Sunburn...i don't believe that trip advisor has anything to do with this forum. I don't believe that they can delete anything here at all.

How do you find those kinds of posts on trip-advisor? I only check there every now and then.

Paranoia killed the cat or something like that. Dude, not to worry. You're reporting on an old story of about a month plus ago.

Remember one thing....even paranoids have enemies. LOOK OUT.

No, Trip Adviser cannot delete anything here, and that is precisely why I posted this here. I have watched many such discussions on this (VINow) board on controversial subjects like crime, drugs, safety, etc., and they have not been deleted. I have even contributed once in a great while, but I am primarily a lurker who loves to watch the interchanges between locals and tourists, and reading the trip reports gives me a fresh perspective on the islands. I posted this here because I don't want this subject to die, because I believe that visitors need to know both sides of the story (as Ronnie so eloquently said - before Trip Adviser deleted it!) and because I think that it is irresponsible of a forum such as Trip Adviser to delete posts that tell the truth. Just spreading the gospel.

- Sunburn

Crime happens everywhere. Taking off the corn in the Fall was always a surprise. We'd find black plastic bags with things I don't even want to mention.

I'd rather be on STJ, then in a corn field ANYDAY!

Sunburn kid: Yours is a very difficult post to respond to, particularly since I don't read TripAdvisor, although of course as a longtime resident of the Virgin Islands I'm aware of these crimes.

I think one of the problems a forum moderator has is that when a poster brings up a local crime (and, sorry to say but particularly a crime against a white person in a predominantly black society) the thread all too often quickly deteriorates into a barrage of misinformation, outright speculation and sometimes spiteful conjecture. I've seen it happen over and over again.

It has been repeated over and over again (and statistics bear it out) that of the millions of visitors who visit the territory every year, the chances of one of them being a victim of violent crime is miniscule. What you read and believe on a travel forum as "the truth" may well be far from it.

Thanks for listening to another point of view.

I have been following the posts on tripadvisor. The cousin and mother of Jamie Cockayne have been posting on there and getting support from sympathetic ears. I did post twice, once telling them I am sure they are working on the case and the other that there are more than one side to every story or case as it may be. Tripadvisor keeps deleting their posts which they say they have every right to do as it does not fit it to their terms of use. We have heard that before haven't we.

I hope they get it resolved soon so they can be put at ease and secondly to stop writing all they are writing.

RL

That is truly disgusting.

While I don't think the crime in the VI is as bad as some make it sound, the police department is in serious need of an overhaul. I've traveled to the VI (bvi and usvi) as well as the bahamas and aruba extensively. Aruba and the bahamas just don't experience the same amount of crime that the vi seems to... they just don't tolerate it there.

As with travel anywhere use common sense and be aware of your surroundings.

The fact that any travel website would DELETE such postings assures that I will never send me business their way again. Thanks for the information.

Parrot,

It's interesting you mention Aruba as an example of a "safer" place to vacation given the recent Natalie Holloway story.

I agree with other posters, your chances of being a victim of major crime in the USVI is very low, but one should be aware of the possibility no matter where you are.

And these stories do seem to have a life of their own. There was recently a thread on the Playa del Carmen, Mexico board about a drunken tourist who tried to jumped/fell off a balcony onto a swimming pool deck that went wild with conspiracy theories.

I too, only post and use vinow and i have never seen them delete anything to do with any kind of crime and we all get to put in our thoughts! Thanks for opening our eyes to other forums that don't allow this.

As for Aruba, I highly doubt that remark. I have spent more than enough time there as my x lived and worked there for 2 and half years. Drugs are 100 times more prominent there and along with drugs comes more crime. The latest I "heard" on the Natalie Holloway case, it was her fault she died as she had overdosed. Pretty shocking to me. The truth is nobody knows......
I personally do not like Aruba, but not for this reason.

I just started reading tripadvisor and the STJ and STT posts. ALOT of them have been removed on both forums. One post actually read that they have the right to remove ANY post for ANY reason. That sounded strange to me.

Even though crime anywhere in the islands is a hot topic, I still think that people have the right to know about it and make there own decisions on whether or not to go.

I still never felt uneasy in either STJ or STT, but things can and do happen everywhere.

I'd rather walk around the streets in STJ or STT, then in Philly anyday.

As expected, Trip Adviser deleted this post and a large number of positive responses this morning. At the same time they also deleted two other threads about this situation and their censorship.

Here is another one that still exists on that forum, but will undoubtedly be deleted before long:

"I read on a couple blogs in PA that this website has deleted dozens of posts pertaining to the unsolved murder of a US Citizen.

As a potential destination bride, I am concerned about this because travel agents and tourism offices don't want to tell you the truth.

I am referring to the June 19th murder in St John's of Jamie Cockayne of New Hope PA. There was a major news report on this story last night on NBC10, and blogs and websites all over are picking up the story.

This website should stop deleting posts about this because it is reality and in order to present an accurate travel picture you have to be willing to talk about the crime.

My friends have called Nancy Grace and People Magazine to report this story .

Please do your bit and help bring Jamie Cockayne's killer or killers to justice.

I am not a family member, I just saw the poor mom on TV."

Please get the word out that Trip Adviser is into censorship - not the truth! It's hard to make an informed decision - or to pursue justice - without the truth!

- Sunburn

More power to the family of Jamie - he is from this area. It has been on the news and in the local press here. The family has promised to continue pushing the VI govt for answers and support, even after they said they were asked to leave the island for their own safety. If that's true, that would have really made me more angry, as a family member.

Not everyone will accept a murder being swept under the rug. I know some Virgin Island residents are also refusing to give up with unsolved murders of their own family members.

Local papers have called for a boycot of the USVI until the police get their act together and start solving crimes and giving families more information and attention. I don't know the family. But, based on where they live and other info I've read, they just may have the financial resources to keep this going for a while. It is flooding the press. I've never seen anything like it.

From a local article..
"In addition, government officials have refused to provide any information to the family. After we
repeatedly requested a face to face meeting to discuss the progress of the case, local officials told us they
would meet. Ironically, they never agreed to meet until a day after the family left the island. When we
agreed to participate in a meeting telephonically, they cancelled the meeting 45 minutes after it was
supposed to begin. The meeting was supposed to begin at 9:30 am. Having not received a call by 9:45am, the
family attorney called and was told they were running late. Still not receiving a call by 10:00am, the
family attorney called again and was told they were running late. At 10:15am, they called the family
attorney and said that they were canceling the meeting without any explanation. Subsequently, we found out
that Agent Schmidt (from the FBI) did not even know about the meeting -- yet, he was supposed to be
present for the meeting."

Here's the local news video / top stories on CBS 3 - his video story is the first one, the kid with the curly blond hair.
http://cbs3.com/topstories/local_story_209230852.html

And the NBC network ran another video and top story again yesterday...
http://www.nbc10.com/news/13783653/detail.html?rss=phi&psp=news

I also find it very strange that if you go on the USVI Police Departments website, they have an area where they ask for information on unsolved crimes. Why isn't Jamie's on there? Do they want to keep it quiet?

I know the police have been tardy with answers, but I question what police department gives updates of their investigation without fear of compromising the investigation. Mrs. Cockayne has been giving out all the info she has, why should they give her anymore and completely jeopardize the investigation? Just my thoughts. Again I believe this will be sorted out soon. I hope soon enough.

RL

Ronnie is correct, police do not release information during an on going investigations even in the desparate USVI PD.

I do agree with Ron about ongoing investigations, and the need not to give out too much information.
On the other hand, the people of St. John must be very distressed knowing that this is not
been solved, and knowing some very seriously dangerous person or persons are out there, unapprehended.
The worst feeling of all, is not to trust that your own Police Department cares enough or, is competent enough
to see an investigation through. And, from the horrible things I've read about the Police Departments in the USVI., , maybe it's this kind of coverage that will help shake things up a bit.
All of us need to realize, that, when we drink and party on vacation, we still need to be in our pay attention mode. Sometimes younger folks are too naive of this unfortunate necessity, and run into trouble because of it. I hope there will be some answers soon, for all of us.
The best news would be, it would never happen again. But, I won't hold my breath.
Condolences to the family, and the residents of St. John.

In response to "connie" and her question about the VIPD website, the site is obviously not kept up to date but that's nothing unusual where government websites are concerned. The police department uses the general local media such as the daily newspapers, radio and television for their announcements.

You're absolutely right, Ronnie, about a PD giving (or not giving) updates on a regular basis.

A television crime story fits into a less than 60 minute time slot during which time a crime is committed and the perpetator is nabbed in apparently very short shrift - FAR removed from reality.

Few PDs in small communities have instant access to high-tech investigative resources. We don't have a forensics lab here yet and there have been many instances over the last few years since the technology has been more widely available that evidence has been sent off-island for testing and the results have taken MONTHS to be processed because of the huge backlog in stateside facilities.

I totally understand (this from a very personal standpoint) the devastation that a victim's family and friends feel but I also know that continuously trying to force any PD to answer questions which can't imnmediately be answered is counterproductive.

And that's precisely why I feel that a visitor's vacation forum is NOT the place for long discussions on the subject. There is another forum on this site which addresses community issues and in my opinion that's where this thread should be.

I just wonder why the FBI has not been enagaged/. As I udnesatdn it, the fBI is awaiting the request from the VIPD - as is protocol - but the VIPD has not yet asked the fbI to enagage. This is where the PA Senate and Congress have been asked to step in - to apply pressure on the VIPD to enagage the FBI. Once you decide to hose down a murder scene prior to any special crimes until arrival, you lose credibility to complete the investigation without some oversight (FBI).

Is there no special unit for murders? Does the VIPD use the same officers to investigate murders as they do to hand out traffic tickets?

There must be a unit. Or, was it this unit that hosed down the crime scene.

Blu, they will be engaged as soon as they are able to find the telephone number. I understand it's unlisted.

Bluwater Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I just wonder why the FBI has not been enagaged/.
> As I udnesatdn it, the fBI is awaiting the request
> from the VIPD - as is protocol - but the VIPD has
> not yet asked the fbI to enagage. This is where
> the PA Senate and Congress have been asked to step
> in - to apply pressure on the VIPD to enagage the
> FBI. Once you decide to hose down a murder scene
> prior to any special crimes until arrival, you
> lose credibility to complete the investigation
> without some oversight (FBI).
>
> Is there no special unit for murders? Does the
> VIPD use the same officers to investigate murders
> as they do to hand out traffic tickets?
>
> There must be a unit. Or, was it this unit that
> hosed down the crime scene.