[Initial reporting done by Eli English]
An unnamed girl in Albuquerque, New Mexico thought she had met the boy of her dreams, Alex Trowell, through the MMORPG, World of Warcraft. The couple (she was 11 at the time, Trowell was above legal age) chatted online for hours and eventually began speaking on the phone and exchanging text messages (Trowell lived in Idaho). Deciding to meet in person, Trowell made plans for a road-trip but was eventually stopped by law enforcement. Learning of the girl’s age the police sent Trowell back to his hometown. A few months later Trowell decided to try again and purchased airplane tickets so the young girl could come to visit him.
Alex Trowell
The girl (by this time 12 years old) decided that the best way to make sure that “no one would come looking for her” was to write a suicide note before heading to the airport. After she arrived Trowell set her up in an abandoned house next to his grandparent’s home. The couple spent a single night together in Idaho, in Trowell’s parent’s bedroom, and admitted to being romantic but didn’t engage in sexual activities, according to the two. Trowell was arrested the next day and is currently facing “a slew of charges.” The un-named girl was sent back to her family in Albuquerque.
So…um….yeah…thoughts, E-Gs?
…I’ve known two couples who have gotten married through meeting in WoW. This takes the cake in terms of online WoW romance. Also, I’ve never heard of an 11 year old actively playing the game. Creepy dude, and poor parenting all-around.
Really??? REALLY? Come on man…
He seems creepy, but let’s face it… even if he was 22; 10 years isn’t THAT much of a difference in a married couple(once they get to that point) – as long as they aren’t sexual until she’s of age to really decide whether she WANTS to be or not I don’t see why anyone should care if they are happy together…
I’ve known a couple who met when the guy was 17 and the girl was 11 and they instantly fell in love. They’re in their 20s now, have been married for 6 years, and they have completely cut communications with everyone who tried to separate them when they were younger(including the girl’s entire family – so thanks to them not accepting her choice, they’ve literally lost their daughter). Who are we to decide that they can’t be happy? And who is to say that this above story couldn’t be the same as that?
You do have a point. The answer is society and how it has changed over the centuries. Getting married and having children at a young age to a man that was much older was common a couple hundred years ago. It was still taboo to marry that young, but 14 isn’t uncommon.
The thing is that children under 12 aren’t fully capable of rational thought (according to science). This is why there are laws in place.
It is a bit creepy, but if they truly love each other, than I really don’t care (parents of the child might think otherwise, and the rest of society).
Well I wouldn’t say they should get married tomorrow, but I don’t really see any problem with them having a loving relationship for the next x years until she’s old enough to wed(or bed for that matter). I mean, the parents might not like it, but really shouldn’t the most important thing to them be their child’s health and happiness? And what is taking the person she loved, who didn’t do ANYTHING harmful to her, who paid for her to come visit him and who fed her and cared for her….. and throwing him in jail or worse… going to do to her?
As to the ‘children under 12 can’t be rational’… I hardly think that is a valid assessment, since science has proven time and time again that every person’s body and mind mature differently and at a different pace. She could just have matured very quickly from a biological standpoint. It’s silly to put a blanket age on maturity and love.
Ya, as I said, it isn’t really normal, nor should it be expected(or normal)… but I don’t think he did anything ILLEGAL. Really, the worst he might have done was to kiss a young girl and make her dinner and give her a place to sleep. They both state nothing sexual happened, and I’m sure that if they need to they can prove that. He didn’t kidnap her – she came of her own will. He didn’t assault her – she came to no harm. So where’s the crime?
That is of course assuming the above is the whole story – I can’t read anything else from work. Depending on what ELSE may have happened, I may change my mind, but from just what is on THIS page… it seems wrong what happened.
I found an article(may not be true) that says that when he was caught they were getting into the shower together… if that’s true, then I retract the part of the my argument specific to this case, because in that case he was in the wrong. 100%.