Craigslist Murder: Community on alert after killing

An ad on the popular free classifieds website "Craigslist" was used as a bait for a brutal murder.

Craigslist Murder: Community on alert after killing The community at Craigslist is on high alert after a murder was linked to the popular classifieds website. Katherine Olson, 24 -year-old Minnesota girl, answered one of the many classifieds on the website for a babysitter. Later Olson was found murdered in the trunk of her car. The police says that a 19-year-old suspect is in custody, but a name and details have not been released yet. The founder of CraigsList, Craig Newmark, says that they are working with the police, as they have always done. Usually crimes via classifieds websites like Graigslist involve identity theft and scams, even sexual solicitation, but this is the first time a murder has began as an ad on the site.

The chilling murder of Katherine Olson has drawn attention to the fact that the Internet sometimes could be as dangerous as walking in a dark alley late at night. Caution should always be exercised when meeting strangers on the web and offline, always do a research on a person you will meet and always meet in public places.

Published on 10/29/2007