Father Pushes Craigslist Change
By Lisa Baldwin
POSTED: Thursday, May 21, 2009
UPDATED: 6:50 pm CDT May 21,
2009
CLEAR LAKE, Texas -- The father of a college student whose body was dumped in the Pacific Ocean by a convicted sex offender she met through Craigslist is asking the Web site's president to implement measures to detect convicted sex offenders who use the site.
NASA engineer Reza Jou and his Los Angeles-based attorney, Gloria Allred, have sent a letter asking for a meeting with Craiglist's president. So far, they have not received a response.
"If they would fix their system to identify the advertiser, if it's somebody like a criminal, they shouldn't be allowed to advertise unless they reveal their identity," Jou said.
Convicted sex offender John Steven Burgess, 36, was sentenced to five years after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the death of missing college student Donna Jou, 19.
Jou is from Clear Lake but was attending college in California when she disappeared two years ago.
Burgess recently admitted dumping her body in the Pacific Ocean.
He claims Donna Jou overdosed on drugs he gave her, although there is no physical evidence to back that up since her body was never found.
Local 2 News was unable to reach Craigslist for comment.
Copyright 2009 by Click2Houston.com.
All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten
or redistributed.