I think we all saw this coming. D'Andre Lane, father of missing 2-year-old Bianca Jones, has been arrested and arraigned on felony murder charges in Detroit. Thank. Goodness.
I know it's simply an arrest, and this does not mean the man is guilty. But you'll remember this was the guy who kept insisting that carjackers took his car and his kid ... even though the car was found 10 minutes later with no Bianca in the backseat. Police were doubting his story so much, they took the unorthodox path of more or less telling the public he was full of crap way back in December ... way before they arrested him.
I can't say I blame them. Did you ever have an unsolved crime in your community? It put you on edge, right?
We had a rash of burglaries in my neck of the woods recently, and it has made everyone a little more neurotic. They're double locking doors. They're putting in security cameras. They're trying to train their sweet, lovable family pooch to act more Cujo (don't let the picture of the kid and the pup fool you, you mess with her kid, and she will bite your cojones off). When someone actually pulled a gun on a gas station attendant in my so-small-we-only-have-one-stoplight town, I was just about to invest in a panic room until the police said they got the guy. I can't imagine if we were talking about a missing child ... I don't know if I'd feel safe letting my kid out of my sight until someone had a pair of metal bracelets firmly wrapped around his wrists.
Even if arrest doesn't mean "guilty," it does mean "oh thank God, we can breathe now" for most of us. And I'm imagining in this awful missing toddler case, that applies not just to average Detroit resident but to the rest of Bianca's family too. The little girl has not been found -- dead or alive -- which means they have had no closure. An arrest means another step closer to maybe, possibly ... hopefully getting some answers for these poor people!
Does an arrest in an open case set you at ease or do you have to see a jury declaring someone guilty before you breathe easy?