(MCT) — MIDLAND CITY, Ala. — Midland City is a place where things have always gone more or less according to plan. There was that time the Beck house burned down, but even then two Bibles and a picture of Christ remained untouched.

So the current crisis — a little boy kidnapped and held prisoner underground for days — has left people here struggling to find a purpose behind it. They have found none on their televisions or in local newspapers, because authorities have released little information.