I meant to write about this story earlier in the day, but it kept getting bumped. The good thing about that is, by the time I decided to get on the ball and do a write-up on it, the story changed. Here’s the rundown: American McGee, famed game designer and the man behind the critically acclaimed American McGee’s Alice (Boss Status with his name in the title), is trying to get the Dallas police to look for his sister, Mercy Covington, after 30 long days of them doing basically nothing. According to Mr. McGee:
I think the cops see her and her case as not having any value.
That was a direct quote from our exchange less than an hour ago. It was weird, because this is a guy who I’ve long admired, and on any other occasion, I would be picking his brain on gaming topics. But tonight I wasn’t talking to him in his capacity as a member of the industry. He was just a regular guy who was concerned for his sister, like anyone else would be in this situation. The fact that the Dallas Police Department are dragging their feet on trying to find Ms. Covington is unconscionable. Imagine if this was your sister, or your mom, or your daughter even. How would you react? I will say this: I’m not sure I could show as much restraint as American McGee has if I was faced with similar circumstances.
Update is we've "angered" detective in charge of her case by making noise. He says they aren't looking now. https://t.co/5y7eE6AZgG
— ⚓ American McGee 🏴☠️ (@americanmcgee) December 4, 2015
Speaking of McGee, here’s more from my interview…
M: What would you like to know?
R: Well, maybe you could give me a short comment on the situation overall, as well as how the dealings with police went today. You said they weren’t even looking for Mercy now, which I know took some people (including me) by surprise.
M: I am writing up my thoughts on it right now (LINK). It’s difficult. First off, I want to be very careful about how this is connected to Gamergate. I hate that the guy who made threats against me used that word. It would be a lot “easier” for everyone if he’d just made death threats and left that out.
(From McGee’s Facebook Post: “In my original post I shared death threats made against me in which Mercy was included. These were sent by a person with a clear history of being anti-Gamergate. What connection this person or those posts have to her disappearance, I don’t know. I get death threats – but I’ve never received one in which my sister is mentioned by name.”)
R: That would have kept the politicization away from it, yes.
M: For the cops… they see her as having run off on her own, even though it’s now almost 30 days that she’s missing. They’ve told her mom to “go look for her yourself.”
What the hell. I’m going to refrain from going on an expletive laden tirade, given the serious nature of this column. Needless to say, that “go look for yourself quote” is unbelievably callous. Alright, let’s get back to words from Mr. McGee. Here’s the rest of my interview with him…
M: I think the cops see her and her case as not having any value.
R: That doesn’t sound like very good policing.
M: There is a Fox News reporter in Dallas who has taken an interest in the story. I’ve chatted with him this morning and he’s going to reach out to her mother.
R: Oh, OK, that’s good news at least.
R: You alright with me quoting you on all that, or are you worried about pissing them off more?
M: Well, here’s the thing… at what point do I start to empathize with the position the police have taken and throw my sister under the bus?
R: I don’t think that point would ever come for me personally, unless I got some definite evidence she was gone of her own accord, perhaps.
M: She’s not a perfect human being, but I don’t see how her past actions should result in this complete lack of concern.
R: I don’t either.
M: This is partly why I’ve waited until now to get involved. Because I could also initially see why they might think, “well, she’s just run off.”
M: There’s other evidence, though. Bedding has been removed from her home, for example. It’s suspicious. But the cops are ignoring it. A very strange SMS was sent to her mother, clearly not originating from her vocab and grammar all wrong. Again, ignoring it. That was sent from her cell phone, by the way.
R: Anything you want to add at the end, a final thought or something? Obviously I hope everything turns out well and that all this publicity on it will force the Dallas Police Department to act.
M: That’s the main thing. That’s all I want out of this: That the police do their job. They have suspects, they have leads, the have a potential crime scene, and they have the threats. Thus far they’ve not looked into any of that. That’s all we’re asking, that they take it seriously. I appreciate you helping with this. Thank you.
I think that says all that needs to be said, people. Hit up the Dallas Police Department on Facebook and anywhere else you can find them. Here’s the phone number as well: (214)-744-4444. I’ll definitely keep this story updated as more comes in. Please do all you can to help find Mercy Covington.
