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Steve Constance, father of Angela Constance, was a fraternity brother of mine in college.
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An article in today's Arkansas City Traveler newspaper about Angie's efforts to get the stalking laws toughened. It was front page and top - right below the masthead. I'm pretty sure that Jodi is looking down on Angie and smiling.
Jodi's neighbor crusading for tougher stalking laws
By RHONDA ROSS
Traveler Staff Writer
The horrible tragedy that befell Jodi Sanderholm has compelled the teen's former babysitter to crusade for tougher stalking laws and penalties nationwide.
When Angela Constance, now Daffron, was a teenager and Jodi was two years-old, they were next door neighbors. She babysat Jodi and, years later when she had a daughter of her own, Jodi babysat for her, she said.
Now in her thirties and living in Santa Fe, Daffron works as a marketing director for a mall management company. The stalking laws in New Mexico are insufficient and the problem is much worse there, according to Daffron.
She said she has been able to tie in Jodi's story locally because Santa Fe has had 11 sexual assaults with women living alone being the targets.
"The city is so gripped with fear, they are providing free taxi service and security walks to cars for women in the evening," she said.
Her husband manages a Pet Smart and has 20 or more clerks working for him; at least six have restraining orders against people.
Daffron pointed to the recent arrest of a Clovis, N.M. dentist, married and the father of three children, who pled no contest to stalking, raping and murdering a young waitress.
In Arkansas City, the 19-year-old Sanderholm disappeared shortly after dance practice on Jan. 5. Her body was discovered four days later in a wooded area in southeastern Cowley County; the cause of death -- strangulation and blunt force trauma. She had also been raped and sodomized.
Justin Thurber, a 24-year-old Ark City man who police say stalked members of the dance line, has since been arrested and charged with murder, rape, kidnapping and sodomy.
Thurber remains in the county jail in Winfield after being bound over for trial. His arraignment is scheduled for today where he will be allowed to enter a plea.
According to news reports, the suspect in the New Mexico case is now a "person of interest" in several unsolved Oklahoma City cases that occurred while he was attending school there.
Daffron is reluctant to talk about Jodi other than to say that she was a "wonderful person" and that her parents, Brian and Cindy, did an "incredible job raising her.
" Daffron was her neighbor growing up.
"As far as personal memories of Jodi, I simply am not comfortable sharing those," she said, but she admitted that "Jodi and Jennifer (Jodi's sister) both were great influences in my daughter's life."
Daffron first learned of Jodi's disappearance on Saturday, Jan. 6, the day after it happened. She remembers that she had a work event that day at the mall in Santa Fe. The event was a "Missing Child Identification Fair" put on by the local police department.
The irony of that does not escape her.
As she left the mall, she called her dad, Steve Constance, and he told her the news.
"The entire time [Jodi] was missing, I unrealistically hoped there was some misunderstanding and she would be found safe," she said.
But the following Tuesday morning, Daffron said she received the call "we all feared would come" and she hurried home to intercept her daughter before she could arrive from school and "pull up the Internet news."
While Brian and Cindy Sanderholm were in court for Thurber's preliminary hearing in May, Steve Constance was covering for them at their business, Ark City Glass, answering the phone and anything else that needed to be done.
He became emotional when talking about his daughter's efforts on behalf of Jodi and her family. He's proud of Angie, he said. "She's pushing it every direction she knows to push it."
Daffron said, after the "initial shock" she started thinking about how circumstances could have been different if the "proper stalking laws" had been in effect and she did research on "what needed to be done." She calls her crusade, "Jodi,s Law."
The first thing she did was to latch on to the tribute song for Jodi, "Dance," by former Oxford resident Dave Parks.
"I saw [the song] as an opportunity to get attention to the subject," she said.
She burned 100 copies of the song and drafted a CD cover letter that explained Jodi's story and the need for change and distributed them throughout Santa Fe and Albuquerque, she said.
Next, Daffron made a flyer that she continues to hand out to "anyone who will listen." She contacted her local representatives and even New Mexico's governor, Bill Richardson, whom she was told she would have a meeting with "as soon as his schedule permits."
And she didn't stop there. She contacted the television programs, "America's Most Wanted," "Oprah," and "Montel Williams," asking them to run shows, "based on the need for stalking law changes."
She has also been in contact with Kansas lawmakers, state Rep. Kasha Kelley (R-Arkansas City) and Sen. Greta Goodwin (D-Winfield), in the hopes of getting a nationwide bill passed.
Kelley was previously contacted by Brian Sanderholm about getting a tougher stalking bill passed, following his daughter's murder, but Constance said [Brian's] "in no position to push that right now," with his focus on the court proceedings.
With Goodwin and Kelley working on it at two state levels, Constance said it could lead to "change at the national level later."
But, his daughter's not waiting around to see if their efforts prevail.
"Angie's just a little bit impatient," he said. "She doesn't understand how the legal system works," he said, laughing. "So, she's trying to get something done faster."
Daffron realizes changing laws can be a "very long process," but she said she will not give up. "The law will change; it is just a matter of when it will change."
"The beauty of our system is that when there is a problem, any of us has the power and voice to change it," she said.
Daffron said she refuses to believe that what happened to Jodi has no "deeper reason than that one person decided it was time to take her life," and she is determined that won't be the final word.
"Jodi's legacy will be to save other lives through the change in this law," she said.
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An article in today's Arkansas City Traveler newspaper about Angie's efforts to get the stalking laws toughened. It was front page and top - right below the masthead. I'm pretty sure that Jodi is looking down on Angie and smiling.
Jodi's neighbor crusading for tougher stalking laws
By RHONDA ROSS
Traveler Staff Writer
The horrible tragedy that befell Jodi Sanderholm has compelled the teen's former babysitter to crusade for tougher stalking laws and penalties nationwide.
When Angela Constance, now Daffron, was a teenager and Jodi was two years-old, they were next door neighbors. She babysat Jodi and, years later when she had a daughter of her own, Jodi babysat for her, she said.
Now in her thirties and living in Santa Fe, Daffron works as a marketing director for a mall management company. The stalking laws in New Mexico are insufficient and the problem is much worse there, according to Daffron.
She said she has been able to tie in Jodi's story locally because Santa Fe has had 11 sexual assaults with women living alone being the targets.
"The city is so gripped with fear, they are providing free taxi service and security walks to cars for women in the evening," she said.
Her husband manages a Pet Smart and has 20 or more clerks working for him; at least six have restraining orders against people.
Daffron pointed to the recent arrest of a Clovis, N.M. dentist, married and the father of three children, who pled no contest to stalking, raping and murdering a young waitress.
In Arkansas City, the 19-year-old Sanderholm disappeared shortly after dance practice on Jan. 5. Her body was discovered four days later in a wooded area in southeastern Cowley County; the cause of death -- strangulation and blunt force trauma. She had also been raped and sodomized.
Justin Thurber, a 24-year-old Ark City man who police say stalked members of the dance line, has since been arrested and charged with murder, rape, kidnapping and sodomy.
Thurber remains in the county jail in Winfield after being bound over for trial. His arraignment is scheduled for today where he will be allowed to enter a plea.
According to news reports, the suspect in the New Mexico case is now a "person of interest" in several unsolved Oklahoma City cases that occurred while he was attending school there.
Daffron is reluctant to talk about Jodi other than to say that she was a "wonderful person" and that her parents, Brian and Cindy, did an "incredible job raising her.
" Daffron was her neighbor growing up.
"As far as personal memories of Jodi, I simply am not comfortable sharing those," she said, but she admitted that "Jodi and Jennifer (Jodi's sister) both were great influences in my daughter's life."
Daffron first learned of Jodi's disappearance on Saturday, Jan. 6, the day after it happened. She remembers that she had a work event that day at the mall in Santa Fe. The event was a "Missing Child Identification Fair" put on by the local police department.
The irony of that does not escape her.
As she left the mall, she called her dad, Steve Constance, and he told her the news.
"The entire time [Jodi] was missing, I unrealistically hoped there was some misunderstanding and she would be found safe," she said.
But the following Tuesday morning, Daffron said she received the call "we all feared would come" and she hurried home to intercept her daughter before she could arrive from school and "pull up the Internet news."
While Brian and Cindy Sanderholm were in court for Thurber's preliminary hearing in May, Steve Constance was covering for them at their business, Ark City Glass, answering the phone and anything else that needed to be done.
He became emotional when talking about his daughter's efforts on behalf of Jodi and her family. He's proud of Angie, he said. "She's pushing it every direction she knows to push it."
Daffron said, after the "initial shock" she started thinking about how circumstances could have been different if the "proper stalking laws" had been in effect and she did research on "what needed to be done." She calls her crusade, "Jodi,s Law."
The first thing she did was to latch on to the tribute song for Jodi, "Dance," by former Oxford resident Dave Parks.
"I saw [the song] as an opportunity to get attention to the subject," she said.
She burned 100 copies of the song and drafted a CD cover letter that explained Jodi's story and the need for change and distributed them throughout Santa Fe and Albuquerque, she said.
Next, Daffron made a flyer that she continues to hand out to "anyone who will listen." She contacted her local representatives and even New Mexico's governor, Bill Richardson, whom she was told she would have a meeting with "as soon as his schedule permits."
And she didn't stop there. She contacted the television programs, "America's Most Wanted," "Oprah," and "Montel Williams," asking them to run shows, "based on the need for stalking law changes."
She has also been in contact with Kansas lawmakers, state Rep. Kasha Kelley (R-Arkansas City) and Sen. Greta Goodwin (D-Winfield), in the hopes of getting a nationwide bill passed.
Kelley was previously contacted by Brian Sanderholm about getting a tougher stalking bill passed, following his daughter's murder, but Constance said [Brian's] "in no position to push that right now," with his focus on the court proceedings.
With Goodwin and Kelley working on it at two state levels, Constance said it could lead to "change at the national level later."
But, his daughter's not waiting around to see if their efforts prevail.
"Angie's just a little bit impatient," he said. "She doesn't understand how the legal system works," he said, laughing. "So, she's trying to get something done faster."
Daffron realizes changing laws can be a "very long process," but she said she will not give up. "The law will change; it is just a matter of when it will change."
"The beauty of our system is that when there is a problem, any of us has the power and voice to change it," she said.
Daffron said she refuses to believe that what happened to Jodi has no "deeper reason than that one person decided it was time to take her life," and she is determined that won't be the final word.
"Jodi's legacy will be to save other lives through the change in this law," she said.
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