Missing the Point

Today AOL news featured this story about an "Internet" love triangle that ended with one man's murder. The tale boils down to this. A 47 year-old married factory worker in Buffalo starts making a play for a woman online. He believes she is 18. So he tells her that he is 18. The woman is not 18. She is about the same age as the factory worker. The relationship progresses. The woman sends the factory worker some trinkets, including lingere and pictures of her own 18 year-old daughter, claiming that she is the young woman depicted in the pictures. This is where things begin to fall apart. The women sends the gifts to the factory worker's home address, where his wife intercepts them. She puts the kibosh on the relationship.

So left without anyone to talk to, or maybe just out of a desire to stir the pot, the lady gets in touch with a co-worker of the factory guy. At 22, the co-worker is actually almost age-appropriate to an 18 year old girl. Once the first factory worker discovers what's going on, he shoots the kid with a deer rifle.

But the kicker comes at the end of the story. The AP reporter contacted an "Internet crime expert" named J.A. Hitchcock, who said,"the case illustrates the dangers that lurk on the web."

Huh? The web? The victim and the accused punched the same time clock. This would have happened if they were squabbling over a waitress at the local Dunkin Donuts.