Why Do We ignore Red Flags? A Real Life Tragedy That Was Easily Preventable.

Red Flags are incredibly obvious. That’s why we call them red flags!

So, if they’re so obvious why do we ignore them?

A Real Life Tragedy That Never Should Have Happened

In this video, I’m going to discuss the senseless killing of a 16-year-old girl full of life when a whole lot of people ignored a major red flag. This was a real life case that I worked on two decades ago. It should serve as a horrific example as to cost to people and businesses when a red flag is ignored.

If you’d like to keep your staff and organization safe from violence, and the damage it inflicts upon employee morale, turnover, productivity, community reputation, sales, and revenue, download my free workplace violence prevention checklist. Here you’ll find the steps you can take to reduce the risk of workplace violence. Click on the link in the description below to access your free copy now.

Hi! I’m Mike Corwin, and I help small businesses, nonprofit organizations, and government agencies create a safe, violence free work environment so their staff and organization can thrive.

I spent over 30 years building cases as an investigator for attorneys. I worked on a lot of cases pertaining to death. But, this case stands out as absolutely one of the most tragic and preventable deaths that I ever worked on.

A 16-Year-Old Whose Bright Light Was Extinguished Because Red Flags Were Ignored 

I never met 16-year-old Marissa Mathy-Zvaifler. But from everything I learned during our case she was a genuine bright light. A light that was extinguished way too soon on a night where she went to see an all ages show performed by one of her favorite bands at the Sunshine Theater in Albuquerque.

See the Sunshine Theater had hired a 22-year old man named Dominic Akers. At the time he was hired, Akers had already pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a 3-year-old relative. He was sentenced to decades in prison, but that sentence was delayed, while the probation system waited for a space to open at the state mental hospital treatment unit for sex offenders.

While working at the Sunshine Theater, Akers was living in a half-way house for registered sex offenders.

The information about Akers was publicly available and easily findable on the state court’s court case search website. His probation officer knew that he was working at the Sunshine Theater. And if memory serves helped to get him his job there.

Akers had in fact dutifully registered as a sex offender as the court had required. Sex offender websites are also easily checked too.

After Marissa cut her foot on some broken glass, Akers approached her pretending to be a security guard with an offer to help. Akers then strangled her to death, after sexually assaulting her, when she refused to engage in a sex act with him. He then stuffed her body behind a soda machine where it remained until he confessed to his own father several days later.

As part of our litigation the family sought to change the laws regarding sex offenders, and at that point the politicians were all too glad to do so since Marissa’s case received national attention.

But the bottom line is no sex offender should have been hired to work in an all ages club. Everyone knew he was there. And yet, they all chose to ignore who he was. Leopards don’t change their spots.

Why Were The Red Flags Ignored By So Many People

Why did they all choose to ignore it?

That’s a great question. Perhaps they hoped he’d been reformed and changed his ways. That’s naive at best, but he hadn’t even made it into the in-patient treatment system he had been ordered into.

Most likely, it’s more basic than that. If you don’t think about it, it probably won’t happen.

But it did. And it was 100% preventable. The Sunshine Theater survived Marissa’s tragic death at the hands of one of its employees. But, there was probably a time when that was touch and go.

Businesses have a duty to people they invite onto their premises to keep them safe from violence. If you’d like to learn how to keep your staff, customers, and organization safe from workplace violence, you can download my free workplace violence prevention checklist in the description below.