Kelsey Bransby and Alina Fitzpatrick Are Still Dead

We are a a fast food, intensely faddist nation. We are constantly possessed by the latest rages and out rages. We are all about the moment. When the Komen foundation pulled grants from Planned Parenthood huge segments of the population roared their disapproval. For days the Internet and cable news services couldn't talk enough about it. Komen's management backed down and suddenly everyone was back in pink and running for the cure once again.

Then Jason Russell's video about Ugandan warlord, Joseph Kony went viral and the next thing you know all sorts of young people were wearing Kony 2012 tee shirts. Twitter was all atwitter.Unfortunately Russell went, as they say, a little funny in the head and was last seen stark naked on a San Diego street corner raving at passersby and masturbating. But it didn't matter, the Kony rage had all ready run its course. We were all ready looking else where.

Thanks to George Zimmerman it didn't take us long to find a new cause. Currently crowds are in the streets calling for Quick Draw McGraw's head because he shot an unarmed teenager in the course of his duties as neighborhood watch "captain." This craze will probably have more legs than either Komen, or Kony. After all Planned Parenthood is still in business, Kony is still in Africa while Trayvon Martin is currently being depicted as a drug fiend by authorities who are desperately trying to cover their asses. Sadly, as white hot as the issue currently is, it will still have a shelf life. Somewhere down the road, beyond his family and friends Trayvon Martin will cease to be a household name. Hoodie sales will return to their normal levels.

There in lies the problem with America. We have the collective attention span of a five year old on a sugar rush.

In Oklahoma City things began to go weird in the deadliest sort of ways last October. Within a month three young women were murdered. First was Carina Saunders who went missing, then turned up in pieces in a duffel bag. Shortly after that gruesome discovery a former class mate of hers, Kelsey Bransby was found shot in the face in a south side apartment.

Ms. Bransby's case had the misfortune of following on the heels of the more lurid Saunders' murder. It would seem a simple shooting death can't compete with the overwhelming fascination generated by decapitation and dismemberment. In fact it appeared the local media was bored by the story from the very beginning. Just another vanilla murder in the big town. Very little was said, or written in its immediate aftermath and certainly nothing has been mentioned lately. It looks like the police and the local news organizations have written her off completely. She became, cruelly, old news even before the next body was discovered.

In early November Alina Fitzpatrick went missing.  She turned up five days later, dead, naked, covered with what was described as "wide spread" bruises and abrasions." She was also found with a gag in her mouth. Her system was chock full of meth, but that still didn't explain how she got to that lonely field in far eastern Oklahoma City so obviously abused. On January 20th an OKC police Sgt gave a hint as to how important her death was to the department. She was quoted as saying, that although officers were keeping an open file on the case, they weren't currently investigating it as a homicide. That cold blooded take must have rang someones bell because ten days later an OKC police captain went on record as saying that the investigation, while not technically a homicide, was still active and on going.

That is, as far as I know, the last mention of the Alina Fitzpatrick case in the newspaper, or any other media outlet in this town. It would appear both she and Kelsey Bransby are just two more  largely forgotten casualties who were caught up in the violent undertow of American society. The media won't bother to mention them any more because there is no progress, no suspects, no drama. Cold cases don't sell ad space and besides there are new fish to fry, new outrages to capture the public imagination.

Yes, we like our burgers served fast and hot and then we want to move on. Never stay in one place too long. Kelsey Bransby and Alina Fitzpatrick are still dead. Tell us something new.

3-27-12