Personal Safety For Singles

[OklaCity_75]

Cops search bar where slain grad student last seen

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

March 5, 2006, 9:17 PM EST

Police with a search warrant returned Sunday to the bar where slain graduate student Imette St. Guillen last was seen alive.

Officers, some in protective white laboratory suits, searched for evidence for several hours at The Falls, the Bowery drinking spot St. Guillen visited before she vanished in the early hours of Feb. 25. They also searched a commercial space above the bar. A police Crime Scene Unit van sat parked outside.

Authorities believe someone accosted St. Guillen after she left the bar. There are several security video cameras in the neighborhood, but police haven't found any showing her in the area at closing time.

The 24-year-old criminal justice student from Boston was raped, strangled and suffocated with packaging tape that was wrapped around her face. Her body was found later that night dumped on the side of a desolate service road in Brooklyn.

Friends and relatives at her funeral in Boston on Saturday remembered her for her infectious smile, bold confidence, love of board games and penchant for high heels.

"You were and are the love of my life," said her mother, Maureen St. Guillen. "When I need to speak to you it will be private. I will go into my heart, where you will always be."

Police had no suspects in the woman's death. A $42,000 reward has been offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction.
Copyright 2006 Newsday Inc.

[OklaCity_75]

After reading this story I decided to write a thread on safety for singles.

Never go to a bar alone. Never accept a drink from a stranger unless you go to the bar and witness the bartender make it themselves. If you are tipsy when you leave, leave with a friend or ask a staff member to escort you to a cab.

If someone makes you feel uncomfortable and will not leave you alone contact the staff. Most establishments have security that will ask the person to leave you alone or ask them to leave.

When meeting someone for the first time rather it is a blind date or internet contact always meet in an open public place. The more public the better. In the event something goes awry you will have lots of witnesses and bystanders that will come to your aid.

If you live alone anytime you go out inform a friend or family member of your plans. If your uncomfortable with that leave a written note, an email to yourself or a voice mail message.

List your plans for the evening and what time you intend to return. In the event something should happen to you, the police will come to your home looking for clues to help them find you. The note will give them key clues on where to look and who to interview.

Never go home with someone you just met. Instead, bid your good-bye in public and exchange phone numbers or email addresses.

This is not only for the girls, this is for the guys as well. There are women out there who have ulterior motives. (IE: Robbery, burglary, carjacking)

What safety issues do you or recommend someone practice?

[Leon]

Bottom line: Behavior equals results

People who drink and drive are more likely to get a DUI or in an accident.

People who are promicuous are more like to be deseased.

Women who get drunk in bars alone at 4:30am are more likely to cross paths with a killer.

The victim is NOT responsible for this but she was definately negligent of her own personal safety.

[Leon]

Yep, that is a mis-spelling.

[Karried]

How sad is it that a man can go anywhere and do anything without the worry of a woman? No one would think twice about a guy out at a bar until it closed.

Poor thing, safety in numbers.. I doubt I would ever go to a bar alone and leave and walk to my car by myself. I'd be scared to death.

It's not just single people who have to worry. I do Open Houses alone.. that can be scary. I have pepper spray, a cell phone and an alarm in my hand when showing homes and this is in broad daylight :-) ( so I'm a little paranoid!) :spin:

[Leon]

Men get attacked, robbed, and beaten up too. They don't get raped and it doesn't make the news.

[Midtowner]

Always look your date up on the docket search on oscn.net and the oklahoma DOC prisoner lookup database.

-- Sex offender database won't hurt either.

[bandnerd]

It's sad that it's like this for people just trying to find someone to date. I always kind of joke about my single friends and the fact that they don't really try to meet people, but I guess when I really think about it, I can't blame them for being cautious.

Though I think their caution is more related to not wanting to be rejected...but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.