We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember Steve Walker
saying something like:

I doubt there are many more instances of child abduction /
interference etc than say 30 or 40 years ago. The difference is
that *everybody* now has easy access to news media and is willing
to go that route.

KK

I certainly saw a documentary (probably around eight years ago) where they
asserted that the number of children kidnapped and abused/murdered hadn't
changed for fifty years, so as you say, it is most likely just that there
is a lot more reporting of it.

Exactly.
I'm reminded of a study of the so-called 'crimewave' of the 1960s (of
which the tabloid rags made a big deal), done a few years later. Turned
out the incidence of real crimes hadn't increased at all, it's just that
almost every house had a phone in it by the end of the 60s, so the
reported crimes shot up, in lockstep with the number of phones.

Co-incidence? I think not.