33 year old woman missing; 2 men in custody (1 Viewer)

[Caveman33]

https://www.kansascity.com/news/state/missouri/article254691127.html

Facts are sparse on this developing case.  James Phelps had a house in a rural, wooded part of Missouri.  Timothy Norton would park his semi in the driveway and sleep there.  The woman, Cassidy Rainwater, was reported missing by a relative in late August.  James claimed Cassidy lived there briefly while 'getting on her feet' and then left in late July.  The case took a turn in September when the FBI handed local police a photo of Cassidy partially nude in a cage.  The police returned to the house and both men were arrested over the next few days with Timothy offering a confession of sorts.  While authorities were still in the process of combing the property for evidence, the house burnt down and an explosive device was encountered when trying to combat the fire. 

Additional possible facts: Cassidy's mother went missing 10-15 years ago and was later found dead.  Her case remains unsolved.  The home address at the center of this mystery was being used by a registered sex offender but it is believed that he did not actually live there.

 

[Zow]

Thanks, Posty.

 

[General Malaise]

Thanks, Posty.

well now, hold on.....this woman is missing still.  be one hell of a note if there was different emphasis placed on this case than the one about Gabby and Brian which has been a popular topic on this board for a few weeks now.  

 

[El Floppo]

well now, hold on.....this woman is missing still.  be one hell of a note if there was different emphasis placed on this case than the one about Gabby and Brian which has been a popular topic on this board for a few weeks now.  

"...both men were arrested over the next few days with Timothy offering a confession of sorts."

while there are some morbidly mysterious things going on in this case (ie: media fodder for the morbidly curious i-detectives out there)... it's still different than the Gabby thing, especially given a confession. Unless that confession is about liking Rush. 

 

[DA RAIDERS]

well now, hold on.....this woman is missing still.  be one hell of a note if there was different emphasis placed on this case than the one about Gabby and Brian which has been a popular topic on this board for a few weeks now.  

need pics

 

[Zow]

well now, hold on.....this woman is missing still.  be one hell of a note if there was different emphasis placed on this case than the one about Gabby and Brian which has been a popular topic on this board for a few weeks now.  

I was merely trying to relive some FFA nostalgia with the reference. 

Stories like this don't bother me personally. 

 

[General Malaise]

"...both men were arrested over the next few days with Timothy offering a confession of sorts."

while there are some morbidly mysterious things going on in this case (ie: media fodder for the morbidly curious i-detectives out there)... it's still different than the Gabby thing, especially given a confession. Unless that confession is about liking Rush. 

Cassidy Rainwater is still missing.   She hasn't been seen since July 25.  It took a month - MONTH - for a family member to report this, which is just.....sad.  The suspects are in custody, but the only PARTIAL confession is one that involves kidnapping the woman and it's important to note that that partial confession is being refuted by the suspect's attorney, so we don't REALLY have a confession - certainly not one that's leading to the missing woman.  

So, again, I'm not sure why this story seems to be getting the "Thanks Posty" treatment and a fraction of national attention that Gabby/Brian got. 

 

[General Malaise]

I was merely trying to relive some FFA nostalgia with the reference. 

Stories like this don't bother me personally. 

I know, I wasn't trying to single you out, but it does underscore the point that a young, hot blonde going missing drives a lot more clicks and intrigue than another missing person with very sinister undertones attached. 

 

[belljr]

I know, I wasn't trying to single you out, but it does underscore the point that a young, hot blonde going missing drives a lot more clicks and intrigue than another missing person with very sinister undertones attached. 

Um, isn't she young and blonde also?

 

[El Floppo]

Cassidy Rainwater is still missing.   She hasn't been seen since July 25.  It took a month - MONTH - for a family member to report this, which is just.....sad.  The suspects are in custody, but the only PARTIAL confession is one that involves kidnapping the woman and it's important to note that that partial confession is being refuted by the suspect's attorney, so we don't REALLY have a confession - certainly not one that's leading to the missing woman.  

So, again, I'm not sure why this story seems to be getting the "Thanks Posty" treatment and a fraction of national attention that Gabby/Brian got. 

fwiw, I assumed the posty thing was a joke. 

you seem fixated on why some disappearances become viral news stories while others don't.... right? I'm with you. fwiw- I didn't click the original link- I don't want Google thinking I'm obsessing on these things, so I obviously missed the "partial" confession bit, which is a major thing.

but from a naive understanding of both cases, I think there are some clear differences here. Active missing person with an obvious but silent, non-participating and now missing witness/participant. Pretty young white girl. Active parents. A lot of still active social media content for i-sleuths to parse. and TBH- the story peaked while she was still missing and is now not so active or viral. Without the active mystery, I think the interest dies down... right or wrong.

sadly, with them admitting they kidnapped her, that other story seems more about where these two hid the body rather than a who-dunnit that the media can spin into a story to attract ongoing views.

 

[General Malaise]

fwiw, I assumed the posty thing was a joke. 

you seem fixated on why some disappearances become viral news stories while others don't.... right? I'm with you. fwiw- I didn't click the original link- I don't want Google thinking I'm obsessing on these things, so I obviously missed the "partial" confession bit, which is a major thing.

but from a naive understanding of both cases, I think there are some clear differences here. Active missing person with an obvious but silent, non-participating and now missing witness/participant. Pretty young white girl. Active parents. A lot of still active social media content for i-sleuths to parse. and TBH- the story peaked while she was still missing and is now not so active or viral. Without the active mystery, I think the interest dies down... right or wrong.

sadly, with them admitting they kidnapped her, that other story seems more about where these two hid the body rather than a who-dunnit that the media can spin into a story to attract ongoing views.

Yes.  I am curious about why one missing woman seems to capture our attention more than another missing woman.  Wouldn't say I'm fixated.  I am still holding down a job, parenting, coaching soccer and being a bad husband, so....

 

[General Malaise]

Um, isn't she young and blonde also?

Yes.  But if you Google her, there is only one picture that pops up.  No back story, no parents desperate to find her, no social media to examine (that I can tell)....just she was photographed in a cage partially clothed and those photos were found on the phone of one suspect in custody.  Whole thing is just sad.  

 

[El Floppo]

Yes.  I am curious about why one missing woman seems to capture our attention more than another missing woman.  Wouldn't say I'm fixated.  I am still holding down a job, parenting, coaching soccer and being a bad husband, so....

sorry, gb   ... "fixated" was obviously the wrong word. but in the scope of these stories, that seems to be your focus and fixation more than the nitty gritty of the stories themselves. 

but yeah- I had to choose between taking floppinha to her art and tennis classes or following the story- I chose the story. sorry floppinha.

 

[General Malaise]

sorry, gb   ... "fixated" was obviously the wrong word. but in the scope of these stories, that seems to be your focus and fixation more than the nitty gritty of the stories themselves. 

but yeah- I had to choose between taking floppinha to her art and tennis classes or following the story- I chose the story. sorry floppinha.

My conclusion is that marginalized people matter less than others.  That sucks.  Not sure what to do about it other than whine on a magic football message board.  

 

[Zow]

My conclusion is that marginalized people matter less than others.  That sucks.  Not sure what to do about it other than whine on a magic football message board.  

A kid in a well drew more attention than a group of being subjected to genocide. 

Dan Arielly, and to an extent Malcolm Gladwell,  do a good job explaining this phenomenom and how our brains work in a predictably irrational way when it comes to what tragedy stories we care about. I'd have to read their studies again, but the gist of the theory is that we're more sympathetic to a situation we good see ourselves in (our own kid falling in a well or our sweet, pretty friend/sister/daughter getting killed by an abusive bf) than we can with things such as a genocide of a group of people or a poor lower class girl being held captive by some local evil guys. Or, even to a lesser extent, things like gang violence and violence in homeless areas. 

I frankly see it in my own work. Considering no other factors I have a much higher percent chance of winning a case involving a heinous sex crime than I do a DUI. Why? Half the jury has probably themselves driven drunk and/or had a loved one arrested for DUI so, to them, it's quite "normal" and possible that the defendant committed a DUI whereas our brains are wired to not even want to consider that it's possible a child could have been raped by her uncle or some such. It's just easy and more comforting to justify the latters non-existence.  

 

[Jayrod]

This is pretty close to where I live (same county that my mother lives in).

Rumor mill is rampant on the Facebooks.  Nothing new has come out since the initial reports on Monday.

 

[Caveman33]

This is pretty close to where I live (same county that my mother lives in).

Rumor mill is rampant on the Facebooks.  Nothing new has come out since the initial reports on Monday.

So, what are they saying?  How does the house burn down while the 2 suspects are in custody? More people involved?  The cannibalism chatter sounds far-fetched but if the FBI came across the caged photo on the dark web there could be something to the sex trafficking angle.  Probably not a long running practice though since they didn't appear to do very well in this case.

 

[Caveman33]

My conclusion is that marginalized people matter less than others.  That sucks.  Not sure what to do about it other than whine on a magic football message board.  

If this case was blowing up on tictok, etc, then it would get more news coverage.  More people identify with the young aspiring influencer than the slightly older recovering meth head.  But Cassidy's case appears to be way more sinister and a lot more interesting from a true crime perspective.  Of course, it is sad that any of this stuff happens.