University of Rochester player kidnapping story

[Eric15]

This story from Outside the Lines (currently on the front page of ESPN.com) is one of the craziest things I've read in a long time.

Kidnapped and tortured: One college football player's unbelievable story

 

[Finwad32]

This story from Outside the Lines (currently on the front page of ESPN.com) is one of the craziest things I've read in a long time.

Kidnapped and tortured: One college football player's unbelievable story

Just terrible, such a horrendous situation.

If I'm his parent, I'm livid with the University over the apartment.

Riveting read.

 

[Cuseregular]

Just terrible, such a horrendous situation.

If I'm his parent, I'm livid with the University over the apartment.

Riveting read.

Holy crap that was an insane read. If that can happen at u of r that can happen anywhere. Man I almost went there, that one hits home. Crazy crazy world.

 

[tep624]

That is not a good part of Rochester.

 

[Frozen]

That is not a good part of Rochester.

Is there a good part of Rochester?

 

[orange79]

Is there a good part of Rochester?

Pittsford

 

[tep624]

Is there a good part of Rochester?

It's a mixed bag like any city, but that area is the part that I didn't even like driving around in during the day. That was 10 years ago so not sure if it's changed much or not. I just remember anytime I approached the N. Goodman area that I always wondered what the random people that walked around in the street in the middle of the day did with their lives.

 

[upperdeck]

I remember taking an architecture course at RIT that required us to visit some houses and we were told to only to attempt to visit certain ones at certain times to be safe.. of course I had no car so i took whatever ride i could get and i remember looking at some in the dark with flashlight and wonder now how i didnt get shot.

 

[Finwad32]

I spent 5 years in Rochester, 2 downtown, 1 in Pittsford and 2 in Penfield. I knew every inch of it.

It is a wonderful city, far better in some aspects than Syracuse imo. The suburban areas on the outskirts are great places to live.

Just like any city in America, there are bad areas. But, as a whole I found it to be much safer to travel about by foot than many areas on the South and West side of Syracuse. I lived in the heart of a very rough section for 1 year. A naive 21 yr old thinking he got an AWESOME deal on a huge house. We were put in precarious positions more than once. We also may have asked for it walking around drunk at all hours of the night.

Looking back, I think it's a much nicer city. Especially as a 30-something raising a family.

 

[OrangeDW]

Holy crap that was an insane read. If that can happen at u of r that can happen anywhere. Man I almost went there, that one hits home. Crazy crazy world.

Right? And that it happened to someone who had zero involvement in anything shady. Wow.

 

[Moontan]

I spent 5 years in Rochester, 2 downtown, 1 in Pittsford and 2 in Penfield. I knew every inch of it.

It is a wonderful city, far better in some aspects than Syracuse imo. The suburban areas on the outskirts are great places to live.

Penfield grad here and I approve this message.

Go Chiefs! Errrrr, Patriots.

 

[Chip]

This story from Outside the Lines (currently on the front page of ESPN.com) is one of the craziest things I've read in a long time.

Kidnapped and tortured: One college football player's unbelievable story

What a horrifying story. Made worse by torturing the kid who they knew had nothing to do with it. The evil inside some in our society is unspeakable. Laughed when he got his 135 year sentence.

 

[sufandu]

"Rivera promised revenge"

Soooooo, you kidnap and torture 2 people that had nothing to do with anything, and that's revenge? Not that it's ok to do what they did to anyone, but how was that ever supposed to be revenge? That was nothing but a group of POS people terrorizing innocents. I hope they do society a favor and lessen our financial burden by experiencing an early demise in their new home.

 

[OrangeDW]

"Rivera promised revenge"

Soooooo, you kidnap and torture 2 people that had nothing to do with anything, and that's revenge? Not that it's ok to do what they did to anyone, but how was that ever supposed to be revenge? That was nothing but a group of POS people terrorizing innocents. I hope they do society a favor and lessen our financial burden by experiencing an early demise in their new home.

Yeah I was disappointed to see his sentence. Was hoping it would be life. The two girls got off light too.

 

[shantydaze]

"Rivera promised revenge"

Soooooo, you kidnap and torture 2 people that had nothing to do with anything, and that's revenge? Not that it's ok to do what they did to anyone, but how was that ever supposed to be revenge? That was nothing but a group of POS people terrorizing innocents. I hope they do society a favor and lessen our financial burden by experiencing an early demise in their new home.

My read was that the football players living in the on campus were black and that all Rivera knew was that the offender was a black football player. So, while he knew Kollias was an innocent, the other abductee could have been the offender. Not that it makes it better or okay.

Not being in the CNY/WNY area, this is the first story I saw about this incident. So, a white kid and a black kid are kidnapped and tortured for almost two days. ESPN does a story on the incident focusing on the white kid, barely mentioning the black kid . . . Reminds me of when I lived in Chicago and two young black girls went missing on the south side, but news focused on the kidnapping in a different state of a blonde, blue eyed girl. (Yes, I understand the other abductee may not have been willing to relive the experience by telling his story).

 

[Nahson]

My read was that the football players living in the on campus were black and that all Rivera knew was that the offender was a black football player. So, while he knew Kollias was an innocent, the other abductee could have been the offender. Not that it makes it better or okay.

Not being in the CNY/WNY area, this is the first story I saw about this incident. So, a white kid and a black kid are kidnapped and tortured for almost two days. ESPN does a story on the incident focusing on the white kid, barely mentioning the black kid . . . Reminds me of when I lived in Chicago and two young black girls went missing on the south side, but news focused on the kidnapping in a different state of a blonde, blue eyed girl. (Yes, I understand the other abductee may not have been willing to relive the experience by telling his story).

I gave this a lot of thought, after I was done reading the article. Maybe the other guy didn't want to talk about/relive it. The article did mention s e xual assault as well. If it were me, I wouldn't want to talk about it either. I wouldn't want to put my name on the story, so everyone would know. I would want to just move on with my life... But this is all complete speculation on my part. Also, I'm wondering if there is some sort of civil suit against the school now?

 

[billsin01]

What a horrifying story. Made worse by torturing the kid who they knew had nothing to do with it. The evil inside some in our society is unspeakable. Laughed when he got his 135 year sentence.

Yeah horrifying is the right word. I spent time after reading it trying to make sense of it b/c it's terrifying to think that it happened simply b/c it was something to do or that it was enjoyable to these guys.

What I think you see, when I re-read it, is the effect of tremendous, oppressive poverty and desperation and the dark psychological effects they have on some people.

I mean the dude Strickland didn't even have a connection, really, to Isaiah smith. Why the did he care so much about getting revenge? And the sexual assault stuff is just insane. The only possible explanation is that they all saw the two kids as privileged (white in one case) class and therefore enemies, essentially.

Even when they get $1500, they spend it all immediately. It's crazy. And laughing at the sentence I read as being happy to go to jail rather than continue living whatever life that was.

Of course the two stories that kind of get lost amid the absolute insanity of the torture narrative are:

-- smith got out. He had a chance to graduate from a good school! Sports got him out of this junk ... but he still couldn't just take advantage of his good fortune -- needed to not only deal drugs but brag about and then try to set up a scam on the drug dealers. That type of story just really bums me out.

-- yet another miserable example of how sports has become way too important in our world. The U of R coaches and administration are looking the other way on some kid so they can go 5-4? Really? They could lose 70 straight games and I doubt I or anyone I know would even be aware of it. What are they doing? It feels like a good time to say the type of thing that I don't think gets said enough: from the perspective of a 39-year-old father of three, if you or your kid played/plays football at u of r or baseball at shippensburg or soccer at lycoming -- I don't care. Like, not even a small amount. It's cool but completely irrelevant. I don't think people quite understand this. I care as much about that as I do about the latest annoying story about what your dog did or how great a round of golf you had when I wasn't there to see it.

If you/your kid played/plays a major sport somewhere big, it's cool. Really, it is. But even so, I still don't really care that much. If I bump to Tyler lydon today is think it was unusual but I wouldn't speak to him (or bother him) and I would probably forget I ever saw him two years from now.

Not sure where this rant is going other than to say -- if you're a coach or administrator at a place like u of r and one of your athletes screws up somehow -- the life lesson learned is waaaaaay more important than the 9 tackles you need to replace this Saturday.

 

[Newhouser]

My read was that the football players living in the on campus were black and that all Rivera knew was that the offender was a black football player. So, while he knew Kollias was an innocent, the other abductee could have been the offender. Not that it makes it better or okay.

Not being in the CNY/WNY area, this is the first story I saw about this incident. So, a white kid and a black kid are kidnapped and tortured for almost two days. ESPN does a story on the incident focusing on the white kid, barely mentioning the black kid . . . Reminds me of when I lived in Chicago and two young black girls went missing on the south side, but news focused on the kidnapping in a different state of a blonde, blue eyed girl. (Yes, I understand the other abductee may not have been willing to relive the experience by telling his story).

I believe the other victim has chosen not to participate or let his identity be used in any story related to the incident. From what I am hearing the victim who is going public is planning a major lawsuit.

 

[sufandu]

My read was that the football players living in the on campus were black and that all Rivera knew was that the offender was a black football player. So, while he knew Kollias was an innocent, the other abductee could have been the offender. Not that it makes it better or okay.

Not being in the CNY/WNY area, this is the first story I saw about this incident. So, a white kid and a black kid are kidnapped and tortured for almost two days. ESPN does a story on the incident focusing on the white kid, barely mentioning the black kid . . . Reminds me of when I lived in Chicago and two young black girls went missing on the south side, but news focused on the kidnapping in a different state of a blonde, blue eyed girl. (Yes, I understand the other abductee may not have been willing to relive the experience by telling his story).

I think the last part is accurate, nothing more to read into it than that. They don't ignore him but there's no quotes from him.

Didn't it say somewhere in the article that the kidnappers knew neither guy was involved? I thought it did.

 

[Jeremy L.]

That was very very difficult to read.

 

[sufandu]

This reminded me of the Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom murders here in Knoxville.

 

[ForCuseSake]

The horrific details that article didn't share about their torture make it exponentially worse.

And it was tough enough to read as written.

 

[shantydaze]

I believe the other victim has chosen not to participate or let his identity be used in any story related to the incident. From what I am hearing the victim who is going public is planning a major lawsuit.

Kollias has filed a $10 million lawsuit against his attackers. I assume he is using this suit for publicity and will add or has threatened the add the U of R and others to the lawsuit in the future. Otherwise, unless Kollias thinks his attackers will profit off the attack or otherwise has assets, it seems like an empty gesture to sue people without a pot to p iss in.

Last night I googled the story to see what was being reported contemporaneously as it occurred. The other player was named and pictured, as well as many of the assailants, so his identity is not secret. As I said, it may be as simple as the other player not wanting to relive the episode. I just always find what victims the news focuses on and what ones they forget quickly or ignore interesting.

 

[NKR1978]

Yeah horrifying is the right word. I spent time after reading it trying to make sense of it b/c it's terrifying to think that it happened simply b/c it was something to do or that it was enjoyable to these guys.

What I think you see, when I re-read it, is the effect of tremendous, oppressive poverty and desperation and the dark psychological effects they have on some people.

I mean the dude Strickland didn't even have a connection, really, to Isaiah smith. Why the did he care so much about getting revenge? And the s e xual assault stuff is just insane. The only possible explanation is that they all saw the two kids as privileged (white in one case) class and therefore enemies, essentially.

Even when they get $1500, they spend it all immediately. It's crazy. And laughing at the sentence I read as being happy to go to jail rather than continue living whatever life that was.

Of course the two stories that kind of get lost amid the absolute insanity of the torture narrative are:

-- smith got out. He had a chance to graduate from a good school! Sports got him out of this junk ... but he still couldn't just take advantage of his good fortune -- needed to not only deal drugs but brag about and then try to set up a scam on the drug dealers. That type of story just really bums me out.

-- yet another miserable example of how sports has become way too important in our world. The U of R coaches and administration are looking the other way on some kid so they can go 5-4? Really? They could lose 70 straight games and I doubt I or anyone I know would even be aware of it. What are they doing? It feels like a good time to say the type of thing that I don't think gets said enough: from the perspective of a 39-year-old father of three, if you or your kid played/plays football at u of r or baseball at shippensburg or soccer at lycoming -- I don't care. Like, not even a small amount. It's cool but completely irrelevant. I don't think people quite understand this. I care as much about that as I do about the latest annoying story about what your dog did or how great a round of golf you had when I wasn't there to see it.

If you/your kid played/plays a major sport somewhere big, it's cool. Really, it is. But even so, I still don't really care that much. If I bump to Tyler lydon today is think it was unusual but I wouldn't speak to him (or bother him) and I would probably forget I ever saw him two years from now.

Not sure where this rant is going other than to say -- if you're a coach or administrator at a place like u of r and one of your athletes screws up somehow -- the life lesson learned is waaaaaay more important than the 9 tackles you need to replace this Saturday.

D3 sports are fun...but literally no one outside of some players and some coaches care that much. You have to be truly depraved to throw away any semblance of morality over D3 sports.

 

[sufandu]

Kollias has filed a $10 million lawsuit against his attackers. I assume he is using this suit for publicity and will add or has threatened the add the U of R and others to the lawsuit in the future. Otherwise, unless Kollias thinks his attackers will profit off the attack or otherwise has assets, it seems like an empty gesture to sue people without a pot to p iss in.

Last night I googled the story to see what was being reported contemporaneously as it occurred. The other player was named and pictured, as well as many of the assailants, so his identity is not secret. As I said, it may be as simple as the other player not wanting to relive the episode. I just always find what victims the news focuses on and what ones they forget quickly or ignore interesting.

He was named and pictured. Was he quoted? If not, he probably doesn't want anymore publicity than necessary. Maybe ESPN omitted his name and picture to respect his privacy. Please stop trying to create a racial aspect that most likely doesn't exist. The similar story I referenced a few posts above involved two caucasian victims and it got almost no national attention. This one is about some horrible people doing horrible things to innocent people for no reason. Race never crossed my mind when I read the story other than it being proof to the assailants that they had the wrong guy because they knew the hammer assault involved a black football player.