JUNE 18, 2009

Fear And Loathing On Craigslist

The other night, I got an e-mail about a coffee pot I had listed for sale on Craigslist. The e-mailer left me her phone number, so I gave her a call.

Me: “Hi. This is Steve. You e-mailed me about the coffee pot?”

Craigslist Lady (CL): “Yes. I’m very interested in it if you still have it.”

Me: “Yes I do. I’m here if you want to swing by tonight.”

CL: “Well, I was just talking with my friend and she can’t make the drive with me, so I can’t come by tonight, but I’m very interested in it. I’d come by myself, but my husband is out of town, and…you just can’t be too careful with the things going on on Craigslist lately.”

Me: “Yeah, I understand. I guess the consolation is that most of the bad stuff that’s been happening to people is taking place among those individuals using the…less reputable parts of the site.”

CL: “Not this last one. Did you hear about it? A pregnant woman went to exchange baby clothes with another woman, and when she showed up, she was stabbed. Then the other woman cut her open and took her baby.”

At this point, I stopped in my tracks. What? I spent a few more minutes on small talk with my caller, then said goodbye, promising to work out the details later. I had heard of the so-called “Craigslist Killer”, and had just seen a story on a Craigslist rapist who had recently committed suicide, but I knew nothing about the murder of a pregnant woman and the grisly taking of her unborn baby.

So I Googled it. And there it was.  “Slain mother met suspect on Craigslist.” The details were just like my caller had related:

Relatives of a slain Tigard, Ore., woman say she met suspect Korena Roberts through the Web site Craigslist while looking for baby clothes. Heather Snively’s body was found Friday in the crawl space of Roberts’ home in nearby Beaverton, police said. Snively’s newborn son was pronounced dead Friday at a local hospital.

Snively, 21, met Roberts, 27, on Craigslist and went to Roberts’ home apparently believing she had baby clothes for sale, David Kidd, Snively’s stepfather, told the (Portland) Oregonian in a story published Monday.

The details of this case are deeply disturbing to me on a personal level. My wife and I use Craigslist all the time. We’ve furnished much of our house with items we’ve purchased from people on the popular community site.  Our children have gotten many toys and clothes from people giving them away for practically nothing. My infant son has about a 2 years’ supply of diapers, unopened, in his closet, most of which we got for free from Craigslist or Freecycle postings. I even found my current job and my car fromCraigslist ads.

I can’t say that I’m convinced that the world is becoming more dangerous, but I do think that dangerous people are becoming increasingly empowered to victimize by sites like Craigslist, which encourage contact and commerce with total strangers. A friend of mine who used to prosecute sexual assault cases was extremely wary about letting his wife join Facebook, because of the frequency with which the social networking tool came up in investigations as a tool used by stalkers or would-be attackers. As our lives become more of an open book online and our personal information is easier to access, the opportunities for that to pose a danger can also increase, a fact that many of us either downplay or ignore as we enjoy the convenience of 24/7 connectivity with our chosen networks.

The recent spate of violent encounters between Craigslist users will hopefully never be a problem for most of us who make use of the site, but it serves as a valuable reminder: ease of use does not mean that everyone we’re dealing with is on the up-and-up. That means that using common sense and taking proper precautions are more important than ever.