New York, Las Vegas and now DC. I used to think nothing could slow down this board. Only two small threads in 24 hours prove that this community is reeling from the blow of losing 3 beloved providers in a week.
   The media as well as LE seem to almost consider these horrible acts of violence as justified when their profession of escorting is reported. I guess untill we attain the same public acceptance(and protection) as perhaps the "Gays"; We will remain second class citizens and be treated as such.
   What is the answer gang?. Is it the heat of summer?, the phase of the moon? or simply mans inhumanity to man/WOman. Will tougher screening help? (it won't hurt)  Sadly this will not be the last tradgedy our community will endure. History is rife with this type of horror. It's not simply going to go away wether the hobby is legal or not.

  God bless & protect us all
 
   FR225

In any of the 3 cases we have yet to hear that the perpetrator(s) were actually clients.  In at least one, I know that LE is pursuing a SO of the victim.

I'm not trying to say that a provider is not at risk from a client who is over the edge, but simply that from a client/provider relationship standpoint it may be just a little bit of an overreaction.

Please don't take the above statement the wrong way.  I have always been all for proper screening and provider security.  Upon learning of the passing of Alexis I called all providers with whom I have a "friend" relationship as well, warning them and making sure that they have gone to whatever lengths they need to to protect themselves.  I care very much for these people, and all providers, and in no way do I trivialize what happened to all 3, but we still don't know if any clients were involved.

One reason for the decrease in bandwidth here is because some of the prolific and interesting participants are not here for some reason (vacations?)

...a "working girl" has been murdered.  True, it happens often enough, but probably no more so than spousal murder.  The irksome part is how people react.  "Oh, well.  She was a prostitute.  What did she expect?"

I read a very interesting book about the Hillside Stranglers who terrorized LA about 25 years ago.  The book was written by the homicide detective who led the investigation.  According to detective, police are far more concerned about the murder of a prostitute than they would be in the case of a domestic murder, or a murder that occurred as a result of a botched robbery, etc.  

When the body of a prostitute is found in LA, the investigation is handled by a task force of specialized detectives rather than the normal homicide detectives.  The investigation is considered top priority and no expense is spared in apprehending the suspect.  The reason the murder of a prostitute is so important, is because of the person who committed the murder.  Unlike domestic murders where a man kills his wife, or someone gets shot during a robbery, the person who kills prostitutes is likely to be a serial killer who will kill over and over again.  The police know that the longer the suspect is free, the more people will be murdered.

Investigating the murder of a prostitute is second only in priority to the investigation of a cop murder.  The media and public obviously have a different opinion of the value of a prostitute’s life.  

Sadly, that is true.  And those kind of comments are almost as infuriating as the act itself.

So what do we as a community do about it?  As several have mentioned, the Ladies can screen better, learn some self defense techniques, and make sure someone knows where they are.

And what about the other half of the business?  I would like to think there are more productive things I/we men can do besides just get angry.  What are they?

What the ladies can do about it is follow the common sense advice you alluded to.  What the guys can do is encourage them to do that.  Men who kill providers because they are easy targets, or "evil women," or because they're just part of the killer's sexual fetish, are never going to go away.  You can't wish sharks out of the ocean.  All you can ever do is take precautions and hope for the best.

I think that the commentary in the "media and public" represents a smaller group of people than you would suspect. I would bet that the great majority of people feel as we do, that the murder of a prostitute is just as bad as the murder of anyone else.

The difference is that no one is willing to "come out" and admit publicly their real feelings about such a murder.

It's kind of like porn 20 years ago. No one would admit liking it, but most everyone privately loved it. Now you can get triple X porn in virtually any hotel anywhere in the country and you can buy triple x porn at the local video store.

I think there are as many people who sympathize with the prostitute but aren't about to admit it because of the social stigma of such an admission. The real question is how do we get the hobby to become as accepted as buying porn at the corner video store?

I'd love to think it could happen in my lifetime. Those of us who care, all of us, need to think about how we put the stigma aside and fight to make the profession (and it IS a profession worthy of respect) legal and above ground.

Just my .02.

fledgling killers often start with the marginalized elements of society (prostitutes) given the ease of access and the clandestine nature of conducting business. btw, the Hillside Stranglers case was a savagely gruesome and heinous one!

but i hope all this talk of fetishistic ritual sex crimes, serial killers, multiple homicides and stranglings and stimgmatized prostitutes is not depressing or SCARING the HELL out of the ladies here! i certainly hope not.

i think this is one of those situations where we cannot possibly imagine what it must be like for providers (the fear). all we risk is a night in jail, a misdemeanor charge, a slap on the wrist (ok perhaps the divorce and lost job, etc) but THEY risk their LIVES.

sobering, this whole topic/thread. this last week, all of it. my heart goes out to the ladies and especially my prayers to the dearly departed.