Imagine you’re ten years old and hear the familiar tune of the ice cream truck. It’s only nine at night, so what harm could it be? It’s just a sweet treat. So, you step outside with your birthday money in hand, ready to buy one of those SpongeBob popsicles. When in reality, that’s the last time someone will see you. Missing posters were published everywhere, your family worried, but no coverage. Who knows when you’ll be found.
Although that seems like a nightmare, and most would hope it is, that isn’t the case for multiple homes in Virginia. These families have to hear the heartbreaking news that their child is missing.
Recently, there have been videos on social media of ice cream trucks supposedly driving around with music and lights on late at night. It has gained an enormous viewing audience, raising multiple concerns and accusations, with most thinking it’s responsible for numerous child kidnappings in Virginia.
From January to August, there have been reports of over 3,000 kids missing. As of Aug. 13, roughly 140 children still had open cases and couldn’t be located. Though many correlate the social media post with the abductions, Virginia State Police have deemed the videos as false information and claim that they are not related. Meaning that mass kidnappings couldn’t be possible because the reported number was less than the average. Still, publicity for the children and efforts to get the word out that they’re missing are severely low.
This isn’t the first time something like this has happened, though. Back in May 2021, TikTok videos were circling around that Target was a hot spot for sex trafficking, which authorities found to be untrue, and couldn’t find any information proving such claims. Likewise, in December 2020, influencer Katie Sorenson falsely claimed that a Latino couple attempted to kidnap her child in Michaels. She was later convicted of the false claim, as store camera evidence and a witness revealed the truth. Other instances turned out to be social experiments to see if observers would help these kids.
Another example includes the 2020 Wayfair sex trafficking accusations and the 2016 Comet Ping Pong conspiracy theory. Five years ago, there were suspicious listings on the trending website Wayfair; these included storage cabinets that were labeled with missing girls’ names and priced significantly high. However, these theories were all debunked. Comet Ping Pong, a Washington D.C. pizza place that was around from 2006 to an estimated 2020, was known as a staple, with popular people such as Guy Fieri stopping in. This quickly changed when there was speculation and false information swirling around that Comet Ping Pong was democratic led child trafficking ring, otherwise called the “Pizzagate.” This was highly detrimental because in Dec. 2016, it led Edgar Maddison Welch to open fire with three rounds in the restaurant, and later in Jan. 2019, someone set fire to the building, both in attempts to save the supposed children.
Ways to protect these kids can include teaching them the importance of “stranger danger,” ensuring they’re not communicating with people they don’t know online, and familiarizing them with the process of getting help if they need it. Safety concepts like these can keep them from even the most dangerous scenarios.
Abduction by truck or not, these kids deserve to have just as much awareness. Even though the media blew the ice cream saga out of proportion, they still matter. Even if they’ve been considered runaways, they still matter. Every person deserves as much care as the next.
