Melissa Dawn Peacock - 20 - Missing - November 7, 2011 Dartmouth, NS

[jellybean]

By now this young woman would have contacted her family.  She has not.  This does not bode well for her nor her family.
Whoever gave that false message on her facebook, has much to answer for. It threw the whole investigation off track for awhile, and  precious time was lost.

JB

[Indigo]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/story/2011/12/12/ns-vigil-missing-woman.html

a little more on the virgil,

i have to say I'd hoped early on that she'd surface well but everyday that goes by without her contacting her family my hopes get a little dimmer

[jellybean]

I can't help myself but I get so angry when young women go missing. They feel that they are invincible, that nothing would or could happen to them. It is so difficult to get through to them. I get angry when they are lost and cannot be found.

I felt the same way as well (invisible)  when I was in my 20's. Somehow when in your 20's a trusting attitude prevails. A common belief that the world is wonderful.  It is difficult to teach them to play safe and be safe without instilling fear in them, which is the last thing that a parent wants to do.

And the big point here is that you cannot even legally, tell a 20 year old what to  do. After age 18 you have lost the control as a parent. Many, many parent's even lose control before age 18.

This could happen to anyone's daughter!!

My thoughts and prayers goes out to her Mom and Dad and all who love her.

JB

[Nish]

I can't help myself but I get so angry when young women go missing. They feel that they are invincible, that nothing would or could happen to them. It is so difficult to get through to them. I get angry when they are lost and cannot be found.

Oh boy, big time agree. One of my ex-girlfriends, all five foot eff all and hundred and eff all of her, used to run around the Aberdeen docks at night with her iPod going. Drove me mad. As anyone who has taken the time to read some of my earlier posts knows, I am not one to think about boogeymen around every corner or promote hiding under the bedsheets, but there's being prudent and there's being stupid. I always thought she was the latter.

I am sorry, but human behaviour and simple biology dictate that a person bent on doing someone harm is going to pick on the smaller person first. Think about wolves choosing young or elderly animals and the wounded.

I felt the same way as well (invisible)  when I was in my 20's. Somehow when in your 20's a trusting attitude prevails. A common belief that the world is wonderful.  It is difficult to teach them to play safe and be safe without instilling fear in them, which is the last thing that a parent wants to do.

I still have this view that the world is inherently good and it has gotten me hurt a couple of times. Considering that I am a little more careful now than I once was but that doesn't change my view that most people generally do not mean harm.

All of this said, it's hard, especially in this case, for anyone to definitively say what has happened and how it happened.

Nish

[jellybean]

And the big point here is that you cannot even legally, tell a 20 year old what to  do. After age 18 you have lost the control as a parent. Many, many parent's even lose control before age 18.

Guess this is my major point. Many parents go through it.

JB

[Indigo]

And the big point here is that you cannot even legally, tell a 20 year old what to  do. After age 18 you have lost the control as a parent. Many, many parent's even lose control before age 18.

Guess this is my major point. Many parents go through it.

JB

I agree, once a kid is in their later teens it's almost impossible to get them to do anything they don't want to. It's that time in their life when they 1. think they are invincible 2. think they know everything.  As anyone with teens will tell you God help the parent that tries to interfere for their own good.

[Indigo]

all that said I'd like to know why they teach stuff like folk dancing in gym class (they did in my highschool) but not something that might actually save your life like SELF DEFENCE...sheeeeshhhh...or at least vigilance.  I'm certainly not blaming the victims here but it's hard to get in harms way if you don't put yourself there if you KWIM?

[eyeswideopen]

Indigo not sure about where you live but in Toronto they do teach self defence in gym.  My youngest is who is23 now took self defence each year in highschool.  The course was taught by a police officer and he pinned each one of them and they had to get out of it.  Here is a good tip I taught my girls and they still use.  I always made them carry a small sample size of hairspray. Hairspray is not illegal and if sprayed in they eyes temperarily blinds a person long enough for you to get away.  It saved my youngest once and both still care hairspray in their pocket.

[capeheart]

Last night there was a candelight vigil for Melissa Dawn Peacock in Dartmouth. Her family and friends just wanted to get the word out there that Melissa is still missing. This does not sound very good, because there has been no credible leads to where Melissa is. This is the Christmas season and I'm sure that Melissa would want to be home with her family and friends at this time of the year. We've been getting all sorts of weather in the past couple of weeks also, stormy and now we're into cold temps. Hoping that someone does give the police the tip that is going to bring Melissa home. My thoughts and prayers are with her family at this time.

[Indigo]

Indigo not sure about where you live but in Toronto they do teach self defence in gym.  My youngest is who is23 now took self defence each year in highschool.  The course was taught by a police officer and he pinned each one of them and they had to get out of it.  Here is a good tip I taught my girls and they still use.  I always made them carry a small sample size of hairspray. Hairspray is not illegal and if sprayed in they eyes temperarily blinds a person long enough for you to get away.  It saved my youngest once and both still care hairspray in their pocket.

I grew up in Northern Ontario and they didn't teach it there and I'm pretty sure they don't teach it here in Nova Scotia either...but that's a problem because we have a 'perception' of being safe because we're more rural not much attention gets focused on things like self defence like they would in a big city like Toronto or Vancouver...it makes our rural girls easier prey

[Nish]

They're teaching more and more "Recreation Leadership" styled classes everywhere for highschoolers...this could be an easy extension and I think the idea is good.

Or, instead of first semester freshman "Mixology" classes at the local Uni, a course like mentioned.

However, I do think that a healthy dose of risk averse behaviour trumps much (I didn't say all) of the need for this. I know of at least one college that has a mandatory frosh course of this sort of thing that also includes how to put on a rubber the correct way and that sort of stuff.

Nish

[Oryx]

New Information in Missing Person Case.

by Halifax Regional Police on Friday, December 16, 2011 at 2:27pm

The HRP/RCMP Integrated Vice Unit continues to investigate the disappearance of a Dartmouth woman and is releasing additional information to the public in hopes of finding her.

Twenty-year-old Melissa Dawn Peacock was last seen on November 7 at her resident in Dartmouth. She was reported missing on November 9 when family and friends became concerned because they couldn’t contact her. Investigators believe that Melissa was in a vehicle travelling outbound from the Sackville area after midnight on Tuesday November 8. She was last known to be in the area of Gore, Nova Scotia, approximately 30 minutes later. Melissa is described as a light complected black woman, 5’1", 105 lbs., with brown curly mid-length hair and hazel eyes.

 Police request that Melissa, or anyone with information on her whereabouts, call Halifax Regional Police at 490-5020 or their local police department. Anonymous tips can be sent to Crime Stoppers by calling toll-free 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), submitting a secure web tip at www.crimestoppers.ns.ca or texting a tip - Tip 202 + your message to 274637.
(https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150430019287903)

[eyeswideopen]

Thanks Oryx for the update at least we know the police are still trying.  Wondering how they got the info perhaps tips that were hopefuly checked out.

[Oryx]

There was talk among the groups at first about setting up a search command center in the Valley (Annapolis Region of NS).  Gore appears to be halfway between Truro and Windsor (two major junctions). 
I have attached a clipping of the area in which Melissa was said to travel (and even suspected to travel, Uniake) when she said she was going to the country!

Hope this helps a bit too....

[FreshLook]

Hopefully the police have the car on video, and they know who was driving it. Gore seems very out of the way.