For the Lost Blog

After a few days of thinking, I hope that I can put my thoughts together on the death of Diana Alagha in a semi-reasonable manner.

When I wrote that Luna Fox had been found safe, I noted that she was found because she was treated for diabetes, and that the consequences could have been much more devastating if she had not been brought for treatment. This is the sort of thing I was afraid could happen. The story given was that Diana broke her arm, it was set badly, and she got an infection and died. Her father and his family are looking into this to see if it is really the case. If it is really the case, I wonder if she got any medical treatment at all, or if the bone was just set badly at home.

Many families of the missing say what is most difficult is hearing about accidents and disasters in other places and not knowing if their family member was part of this. But many of those families are ones who believe or suspect their family member met foul play. In family abduction cases, most assume their child is still alive. I usually think the same thing. If I had to guess at cases where the abducted child might be dead, I would first list the cases where child(ren) were abducted after a homicide. Cases with medical issues or a parent with a history of violence would be next. I certainly didn’t think Diana would be one of them. I wouldn’t have predicted when I posted she had been missing for thirteen years she had been dead for the past three.

I may not be able to do anything for Diana now. But if I use her death to work harder at helping other abducted kids come home, there will be fewer endings like this.