By: SanJose_Charlie on 2/10/09
The ironic thing is that this will work out very well for Marvin. He can pick up where his old life left off. He ends up being reunited with old family and friends, and at least he remembers them.

It's the abducted grandkids that get the raw deal, they lose everything they have known. Originally I said that Marvin should go to jail for life. Perhaps they can go easy on Marvin in exchange for a plea deal. Something along the lines of... If Marvin swears on a Bible to Christie and Bobby and all of society, that he was wrong and is sorry. And if the grandkids agree to meet their parents for a half dozen visits... Then perhaps they could show some mercy on Marvin with a minimal sentence and then make him distribute fliers of missing children. If you lock him up for a long time, you will just alienate the grandkids and it is important not to do that if possible. Of course, Marvin has shown massive contempt for the legal system, so this proposal may not be possible, even if the family asks for leniency.

By: SanJose_Charlie on 2/10/09
Originally I posted this at the message board below the story on 2/03/09

http://www.murfreesboropost.com/news.php?viewStory=15245

By: diddlede on 2/10/09
The picture with this article is a very somber one. The faces seen to show it is a sad day for everyone.

Everything will be brought out and cleared up during Court on this situation. This is something that should never have happened, but it did and now it is up to the courts to decide on the case. The children need to be able to make up their own minds as to whether they want to reunite with their parents. They are dealing with too much at this time.

The Maples lived in our neighborhood but we never really met them. Before they left town the neighbors closest to them said they were really nice people.

By: reservingjudgment on 2/10/09
Interesting thoughts SJCharlie. But, what if Marvin wasn't wrong, if the kids were being abused and he took them to protect them from further abuse.

By: attagirl on 2/10/09
I can't imagine what this man had to do to those children to make them forget they had parents. Imagine the manipulation it took to achieve that. He is evil.

By: SanJose_Charlie on 2/10/09
reservingjudgment, I guess it depends on how you define abuse. Were there a few too many spankings? The kids had young parents going to seminary so it would not surprise me if they were stricter then most. But kidnapping?

By: wilburtfaubauker on 2/11/09
Hopefully, all the truth will come out and he will have his day in court. And the judicial system will handle it fairly and just.

By: lightchick on 2/11/09
I still can't get past the reports that the daughter claims to have no memory of her parents. How long did the grandparents have them before they claimed abuse?

By: eagle50 on 2/11/09
One article said they lived with the grandparents from May 1988. I don't know when the grandparents "claimed abuse" but the grandparents first claimed "neglect" and that didn't work, then they claimed "sexual abuse" and that didn't work, then they claimed "Satan worshiping" and when they saw they were losing, they fled. They never claimed that Michael (age 5) was a subject of any of the above. Again, my opinion is they enjoyed "raising" kids again and decided they would keep them. I think if it were truly abuse, the story would have never changed and it would have included "all" three of the children. As a child, if you are told something long enough, you will begin to believe it, whether it is true or not. May God be with all of them.

By: mboroan on 2/11/09
I think the children actually moved in with them in the summer of 1987, and that fits the Unsolved Mysteries timeline. According to the show's account, the children were going to stay for the summer only, but the Baskins weren't settled the way they wanted to be so they decided to let the kids go to school in Murfreesboro that fall. Debbie said on the UM episode that things were odd when they were home for Christmas that year and she talked to her mother about taking the kids to Louisville with them. Sandra was against it, and to keep the peace and let the kids finish the school year, they decided to wait until summer to make the move. Relations between parents and grandparents deteriorated from then on, though, and by April 1988 the Baskins were staying in a hotel when they came to visit; apparently the Maples' first charges were made shortly after that visit. The court battle started then, and was about to end in March 1989 when the Maples and the grandchildren disappeared. By that time, the Maples had had the children in their care/under their control for almost two years, meaning they were only 5 and 6 when they first went to stay with them. Much can be done with impressionable children's minds in that length of time.

By: Sameera on 2/11/09
To Reservingjudgement,

Even if Marvin was right and the parents were abusing the children, he really needs to provide a satisfactory explanation as to why his third grandchild was left behind with them. That is the biggest reason why a lot of people are skeptical about the Maples' claims of child abuse against the Baskins.

By: SanJose_Charlie on 2/11/09
mboroan, 5 and 6 is pretty young but the parents still use to visit their children. I have a cousin that was about that old a long while back... and I was her favorite cousin. After visiting her several decades later, she could not remember me. It still is strange though.

Question: Is there going to be a change of venue for this case? That is assuming... Marvin does not do the right thing and plead guilty.

I bet the hotel owners prefer the case to stay in Rutherford County. Half the Nation will be there.

By: Sameera on 2/12/09
To SanJose Charlie

If Marvin does go for a full-blooded trial, a change of venue might be a good idea. This is clearly a highly-charged case on both sides in Rutherford County.

By: SanJose_Charlie on 2/12/09
The bond or bail is way to LOW.... Reduce Bond, are they kidding? It is too little, they need to at least triple it.

By: Clark.Griswold on 2/12/09
"That's what Marvin's lawyer said."

Two questions.

Are you on a first-name basis with the kidnapper?

Since when do lawyer's tell the truth?

Only you can answer the first, but I'm aware of more than a few bail amounts set north of $1 million in the 30 years I've lived and worked in this county.

Attorney Reed must have just been honing his skills at dissembling for media.

Here's another question.

If you had sexually abused your own children and your parents/inlaws kidnapped them would you:

a. Breathe a sigh of relief that your accusers are gone and keep on abusing kids.

or

b. Scream at the top of your lungs to anyone who would listen until they were located almost 20 years later.

Since Mark and Debbie Baskin's choice was b., I believe they are totally innocent and that her parents committed a hateful criminal act that has ruined a number of lives.

Make it 20 million for 20 years of suffering.

By: SanJose_Charlie on 2/15/09
Clark, obviously option B. is the only logical choice.

Well, at least for right now? Things are working out pretty well for Marvin, if the reports about him making bond are true. Home cooked meals, friends and family he has not seen in decades, visiting him and telling him he did the right thing. He is getting huge sections of his old life back and he is not even locked up. He gets to use the telephone and watch all the television he wants.

Rutherford County is kind of incompetent. They messed up twenty years a go and have not learned a thing. They saw how unbalanced Sandra Maple was and still let her have custody of the kids. Maple supporters talk about bias in favor of the Baskins? Who is kidding who, it's the exact opposite. They ignored warnings about Marvin being a flight risk decades a go, then they give the same guy a PUNY bond, twenty years later... after he destroyed a family?

Ridiculous

By: SOUTHSIDECA on 2/15/09
Hmm, I wonder if San Jose Charlie has inside information? And why do you care so much about this matter?

By: PCLady on 2/15/09
i have to correct you charlie. i believe it was judge corlew who allowed the maples to continue to have custody of the baskin children. he's a running joke in this town and has been for decades. robert corlew the absolute worst. that mistake sits squarely on his shoulders.


southsideca, you continue to project. perhaps you could also share with us why you care so much about this matter?

By: mikewest on 2/16/09
Try sticking to the issue at hand, PCLady, Southside and San Jose.

By: mikewest on 2/16/09
Read your Terms of Service PCLady.

By: Sameera on 2/16/09
Dear SanJose Charlie,

In one respect, Marvin is extremely lucky: his daughter is willing to forgive him. Very few parents of kidnapped children will be prepared to do that.

By: SOUTHSIDECA on 2/17/09
I care because John Bunting aka Marvin Maple is my friend and a fine example of a human being. This is a good man and you are wrong about his charachter but I know that alot of you are most likely related to the Baskins so I don't expect you to be nice or understand that. I believe when Debbie Baskin voiced that she wanted to see Marvin--he too refused to see her. I don't care what the law says he did, I believe that he did the right thing. And so does EVERYONE I know. And since we are not related to the Maples you can take that as an unbiased charachter reference. Thank you Mikewest, I agree.

By: SOUTHSIDECA on 2/17/09
San Jose Charlie what ever do you mean by geographic ties to both areas in many ways and also who went to what institutions? What does that mean?

By: SanJose_Charlie on 2/17/09
mikewest, everything seems to be pretty much on topic and it is a free flowing message board. Surely someone can have opinions about public servants... if it appears they dropped the ball in some way? PCLady was defending the integrity of Rutherford County, what is wrong with that?

That bond certainly seemed to be dropped down, very quickly.

By: SOUTHSIDECA on 2/18/09
Public SERVANTS?

By: eagle50 on 2/20/09
Per southside ca: "Marvin Maple is my friend and a fine example of a human being"

If you believe a kidnapper, liar, and thief is a fine example of a human being, you need better friends. You must also believe Packman Jones did nothing wrong. This is too funny!!!

The case against Marvin Maples is KIDNAPPING!! The police may have other charges, I don't know and neither do you. But it is a proven fact, he kidnapped two kids. And you won't even admit that is a fact.

Then you are trying to discredit us by claiming we are all Baskins. We keep telling you that we aren't and you don't believe that. Murfreesboro, TN population is about 100,000 people now and not everyone is a Baskin! No wonder you don't believe facts regarding something that happened 20 years ago. You don't believe nothing. You need to go back to the bar and drink your troubles away and find some "new" friends that are fine-upstanding citizens.

By: SOUTHSIDECA on 2/21/09
Yeah, you are so right, I need to go get drunk so I can drink my troubles away and find some better friends because I have am a complete idiot. You waste no time in attacking me when you don't know me. All I suggested is that you were related to the BAskins. I didn't call you names or anything like that. Not that I care because I really don't.
Regarding the rest of your post..Well, all I have to say is, if it looks like a duck........

By: aliceinwonderland on 2/21/09
not only SOUTHSIDECA insisted that everyone on this forum is related to Baskins, she (somehow I have a feeling it's a she) even even accused everyone who defends Baskins of being child abusers. Funny...

By: Nellie on 2/22/09
Aha! I think I've got it sorted. SouthsideCa is not actually a Maple supporter at all - but really an agent provocateur, a sort of fifth columnist, whose purpose has actually been to stimulate thoughtful and sensible commentary on the many reasons for condemning the Maples' crime. Well done!
Yes - that has to be the case. Otherwise the alternative is that this is someone with a very strange and flaky view of what is right and wrong - of how society should function.

By: SOUTHSIDECA on 2/23/09
Society should not function as idiots.

By: jvschicago on 3/3/09

southside,

The supposed sexual abuse occured during the course of 1 evening the Baskins spent in a hotel room visiting their children while they were living with the Maples. The reason the Baskins stayed at a hotel that night is because they were no longer welcome at the Maples, who were probably hoping the expense of a hotel room when their funds were already limited would prevent them from visiting their children.

If the Maples believed the Baskins were satan worshipers, capable of sexually abusing their children, then wouldn't you think they would have insisted the parents stay at their house instead--where they could have kept a close eye on their activities instead of having them go to a hotel to spend the night with their children?

So while the Baskins were sharing this single hotel room with all their children, they supposedly sexually abused Bobby? Right in front of their other children, on that 1 night? As they were already fighting with the Maples over custody, if the Baskins actually were satan worshippers who wanted to sexually abuse their son, being as they intended on taking their children home as soon as the school year ended, don't you think they would have been intelligent enough to have waited to sexually abuse him until then? Or have taken them home immediately afterwards? Instead, they supposedly sexually abused Bobby, right in front of his sister, and then returned the both of them to the Maples the very next day where Bobby then told the Maples all about it?

Then, after Bobby supposedly told the Maples about this sexual abuse, rather than immediately report the Baskins to the authorities or even take Bobby to see a psychiatrist, instead the Maples did absolutely nothing for several months. It wasn't until about a week before the Baskins were due to return and bring their children home permanently that the Maples finally went to the authorities to report this supposed sexual abuse.

Doesn't it seem more probable to you that the Maples used those months to manipulate and coach the children into backing up their fabrication?

If you're really wondering how the children could have been talked into lying about their parents, well, let's see. When my grandbabies stay at my house, they can have all the cake, candy and ice cream they want. I take them to the store and buy them whatever their little hearts desire. I wait on them hand and foot, and there are NO rules, NO chores and NO bedtime! They BEG to come to gramma's house and cry all the way home. They recently moved away for daddy's job, and it breaks our hearts but we'll be visiting next month.

The Maples could have also scared them into believing that their parents had become satan worshippers, or even worse, and manipulated them with horror stories of how miserable their lives in Kentucky would be, and that mommy and daddy hated gramma and grampa and would never let them see them, ever again! Oh, and that mommy and daddy didn't really love, or even want them, because if they did, they wouldn't make them move away! Maybe even told them that if they lied, that not only could they stay, but mommy and daddy would have to come back too, and they could all stay together! I'm sure the kids didn't really want to have to move away to Kentucky, and it's pretty easy to convince and manipulate children when you're telling them what they want to hear.

By: Nellie on 3/5/09
The Maples, instead of cherishing their grandchildren while those children were temporarily entrusted to their care, abused the trust which their own daughter and son-in-law had placed in them. They decided that these children were to be theirs, come what may - for no other reason than to satisfy their own selfish desires.
I would think that the process of indoctrination started soon after the children arrived to stay with the Maples. And by the time the Baskin children stayed in that hotel room with their parents, their young heads had probably already been filled with ideas planted there by their eventual kidnappers - that their parents didn't really want them, wouldn't let them see their grandparents again and would probably harm them. And that the only way they could stop this happening was to tell lies. The Mapless' dreadful scheme was already well afoot. As jvschicago says, grandparents naturally spoil their grandchildren, giving them whatever they want. So very easy for unscrupulous and wicked people to go that one step further and use the children's natural affection for them to poison their minds and steal them away.

By: raspberry on 3/5/09
There is something very weird about this case. Why is there nothing new posted anywhere? I have found no updates about the Baskin children or Marvin Maple. I don't understand. This should be updated more. I sure hope and pray Bobby & Christie will soon come forward and meet their parents. I have known the Baskins for a little over a year and they are wonderful people that were robbed by their own family. Bobby & Christie if you read this, I hope you can find it in your hearts to try to understand what a nightmare this has been for your parents. It would be for any parent and if Bobby is a parent, as I have read, then he should certainly understand what Mark & Debbie have been thru. And for Marvin, I hope you get what you deserve. How could anyone poison a child's mind the way you had to do!!!! jvschicago, you summed it all up with your post so there's no need to repeat it. I just want an update as to whether the kids (now adults) have even considered seeing their parents.

By: jvschicago on 3/6/09
raspberry,

I haven't been able to find any updates on that either. I understand the Baskins are working with the Center for Missing and Exploited Children who may be able to offer them some unification assistance. Right now though, the children are probably more concerned about Marvin's upcoming hearing on the 17th. After all, the Maples were the only parents they'd known for 20 years, the parents who raised, loved, and cared for them. I doubt they see the Maples in any way other than as the parents they love. To them, they've already lost their mother, and now their frail, elderly father, who already's suffered a stroke, is facing serious felony charges--for having protected them! I've no doubt they're probably far more worried about him, than they are about the Baskins desire to see them.

It may not be right, but under the circumstances, I think it's pretty understandable why they would feel this way. I can't even imagine my reaction if the police came to my door one day to arrest my dad, and while doing so, told me my REAL parents wanted to see me!

Actually, I think my initial reaction might be anger towards my REAL parents if I felt they were responsible for the arrest of the man I knew and loved as my dad. Especially if I had moved back home to take care of him after suffering a stroke. I would feel extreme hostility that after 20 years these people had just barged into our lives and were further jeopardizing my dad's health, and if my dad ended up having another stroke or worse, I might hold them responsible and never forgive them.

Again, it's not right, and it's certainly not fair to the Baskins, but you also can't expect them to do a complete 180 and change how they feel about someone they love--especially not when, to them, that person is their parent!

Even though I'm sure the Baskins desperately long for the opportunity to run to their children immediately, I think they probably realize their children need some time and space to assimilate all this information, and work through their feelings first. I think that may be why there haven't been any updates on this lately.

If Marvin Maple truely loves these children, then I feel he should do the right thing for them--and tell them the truth! By taking responsibility and owning up to his own actions, he could release them, allowing them to find happiness and peace. I think he owes them that much.

By: Nellie on 3/6/09
"..I think my initial reaction might be anger towards my REAL parents if I felt they were responsible for the arrest of the man I knew and loved as my dad.."
jvschicago has hit the nail on the head! This epitomises the true evil of parental alienation. While it brings about unimaginable suffering to any parent who is maligned, the real damage is done to the children. The children who have been fed lies about their parents find themselves, as jvschicago says, having to do a complete 180 turn.
The years of conditioning will be difficult for such children to overcome, such is the insidious nature of this particular form of child abuse. And I wouldn't count on Marvin Maple doing the right thing! He's quite happily allowed this squalid charade - in which these young adults were the unwitting participants - to continue for over 20 years - and no doubt he would still be merrily leading his duplicitous life, had someone not turned him in.
I do hope that the Center for Missing Children is able to help both the Baskin parents and their children to find some way of making sense of what has happened to them over these long years apart. They are ALL the victims of an unscrupulous and unloving pair - who thought that they could just ignore any law, any ruling, that didn't happen to coincide with their ideas of what they saw as their entitlement. Taking those children from their parents, going on the run and hiding out, changing their identities to keep them hidden did not demonstrate love - it was sheer covetousness that motivated the kidanppers.
The younger Baskins are entitled to learn the truth of their abduction - Maple owes them that much.