Abduction in Disney

[TiffanyW1]

Not to put a damper on the location, but Orlando is a high crime city,

We lived in Orlando for 5 years & finally left when our grocery stores were getting robbed at gunpoint ... during the day We lived in what was considered to be a good area too

 

[MrsNick]

Call my cynical but something about this story just doesn't add up for me. Two 20 year old tourists say they were hailed by a guy in a car and went to answer a question. The guy (which was actually a couple guys) pulled a gun on them and threatened them into the car. They drove around to an ATM (where there are cameras), ordered them to use their ATM cards to withdraw money (how much do 20 year olds keep in their bank accounts these days?). Then took them to an isolated landfill, ruffed them up but were startled by their own gun going off allowing the victims to runaway for help to a house.

If you're in a crowded parking lot and someone in a car threatens you, why do you meekly get inside it? A simple shout is enough to attract a lot of attention at midnight in DTD.

Why would criminals targeting tourists go to the trouble of driving them to an ATM and getting them to withdraw cash? Just take what they have in their wallets and not risk getting yourself photographed for police later.

If the criminals were bold enough to drive their victims to an isolated area and beat them up, why go all paranoid when the gun fires?

When you're running away from your kidnappers and are in the middle of nowhere, why do you escape on foot and not go for the car? In a footrace you're more likely to get caught.

OK, Detective McBrogan, looks like you might be on to something. Check this link out:

http://www.wftv.com/news/13481690/detail.html

Branford police say the young man is a well known drug addict

 

[BroganMc]

We had a young couple here in the city get carjacked in the wrong part of town. They accused them of trying to buy drugs and such. They even got turned away from the first police on the scene. Well they both insisted on blood/urine test and nothing was found in their system.

So just because this type of thing happened could be they were up to no good ,but could also just be that they were naive.

I remember that incident too. I think I've been lost in the same area too. But I wouldn't equate East Baltimore with DTD. The walking traffic is busier and more affluent.

That's not to say I'm heaping blame on the victims. I'm just voicing my doubts about the story details. Usually when you hear about a parking lot abduction it goes down the way Kelsey Smith's did: the assailant pushes the victim into a vehicle and drives off.

Now according to reports there were three assailants in that car, so I guess one could have jumped out to haul those kids in. It all just seemed a rather wild tale in the telling. Especially the bit about the assailants becoming frightened at their own gun discharging and then running off themselves. Why else take your victims to a "remote location" unless you meant to do away with the witnesses?

FWIW, I never thought it was a drug deal gone bad. I just thought it was perhaps a tall tale told by a couple of 20 year olds who got themselves stranded and ruffed up then had to account for themselves. So far the only ones witnessing their abduction at DTD is them. All we do know is that they left their folks for the night and headed to DTD, then wound up stranded offproperty.

As for personal security, I do go out by myself quite a bit these days. Some places I feel unsafe (like the local park) and some I don't. The walking path from DTD along Marketplace to SSR is one I felt very safe. It borders the street yet is back just enough you won't get hit by a car. I wouldn't go near the OKW pathway though. It's too dark at night and far too isolated.

 

[Sammie]

OK, Detective McBrogan, looks like you might be on to something. Check this link out:

http://www.wftv.com/news/13481690/detail.html

Branford police say the young man is a well known drug addict

Well this might change the situation then. However, I would still advise everyone to be very cautious in this area, especially if drug deals are being conducted. You don't want to be near that. Especially since $20 to a drug addict is a huge amount of money.

Hopefully this will get enough media attention that Disney will increase security in the area.

 

[BroganMc]

Well this might change the situation then. However, I would still advise everyone to be very cautious in this area, especially if drug deals are being conducted. You don't want to be near that. Especially since $20 to a drug addict is a huge amount of money.

Again I question where the initial crime took place. Now I'm not into drugs so don't particularly look for the trade, but then again I haven't seen what I'd call gangs or loiterers hanging out at DTD's parking lots save for the cabbies. (The Walmart on John Young Parkway is a whole other story. That's why I stopped going there.)

What we do know is that two 20 year olds left their parents to go out on the town and ended up at some stranger's house sometime in the middle of the night, cut and bruised. The rest is all based on their story.

Now if it's true the guy is known to use drugs, I hype up my skepticism several notches. My dad runs a drug testing laboratory so we hear alot of tall tales from addicts. Usually they all start with the church choir activity: I was doing something completely innocent and out of the kindness of my heart when someone else screwed me up.

 

[Pennyguy23]

ITA... I think that some people have a false sense of security at disney. But, it shows that anything can happen anywhere!

Very true, I have always thought this. I guess I better change my attitude.

 

[PamOKW]

I agree that something doesn't "smell right" with this story. It could even be something like the "grifters" pulled on CBR years ago -- a complete fabrication to get money from Disney.

True or not true, this story is a wake up call that Disney is not on another planet. They do a terrific job of providing security but our world is a dangerous place and no one can guarantee 100% safety.

The robbery/rape at the Kissimee hotel were a case of people not being savvy travelers. The hotel was not one of Florida's best to begin with and they made the mistake of leaving their doors open. Even if you're just running to get ice -- or talk to your family staying down the hall. NEVER, ever leave your hotel room door unlocked or propped open even for a second. Where there are tourists, there are criminals waiting for the tourists to make mistakes.

 

[crisi]

The robbery/rape at the Kissimee hotel were a case of people not being savvy travelers. The hotel was not one of Florida's best to begin with and they made the mistake of leaving their doors open. Even if you're just running to get ice -- or talk to your family staying down the hall. NEVER, ever leave your hotel room door unlocked or propped open even for a second. Where there are tourists, there are criminals waiting for the tourists to make mistakes.

And DTD has tourists. It also has no entry fee, no parking fee, is popular with the locals. And the tourists tend to be drunk at midnight, making them easier marks. Parking can be horrendous, so walking to your car at midnight may mean walking to the back reaches of the parking lot where there aren't a lot of people (too late to arrive, too early for the late nighters to leave).

 

[TenThousandVolts]

They also mention this abduction- and it sounds like they are very suspicious of the story told by this CT couple. But now there is a whole new issue- hopefully it will be dealt with swiftly.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/busi...ry?page=2&coll=orl-business-headlines-tourism