Katie Beers by Buried Memories: Katie Beers' Story Page B
Authors: Buried Memories: Katie Beers' Story
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as if I had been there all along. I was proud of myself; I had not fallen asleep. I had just drifted into an even uglier place.
ALIVE
I made the rounds each day, green spiral steno pad and mini-recorder in hand, knocking firmly on dented doors and tin thresholds in the absence of working doorbells. The competition had become acute. Katie stories were dominating the headlines of the city tabloids, a new genre of tabloid TV was devoting entire shows to the saga, and each astonishing revelation about Katie’s Cinderella existence was intently followed by a mesmerized national audience. The little missing waif had won the nation’s collective heart and each day the pressure was enormous to dig up new dirt on those who failed her.
News 12 Long Island, the first regional twenty-four-hour news channel, was considered a training ground by the people at Cablevision who owned and operated the place. There were, though, plenty of folks who worked there who were already “trained,” and for us, it was a tough spot to be in, competing with the likes of the CBS, NBC and ABC flagship stations, The New York Times, New York Post and New York Daily News . Turning on News 12 had become a fixture in the daily routine of many across the island. Nonetheless, calculating newsmakers still considered the city stations and newspapers the gold standard. Each of us within the press corps was jockeying for scoops in this story, and they were awarded, most often, to those with big city links. Attorneys and law enforcement sources took my calls and answered my questions, but at times it was a skittish game of catch-up. I tried to remind myself often of the bigger picture and why we did what we did. A little girl’s fate was more important than who broke the next dreadful detail about her miserable existence. I didn’t need to sharpen my news fangs on the likes of a missing child. Yet the competitive streak is innate in most red-blooded reporters, and at times blinding. So there were nights I would go to sleep fearing the morning headlines.
The Suffolk Police Department felt the heat too, and in an effort to shut off the rushing current of leaks, issued this unprecedented statement on January 12, 1993:
It is now sixteen days since the sudden unexplained disappearance of Katie Beers. No effort has been spared by the Suffolk County law enforcement community to follow every lead in an attempt to locate her and identify those responsible for her disappearance. Understandably, the human drama presented by the plight of this ten-year-old girl has sparked enormous media interest as witnessed by the daily intense coverage both in newspapers and on radio and television. Unfortunately, as day follows day, the media’s efforts to report further developments has at times hindered police investigators who are primarily responsible for bringing this case to a definitive conclusion. While we are mindful that ofttimes media attention is case-beneficial, nonetheless, there are occasions when law enforcement activities may actually be thwarted and/or short-circuited by undue exposure or discussion of circumstances and hitherto unpublished “facts.” Accordingly, until further notice, Suffolk County law enforcement officials and personnel will decline to respond to media inquiries concerning any aspect of this investigation. We request the media’s understanding and cooperation in this information embargo .
The pipeline of leads, though, remained free flowing. The television show, America’s Most Wanted, aired an episode about Katie’s disappearance and more than fifty tips were phoned in from around the country. In the Hudson Valley, two people were certain they saw a young girl, the spitting image of Katie, outside a Grand Union supermarket trying to make a call at a pay phone and then pushed into a waiting car. I was dispatched to file a live report. In another call, a Bay Shore mechanic told police he was certain he had given Katie a ride earlier that
ALIVE
I made the rounds each day, green spiral steno pad and mini-recorder in hand, knocking firmly on dented doors and tin thresholds in the absence of working doorbells. The competition had become acute. Katie stories were dominating the headlines of the city tabloids, a new genre of tabloid TV was devoting entire shows to the saga, and each astonishing revelation about Katie’s Cinderella existence was intently followed by a mesmerized national audience. The little missing waif had won the nation’s collective heart and each day the pressure was enormous to dig up new dirt on those who failed her.
News 12 Long Island, the first regional twenty-four-hour news channel, was considered a training ground by the people at Cablevision who owned and operated the place. There were, though, plenty of folks who worked there who were already “trained,” and for us, it was a tough spot to be in, competing with the likes of the CBS, NBC and ABC flagship stations, The New York Times, New York Post and New York Daily News . Turning on News 12 had become a fixture in the daily routine of many across the island. Nonetheless, calculating newsmakers still considered the city stations and newspapers the gold standard. Each of us within the press corps was jockeying for scoops in this story, and they were awarded, most often, to those with big city links. Attorneys and law enforcement sources took my calls and answered my questions, but at times it was a skittish game of catch-up. I tried to remind myself often of the bigger picture and why we did what we did. A little girl’s fate was more important than who broke the next dreadful detail about her miserable existence. I didn’t need to sharpen my news fangs on the likes of a missing child. Yet the competitive streak is innate in most red-blooded reporters, and at times blinding. So there were nights I would go to sleep fearing the morning headlines.
The Suffolk Police Department felt the heat too, and in an effort to shut off the rushing current of leaks, issued this unprecedented statement on January 12, 1993:
It is now sixteen days since the sudden unexplained disappearance of Katie Beers. No effort has been spared by the Suffolk County law enforcement community to follow every lead in an attempt to locate her and identify those responsible for her disappearance. Understandably, the human drama presented by the plight of this ten-year-old girl has sparked enormous media interest as witnessed by the daily intense coverage both in newspapers and on radio and television. Unfortunately, as day follows day, the media’s efforts to report further developments has at times hindered police investigators who are primarily responsible for bringing this case to a definitive conclusion. While we are mindful that ofttimes media attention is case-beneficial, nonetheless, there are occasions when law enforcement activities may actually be thwarted and/or short-circuited by undue exposure or discussion of circumstances and hitherto unpublished “facts.” Accordingly, until further notice, Suffolk County law enforcement officials and personnel will decline to respond to media inquiries concerning any aspect of this investigation. We request the media’s understanding and cooperation in this information embargo .
The pipeline of leads, though, remained free flowing. The television show, America’s Most Wanted, aired an episode about Katie’s disappearance and more than fifty tips were phoned in from around the country. In the Hudson Valley, two people were certain they saw a young girl, the spitting image of Katie, outside a Grand Union supermarket trying to make a call at a pay phone and then pushed into a waiting car. I was dispatched to file a live report. In another call, a Bay Shore mechanic told police he was certain he had given Katie a ride earlier that
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