School Scandals and Abductions

1 Scandals against School Children 5/12/2013 1:23:53 PM
1 Al folder: Studies / Scandals

School Children Scandals
How bad are the problems? (Children placed at risk
commuting between home and school.)
News etc. digested by Alister William Macintyre
A collection of incidents, which appear to fit similar patterns, to try to see how frequently
these problems happen, and where our state-of-art most needs improvement.
Last updated 2013 May-12
Version 0.8
Table of contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................... 3
Copying Permission........................................................................................................ 4
Conclusion Summary...................................................................................................... 5
Mass Shooting Summary............................................................................................ 5
Drivers should know................................................................................................... 6
Lessons for parents ......................................................................................................... 6
What NOT to do, when child goes missing .................................................................... 9
What to do if your child is missing............................................................................... 10
Call 911..................................................................................................................... 10
Other Emergency Services........................................................................................ 12
Family Search Organization ..................................................................................... 13
After Most Critical Reactions ................................................................................... 16
Amber Alerts................................................................................................................. 17
Amber ignores some children ................................................................................... 20
Amber Alert suggestion................................................................................................ 22
Social Media debates my Amber idea .......................................................................... 22
School Bus Abductions and similar events....................................................................... 25
Alabama: Midland City................................................................................................. 26
Arizona: Prescott Incident............................................................................................. 26
California: Los Angeles 3 Incidents ............................................................................. 27
California: Moreno 7 Incidents..................................................................................... 27
California: Morgan Hill Incident .................................................................................. 28
California: Oakland....................................................................................................... 28
California: Selma Incident ............................................................................................ 28
Colorado 3 Incidents ..................................................................................................... 28
Connecticut ................................................................................................................... 29
Florida 9 Incidents ........................................................................................................ 29
Fl Brenda Heist homeless fantasy....................................................................... 31
Georgia: Augusta Health Safety ................................................................................... 34
Georgia: Atlanta Sniper Incident .................................................................................. 34
Idaho: Child locked up and forgotten ........................................................................... 34
Illinois: Chicago DUI Incident...................................................................................... 37
Illinois: Chicago ambush Incident ................................................................................ 37
Illinois: Mount Carmel Incident.................................................................................... 37
Indiana: Evansville Incidents........................................................................................ 38
Maryland: Baltimore Incidents ..................................................................................... 38
Maryland: Marlboro Incident........................................................................................ 38
Maryland: McLean 44 years ago .................................................................................. 38
Massachusetts: Concord Incident ................................................................................. 38
Massachusetts: Hingham 3 Incidents............................................................................ 39
Massachusetts: Watertown DUI Incident ..................................................................... 39
Michigan: Rape Friendly School Bus Stops ................................................................. 39
Michigan: Ann Arbor 2 Incidents ................................................................................. 39
Michigan: Armada Incident .......................................................................................... 40
Michigan: Riverview Incident ...................................................................................... 40
Missouri: Jackson Incident ........................................................................................... 40
Missouri: Liberty Incident ............................................................................................ 40
Missouri: Riverside 4 Incidents .................................................................................... 41
Nebraska Sniper Incident .............................................................................................. 41
New Jersey: Gloucester City Oops Incident ................................................................. 41
New York City 33 years ago......................................................................................... 41
New York: New Rochelle Skewed Priorities................................................................ 42
North Carolina: 2 Incidents........................................................................................... 42
Ohio Cleveland Kidnap................................................................................................. 43
Oh Cl authorities stories+ ......................................................................................... 43
Oh Cl summary sources overview+.......................................................................... 44
Oh Cl Whos Who .................................................................................................... 45
Oh Cl Amanda Berry and family........................................................................... 46
Oh Cl Gina DeJesus and family............................................................................. 47
Oh Cl Michelle Knight and family ........................................................................ 47
Oh Cl Ashley Nicole Summers.............................................................................. 47
Oh Cl - Suspect and Family...................................................................................... 48
Oh Cl Time Line ....................................................................................................... 48
2013 May-6 Monday Ramsey rescues Berry for successful 911.............................. 49
2012+ Time Line continues ...................................................................................... 51
2007+ = Year of Ashley Summers disappearance.................................................... 51
2004+ = Year of Gina DeJesus abduction ................................................................ 52
2003+ = Year of Amanda Berry abduction .............................................................. 54
2002+ = Year of Michelle Knight abduction............................................................ 55
Oh Cl Horror Stories................................................................................................. 57
Oh Cl Missed opportunities ................................................................................... 57
Oh Cl claims police called..................................................................................... 58
Oh Cl similar patterns, statistics, suspicions, mitigation .......................................... 59
Ohio Winter .................................................................................................................. 60
Oregon: Eugene Incident .............................................................................................. 61
Pennsylvania: Altoona Incident .................................................................................... 61
Puerto Rico.................................................................................................................... 62
South Carolina .............................................................................................................. 62
Texas: Austin bus stop safety ....................................................................................... 63
Texas: Fort Worth Incident ........................................................................................... 63
Texas: Greenville 3 Incidents ....................................................................................... 63
Texas: Lubbock............................................................................................................. 64
Texas: Houston Kindergarten Incidents........................................................................ 65
Utah: Child Hostile 2 Incidents.................................................................................. 65
Virginia: Cheriton 2 Incidents ...................................................................................... 66
Virginia: Norfolk Incident ............................................................................................ 67
Virginia: Lynchburg Incident ....................................................................................... 67
West Virginia 3 Incidents ............................................................................................. 67
Foreign to USA also has school safety issues............................................................... 68
It also happens in the Middle East ............................................................................ 68
Schools in India do not believe in child safety ......................................................... 68
School Violence................................................................................................................ 69
Motorists passing a Stopped School Bus ...................................................................... 70
Other Driving Safety................................................................................................. 72
Revision History ............................................................................................................... 73
May-12 Version 0.8 .................................................................................................. 73
2013 May-8-9 Version 0.7........................................................................................ 74
2012 Dec-18 Version 0.6 .......................................................................................... 74
Nov-18 Version 0.3................................................................................................... 74
Nov-16 Version 0.2................................................................................................... 75
Nov-16 Version 0.1................................................................................................... 75
Nov 15 Nancy Grace................................................................................................. 75
Introduction
I am hearing a number of disturbing stories about children placed at risk, and authorities
apparently often dropping the ball when it comes to the protection and safety of the
children. The parents need to independently contact services which take this sort of thing
seriously,
1
the news media, and post signs with photo of child and info related to the
disappearance, such as when last seen, what the child was wearing.
Some years ago, I looked into a controversy regarding school bus safety. Proponents of
school buses claim that school buses are the safest means of travel for children to and
from school. However, the statistics in support of this claim, exclude incidents of
children being killed in traffic accidents after they have got off the school bus, or are
crossing the street to get on the bus, where motorists ignore the school bus stop
warnings.
2
There are also incidents where children waiting at bus stop, which do not go
1
http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PublicHomeServlet?LanguageCountry=en_US
http://www.blackandmissinginc.com/cdad/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/missing-persons/
2
http://thetandd.com/news/local/troopers-set-to-target-motorists-who-pass-stopped-school-
buses/article_8b5d2876-ffa4-11e1-aafa-0019bb2963f4.html
into these statistics. If you include 100% of incidents involving bus stops, the conclusion
is that school buses are *not* the safest means of travel.
Also, there is a federal agency which has done crash tests with dummies in school buses,
wearing lap belts, shoulder belts, and no safety belts. They found that the most
dangerous to children is lap belts without shoulder belts. In a school bus crash, the torso
flies forwards, hits back of seat in front, the head is snapped back, with serious injury, or
even death to the child. Many states mandate the lap belt, without shoulder belt, for
school buses.
In my earlier reading up on this, I was only looking at traffic accidents. It had not
dawned on me that school bus stops are a playground for rapists and pedophiles.
Theres a lot of pictures painted by TV news and popular shows. Some of these pictures
are distorted, not statistically representative of reality. Some of them are true, valid.
Different people have perceptions on where the dividing line is. When someone
disagrees with me, I try to get at the truth, show the different viewpoints, and credible
citations. No matter what your politics, I try to be polite. Some people propose solutions
which I can have many problems with. Arguing about some of them can be off-topic for
what I am trying to do here:
Figure out what has been happening, see if there really are disturbing patterns.
Identify the problems which repeat too often.
Share workable solutions.
Speculate what we can do to improve state-of-art of dealing with this.
Copying Permission
I get info from both the general copyrighted
3
news media, and sources which are under
Creative Commons license, carefully providing citations. For the stuff which is purely my
ideas, I think of them as being under Creative Commons,
4
meaning anyone may use the
material, but I ask that you give me credit. Please try not to imply that I endorse your
stuff.
Basically, it should be Ok for you to copy, alter, and otherwise publish the contents
provided that proper attribution is given, and you are not making money off of it. If you
are making money off it, you need to back trace my citations to get the appropriate
permissions.
I make a sincere effort to make sure my information is accurate, for many reasons, but I
cannot assert that it is 100% correct. I can make mistakes, and sometimes my sources
have made mistakes, or may have an agenda or bias contrary to truth. Other people need
to do some due diligence with any information source.
3
http://www.whatiscopyright.org/
4
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/
Conclusion Summary
I do not know the statistics of kids being abducted, raped, assaulted, hit by autos, in
association with their use of school bus stops, or how they get to and from school. But it
is evident that more can be done to improve their safety.
The penalty for motorists trying to run down children at school buses, should be
higher than for motorists who try to run down road construction workers. It may
not be deliberate, but whether accident or ignorance, making high penalty, then
widely advertising a $1,000 fine and 1 year suspension of license, or whatever the
penalty, will have a chilling effect on motorists who otherwise ignore school
buses.
School bus stops should be sufficiently well lighted that children do not have to
be waiting in the dark.
School bus stops should be added to list of locations where smoking is prohibited.
School buses can have cameras to record motorists who ignore school bus stop
warnings, so that the police can issue citations to the vehicle owners.
School buses should have green lights to tell motorists when it is Ok to go past
them.
School buses can be painted with numbers, so people who witness them being
operated unsafely, can report which one.
Seat Belt Crash studies need to be better communicated to state legislatures,
perhaps using a GAO investigation: (a) what is the best safety info known so far?
(b) which states rules are best / worst for the children in those states? Rank the
states by their so-called safety rules, and their enforcement.
20 mph signs, for motorists approaching school zones, should have flashing lights
which are activated (a) by timer for before / after school / lunch time = when
students most likely to be coming or going from the school (b) Principal office
have controls to adjust the timer schedule.
Department of Education, or Department of Justice, should start to capture
statistics on harm to children associated with commuting to and from school, to
indicate which of these problems are serious enough to improve safety.
CCTV cameras along routes school children commute between school, home, and school
bus stops, wont prevent abductions, but they will capture info about the kidnappers and
their vehicles, to improve police ability to catch up with them sooner rather than later.
Mass Shooting Summary
See my separate research notes Mass Shootings starting around page 72, for
what transpired Dec 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown CT. Within
those notes, I share what many people have suggested to mitigate risks for schools, and
add my commentary on which of them I think are good / bad ideas. In my opinion, some
of the best ideas:
At the University level, start classes for Police who will be working in schools, or
responding to schools. They need to know that children are not little adults, so
the measures they take against big adults are not appropriate. They need to know
what is appropriate, based on age gender disability etc. Issue graduation
certificates with grades earned in these classes, and copy to local school districts,
so school leadership can specifically ask for police who know what they are
doing.
Major building complexes have lock boxes located near the building, but outside
of it, containing blue prints and residency statistics. Fire Depts have standard
keys, local building management have keys. In an emergency, the Fire Dept has
needed info. On a monthly basis, building management reviews occupancy and
updates what is there. Schools need a similar arrangement with their Police Depts
so 911 operators can look up how many students are there, ages, disabilities, how
many faculty staff, and a map of the facility.
Schools should have a specific alarm saying they need the police, using a land
line, like a fire alarm. This is because in many natural disasters, the cell phones
go out, so it may be impractical to call 911.
Entrances to schools should be rethought, so people trying to break in are slowed
down enough until police can arrive. Entrances and Exits need big picture
thinking, so kids can get out rapidly if there is a fire, yet avoid the exits being
abused like what happened with the Aurora Theater shooting, or the Social
Security Administration failed audit.
The law against plastic guns, invisible to metal detectors, needs to be amended to
include guns made by 3D printers.
Background checks should be extended to everyone who buys a gun, and their
immediate family. If there is within a household, a person banned from guns,
such as mental ill, felon, domestic abuser, then gun purchaser must be using a gun
safe.
Drivers should know
Apparently many motorists are ignorant of the basics of School Buses.
School buses are used to transport children between their schools, and the vicinity of their
homes. Most, but not all, are yellow.
Children often do not have the mental development to safely cross streets, without the
assistance of adults. With school buses, this involves the school bus being a rolling
traffic signal system, and motorists heeding the signals from the bus.
The bus will often stop places, where there are no obvious bus stops, so you should not
be tailgating the bus. Keep a close watch if a school bus is about to stop.
When its lights start flashing, and it sticks out the stop sign, you should stop, and wait
until its lights stop flashing, and it retracts the stop sign. You may not see them clearly,
but small children may be trying to cross the road.
Lessons for parents
Before your child is placed at risk, there are things you can do to lessen the chances it
ever happens, and to increase the chances of rapid rescue, if it does happen.
Whenever possible,
Request a DNA kit from your nearest State Police Post. Make sure you have
appropriate info on your child, easily accessible, in case of a future crisis. Keep
current identification on each child (such as a recent photo, video, fingerprints,
hair sample, blood type, identifying marks, and physical description) in a safe
accessible place. Know how to obtain your child's dental x-rays and medical
records.
Seek an id for your child, and keep a copy of it for your reference. The various
state motor vehicle agencies, in addition to drivers licenses for people eligible to
have them, can also issue identity cards to other people. There are also private
organizations which issue id cards, which can help your child identify self,
5
but
may not be any good for legal identification purposes, at places which require
photo id.
Make it a routine to take at least one head and shoulders photograph of
your loved ones each year.
Be aware that child proximity to home does not increase safety. In a study of 775
child abductions, which led to their murder, more than the abductions occurred
within 3 blocks of the childs home.
6
Be sure your child is supervised, even when
in front yard or home street. Approx 1/3 the abductions occurred within block
of the childs home. Be aware of strangers and unusual behavior in your
neighborhood. Many child abductions are witnessed by people who do not realize
a crime is occurring.
Teach your child not to cross the road where it is not safe. If the school bus does
not have the stop sign extended, the flashing lights on, then it is not safe to cross.
Even when the school bus does everything right, there are motorists who do not,
so as soon as you can, teach the child about looking for coming vehicles.
Know the routes your child takes to and from school, friends' homes and other
activities.
Tell your children they should never approach or get into the car of anyone,
stranger or not, without explicit parental permission, do not accept their word for
it. Approx child abductions are by someone who was not a stranger.
7
Ask your children to get in the habit of keeping parents informed on their planned
whereabouts, get there, who will be going with child, and when expect to be back.
Have an adult wait at the bus stop until the child is onto the bus.
Have an adult wait at the bus stop, where the child is expected to get off.
Ask the school to notify you if there is to be a change in the school bus schedule,
such as the school day being ended early.
Teach the child about crossing the street safely, including risk of proximity of
school bus blocking visibility vs. dangerous drivers.
8
In addition to looking both
ways, walk where school bus driver can see you, and when get to where cars
might be passing the bus, look again, to make sure none there, before walking into
the roadway.
Accompany the child all the way between home and bus stop.
Teach your children their full names, addresses and phone numbers.
5
http://www.amberalert.com/
6
http://www.atg.wa.gov/ChildAbductionResearch.aspx
7
8
http://www.hlntv.com/video/2012/09/27/school-bus-safety-natasha-curry-wxp
Make sure the child knows how to phone home in a crisis.
9
Teach your children how to make a long distance call (both directly to you using
the area code and by dialing "0" for the operator).
Know your neighbors and your child's friends, including their names, addresses
and telephone numbers.
Sew the childs name, and other identity info, inside their clothing, to help police
if the child is ever found by them.
Teach the child about situational awareness, such as what to do if the school bus
catches on fire.
10
Before leaving your child in the care of a day-care, pre-school, baby sitter, or
youth organization, check their references and qualifications. Ask if criminal
background checks are conducted before new staff members are hired.
Guide the child on the avoidance of stranger behavior. Teach your child what to
do if approached by a stranger. Common uses are offering a ride, gifts or candy,
asking the child to help them look for a lost dog or cat, or claiming that the child's
parent has asked them to bring the child home because of an emergency.
You also be aware of stranger behavior. Is anyone, who is a stranger to you,
giving gifts to the child?
Listen to your child; don't disregard their fears. Instead, let them know that you
take their fears and concerns seriously.
Be involved in your child's activities by volunteering at school, clubs, and
sporting events - participate in a neighborhood watch program.
Work with neighborhood watch to identify safe homes near school and near
home, along commute route, that your child knows to run to in an emergency.
Work with neighborhood watch to see about getting a CCTV view of school bus
stops in your neighborhood, where cameras look in all directions. Thus, the next
time there is an attempt on a child in the vicinity of the bus stop, there is some
evidence to help identify the culprits, which the news media can use, even if the
police do nothing.
Periodically check school records on names of adults authorized to take custody
of the child from school, and from school bus. There have been reports of
kidnappings from the schools, by people like Jerry Sandusky.
Learn how to work location tracking, associated with any consumer electronics
normally carried by the child.
Write your police chief, sheriff and other elected officials, in support of the
Amber Alert Plan, police missing person programs, and other child safety efforts;
write the general managers of your local radio and TV stations in support of the
Amber Alert Plan and the Emergency Alert System.
Learn about Internet risk avoidance, with your kids.
9
Many years ago I had extra change, for pay phone, in a baggie separate from my coin purse, and also in
the baggie were phone numbers for emergency services, and friends of my parents, in case no answer at
home.
10
http://thetandd.com/news/school-bus-fires-in-days-raise-concerns/article_638af62c-d1fe-11e0-90bd-
001cc4c03286.html
Review the web sites of Missing Child Organizations for volunteer opportunities,
such as e-mailing or distributing posters of missing children.
Check out the Polly Klaas Foundation.
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They have guidelines for how to prepare
children, without it being scary.
If you do not already have one, buy a cellular phone or pager so you can
be reached when you are away from home.
Ask law enforcement to install a trap and trace on your phone.
Install a phone with the ability to tape calls. Learn the laws in your state,
regarding phone taping. Some require some way of informing callers that
there calls are being recorded.
Ask your telephone company to install caller ID on your telephone line.
Keep a phone log, a pad of paper, or a spiral notebook next to the phone
to record the date and time of phone calls, the name of the caller, and
other information.
If your child is old enough to have a cell phone, or similar consumer
electronics, make sure they know to have it turned off when in school, so it
does not get confiscated. A kidnapper may try to turn off its location
tracking capability, but you can prevent that in advance. Heres How.
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Good Housekeeping. When I was burglarized, the police said there was
too much dust in the house, for them to get finger prints.
The above list is a mixture of common sense dreamed up by me, and ideas I found on
various sites I have visited.
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What NOT to do, when child goes missing
Do not panic.
Do not delay in searching. Time can be of the essence.
Do not keep their disappearance a secret, the more you tell, the more
people you have looking on your behalf and speedier the results might be.
Do not tidy up their bedroom until the police have seen it, mess or not. But it is
Ok to do a quick review of what the child may have taken, which is unusual to
take, or if it looks like the house was broken into. This info can be of critical aid
to the police.
Do not dust before fingerprints have been taken.
Don't be put off ... you know your own ... follow your intuition.
Do not wait - if missing person is vulnerable, notify the police as soon as
you think something is wrong.
11
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polly_Klaas_Foundation
http://www.klaaskids.org/pg-missingchildren.htm
http://www.pollyklaas.org/
http://www.klaaskids.org/
http://www.beyondmissing.com/
12
http://www.itworld.com/consumerization-it/312613/how-stop-thieves-turning-your-find-my-iphone-app
13
http://www.in.gov/amberalert/2335.htm
Do not put your own telephone numbers or address on posters or
advertisements, to avoid hoaxes - use the police numbers.
Do not put info on the posters which will put the child at risk of identity theft later
in life.
Do not give up, keep appealing and searching. Remember, people want to
help. Try and keep the name and photo in the public eye.
Above list adapted from places with links all over the place.
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What to do if your child is missing
Act immediately if you believe your child is missing.
Download the Quick Reference Guide for Families
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in English or Spanish.
What to Do If Your Child is Missing:
If your child is missing, search the house checking closets, piles of laundry, in and
under beds, inside large appliances, and inside vehicles, including trunks
wherever a child may crawl or hide.
If your child disappears in a store, notify the store manager or security office.
Then immediately call your local law-enforcement agency. Many stores have a
Code Adam plan of action if a child is missing in the store, employees
immediately mobilize to look for the missing child.
Always have a note pad handy. Jot down a record of everyone you talked
to, their contact info. After your child is found, you will want to call them
with the good news, thank them for their help, and call off the search.
Call 911
In the few minutes before calling the police, search for, and jot down the info they
will need, such as the stuff on this missing person check list.
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Maybe print out a
copy, and fill in the blanks. This will help you organize your thoughts, avoid
panic, and make your communication with the police go efficiently. You might
want to put little check marks beside things, as you tell the police, so it becomes
obvious what they have not yet been told. Later, after this info has gone to the
police, you might want to visit a photo copy machine, to make sure both parents,
and closest friends have a copy. Block out personal identity info of a nature that
might place the child at risk of identity theft, later in life.
If you cannot find your child, immediately call your local law enforcement
agency. If you meet resistance, with police not wanting to accept your missing
child report, demand to speak to the watch commander and insist that they take a
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http://www.missing.ws/checklist.htm
http://www.missing.ws/checklist1.html
15
http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PageServlet?LanguageCountry=en_US&PageId=244
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http://www.acmeinvestigations.com/mpc.htm
report, and enter the information into the National Crime Information Computer
(NCIC) at once.
When you call law enforcement, provide
o your child's name, any nick name,
o age, date of birth,
o gender,
o race, ethnicity, skin tone/complexion,
o physical description, any birth marks, freckles, recent injuries, tattoos,
missing body parts,
o height, weight,
o the most recent photograph (both color, and black & white) of the child,
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o the child's fingerprints, hair sample, blood type,
o any medication (name, what for, type (pill, liquid, etc.) (inhaler, Asthma,
brand name, etc.) the child is taking, medical condition: what is it, and
how does it manifest itself (Epilepsy... seizures, etc.).
o any other unique identifiers such as eyeglasses and braces.
o Their cell phone #, e-mail accounts, favorite social media, if any.
Tell them when you noticed that your child was missing and what clothing he
or she was wearing. What accessories (usual jewelry, book bag, keys, cell
phone, etc.) and Incidentals (when they went missing) (bicycle, pool cue,
briefcase, etc.), normally with them. What Were They Doing (going to school,
leaving work, at a friends house, etc.), when last seen or heard from.
If you suspect someone in particular, let the investigator know right away.
Create an information sheet for that person the same way you have done for
the missing person, with whatever information you have or can gather. Let
the investigator determine if that person is involved or not... not you.
Any speculation you might have which might contribute to the child
disappearance, even if it turns out to not be true, it can help the investigation
check out leads to prove or disprove those speculations. Even fragmentary
information is helpful. Let the investigator sort it out; they are supposed to
know what to do and how to do it. Information such as recent custody
dispute, argument with boyfriend last night, threats from a former
employee, and I really have no idea are all relevant until disproved by
investigation.
Request that your child's name and identifying information be immediately
entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) Missing
Person File.
The police may wish to search your home, garage, car, etc. looking for your
child, or evidence about the child. Cooperate. You have already done that, but
as soon as the police satisfy themselves the child is not in the obvious places,
the more resources to look further afield. Also, police searching childs room,
childs possessions, may turn up clues which did not occur to you. Until the
17
http://suite101.com/article/steps-to-take-for-missing-children-a22635
police are done with this, try to keep other people out of those areas, so as not
to get evidence contaminated.
The police may ask you to take a polygraph test. Cooperate. The sooner they
are convinced you had nothing to do with your childs disappearance, the
better. There have been cases where the police became fixated on the notion
that the family was responsible, not done a good search of other suspects.
When police find one suspect, they often diminish investigation of other
suspects.
Other Emergency Services
After you have reported your child missing to law enforcement, call the National
Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) on the toll-free telephone
number: 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678). Or you can use Live Hotline to
talk to NCMEC through their website. The National Center can issue e-mail
alerts about your missing child, distribute posters with your child's photo and
information nationwide, and provide support and other resources for you and your
family.
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- The following links from John Walshs Americas Most Wanted
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- What to do If Your Child Is Missing
- Information about International Abduction
- Where to Report Child Sexual Exploitation
- Child-Sexual-Exploitation State Resources
- Learn about Keeping Your Child Safer
- Learn about how to stay safer online with the NetSmartzWorkshop
Do *not* put child date of birth on the posters. Otherwise, you are placing the
child at risk of identity theft later in life.
Contact your local child locator service.
20
Consider calling your State police directly.
21
This is especially important if you
are in a small town, or community, whose police force has limited resources,
limited relevant training.
Consider calling the FBI directly.
22
This is critically useful if you get a ransom
demand, especially if the crooks tell you not to notify law enforcement. Tell that
to the FBI, and they can sneak into your home, without the crooks knowing, tap
your phone line, do all sorts of electronic magic to trace the crooks. If you
suspect a predatory abduction, tell the FBI. The FBI will initiate a kidnapping
investigation involving a missing child of tender years, defined as a child twelve
years or younger, even though there is no known interstate aspect. The FBI will
monitor other kidnapping situations when there is no evidence of interstate travel,
and it offers assistance from various entities including the FBI Laboratory. They
18
http://www.amw.com/missing_children/resources.cfm
19
http://www.amw.com/missing_children/resources.cfm
20
http://www.klaaskids.org/pg-mc-childlocators.htm
21
http://www.pdi-web.com/missing-children.html
22
http://www.acmeinvestigations.com/MissingPersons.htm
have written protocols, dedicated agents, unsurpassed resources and vast
experience in this specialized investigative field.
If you suspect your child has been kidnapped:
- Contact the National Center For Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-
THE-LOST.
- Contact Team H.O.P.E., a parent support network for families with
missing children. Team H.O.P.E. volunteer parents have experienced the
agony of searching for their own children. They provide practical and
emotional support for parents whose children are victims of predatory
kidnapping, parental abduction, international abduction, adult missing and
runaways and can be reached at 1-800-306-6311.
If you suspect your child is a run away:
- Contact the National Runaway Switchboard www.1800runaway.org at 1-
800-786 2929.
Family Search Organization
Do not stop there, since some local police are not competent to do a good job to
locate a missing child, especially in small communities whose police have limited
resources. Also many police depts can get overwhelmed, and not give your case
the attention it ought to get. So in addition with periodically checking with the
police to ask if they are making any progress, there is stuff the family and friends
can do, in addition to the role of the police.
Have different members of the family focus in different areas, keeping in touch
regularly to be reassured what has been accomplished so far.
o Other agencies, than the police, to be contacted.
o Calling around to people who may have seen your child.
o Preparing press release for the news media.
o Preparing posters to enlist help from the community.
o One person to be liaison with the police, then brief the family on what the
police said, in latest meetings.
o Coordinating volunteers involved in a physical search.
o Someone to take the info from your note pad, enter into a computer,
organize your diary notes various different ways.
Plan on at least one parent staying home, or other person known to your child, in
case the missing child calls home. Before you wear yourself out, frantically
touring the neighborhoods in person, where you think your child may sometimes
go, phone friends and neighbors asking them not only if they have seen your
child, but for them to also get the word out that she is missing. As people phone
you, ask them to keep the phone line clear of any conversations which do not help
find the child, in case there is an incoming call, which has relevant help.
As you call around to your childs teachers, homes of friends, relatives, anyone
you can think of, etc. have a notebook or note pad handy, to jot down as much
info as you can, especially about when and where the child was last seen, as
quickly as you can, in as calm a manner as you can manage. The more calm
you remain, the better you can help find the missing person. Youll have
time to beat yourself up emotionally later.
When calling around, also ask if they have recent photos, of the child, which may
be more recent than what you got to the police, or perhaps better quality such as
close up poses.
Also jot down names of other people who were known to be at the last
places the child was seen, in close proximity to the times the child last
seen. They are additional potential witnesses. If anyone, in these calls,
has useful info, ask them to call the police, in case the police have
additional questions, which did not occur to you, or the witnesses.
Keep a record of everyone you talked to, their contact info. After your
child is found, you will want to call them with the good news, thank them
for their help, and call off the search.
Always keep a note pad with you, to jot down ideas, info as you get it. Pass on to
the police any new info you find, which might help their investigation. If the
police tell you to stop doing your personal investigations and search for your
child, seek a second opinion from a lawyer, missing child organization, or other
links shared in this list of suggestions.
Start generating a list of duties that volunteers could help you with, including
participating in a physical search, designing and distributing fliers, preparing
meals for your family, running errands, etc. People want to help, and no task is
too small to ask for help.
In rural areas, check the bus stop, other transportation pick up points. Did your
child board a bus, with some stranger? Are there any CCTV cameras there,
whose footage may show your child?
Shopping Centers have cameras. Is your child on them?
Places with CCTV may not want you, a stranger to them, to be viewing the tapes.
Give them photo of your child, ask THEM to view, and to save the tapes until the
police have had a chance to view them. Often tapes are erased and re-used.
Inform the police about this conversation.
Does your child drive a car which has LoJack installed, or use a laptop which has
LoJack for Laptops installed? Get that service to track down where the hardware
now located.
Install Caller ID if you do not already have that service and record conversations.
This may be the only way your child knows how to reach you. Your child may
get to a phone, be unfamiliar with location. Caller ID info can be told to the
police, to help them trace precisely where your child called from.
Seek a second phone line installed in your home, so you can leave one for
people calling you, while you have an unlisted one to use for your
research.
Request an itemized bill from the phone company, showing who your child
has called recently, then you call those people, ask for help in the search.
Does your child have a bank account? Ask the bank for latest info on
where they may have withdrawn money.
Take care to preserve your physical and emotional welfare: Friends,
neighbors and even total strangers will be working toward a successful resolution,
but you must remember to eat and sleep regularly. This will be the most daunting
and difficult journey that you will ever take and you will need sobriety, presence
of mind and good judgment if it is to be successful. Seek emotional and
psychological support from your church, a social service agency or even a
professional counselor with experience in your type of situation. Remember that
you alone are leading the battle for the return of your missing child.
Dont let your volunteer helpers burn out either. Volunteers should work in
groups of at least two people.
Set up a central base for key volunteers to work from. Briefings can take place
here too and other volunteers can meet here before going out to distribute posters,
leaflets etc.
Make a list of all media - print, radio and television and target all of them with a
press release and the offer of someone to interview about the case.
Depending on the age of your child, any evidence of kidnapping or other family member
interference with who has legal right to care for the child, and what kind of help you are
already getting from other services for people in your situation, you might want to
contact 1-800-Crime-TV AMW = Americas Most Wanted, a TV program hosted by
John Walsh which is not just focused on known perpetrators of children kidnapped, but a
spectrum of other issues associated with lost children,
23
and other missing persons.
24
AMW can only accept missing person cases that have been reported to police. If you
have not yet reported your case to local authorities, you should do so immediately. To
have your case considered for America's Most Wanted and AMW.com, send a letter with
the following elements to: America's Most Wanted
Missing Persons Unit
P.O. Box Crime TV
Washington, DC 20016
Your full name and contact information. Be sure to include phone numbers and e-
mail addresses where we can reach you during the day.
Name and contact information of law enforcement personnel assigned to the case
Your written description of circumstances surrounding the disappearance
Good quality photos, either originals or digital copies on a CD.* * NOTE: photos can
not be returned. If you don't have photos handy, don't worry -- you can get them to
AMW later.
23
http://www.amw.com/
http://www.amw.com/missing_children/
http://www.amw.com/about_amw/
24
http://www.amw.com/missing_persons/
http://www.amw.com/missing_persons/resources.cfm
After Most Critical Reactions
Contact the U.S. State Department's Passport Office (Office of Citizen Appeals
and Legal Assistance, Passport Services) at 202-647-0518 in case the suspect tries
to apply for a passport to leave the country with your child.
If your finances permit, consult with a lawyer for guidance on offering a reward,
hiring a private detective agency, working with the news media.
If your finances do not permit such help, consult with the police regarding what
belongs on a press release for the news media. You probably dont want your
home phone ringing off the hook with news people asking for the same info you
already gave out to other news people. Do the police want a particular phone #
for news people and another for witnesses to call?
If you should ever be in this unfortunate circumstance, and you need someone to
talk to about it, call the Acme Group at 1-866-507-1717. Leave a message
that someone is missing and your name and number. Youll get a call-back
within a few minutes. Really.
25
Check with the police every day or two, to make sure they are pursing your
childs case. Ask what steps they have taken so far. Ask them which new info is
appropriate to share with the news media, and what is not.
If it has been a year, you may want to get your missing child listed with the Charley
Project.
26
The Charley Project profiles over 9,000 "cold case" missing people mainly
from the United States. It does not actively investigate cases; it is merely a publicity
vehicle for missing people who are often neglected by the press and forgotten all too
soon. Criteria for cases being included in the Charley Project:
Every case must be at least a year old -- that is, the person must have disappeared at
least one year prior to posting. It is acceptable if a person's disappearance was reported
less than one year ago, as long as they vanished before the limit.
The missing person must have vanished within the United States or in one of its
territories or foreign military bases. Exceptions may be made for U. S. citizens who
disappeared abroad, people who disappeared in a foreign country but who are believed to
be in the U. S., or otherwise at the administrator's discretion.
Each case must be on file with a law enforcement agency, and there must be contact
information (i.e. a phone number) available for that agency.
There must be at least one photograph or drawing of the missing individual available.
Endangered Missing, Missing, and Non-Family abduction cases will get priority in
posting. (See terms page
27
for definitions of these.) The project also make an effort to
post as many runaway and family abduction cases as possible, but at any given time there
is a backlog of at least several hundred cases to post, so unfortunately some triage is
necessary.
25
http://www.acmeinvestigations.com/mpc.htm
26
http://www.charleyproject.org/
27
http://www.charleyproject.org/terms.html
Runaway cases are more likely to be posted if they are several years old, if the child
was under the age of 14 at the time of his/her disappearance, if the child was a foster
child, if the child is traveling with their own child, if the child has a medical condition
which may require treatment, or if there is evidence that the child is in particular danger.
Family abduction cases are more likely to be posted if they are several years old, if
there is evidence that the abductor(s) may be a danger to the child, if the child was a
foster child, or if the child has a medical condition which may require treatment.
Charley Project is reluctant to post runaway and family abduction cases which are not
profiled on the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC)'s website,
because it is difficult to ascertain whether or not such cases have been resolved. There
are, however, a few such non-NCMEC cases on the Charley Project, and if a request is
made Charley is not likely to refuse it.
Adoptees looking for their biological parents, friends or relatives you've lost touch
with, etc., will not be accepted. There are many other websites for those kinds of listings.
Publicly submitted cases are not acceptable. However, if you would like to notify
about a case that, for example, is on a law enforcement website, you may contact me at
administrator@charleyproject.org.
For a case to be selected for the Charley Project's missing person of the week feature
(see the front page),
28
it must be profiled on the Charley Project, it must not have been
added or updated within the last three months, and it must not have been a missing person
of the week before. Missing persons of the week are generally changed every Tuesday.
It may be that the child is gone for an extended time period, and your life evolves to the
point of you moving to a different residence, or even different city. Make sure the phone
book for the community, where the child last knew you were located, still has an entry for
you, so that if the child escapes from captivity, they can find you. Most phone books, for
a very small annual fee, can have what they call a foreign listing. For example, you
used to live in Cincinnati Ohio, but now you are in Evansville Indiana. In the Cincinnati
phone book, there can be a listing for you, pointing at Evansville. This is not just for
helping lost children find you again. It can also help school alumni re-unite, former co-
workers re-unite, other benefits.
Some of my Check List adapted from Just in Case...Missing. Copyright 1985, 2004,
and 2010 National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC). All rights
reserved. Also see government tips.
29
I also used info from many sites mentioned in the
links.
30
Amber Alerts
I have found that there is no one place where all Amber Alerts
31
are sent, because I try to
check the following places at least daily, and I find Amber Alerts at many of them, which
are not at the others.
28
http://www.charleyproject.org/index.html
29
30
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=71513
31
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Amber%20Alert
http://www.codeamber.org/
Upon receipt of an Amber Alert from Law Enforcement Authorities anywhere in
the world, day or night, the CodeAmber ticker will be updated immediately on
their server. During an Amber Alert all of the relevant details provided by the
reporting Authority will be scrolled in the Code Amber ticker window.
The information will include the location of the abduction and contact information
for the reporting Authority as well as links (if available) to images of the abductee,
suspect composites and any other details provided by the reporting Authority.
If you have a web site, such as a blog, you can get their ticker added to it, to
show the latest Amber information.
32
You can also get this for your PC desk top.
https://www.amberalert.com/public/en/ or http://www.amberalert.com/
Explore Missing and Exploited Children web site pages on Amber Alerts.
33
Visit the Black and Missing Foundation.
34
Notice their BAM Alerts, about people
missing, then some of those people found.
35
Visit the Huff Post missing persons page.
36
Note you can get an RSS subscription of this
page to your favorite news reader. I am currently using Google Reader.
There are outfits to help locate missing people, including both adults and children.
37
Go to Google Public Alerts.
38
Search for Amber.
Go to your favorite Search Engine, such as Google. Select News. Search for Amber
Alert. There should be option(s) to have that topic show up on your personal favorite
topics and/or send you e-mail or other alerts, when there are new stories on that topic.
Indiana State only http://www.in.gov/amberalert/
This site includes tips for parents.
New York State only
http://www.criminaljustice.ny.gov/missing/alpha1.htm
32
http://www.codeamber.org/index-2.php
33
http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/AmberServlet
http://missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PageServlet?LanguageCountry=en_US&PageId=4319
http://www.amberalert.gov/active.htm
34
http://www.blackandmissinginc.com/cdad/
35
http://www.blackandmissinginc.com/cdad/alerts.htm
36
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/missing-persons/
37
http://www.lostnmissing.com/
38
http://www.google.org/publicalerts
http://amber.ny.gov/Subscription/ alerts via e-mail
https://www.wirelessamberalerts.org/index.jsp alerts via cell phone
US State by State links to Amber Alert systems.
39
Many nations have systems similar to Amber Alert in USA. Some have other names.
40
Britain has several systems to help locate missing children, and adults.
41
Canadas Amber Alert system.
42
Netherlands Amber Alert system.
43
Since states usually have web sites using state abbreviation
44
dot gov, we can search for
that for our state, and the word amber, to find either amber dot our state dot gov, or our
state dot gov slash amber with whatever other words they have.
In addition, there is a need for browser add-ons, and-or Internet services, which will send
Amber Alerts to us, as they get issued. Otherwise, we visit a site, and see no alert there,
then we leave, and theres one added there, and we dont see it for 2 days until the next
time we visit the site.
Here is a site where we can sign up to get Amber Alerts sent to us, but the selection may
be limited, to one US state of our choice, per e-mail address we use.
45
You can get an ap for your cell phone, so it will get amber alerts.
46
Here we can subscribe to e-mail amber alerts, limited to New York State.
47
Here for cell
phone alerts, limited to New York State.
48
Apparently we can only get amber alerts to our cell phones,
49
if our local cell phone
carrier supports this service.
50
Beware of Amber Alert hoaxes. You can check out e-mail pass it on alerts via the
Urban Legend sites.
51
39
http://www.amberalert.gov/state_contacts.htm
40
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_abduction_alert_system
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_Children_Europe
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_missing_people_organizations
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Centre_for_Missing_%26_Exploited_Children
41
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_People
https://www.missingpeople.org.uk/
42
http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/omc-ned/news-nouv/amber-eng.htm
http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/omc-ned/index-accueil-eng.htm
43
http://www.amberalertnederland.nl/Default.aspx?lang=nl
44
We can get a list of the abbreviations from the US Postal Service.
45
https://www.amberalert.com/public/en/
46
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/amber-alert/id305574085?mt=8
47
http://amber.ny.gov/Subscription/
48
https://www.wirelessamberalerts.org/index.jsp
49
http://www.amberalert.gov/wireless.htm
50
51
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/missing/faketext.asp
I post an Amber Alert on social media. 12-25 people re-share it. 2-3 days later the kid is
found. I want an easy way to notify the people who did the re-sharing, especially those
who did not share it in public, or shared it independently of the cluster of shares which I
was within, so they may be invisible on G+ View Ripples. We can use G+ search for
Amber. We can go to shared list, view more / all, copy paste those names, then
transcribe with + in front to include them in the update about the kid found. This is all
quite tedious. I want an easier way.
Here is Wikipedia on Amber Alerts.
52
Wikipedia is good for adults, but should only be
used by children, with adult supervision, for two reasons.
1. It does not censor topics which are inappropriate for children.
2. With international volunteers, the content is politically far left of US politics.
Here is general info, and FAQ, about Amber Alerts from the US Dept of Justice.
53
Here are statistics on how successful they are, in recovering missing children.
54
Here is general info about the Emergency Broadcast System.
55
We usually see it used on
TV with info about serious weather, or Amber Alert, impacting our geography.
Congressional Report Service (CRS) Think Tank 2005 report on whats needed to
improve Amber Alert technology.
56
The letters AMBER are an acronym for "America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency
Response" and also named after a 9 year old girl, Amber Hagerman, who was abducted
and murdered.
Info about Code Adam, a system which is implemented by many retail stores.
57
If your
child goes missing in a store, contact the management immediately. They may be using
this system.
There are organizations to help families re-unite, who got separated through some
natural, or man-made disaster, such as: The Red Cross;
58
Salvation Army.
Amber ignores some children
I had a friendly debate on this G+ thread,
59
where I had asserted that there are some
problems with the Amber system, not being used in cases where had it been used, the
child might have been saved. I was told by Alice Summers
60
that what I was sharing was
anecdotal evidence, that is not a good foundation for changes in police and government
policies. I said that I had heard various places that the first 48 hours is critical for crime
solving, that the longer people have to forget what they saw, the risk that cameras will
have their info taped over the top with more recent info, the more difficult it becomes to
solve the case. I was told that was TV show and Hollywood BS, not real truth. I want to
check credible sources on this difference of opinion.
52
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMBER_Alert
53
http://www.amberalert.gov/
http://www.amberalert.gov/faqs.htm
54
http://www.amberalert.gov/statistics.htm
55
56
http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metacrs7629/
57
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_Adam
58
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Red_Cross_and_Red_Crescent_Movement
59
https://plus.google.com/u/0/102778563580121606331/posts/J2txnzKJwCo
60
https://plus.google.com/u/0/108381875421140432477/about
The subject of missing persons can be controversial and difficult. People go
missing for a variety of reasons and under a variety of circumstances.
61
Some
institutions and people can have conflicts of interest.
The decision to do an Amber Alert, is that of the local police.
A 3 year old boy was taken late November in a Manhattan Kansas custody
dispute.
62
The local police do not consider the boy to be in grave danger, short
term, so they are not issuing an Amber Alert.
Wikipedia has:
63
In the USA: of 621 child abductions which ended in murder
[1]
:
64
Other
sources had similar statistics.
65
This is stuff we do not want the parents to be dwelling
on, but the statistics can help indicate what parents can do to lower realistic risks.
Threat that the killer will be a friend or acquaintance, is nearly equal to that of a
stranger.
The probability that the killers name will come up during the first week of the
investigation has decreased.
The use of pornography by killers as a trigger to murder has increased.
44% of the children were killed within the first hours.
74% were killed within 3 hours.
91% within 24 hours after the disappearance.
Many TV shows do include a sort of science fiction, when portraying how police could
solve crimes.
66
Police Chief Magazine says Experience has shown that the first minutes and hours
following the abduction of a child are crucial, as the chances of rescuing an abducted
child decrease significantly after the first 24 hours.
67
According to this government site, The actions of parents and of law enforcement in the
first 48 hours are critical to the safe recovery of a missing child.
68
61
http://www.acmeinvestigations.com/MissingPersons.htm
62
http://www.wibw.com/home/localnews/headlines/Amber-Alert-Not-Issued-For-Missing-Manhattan-Boy-
180365991.html
63
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_Children_Europe
64 ^ Katherine M. Brown, Robert D. Keppel, and Joseph G. Weis, Marvin E. Skeen. CASE
MANAGEMENT for Missing Children Homicide Investigation. Olympia, Washington: Office of the
Attorney General, State of Washington and U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and
Delinquency Prevention, May 2006, page 13
65
66
http://www.policechiefmagazine.org/magazine/index.cfm?fuseaction=display_arch&article_id=2604&issue
_id=22012
67
http://www.policechiefmagazine.org/magazine/index.cfm?fuseaction=display_arch&article_id=2604&issue
_id=22012
68
http://www.ojjdp.gov/pubs/childismissing/ch1.html
Amber Alert suggestion
I believe that we need a revision of the AMBER ALERT system.
1. When someone disappears, and no one yet knows if it was an abduction or
whatever the reason, I believe there should be a web site with photo of missing
person, and geography within which they went missing when.
2. Then there should be an ap, for cell phones and PCs, so people can match their
video, with that of the photo. In other words do a facial recognition search of
personal video to see if they have a match, of that person, then if yes, have an
option to send copy of their video, with time stamp, and GPS identification, to the
family and investigators. Info before the disappearance can also help, since it
shows people the disappeared person has been with.
3. If no match, the ap can also show that at certain time stamp and GPS
combination, that the missing person was NOT on a particular street, or location.
This also can help family and investigators retrace the probable path of the
missing person.
4. Announcement that there has been an addition to the search website, for missing
persons, should go to the immediate community, identifying url / however person
date geography etc. there.
5. Announcement can also go nationwide did anyone travel to CITY-location
around certain dates, with video from there?
6. The web site could have whether the family wants copies to missing & exploited
children, other places, or just for local police. This is because some people trust
the local police, and some do not.
Social Media debates my Amber idea
I shared the above on social media May-8 nite.
69
I have in the past shared similar
thoughts, but each time I write it up, I dream up more refinements. Here are some
comments after my sharing:
ravi chandran subramaniam May-8 10:47 PM
Why not have an app in the person themselves planted. That could help govts against
immigration, human trafficking, crime etc. problem with devices are many (in case of
cellphones)..
69
If you are on Google Plus, you can join this discussion.
1. Get to this link: https://plus.google.com/u/0/108007903544513887227/posts/biDiP6ZssBM which
is where I originally posted these ideas, in the Ethics section of a Lawyer community.
2. Click on the tiny circle in upper right corner, and select view ripples.
3. This will get you a list of all places where this post has been shared. Each of those places may be
hosting part of the discussion. You can follow that path from any of the individual post threads.
4. Get to this link: https://plus.google.com/u/0/108007903544513887227/posts/YxxuN1vDNwd
which I shared with my circles of people interested in Legal implications of Current Events;
Parenting; Security; Technology; and other topics, because I am in contact with people inside and
outside the special interest communities. That is where the debate began.
5. Get to this link: https://plus.google.com/u/0/100039621655743657556/posts/gSgYh1rN4D1 which
was the first sharing of my post by someone else, Bruno Nunes May-9 1:26 AM
Alister Macintyre May-8 10:49 PM
Depending on where a person travels in the world, an ap implanted in a person can help
kidnappers target the children of parents who can pay a handsome ransom. There is also
the risk that the crooks will stick a knife into where the chip is planted, to remove it.
Information should be available only to the govt and not to private owners and we keep
the politicians out of it. a New agency like FBI or CIA aimed at protecting democratic
values.. Crooks shouldnt know where the chip is planted (that can be incorporated into
design). There are chips which look alike skin.
The range of a chip, inside a human body is proportional to the size of the chip. This is
why RFID scanners can only read stuff that is 6 inches away. Thus had the 3 women,
just rescued in Cleveland, been wearing your proposal, it would not have helped, because
they were locked in house and basement dungeon far from any ability of any scanner to
pick up such a signal. Also there is a limited life span for the battery.
The politicians are involved in all aspects of government. It is impossible to keep them
out. Every government agency, at one time or another, and sometimes for decades, ends
up being run by people who do not appear to respect democratic values, such as the
nations constitutional rights or legislative privacy rights.
Many people do not trust the government. Your scheme should be like the voluntary
system where parents can get their children finger printed, DNA samples taken, etc., with
the info in a responsible place, to be shared with the police if and when there is a future
problem, where they might need this.
Also the id-kit needs to be partially done again, as child gets older. Updated photo,
biographical info, teeth impressions, any scars, X-rays after oops.
Martin Smith May-8 11:16 PM
Thought provoking, once again, Professor Macintyre!
70
Our Law Enforcement agencies are lacking enormously, of practical ways to combat
crime & protect honest citizens.
hmmm there is a bit of disagreement to it. The normal scanners used are worse that part
we know for sure. Reason how is it possible for people to find what is the composition of
the stars far away in different galaxy there are better sensors available..
70
I am not a Professor, but have earned this nick name, because I often talk about problems in society from
the perspective of how I think those problems could be mitigated or solved. Then we engage in a friendly
debate with people of contrary views on whats practical, or wise.
Sound energy is converted to electrical (remember the usage in microphone). practically
most of us keep generating a lot of sound whole day or in a range of place where sound
gets generated (once again an idea to replace batter)..
I know that part but still dont we have some sort of faith in govt today. like FBI or CIA
you have some faith on them in case of national security (agreed that there are a lot of
pitfalls). but they are the best available currently..
people dont trust the govt since the media always projects what is not important as some
thing which is the most important stuff. even i dont trust them much but at what cost ?
there are things where they can help.
I do agree that there needs to be privacy to ppl. but I dont see much harm in having this.
At least a pilot study if started can help. :)
Yes, a friendly disagreement, on what is practical to address a serious problem. I am
looking at what technology already exists today, or can be developed very rapidly, at low
cost. I am not an expert on all areas of science, so I cannot rapidly respond to all of your
speculations. I have also seen stuff in science fiction, which I do not know is credible,
such as the idea that unique stuff like fingerprints, footprints, voice prints, DNA, also
propagate themselves into other areas of the electromagnetic spectrum, which can be
detected from greater distance.
Hundreds of thousands of people go missing every year in the USA. About million of
them are children. In Cleveland alone, 899 people went missing in 2013 so far, according
to a report I downloaded tonite from the Cleveland Police web site. 822 have been found,
with 77 still missing. About 2/3 of them in Cleveland are children, about in the whole
nations missing people were children when they went missing.
I was on the Cleveland Police web site, looking for the police report the news media say
has the list of reasons why only one of the three brothers is still under arrest, so the other
two have a chance to skip town before the police have enough to arrest them. I did not
find that report, but I found some other interesting ones.
Martin Smith May-8 11:39 PM
+Alister Macintyre, a quick thought on your first paragraph '^', in relation to, " on what is
practical to address a serious problem."
A large caliber handgun would work!
I currently have a lot of faith in some government agencies, although I did not always
feel this way. Remember that the CIA opened peoples snail mail for many years,
photocopied the contents, and then sealed the mail up again. They did this in secret from
postal inspectors. Remember that the FBI treated the Civil Rights movement as
communists, until the Kennedys got on their case about it. There are some govmt
agencies I currently do not have much faith in, such as ATF, which recently was
exporting military weapons to Mexican drug cartels, and keeping this activity secret from
their bosses in Washington DC. A few days ago I watched US Senators calling for
drones to kill people near US borders, who are only suspected of some wrong doing.
But it does not matter what I think about govmt agencies, what matters is the confidence
the general public has, which is again why I think this should be voluntary. We can start
with the politicians who are on the no fly list, and cannot get off it. Your chip might help
them get off it, by showing to TSA that they are the real citizen, and not the bad guys
who happen to have the same name, but totally different birth date and description.
Alister Macintyre May-8-9 12:04 AM
+Martin Smith Hand guns for teenagers and pre-teenagers will require changes in the
rules about having most schools being gun free target zones where only the crooks and
the cops are armed, let alone rules in major cities where the authorities are trying to lower
gun ownership, because when seconds count, the police are minutes away. Remember
that many abductions are kids commuting between home and school. I have seen news
stories on tons of such incidents all over the USA.
Theres also teaching kids how to handle weapons properly. Theres a maturity
development issue, where some kids brains are not yet ready to handle this responsibility.
How old was that kid who just killed his little sister? I dont know if it was by accident or
not, because the gun control debate is all over the parents for letting the kid walk around
with the cricket rifle, without parental supervision. So we are not hearing whether or not
the pro-gun philosophy of proper kid-gun-training had in fact been done.
The reasoning against children having fire arms is similar to the reasoning against them
having driver licenses, and alcohol.
I started driving when I was age 14, and it was legal for me to have something less than 5
horsepower. My second vehicle had 4.98 horsepower. I think the younger a child learns
how to drive, the better society is, because by the time the kid is an adult, the brain
development is really slowed down. But my view is in the minority.
School Bus Abductions and similar events
There have allegedly been multiple cases where:
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a child is let off school bus about a block from home;
the child never gets home;
parents call friends of the child, trying to locate the child, are unsuccessful;
parents call the police;
the police take no action,
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assuming the child is either a run-away, or is spending
the weekend with some friends, without telling parents, even though the child has
never done either of this before, and there is no evidence they did that this time;
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According to Nancy Grace on HLN TV. http://www.hlntv.com/shows/nancy-grace
a few days later, the child is found, dead, in which the coroner evidence is such
that had the police issued an Amber Alert, or notified the news media, promptly,
the child might have been saved.
Several of these incidents have occurred within a few miles of each other, leading some
parents to suspect there may be a child serial killer, who specializes in kidnapping
children right after they get off a school bus.
In one case, where the child disappeared on a Friday afternoon, and turned up dead the
Tuesday after, the school had issued iPads to all the kids, then tried to trace the location
of the missing childs iPad, on the Saturday, but got no hits. What does that mean? The
iPad destroyed, turned off, shielded, or the trace did not have the cooperation of the
police?
I have yet to find all the cases mentioned by Nancy Grace on HLN, but I have found
enough other cases to see that students, commuting to and from school, have risks where
parents need to be pro-active to protect them.
Alabama: Midland City
An incident grabbed attention of news media for a week at end January, early February
2013, when a gunman got on board a school bus in Midland City, the driver blocked the
gunman so 22 kids could escape, but the driver died, and the gunman held one child
hostage for a week, 5 year old Ethan.
In the aftermath of this, several Alabama school districts are instituting a new rule. Adults
may not approach within 15 feet of where children get on or off bus at school bus stops.
If any adult does so, the driver is to close the doors, and drive away. It does not matter if
the adult is a family member or friend of the child, this rule is now absolute.
Arizona: Prescott Incident
A problem in many communities is young children riding bicycles, where those kids
appear to either be totally ignorant about safety, or dont care about safety. In my
opinion, before a child is allowed to travel the public streets without adult supervision,
whether walking, biking, using roller skates, whatever, there should be relevant education
in safety.
A school bus let off a bunch of kids, and had the stop sign out, then after they were safely
across, retracted the stop sign and began a turn around a corner. A 12 year old child on a
bicycle came across, rapidly through the school bus drivers blind spots, where the cross
walk clearly said dont cross, and was hit by the school bus. Fortunately the kid only
sustained a broken arm.
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http://www.hlntv.com/video/2012/11/15/moore-alicia-missing-girl-no-amber-alert-body-found
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http://www.dcourier.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=112979
The article says the bus driver was not cited, since the bus driver did not do anything
wrong. The article does not say what kind of legal trouble the boy might now be in.
California: Los Angeles 3 Incidents
A disabled 18-year old, who has the mental capacity of a 10 year old, was on bus on way
home from school, when she was raped on the bus, and no one interfered.
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This was
caught on the bus video, and was the third rape to be reported on a county transit bus this
year.
California: Moreno 7 Incidents
Within a one week period, there have been multiple abduction attempts, where the
sketches of the culprits look like multiple different men are trying to do it. An adult
offering drugs to a child, sounds like a kidnap effort.
The first incidents happened on Halloween just outside of Moreno Valley High School.
That night, an African-American man in his 40s tried to lure a girl into his white van,
police said. Both times he exited the van to try to force the girl inside; once he grabbed
the girl by her arm.
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On Nov. 6, officers responded to another attempted abduction near the high school.
Detectives said two female students and one male student were approached by a man who
asked if they wanted to use drugs with him. All three students continued walking toward
the school and the man eventually walked away, police said.
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The next day, on Nov. 7, officers responded to a reported attempted abduction at Vista
Del Lago High School. There, a student was approached by an African-American man as
she was walking home from school on John F. Kennedy Drive near Thyme Place. The
man asked her if she wanted to smoke weed with him. The student continued walking
home, and told police she saw the man talking to more students as they walked home.
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That same day, there was a report of an attempted kidnapping at March Middle School.
The victim was walking home from school when a Latino man approached her in a
blue/gray Nissan Altima. The man asked her if she needed a ride, then exited his car and
approached the girl, who ran away and told her family about what happened.
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http://www.stnonline.com/blogs/daily-routes/4893-how-would-student-transporters-report-respond-to-
sexual-assault-on-bus
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http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/String-of-Attempted-Abductions-in-Moreno-Valley-
179218281.html
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179218281.html
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179218281.html
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179218281.html
California: Morgan Hill Incident
In 2009, this guy attempted to kidnap three women, using a stun gun to subdue them.
March 2012 Sierra's Ann Sobrato High School bus arrived at her bus stop but Sierra was
not there, because the same guy had kidnapped Sierra LaMar, 15, somewhere between
leaving home, and being at the school bus stop.
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California: Oakland
Saint Andrew Missionary Baptist Church Private School, receives $ 50,000 federal
taxpayer funding annually, based on a claim of 195 students, but CBS investigation could
only find 20. The school sends students out to panhandle at BART stations, late at night,
without proper security. When parents call to check on their kids, they are told that they
are in Bible studies, when they are actually panhandling, which the parents do not
consider to be appropriate. Charlos Joiner is no longer a student there, because he was
mugged at age nine, while ordered to panhandle for the school, and the experience
terrified him.
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California: Selma Incident
Two men attempted to abduct a Lincoln Middle School student, as the girl was walking
to school. She described the vehicle as an older model blue and white van, with an air-
conditioning type unit on top that appeared to have been spray painted blue. The girl said
two men in a van pulled up to her. The driver began talking to her when she said the
second man got out and tried to pull her into the rear doors of the van. She was able to get
away and run home. Her parents called the police.
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The police said it has been many
years since the last abduction attempt like this in the city, that they knew of.
Similar vehicle abduction incidents walking to or from school: California = Selma;
Florida = Palm Beach; Michigan = Riverview; Pennsylvania = Altoona; South Carolina.
Colorado 3 Incidents
I am not sure what city this happened in.
10 year old Jessica Ridgeway was kidnapped, then murdered.
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She was walking between home and school because the Jefferson County School District
had started charging $ 150.00 for students to ride the bus.
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http://www.ksbw.com/news/central-california/hollister-gilroy/Sierra-LaMar-murder-suspect-linked-to-
more-attempted-abductions/-/5738758/17404136/-/item/1/-/bmehx9/-/index.html
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http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2012/06/13/oakland-school-board-hears-from-parents-of-panhandling-
students/
http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/oakland-unified-board-orders-investigation-church-school-16635
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http://www.hanfordsentinel.com/selma_enterprise/news/attempted-abduction-of-selma-
student/article_bfb3b40c-3035-11e2-a564-0019bb2963f4.html
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http://yourhub.denverpost.com/adamscounty/adams-12-amps-up-security-at-schools-
after/oVbe34CFLh3QYZ6jghXCWI-story?source=DPWidget
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/10/24/suspect-arrested-in-jessica-ridgeway-abduction-killing/
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http://denver.cbslocal.com/2012/11/08/petition-drive-to-eliminate-school-bus-fees-has-ridgeway-link/
Police say the Jessica Ridgeway incident is related to an attack on a woman jogger in
May, but they wont give details on how they know they are related. We might suspect
similar suspect DNA left on the bodies of both victims, or the chemicals involved. A 22
year old woman fought off a stranger who grabbed her from behind and put a rag over
her mouth which smelled of chemicals. The jogger attack happened at Ketner Lake.
Several trails leading to the lake and a surrounding open-space park are across the street
from Witt Elementary School, where Jessica was headed when she was abducted.
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We know Aurora Colorado, from the movie theater shootings, is a suburb of Denver.
Two men tried to lure a young girl into their car at E. Louisiana Ave. and S. Idalia St.
while she waited for her school bus. Because of publicity over Jessica Ridgeway, the girl
knew to scream *No* then run away. When the police did a canvas, they found a witness
who did not see that incident, but did see a green SUV stalking the bus stop.
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Similar Bus Stop Abduction Incidents Include: Colorado = Denver; NYC 33 yrs ago; NC
= Salisbury; Texas = Greenville.
Also see Florida Brenda Heist Homeless Fantasy, where I talk about undocumented
workers, including an anecdote about Colorado payroll taxes.
Connecticut
A 17-year-old boy was in serious condition at St. Vincent's Medical Center after being
struck by a car Monday morning while crossing the street toward his school bus on Old
Town Road. The school bus had its stop signals going, which were ignored by the driver,
cited for failure to obey a school bus signal.
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See my separate research notes Mass Shootings starting around page 72, for
what transpired Dec 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown CT.
Florida 9 Incidents
An 11 year old boys father has a difference of opinion with police and school authorities
about the appropriate use of weapons and toy guns, in the proximity of school children.
The boy brought to school, what the police and school say was a live round, but what the
father said was not. This got him a 3 day suspension from school. Then during the
suspension, he harassed kids at a school bus stop, with what his father says is a toy gun
incapable of hurting anyone. The kids ran away, being pursued for about 15 minutes,
none were hit by the pellets the boy was shooting at them with an Airsoft pistol. This led
to the 11 year old being taken away in handcuffs, and is now facing felony battery and
weapons charges.
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It is a pity the father cannot serve the jail time the boy may be facing.
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/23/police-link-abduction-of-_n_2006179.html
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http://kdvr.com/2012/10/22/8-year-old-girl-says-one-word-stopped-her-potential-kidnappers/
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http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Teen-struck-by-car-at-school-bus-stop-4249507.php
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http://www.wftv.com/news/news/local/boy-11-faces-felony-charges-over-airsoft-gun-incid/nS8Q2/
A 13 year old girl was shot to death, on her school bus, allegedly by a male student.
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This has been understandably traumatic for her 7 year old sister, on the same bus,
witnessing this. The school bus was not equipped with video surveillance equipment. A
15-year-old boy is now in juvenile detention, charged with carrying a concealed weapon
and manslaughter, after police say he took a gun out of a backpack and showed it to other
students during the ride to school. Investigators say he fired it once in an apparent
accident, striking Lourdes Guzman-DeJesus.
A 13 year old girl missed her school bus, was running to rendezvous with it. The school
bus driver saw the girl, was turning to another possible pick up point, did not yet have the
flashers on and stop sign out, since it was in transit. The girl apparently did not know
thou shalt not cross the road where it is not safe, when the school bus does not have to
stop rules out. Other motorists were apparently oblivious to the situation. She was
killed in a traffic accident. The driver was not cited because the girl ran out right in front
of a woman driving home, after dropping her son off at school.
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A youngster was walking to Wynnebrook Elementary School, in Palm Beach, when a
man yelled come here." The child did not answer, ran to school and reported the
incident.
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A 13 year old girl was walking home from a school bus stop in St Petersburg. As she
walked south on 31st Street, she saw two men sitting on the front porch of the
vacant residence. As she walked by the house, one of the men called out to her, but she
ignored him and kept walking. That's when, one of the men grabbed the victim from
behind, and tried to drag her into a vacant house. The suspect began to strike the
teenager as she struggled to get free. That's when an unidentified man ran up and pushed
the suspect. The victim was able to break free from the suspect's grasp and ran home.
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A 14 year old girl was walking to school along County Road 419 near State Road 50
when a man in a pick-up truck tried to offer her a ride to school. When she refused, he cut
her off and attempted to abduct her. During the confrontation a homeless man named
Gordon Jones emerged from the nearby woods and scared off the stranger. The teen girl
is familiar with Jones and knew him as "neighbor."
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https://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/22/us/florida-killing-on-school-bus-apparently-accidental.html
http://www.suntimes.com/news/nation/16548091-418/mom-of-girl-shot-on-fla-school-bus-seeks-
answers.html
http://abcnews.go.com/US/girl-sister-jina-13-shot-dead-florida-school/story?id=17781698
http://www.seattlepi.com/news/crime/article/Girl-13-fatally-shot-on-Miami-area-school-bus-4053794.php
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http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/news/region_hillsborough/13-year-old-girl-struck-by-suv-while-
trying-to-catch-school-bus-dies
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http://www.wptv.com/dpp/news/abduction-attempt-investigation-man-wanted-for-questioning-after-
child-confronted-on-way-to-school
91
http://stpete.patch.com/articles/suspects-attack-teenage-girl-walking-home-from-bus-stop
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http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-11-14/news/os-homeless-saves-girl-abduction-
20121114_1_homeless-man-abduction-attempts-deputies
The teen was one of three women who reported similar abduction attempts within about
an hour in East Orange County, in which the description, of the attempted kidnapper and
vehicle, was identical.
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A Florida school bus monitor is caught on camera abusing an autistic boy.
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Also see chapter = Passing a stopped school bus.
Florida; Michigan = Riverview; Pennsylvania = Altoona; South Carolina.
We now know that all 3 young women kidnapped by Ariel Castro in Cleveland Ohio,
were invited into his car, where he made up a story about knowing family members, and
he had lots of believable details.
Fl Brenda Heist homeless fantasy
Being homeless is a nightmare.
The fantasy is that she was in that reality for 11 straight years.
However, different people have different definitions of homeless.
Here are some of MY personal definitions.
Live-in servant = a person who has lodging in association with being a
nanny, maid, or other services for the people who are in charge of the
residence. I do not consider this to be homeless, when the relationship
lasts years. I recognize that other people have other definitions.
Homeless = persons who do not have a home. They live on the streets,
in cardboard boxes, sometimes in cars, sometimes get help from charity,
friends, strangers.
Becoming Homeless = people can get into this reality by many
different means. Some people work their whole lives, by the rules, saving
for retirement, and the bad times, then their savings get wiped out by
fraud, which they are not able to prevent, and now we have elderly people
who cannot get a job because of discrimination against older people, and
they cannot get enough income to pay for a home, utilities, other
necessary expenses. Others can get into this reality due to drug abuse, or
health issues, that get in the way of them getting a good job. I know
people on Google Plus, who are Vets of US wars, who are disabled,
cannot get a job, are homeless. One of them lists his address as a
particular parking spot at a particular Walmart parking lot. Some people
are in such a below poverty reality, that they cannot pay for a home, and
good nutrition, and provide for their children, and other things, so they
become homeless. Except for that reality, where they believe there is
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http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-11-14/news/os-homeless-saves-girl-abduction-
20121114_1_homeless-man-abduction-attempts-deputies
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http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-11-12/news/35073022_1_autistic-boy-bertis-paulino-darryl-blue
something worse than homeless, I do not believe anyone is homeless
because they want to be.
Most of the news media is saying that this woman had been missing for 11 years, then
was found, homeless in Florida. The truth is apparently rather different. She may have
been homeless when found, but she was not homeless for 11 years.
Brenda Heist created a new life for herself after she disappeared from Lititz in 2002,
leaving behind her two children, her job and her suburban mom lifestyle, leaving them
after becoming distraught over a pending divorce and money problems. After a while,
her husband Lee had completed the divorce and gone to court to have her legally declared
dead.
According to this article, citing interviews with people Brenda Heist knew in Florida, she
was NOT homeless for the entire time she was missing.
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She took housekeeping jobs
and often lived with her employers. Heist posted her cleaning services online, on
craigslist, and had a bevy of customers who paid her in cash. To supply herself with a
new identity, she stole a driver's license from one of her housekeeping clients.
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When she thought the police were closing in on the stolen identity, she up and
disappeared again.
Over time she saved enough money to get a car, and she also had a cell phone and a
Facebook page for a time, and even dated once in awhile.
Very few people can survive on the street for 10 straight years, especially women, for
pretty obvious reasons. It appears Brenda was on the streets sometimes, perhaps even for
months at a time, but certainly not all the time.
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Brendas situation is not unusual.
Within the last decade or so, the economy has gone into the toilet for many people
who formerly were middle class. We have had a jobless recovery, where business
enterprises are getting back on their feet, without hiring the volume of people they
had before the economic downturn.
There are massive numbers of people whose income is no longer sufficient to pay
for a decent place to live, proper nutrition, other values, so they end up living out
of their car, which can only be temporary. If you have been evicted due to
foreclosure, you can have a post office box, but not with the post office, because
the post office wants to know your residence address. In many states, you cant
renew your drivers license or license plates without a residence address. If the
police see a car with expired license plates, even parked on private property, they
can confiscate it.
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http://lancasteronline.com/eedition/pages/news/edition/CEAM/20130503/A/1/2468123
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http://lancasteronline.com/eedition/pages/news/edition/CEAM/20130503/A/1/2468123
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https://charleyross.wordpress.com/2013/05/06/the-continuing-brenda-heist-saga/
Officially the unemployment rate is 8-9% of the US population. But this only
includes people who fairly recently were actually employed, lost jobs through no
fault of their own, are still eligible for unemployment compensation. Theres a lot
of people no longer employed, who want a job, or a better job, not included in
these statistics. Then there are recently graduated students who want to enter the
work force, who never had their first job, not included in these statistics.
A large proportion of the US population has managed to get in trouble with the
law, and/or legal system. Once categorized as a convicted felon, who has paid
their debt to society, they are denied any access to any form of public assistance,
irrespective of the fact that they have to pay taxes into such systems.
Government data bases have error rates of 5-10%. Some of those errors lead to
people being denied their citizenship rights.
As more people feel the economic crunch, some choose to run away from their debts and
obligations. If they know how to get a fake ID, they can re-enter the system under a new
identity. This is harder nowadays than it used to be, but is still a huge problem.
Each year, there are million new people whose identities are stolen by crooks for the
purpose of cheating them, and the IRS. I talk about this, and my ideas on how this
problem can be mitigated, in my Solution Ideas notes.
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The IRS has been trying to improve how they deal with this challenge, but in
Congressional Oversight hearing after hearing, we hear how they still have a long way to
go.
There are estimates of 11+ million illegal undocumented alien workers in the USA. Most
of the adults have jobs. How can you have a job without documentation? Well some
jobs are in the grey underground economy,
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but many are via stolen identities.
A few years ago, Colorado sorted their info on payroll taxes by social security #. Several
#s had around 100 different people all across the state using the same #. Maybe one was
the real McCoy, the rest were identity thefts, which had gone under the radar, until this
state did that audit. Most states have not yet done any such audit. When the GAO did an
audit of civilians working for the military and critical infrastructure, they found illegal
aliens working at nuclear power plants, and legally dead people working at the Pentagon.
I read an article in Reason magazine many years ago. They claimed that approx 1/3 of
the US economy was underground, meaning money changes hands, but there is no report
to the government taxing authorities. There are allegations that for the employees of such
enterprises, there is also no adherence to minimum standards of safety, working
conditions, or minimum wage.
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http://www.scribd.com/doc/119857289/Solution-Ideas
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http://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/black-economy.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_market
Georgia: Augusta Health Safety
School bus stops are being added to places where smoking is illegal inside city limits.
This is because parents of two children, one with asthma, the other with cystic fibrosis,
complaining about another parent at their bus stop who smoked at school bus stop and
refused to stop.
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Georgia: Atlanta Sniper Incident
A man was seen aiming a rifle at a school bus. He ran when witnesses intervened. He
left a note behind, with school bus numbers on it, indicating he had particular buses in
mind, to shoot at.
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See similar incident Indiana, Evansville.
Idaho: Child locked up and forgotten
I have heard numerous stories about schools using isolation rooms for children for
alleged trivial issues, left there a long time, they need to go to bathroom, have to do it on
the floor in there. It was inevitable that at some point, a teacher would forget there was a
child in there, and go home, adults forget the child was there.
There are conflicting stories how dark the room was. His father, James Cagle tells
KTVB that Tanner was scared, had urinated on himself and was crying in the dark.
School officials deny the room was dark. It had a window, the classroom had a window
onto the hallway. Light would have filtered in that way, they say. But we do not know if
the hallway was lighted.
There are conflicting stories regarding whether the room was locked. The parents needed
help from a school secretary to locate their child.
Depending on who you believe, the child had been in there:
An hour
1 hours
1 hours
Two Hours
5 year old Tanner Cagle was placed in an isolation room, his teacher forgot he was there,
so at end of school day she goes home, leaving the child locked up, in the dark, with
nothing to sit on, no way to get help. The school refuses to tell the parents anything
about the circumstances, citing confidentiality, so what they know is what leaked out
from the teacher when she phoned to apologize. The kindergarten class was making a
chain for Christmas, and Tanner broke his, we dont know if by accident.
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http://www.kjonline.com/news/smoking-ban-may-extend-to-bus-stops_2012-11-16.html
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http://www.hlntv.com/video/2012/05/18/hunt-georgia-school-bus-sniper-suspect
http://www.hlntv.com/article/2012/05/17/police-searching-man-who-aimed-gun-school-bus
According to, ABC news;
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HLN; The Huffington Post;
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Idaho Press Tribune;
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KING5TV;
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KLOG; KTVB;
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NBC9NEWS;
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Mr. Cagle said that he and his wife began to worry when their son, Tanner, didn't come
home on the bus Wednesday from his Morning Kindergarten, in the Caldwell School
District. They called the bus company, then after about 45 minutes to an hour,
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the
couple went to Washington Elementary School to look for the boy -- and found him in
what Cagle called "a closet."
School officials dispute that the room was locked, saying the teacher would not have had
a key. However when a small child is put in a room, and ordered by the teacher to stay
there, what are the odds the child will try to leave? Assistant District Superintendent
Monica White also noted that the door to the room has a large window, which allows
light in from the hallway. Since this was mid day, after the classroom abandoned, can we
assume the hallway had lighting?
While Cagle said the room was "like a jail cell," Caldwell Superintendent Tim Rosandick
told KTVB that the room is used for tutoring sessions, as well as for pre-approved student
management for students with special needs. The room is not, however, intended for
disciplinary use by general educators, and Rosandick said the teacher "should not have
done that."
Rosandick said the teacher placed Tanner in the room -- for reasons not told -- at the end
of morning kindergarten while she gathered the rest of the students together for their bus
rides home.
District officials have expressed their regrets about the incident. But Cagle says the
teacher is still in the classroom, and he wants to see her punished.
"If someone called the police and said that hey there's a dad that locked his kid in a small
room with no lights and he was in there so long and he was crying and he urinated his
pants, I would be going to jail," Cagle told ABC News. "If not, then at the very least
[Child Protective Services] would be here taking my children. How is it any different for
a school teacher?"
102
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/upset-dad-kindergarten-son-locked-room-
17852061#.ULznW9Pjn_-
103
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/03/tanner-cagle-idaho_n_2232725.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/30/school-seclusion-restraint_n_2219091.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/10/activists-seek-to-curtail_0_n_1336619.html
104
http://www.idahopress.com/members/parents-quiet-rooms-not-used-correctly/article_86a33ace-3b7b-
11e2-8ebe-001a4bcf887a.html
105
http://www.king5.com/news/boy-locked-in-room-at-school-181545381.html
106
http://www.ktvb.com/home/5-year-old-boy-left-in-dark-room-at-Caldwell-school-181453681.html
http://www.ktvb.com/news/regional/Wash-school-removes-student-isolation-booth-182070591.html
107
http://www.9news.com/news/world/302770/347/Teacher-places-5-year-old-alone-in-dark-room-leaves-
school
108
Different news stories give different estimates.
James Cagle met with the school principal Thursday morning. They agreed to place
Tanner in another kindergarten classroom for the remainder of the school year.
Mr Cagle said he has had other problems with the school, including three prior incidents
where the boy didn't get home on the bus as he should have. Twice he was placed on the
wrong bus, and once he wasn't placed on the bus at all.
Cagle said he complained each time. White, for her part, said she hadn't heard those
reports and that it's possible school officials had not notified district administrators.
"The last thing we ever want to do is lose a child," White said.
After this story hit the news, a second parent came forward with a similar story.
Nichole Decker, a parent of a child at East Canyon Elementary in the Vallivue School
District, saying her 5-year-old son was sent into a "full-blown panic" when he was placed
in a quiet room for disciplinary reasons.
"He had head-to-toe hives, because he was having trouble breathing," Decker told the
Press-Tribune.
The incident in Caldwell comes as dozens of families across the country sue schools in a
fight against isolation and physical restraint as methods of school discipline.
A Longview, Wash., school has removed a controversial booth that was used to isolate
special education students to prevent them from hurting themselves or others.
School district spokeswoman Sandy Catt says the booth was removed over the weekend
from Mint Valley Elementary School.
She also told KLOG the district has decided to use an independent company to
investigate how the padded booth was being used, and that might take longer than the few
weeks originally expected.
The school stopped used the booth last week after a photo posted on Facebook raised
concerns it was being used as punishment. The school says most students used it
voluntarily to control emotional behavior.
An Education Department report in March found that schools physically retrained
students 39,000 times during the 2009-2010 school year. There are currently no federal
standards for the use of seclusion and restraint in schools, and only 17 states have specific
laws that limit their use.
A Government Accountability Office study in 2009, illustrated cases of children as young
as preschool age who were duct-taped to chairs and locked alone for hours. Investigators
found "hundreds of cases of alleged abuse and death related to the use of these methods
on schoolchildren during the past two decades."
In one recent case, the mother of a Kentucky boy with autism said that when she went to
her son's school, she found him stuffed in a canvas duffel bag in the hallway.
I wrote about this issue extensively in 2011, when looking into a different kind of child
abuse at Americas educational institutions, with people like Jerry Sandusky, and victims
like Trevor Martin.
Illinois: Chicago DUI Incident
A school bus driver taking children to a public elementary school on Chicago's North
Side was arrested and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol after being
stopped for erratic driving.
109
A police officer writing tickets in the 4100 block of North Lawndale Avenue was waved
down by a driver who complained that a nearby school bus had nearly rear-ended his
vehicle three times, Chicago police said.
110
The driver failed a field sobriety test but refused to take a breath test. The four children
aboard the bus were taken to Hawthorne elementary school in the Lakeview
neighborhood by another driver.
111
See similar incident = Massachusetts, Watertown.
Illinois: Chicago ambush Incident
A 14 year old girl was walking to school, when six men ambushed her at gunpoint and
forced her inside a gray, four-door car in the north Lawndale neighborhood. Then they
drove her to an unknown house and gang raped her.
112
Illinois: Mount Carmel Incident
A semi damn near crashed into a school bus taking students to Wabash Valley College,
on a hill which has had lots of accidents and near accidents. The truck was in an accident
with another vehicle, and had to swerve into the ditch, to avoid crashing into the back of
a school bus, which stopped to load students. This has caused a resurgence of discussion
whether the speed limit on the hill should be reduced to 45 mph, and enforced.
113
109
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/education/ct-met-cps-bus-driver-arrested-
20121108,0,6649154.story
110
20121108,0,6649154.story
111
20121108,0,6649154.story
112
http://www.fox5vegas.com/story/20054261/community-outraged-over-kidnapping-gang-rape-of-girl
113
http://www.tristate-media.com/drr/news/local_news/article_6d973750-3262-11e2-871a-
001a4bcf887a.html
Indiana: Evansville Incidents
I live in Evansville Indiana.
Nov 20, I was out driving to run some errands. For several blocks, I followed a school
bus (a white one for handicapped kids) flashing non-stop, which I think undermines
safety.
A few years ago, we had a problem with someone shooting at school buses. As soon as
the first incident was reported, the entire citys schools went on lock down, and police
sought the where-abouts of all school buses. Ultimately the case was solved. It was
traced to a teenager with a BB gun who did not know it was dangerous to shoot at
vehicles.
See similar sniper incident Georgia, Atlanta.
Maryland: Baltimore Incidents
Two men facing charges for the rape of two young women, on their way to school,
abducted from Catonsville bus stops have been linked to six other violent crimes against
eleven victimsmostly young women, teenagers, and students at local colleges,and
may be responsible for additional crimes.
114
Maryland: Marlboro Incident
A pickup truck crashed into the back of a school bus, which was taking kids home from
Barack Obama Elementary School.
115
Maryland: McLean 44 years ago
Christopher R. Kloman, 73, of McLean, who taught at the Potomac School for decades,
has been arrested and charged with three counts of indecent liberties and one of abduction
with intent to defile involving four of his former students. Fairfax County Police say the
investigation of Kloman began in November 2011 when a 55-year-old woman saw that
he was teaching children at Washington Episcopal School and reported that he had
molested her when she was 12.
116
Massachusetts: Concord Incident
One reason for school bus stopping at locations familiar to students, with flashers on, is
to improve safety for young children who have not yet learned school crossing safety,
and not to trust strangers.
114
http://arbutus.patch.com/articles/catonsville-kidnapping-and-rape-suspects
115
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dozens-of-students-possibly-injured-in-prince-georges-county-
school-bus-crash/2012/11/14/ec6e5dd0-2e96-11e2-b631-2aad9d9c73ac_story.html
116
http://www.wjla.com/articles/2012/11/christopher-r-kloman-former-potomac-school-teacher-charged-
with-molesting-girls-in-1968-69-82176.html
A school bus, for unknown reason, over-shot normal stopping place. Normal procedure
is to go around the block, try again for right place. But instead, the bus dropped the kids
at a location unfamiliar to them, where they needed to cross busy streets to get home,
without the benefit of the school bus flasher safety aid. As they began to try to cross, a
stranger stopped in one lane and waved them across, but a car in another lane did not see
the kids, and there was an accident, injuring a 9 year old.
117
Massachusetts: Hingham 3 Incidents
An 8-year-old arrived at the bus stop before his mother and was approached by someone
he didnt recognize. The man offered him a ride. The boy said no, then the man drove
away. When mother arrived, the boy told her. She assumed it was a neighbor or friend,
e-mailed around, and no one said it was them, so she called the police.
118
Apparently there have been 2 similar suspicious incidents reported to local police.
Massachusetts: Watertown DUI Incident
A school bus driver has been charged with kidnapping and driving under the influence
after he was supposed to drive a student home, but dropped him off nearly three hours
late. When he was more than an hour and a half late, the boys panicked parents called
police. At one point, officers reached the driver on his cell phone but he quickly hung
up.
119
See similar incident = Illinois, Chicago.
Michigan: Rape Friendly School Bus Stops
It should be self evident to anyone, that if students are to be at school bus stops, outside
the daylight hours, that there should be sufficient lighting so they do not have to wait in
the dark.
An elementary school girl in Michigan was abducted, dragged into an alley and assaulted.
The attacker fled the scene.
120
Michigan: Ann Arbor 2 Incidents
A 15 year old student was hospitalized because of a traffic accident where a 45 year old
woman disregarded the school bus stop warnings, and struck the girl as she was crossing
the street at 6.46 am.
121
117
http://boston.cbslocal.com/2012/11/16/9-year-old-hit-by-car-after-concord-school-bus-driver-
overshoots-bus-stop/
118
http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/hingham/2012/11/hingham_police_urge_vigilance.html
119
http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/metro-west/12008831536665/police-school-bus-driver-
drove-drunk-to-student-s-house/
120
http://www.stnonline.com/blogs/safe-at-the-stop/2788-school-bus-stops-waiting-in-the-dark
121
http://www.annarbor.com/news/crime/woman-cited-for-careless-driving-after-ignoring-school-bus-stop-
lights-hitting-student/?cmpid=RSS_link_crime
This is the second local incident of this nature, leading to hospitalization of victim of
motorist disregarding school bus safety.
Michigan: Armada Incident
A 13 year old boy was walking near North Avenue and Irwin Street, when a man
approached him in a 2002/2003 maroon Ford Taurus and tried to convince him to get into
his vehicle. Police say the boy refused and ran home as the vehicle sped away
northbound on North Avenue. There is an elementary school, middle school, and high
school about a mile to two miles away where the incident occurred.
122
Michigan: Riverview Incident
A Seitz Middle School student was skateboarding on Longsdorf near Ray Street when a
man pulled alongside him and tried to lure him into his later-model Ford Ranger. The
small pickup truck was described as burgundy or dark red, with some body rust. The man
asked the student for his address and offered the student a ride home.
123
The young man declined saying No thank you, Im OK and continued walking. The
man continued to drive alongside him, still trying to get him in the truck. The boy told the
man to leave him alone, which made the man angry. He told the boy not to talk to him
like that. The boy then grabbed his skateboard, ran inside nearby Memorial Elementary
School and reported the incident to the principal.
124
He was picked up by his parent, and taken to the Riverview Police Department to file the
report.
Missouri: J ackson Incident
A 4 year old girl had to get her foot amputated, because:
125
1. She got off the school bus she was riding, and started to cross the street.
2. The first school bus failed to use the STOP signage.
3. The driver, of a second school bus, thought it was ok to pass the first school bus,
and ran over the girls foot.
Missouri: Liberty Incident
A 15-year-old girl called Liberty police about 7 a.m. after she was on her way to school
near Missouri and Murray streets when a man jumped out, assaulted her with a knife,
forced her into the woods, and threw himself on top of her. She managed to get loose and
122
http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/news/13-year-old-boy-says-a-man-tried-to-abduct-him-in-armada-township
123
http://www.thenewsherald.com/articles/2012/11/16/news/doc50a6391340fc1426758011.txt
124
http://www.thenewsherald.com/articles/2012/11/16/news/doc50a6391340fc1426758011.txt
125
http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20121117/NEWS/121117005/4-year-old-Jackson-elementary-
student-hit-by-school-bus-has-foot-amputated?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|&nclick_check=1
run away from him. The girl suffered scrapes and bruises, and her clothing was ripped in
the struggle. Understandably, the girl remains extremely distraught.
126
Similar incidents, trying to rape school children: Missouri = Liberty + Riverside; Virginia
= Lynchburg.
Missouri: Riverside 4 Incidents
A masked man grabbed a Lakeview Middle School seventh-grader about 6:40 a.m, when
the 13 year old girl was waiting for the school bus. Fortunately, a person driving by saw
the attack and stopped to yell at the man, who ran into the woods, without the girl.
127
Witnesses then called police. This is the fourth stranger-danger alert this school year, for
the same school district.
128
This girl is now so traumatized, by the incident, that an adult
will accompany her to the school bus stop every morning.
= Lynchburg.
Nebraska Sniper Incident
A bullet struck a school bus, narrowly missing the driver, and not injuring any of the
students. Local police are treating this as an accident, assuming it was due to deer
hunting season.
129
New J ersey: Gloucester City Oops Incident
Art Deaner was doing a favor for a friend when he picked up little Courtney from school.
Turns out, it was the wrong Courtney. Both little girls have light hair and, coincidentally,
were waiting to be picked up by friends of their parents at the exact same spot.
130
New York City 33 years ago
Hernandez has been indicted by a grand jury, for killing a 6 year old boy 33 years ago, in
1979.
131
The first time Etan's parents had let the 6 year old boy make the journey from his
family home to the Manhattan school bus stop alone, he disappeared.
132
Hernandez allegedly lured the little boy with the offer of a soft drink to the Soho shop
where he was a clerk, then allegedly strangled him in the basement before throwing his
126
http://www.kctv5.com/story/19852576/father-says-teen-fought-for-her-life-after-school-bus-stop-attack
127
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/13/woman-saves-girl-kidnapping_n_2122328.html
128
http://www.kctv5.com/story/20071338/police-man-tried-to-abduct-girl-at-bus-stop-in-riverside
129
http://www.ketv.com/news/local-news/Bullet-misses-school-bus-driver/-/9674510/17383870/-/etspxbz/-
/index.html
130
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/man-picks-wrong-girl-school-article-1.1202440
131
http://www.9news.com/news/world/299856/347/Suspect-indicted-in-79-death-of-NYC-boy-Etan-Patz-
132
http://news.sky.com/story/1011515/etan-patz-suspect-indicted-for-murder-kidnap
body out with the rubbish.
133
At the time, authorities did not figure out who was
responsible.
New York: New Rochelle Skewed Priorities
Two sisters were walking, a 6 year old, and a 12 year old. The 6-year old wandered into
the street and a neighbor grabbed the girl to pull her out of the street, and back onto the
sidewalk. Authorities treated this initially as an attempted abduction, but the police soon
figured out the truth. However, the school superintendent used this case to send a reverse
911 warning to all parents about a stranger danger to the students.
134
Why this non-event triggered the alert is a bit of a mystery, considering the school never
told parents about an incident where three students actually held a gun to the head of a
6th grader on a school bus, and then brought the gun into Isaac E. Young Middle
School.
135
The New Rochelle Board of Education fired one employee for drunk driving, and
replaced him with a different drunk driver.
136
A 24 year old female librarian at New Rochelle High School has been arrested for sexual
abuse of a 16 year old boy student there.
137
North Carolina: 2 Incidents
Thousands of Wake County students were stranded at bus stops at the start of the
Raleigh, NC school year.
138
It sounds like maybe the politicians are too busy pointing
fingers, than actually solving the problems.
A 14 year old girl reported that after getting off of the school bus in Salisbury NC, an
older white man, driving a small white pickup, tried to get her to get into his truck.
139
133
http://news.sky.com/story/1011515/etan-patz-suspect-indicted-for-murder-kidnap
134
http://www.newrochelletalk.com/content/new-rochelle-schools-superintendent-sends-out-reverse-911-
calls-incident-never-happened
135
http://www.newrochelletalk.com/content/new-rochelle-suspends-three-following-gun-head-incident-
bee-line-school-bus
136
http://www.newrochelletalk.com/content/why-did-new-rochelle-board-education-fire-employee-drunk-
driving-then-replace-him-another-dr
137
http://www.newrochelletalk.com/content/new-rochelle-high-school-librarian-arrested-sex-sting-
involving-16-year-old-student
138
http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/02/04/2656358/wake-may-spend-225-million-to.html
139
http://salisbury.wbtv.com/news/crime/76202-teen-reports-attempted-kidnapping-bus-stop
Ohio Cleveland Kidnap
In early May 2013, 3 kidnap victims were found, where for the one gone the longest it
had been 10 years. The authorities had given up looking for them, and had categorized 2
as missing, not kidnapped. These type events are very rare and unusual, fueling a news
media feeding frenzy, which in turn leads the general public to believe they are more
common than in reality. I plan to keep notes on this event here initially, then either have
sub-chapters here, or open up a new section on this topic, irrespective of Cleveland.
Oh Cl authorities stories+
Throughout my notes there are scenarios where someone says X, and the police deny that
X ever happened. For example several people describe suspicious things they say they
called into the police, where the police response was inadequate, given what we now
know, but police leadership deny they were ever called about what the neighbor
remembers.
Heres what the authorities were saying about this, as of 2013 May 7, the same day I
found out about this news.
140
Three suspects are currently in Cleveland Police custody awaiting charges to be filed.
They are brothers
Ariel Castro,
141
52;
Onil Castro, 50; and
Pedro Castro, 54.
By mandate, charges are expected within 36 hours of arrest. A search warrant is currently
being executed at 2207 Seymour with other locations pending.
The City understands the need for continuous information; and is getting information to
media as fast as possible. The City asks that media refrain from speculation and reporting
based on unconfirmed information.
Law enforcement is grateful for all those in the neighborhood who responded to help
Amanda Berry,
142
Gina DeJesus and
Michelle Knight,
including Charles Ramsey who called 911 to alert Police. The support of the community
is critically important to all that law enforcement does.
140
http://www.cleveland-oh.gov/CityofCleveland/Home/media-gallery/slideshow?id=1189
141
Ariel Castro had been a school bus driver. He was the owner of the home.
142
A 6-year-old girl, believed to be Berry's daughter, also was found in the home.
The City asks the community to send tips and information to "say something if you see
something", as the City cannot do this alone.
All are asked to report any suspicious activity to 1.877.OHS.INTEL. For the cases
involving Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight specifically, they are asked
to call the Cleveland Office of the FBI at 216.522.1400.
Oh Cl summary sources overview+
Other news research notes documents by me, on topics related to this story, and my ideas
about solutions and mitigation, include:
Boston Bombing whats working, and whats not, in response to crisis
and threats.
143
Solution Ideas a collection of issues, including police response, where I
propose things to help mitigate some serious problems.
144
I also have to be careful with what I use from the news media. In any complex feeding
frenzy news story, there is a pattern of bogus reports making it into the news media,
sometimes getting a life of their own for days weeks months even years, after they were
totally debunked.
In my experience, news media sources in the city or close to the community where the
event occurred, are more likely to have the facts sooner, than national TV all news
talking heads who rush in, and compete to interview a handful of people, who may be in
shock about the surprising event.
Cleveland dot com
145
Cleveland dot com portal for info about the 3 young ladies being found.
146
Theres also the specialty media, relevant to some of the actors or issues relevant to the
incident. Unfortunately, some such media sometimes has an agenda which can get in the
way of the truth.
Officer dot com news (police officer stories)
147
Officer dot com on the 911 call(s) which led to the women being rescued.
148
Officer dot com on questions for the police based on allegations that over the
years there were many suspicious incidents reported.
149
Had they been
investigated properly, these kidnap victims might have been rescued much sooner.
Wikipedia on the 3 women whose kidnap ordeal just ended, although they may
need mental health therapy for the rest of their lives.
150
143
http://www.scribd.com/doc/136142293/Boston-Bombings-2013-April-by-Al-Mac
144
http://www.scribd.com/doc/119857289/Solution-Ideas
145
http://www.cleveland.com/
146
http://www.cleveland.com/decade-of-captivity/#incart_maj-story-1
147
http://www.officer.com/latest-news
148
http://www.officer.com/news/10937976/frantic-911-call-leads-ohio-police-to-missing-
women?utm_source=related_content_box&utm_medium=related_content&utm_campaign=10938726
149
http://www.officer.com/news/10938726/ohio-police-face-questions-after-women-found
150
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Cleveland,_Ohio,_missing_trio
Although there are times I do not totally trust what the authorities have to say on some
issues, especially in international foreign policy and military adventures, I do find police
sites illuminating for many domestic issues.
FBI News Blog
151
FBI News latest
152
Events usually hit the news media immediately, but we dont know what we can believe,
then 2-3 days later there are press briefings by the authorities, which are often replayed
on TV news, and that info shows up on the city or police web sites within a few days
after the press briefings. Some cities are better than others at handling this.
City of Cleveland Ohio government web site
153
CPD = Ohio Cleveland Police
154
Dept
CPD Missing Persons Website
155
had
o 20 pages when I checked May-8 nite
CPD 2013 May-7 press conference about the safe return of the 3 young
ladies.
156
CPD 2013 May-8 (PDF 5 pages): City of Cleveland Missing Persons Report
o I downloaded, calling my copy OH CL Missing 2013 May 08 It looks to
be similar info as is on the Missing Persons Website, except nice graphs
showing demographics.
o The last person who went missing, in this report, was May-6. Almost 900
have gone missing in Cleveland in 2013, of whom 822 have returned, so
77 cases are open from 2013, 111 between 2006-2013. The vast majority
are between the ages of 13 and 17. (See graph on page 2).
All the reports I am downloading, on this topic, are in my SCANDALS folder, on my
home PC. Sometimes I get several downloads, then take a while to get caught up on
reading them. I currently have a 16 page US Inspector General (IG) report on US Border
Security issues, sitting in front of my PC, to read as soon as it is convenient.
Oh Cl Whos Who
I am placing this before the Time Line, so that when a name comes up, we remember up
here was additional clarification about who some people are. I have separate chapter
headings for the major players, where we may accumulate a lot of info on some people.
151
https://www.fbi.gov/news/news_blog
152
https://www.fbi.gov/news
153
http://www.city.cleveland.oh.us/CityofCleveland/Home
154
http://www.city.cleveland.oh.us/CityofCleveland/Home/Government/CityAgencies/PublicSafety/Division
%20of%20Police
155
http://www.city.cleveland.oh.us/CityofCleveland/Home/Government/CityAgencies/PublicSafety/Division
%20of%20Police/MissingPerson
156
http://www.cleveland-oh.gov/CityofCleveland/Home/media-gallery/slideshow?id=1189
This section has just begun. There are several names I plan to add to it.
Oh Cl Amanda Berry and family
Abducted: April 21, 2003
Age when abducted: 16
Age when rescued: 27
Amanda Berry is part Native American.
157
Berry disappeared at age 16, April 21 2003, when she called her sister to say she was
getting a ride home from her job at a Burger King.
158
This was the day before her 17
th
birthday.
The 6 year old child is Berrys daughter, so that child would have been born in
2007, conceived in 2006, while Berry was in captivity.
Castro forced Knight to deliver the baby in an inflatable swimming pool and had
threatened to kill Knight if the baby did not survive birth. After the delivery, the baby
stopped breathing. That is when Knight "breathed for the newborn," resuscitating the
child.
159
Castro would occasionally leave the home with Berry's 6-year-old daughter, who did not
know the real names of DeJesus or Knight.
160
Berry's mother, Louwana Miller, who had been hospitalized for months with pancreatitis
and other ailments, died in 2006. She had spent the previous three years looking for her
daughter, whose disappearance took a toll as her health steadily deteriorated, family and
friends said.
161
In eastern Tennessee, Berry's father, Johnny Berry, told WJHL-TV that he spoke to her
for the first time Monday night, May-6, by phone at his home in Elizabethton. "She
said, `Hi, Daddy, I'm alive,'" Johnny Berry said. "She said, `I love you, I love you, I love
you,' and then we both started crying."
162
157
https://charleyross.wordpress.com/2013/05/07/an-exciting-day-all-around/
158
http://www.officer.com/news/10938726/ohio-police-face-questions-after-women-found?page=3
http://www.officer.com/news/10937976/frantic-911-call-leads-ohio-police-to-missing-women?page=2
159
http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/05/police_report_michelle_knight.html#incart_river
160
161
162
Oh Cl Gina DeJesus and family
Abducted: April 2, 2004
Sex: Female
Race: Hispanic
163
DeJesus vanished at age 14 on her way home from school, in 2004.
164
Jessica Aponce said she walked home with DeJesus the day the teenager disappeared.
"She called her mom and told her mom she was on her way home and that's the last time I
seen her," Aponce said. "I just can't wait to see her. I'm just so happy she's alive. It's been
so many years that everybody thinking she was dead."
165
Gina DeJesus said that Ariel Castro had sex with her.
166
Oh Cl Michelle Knight and family
Abducted: Aug. 23, 2002
Knight vanished at age 20 in 2002. Police said Knight is 32 now.
167
Here is an article which has a photo of Michelle Knight,
168
which a lot of recent news
media did not have access to.
169
Knight told police that Castro would starve her for weeks.
170
Oh Cl Ashley Nicole Summers
The following info from the Charley Project:
171
163
http://www.amw.com/missing_children/case.cfm?id=26744
164
165
166
167
168
http://www.kpho.com/story/22184761/questions-still-remain-about-michelle-knights-disappearance
169
https://charleyross.wordpress.com/2013/05/10/finally-a-photo-of-michelle-knight/
170
171
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/s/summers_ashley.html
Missing Since: July 9, 2007 from Cleveland, Ohio
Classification: Endangered Missing
Date of Birth: June 16, 1993
Age: 14 years old
Height and Weight: 5'5, 130 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian female. Brown hair, blue eyes. Ashley has
a tattoo on her right arm of a heart with the name "Gene" on it. She may have cut her hair
short and dyed it blonde after her disappearance.
Clothing/Jewelry Description: A black shirt, blue jeans and white sneakers.
Oh Cl - Suspect and Family
The family is not yet suspected, but included here to help put in perspective what is
becoming known about the suspect.
Some news media say the Castro family emigrated from Puerto Rico. This is misleading.
Puerto Rico has been a territory of the USA since the Spanish American War. People
born there are Citizens of the USA, just like people born in Ohio or Hawaii. In the 2012
election, a majority of people in Puerto Rico voted to become the 51
st
state of the USA,
172
but theres some dispute whether this was a valid interpretation of the voting results.
Ariel Castro is one of the sons of Pedro Castro, now deceased, who moved from
Puerto Rico to Pennsylvania and then Cleveland Ohio.
173
Ariel Castro allegedly knew the DeJesus family. His extended family had grown up in the
same west Cleveland neighborhood.
174
Oh Cl Time Line
There are multiple reports where the dates are vague. I plan to color bold date references,
elsewhere in these Ohio Cleveland notes, then add to this time line if and when dates are
firmed up. Info in here will be with the most recent dates on the top.
2013 May-9 Thursday
We learn thru the news media
175
that:
172
For more info on US political geography, such as how to become 51
st
state of USA, see my Leaving
America notes.
173
Dolan, Matthew. "Charges Expected in Cleveland". Online.wsj.com. Wikipedia retrieved May 8, 2013.
174
Coyne, John; Sheeran, Thomas J (April 21, 2003). "Frantic 911 Call Leads to 3 Missing Women in Ohio".
Time. Wikipedia retrieved May 7, 2013.
"Police: No indication women were being held at home". CNN. May 7, 2013. Wikipedia retrieved May 7,
2013.
175
http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/05/7_things_we_learned_today_abou.html#incart_river#in
cart_maj-story-1
Ariel Castro is to be charged with aggravated murder, attempted murder, assault,
and for each day the women were held captive, and for each instance in which
they say they were raped.
He has already been charged with 4 counts of kidnapping and 3 counts of rape (1
for each victim).
He is being held on $8 million bond.
2013 May-8 Wednesday
A fund has been established to help Berry, DeJesus, Knight and their families.
The Cleveland Courage Fund will be administered through the Cleveland Foundation.
Donations, which will go to nonprofit organizations to provide services for the victims,
can be given at clevelandfoundation.org or sent to the Cleveland Foundation, 1422 Euclid
Avenue, Suite 1300, Cleveland, Ohio 44112.
176
Donations can also be made at all KeyBank branches. The fund also has a Facebook
page. For in-kind donations of goods and services, email
clevelandcouragefund@gmail.com
2013 May-7 Tuesday
May-7 was when I first noticed this on the news. It may have been on earlier, but I no
longer watch the news every day.
The three women appeared to be in good health and were taken to a hospital to be
evaluated and reunited with relatives. A photo released by Berry's family showed her
smiling with an arm around her sister. All three were released from Metro Health
Medical Center 2013 May-7 Tuesday morning. Police said they were taken to an
undisclosed location in the suburbs.
177
2013 May-6 Monday Ramsey rescues Berry for successful 911
Many efforts could have led to the rescue of these women years sooner, but there was a
breakdown in communications between neighbor witnesses and police response to
alleged 911 calls. I have a later chapter just on that problem. However, on May-6
neighbor witness action did lead to a successful rescue.
Berry noticed the front door was unlocked, but saw the outer storm-door was still bolted.
She was reluctant to attempt an escape because Castro was known to test the three
women by leaving doors unlocked. Castro would beat the women if they left the
176
http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/05/amanda_berry_and_gina_dejesus_1.html#incart_maj-
story-1#incart_maj-story-1
177
http://www.officer.com/news/10937976/frantic-911-call-leads-ohio-police-to-missing-women
unlocked rooms, police sources confirmed. Berry made the decision to break through the
storm door after seeing people on a neighbor's porch.
178
A neighbor, Charles Ramsey, told WEWS-TV he heard screaming Monday and saw
Berry, whom he didn't recognize, at a door that would open only enough to fit a hand
through. He said she was trying desperately to get outside and pleaded for help to reach
police.
179
He and other neighbors helped her escape.
Neighbor Anna Tejeda was the person who supplied the woman with a cell phone so that
she could call 911 for police help.
180
After escaping on Monday from the West side home of accused rapist and kidnapper
Ariel Castro, Berry told police Castro would be in the neighborhood, driving a blue
Mazda convertible.
181
Police called in the car's description. Soon after, patrolling officers spotted the car driving
northbound on West 33rd Street, where it pulled into a nearby McDonald's. The officers
were told to stop the vehicle and apprehend anyone inside. Castro, 52, was at the wheel.
His brother, Onil Castro, was in the passenger seat.
182
Onil, 50, asked police if they were being held because of a third brother, 54-year-old
Pedro Castro. "If so, he's over at our mom's house," Onil said. Police then went to the
mother's Hyde Avenue home, where Pedro was arrested.
183
At the time of the arrests, the home was in foreclosure for 3 years of unpaid real estate
taxes.
184
The police arrived within minutes of the 911 calls. The first two officers to arrive at
Castro's home crawled into the house through the front storm-door, With guns drawn,
officers searched upstairs, where they walked a hallway and called out that they were
with Cleveland police. That is when one of the officers saw a pair of eyes peeking
through a slightly opened bedroom door. The eyes belonged to Knight, who fled the room
and leapt into the arms of one of the officers and repeatedly said "you saved me." The
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
Shaw, Scott (May 2013). "Cleveland house where missing women held captive is in foreclosure".
Cleveland. Wikipedia retrieved May 7, 2013.
officer choked back tears, the source said, and soon DeJesus entered the hall from another
room.
185
2012+ Time Line continues
Ariel Castro was fired from his school bus job for "bad judgment" in Nov 2012.
186
He
had had the job since Feb 1991, for the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. His
employer grievances included:
187
making an illegal U-turn with children on the bus;
188
using his bus to go grocery shopping;
and leaving the bus unattended while he took a nap at home.
189
While family and others held vigils, and searched for Gina DeJesus
190
and Amanda
Berry,
191
Ariel Castro was identified by Gina's family in video footage of two of these
vigils.
192
He reportedly participated in a search party, and tried to get close to the
family.
193
2007+ = Year of Ashley Summers disappearance
Ashley Summers was age 14 on July 6, 2007 when she was reported missing in the same
neighborhood where Berry and DeJesus had vanished.
194
She lived with her great-uncle in the 2100 block of West 96th Street, near Madison
Avenue, at the time. She disappeared after an argument, taking all her clothes with her. A
month later, she called her mother to say she was okay and not to worry. In November of
that year, Ashley's step-grandmother believes she saw Ashley from her car on West 44th
185
http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/05/discovery_of_amanda_berry_gina_1.html#incart_maj-
186
187
188
"Ariel Castro Arrested as Suspect in Abduction and Disappearance of Three Cleveland Women".
Cleveland Leader. Wikipedia retrieved May 7, 2013.
"Police: No indication women were being held at home". CNN. May 7, 2013. Wikipedia retrieved May 7,
2013.
189
Allison Terry (April 16, 2012). "Three brothers arrested: what's known so far about alleged Cleveland
captors". CSMonitor.com. Wikipedia retrieved May 8, 2013.
190
Gina DeJesus disappeared April 2004, at age 14.
191
Amanda Berry disappeared April 2003, at age 16.
192
"Georgina Lynn DeJesus". The Charley Project. Wikipedia retrieved May 7, 2013.
"Missing Children | Gina DeJesus | Case". AMW. Wikipedia retrieved May 7, 2013.
193
Northeast Ohio. "Castro family connections to Gina DeJesus and Amanda Berry investigations go back
years". cleveland.com. Wikipedia retrieved May 8, 2013.
194
http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/05/amanda_berry_and_gina_dejesus_1.html#incart_maj-
Street. Ashley had her hair cut short and dyed blonde. She disappeared before her step-
grandmother could turn the car around.
195
Authorities believe Ashley left of her own accord, but she hasn't been seen or heard from
since 2007 and they think she could be being held against her will. Two other teen girls
have disappeared from the same area; Amanda Berry vanished in April 2003, and
Georgina DeJesus went missing in April 2004. Police are investigating the possibility that
the three cases are related.
196
They think one or more of the girls may have been forced
into prostitution. All three cases remained unsolved until May 2013, when Berry escaped,
leading to DeJesus and Knight, and Berrys daughter, being rescued.
2006
Relevant 2004 segment of America's Most Wanted, was re-aired March 25, 2006.
197
No AMBER Alert was issued the day Gina DeJesus disappeared April 2004, because no
one had witnessed her being abducted. The lack of an AMBER Alert angered her father,
Felix DeJesus, who said in 2006 that he believed the public would listen even if the alerts
become routine.
198
2005
Relevant 2004 segment of America's Most Wanted, was re-aired April 02, 2005.
199
In 2005, a filing in Cuyahoga County Domestic Relations Court accused Ariel Castro of
attacking his former wife, Grimilda Figueroa, who died in 2012. Figueroa twice suffered
a broken nose, and suffered broken ribs, a knocked-out tooth, a blood clot on her brain,
and two dislocated shoulders. Attorney Robert Ferreri requested that a judge "keep Castro
from threatening to kill" Figueroa, and said Figueroa had full custody with no visitation
for Castro of the children, but "Nevertheless, Castro frequently abducts daughters and
keeps them from mother.
200
2004+ = Year of Gina DeJesus abduction
Amanda Berry was featured in May 22 2004 segment of America's Most Wanted, which
re-aired in 2005 and 2006 and linked her to Gina DeJesus.
201
Both had gone missing,
195
196
197
198
"3 missing women found in Cleveland, Ohio; man arrested". Necn.com. April 21, 2003. Wikipedia
retrieved May 7, 2013.
199
200
"Kidnapping suspect Ariel Castro's daughter in prison for slashing her own daughter in 2008". Cleveland.
November 1, 2011. Wikipedia retrieved May 7, 2013.
201
close to 1 year apart, in about the same place in Cleveland.
202
They were profiled on The
Oprah Winfrey Show and The Montel Williams Show, where self-described psychic
Sylvia Browne told Miller in 2004 that her daughter Amanda was dead, and that she was
"in water."
203
Georgina "Gina" Lynn DeJesus disappeared April 2, 2004 at age 14.
204
There
are conflicting news stories on last contacts with all 3 young ladies.
DeJesus was a seventh-grader in special education classes at Wilbur Wright
Middle School on April 2, 2004, when she decided to walk home. Her family
quickly realized something was wrong when she didn't arrive home at her usual
time. She was reported missing that same day, and the FBI became involved just
two days later.
205
She was last seen at a pay phone at about 3 p.m. April 2, as she headed home
from middle school at West 105th Street and Lorain Avenue. She and suspect
Ariel Castro's daughter Arlene Castro had called Ariel's wife, Grimilda Figueroa,
seeking permission for a sleepover at DeJesus' house, but the answer was no.
206
Berry and DeJesus disappeared within five blocks of each other, perhaps even on
the same block.
207
Police offered a $25,000 reward for info on locating of Dejesus
or Berry, since their disappearances were so close to each other.
208
202
Northeast Ohio. "Search continues for Amanda Berry's body on West Side of Cleveland". cleveland.com.
Wikipedia retrieved May 7, 2013.
"Missing Children | Amanda Berry | Case". AMW. Wikipedia retrieved May 7, 2013.
"Missing Children | Gina DeJesus | Case". AMW. Wikipedia retrieved May 7, 2013.
203
"Amanda Berry's mother asks Psychic Sylvia Browne 'Is she out there'". WKYC News. November 18, 2004.
NBC. WKYC. Wikipedia retrieved May 7, 2013.
"Page 2: Daughter Found With 3 Women Missing for a Decade ABC News". Abcnews.go.com.
Senger, Emily. "Psychic on The Montel Williams Show said Amanda Berry was dead. She wasnt. Need
to know". Macleans.ca. Wikipedia retrieved May 8, 2013.
"Abductions of Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Ashley Summers Video". Oprah.com. October 12,
2009. Wikipedia retrieved May 8, 2013.
204
Northeast Ohio. "Six long days, Gina still missing Parents, police, city officials focus on case at community
meeting | cleveland.com". Blog.cleveland.com. Wikipedia retrieved May 7, 2013.
205
206
Dissell, Rachel (May 7, 2013). "Suspect's daughter said in 2004 she was the last to see Gina DeJesus
(video)". cleveland.com. Wikipedia retrieved May 7, 2013.
207
By Philip Rosenbaum Nancy Grace Producer. "Three teens disappear from same neighborhood". CNN.
208
Northeast Ohio. "Vigil today for Gina DeJesus, missing for eight years". cleveland.com. Wikipedia
Northeast Ohio. "New search for Gina DeJesus comes up empty Family's day is filled with anxiety, relief".
cleveland.com. Wikipedia retrieved May 7, 2013.
A week after Gina's disappearance police released a sketch and description of a
Hispanic man aged 25 to 35, 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) tall, weighing 165 to 185 pounds
(75 to 82 kg), with green eyes and a pencil-thin beard. The suspect had been seen
near her school driving a light blue or white car, and asking for Gina.
209
When FBI agents questioned Fernando Colon in 2004 about the recent disappearance of
14-year-old Gina DeJesus,
210
Colon pointed agents toward Ariel Castro as a possible
suspect, Colon recalled the week of the ladies young being found and rescued.
211
Colon, who at the time was living with Castro's ex-wife, said he told the agents that
Castro's two daughters knew DeJesus and Amanda Berry, who had gone missing from
the same area on Cleveland's West Side a year earlier.
212
"Nobody wanted to believe me about this guy," Colon said in an interview with The Plain
Dealer. "Maybe the FBI didn't feel there was enough evidence to focus on him."
213
The FBI disputes Colons memory. Theres nothing in their records to indicate he said
any such thing.
214
2003+ = Year of Amanda Berry abduction
Amanda Marie Berry disappeared at age 16, April 21 2003 (one day before
her 17th birthday).
215
There are conflicting news stories as to last contacts with all 3
young ladies.
She called her sister to say she was getting a ride home from her job at a Burger
King.
216
She was believed to have made it home, changed from her uniform, but
no one witnessed her there.
217
She left money and all her clothes at home.
218
209
"3 missing women found in Cleveland, Ohio; man arrested". Necn.com. April 21, 2003. Wikipedia
210
http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/05/fbi_previously_investigated_th.html#incart_river
211
cart_maj-story-1
212
213
cart_maj-story-1
214
215
216
217
"The Charley Project: Amanda Marie Berry". Wikipedia retrieved May 7, 2013.
218
She was known to have had plans to celebrate her birthday the next day. Before
her disappearance Berry had been in a gifted program at John Marshall High
School, but had switched to an online home school program in which she was on
track for early graduation.
219
Police initially considered Berry a runaway, until a man used her cell phone to
call her mother, Louwanna Miller, claiming the teenager would return in a few
days and that they were now married.
220
Berry's disappearance received extensive media coverage because of the tenacious efforts
of her mother, Louwana Miller. Miller frequently went to local media, held vigils, and
appeared on TV shows such as "America's Most Wanted" to keep her daughter's name in
the news.
221
2002+ = Year of Michelle Knight abduction
Michelle Knight disappeared Aug 22, 2002 at age 21.
222
There are conflicting news
stories with last known info on all 3 young ladies.
At the time she disappeared, she lived at a house on Walnut Avenue.
223
She was last seen when she left her cousin's house. She disappeared near West
116
th
or 108th Street and Lorain Avenue, on a day she was to appear in court for a
child custody case concerning her son.
224
Her mother thought she had once seen her with an older man at a shopping plaza
on West 117th Street.
225
Police and family members came to believe that Knight may have left on her own,
frustrated because she had lost custody of her son.
226
219
220
221
222
Debbi Wilgoren "Police: Three rescued Cleveland women, 6-year-old are in good health". The Washington
Post. Wikipedia retrieved May 7, 2013.
Seitz, Colleen. "Michelle Knight, missing Cleveland woman, disappeared in 2002". Wikipedia retrieved
May 7, 2013.
"Three brothers arrested over Cleveland abductions". Reuters. Wikipedia retrieved May 7, 2013.
223
224
"The three girls abducted in Cleveland all went missing on the SAME BLOCK and were held captive three
miles (5 km) away". Daily Mail Reporter. Wikipedia retrieved May 7, 2013.
225
Northeast Ohio. "Michelle Knight's 'normal teenage life,' plagued by troubles in years before
disappearance". cleveland.com. Wikipedia retrieved May 7, 2013.
Atassi, Leila. "Berry, DeJesus, Knight found alive, police source confirms". The Plain Dealer. Wikipedia
226
Her brother, who was a twin, said he and his sister were products of an abusive
home.
227
In a 2002 missing persons report, police stated she had a mental disorder.
228
1996
Ariel Castro was accused of pulling a fence post from a neighbor's property. The
neighbor's 6-year-old daughter stepped in the resulting hole and fell, hurting herself.
Court documents detailed significant hostility between the neighbors, and Castro said he
spoke with police "on a number of occasions about the neighbor. Castro was ordered to
pay $241 in damages.
229
1995
Ariel Castro was stopped six times by Cleveland Police between 1995 and 2008 for
traffic violations.
230
1993
Ariel Castro was arrested for domestic violence in 1993, and spent three days in jail
before being released on bond, but a grand jury declined to indict him.
231
He was also
arrested in December 1993 for disorderly conduct. He pleaded guilty to the charge.
232
1992
Ariel Castro has owned the house at 2207 Seymour Ave., where the women were found,
since 1992.
233
"The three girls abducted in Cleveland all went missing on the SAME BLOCK and were held captive three
miles (5 km) away". Daily Mail Reporter. Wikipedia retrieved May 7, 2013.
227
228
Northeast Ohio. "Michelle Knight's 'normal teenage life,' plagued by troubles in years before
disappearance". cleveland.com. Wikipedia retrieved May 7, 2013.
229
"Kidnapping suspect Ariel Castro's daughter in prison for slashing her own daughter in 2008". Cleveland.
November 1, 2011. Wikipedia retrieved May 7, 2013.
230
"Ariel Castro owns home where missing women Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, Michelle Knight found".
Newsnet5. Wikipedia retrieved May 7, 2013.
231
Barr, Meghan. "Amanda Berry's sister offers thanks, seeks privacy". The Seattle Times. Wikipedia
"Berry, DeJesus, Knight found alive, police source confirms". Cleveland. May 2013. Wikipedia retrieved
May 7, 2013.
232
233
Oh Cl Horror Stories
There are tales of abuse coming out via the news media, where we do not yet have
sufficient details to put in the time line. Some of this may be a continuing attack on the
mental health of the women, not one time events.
While in captivity, the women had multiple pregnancies, at least one live birth,
and multiple miscarriages.
234
Police said the women were sometimes kept in
"chains and bondage"
235
There may now be permanent hearing loss due to repeated
beatings.
When allowed in the back yard. Berry, DeJesus and Knight wore wigs and sunglasses,,
and Castro instructed them to keep their heads down.
236
Oh Cl Missed opportunities
These ladies could have been rescued years earlier, had there been better cooperation
between the police and the community.
Neighbors say they saw and heard suspicious things, called police several times, got a do
nothing response.
The police deny any such calls, claim that there is a record of all calls, so even if good
reason to do nothing, thered be a record of it. There is no such record.
People remember telling investigators immediately after the abductions, their suspicions
about Arial Castro. Since this never made it into the notes of the investigators, as far as
the authorities are concerned, it never happened.
There were a lot of accusations between Colon and Castro.
The result is massive distrust of the authorities.
We know witness testimony is often flawed.
We know human memories are often flawed.
Maybe some of these people with memories would be willing to have a lie detector test
with the news media regarding what they remember, that is not in any official records.
The Boston bombing could have been avoided had there been better information sharing.
9/11 showed a problem with security and intelligence agencies data stove piped.
It has been 12 years, and that has not yet been fixed.
234
"Police source: Multiple pregnancies, miscarriages among missing women found in Cleveland home".
Newsnet5.com. Wikipedia Retrieved May 8, 2013.
235
"Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus: Chains, bondage found in Seymour Avenue home".
Newsnet5.com. Wikipedia retrieved May 8, 2013.
236
College chums heard something about bomb making, but did they warn
authorities?
Conversion to fanaticism was observed by many family members, but did they do
anything about it?
Fanatic was kicked out of the Mosque, but did they alert authorities?
Jihadist videos downloaded and uploaded. An interest in this topic is not
necessarily an indication that the person agrees with the content, but it is a clue
among many.
Russian government said theres a problem, would not communicate what it was.
Several federal agencies had tiny bits of info, never shared nor correlated.
Student visa no longer applies if you drop out of classes. Isnt the university
supposed to tell someone when this happens? Yes, but the capability for the
government to do anything with that data had been defunded.
Twitter feeds show they were part of the mentality that promotes the idea that
9/11 was a Bush inside job. Many people believe conspiracy theories, only a few
are motivated by them to do violence against the nation, such as militia groups,
Unabomber, Ok City bomber, Sikh Temple shooter.
In aggregate there were more than enough clues that these boys were a potential problem,
but each clue was known to only one group of people. I continue to add to this collection
of clues, within my Boston Bombing notes.
237
Oh Cl claims police called
There are tales of people calling the police, about suspicious behavior of that household,
and the police investigation being superficial, according to news media interviews of
people in the neighborhood. Cleveland police records do not support these claims. The
suspicious stuff was not absolute proof of wrongdoing. For example, there was the house
in Cleveland where the bodies of 11 dead kids were found. The neighbors reported
stench coming from the house to the police, several times, before the bodies were found.
Initially the stench was attributed to a nearby sausage factory.
238
City Safety Director Martin Flask said 2013 May-7 that investigators had no record of
anyone calling about criminal activity at the house but were still checking police, fire and
emergency databases.
239
The allegations are NOT that anyone called about criminal
activity, but rather that they reported suspicious activity.
Here is testimony from neighbors who claimed they called police due to very suspicious
activities, then the police failed to do as the witnesses thought reasonable. I count at least
5+different persons claiming to have called the police with similar stories. Today the
police are saying these calls never happened.
237
http://www.scribd.com/doc/136142293/Boston-Bombings-2013-April-by-Al-Mac
238
239
Women who lived in a neighborhood apartment building said they called police because
they saw three young girls crawling on all fours naked with dog leashes around their
necks in the backyard, as three men controlled them.
240
Elsie Cintron, who lives three houses away, said her daughter once saw a naked woman,
on a leash, crawling on her hands and knees in the backyard several years ago and
called police. "But they didn't take it seriously," she said.
241
A neighbor told USA Today he had called police after other neighbors said they saw
naked women on dog leashes crawling on all fours in the home's backyard.
242
A woman said she called police after seeing a naked women in the backyard.
243
Another neighbor, Israel Lugo, said he heard pounding on some of the doors of Castro's
house, which had plastic bags on the windows, in November 2011. Lugo said officers
knocked on the front door, but no one answered. "They walked to side of the house and
then left," he said.
244
If the police are to be more active, as a result of this public outcry, innocents will be more
vocal about that police activity. One who called 911 this time said the 911 operator was a
moron because 911 asked the caller what he was wearing. Strikes me that this helps
police distinguish caller from suspect, when they arrive on scene.
Oh Cl similar patterns, statistics, suspicions, mitigation
Very few people who go missing, are categorized as kidnap victims. For a missing
person to be so categorized, there needs to be a good police investigation, and good
evidence to lead to such a conclusion. Most cases of people going missing, there is
neither a good police investigation, nor good evidence.
Our surveillance society may improve the availability of evidence, since there are many
cameras recording whats happening in public, and a great abundance of people with cell
phone cameras. I can envisage a future society where theres a missing person picture on
the Internet, combined with facial recognition software. We connect our camera footage
240
Post to Facebook. "Reports of sex abuse, beatings inside Cleveland house". Usatoday.com. Wikipedia
241
242
Post to Facebook. "Reports of sex abuse, beatings inside Cleveland house". Usatoday.com. Wikipedia
"Ariel Castro Allegedly Kept Sexually Abused Kidnap Victims In 'Chains And Ropes'".
Huffingtonpost.com. Wikipedia retrieved May 8, 2013.
243
"Ariel Castro Allegedly Kept Sexually Abused Kidnap Victims In 'Chains And Ropes'".
Huffingtonpost.com. Wikipedia retrieved May 8, 2013.
244
to that site, to find out if we have any pictures of that person. Also people who have
footage of places, where the missing person might have been, commuting between school
and home, or visiting the mall, or whatever, that could be shared to show time periods
when the missing person was not along certain sections of the territory being searched.
We saw in the Boston Bombing, that when a lot of the public agree that the case
should be solved rapidly, that this kind of thing can work. It takes the right kind of
resources, and right kind of cooperation. I will be spelling out what I think we
need, in my upcoming notes. Some people are angry with the police, other
authorities. I think that drains energy from solving the problems, plus finger-
pointing puts the police on the defensive.
In my career as a computer geek, serving the corporate world, I like to use the
word GLITCH = no fault error. Something is messed up. It can be minor, or
catastrophic. Our mutual team goal is to get it fixed, and to fix whatever the
pattern of behavior or policy practices are, that lead to such things happening.
Finger-pointing can be destructive to an organization, because people who think
they may get in trouble over the problems, they fight the investigation, raise false
clues, the problem never gets solved.
I learned from MSNBC Rachel Maddow show that
Hundreds of thousands of people go missing every year in the USA.
75% of them are children at the time they go missing.
50% of those children are never found.
45% of the children are rapidly found, they were not really missing.
7% of the children are classified as suspected abduction by a family member.
2% of the children are classified as suspected abduction by a stranger.
661,691 people were categorized as missing in the USA in 2012.
In 2012, 660 thousand missing people, 75% of them were children, 50 % of the
children never found so thats approx 250 thousand children from 2012.
There is speculation what happened to the never found 50%, such as child sex
traffic, then there is controversy what should be done about that. Since there is
no evidence what happened to those hundreds of thousands of missing children
every year, the uproar over these uninformed speculations distracts resources
from finding out what is REALLY happening with those kids, or dealing with other
problems where we do know some facts for sure, such as adult sex trafficking.
Ohio Winter
A school bus crashed in Logan County, with 41 students aboard, none seriously
injured.
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Icy snowy road conditions could be a contributing factor.
246
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http://www2.nbc4i.com/news/2013/feb/04/6/school-bus-carrying-40-students-crashes-logan-co-ar-
1340350/
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http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2013/02/05/school-bus-tips-in-snowy-weather.html
I saw on a National Geographic channel show about tow trucks in Donner Pass, where
those trucks have on their dashboard, the word ICE which lights up in red, when the
vehicle detects black ice ahead on the roadway. I wonder how expensive to install that
on school busses, and train the drivers what to do when they see that light go on?
After I shared this sentiment on social media, I was informed that the technology does not
actually detect the black ice, rather it detects that conditions are at risk of this being the
case, so instead the focus should be on bus driver training to recognize risks, and drive
accordingly, such as with chains on the tires, or the school should not be in session when
driving conditions real bad.
Perhaps there can be adjustments to insurance rates, based on drivers training and
certification that they know what they are doing in adverse driving conditions.
There is also such a thing as smart car technology. The kinds of systems which are used
for maps, to tell drivers how to get where they want to go, but distract them so they will
probably crash on the way there, can also be linked to weather info, to provide alerts if
we are driving into hazardous conditions, which we dont see yet, but are getting close.
Oregon: Eugene Incident
A witness a person who police have subsequently interviewed reported seeing a
white sport-utility vehicle pull into South Eugene High Schools northeast parking lot just
after 5 p.m. Thursday and abduct a man who had been wearing a white jacket and jeans
and carrying a backpack.
247
The witness said three people exited the SUV through the rear hatch and put a white hood
over the mans head, then put him in the vehicle before getting back in themselves and
speeding away, according to police.
248
No one has yet been reported to the police, as missing, who fits the description of the
victim, but the police do have surveillance footage to help the case.
249
Pennsylvania: Altoona Incident
An abduction attempt of an Altoona Area Junior High School student has led to a
registered sex offender who police have labeled a "person of interest." A junior high girl
reported that a man attempted to kidnap her as she walked along the 1700 block of
247
http://www.registerguard.com/web/updates/29051466-55/police-reported-eugene-person-
thursday.html.csp
248
thursday.html.csp
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thursday.html.csp
Seventh Avenue at 7:29 a.m. Tuesday on her way to school.
250
It sounds like the police
do not know whether or not to believe the girl.
The alleged abduction attempt occurred almost exactly one year after the Mirror covered
an Altoona Area Junior High School parent addressing the school board about bus
transportation for his child, saying a search of the Megan's Law website found 10
convicted sex offenders living within a 1-mile radius of his home and the junior high
school.
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In accordance with state law, the district does not provide bus transportation to
secondary students living within a two-mile radius of school.
Puerto Rico
I found this story, when searching for confirmation of Nancy Grace stories, but I dont
see anything about a school bus stop. It is a kidnapping of a 6 year old boy.
252
See Oh Cl Suspect and family chapter, for a common misconception about Puerto
Rico by a lot of US news media.
South Carolina
Some traffic accidents occur because a driver does not know the rules of the road, which
is a pre-requisite to getting a drivers license. A man was driving a truck, without a
license. He drove past a school bus, which had stopped, and had the stop sign out. The
truck hit a 10 year old boy who was crossing the street to get to the bus. The boy was
dragged several feet, then went airborne. Valverde was charged with passing a stopped
school bus and driving without a South Carolina driver's license.
253
A video shows that bullying has escalated to a brutal beating of a 12 year old girl on the
bus. The video was taken by a friend of the girl, to try to help reduce the violence, and
get justice for the victim, assuming she survives the assault. The girl, who took the
video, has been disciplined, by the school. Apparently taking video inside a bus is
prohibited, unless it is done by the authorities, and constitutional rights are to be denied
children.
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Can we imagine what life was like for kids, before cameras became
affordable for their protection? The victims mother suspects the school policy, in
opposition to students using cameras, is to facilitate cover-ups of events like this.
A 15-year-old boy said the incident occurred between 7:30 a.m. and 7:45 a.m. on Nov. 5
as he was walking to school on Legrand Smoak Street in Cordova, he was taken at gun
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http://www.altoonamirror.com/page/content.detail/id/565181/Investigation-continues-into-alleged-
student-abduction.html?nav=742
251
http://www.altoonamirror.com/page/content.detail/id/565181/Investigation-continues-into-alleged-
student-abduction.html?nav=742
252
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/31/alfry-infante-perez-kidnapped-puerto-rico-returned-
unharmed_n_2051218.html
253
http://www.live5news.com/story/19923693/police-truck-passes-school-bus-stop-sign-hits-child
254
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/11/15/3666930/police-investigate-school-bus.html
point by someone who wanted to steal his money, but the boy said he did not have any,
then he was let go. Orangeburg Consolidated School District 4 spokesman Tim Newman
said that such an incident is not at all common at the school.
255
Does that mean it
happens only once a month, a year?
Texas: Austin bus stop safety
Austin city council is considering ways to make it easier to identify drivers who pass
stopped school buses, placing the children in danger, because there have been many
recent incidents.
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They want surveillance cameras on the buses. They want tougher
penalties.
A bus headed to Gordon Bailey Middle School was stopped along Old Manchaca,
waiting for students to get on, when a Jeep attempted to go around the stopped bus on the
two lane road. The Jeep clipped the front end of the bus and rolled into a ditch on the side
of the road. Driver of Jeep ticketed for traffic violations. The 43 students on the bus were
not injured, and no one was taken to the hospital.
257
Texas: Fort Worth Incident
A school bus swerved to try to miss an oncoming car as it was taking nine Wedgwood
Middle School students home following an after-school program. The bus crashed and
the car hit the bus.
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Texas: Greenville 3 Incidents
The Alicia Moore case
259
fits the Nancy Grace pattern:
a 16 year old child is let off school bus about a block from home;
the child never gets home;
parents call friends of the child, trying to locate the child, are unsuccessful;
parents call the police;
the police take no action, not taking the situation seriously,
260
assuming the child
is either a run-away, or is spending the weekend with some friends, without
telling parents, even though the child has never done either of this before, and
there is no evidence they did that this time;
255
http://thetandd.com/news/local/teen-says-he-was-snatched-going-to-school/article_b2d8f95a-2e1d-11e2-
b598-0019bb2963f4.html
256
http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/local/austin/council-looking-to-make-bus-stops-safer
257
http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/local/austin/council-looking-to-make-bus-stops-safer
258
http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/Bus-carrying-Fort-Worth-middle-school-students-crashes-through-
wall-179600271.html
259
http://www.wfaa.com/news/crime/Frustrations-grow-as-probe-into-Greenville-teens-murder-continues--
178148451.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/12/alicia-moore-texas-teen-investigation_n_2117942.html
260
http://www.hlntv.com/video/2012/11/15/moore-alicia-missing-girl-no-amber-alert-body-found
a few days later, the child is found, dead, in which the coroner evidence is such
that had the police issued an Amber Alert, or notified the news media, promptly,
the child might have been saved.
The community suspects that the police inaction could have been due to racism, prejudice
against people who are not rich, and an assumption that older children are more likely to
be doing things without informing parents.
One man reportedly told police he saw Moore sitting in the front seat of a car at a
Greenville convenience store on the afternoon she disappeared. The police say that lead
went nowhere.
A second similar case in Greenville was reported to police in January. In that case, a child
said someone attempted to kidnap her near a bus stop.
After the Alicia Moore case, police reacted more rapidly. A man drove toward a student
in the Greenville Middle School parking lot, lowered his window and offered a ride. The
girl refused the ride, and just as that was happening, her aunt approached and the man
left. School resource officers caught the truck on video and tracked down the driver. The
man was a friend of the family and was legitimately offering the child a ride home.
Before it was figured out, that it was an innocent encounter, a letter was sent to parents,
warning them of risks.
261
However, approx abductions are not by strangers, so he could
have been up to no good.
Texas: Lubbock
In 2007, a law was passed requiring school districts to report school bus accidents. The
Texas Education Agency web site shows statistics by school district and year,
262
which
are then checked by some local news media.
There were 89 school bus accidents in the last five years involving 863 students, with
Lubbock Texas school districts, and 1 had apparently missed 1 year of complying with
the law.
School officials speculate that many accidents are fender benders due to areas of high
traffic volume. LISD says 79% of the accidents were not their fault, and Frenship says
16 of theirs were also caused by other drivers.
263
261
http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Attempted-Abduction-in-Greenville-177854301.html
262
http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index2.aspx?id=7732
263
http://www.kcbd.com/story/20963082/tonight-10-kcbd-investigates-school-bus-accidents
Texas: Houston Kindergarten Incidents
A substitute school bus driver had a list of adults who were authorized to pick up the
children on the bus. Katrina Roberson was at the school bus stop to pick up her 7 year
old son, but the driver said her name was not on his list, so he would not let the child
leave the bus. He closed the doors and returned the child to Holmquist Elementary
School. This was on a Monday. There was also an issue with the child saying he had left
his jacket on the bus, the driver closing the doors, looking, saying he cant find it, not
letting the child look, the adults screaming at the driver that this is taking entirely too
long, so the driver closes the doors with the child inside, and calls dispatch for
guidance.
264
Dontre Espree shot the video of the school bus driver driving away with the first grader
crying, because there was another problem incident with another school bus the previous
week. In that earlier incident, Espree was not allowed to pick up her 6 year old son,
because the parents name was allegedly not on the list. This was on the previous
Friday.
265
There are problems at this stop due to an after school program, where parents have
authorized apartment management to pick up kids and take them to the program, then
parents pick them up later, but this permission in writing has failed to make it into the
school bus data base.
266
This explanation by the school district does not explain to me
why the parents are not on the list. The list should have both parents and the apartment
management personnel associated with each child.
Utah: Child Hostile 2 Incidents
The Ogden Utah School District is facing a wrongful death lawsuit after a 7-year-old boy
died of a heart condition in 2010.
267
Before Eduardos kindergarten year, Eduardos mother says she told the school her son
had a serious congenital heart condition called hypoplastic left heart syndrome. The
school claims this never happened. They have another story.
7-year-old Jose Eduardo Flores Bedollas family said that when he came to Horace Mann
Elementary School on Oct. 29, 2010, he wasnt feeling well. Eduardo complained of a
stomach ache and he was sweating, so his teacher sent him to the office. Eduardo was
told to sit on a bench alone waiting for his mother to pick him up. While waiting, a
teacher trained as a respiratory therapist offered to examine Eduardo, but school officials
said to not touch him; just leave him alone.
Eduardos mother drove him to the hospital where he died. The boys family claims
school negligence is to blame for the death.
264
http://www.myfoxhouston.com/story/20113549/2012/11/15/a-tale-of-2-school-bus-videos
265
266
267
http://fox13now.com/2012/12/12/ogden-sd-facing-lawsuit-in-death-of-7-year-old-boy/
The ACLU,
268
in December 2012, proposed a class action law suit over a "gang sweep"
December 2010 at West High School in Salt Lake City, during which between 14 and 40
students of color were detained, searched, questioned and falsely accused of being gang
members.
269
The school supposedly thought it had a problem with gang graffiti where a student was
considered to be a gang member because of:
the color of their skin;
their ethnicity or cultural background;
the style of their garments;
color patterns of legally acquired back packs;
choice of art drawings and doodles.
The children were not given an opportunity to call a parent or lawyer, before being
searched by the police, at the schools behest. They were forced to hold up a sign giving
their name, and claiming to be a gang member.
These innocent children, with no prior juvenile record, good academic credentials up to
this point in time, etc. were then entered into a gang data base to be subjected to intense
police scrutiny, without any legitimate basis for suspicion.
This led to stress and mental health problems for the children. Their grades suffered as a
result.
Virginia: Cheriton 2 Incidents
In two consecutive days, reckless school bus drivers caused school bus crashes.
270
In one case, a semi truck had to stop for a traffic light, and school bus crashed into back
end of the truck. I have learned not to follow close behind trucks, because they block
visibility of conditions ahead. This apparently was missing from the school bus drivers
know-how.
Next day, a school bus driver managed to drive into the ditch and roll over.
268
http://www.aclu.org/racial-justice/aclu-files-lawsuit-over-unlawful-sweep-utah-school-targeting-
students-color
http://www.aclu.org/criminal-law-reform-prisoners-rights-racial-justice/winston-v-salt-lake-city-police-
deptartment-et
http://www.aclu.org/racial-justice/winston-v-salt-lake-city-police-deptartment-et-al-complaint
269
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/55462826-78/gang-students-lake-salt.html.csp
270
http://www.delmarvanow.com/article/20121115/NEWS01/121115001/NORTHAMPTON-Drivers-
ticketed-after-school-bus-crashes-consecutive-days?nclick_check=1
Virginia: Norfolk Incident
A 10-year-old girl was walking home from Oceanair Elementary School when an
unknown suspect approached her in a black work van. The suspect got out of the van and
grabbed the girls arm. She was able to get away and fled on foot.
271
Virginia: Lynchburg Incident
Shortly after 8 p.m. a 15-year-old girl was approached by a man described as having a
muscular build and deep voice who grabbed her and tried to pull her toward a wooded
area on Yorktown Avenue. The location is close to Holy Cross Regional Catholic School
and about a mile from Linkhorne elementary and middle schools. The girl ran away from
her attacker and got home safely.
272
Police did not release any information in the case until 2 p.m. the next day. They say
they have a balancing act between maintaining the confidentiality of an investigation, and
what is in the best interests of protecting other potential victims.
273
What I do not
understand: it is self evident that the man knows he attempted the crime, so what is to be
gained by the police keeping quiet? If he knows the police are looking for him, that
might be a chilling effect making him less likely to be stalking other victims.
= Lynchburg.
West Virginia 3 Incidents
Vehicles passing stopped school buses, disregarding child safety, is a problem many
places in the USA. In West Virginia, it is also a problem with government vehicles. A
surveillance video shows a Charleston parking enforcement vehicle driving by a bus
while the stop arm was activated. Another vehicle can be seen on the video passing as
well. There were several surveillance cameras on the bus. At least one angle captured the
license plate number.
274
A vehicle passed a stopped school bus, killing a child crossing the road, where the
defense was poor visibility due to bad weather conditions, such that the driver did not
know the stopped vehicle was a school bus.
275
271
http://www.wavy.com/dpp/news/crime/npd-girl-nearly-abducted-after-school
272
http://www.newsadvance.com/news/local/article_89bc5626-2f98-11e2-824b-0019bb30f31a.html
273
http://www.newsadvance.com/news/local/article_89bc5626-2f98-11e2-824b-0019bb30f31a.html
274
http://www.wowktv.com/story/19919061/cameras-catch-city-vehicle-passing-a-stopped-school-bus
275
http://county10.com/2012/11/14/day-2-of-the-barnes-trial-school-bus-driver-and-students-testify/
http://county10.com/2012/11/16/verdict-barnes-not-guilty-of-aggravated-vehicular-homicide/
http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/0a66d39a09f84d569e93ca70c7ee25b9/WY--School-Bus-Death
http://www.sfgate.com/news/crime/article/Man-involved-in-fatal-bus-stop-crash-set-for-trial-4027976.php
http://www.sfgate.com/news/crime/article/Driver-acquitted-of-felony-in-WY-school-bus-death-
4049976.php
When we see a school bus stopped, whether it has its flashing lights going or not, we
should stop, until we see that it has finished its duties, and the street is clear of any
children crossing.
If visibility is impaired due to bad weather, such that we cannot see other vehicles, such
as a school bus, clearly, then we have no business being on the highway. I also have some
concerns about the school bus being out in such conditions, without a police car escort, to
try to prevent this kind of accident.
However, to be driving under the 65 mph speed limit, at a time when visibility would not
let you clearly see the school bus you were passing, is not a good defense. In fog or
snow, if you cannot drive safely at 5 or 10 mph, you should not be driving period.
Oct 2012, an 8-year-old girl suffered a broken leg and foot when she was struck by a
motorist after getting off the school bus in Summersville.
276
Also see chapter: Passing a stopped school bus.
Foreign to USA also has school safety issues
Many of the same stories we see in the USA, have their parallels in other nations.
It also happens in the Middle East
A man was arrested for the kidnap and attempted rape of a teenage girl who was waiting
for a school bus in Sharjah, Iran.
277
A taxi followed a school bus in Muskrat Oman, then the driver attempted to kidnap a
seven year old girl. Normally the bus arrives at 2 pm, and a relative is waiting at the stop,
but school let out early, so there was no one waiting when she arrived at 1.30 pm.
Neighbor witnesses stopped the kidnapping.
278
A train hit a school bus in Egypt, killing 51. The people blame the train, and prior
governments neglect of train safety.
279
Schools in India do not believe in child safety
After a child fell to her death through a hole in the floor of a school bus, the government
of India imposed new regulations for school buses. Private schools went on strike to
protest the safety regulations.
280
276
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/W-Va-schools-chief-Drivers-still-passing-buses-4003611.php
277
http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/general/man-held-over-rape-attempt-1.1100882
278
http://www.muscatdaily.com/Archive/Oman/Alert-neighbours-foil-kidnapping-attempt-1s4v
279
http://www.woai.com/news/local/story/Egyptian-train-hits-school-bus-51-killed/7ArIqGEK6k6Fj-
Oic1WFjw.cspx
280
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/coimbatore/Statewide-school-bus-strike-today-to-protest-new-
guidelines/articleshow/17273874.cms
School Violence
Various institutions maintain statistics on violence in association with schools, but none
of them are a complete story.
Trouble on and off school buses often do not find their way into any official
statistics, where school buses are mentioned as a related factor.
Police abuse of authority, you would not find in statistics maintained of incidents
of violence in the schools, because the authorities do not consider police officers
damn near traumatizing children to death, to be in the same category of a few kids
slapping each other around.
School authorities methods of discipline, also would not be found in statistics
maintained by the educational system, since they do not consider this in the same
category as unauthorized violence.
US Schools are supposed to report a variety of types of things to the US Department of
Education, an institution we are told will be closed, the next time a Republican is elected
President. Over the years, the categories have increased.
Here is a summary of a US Department of Education report, March 12, on disparities
around the USA with: school discipline; teacher qualifications; other topics.
281
Minority students across America face harsher discipline, for the same alleged
offenses, have less access to rigorous high school curricula, and are more often
taught by lower-paid and less experienced teachers.
Here is a summary of the 2005 School Safety Report by the US Department of
Education.
282
In 2003, students in urban schools were twice as likely as students in rural and
suburban schools to fear being attacked at school, or on the way to and from
school.
Violent crime rates in the nation's schools, unchanged between 2002 and 2003,
remained at about half those recorded in 1992.
The report indicates that students are twice as likely to be victims of serious
violence away from school.
What the report defines
283
as crimes includes: Drug
284
Pushing on Campus;
Fights; Gangs on School Property; Thefts; Truancy; Unauthorized bullying;
Unauthorized Threats; Unauthorized violence; Unauthorized weapons in the
possession of students.
281
https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/new-data-us-department-education-highlights-educational-
inequities-around-teache
282
http://www2.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/2005/11/11202005.html The complete text of the report is
available online at http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2006001 .
283
Examples of authorized this and that would include: schools bullying kids because they are different, or
have values other than the mainstream; police use of tasers, and other non-lethal weapons, on kids for being
kids; school discipline methods.
284
Includes both illegal drugs, and one child giving another an aspirin.
Motorists passing a Stopped School Bus
Most school zones have 20 mph speeds, but limited to when students are entering or
leaving school. I believe these signs should be issued with warning lights, similar to road
construction zones, for those time zones, activated both by a timer and a switch from the
Principal office. The timer would cause the light to flash, at times when students are
scheduled to be arriving, departing due to the school schedule. At other unscheduled
times, the switch in the Principal office could be flipped to add to the warning flashing
light. The office switch could also be used to designate some date as being a holiday,
like a weekend day, when the lights will not be needed.
School busses are rolling traffic signals, with different rules in different localities for the
use of amber (warning) and red (stop) lights. Should they also have green lights to let
stopped motorists know it is now safe to proceed, because all the relevant children have
made their road crossings?
285
In many states, penalties are increasing for drivers disregarding speed limits in
construction zones. This is because some highway construction workers have been killed
by motorists driving too fast for those conditions. I think the penalties for driving fast
past school buses which have stop sign and warning lights going,
286
thus placing
childrens lives at risk, should be commensurate with people who put construction
workers lives at risk. Perhaps there should be more severe penalties for risking the lives
of children, than risking the lives of construction workers, because children are less
mentally developed to react rapidly, when some reckless motorist action places them at
risk.
In Illinois, there are an average of 7,000 accidents every year, in road construction
work zones.
287
In 2003, 44 construction workers were killed in Illinois, thanks to motorists
disregarding slow down speed limits in highway construction zones.
288
In 2006, there were 29 work zone fatalities in Illinois.
289
This issue is complicated by some construction zones poorly sign posted, especially in
Indiana. There are slow down signs for construction zones which are deserted, and there
are workers doing construction, when there were no warning signs.
Do we have national statistics on children killed, thanks to motorists disregarding school
bus safety?
Approx half of school children, killed at school bus stops, are due to motorists
disregarding the school bus stop sign or flashing lights.
290
What about the other
285
http://www.stnonline.com/blogs/safe-at-the-stop/1709-getting-tough-to-stop-illegal-passers-of-school-
buses
286
http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/police/faq.html
287
http://www.illinoistollway.com/construction-and-planning/work-zone-safety
http://www.illinoistollway.com/construction-and-planning/slow-down-save-lives
288
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2027071/posts
289
http://www.isp.state.il.us/media/pressdetails.cfm?ID=406
290
http://www.stnonline.com/blogs/safe-at-the-stop/2415-llegally-passring-school-buses
half? Albemarle police Cpl. Sean C. Hackney said many motorists he has pulled
over have said, "Well, I didnt know what to do. It happened too fast." They are
ignorant of school bus law, either deliberate accident on purpose, or they knew it
once and have forgotten about it. How can you get a drivers license without
having known this at one time? Apparently many drivers ed classes have been
neglecting this important ingredient.
What is the penalty for motorists caught doing this with school buses?
I think it was in Cleveland Ohio, where a woman has to hold up a sign that only
an idiot would do what she did, driving on sidewalk, to get around a school bus,
and its children.
291
She also got a $250.00 fine, and license suspended 30 days.
Many people in social media think the penalty was too humiliating for the crime
committed. I think she should have had to spend some time in jail, have her kids
taken away from her and placed in foster care, since she obviously does not value
the lives and safety of children. Then there should be a social welfare study to see
if she has become mature enough to be a parent again.
In Connecticut, it is a $ 465.00 ticket.
See West Virginia, possible jail time for motorist who killed a child crossing the
street when the motorist blew through the school bus stop sign, at 65 mph.
There is no penalty in Virginia, thanks to poorly drafted legislation.
292
What is the penalty for reckless driving through slow down zones, due to highway
construction? This varies by state, with penalties increasing over time.
293
First offense $375.00.
Second offense $1,000.00.
90 day license suspension.
Mandatory Court Appearance.
In many communities, school buses now have surveillance cameras, to record vehicles
and their license plates, which violate school bus safety, or other driving safety, then
report them to the cops, who will track down the vehicle owners, issue tickets.
294
In some states, police sometimes do a ride along, on school buses, to do the recording
both of vehicles doing these violations, and also to note statistics of on which school bus
routes this is the biggest problem.
295
West Virginia 2012 May, this led to police issuing five tickets.
West Virginia 2012 Oct, this led to police issuing seven tickets, and one warning.
291
http://www.stnonline.com/home/latest-news/4873-ohio-judges-idiot-sign-order-for-illegal-school-bus-
passer-causes-online-buzz-
292
http://www.stnonline.com/blogs/safe-at-the-stop/2943-virginia-school-bus-passing-loophole
293
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2027071/posts
http://www.dot.state.il.us/press/r062409.html
294
http://www.wlns.com/story/20075811/grand-ledge-buses-get-new-cameras-for-passing-cars
295
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/W-Va-schools-chief-Drivers-still-passing-buses-4003611.php
Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles conducted a study in
conjunction with the Florida Department of Education which indicates there are 21,000
recorded incidents of drivers illegally passing school buses every day. This results in 3.7
million possible violations by Florida motorists in the 180-day school year.
296
Indiana Department of Education (IN DOE) said a one day study of 184 districts state-
wide uncovered more than 3,500 cases of motorists illegally passing the buses with stop
arms activated and amber lights flashing. IN DOE estimates nearly 630,000 motorists
will illegally pass stopped school bus stop arms in a typical school year, and 10,600 of
them on the right side of the bus, where children are loading and unloading.
297
Georgia, Virginia and Washington state all passed laws this year to allow school districts
to equip video cameras on school bus stop arms or on the external body of the vehicle to
catch these motorists. Washington state's law even went as far to require the one-day
count each year, starting next May.
298
Other Driving Safety
The rules (and auto design and understanding human anatomy) may have evolved since I
learned to drive (in the 1950s and 1960s, which was a combination of traditional
schooling and real life experiences), when we were told about how far a vehicle travels at
XX speed, before what the eyes see translate to the brain telling the body to react to tell
the car, and then the brakes react, so we should have about 1 car length safety margin in
front of us for every 20 mph of our speed.
Nowadays it seems like no-one heeds this safety margin, including school bus drivers. I
might be driving 60 mph, with 3 car lengths of separation between me and the vehicle in
front of me, and some other vehicle passes me, then plops into that gap, which I had
deliberately maintained for safety. It makes no difference if private auto, truck, or school
bus, other drivers do not adhere to this practice I was taught 50 years ago. Was I taught
wrong?
When it comes to tailgating at high speed, cops are the worst offenders.
I have seen many stories in the news, over the years, about a school bus gets stuck in a
traffic jam, while part of the bus is sticking over rail road tracks, then it gets hit by a train.
In my driver education, I have learned that:
Sometimes the train alarm system is broke, such that the warning signals do not
work right to let motorists know a train is coming. You have to LOOK down the
296
http://www.fldoe.org/transportation/pdf/FloridaStoparmResults.pdf
http://www.stnonline.com/home/latest-news/4845-florida-organization-formed-to-curb-motorists-who-
illegally-pass-school-buses
297
http://www.stnonline.com/blogs/safe-at-the-stop/3502-round-up-stop-arm-counts-continue-to-tell-story-
of-illegal-school-bus-passers
298
http://www.stnonline.com/blogs/safe-at-the-stop/3502-round-up-stop-arm-counts-continue-to-tell-story-
of-illegal-school-bus-passers
tracks in both directions, before crossing them, just like a pedestrian crossing a
street.
Traffic jams do not always get cleared up rapidly, so before crossing train tracks,
we should make sure there is space on the other side, so our vehicle has cleared
the tracks before we have to stop again. The same kind of principle applies when
crossing a busy intersection. If the traffic jam is such that we are likely to end up
in the middle of the intersection, when the lights change, we want to avoid
entering the intersection until there is room for our vehicle on the other side.
In bad weather, safe driving practices requirements are much more constrained
than in good weather.
What I have learned is apparently not in the brains of many drivers today.
My sister is a school teacher. I asked her if something has happened with driver ed, to
contribute to an apparent huge decline in driving skills. She informed me that due to
budget cuts, driver ed is no longer part of school curriculum.
Revision History
My info sources are re-shared by paragraph, since I expect to later have more sources on
developing stories.
May-12 Version 0.8
When I uploaded version 0.7 to Scribd, I found that in the latest Scribd improvements, it
had lost the description, and some coding, but fortunately old tags still there. I fixed
description, added more tags, and this took my visibility score from 2/5 to 5/5. I know
from past experience that most any time I upload a revised edition of any research, an
earlier 5/5 will have fallen to 4/5 visibility, so I often review overall description for any
improvements implied by the latest additions and rewrites.
I added much more to the Ohio-Cleveland-Kidnap story, rearranging some of the content,
and starting new sections still to flesh out. I added significant additional info to whats
known about the victims, suspect, and time-line, including conflicting stories between
neighbors who say they called the police about very suspicious activities at that house,
and police saying this never happened. Suspect # 1s brothers were co-conspirators based
on neighborhood witnesses, but have not yet been charged because the police do not
believe those witnesses.
I moved my Amber ideas to be grouped up front with Amber in general. While fleshing
out the Ohio Cleveland story, I found references to other services to aid parents of newly
missing children, and where to go when existing services are exhausted. I updated the
front section accordingly.
I added to other states, such as the Florida story of the disappeared woman there allegedly
homeless for 10 years UNTRUE. Yes, she was there 10+ years, but not homeless the
whole time. She was undocumented, which is a whole other problem, which I tried to
summarize.
Theres more additions scattered throughout, the overall document. Theres also more I
want to add, as a result of the Ohio-Cleveland-Story:
So far, I have only scratched the surface of sources closest to the story.
Some media say this is a rare scenario. True, but there are allegedly dozens of
similar instances, some of which maybe should be added, and reference each
other.
The police have statistics of disappearances by year in Cleveland, perhaps worth
adding to the time line.
Charley Project has details of disappearances by geography, where they are now
cold cases, perhaps statistics worth adding to each state.
Perhaps up-top I should add a chapter for REUNITING AFTER DISASTER, with
resources specific to that scenario.
2013 May-8-9 Version 0.7
May-8-9 wee hours, I uploaded this, at which point the doc was up to 58 pages, with 228
footnotes. In addition to minor updates to multiple earlier chapters, and intermittent
scattering of similar incidents added to my notes over time:
Starting around page 33, I had inserted significant content about the situation in
Cleveland Ohio, where 3 women were found, who had been abducted in 2002
2003 and 2004, in pretty much the same place, then held in captivity within 5
miles of the kidnap point.
I have lots more I intend to look into on this story, but I had reached a convenient
break point, in writing up the so far.
2012 Dec-18 Version 0.6
Dec-18 mid day I uploaded this, at which point it was up to 43 pages, with 170 footnotes.
In addition to minor updates to multiple earlier chapters:
Conclusion Summary copy from body of notes, conclusions so far.
Add summary of my conclusions so far, from Sandy Hook incident.
See my separate research notes Mass Shootings, for what transpired Dec 2012 at
Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown CT, starting around page 72 in those notes.
Nov-18 Version 0.3
Nov-18 late afternoon I uploaded this, at which point it was up to 34 pages, with 147
footnote links to my info sources. In addition to minor updates to multiple earlier
chapters:
School Violence in perspective - started
What to do when your child is missing I restructured the list.
Where I note similar incidents, I note after them, where the other ones happened.
Nov-16 Version 0.2
My semi-retired day job is about to occupy a few hours of my time, so I uploaded version
0.2 at an early evening break point before starting that. In addition to doing minor
updates to multiple earlier chapters, I had added significant info in three areas:
Amber Alerts ways to get at them I started a new chapter on that.
Lessons for Parents I added to that list.
What to do when your child is missing I expanded that chapter.
Nov-16 Version 0.1
I shared Version 0.1 early Nov-16 morning. At that point I had accumulated links to
stories about:
25 incidents where some girl aged 7 to 18 is either kidnapped, or an attempted
kidnap, while she is between home and school, via a school bus stop.
1 such incident with a boy.
2 incidents with sniper vs. school bus.
2 incidents with a drunk school driver.
2 incidents where school bus driver wont let parents take their own children,
because school data base is screwed up..
I had chapters on lessons learned for parents, and what to do if you think your child is
missing. My overall notes were 9 pages with 37 footnote links for source citations.
Nov 15 Nancy Grace
2013 Nov-15 evening, I watched part of Nancy Grace on HLN, during commercials on
MSNBC, CNN, other news channels, and nothing of great interest to me, at that time, on
C-Span. There are some news stories I am following, and I wanted to check the latest
headlines.
Nancy Grace spoke of a problem, where I wanted to check other news media to verify her
story. I have not yet found specific verification, but I have found enough stories to
warrant concern that school bus safety is not everything it should be, and that safety in
general for children commuting between school and home, is a house on fire in some
communities.

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