UPDATE: It's a moot point now, as she's been charged. This story names her -- Jill Theresa Conaghan -- along with her booking mug shot.
A user on KansasCity.com just contacted me to protest the "unfair treatment" he endured when a Web editor removed a comment he'd posted on a story about the arrest of a 19-year-old woman in the death of Sandra Carocari.
I checked with the Web editors about the comment, and they confirmed what I suspected: They took it down because the user had posted the alleged name of the woman arrested. In his e-mail to me, he said The Star would have named her if she hadn't been a white resident of Overland Park.
The police haven't filed charges as of about 8:45 a.m. Once that happens (later today, most likely), the woman will be named. I understand that another news source in town is currently naming her, but The Star's reporter tells me he's verified with police that she has not yet been formally charged. People are sometimes booked into jail and charged with lesser crimes, or sometimes released without charges. Journalists have to be very careful and precise with these matters.
There's something about stories concerning teenagers and car accidents that brings out shocking vitriol in online comments. Back before The Star required users to register for an account it was worse, with readers contacting me routinely to point out that even stories about single-car accidents would bring out amazingly cruel speculation and character assassination in the comments about the teenagers involved. Other news sources face the same issue too, and it's a mystery to me.
