| Missingkids.com
and Poster Help Recover Child Missing 8 Years
On February 16, 2011, a detective with the Los Angeles Police Department
contacted the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC)
seeking assistance in locating a ten-year-old boy who had been missing
for 7 years.
In 2004, the child’s parents were recently separated and custody
was pending when the child was taken from his mother’s home. The
mother proceeded to obtain sole custody of the boy, then contacted law
enforcement for assistance. A felony arrest warrant was issued for the
father, and an intense search was initiated to locate the boy and his
father.
Unfortunately, leads did not pan out and there was no information about
the location of the boy or his father, which led detectives to believe
that the two could have left the country, possibly to the father’s
native Guatemala.
Upon receiving the case, NCMEC’s Case Management Team began coordinating
NCMEC resources with the child’s mother and detectives with the
Los Angeles Police Department. A missing child poster was created and
disseminated around California and and detectives were provided with
detailed public database searches through NCMEC’s Case Analysis
Division.
On January 27, 2012, NCMEC received a lead from a school official who
believed the missing boy was one of the 5th graders attending a local
elementary school in the Los Angeles area. The child, who recently enrolled
at the school, informed school officials that he recently returned to
the United States from Guatemala and he had very little information about
his mother or other maternal relatives. The school official became suspicious
of the circumstances and searched NCMEC’s website, www.missingkids.com,
where they found the missing child’s poster and immediately contacted
NCMEC’s 24-hour Hotline. A full report was taken including the
child’s home address and phone number.
Upon receiving the lead, the detective with the Los Angeles Police Department
worked closely with the mother to arrange to have her on-site upon the
recovery. The mother, who no longer lived in California and was several
states away, received assistance through NCMEC’s travel program.
On January 31, 2012, the detective arrived at the school and was able
to positively confirm that the child was indeed the missing child. With
the assistance of counselors, the child was then introduced to his mother
who he had not seen in 8 years. Officers were able to locate the father,
who was subsequently arrested.
California Missing
Boy Located After Ten Years
In May 2001, a 13-year-old boy ran away from his Fontana, California
home. His family contacted the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department
in San Bernardino, California who immediately launched a search. However,
shortly after the child was reported missing all contact was lost with
his family which made the resolution of this case challenging.
Ten years later, in May 2011, the child’s mother contacted the
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC). Despite
the large gap in time since the child was last seen, there was still
very little information known and there was no photo available of the
child.
An analyst with NCMEC’s Case Analysis Unit completed comprehensive
searches on the child and discovered that the last name listed for the
child’s mother in the case file was misspelled. Using this information
and the likelihood that the child’s name was also misspelled, the
analyst altered her approach and ran extensive searches which found that
the now 23 year old child was alive and well. In October 2011, the San
Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department was able to locate the child
and verify his well-being.
Renewed Search
Efforts Lead to Location of Girl Missing More than Six Years
In January 2005, a 15-year-old girl ran away from her Montgomery, Alabama
home. Her family immediately contacted the Montgomery Police Department
and later contacted the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
(NCMEC) in November 2005 for additional assistance.
For more than six years, the Montgomery Police Department and NCMEC
utilized poster distribution, analytical searches, and other available
resources, but were unable to find any viable information associated
to the missing child. As the child approached her 18th birthday, her
family hoped that she would make contact once she was considered to be
a legal adult - but she never did.
In October 2011, NCMEC’s Case Management Team requested new comprehensive
searches for the missing child, despite previous unsuccessful attempts.
An analyst with NCMEC’s Case Analysis Unit completed the searches
and was able to locate a new address for the child in Albany, Georgia,
approximately 150 miles from the child’s former residence in Montgomery,
Alabama. Using this information, the analyst located and obtained a Georgia
driver’s license that was issued to the child in September 2011
at the exact address found during initial searches.
NCMEC provided this information to the assigned detective with the Montgomery
Police Department, who quickly coordinated efforts with detectives at
the Albany Police Department to conduct a welfare check at the provided
address. Shortly after, police responded to the location and were able
to confirm that the now 22 year old child was alive, well, and living
on her own in Albany, Georgia.
Child Located After Three-Year Investigation
A detective with the Central Point Police Department in Central Point,OR
contacted the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC)
on February 1, 2005 to report that a 17-year-old girl had run away from
her foster home. After law enforcement obtained the proper documentation
and a photograph of the child, a poster was created featuring the child.
The poster was posted on NCMEC's website at www.missingkids.com and distributed
in the areas where law enforcement believed the child may travel.
NCMEC continued to work with law enforcement over the next three years
to distribute posters, run public database searches, and disseminate
information received about the child. A breakthrough in the case came
on December 12, 2007, when law enforcement learned the child may have
been arrested, but provided an alias name at the time of her arrest.
Using both the descriptive information of the child and the arrest photo,
law enforcement went to NCMEC's website and compared the information
to NCMEC's poster of the child. The photo of the child was then forwarded
to the searching mother, who confirmed that it was in fact the missing
child. The child was recovered on February 27, 2008.
15-Year-Old Recognized
from NCMEC Poster in Nail Salon
A father called the National Center for Missing & Exploited
Children's (NCMEC)
Call Center on September 23, 2007 to report his 15-year-old daughter
missing. The child left her house to walk to a high school football game
and school dance but never arrived. When the child did not return home
later that night, the father became concerned and contacted law enforcement
and NCMEC.
NCMEC obtained a photo of the child and created a poster to distribute.
Posters were disseminated through ChoicePoint’s ADAM Broadcast
fax program, one of NCMEC’s Photo Partners, to various businesses
within a 20-mile radius of Santa Ana, Calif.
A detective with the Garden Grove Police Department in Garden Grove,
Calif. worked with NCMEC to follow up on leads received by NCMEC’s
Call Center over the following two months. A break in the case came when
the child was recognized by employees of a nail salon from a poster sent
to the business by ChoicePoint.
The child was recovered safely by law enforcement on November 11, 2007.
Father Reunited with Daughter Missing for 25 Days
A father contacted the National Center for Missing & Exploited
Children (NCMEC) on October 16, 2007 for help in recovering his 10-year-old
daughter. The child’s
mother had abducted her from the Cayman Islands and fled to the United
States, where the mother had relocated eight years earlier after leaving
the child behind with her father.
Before contacting NCMEC, the child’s father obtained an emergency
order from the local family court granting him full rights to the child
and declaring the Cayman Islands the child's habitual residence.
Three days after receiving the case, a case manager with NCMEC's International
Missing Children Division coordinated search efforts with the Cayman
Police, the U.S. Secret Service, and the Virginia State Police, which
ultimately led authorities to the location of the child and mother. The
father worked with an attorney from NCMEC's International Child Abduction
Attorney Network (ICAAN), a group of attorneys who volunteer to represent
left-behind parents of children from other countries who have been wrongfully
removed from or retained in the United States, to assist him in registering
his Cayman order with the local U.S. court.
The father's U.S. attorney registered the Cayman custody decree under
Virginia's UCCJEA (Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement
Act) on November 3, 2007 and obtained an emergency pick up order from
the local family courts. That same evening, county police officers executed
the order, and upon service of the court papers, the mother agreed to
return the child and not to contest the court's decision. The father
was reunited with his daughter 25 days after she had been wrongfully
removed, and they returned safely to the Cayman Islands.
Child Returned to Dominican Republic After Abduction to the U.S.
A father in the Dominican Republic contacted officials at the
U.S. Embassy in Santo-Domingo in June 2007 to ask for help in locating
his 7-year-old daughter who had been abducted to the U.S. by her mother
earlier that year. Familiar with the National Center for Missing & Exploited
Children's (NCMEC) resources and expertise in international family
abductions, the U.S. consular officer immediately contacted NCMEC's International
Missing Children Division (IMCD).
Working closely with the searching-father, a case manager with the National
Center for Missing & Exploited Children's (NCMEC) IMCD coordinated
efforts with Interpol officials in the U.S. and the Dominican Republic,
as well as with agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement,
the U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Embassy, and the U.S. Department of
State. With the help of the Georgia Clearinghouse, NCMEC located the
child and the abductor through school searches.
A Dominican court awarded the father provisional custody of the child
in August 2007, and an attorney from NCMEC's pro bono network, the International
Child Abduction Attorney Network (ICAAN), agreed to assist the father
with his case. NCMEC worked closely with the father and his attorney
to coordinate travel to and court dates in the U.S.
Four months after NCMEC received the case a U.S. judge scheduled an
emergency hearing and ordered the child to be picked up by the U.S. Marshals.
On October 19, 2007, the court ordered the child be returned to the Dominican
Republic. The father and child were happily reunited, and on October
22, 2007, they traveled safely back to their home in the Dominican Republic.
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