Chief's Chat #33: The Jason Verdow Case & Rethinking Stranger Danger

In this episode of the Cape CopCast 'Chief’s Chat,' we're talking about a horrific murder case that rocked Cape Coral in the '70s and still shapes our community today. It's been 50 years since nine-year-old Jason Verdow was lured at his bus stop, kidnapped, assaulted, and murdered in 1976. It's a case that challenges the old "stranger danger" stereotype and highlights that predators don't always look like how we would imagine.

From there, we bring the conversation into 2026 parenting reality: online safety, gaming headsets, and the slow pressure tactics that grooming often relies on. We talk about what to say to your kids in plain language, how to set boundaries without banning everything, and why monitoring chats matters for bullying, threats, and escalating behavior. If you’ve ever wondered how to translate “be careful online” into specific rules your child can actually follow, this is the practical playbook.

We also share a clear example of technology used for good: real-time crime center coordination, license plate readers, and OnStar tracking that helped lead to a quick arrest and the removal of drugs and a gun from the street. Finally, we highlight community events we care about, including the NAMI walk and how crisis intervention training (CIT) helps us respond better to mental health crises, plus the annual candlelight ceremony that supports survivors through grief with connection and remembrance.

Transcript

Welcome And Studio Remodel

SPEAKER_02 0:04

Welcome back to another episode of the Cape Copcast. I'm one of your hosts, Lisa Greenberg.

SPEAKER_00 0:09

And I'm Officer Mercedes Simons. Together we make up the public affairs office. We have yet another edition of Chief's Chat.

SPEAKER_01 0:15

Good morning, ladies.

SPEAKER_02 0:16

Good morning. Happy Friday.

SPEAKER_00 0:18

Happy Friday.

SPEAKER_02 0:18

Here we are again. He's got the coffee. I didn't bring my coffee.

SPEAKER_00 0:22

Oh, that was a pro move. I need to start bringing my coffee. We always have it.

SPEAKER_02 0:26

We need to get our um coffee mugs that have the logo on it. And then I'll feel like at least I'm branding by drinking my coffee and not just bragging about my coffee addiction.

SPEAKER_01 0:37

We'll do it with the remodel.

SPEAKER_02 0:39

Yes. Okay. Teas, really. That's good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

Remodeling the studio.

SPEAKER_02 0:43

We are. We are working towards uh getting some upgrades in here and changing the layout. You know, when we started this, we were like novice, never before podcasted. We didn't know what we needed. And um, while this setup has been nice and the chairs are cozy, uh, you know, I think it's time to make something that's a little more practical, maybe a little more polished, better quality.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

A little Rogan-esque.

SPEAKER_00 1:06

Yeah. Channeling our inner Rogan. If only we had that many people that listened.

SPEAKER_01 1:11

Oh my gosh, that would be incredible.

SPEAKER_00 1:13

We have a bit though.

SPEAKER_01 1:13

We're on the train.

SPEAKER_00 1:14

We are. We are.

SPEAKER_01 1:15

We're coming, Joe. We're coming.

SPEAKER_02 1:18

We're coming for you. Um, I know we had a few different things that we wanted to talk about this week, and part of what we were wanting to discuss had to do with a recent, I hate using the word anniversary, but a recent, I guess, milestone from a case um that you did an interview on.

SPEAKER_01 1:35

I did. I did a local, one of the local news outlets did a story on the 50, 50th year since Jason Verdow, a uh local kid, we'll talk about Jason Verdow, uh, was brutally murdered here in Cape Coral. And I was talking to you two yesterday, and I saw your face, was like, huh. Like you didn't, and you wouldn't know, right? And thought you're probably representative of a lot of people. Yeah. But everybody in Cape Coral knows Verdow field. If your kids play Little League, they either play Coza Saladino or Verdao. And why is it called Verdow? Well, it's called Coza Saladino because those were two um pivotal um, I guess, founding father coaches in Cape Coral Little League, Coza and Saladino, families that have been involved in Little League forever. But Jason Verdow uh park, Memorial Park, was named after Jason. And in 1976, where Cape Coral was very, very young, we were founded in 71. So we're a five-year-old police department, very small. Um, Jason Verdow, nine-year-old boy who played Little League Baseball here. He was a typical kid. When you look at pictures, he looks like any kid from the 70s. Jeans, tight shirts, riding his bike, you know, just a great, vibrant little boy. And he was at his bus stop in Cape Coral, and he was lured away by a man named Arthur Good. And Arthur took him away from the bus stop, um, brutally sexually battered him, and then murdered him. And it was a it would be an absolute earth-shattering shock today. Think about it, in 1976.

SPEAKER_00 3:22

Yeah.

Why Kids Trust The Wrong Adult

SPEAKER_01 3:22

It was just you can't even imagine. And um, Arthur Good fled and went to uh the mid-Atlantic, I believe it was Virginia or Maryland, and did this again and then got caught. He was extradited here, and in 1984, he was executed um in uh the Florida uh penal system. And in 1984, coincidentally, the year that he was um executed for his crime, that's the year I started playing Little League at Jason Vertal Park. So it was really um still front of mind for a community back then. We were very, very small in 1984, and it just so happened that was the year that that the killer was executed. Um so it was we knew who the field was named after, and I remember my my mother telling me about it, and it got me thinking during the interview, we talked about, you know, kind of off camera, why do you think he went with Arthur Good? And if you haven't seen pictures of him, and you know the story now that I told you, you probably have a vision in your mind of what the bad guy looks like. And I guarantee you, if you Google Arthur Good, it's not what you think a bad guy looks like. He was a young adult, very boyish looking, very mentally immature. Um and Jason Verdow had an older sibling, so he probably looked around that same age, so you could see how he might have been able to have been lured. And it got me thinking about stranger danger cases that we put out and messaging that we put out about talk to your kids. And I used a parallel to school shooter training and active shooter training that we've done. And I sat through a seminar many, many years ago about active threats and school shooters. This was shortly after Columbine. So I was a cop before Columbine. Think about that. So we were talking about the new way to uh police and respond to active threat, right? That's evolved over the years. And if you do any research on Columbine, uh we don't do it that way anymore. That was the way it was prescribed, but this was a new condition and a new type of threat that we face. So it was a lot of there was a lot of training. Um there still is, but there was a lot in the beginning because we were changing the model.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:55

And in the model, there's a there's a guy uh named Grossman, Lieutenant Grossman, uh, military background, and talks about threats and and how you psychologically and physiologically respond and also tactically respond. And it's a long story, but in the the discussion was his directive to close your eyes and think of the bad guy. And you get sent to a school and you're not gonna let this happen to these kids, and you're gonna storm it, and you're gonna take care of that bad guy. What does that bad guy look like? And you always picture everybody's different, but it's some big burly somebody older.

SPEAKER_02 6:34

Older.

SPEAKER_01 6:34

And he said, Now imagine it's a 13-year-old pimple-faced kid that's doing the shooting, and it kind of shocks you that, oh my gosh, so the bad guy may not be what you think. And it could be a real startling thing for you in the moment. Move that to the side, use that same kind of thinking with Stranger Danger. You picture the big burly, hairy, forearm guy in a van, someone creepy looking, yeah. What you know, and that uh obviously, no, I'm not going with that person. And you tell your kids, watch out for that. And there's always jokes about the van when you see a van.

SPEAKER_02 7:12

Candy.

SPEAKER_01 7:13

Candy, do you want candy? Will you help me? I lost my dog, things like that. Those are relatively low-hanging fruit. That's easy to talk to your kids about. But when you look at the Jason Verdow case, it wasn't that. It was a somebody who probably looked like a teenager to him. And it's it's a little bit of a shift on Stranger Danger. And our kids, when you say have conversations with your kids and talk to your kids, it's very abstract. So let's talk specifics on what you what you talk to them about. And it's very easy. Don't go, don't go talk to that guy who's offering candy. But what do you do if it's somebody who knows about um Fortnite, Roblox, and starts breaking down those walls and and can connect with your kid really quick, right? Um, hey, I got I got a way to get V-Bucks. And if you're listening and don't know what that is, that's something that kids use in in games. And that could be like, whoa, my mom and dad talked to me about stranger danger. This doesn't look like a stranger. He talks like me. He's young, he looks like me, and you could find yourself being very vulnerable to getting taken or or something bad happening to you. So the message that I would put out to parents is when you talk to your kids, it's not always the easy one.

SPEAKER_02 8:27

Right.

Digital Stranger Danger In Gaming

SPEAKER_01 8:28

It's really diving deep that and and know that those are the ways that your kids can get uh taken, right? Or and physically taken or emotionally taken, or and and a lot of interaction now is online, social media, or gaming. Gaming is a big thing for kids, and I'm not against it. Uh, but the conversations that I've had with my own son, who's a gamer, uh, is who are you talking to? Right? He's got headphones on like me and a headset, and he's playing. I get in his business. Who are you talking to? Are these kids from the neighborhood which he does game with? Are these kids from your class or are these strangers? And that's a personal decision and age related, and your own kid are you gonna let them play with strangers? That's okay, but you need to make sure that they're not uh a digital way of stranger danger. Are they cultivating an unhealthy relationship with your kid? Are they grooming them to meet somewhere? Are they grooming them to send them pictures or break down walls and slowly work on your kid to make them vulnerable? And those are uncomfortable conversations. It's easy to say, watch out for that scary guy over there. Well, kids are naturally not going to go with a scary guy, and you can feel like you've done your job. Well, I talk to my kids about it, but there are kids that get taken and get groomed and get um in the digital space victimized. Yep. And the reason is because the these people are good at doing that, and you need to be better and you need to talk to them about those kinds of dangers and sit in your kids' gaming room and watch, get another headset, or tell them to play without the headset and listen to what's going on. It may not be as bad as you know getting groomed to get kidnapped and trafficked, but it could be I don't like you talking like that. Right. Right? We don't use that kind of language, or I don't like that bullying behavior, I don't like you getting bullied. I don't need you to feel that that's what you have to accept. Right. You work on confidence with your kids, you work on um real stranger danger, real um boys and girls about confidence and what is acceptable behavior for you to receive and what is simply not. And you can also dovetail that into other conversations that you should be having about um stuff that you're gonna say in that chat room.

SPEAKER_00 10:58

Like Yeah, kids can be really mean. They can be they're so mean and they're they're competitive, usually they're playing with their friends, they call each other all kinds of things, and like and kids have different levels of sensitivity. Like what might not affect me definitely affects you. And I don't know, are you know more than I do? Are a lot of those games geared toward playing with online unknown people, or is it usually friends or a mix?

When Jokes Become Real Threats

SPEAKER_01 11:24

It's the availability to do both, okay. Right? So it's a mix, so you can jump on a game and you kind of jump in in a lobby, and then you join with people you can invite your friends, like, hey guys, let's I'll send you a text, let's get in the lobby, and then we'll go play a game. And then the stranger could jump in, or none of my friends are available, so I'm just gonna jump in and you can get in with anybody. That's all right, you know, depending on your house and what you what rules you've set up, but I I don't have a problem with it. Um, as long as you work on those boundaries and those and those what what are you gonna accept? Are you gonna get beat up? Are you gonna work, you know, it could be just as bad as Instagram filters where you feel body image issues, right? Those are things that you want to talk to your your children about about what's fantasy, what's AI, and people don't really look like that. If you're striving to achieve that, it there's a lot of dangers there. But you got to make sure that they're not saying, you know, I'll kill you or I'll come to your house and blow you up or I'm gonna bring this to the school. Because then you're getting close to being arrested, right? And there was a case, um, I think in it was in the state, it was in Florida, a kid almost 10 years old. Um, second time he's done it, but he threatened to come in and uh come to the school. And sometimes they're joking, or sometimes they really don't know what the heck they're doing. Those are detailed, specific conversations you have to have that look, your your your humor and your edginess is growing, it's not matured yet, you don't know how to do that. This is nothing to fool with. You cannot talk about that stuff at school. A, you shouldn't do that, but B, you're gonna get yourself in a lot of trouble. And those are taking the abstract talk to your kids into how you talk to your kids and tell them if you you absolutely cannot say that kind of stuff. I know dad or I know mom. Keep doing it, it's not a one and done. And all these things, you know, parenting is difficult. You're gonna find out when your kid starts talking that there's a lot.

SPEAKER_00 13:25

He's still cute right now. Take advantage of that.

SPEAKER_01 13:28

That you know, from don't we talked about it about a month or so ago. Don't represent yourself, my name, and our house on your bike, e-bike and wheelie gang stuff. You know, there there's always conversations to have with your kids. But it was just interesting that that um the Jason Verdale conversation kind of evolved. Yeah, it evolved into well, those are that that's something that a kid could be vulnerable to because it doesn't meet the paradigm or the mindset of what we talked about with my family about Stranger Danger. This isn't a strange that's not that. He doesn't look like you know, Bluto from the Popeye cartoon. That's an old reference. Um I got it. Good. So did I got that one, but but it's somebody that looks like me who's a little bit older. He looks like he could be one of my brother's friends or my sister's boyfriend. Um, and people use that to to prey on them. So Stranger Danger and um personal safety and online safety, those are specific, individually tailored conversations to your children. And I wouldn't really encourage you to have them.

Real-Time Tech Stops A Drug Bust

SPEAKER_00 14:36

It is important, especially as technology changes. You look at, you know, they might not have had the availability to communicate with someone online, now they do. But now, like we can use technology for the worse or we can use it for the better. And in this case, we actually this past week we actually used it for the better to work with LCSO to help them with a pretty big drug bust.

SPEAKER_01 14:58

Uh yeah, we did. Um they have a very premier, excellent real-time crime center. And we have a crime center and they work together. Our intel analysts work with their intel analyst. Fort Myers has one as well. We are one big team in Southwest Florida. So the the theirs is called the Arctic Real-Time Information Center, Real Time Intelligence Center. The Arctic notified, because we we do it all the time. They notified our crime center, which is the uh TIAC, the TIAC, the Tactical Intelligence and Analytics Analytics Center. It's a mouthful. But they're spirit they're similar but but a little bit different in the nuance of what they do, but they they talk to each other. So LCSO called us and said we got a hit on a stolen car, and just had a stolen car, and it's going into Cape Coral. Our intelligence center picked up uh license plate readers and the cameras, and then OnStar uh started tracking the car. So we had several different levels of technology tracking this car in real time. It went to a retail center, it parked. OnStar told us it's parked. We found out where they were. As our officers were en route to the store, we contacted the store. They used their internal surveillance to go, they're in here. They just got out of that car, walked in, we have them. We got there and took them into custody, and then the sheriff's office showed up because it was their case, and then we searched the car, and there was a significant amount a ton of drugs and a gun in the car. So the car was recovered, returned, the drugs were off the street, the gun was off the street, and the bad guys went to jail. And that happened in minutes, and it happened in real time. And when we talk about acquiring technology, not just us, but anywhere in law enforcement in Southwest Florida, we acquire this technology, it gets put to use, and it could be your car. You could be next to their next victim if they got a gun and all those drugs, they're they're dealing in narcotics, and that brings violence. And it really is a a real-time uh application for it. And it's what your budgets are going for, what your tax dollars are going for across the region, into trained, passionate, intelligent, trained. I said trained twice, but they're super trained. They're extra trained, extra trained people that put it into action and and do what you would expect your police department, your sheriff's office, and your local law enforcement to do. So it was a big win.

SPEAKER_02 17:32

It's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 17:33

And that happens every day.

SPEAKER_02 17:34

And it just is another example of the partnerships, how efficiently we all work together. I mean, those folks at the um TIAC, and I'm sure it's the same with Arctic. I mean, they are constantly communicating, they're sending out, you know, important information that our officers need to know. Hey, LCSO has seen this. They, you know, they let us know. So we need to be looking for this. It's constant communication that I don't think people realize is always happening in the background.

SPEAKER_01 18:00

If you're territorial and you're and you're possessive of jurisdictions, and this is our case, and that's their case, you're gonna lose. Right. And there are places around the state and around the country that operate that way. We do not. Criminals do not recognize boundaries, they float all over the region. So our law enforcement needs to operate and and and network across the region, and that's what we do.

SPEAKER_00 18:25

Yeah, we have the the bridge. People think that just because they go across the bridge one way or the other that they they're gonna get away, and that is simply not the case. Not at all. We, you know, one one called FHP and you're done. Yep, it's true. Yeah, we've had a we've had a lot of good success.

SPEAKER_01 18:42

FHP has been a great partner for us. They're so good. They're they're really um and and that's been a shift, right? They've always been great, but they've they've really partnered well locally, uh, better than they ever have, and we're we're grateful for everything that we've got.

SPEAKER_02 18:59

Thanks, FHP.

NAMI Walk And CIT Training

SPEAKER_00 19:01

Yeah, so on top of that, we have a lot of different events going on. Oh gosh, I know.

SPEAKER_02 19:06

This weekend is NAMI. We have the NAMI walk, which I feel like we talk about a lot, but it's one of our favorite events. We get t-shirts, we get a big team together, and um, that's for the National Alliance on Mental Health, uh mental illness. And um we walk the bridge and it's like at sunset. It's beautiful, it's perfect.

SPEAKER_01 19:24

Yeah, it's a good time. It's uh a little warm during the day, but it's at sunset, so it's right when we start to cool down a little bit. And I I encourage everybody to go. It's raising awareness. It's like, what is that big crowd? It's oh, it's they're walking for mental health. It's it's taking it out of the shadows. Everybody's impacted either directly or indirectly by it, and it's uh it's just a great event.

SPEAKER_02 19:48

Oh, yeah, it's awesome. And um, it's just nice to see how many people come from the police department. Yeah. Like that's one of our big things.

SPEAKER_00 19:58

We do but it's something that we're directly impacted by just because it's something that we we handle so much. We go to calls and people aren't always in their right state of mind. We have to recognize things, act, and hopefully get them the help that they need and save lives in that way.

SPEAKER_01 20:16

Quick story how NAMI helps us directly, right? We talked about all these other things, you know, kind of abstract and how they meet in practical application. CIT training, crisis intervention training is a big part of NAMI. They put it on and they teach first responders and in particular law enforcement how to interact with people experiencing a mental health crisis. This walk and their fundraising efforts, in part, go to paying for CIT training. Our officers are CIT trained. It's a big part. We're a CIT shop, right? And we talked about it on this podcast. Yeah. And I think we showed the video where we had an individual who was um uh non-communicative and non-adult with uh with a mental health disorder. And using the concepts that we teach in CIT, we're able to have a successful outcome. You you usually only see on the news the bad outcomes where a individual experiencing a mental health crisis ends up getting shot. Right? And those are the rarity, and there's so many successful outcomes, and those successful outcomes are from in large part uh training, CIT training, and that's where we partner with NAMI for that. That's the number one reason is that we want to be a positive part of that whole continuum of mental health care, and the way that we can be the positive part is to be somebody that a loved one, so let's say you know, your adult son is having a crisis. You don't want to be afraid to Call us to help. Yep. And CIT helps us be better prepared to respond so that you can call us and know that we're going to take care of them and you don't have to worry about the tragic outcome that you see on TV.

SPEAKER_00 22:15

Yep. Almost all of patrol is trained now. And then we also have the new officers that are coming in. They get it as soon as they start. It's not like they get it, you know, two years down the line. They're getting it initially, which I think is huge, especially just in terms of like you're a new cop, sometimes you're younger. I think it also helps you learn how to talk to people in general, on top of people who are maybe in a time of crisis, and it's so helpful.

SPEAKER_01 22:39

You may have never experienced anybody up close in a mental health crisis. Or if you did, you were not in this role and somebody else will take care of it. Well, now it's you. What are you gonna do? Well, if you don't know, it could be bad, and you see the the bad results. So it's it's a winner. I'm proud to be a part of it, and I'm proud to have pushed people to get that into our curriculum. It is it is being part of the solution.

Candlelight Ceremony And Healthy Grief

SPEAKER_00 23:04

Yeah, for sure. Another thing we're offering with um like acknowledging mental health, we're having the annual candlelight ceremony on March 27th. I think it's 7 p.m. It's either six or seven. We have an event on our Facebook page for you to check that out too.

SPEAKER_01 23:20

Yes, and our victim advocates have been doing that for a long time, and that's people who have um survivors of victims of of violent crime or overdose or or just an untimely departure. And it's a it's a wonderful event, it's a celebration of your loved one's life. There's plenty of time for grief. Grief will never escape you fully on those, but this is a way to meet with like people who have gone through very similar circumstances, and I usually speak at it, and I'll give you a tip my hand to what I'm gonna talk about is that grief is natural, but our loved ones and the people that are gone are looking down on us and they want us to to have some joy.

SPEAKER_02 24:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:07

So let's take this opportunity to celebrate, think of a positive memory, and and even if it's on the inside, smile a little bit and let's celebrate them.

SPEAKER_02 24:17

For sure. Last year was my first time I went, and uh it's like definitely a very powerful event. It's it's inspiring to see all these people who come together and and share with each other and are very vulnerable with each other and lift each other up. So uh definitely come out for that if you are someone in that same position.

SPEAKER_01 24:35

Taking it back to the beginning, Jason Verdow's mother has been at that event many, many years. Yeah. So it goes all the way back to something from 1976. They're not all homicide victims. There are some. Um, there are people who died in traffic accidents, overdoses, like I said, anything that we have been a part of and are victim advocates who help guide you. And you did a podcast with the with the VAs, so I don't have to go through that. But the VAs do a phenomenal, wonderful, they do God's work on a lot of cases. So anybody that they've impacted, we come together and we we just a kinship of having gone through something like that, a loss, and then finding a way to celebrate the life of those that we did lose.

SPEAKER_02 25:20

For sure. Some good events coming up, Chief. It's gonna be a good weekend this weekend, next week. Is that next week? I don't even know what day it is today.

Spring Break Safety Reminders

SPEAKER_01 25:27

I think it's the following. Next week is spring break for Lee County schools and the charter schools, so there'll be a lot of kids out. Um, you get a reprieve on the Red Speed cameras.

SPEAKER_02 25:40

There you go. Always finding a positive, right? There we go.

SPEAKER_01 25:43

So be careful because there'll be a lot of kids out and PSA to lock your doors. Yes, lock your car doors. Those certain kids will be out too, so lock your doors.

SPEAKER_02 25:54

The board teens who think that that's a joke. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:57

So take your guns out of your car, don't store them in your car. We've had issues with that in the past. I think I heard I heard that people have gotten slightly better recently with not leaving guns in the car. So that's positive, but still continue to lock your car doors, still having issues with that.

SPEAKER_01 26:16

Right. We are big enough now that we're we're not uh leave your doors unlocked down. No, sadly. But um, you know.

SPEAKER_02 26:25

Wonderful things come along with that growth. Also comes with some side effects like this. So, yes, lock your doors. Remember that spring break is starting, and otherwise, have a good weekend. Have an awesome weekend.

SPEAKER_00 26:35

Yeah, have an awesome weekend.

SPEAKER_02 26:37

Thank you so much, Chief, for joining us again this week.

SPEAKER_01 26:39

My pleasure.

SPEAKER_02 26:39

We will catch you next time. Stay safe.