Kidnap Victim

Re “Slain Kidnap Victim Was Subject of FBI Probe,” Feb. 15.

I have been following this story since the first article was published. Judging from what has been presented, it is obvious that the writer is biased due to the victim’s age and financial status. . . . Contrary to the subliminal message of your articles, Christopher Rawlings did not deserve to be brutally murdered because he was well-off.

Your articles failed miserably in telling a real story about two young children losing a father, a wife losing a husband and a mother and father losing a son. Instead, your baby-boomer mentality of being middle-aged and unsuccessful has taken every opportunity to cast a suspicious shadow on Rawlings’ early success. Using the term “the trappings of wealth” to describe driving a Bentley, wearing a Rolex watch, dressing in designer clothes and living in an affluent neighborhood suggests that these are negative things. However, these are things that I see as being positive. I want them and intend to have them for myself and my family.

Most people would rather believe that a 30-year-old man acquired his money illegally to keep themselves from feeling inadequate, rather than face the truth--that he was brave enough and had the guts to go against society’s largely negative outlook and make something of himself. Furthermore, the FBI is only concerned with obtaining whatever portion of his earnings they can get.

Instead of concentrating on reporting the LAPD’s efforts in apprehending the scum that brutally murdered an innocent man, your articles cast a suspicious light upon a young man’s early success.

STEVE E. SHOOK, Santa Monica

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It is amazing what a difference between life and death a simple precaution can make. About two years ago, my mother was followed from a supermarket by a van. She spotted the van even before she left the parking lot. Knowing she was being followed, she drove past the house and around the block three times. She would have driven back to the store to report the van if it still had been following, but the van gave up after the third time and my mother arrived home safely. She always tells me to keep a lookout for anyone following me when I come home from work.

PHILIP MARLIN, Woodland Hills