entire thing has saddened me and maddened me.  23 yrs old and complaining of chest pains?  Not once would I buy that.  Too little, too late.  A young lady who had everything going for her, only to fall victim to a broken system.  I`m sorry, Jodi. I wish we could have protected you.

S23246G wrote:

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I think some of the policies of our local courts and law enforcement departments need some serious reform.  I think this senseless crime should serve as a wake up call that it's time to quit doing things the wrong way just because that's how it's always been done.  Lives are at stake here.

Well said, S23246G.

One can pick up the Traveler about any day of the week, look at the police / court notes, and it`s generally the same people over and over.  Like going through a Rolodex of names. What does it take before somebody actually receives some real punishment?

  Oh, I think this will definitely serve as a wake-up call.  I`m afraid there are going to be a lot of hard feelings, many questions unanswered....  what happened is nothing short of an absolute travesty, not only against poor Jodi, rest her soul, but against all decent citizenry as well.

 I can`t help but fear that our community will never be quite the same.  Maybe some good will come out of this, but I can`t imagine what at this time. 

 May justice be swiftly and DULY served. 

 

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this whole story with Jodi sounds so much like a story that happened in East Tennessee several years ago.  A young beautiful girl in her 20s named Sandi Jeffers was set to graduate from the University ofTennessee.  Her life was set. She had a good job, just getting out of school, and she loved the Lord.  She worked at a credit union but didn't ever know a man was stalking her until she took her last breath.  This man would break into her apartment without her knowing, steal checks from her checkbook and write them at businesses, and then finally one night while she slept, he broke in, bound her up, raped her and then hauled her body up a mountain, throwing off of an overlook where tourists would stand and view the Smoky Mountains every summer.  A short time later, he confessed to where her body was and from there is probably sitting on death row somewhere in Tennessee.  We have to do something about people like this before it is too late!  Too many Jodi's are being killed!  Too many Sandi's are being stalked, kidnapped, or killed!  What is it going to take to stop these stalkers!!!  God bless Jodi's family as they deal with her loss.

MB wrote:

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   I personally feel that the AC police department/ Officer/ whoever is to blame for letting him go free should be sued by Jodi's family.

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When reading this statement I was compelled to reply. When being a law enforcement officer there are lots of things that an officer can use their own discretion on. This however is not one of them. In this incedent I am compelled to say that this officer was not allowed to use his own discretion, I believe he/she was bound to policy. The department may have flaws in policy but the officer is bound to follow those policies. Even though he/she may not like them. I am not sure in this instance that this is the case, however, in most cases that I know of, this is not a call made by the officer himself/herself. This would be a call by the shift supervisor or department policy.

It is hard enough to be an officer with the crazy hours and the dangerous predicaments you find yourself in. You truly have to love serving the people to even stay in it. But sometimes policy is bigger than you, when it comes to those kinds of decisions. I have no idea who the arresting officer was on the 'impersonation of an officer case', I am certian he/she is feeling somewhat badly anyway. With the little pay these officers get, (not as much as you would think) I am not sure that being sued by the victims family will help the situation. I will say if this IS department policy it is in need of some reform. And that maybe it should be addressed in the departmental upper management. That is where you will see change. Not by placing blame on the officer.

We are all upset by what has taken place. And as some have said before me, there is need for change. Hopfully we will see some soon. If not we need to make sure some of these changes are made as citizens. I believe we hold the key to change. Many things are achieved in numbers.

 

All I can say is Amen!

 I will only add a few things. #1 even if this guy they were watching did go to jail that night, he still would have the chance to post bond and be back out on the streets. This jerk had a plan and nothing was going to stop him. Someone who get's a speeding ticket and let go has the same ability to commit this cruel crime. It just so happens that he was caught/arrested for trying to be a police officer.

 

Proud of Ark City Police and Citizens

I can't believe anyone in AC would want a innocent man to be convicted of any crime. However, what I believe the majority of the people here are concerned about it the fact that he had, and many others as well, tended to commit crime over and over and are subject to the courts, they are not prosecuted to the fullest like they should be. I can't say what the situation was with Thurber, but many many times law enforcement goes to great lengths to build cases and they are just shuffled through the system. Some are pled down. Some dismissed. Some prosecuted.

If cases like Thurber weren't shuffled through the system, he may have been incarcerated and not had the opportunity to do any crimes he has been accused of. He is not the only case that has slid through the system. There have been many more. I can think of one case where the suspect caused this county much upset. This suspect happened to do something on the other side of the state line and was promptly sent to prison. That is where he is to this day as far as I know.

So no, none of us are fortune tellers, none of us can say what will come out of this. And yes, he could have been jailed the night of his "impersonating an officer" and bonded out, but only if he could find one of the two bondsmen in this county certified to bond him out. Which I highly doubt. And if he had been processed for the crimes he had allegedly commited prior to that night it may have had a different outcome.

No one wants to tar and feather anyone. What we do want is a change in the system, and with that change, it will make it harder for these things to happen. This problem is not anything new, it has been going on for quite sometime. It is just too bad it takes something like this to make it obvious.

   We all would love to see a change in the system.  I really don`t think it was the police officers, the judge, or the man in the moon to blame for this jerk to be let out on the streets.  Somewhere, he fell through the cracks in the system.
  Unfortunately, both the police and the judges are bound by state guidelines....  sentencing guidelines, guidelines as to whether they can hold an arrested individual.  This is why a criminal has more rights than you or me.  Who sets these guidelines?  The state legislature, which is made up mainly of lawyers.  For that, we have no one to blame but ourselves. We keep electing lawyers. Lawyers and judges take care of themselves first.
  We CAN stop electing lawyers into the legislature, AND we can remove judges from the bench during elections, usually. THAT is how we will change the system. Trouble is, in this state (and county), name recognition seems to count for a lot....  "he`s a good old boy, put him back in there".  We have seen quite a change at the national level in the last election, we can make the same changes locally and statewide!  Get out and vote, for Pete`s sake!  It is your civic duty.
  It`s too late for  a sweet young lady who should still be alive today. It may not be too late for someone else. Short of vigilante justice, which I think couldn`t always be a bad thing, especially in this case, we`ve got to make the changes, and soon.  GGGGRRRRRRR......
   
 

My condolences to the family of Jodi Sanderholm and the people of Ark City.  I can only pray that I never lose a precious loved one to a predator the likes of the killer that took your child.  I stumbled across Jodi’s story very much by accident, and find myself compelled to write.  I am not from the area.  I have no local interest in writing.  I see the tragedy and suffering, the confusion and questioning in the wake of this tragedy. 

 

AND I see that other thing that often makes me ponder…..The pointed finger.  I suppose it’s natural.  I have seen people blame the police.  I understand that they let Mr. Suspect go because he complained of chest pains.  Perhaps a life would have been saved had Mr. Suspect been immediately incarcerated.  I find that Mr. Suspect also has a lengthy criminal history.  It is conceivable that he could have been imprisoned for one of his multiple previous crimes.  Maybe we could even say that that should be expected. 

 

The City of Arkansas City is, in no way, different than many other communities that lose their innocence.  It is indeed a rude wakeup call.  A family numb and shattered for generations.  How could this have happened?  Who is to blame? How can we prevent this from happening again?  The questions, then the pointed finger. 

 

I have seen very few fingers point to where the blame should be squarely place though.  The obvious.  Mr. Suspect.  Let’s not forget that it is HE who took this promising young life.  It is HE who made a decision to murder a young woman, to rip her from your midst.  It is he who laughs in the face of your community, your norms, your expected code of behavior. 

 

I don’t expect that most of you who post in this forum truly understand the type of being that Mr. Suspect represents.  He is, pure and simple, a cancer.  He is not alone.  There are many more among us.  Maybe you don’t see them.  Or if you do see them, you simply choose to ignore them.  Many of us, in our sheltered lives, do not wish to believe that there are those among us capable of such violence, such destruction, such hate. 

 

THEY ARE THERE! And we are there also.  The path converges more than you will ever wish to know.  And we (remember where we are) allow it to happen.  THEY surround you and thrive in every burg and city in our land.  THEY come in the night, stealing our security.  THEY disregard your sanctity, pedaling filth, defiling your children and mocking you and you way of life.

 

Had Mr. Suspect been taken to the jail the night he was arrested for “impersonating an officer” he most certainly would have been given a court appointed attorney (at your cost btw).  He most certainly would have had his medical bills paid for by the Police Department (a greedy attorney would have seen to this).  This is common practice.  I would venture to say that the officer who had his hands on Mr. Suspect knew, that night, that it was only a ploy by Mr. Suspect to stay out of jail.  I would venture to say, also, that this was not the first time he or she had seen this.  And knew that department policy dictated that Mr. Suspect be “un arrested” and given medical treatment.  If this officer had been on the force long enough he or she might even recall having been sued at some time for not allowing some other malingerer to escape. 

Mr. Suspect would surely not ever be incarcerated previously for such petty crimes.  A court appointed attorney and an overburdened judicial system would have seen to that.  It is a sad, yet true, cliché that that Mr. Suspect has had, and will now have, more rights that Ms. Sanderholm.  He will be afforded a “competent” legal team who will sap thousands, if not millions, of dollars from the court system.  They will perhaps claim that Mr. Suspect was mentally ill, or that the evidence should be thrown to the wayside because of an obscene technicality from and obscure, time worn case.  The attorneys, and our BROKEN system of “JUSTICE”, will prevail.  Mr. Suspect with mock us again, laugh in our face. 

 

And the fingers will again point.  Here, and there, yet none will find the mark. 

 

Rest assured Mr. Suspect.  Should you, or you cohorts, decide to take the life of my precious child some day…….You should pray for a long stay in the correctional facility of your choice, as a good prison husband. 

 

And as for the broken legal system, and our nation of lawyers…..Some day the good people of this land will calmly make a stand, by force of arms or otherwise, to stop you and the cancer that envelopes us all. 

 

rebelLT   

S23246G wrote:

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From the article "Thurber had history of trouble with the law" Ark City Traveler January 17th, 2007

"A motion to revoke diversion was filed after he was again arrested in November of 2006 for five offenses, including burglary, forgery and possession of drugs in Ark City.

But the diversion could not be revoked because Thurber had not been convicted, only arrested and charged, with those crimes.

The judge found no evidence of the burglary and forgery charges, which left theft and the drug charges. The charge of theft -- of a television and checks -- was thrown out in discussions between the county attorney's office and Thurber's attorney.

That left two minor drug charges and Thurber has been scheduled to receive diversion on the two remaining drug charges, the source said.

His next encounter with police, according to court records, was the weekend before Sanderholm disappeared.

He was arrested and bonded out on a theft charge for allegedly stealing money from a woman's purse in Winfield on Sunday, Dec. 31. He was arrested on Monday for allegedly impersonating a police officer and for disorderly conduct in Ark City, police have said.

He never went to jail because he complained of chest pains and was taken for medical treatment. Police then arrested him when they found him for questioning in the Sanderholm case sometime after Jodi vanished Friday, Jan. 5."

It came to me when I was reading the above article in todays paper that if our justice system had worked as it should, then Thurber would have been in jail, and not free to stalk and murder innocent young girls. I hope the judges and attorneys who plead him to lesser charges, or gave him a diversion without even convicting him of the crime first (how stupid!), lose a lot of sleep over this.  He was arrested in NOVEMBER 2006!  2 MONTHS AGO! For burglary, forgery and possession of drugs.  felonies!  But couldn't be jailed?  Charges were "thrown out in discussions between the county attorney's office and Thurber's attorney." 

It is an outrage that this man (for lack of a better PRINTABLE term) was allowed to roam the streets when he should have been in jail long before he was allowed to rape and murder a beauitiful, innocent, young girl. 

Our system is in bad need of repair.  I myself have seen felony charges plead down to a misdemeanor punishable by a fine, simply because the prosecuter didn't want to go to a jury trial.  No kidding.  It angered me then, and it angers me even more now, knowing that this girl might still be alive if our justice system had done it's job.

sweet dreams.

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I agree with you. His Bond from the theft charges the week prior should have been revoked. I know from pass discussions with law enforcement; someone who is out on "papers" goes back to jail and the bond is revoked.  

Thank you David Seaton for the article you have written on this subject. It was nice to have the home town paper get a good look at some of the hard issues...There are a few questions I have in regard to this article.

Arkcity Travler Quote:Thurber's attorney, Tim Frieden of Wichita, declined to comment on Thurber's guilt or innocence. He said he wished people would not slant their view of this case based on what Thurber may or may not have done in the past.

"My preference would be everybody quit talking about it, and let the justice system take place," Frieden said.

If we had stopped talking would we have found out about any of the other instances ie...prior attempt on criminal restraint, endangering a child, and lewd and lascivious behavior, and two restraining orders? These are all prior behavior that lead up to the crime of murder.

Quote ACT: (Smith CCA) :He said that Thurber's crimes were all minor and did not show a violent history.

How violent does it have to be to make an 11 year old jump from a moving vehicle? Was she in fear for her safety, or life?

Later on in the piece it said:Several months later, in June of 2005, he was arrested in Winfield for obstructing the legal process of official duty and disorderly conduct. The incident involved altercations at two downtown bars, police said. They used a Taser gun to subdue Thurber.

Was a taser used in a non violent situation? Or did the officers believe that violence may occur before they tased? Sounds pretty volitile to me. Can we belive that officers having weapons and tasers thought this guy could be violent, but an 11  year old wasn't feeling fear of violence?

Quote ACT: The case would have been he-said, she said, Smith added.

Can we believe that the system wouldn't see that a 11 year old child bailed out of a vehicle with her older companion, with both of them giving the same statement it would be a he said, she said? Was the person living in the house that gave them access to the phone interviewed?  Yes, they got into the car willingly but when asked to get out, they should have been let out. A child should never have to jump from a moving vehicle.


Quote ACT: The court determined that Thurber completed the diversion agreement and the obstruction charge was dismissed Nov. 28 of last year.

The theft and drug case was continued several times and still has not been decided. Last week Pringle included it with the murder and other charges.

It would be interesting to know just why these cases were continued? And why it was not taken care of before his diversion was up? Could have been a ploy by an attorney to keep him from jail time?

Quote ACT: Smith said it is not uncommon for somebody to receive probation and diversion more than once. Defendants are often required to get help, for drugs and alcohol, for instance, or other social needs.

What was the systems thoughts on Thurber? What was their thoughts on getting Thurber help? Was it drugs, alcohol, or social needs? And if so, was he getting any help with his needs through his diversons?

Quote ACT: The Traveler could not obtain a copy of the entire police report by press time Thursday, but KAKE TV News said the report states that Thurber was speaking to a woman through an 11-year-old translating the conversation; an argument ensued and Thurber drove them in his car farther away from town. The two also told authorities that Thurber exposed himself to them, the station reported.

The females eventually jumped from the car and called police from a nearby home, the station reported

The case was turned over to Smith's office but there was not enough evidence to file charges, he told the Traveler Wednesday.

What kind of evidence does the CA need to warrant looking into this case further? An interpreter? If you have two victims that state they were held against their will, what more do they need? As I said before, what can make a child jump from a moving vehicle? I would say fear did.

Quote ACT: The case was turned over to Smith's office but there was not enough evidence to file charges, he told the Traveler Wednesday.

The case needed more investigation, he said. One of the problems was that just one individual was interviewed, he said. The report also did not show enough evidence of lewd and lascivious behavior.

Why was only one person inteviewed for this report? The child, the female she was with should have been interviewed. Also the person that allowed them to use the phone should have been interviewed. And of course Thurber as well.

Quote ACT: Undersheriff Don Read said that under normal circumstances, the department turns over reports to the County Attorney's office. Sometimes the office asks for more investigation.

If there was not enough information regarding this case why was the deputy not asked to come up with more interviews and information for this case? And of course why would the county attorney have to ask that more people be interviewed? This should have been done before any reports are turned over to him.

This was a good article and we do apprciate your looking into it. Thanks Dave!

I am so sorry to hear about Jodi Sanderholm and my heart goes out to her family and friends in their horrific emotional time since her disappearance and then her death.And my heart goes out especially to Jodi and may she rest in peace..
I wrote something special for Jodi and her family and here is a poem:

You Take The Light

Lord you set us down here with a purpose to live and beThere are so many times I falter in your gloryWe can only be the best we are in this struggleTo help and love each otherWe pass over the small things in this worldSo intent on the journey in this lifeBut to leave the miracle of grace upon your peopleAnd touch each soul you knowThis one moment serene calm comes within sadnessThere was a purpose for your time hereBrilliant spark of light to fall upon the faces you loveForever set to watch over their journeysGod of our fathersYou take a precious light from this worldIn your merciful hands we beg her safe passageSmile upon her as she smiled upon us

Rest in Peace Jodi