I'll say the same thing when it's your relative Gary. I hope for your sake you're as clueless then as you are now.

It should be pretty easy to figure out which house on the block is on fire.

Count Coroner any relation to Count Chocula? - No . . . related to the Count on Sesame Street

The Gazette could give a general location of an incident without giving the exact address, such as the 100 block of such and such street, until it is confirmed the next of kin have been notified. They would not be withholding news, but would be showing a little empathy.
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A while back, after a fatal house fire in Beloit, the Gazette reported that "authorities were withholding the name of the victim pending notification of relatives."
They then printed "but according to the city directory, "so and so" is reported as living there." Real classy. NOT.

Count Coroner any relation to Count Chocula?

What everybody is not realizing when they posted this, the address is PUBLIC information the moment it is relayed to 911 dispatchers and the 911 dispatchers relay it to responding units. If the family had been listening to any type of police scanner they would have known instantly. The address would have been given to responding units. So don't chastize the Gazette or the JPD for giving an address that would have been spoken over all of the radio waves that the emergency workers that responded to this incident had actually heard!!!

My heart and prayers go out to this family.

And, this may not be a popular take on things, but, Janesville really does have relatively low crime.

http://www.city-data.com/city/Janesville...

Particularly, as compared to Beloit:

http://www.city-data.com/city/Beloit-Wis...

However, this is a tragedy and more likely than not is a "family" issue that could have happened anywhere at all.

Again, may God bless all of the victims- especially those children.

I have a tentative identification of the victims and I've searched WCCA. There are only civil and traffic cases for both. This may have nothing to do with "the neighborhood" and may indeed be nothing more than a sad domestic tragedy, which could happen anywhere.

Deaths on Madison Street? Wait - I live in the area and I didn't hear about those deaths...... and of course, when I did a search on the Gazette's web site, there's nothing there.

What I would have liked to have known was when the cops were in the area about 2 weeks ago. There were more cops surrounding one block than I've ever seen. Anyone know what was going on????

I was under the impression that Janesville didn't allow double murders/ tripple homicides/
drugs/gangs/ and the such what gives. the reason i say this is Janesville gives Beloit a bad rap every time something happens .

I've never heard of any news agency withholding the *location* of a crime before the family has been notified. As noted, that is pretty public information and police activity around an address is readily observed. Additionally, the Gazette is probably passing on only the information it was given.
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Putting on my Look West/Fourth Ward hat, we in the neighborhoods don't expect the Janesville police to have magical powers to solve every crime. FBI figures show that as many as 37% of U.S. murders go unsolved every year. (Some may be resolved later.) We do expect prompt attention to addresses which represent an ongoing nuisance and threat to the community, and the nuisance ordinance has been a great tool for that. I can't find any immediate indication this location merits that.

The JPD do their best to protect and serve us, even if many people do not realize it... I do not think it is right to be so negatively critical towards the entire group. Sure, some of them may not be as helpful as they should be... but there are a lot of very good cops in Janesville.

And some folks look down on Beloit?

With all the crying about J.P.D.... i hope when u need them.. i hope they do stop for coffee an doughnuts.

great post pigbrain, too bad the people who most need to follow the advice will ignore it and continue to be ignorant.

Mymaro, just go away & stop commenting...you'll sound smarter that way.

As for the notifications, it's hard to keep these type of stories out of the paper when the press knows via scanners what police are up to, and because of the First Amendment freedom of the press, they can post whatever non-incriminating evidence they feel will produce a good story. It's their right and their job.
Let the PD do their job, then complain about (or congratulate) them.

It doesn't matter if the Gazette published the address or not. The house is right on the corner of Court Street. When you drive by on Court Street, there's numerous cop cars, an emergency command center, and everything is taped off. It's pretty obvious. We were told by someone that it was a murder/suicide and that 3 kids saw it happen.

How funny all of you are. Police were called at 9:05 am, story released after noon. How do you know family was not reached in that time? As far as the police tape and the scene being in the public for all to see..what do you expect them to do? Create a bubble the size of a block to cover the entire property so others won't see what is going on?

You try doing a job that requires you be in the public eye and see what crap you get from it! Have some respect!

I am ready for the comments on this comment I am making....

Wow! There really is some hatred toward the JPD and the Gazette. For all you complaining, I hope you are becoming advocates for the families in these situations. True enough, I really disagree with how it was handled, but as the saying goes.... sh** or get off the pot. Try advocating for the families before you start complaining about how things are done. If you still don't like it, there is ALWAYS the option to move.

Since law enforcement shouldn't be allowed to release the address, how do you plan on censoring everyone in scannerland? There are lots of occasions where media shows up at an incident WITHOUT a press release from law enforcement. Can't have it both ways. Can't be preaching about the public's need to know and then crying about it when the information is made public.

little hard to keep things "secret" when there are cops buzzing all around with police tape up etc. plus how do u keep neighbors and people driving by from talking? i found out with a phone call from someone who was passing by the area.

how does a news agency deciding to publish an address become the JPD's fault? maybe Gazette decided to publish the address for public safety reasons. how do your actions change when you take into consideration how closely you life to the area where a crime takes place? if you live a couple blocks away do you act differently as opposed to someone who lives on the other side of town?

...Maybe now the cop that sleeps in the mercy mall parking lot every morning can have something to "investigate" LOL! ;)

I am totally disgusted by the lack of discretion displayed by the police department and the Gazette. There is no reason for them to put the exact address in the story. To indicate an area of the city or even the street name is one thing, but this is ridiculous. Put yourself in the shoes of the friends and families of the victims, is this how you want to find out you lost a loved one? The public deserves better than this.

lets hope the family doesn't see this before they are notified personally...

wasn't anything learned the first time? :(

I can't believe after what happened in Edgerton that the Gazette would publish the address regardless of whether or not the police released it. Obviously JPD didn't learn anything from the fiasco in Edgerton either.

Any editors who are reading this: could you explain to us lay people why addresses are being used in identifying a fatality--when next of kin most likely hasn't been notified??
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It was pretty evident, to me atleast, that this practice caused great distress to the Vordermann/Ellingson families 2 weeks ago.
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I implore you to revisit your p&p on this!

i agree nutty. Whats the point of notifying the family. They can get the info faster here..My heart goes out to the family.

nutty- This was actually a release from the Police Department. They have it on NBC 15 News also. I would hate to find out something happened to my loved ones by reading it on the internet!!