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November
18, 2005
On October 10, 2004 a man called to report his 13-year-old son was missing.
The child had been living in Florida with his mother and had recently
moved to California to live with his father. His mother visited with him
before school started and he did not want her to leave. During his first
semester of school in California, the boy’s grades had dropped and
he was upset by two deaths in the family. The boy ran away without leaving
a note or contacting his parents and only took a bag of clothes, food,
his father's bike, and some change with him. The father believed his son
might be in the local area or could be trying to find his way to his mother.
NCMEC created a poster of the child and it was sent to the child’s
father and his Junior High School principal. The father knew his son frequented
bookstores and had distributed posters to various bookstores in the city
early one day. Within four hours of the distribution, his son was seen
by a store clerk and reported to the police. The child’s father
called NCMEC and reported that his son had been located.
September 13, 2005
On August 20, 2005 a 14-year-old girl was reported missing after
her parents found a note she left stating that she would live with anyone
she could and that she would contact them later. The girl was entered
into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) by local law enforcement
and listed as an endangered missing juvenile based on known mental health
issues including suicidal tendencies and various medications she left
behind. The intake process at NCMEC prompted referral to a Team Adam Project
Manager and a Team Adam consultant was deployed to assist the local police
department. The local police department indicated NCMEC could be most
helpful by facilitating the mass dissemination of posters with the girl’s
photograph and assisting the family obtain family counseling and other
family-assistance services post recovery. On August 23, 2005 a woman saw
the NCMEC poster with the girl’s photograph at a local café
and immediately contacted the NCMEC Hotline. The local police department
responded to the information provided to them by the NCMEC and ultimately
located the girl in a near by cemetery where she was taken into police
custody without incident.
On July 11, 2004,
three children were not returned to their mother after a scheduled visit
with their noncustodial father. A police report was filed with the authorities
and a warrant was issued for the father. On August 24, the mother was
able to determine that the children were with their father at his parents'
home in Colima, Mexico, and filed the Hague application with the U.S.
Department of State. During the next several months the father periodically
called the mother asking for her to send the children’s ID and school
information to his parent’s address in Colima. The searching mother
refused to do so, but was allowed to briefly speak to the children during
these calls. On January 28, 2005, it was discovered that a Mexican judge
visited the address provided on the mother’s application, but was
unsuccessful in locating the children or the abductor. The paternal grandmother
was interviewed and informed the Mexican authorities the abductor was
residing in nearby Villa de Alvarez. A new address for the abducting father
in Villa de Alvarez was obtained, and on March 19, 2004, a U.S. Consular
Agent and Mexican authorities located the abductor father. The father
agreed to hand over the children and they were placed into the custody
of Mexican social services. The hearing date for the Hague petition was
scheduled for April 4, 2005. After the hearing the judge ordered the three
children returned to the mother’s custody and granted their return
to the United States.
On December 24, 2004, a 16-year-old girl called her mother and told her
she was going to work at the mall and asked to be picked up at 6 p.m.
When her mother arrived at the mall, her daughter was not there. Upon
inspecting her room, the woman noticed her daughter had taken some clothing
and jewelry. The mother contacted NCMEC, and during the initial call told
the Call Center Specialist the family had recently moved from Fresno to
Glendale, California, and she had taken away her daughter's cell phone
because she was text messaging a boy from Fresno. Three days after the
girl ran away, her parents reported that their daughter was actually text
messaging her boyfriend in Fresno. When the boy was contacted by the Fresno
Police Department he claimed not to know of the girl's whereabouts. On
March 5, 2005, after seeing a NCMEC poster of with her picture in a store,
the girl turned herself in to the Fresno Police Department. She has returned
to her parent's house and is now back in school.
On December 6, 2004,
an 8 year-old girl and her 5 year-old sister were abducted from Pennsylvania
by their non-custodial mother during a supervised visitation period. The
girls' father stated the mother had taken both girls for an extended period
of time in the past and that he thought she was still in the local area.
In January 2005 shelter workers in Toronto, Canada, concerned by the mother's
lack of documentation and the girls' conflicting versions of their family
history, placed the children into a foster home while they investigated.
The children's true identities were discovered after a social worker checked
www.missingkids.com. The girls' father was contacted and he reunited with
his daughters on January 31, 2005.
On October 1, 2004,
a two-year-old girl was abducted from Beaumont, Mississippi, by her non-custodial
father. It was believed that he had taken her to Topeka, Kansas, where
he had relatives. NCMEC's Case Manager assigned to this case worked in
close conjunction with law enforcement and the Mississippi Clearinghouse
to obtain copies of the custody order and photos of both the child and
the abductor. On December 28, 2004, the child's poster was faxed via ChoicePoint
to hospitals in Topeka. A nurse recognized the child and her abductor
as recent visitors to her hospital and notified the Topeka Police Department.
The next day the girl was located at the abductor's house and he was arrested
for non-custodial kidnapping.
On August 15, 2004, a five-year-old girl and her four-year-old brother
were abducted from Memphis, Tennessee, by their paternal grandmother.
Since the children's mother believed they might be living in Alaska, NCMEC's
Case Manager assigned to this particular case contacted the Alaska Clearinghouse
to have school records checked as well as a query of statewide Social
Security benefits for the grandmother. The search revealed both school
enrollment information and a home address. A Sergeant from the Memphis
Police Department contacted the abductor and confirmed the children were
with her. This officer coordinated with numerous agencies in Alaska and
the children were picked up at their daycare and placed into Child Protective
Services Custody until they could be reunited with their mother.
On April 27, 2004, a 14-year old boy was abducted by his non-custodial
father. An arrest warrant was issued for the father and their pictures
were featured in Family Circle magazine, and on ADVO cards. A nurse
at a local health center who had seen the ADVO card recognized the child
and his father. She called the police and gave them the family's address.
On November 23, 2004, authorities safely recovered the child and arrested
the suspect.
On October 5, 2004, a 10-year-old boy in Mechanicsburg, Ohio, was abducted
by his non-custodial mother. Information was received that the abductor
was on her way to Florida with the child. The abductor was known to be
suicidal and had indicated that she would kill the child. NCMEC immediately
developed information indicating that the abductor had been using a mobile
phone. NCMEC contacted the service provider and requested assistance in
locating the area from which the calls were originating. The provider
was able to pinpoint the area to be Lexington, South Carolina, and NCMEC
quickly alerted local law enforcement through NCMEC's South Carolina Branch
Office. On October 6, 2004, law enforcement officers responded to the
area and located the abductor's vehicle. The abductor was arrested and
the child was safely recovered.
On June 19, 2004, a 16-year-old girl from Ellensburg, Washington, left
with a friend for a concert in Seattle without her mother's permission.
After a few days, the child's friend returned home and said she last saw
the girl living in an abandoned home with a companion she had met at the
concert. A few months later the child sent her friend an e-mail indicating
she was in Grand Junction, Colorado, so NCMEC case managers requested
a blast fax of the child's poster using Choicepoint - a company that donated
technologies capable of sending posters to many recipients within the
search area. Two woman that work in a soup kitchen in the area received
the missing child poster and called NCMEC to report that the child comes
in often. When the child returned, the woman encouraged her to call her
mother. The child did and decided to return home.
On December 18, 1995, a 5-year-old girl from Woodland Hills, California,
was abducted by her mother shortly before the child's father was to receive
legal custody. After 8 years of searching, NCMEC finally received a solid
lead. A woman in Licking County, Ohio, became concerned about her adult
son's new girlfriend, whose daughter had revealed that she used to have
a different name. The woman went to NCMEC's web site and searched for
the child under the name the child said she had changed, as well as physical
characteristics. The woman found the child's photo and missing child poster
and immediately notified authorities. On July 9, 2004, the now 13-year-old
girl was safely recovered.
On September 13, 2003, in Minneapolis, MN, a woman took her 3-year-old
son to a local grocery store to meet the child's non-custodial father
for a visitation. When the child was not returned at the agreed-upon time,
the child's mother notified authorities. Law enforcement quickly determined
the man had moved from his last known address and the child was listed
on the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children's (NCMEC)
web site as abducted. In May 2004, a woman in Jamaica called to report
a sighting of the missing child. She met the boy and his father after
the child began attending the same day care facility as her children.
Suspicious of the man and worried about the child's health, the woman
searched NCMEC's web site, where she found a missing child poster with
both the man and child's photograph. The child was confirmed to be the
missing child from Minnesota and was quickly reunited with his mother.
On May 1, 2004, in Jackson Heights, New York, a boy watched his 14-year-old
sister accept an offer from a 24-year-old man to leave the area in a taxi.
The child was reported missing and her photo was immediately sent to the
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, where posters were
developed and sent to local media. The suspect's sister saw the child's
photo on Univision - a Hispanic American television network- and told
him and the child they could not stay with her. The child and suspect
contacted a relative of the child's to see if they could stay with him.
The relative immediately contacted authorities, the suspect was arrested,
and the child was safely recovered.
In June 2002 a 5-year-old boy went for an approved
visitation with his mother but was not returned to his father on the
agreed date. Because the mother has family in Illinois, NCMEC heavily
targeted the mid-west area with missing child posters. In January 2004,
a teacher attending a training program at another school recognized
the child's poster in the teacher's lounge. She contacted the principal
of her school and the child's records were pulled. When they were able
to identify the boy as the missing child from the description on the
poster, they immediately notified authorities. The abductor was apprehended
and the child was reunited with his father.
On October 22, 1999, a Las Vegas, Nevada, woman allowed her estranged
husband to take their three children to a movie theater, but they never
returned home. After four years, an anonymous call came into the NCMEC
Hot Line. The caller stated that she had recognized the three children
from a NCMEC missing children poster on a Wal-Mart bulletin board in San
Diego, California. She provided an address in Mexico where the abductor
and children were living. NCMEC's International division translated the
abductor's arrest warrant and the custody order and forwarded them to
Mexican authorities. The children were located and safely reunited with
their mother.
In July 1998, a 5-year-old girl from Florida went for a routine visitation
with her father and never came home. When the child's mother realized
the girl's father had left the state, she contacted authorities to report
her daughter abducted. For years, the child's family and law enforcement
searched for the child. In October 2003 the child's and abductor's photos
were featured on the ADVO mailing card. A tip came into the NCMEC Hotline
from California reporting the abductor and child on the card to be in
Kauai, Hawaii. With the address provided, NCMEC was able to verify that
this was the missing child. The girl's mother flew to Hawaii and, after
more than five years, was reunited with her daughter.
On April 3, 2003, a 17-year-old girl ran away from home taking all her
clothing, money, and identification with her. When her mother found a
note from the girl stating that she had left, authorities and NCMEC were
notified. Public searches were conducted on the child’s social security
number and missing child posters were sent out across the country. On
September 22, 2003, a daytime television talk show aired the child’s
poster. The child called the television show to request that they not
show her photograph. The call was forwarded to NCMEC and a case manager
talked with the child, eventually convincing her to turn herself in. The
child went to the nearest police station, turned herself in, and was safely
reunited with her mother.
In July 2003 a social services employee instructed a Jamestown, Indiana,
couple to take their malnourished 8-month-old child to the hospital for
treatment. After the parents failed to seek medical treatment for their
child, and a court order instructed Child Protective Services to take
the child into immediate custody. When the social services employee went
to the family’s home to retrieve the child, she found the house abandoned.
NCMEC Case Analysts began Auto Trak, Accurint, and ChoicePoint database
searches on the father’s social security number. The search continued
to turn up a trail of former addresses and places of employment. One search
revealed an address in Owensboro, Kentucky. Case Analysts sent posters
to the Owensboro Police Department with a note attached explaining the
abductors’ last known address as well as the address from the database
search. When Owensboro authorities received the posters an officer was
sent to check the address. On June 26, 2003, the abductors were apprehended
at the address provided and the child was safely recovered.
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