Which episode is this one? Pamela Ray - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

mosesblah · 09-09-2012, 06:20 PM

(Last one, I swear!) From what I remember, a woman is out with her 2 kids late one night and can't get her car started or something like that. She decides they should sleep in the car and get help in the morning. The next day the kids wake up and their mother is gone. She was never seen again.

wiseguy182 · 09-09-2012, 11:56 PM

sounds like Pamela Ray, although her initial problem wasn't car trouble, but rather a lack of finding a place of lodging. Admittedly, I do think it was unwise of her to leave her kids in the car at 4 a.m.

mosesblah · 09-10-2012, 12:58 PM

Thats the one, thank you. I saw it about 5-8 years ago and the story always stuck with me. I guess there aren't any updates since I last saw it

TheCars1986 · 09-10-2012, 02:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wiseguy182

sounds like Pamela Ray, although her initial problem wasn't car trouble, but rather a lack of finding a place of lodging. Admittedly, I do think it was unwise of her to leave her kids in the car at 4 a.m.

Wasn't she parked in the motel parking lot when she left her kids though? IIRC, she was parked near the front door and left her kids in the car because she was going to try the front door or to try and find a motel employee so they could check in.

wiseguy182 · 09-11-2012, 01:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheCars1986

Wasn't she parked in the motel parking lot when she left her kids though? IIRC, she was parked near the front door and left her kids in the car because she was going to try the front door or to try and find a motel employee so they could check in.

Not sure what difference that makes. Plus, she apparently walked quite a ways away from them.

But in any event, even if you can get past that, it wasn't wise of her to not make resevations. I've worked in the hotel industry most of my adult life, and can tell you that you don't want to be driving around in the middle of the night trying to find somewhere with an opening (and apparently there weren't any in the immeidate area.) Helps if you book in advance. 20 years later, many people still haven't latched on to that concept.

MegtheEgg86 · 09-11-2012, 04:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wiseguy182

But in any event, even if you can get past that, it wasn't wise of her to not make resevations. I've worked in the hotel industry most of my adult life, and can tell you that you don't want to be driving around in the middle of the night trying to find somewhere with an opening (and apparently there weren't any in the immeidate area.) Helps if you book in advance. 20 years later, many people still haven't latched on to that concept.

It took me an ill-planned drive from Arizona to Georgia to figure that out quick. It is entirely possible to have every hotel room in Odessa, TX booked for the night when you come bumbling in at 2 AM just expecting a vacancy like the entire staff was waiting on YOU alone to come in and claim your bed.

I book everything in advance now. It's the polite thing to do, and it's a whole lot less stressful on everyone involved.

As far as Pamela goes, weren't she and her children traveling from Georgia? I always thought that was an unusual arrival time considering the relatively short distance. But maybe she felt better driving through the night, or couldn't leave any sooner. Just always thought it was strange.

wiseguy182 · 09-11-2012, 06:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MegtheEgg86

As far as Pamela goes, weren't she and her children traveling from Georgia? I always thought that was an unusual arrival time considering the relatively short distance. But maybe she felt better driving through the night, or couldn't leave any sooner. Just always thought it was strange.

I once heard that the trip from Georgia to Florida was surprisingly long. In fact, I once asked about this elsewhere here on the net awhile back. Here is my observation, along with the response I got. This is in regards to the movie Summer Rental.

me: something i didn't get...it shows them heading out for the trip from Atlanta, Georgia to Northern Flordia in the morning. It's presumed a whole day passes because Jack is driving while everyone else is asleep. I guess they could have been napping, but would they have all been so tired that quickly. Anyways, it wouldn't take that long to drive from Atlanta to Northern Florida, but you get the impression it was a 24 hour journey.

response: I-75 from Atlanta to St. Petersburg was build in 1977, eight years before this movie. Yet Jack is driving on Highway 301 to get to Florida. Hwy301 is beeing shown on the edited version they show on TV, not on the DVD version. That trip alone would set you back 9 hours and fifteen minutes, 530 miles according to Google Maps. Sandy mentioned that she is tired of eating burgers all day long so you can only assume that they have made a bunch of stops along the way.
So, it does make sense, it took them more than a day to get there.

I apologize if that's confusing, one might have to see the movie to get a better sense of it.

sidebar: Summer Rental is a a pretty good movie if you haven't seen it. John Candy, Richard Crenna, Night Court alums Karen Allen and John Larroquette, and a very young Matthew Lawrence. Not to mention an Academy Award worthy performance from Harry Yorku.

TheCars1986 · 09-11-2012, 08:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wiseguy182

Not sure what difference that makes. Plus, she apparently walked quite a ways away from them.

I see nothing wrong with her leaving her kids (they were both older than ten IIRC) locked in the car while you she went to get a room. It was the wee hours of the morning and I'm assuming she thought everything would be fine and that she would find an employee of the motel quick enough.

As for the unusal time she picked to travel, I've always figured she wanted to travel at night because her kids could sleep the whole way. Kids can be annoying on long road trips (I used to be), so I can see why a parent would want to drive during the night.

pardilia · 09-11-2012, 09:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheCars1986

I see nothing wrong with her leaving her kids (they were both older than ten IIRC) locked in the car while you she went to get a room. It was the wee hours of the morning and I'm assuming she thought everything would be fine and that she would find an employee of the motel quick enough.

As for the unusal time she picked to travel, I've always figured she wanted to travel at night because her kids could sleep the whole way. Kids can be annoying on long road trips (I used to be), so I can see why a parent would want to drive during the night.

I never understood the backlash about her leaving her sleeping kids in the car while she went to get a room. What? Would it have been better for her to drag them along with her?? Those kids are probably darned lucky she DID leave them to continue sleeping. I'm sure if the kids were harmed too people would be saying "Why didn't she just let them keep sleeping until she got a room?"

Also, fwiw, my parents did the same thing - left late at night - so I'd sleep a good portion of the travel time. Sleep is a great way to keep a kid entertained when they're stuck in a car. It's perfectly reasonable that a parent wouldn't want to wake their kids until they needed to be awake. She left them in a *locked* car. It's not like she left the doors wide open with a sign that said "free kids take one".

Also, Atlanta is up in the Northern part of Georgia and Panama City is in the western part of FL. Georgia is a pretty long state so it's no wonder it took her awhile to get there. It isn't a hop skip and a jump across the border when you're coming from Atlanta.

According to Charley Project, they had purchased a condo in the city so maybe she arrived earlier than she expected and was stuck trying to find a room instead of meeting up with the realtor?

wiseguy182 · 09-11-2012, 01:06 PM

Your arguments hold no water. She left her kids in the car, something terrible happened, and the kids woke up not knowing where the mother is or where they are. That must have been a very terrifying experience. I'm willing to bet if she had taken the kids with her, she would still be alive. I highly doubt the perp would have been able to control 3 people. The car was locked? Still would have been not that difficult to break in. She was also spotted walking away from the motel to God knows where. And what difference does it make letting them sleep if you have to wake them up anyways if she does find lodging? You do not leave your kids in the car in the middle of the night in a big city in a state with a lot of crime. If you believe otherwise then you're incredibly dense.

1990 UM fan · 09-11-2012, 01:37 PM

I suppose arguing about it is going to make things better/bring her back. Some may disagree with her leaving her 2 kids locked in the car, but it could've been worse and all 3 could've been victims instead. It is sad that she's gone but arguing about what she did wrong is not going to solve matters.

TheCars1986 · 09-11-2012, 01:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wiseguy182

Your arguments hold no water. She left her kids in the car, something terrible happened, and the kids woke up not knowing where the mother is or where they are. That must have been a very terrifying experience. I'm willing to bet if she had taken the kids with her, she would still be alive. I highly doubt the perp would have been able to control 3 people. The car was locked? Still would have been not that difficult to break in. She was also spotted walking away from the motel to God knows where. And what difference does it make letting them sleep if you have to wake them up anyways if she does find lodging? You do not leave your kids in the car in the middle of the night in a big city in a state with a lot of crime. If you believe otherwise then you're incredibly dense.

It's so easy to say what you would do in a situation like that, but people are different. You make it seem like Pamela knew she was going to be abducted and murdered that night and somehow it's her fault because she left her kids in the car. That's pretty dense. We don't know if she did attempt to wake her kids up, who's to say she didn't and they wouldn't budge or starting whining? And I simply don't see how taking her kids with her would somehow up her chances of fending off her abductor. Some guy could have snatched her up and dumped her in a car and sped off before one of her kids could even flinch. And she walked away from the motel office to the area of the swimming pool before patrons heard screams coming from the pool area. That's hardly "God knows where".

welshman · 09-11-2012, 05:32 PM

I always had the impression she was a prostitute but UM and the police kept it quiet to help the case, I know things like that happen on UK crime tv shows.

MegtheEgg86 · 09-11-2012, 06:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by idyla

Also, Atlanta is up in the Northern part of Georgia and Panama City is in the western part of FL. Georgia is a pretty long state so it's no wonder it took her awhile to get there. It isn't a hop skip and a jump across the border when you're coming from Atlanta.

I used to live in Columbus, GA, which is about an hour southwest of Atlanta. I seem to recall it took at least over four hours to reach the Florida border. I haven't been to Panama City in many, many years, so perhaps I am not taking into account the time it takes to drive into the Florida panhandle.

Perhaps it's just personal relativity. Four, five, six hours DOES seem like a short trip to me because I've done many 10-14 hour drives before in recent years.

Killarney Rose · 09-11-2012, 10:27 PM

All the things mentioned in this thread have been discussed on Pamela's thread.

She had about a 6 hour trip. Not long. It is common for families with kids(mine included) to drive at night so the kids would sleep and then you would have more time to spend at your destination. My parents did it every trip we ever took, and we did it many times with our own kids.

She was actually parked only a few feet maybe 20 at most from the door to the motel office. The entire front of the office was glass windows so if she had made it inside, the car with her kids asleep in it would have never been out of her sight.

It was common practice at the mom & pop style motels at panama Cuty Beach to call ahead and make arrangements for a key to be left in a designated spot for you to get when you arrived if you expected to get there in the middle of the night. That was the extent of making reservations with them. BTDT.

These hotels were old, but clean and well maintained. They were not drug, prostitute motels , or in a high crime area.

09-09-2012, 06:20 PM	#1
mosesblah Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Sep 09, 2012 Location: Boston Posts: 7	Which episode is this one? Pamela Ray (Last one, I swear!) From what I remember, a woman is out with her 2 kids late one night and can't get her car started or something like that. She decides they should sleep in the car and get help in the morning. The next day the kids wake up and their mother is gone. She was never seen again.

09-11-2012, 01:37 PM	#11
1990 UM fan Unsolved Mysteries fanatic Senior Member Join Date: Jul 14, 2011 Location: United States Posts: 2,510	I suppose arguing about it is going to make things better/bring her back. Some may disagree with her leaving her 2 kids locked in the car, but it could've been worse and all 3 could've been victims instead. It is sad that she's gone but arguing about what she did wrong is not going to solve matters.
	__________________ Join my Unsolved Mysteries page (Facebook): http://www.facebook.com/pages/Unsolv...899616?sk=wall

09-09-2012, 11:56 PM	#2
wiseguy182 Member Forum Veteran Join Date: Apr 11, 2006 Location: Wendy's salad bar Posts: 7,030	sounds like Pamela Ray, although her initial problem wasn't car trouble, but rather a lack of finding a place of lodging. Admittedly, I do think it was unwise of her to leave her kids in the car at 4 a.m.

09-10-2012, 12:58 PM	#3
mosesblah Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Sep 09, 2012 Location: Boston Posts: 7	Thats the one, thank you. I saw it about 5-8 years ago and the story always stuck with me. I guess there aren't any updates since I last saw it

09-11-2012, 01:06 PM	#10
wiseguy182 Member Forum Veteran Join Date: Apr 11, 2006 Location: Wendy's salad bar Posts: 7,030	Your arguments hold no water. She left her kids in the car, something terrible happened, and the kids woke up not knowing where the mother is or where they are. That must have been a very terrifying experience. I'm willing to bet if she had taken the kids with her, she would still be alive. I highly doubt the perp would have been able to control 3 people. The car was locked? Still would have been not that difficult to break in. She was also spotted walking away from the motel to God knows where. And what difference does it make letting them sleep if you have to wake them up anyways if she does find lodging? You do not leave your kids in the car in the middle of the night in a big city in a state with a lot of crime. If you believe otherwise then you're incredibly dense.

09-11-2012, 05:32 PM	#13
welshman Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Jun 13, 2011 Location: wales Posts: 78	I always had the impression she was a prostitute but UM and the police kept it quiet to help the case, I know things like that happen on UK crime tv shows.

09-11-2012, 10:27 PM	#15
Killarney Rose Member Forum Regular Join Date: Jul 24, 2010 Location: AL Posts: 656	All the things mentioned in this thread have been discussed on Pamela's thread. She had about a 6 hour trip. Not long. It is common for families with kids(mine included) to drive at night so the kids would sleep and then you would have more time to spend at your destination. My parents did it every trip we ever took, and we did it many times with our own kids. She was actually parked only a few feet maybe 20 at most from the door to the motel office. The entire front of the office was glass windows so if she had made it inside, the car with her kids asleep in it would have never been out of her sight. It was common practice at the mom & pop style motels at panama Cuty Beach to call ahead and make arrangements for a key to be left in a designated spot for you to get when you arrived if you expected to get there in the middle of the night. That was the extent of making reservations with them. BTDT. These hotels were old, but clean and well maintained. They were not drug, prostitute motels , or in a high crime area.