The people interviewed for a recent national story on Rocky Mount’s alleged serial killer case are divided on the published product.
Jackie Wiggins, mother of victim Jackie Nikelia ‘Nikki’ Thorpe, spoke with the author of the article in June’s issue of “Gentleman’s Quarterly” last fall and said she has mixed opinions about how it turned out.
“I was pleased with it as far as the publication about the girls and stuff, but his interview with this cabbie person was kind of shocking to me,” she said. “He came out with a whole lot of information that could have been useful earlier (in the investigation).”
She said she is reserving judgment on some of the quotes from officials used in the article.
“I think they said some things that now I hope they regret,” she said. “I guess the reporter reported as he heard it, but I’m waiting to hear their version of it.”
Rocky Mount Mayor David Combs was negatively portrayed in the article. Combs said the author took him out of context.
“Most people assume the mayor knows everything that is going on, but I’m not always aware of what the police department is working on,” he said. “He also made a comment about how I wasn’t at the candlelight vigil, but I really didn’t know about it. Nobody called me so I never knew about it.”
He added the article was skewed to overplay the race issue.
“I’m not sure I realized the direction he was going with it,” he said. “He wanted to paint a picture between Edgecombe and Nash counties, but I think, overall, that as a mayor, I look at it as all one city. I think because he is writing a book on race in the South, the whole article was based on race more than anything.”
Wiggins said she also believes the focus on race was dramatized.
“When he talked about the train tracks diving the blacks and whites, I think it could have been worded better,” she said. “I guess that was just his way of getting the point across, but our schools are integrated. I feel like some things were stretched.”
Rocky Mount councilman and local NAACP president Andre Knight said race does play into how much media attention, or lack thereof, the case has gotten.
“I think (the author) used race as a backdrop,” he said. “I think when it comes to African-American women and children (as victims of crime), they don’t get near the coverage other nationalities get in the media.”
Knight and Wiggins commended the author for his portrayal of the girls — not just how they died, but how they lived as well.
“He gave the women a real face. He talked about not just their addictions, but how these women were actually engaged in society. They were good people,” Knight said. “He was trying to actually put a face other than a mugshot on these women. I think he gave them some dignity as well.”
Wiggins actually was pleased with the relatively graphic portrayal of the victims’ deaths in the article.
“He was printing that to make people see just how tragic and demeaning the bodies were left,” she said. “He described what it was like. He put it like it was. I think the readers can see what we saw and how we felt.”
Knight said he hopes the national media attention will help the investigation.
“This case hasn’t gotten nearly as much attention as it needs,” he said. “We don’t need this to go by the wayside. It is still very important to the families and the community.”
Combs said the attention will likely taper off.
“Other communities have had similar things happen and I hate to say this, but soon the national media moves on to something new,” he said. “Hopefully, someone will see this in the media and come forward with new information.
“I just hope people take it for what it is. It is a magazine article by someone trying to write a book.
“He took a lot of liberty along the way. It is what it is.”
Related Stories
The Lost Girls of Rocky Mount by Robert Draper, Gentlemen's Quarterly
Police chief responds to criticism over comments about alleged serial killings
Comments
freedom to live
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Oh well
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Funny it is said in all other
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CAN YOU SAY CHEESE?
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Saunders: Please explain, chief
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Lasko
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Bliss2010
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Its a sad fact that some if
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So realist
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Simple it is
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Simple it is
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Simple again
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These women were criminals
These women were criminals multiple times over, from remnants of families that had traveled past broken to actively enabling them. Every family member quoted in the article, plus the cab driver chosen as the narrator, contributed to these womens' deaths. Yet it's the mayor of the city of over 55,000, and the police chief who, along with the Edgecombe County sheriff and the federal authorities they called in to help solve the case, are demonized. As the police chief said, "If you don't care, why should we?" This GQ article is a lazy joke. Mr Draper wrote it to trash the city of Rocky Mount, not to help the victims. He should be ashamed. Would he agree that the sizeable caseload of unsolved murders in his own Washington, D.C, stand as a metaphor for his home?
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To Navigator
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What I'm saying
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Navigator
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No one held a gun to their heads.
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Navigator
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What Mayor
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I found out about
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Dancy
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Police chief responds to criticism over comments about alleged
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Dancy Dancy
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Accept?
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lasko
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Bliss2010
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dancy
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Knew I would get
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So whose fault is it the girls were lost?
As I began to re-read the article on today I became disgusted when I got to the 2nd page of the interview with the cabbie. The cabbie talked about how he knew these girls and how he transported them to one of the grubby motels on Highway 301. He said a john had bought them a room whereby they would smoke cocaine and turn tricks. Now I find it hard to believe that this cabbie was the only one who was aware of this. Why didn’t the cabbie, the motel owners and others who were aware of this not report what was happening at the motel to the police?
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Dancy
For the same reasons dope selling stores in black communities are allowed, (every boby was making money and the police do and did know but did'nt care) You so-called well-to-do blacks need to open your eyes and see how the black have-nots live. And as for the black community the "Councilmember" Lamont Wiggins has FAILED the people of his ward and the city of Rocky Mount. Don't think for one second that your little buddy Knight don't know, he know's but his only agenda is to get his ugly face in the news.
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For the same reason
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Example please
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How ignant
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OK
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Dancy
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Again how
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Dancy
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More ignance.
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