For the love of God, please stop talking

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Jennifer Buchanan is making the interview rounds days after what could be  the remains of her 5-year old daughter, Neveah were found along the River Raisin.

 Far be it from me to endorse state-sponsored grieving, because everyone does it differently, by I have to say –  if my child were missing for two weeks and a dirt hole full of concrete and 5-year old girl was found – I think I’d be fairly inconsolable. I certainly wouldn’t be scheduling interviews with radio stations and sure as hell not with Nancy Grace on CNN.

Okay – backstory for those just tuning in:

On May 24, 2009,  Neveah Buchanan disappeared while riding her bike in her apartment parking lot.  An Amber Alert was issued and people have been fairly frantic.  On June 5 fisherman discovered the body convered in cement near the River Raisin.

Now the mother is appearing on Talkie Box.  The message I see is fairly clear – “Grieve with me, feel sorry for me, send me an agent.”

This will look fantastic on the TV movie.

In the Metro Detroit area we’ve all lived in fear of the safety of that little girl, even moreso when we discoveered that her mother   tends to keep company with convicts  and registered sex offenders. In an interview to a local radio station she said believes everyone deserves a second chance.

Yes, Monroe County – you now have a new motto: Monroe Country, Where Everyone Has A Second Chance At Your Kid.

Last night she appeared on Nancy Grace and nothing about that interview was redeeming. Nothing. At one point she discussing how it was getting close to dinner time before the child disappeared, and Jennifer asked Neveah if she was hungry. According to Jennifer, the child said no. “There’s a lot of times you know that  she’s told me no, but  … you know …  she lies.”  I realize that this in in the context of mealtime, but no how do you tell a national interview that your angel is a liar?

The whole interview is like that – little slips of resentment, little tells of insincerity. She wants you to see sadness and grief over the possible murder of her little girl, but you know what I see – relief.

The Grace* interview is painful.  This is a woman who is cribbing all of her responses from the witness chair on Law and Order.  If she’s been coached, it wasn’t very well or by someone who’d graduated to CSI:Miami.  She needs to stop talking.

“If George wanted to do that, he would have done it a little sooner.”

Stephen Grant talked himself into prison. Casey Anthony is talking herself into the needle. 

While it would be nice to presume innocence, in every interview she makes claims as to the unsavory nature of her friend. The fact that she’s already throwing him under the bus is a poor deflection.  He was presumed guilty from the word go – but her help with the prosecution’s case her claims last  night makes it look too desperate. Too planned.

“I wouldn’t put it past him.” 

“I think that possibly he might have owed someone money and to get to him is through a close loved one or anything.”

“…all these scenarios”

Look for this interview (which, by the way. she exited during a commercial break) to be shown during trial.

Like Stephen Grant, she’s over-thinking the situation and because she’s not smart enough to play it cool, I don’t think she’s getting away with this.  Give the Monroe County Sherriff’s Department about six months, and if she hasn’t fled the state – you know, to Toledo, she’ll be arrested. Yeah, I think she did it or at least had a hand in it. I’ve seen smarter women do dumber things in the name of love.  It makes me think that maybe there’s another man in this story – he’s just too smart to reveal himself. (makes note to do a post on women who commit crimes for men)

So for your own sake, Jennifer – shut up.  You can’t see how deep the hole you’ve dug yourself is because you’ve got your eyes closed.  Crack them open and you’ll  notice it’s not night time, and that circle above isn’t the moon.  You think you’re being clever, and maybe that sass works on small-minded people down there, but you’re dealing with people who actually graduated 6th Grade.  You have the head roll and sassy mouth of a teenager. You can’t afford a lawyer and what seems like the whole of Monroe County  is busy lobbying for the reinstatement of the death penalty.

Stop talking and the police might get a chance to arrest you and put you in a nice safe jail before the angry mob forms.

*For the record, I don’t know if I like Nancy Grace. She has a style that’s too gotcha for me, and every clip I’ve seen on CNN has been a little over the top. Having said that, she was the perfect interviewer for Jennifer Buchanan.  She expressed the kind of outrage and barely contained fury we’ve all felt over the last few weeks at a woman who would knowingly allow a convicted sex-offender in her home . You don’t give your babies rabid ferrets to play with because they didn’t get bit “last time”.