Observer News Articles
A Father Turns The Tables On Child Predators
By Mitch Traphagen mitch@observernews.net
Mar 1, 2007, 23:37

Mark Lunsford referred to the thousands of people who attended the rally as his support group. He may well need it: Not only was this the second anniversary of his daughter’s kidnapping and subsequent murder, but also jury selection is now underway for Jessica’s accused murderer. Mitch Traphagen Photo

HOMASASSA, FLA – Smile for the camera.  Smile for the crowd.  Accept their hugs and hear them say “I’m sorry.”  Sometimes listen to their own stories.  Keep going.  Keep talking.  Don’t stop moving.  Don’t give up - don’t fall down.  Don’t stop.  Especially not today – don’t stop.

Mark Lunsford has become an unlikely celebrity.  On Feb. 24, an estimated 5,000 people and more than 2,500 motorcycles turned out to support Lunsford and his daughter.  Nine-year-old Jessica Lunsford had been kidnapped and subsequently murdered by a registered sex offender.  She was reported missing exactly two years ago that day – Feb. 24, 2005.

Two years ago, as law enforcement mounted an extensive search effort, Jessica was directly across the street from her own house.  At first she was hidden in a closet before being buried alive approximately 100 yards from Lunsford’s home.  She had been sexually assaulted.

The details of the crime are horrific.  And the details are known – not only by Lunsford but also by millions of people across the country and the world because the accused once admitted to it all.  John Couey told the police everything – when he did it, how he did it – in graphic detail.  

Those details would be enough to drive any parent to their knees.

But instead of falling down, Mark Lunsford stood up.

A truck driver who is the son of a truck driver, Lunsford’s world changed on that morning two years ago.  His loss cannot be described.  But in reality, it was a loss for everyone because now absent from this sometimes mean and ugly world is a bright and happy child – a smiling young girl in a floppy pink hat clutching a stuffed dolphin given to her by her father only days before her death.  

She was still clutching that dolphin when deputies found her body.

According to Lunsford, it was anger that moved him forward.  He didn’t want this to happen ever again.  He knew it could be stopped.  John Couey, as a previously convicted sex offender, was supposed to have made law enforcement aware of his location.  He didn’t do that.  He fell through the cracks.  Prior to that day, the parents and children in Lunsford’s neighborhood had no knowledge that a predator lived in their midst.

So, publicly at least, Lunsford stood up and converted his personal anguish to anger – and to action.

Celebrities call him a friend.  Everywhere he goes people seem to follow.  People ask to take photographs, they offer hugs and words of encouragement and almost always tell him, “I’m sorry” or “Thank you.”  

He stood in the Rose Garden of the White House to see President Bush sign the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 (named in honor of the son of America’s Most Wanted host John Walsh who was abducted in Florida in 1981).  He has traveled the country and met the famous and politically powerful.  He has testified before lawmakers, visiting 18 states.

And yet he has never written a speech.  He has never sought attention for himself – he only set out to make a change, to protect children.

His message has impact because he is us.  He is Everyman.  He is just a father trying to get by like everyone else.  His message has impact because he is sincere and driven.  He doesn’t want to be a celebrity – he just wants to save children.  He never wants another child to endure what Jessica did.  He has devoted his life to that.

“I have a story to tell and I can tell this story when I testify in other states, at the committee hearings - and I can make those committee people get up out of their chairs and leave the room because they can’t stand to hear it,” he said.  “What is happening to our children is wrong and as a community worldwide, we have to stand together and rise up and say enough is enough.  You’re not going to do this to our kids anymore.  We’re not going to take it.”

Lunsford listens attentively as a woman speaks with him at the motorcycle rally. During the day, hundreds of people crowded around him to share words of sympathy, support and gratitude. Mitch Traphagen Photo

So virtually from day one, he set out to not take it anymore.  Florida was the first to pass the Jessica Lunsford Act and has since been followed by 25 more states.

“We’re gonna get them all,” he said referring to each state.  “We have to do it.”

At the Harley Davidson dealership in Crystal River, thousands of people poured in as bike after bike filled the parking lot at the end of the memorial ride.  

At the Santiago Chopper tent, people began to crowd around a trike built in Jessica’s honor by designer Alan Bernard of Gibsonton.  Prior to Jessica’s murder, Bernard didn’t know Lunsford but the news of her death inspired him to build the trike.  Her face, complete with floppy pink hat, graces the tank and the rear view mirror is shaped like a dolphin.  Bernard gave it to Lunsford last year.  

Today, he has continued his support by building two more bikes that will be raffled off in May.  All of the proceeds – 100 percent – will go to the Jessica Marie Lunsford Foundation to help Mark Lunsford continue his work in getting Jessie’s Law passed in all 50 states.

As Lunsford visited the Santiago Chopper tent, people continued to crowd around – taking pictures, asking to pose with him, offering words of encouragement, gratitude and sympathy.  Lunsford made time for each and every person who wanted to talk.  Actor Brian Keith, who took part in the ride, stopped by the tent to drop off his jacket and other effects before disappearing into the crowd.

Lunsford’s cause is a literal melting pot with everyone from celebrities, grandparents, and tough looking bikers standing firmly behind him.  But despite helping to get more legislation passed than virtually any other parent in the country, he takes no credit for himself.

“I’m not amazing, they are,” he said referring to the thousands of people who turned out for the ride.  “Because without them, I couldn’t do nothing.  You have to have a support group, you have to.  This is the greatest support group you could ever have.  If we mass in large numbers - if we do this - the government hears us.  Very clearly.”

In the coming weeks, Lunsford will likely need that support group more than ever.  On Monday, the second phase of jury selection began in the trial of John Couey.  A jury will be chosen from a potential pool of 71 jurors that had been narrowed down last week.

Lunsford’s friends – including Walsh of America’s Most Wanted – have suggested he not sit through the entire trial.

“I know John and Mark Klaas (father of slain 12-year-old Polly Klaas) and most of my friends - they don’t want me to attend the trial,” he said.  “But what people need to understand is that I got up and fought back because of what I knew - what I already knew - happened to my daughter.”

And what he knows is horrific.

The jury will never hear Couey’s admission of guilt – it was ruled inadmissible because during questioning he asked for an attorney and one was not immediately provided.  As a result, the prosecution will have to build a case for his guilt.  That case will likely be difficult for a jury of strangers to hear, let alone for the father.

But despite that, Lunsford has nothing but praise for law enforcement.  On his leather riding vest is a star and patch from the Citrus County Sheriff’s office along with a patch from the U.S. Marshall’s office and pins from other law enforcement agencies.

A crowd of several hundred people cheered when Mark Lunsford held up this t-shirt at the end of the 3rd Jessie’s Ride in honor of Lunsford’s daughter Jessica who was kidnapped, raped and murdered in 2005. Since then, Lunsford has devoted his life to strenghtening laws against child predators. Mitch Traphagen Photo

“The FBI - they’ve been here and they’ve done a great job,” Lunsford said.  “The U.S. Marshall’s, I’ve been with them.  Law enforcement has had enough.  What people need to understand is that when a bad guy gets turned loose, it’s not law enforcement - it’s not the cops that turn him loose.  I’ve met so many cops who have been willing to throw their careers away because of what someone did to a child - they get so sick and tired of arresting the same guy over and over again.”

But he does look to politicians.  Education is one thing, but making immediate change requires new laws.  And he has less than kind words for those who merely pay lip service to the protection of children for political gain.

“To use a child, our children, to support your political purposes so you can be reelected...there are children being hurt,” he said.  “You get off your ass and you protect these kids.  You need to do your job.  Don’t misunderstand anything - another child will die.  Another child will be molested.”

Also on his vest is a small metal hangman’s noose.  It symbolizes what he hopes will be the end of the road for Couey and other child predators.  But there are more than a few frustrations along that road.

“Jessie’s Law has been on the books for two years - I’ve not heard of one person that got 25 years,” he said.  “I have heard about a guy up in Jacksonville who molested a nine-year-old walked away with a year of probation.  A schoolteacher filmed our kids and walked away with a misdemeanor voyeurism.  We rely on the school system and teachers to protect our kids while we’re at work and they turned their backs on our kids and they protected their peers.  We don’t need you.  We need someone who is going to educate our kids and keep them safe.  You can’t do half the job.”

Jessica’s story is not from “somewhere else.”  Her story could be right here – in any neighborhood in Ruskin or Apollo Beach or Riverview.  

A known sex offender admitted to the murder of Sarah Lunde, a 13-year-old girl from Ruskin, in 2005.  Eleven-year-old Carlie Brucia of Sarasota was murdered by a man with 13 prior arrests, including kidnapping.  Just last week, 13-year-old Clay Thomas was kidnapped from a school bus stop in Parrish.  Fortunately, that story had a happy ending - and the rapid response may have been in part due to the efforts of Mark Lunsford.  No one takes crimes against children lightly anymore.

“We turned the tables when we passed Jessie’s Law and we said, all right, we’re gonna go to you,” Lunsford said referring to predators.  “We’re going to be your worst nightmare.  You’re not going to bother our kids anymore. What we need to work on here in Florida is giving our prosecutors and judges the tools they need - like mandatory sentencing - to put these guys away.”

Lunsford invited seven child protection organizations to provide information at the end of the ride in Crystal River.  As a rock band on stage stopped playing, hundreds of bikers gathered around to hear actor David Keith speak about horrible crimes against children that take place even today on the Internet.  The shock was visible and audible amongst the leather-clad bikers.

The crowd cheered when Lunsford stepped up to the microphone.  Someone tossed up a t-shirt and the cheering grew even louder when Lunsford held it up to display the message:  “Save A Child, Hang A Pedophile”.

“People can help by finding an organization that fits your needs and your heart,” he said.  “That’s why I brought seven of them out here – choose one and help them.  Because if we don’t help them, they can’t help our kids.”

Actor David Keith speaks to the crowd at the end of the 3rd Jessie’s Ride. Keith, best known for his role in the film, “An Officer and a Gentleman”, told of horrific crimes against children that are occurring even today on the Internet. Keith is a board member of the National Association to Protect Children and also appears on “The Class” on CBS Television. Mitch Traphagen Photo

And he didn’t collapse in grief.  His anger and determination are still enough to keep him going.  But for Lunsford, there is even more than that.

“There is a higher power,” he said while standing aside from the crowd.  “People will recognize it, there is a higher power in God.  I’m not a Bible type of person - I don’t go to church every Sunday - in fact, I can’t remember the last time I went to church.  But I will tell you that I talk to God.  If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have been able to do as much as I’ve done.”

He speaks plainly about his cause.  He has energy and drive and will keep going.  He is clear and focused on the message.  He smiles for the camera.  He holds the arm of an older woman who feels some of the sadness that must be in his heart.  He hugs and poses and chats and gives everyone who asks a piece of his time.

But at some point everyone goes home.  John Walsh, Larry King, Oprah and the president, while with him in spirit, aren’t there then.  At some point, the smiles and the hugs and the well wishes become a memory.  It is the two-year anniversary of the disappearance of his daughter.  The daughter who always told him she loved him - the smiling, happy girl in the floppy pink hat holding the stuffed dolphin that was a gift from her dad.

When the crowds go home, when the cameras are gone, Lunsford will remain what he always has been:  A father who loves his daughter.  A father who is now saving other children – none of whom will ever know to thank him.  

It seems Jessica is always with him.  Her face adorns the back of his riding vest.  He has a tattoo of her likeness - the face of the daughter and the flesh of the father.  She seems to be central to his every waking thought.  She is the face of every unknown child that has been saved by his work.  

But at the end of the day he is a father who has suffered a loss beyond words.  And when the crowds go home and the lights go out at night, that’s just between him and Jessica and God.

Santiago Chopper of Gibsonton is holding a raffle for a choice of two custom choppers – each valued at more than $20,000.  All of the proceeds will go towards the Jessica Lunsford Foundation.  Tickets are $10 and available at 9879 U.S. Highway 41 in Gibsonton or on the Web at www.santiagochopper.com.

For information on the Jessica Marie Lunsford Foundation, visit http://www.jmlfoundation.org.




© Copyright 2006 by The Observer News Publications and M&M Printing