Girls are being stalked, beaten, raped, abused, and murdered by strangers . . . and by the men in their lives. No girl is safe from harm, particularly in today's world where social media makes it too easy to connect with people she barely knows.
There are many dangerous people out there who aren't behind bars, and parents of teen girls need to be more proactive than ever about keeping their daughters safe. That's the message veteran criminal profiler Pat Brown wants parents of young women to understand. In this no-holds-barred book, Brown, who is a frequent go-to expert on Nancy Grace and other shows on HLN, CNN, MSNBC, CBS, and NBC, shouts loud and clear that every young woman is vulnerable to a plethora of unforeseen dangers.
Brown has provided crime commentary and profile and forensic analysis in more than 2,000 television and radio appearances across the globe, and she knows what is really going on in the world. She wants parents and their daughters to understand how predators choose victims, and how to avoid becoming a target. In How to Save Your Daughter's Life, Brown covers all of the dangers that today's young women face and arms parents with information they rarely get from professionals, including the truth about what behaviors might get their daughters abused, raped, or killed—careless actions and attitudes no one usually talks about. It may not be pretty, but neither is being a victim.
How to Save Your Daughter's Life will teach parents how to:
Introduction: Important! Read First!
Whenever young women meet tragic ends—a jogger who is raped and murdered by a serial killer, a teenager who is killed by her boyfriend after she breaks up with him, a high school girl who gets beat up by a group of girls she thought were her friends, or a series of prostitutes go missing after advertising on Craigslist—my phone starts ringing.
I spend the next few days on The Today Show, The Early Show, Nancy Grace, Jane Velez-Mitchell, Inside Edition, FOX and Friends, Dr. Drew, or HLN's Prime News talking about what kind of person would commit such a horrendous crime. I often discuss how the poor woman or girl ended up a victim and give advice to other females on how to avoid a similar situation. I hope to save lives by sharing some thoughts that maybe haven't occurred to some of the viewers or that might remind them of certain behaviors or choices that can put them in harm's way.
Usually after the shows, I get e-mails from many people thanking me for sharing information that can keep them or their loved ones from harm. Here are two e-mails I received following my July 2011 appearance on The Today Show when I spoke of the brutal murder of high school graduate Lauren Astley by her ex-boyfriend:
Ms. Brown:
I just saw you on The Today Show speaking about a recent tragedy involving the violent murder of a recent high school graduate by, police believe, her boyfriend.
In that interview you spoke directly to girls who have recently broken up with their partner, advising that if that partner requests a meeting post-breakup that it not be done privately because the partner is counting on the fact that she's nice and will agree to meet.
I can't agree with you enough!
I fear however that we—in particular women—don't actually teach our girls that it's okay to refuse that 'one last time' or that it's Okay and likely wise to break up in a public place or over the phone even, when one's partner exhibits dangerous traits.
Moreover, we don't even do a good job of teaching our girls how, in the depths of teenage love, to spot the subtle signs that scream 'danger.' Nor do we teach them how to put words to those gut instincts that tell us something is amiss with our partner and relationship, or, simply, that we deserve better than what we've been experiencing in the relationship at hand. We do, however, do a great job of teaching them that it's important to be nice, understanding, caring, and nurturing without also teaching them to be wise and deeply instinctual, as though the former and latter attributes are mutually exclusive.
So thank you for your very frank statement. It is my sincere hope, however, that you are able to carry that statement widely to girls and women everywhere as I truly believe we are needlessly losing our sisters to the false idea that our gender requires us to be 'nice' and 'nurturing' in all circumstances.
Best regards, Aurora Vasquez
Dear Ms. Brown,
Thank you for being the only voice [I hear] in the media calling domestic and dating violence what it is: power and control. Anchors and interviewers insist on trying to spin the 'he just snapped' angle . . . 'he was a great kid, great guy, wonderful man . . . what caused him to snap all of a sudden?'
You made that point this morning on The Today Show, countering the therapist's comments and speaking directly to girls and women. Giving them information that could save their lives.
©2012. Pat Brown. All rights reserved. Reprinted from How to Save Your Daughter's Life: Straight Talk for Parents from America's Top Criminal Profiler. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the written permission of the publisher. Publisher: Health Communications, Inc., 3201 SW 15th Street, Deerfield Beach, FL 33442
Introduction: Important! Read First! vii
1 The Early Years 1
2 Partying, Drinking, Drugging, Casual Sex (Hooking Up), and Gangs 39
3 Date Rape 65
4 The Dangers of Social Networking and the Internet 89
5 Risky Relationships 129
6 Stalkers 169
7 Child Predators, Serial Rapists, and Serial Killers 193
8 The Sex Trade and Sex Trafficking 221
Final Thoughts 245
About the Author 247
Index 249
Overview
Girls are being stalked, beaten, raped, abused, and murdered by strangers . . . and by the men in their lives. No girl is safe from harm, particularly in today's world where social media makes it too easy to connect with people she barely knows.
There are many dangerous people out there who aren't behind bars, and parents of teen girls need to be more proactive than ever about keeping their daughters safe. That's the message veteran criminal profiler Pat Brown wants parents of ...