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Tag: missing child

  • Alice Gross: Suspect Wanted In Connection With Missing Teen

    Alice Gross, the 14-year old London girl who went missing during the last week of August, has still not been found, and her family issued a plea for information regarding the teen as Scotland Yard focuses their investigation on a man with a violent past.

    Arnis Zalkalns was spotted biking on a path shortly after Gross was last seen in the same area, and police are searching for him for questioning. Zalkalns was reportedly convicted in 1998 of stabbing his wife to death and was sentenced to seven years in prison. He has not been seen since September 3.

    “Alice has been missing for four weeks now. We are desperately concerned about her welfare and worry constantly about what may have happened to her. We are appealing to Alice. If you are out there, to come home where you belong…. We want to be a family again,” the Gross family said in a statement.

    Alice has been missing since August 28, when she was seen walking on a path under Trumpers Way bridge towards Hanwell. Locals have rallied around the family to aid in the search, and investigators have even recreated Alice’s walk along the canal, saying she has a distinctive gait that might be remembered by anyone who saw her that day.

    “Just as Alice reached the [Trumpers Way] bridge it started to rain heavily. Think back and try to remember if you were out and about in that area that afternoon. It was during the summer holidays and the canal is a really popular place locally. We know that Alice loved the rain, so she probably would have kept walking in it rather than seek shelter. There are many paths and turn offs from that canal towpath. We don’t know the route that Alice took, so please think back to that Thursday four weeks ago and call us if you can help,” Detective Superintendent Carl Mehta told BBC News.

  • Madeleine McCann: Search For Missing Girl Reopens In Portugal

    The search for Madeleine McCann is reopened once again.

    About 30 searchers will be digging in the area where the girl disappeared seven years ago.

    British police will be spearheading the search for the girl, who was only a few weeks shy of celebrating her fourth birthday when she went missing.

    On Monday, press people gathered outside a restricted section of Praia da Luz, the beach resort town where Madeleine was last seen. A source has mentioned that a blue tent will be covering the area and dogs are going to be brought in to aid in the search.

    “It should not be assumed that this substantial upcoming phase of work in Portugal will immediately lead us to the answers that will explain what has happened. What you will see is normal police activity you would expect in any such major investigation,” mentioned Assistant Commissioner, Mark Rowley, who is head of specialist crime and operations about the search for Madeleine.

    On May 3rd 2007, Madeleine’s parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, left her and her twin siblings sleeping inside their apartment as the couple went to dinner with their friends at a nearby tapas restaurant. The couple took turns checking on their children every 30 minutes, but at around 10 pm, Kate found out that her eldest daughter was missing.

    Police sources also mentioned that it’s highly likely that the search will be expanded to other areas of the resort within this week. However, there is a chance that the search might be called off if there are no significant discoveries by Friday.

    Eight months ago, a TV appeal was done and spurred a lot of phone calls about new leads regarding possible suspects and some potential clues that sparked the interest of detectives to rekindle the case once more.

    In 2008, Portuguese police closed the case, stating that no crime has ever taken place. However, last year, a judge in Lisbon decided to reopen the investigation, as new leads that emerged might finally solve the case.

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  • Amber Alert: Relisha Rudd Missing; Homicide Linked To Case

    The amber alert for 8-year-old Relisha Tenau Rudd increased in urgency after D.C. police have located vehicles related to the search.

    Upon finding the body of a woman connected to the case at an Oxon Hill motel room, authorities issued a regional alert. It was reported that Andrea Denise Tatum’s death was a homicide and it was learned she was the wife of 51-year-old Kahlil Malik Tatum – a janitor who worked for the homeless shelter at which Relisha and her mother have been staying.

    Tatum had previously been caring for Relisha at the allowance of her mother, Shamika Young, who says she has known him for years.

    “I didn’t see anything wrong with him. He’s a good guy,” Young explained. She added: “When [Relisha] did go out with him, he brought her back. He would take her shopping, took her to see Disney on Ice, he bought her a tablet for Christmas, took her out to eat with his granddaughter.”

    “This Mr. Tatum was a friend of the family,” said Belinda Wheeler, Relisha’s paternal grandmother, “He was trying to be Relisha’s godfather.” She added that he brought her “a lot of gifts” but claimed he did not know the family prior to their residing at the shelter.

    Other family accounts shared by the police have said the mother asked Tatum to care for Relisha on Feb. 26., but Belinda Wheeler did not say where Relisha had been staying since she left with the janitor on that date.

    Since that date, Relisha had a string of absences from the elementary school she attended. The official reported receiving varying reasons from Shamika, including that she was staying with her grandmother.

    Some police officials have stated that Relisha’s mother had not considered her child missing and spoke to her by phone as recently as a few days ago. An updated, recorded plea was broadcasted from Shamika requesting the return of Relisha.

    “Bring my daughter back to me right now, please,” Young stated on broadcast news, “It’s crazy. I want to know what’s going on.”

    Tatum is now wanted for the murder of his wife.

    “Relisha is a sweet, quiet girl,” said Jamila Larson, executive director of the Homeless Children’s Playtime Project. She explained that staff and volunteers took leave of work to put up fliers and aid in the search efforts. She added:

    “Everyone just feels desperate to do something to help.”

    Relisha is described as being 4 feet tall, weighing 70 to 80 pounds, and may have her hair in braids and barrettes. As it has been weeks since she was last seen by any family members close to her, police cannot offer a description of what she is wearing.

    If you have any information on Relisha, please contact: 202-727-9099

    Anyone with information regarding the deceased should contact 1-866-411-TIPS

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  • Madeleine McCann Disappearance: Police On The Verge Of Making Arrests

    Madeleine McCann Disappearance: Police On The Verge Of Making Arrests

    Scotland Yard (London police) may travel to Portugal this week to make arrests in the in the case involving the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. Madeleine was a little girl who vanished 7 years ago while on a Portuguese vacation with her parents. She was 3 when she disappeared from the hotel room where she was sleeping.

    The authorities have indicated they intend to interview three suspected burglars who had been actively committing burglaries in the neighborhood during or about the time of Madeleine’s disappearance. The authorities say the rate of burglary had significantly increased in the resort where the McCanns had been staying, peaking in 2007. Two burglaries even took place in the apartment block where the McCanns were staying as recently as April of last year. In both cases, entry was through the window.

    The family has refused to comment on the case. A spokesman for the McCann family told ABC News that the matter should be left to the investigators instead of speculating.

    “I’m afraid we are saying nothing about any aspect of Operation Grange whilst the police work continues, least of all about any tabloid speculation surrounding it,” said the spokesman.

    The spokesman further said that the latest development could be significant because it will eventually either rule in or out the involvement of the three men. He also said the family is keeping its expectations low in regard to this development.

    Police reviewed records of hundreds of mobile phone numbers from calls made during the time Madeleine disappeared and discovered that a high number of calls were made between the three suspects. The calls apparently raised a red flag.

    Had Madeleine not vanished from her bed that night, she would have celebrated her fourth birthday just a few days later. Her parents, Gerry McCann and Kate McCann, who were dining at a nearby restaurant at the time their daughter went missing, have been engaged in a campaign to find her ever since.

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  • Madeleine McCann Case: Arrest Imminent

    An arrest is imminent in the Madeleine McCann case. Madeleine was just three years old when she disappeared from a Portuguese vacation with her family seven years ago. The case was reopened three years ago. Authorities are seeking three burglars who were active in the area during the time Madeleine was abducted, in a sting called Operation Grange.

    “I’m afraid we are saying nothing about any aspect of Operation Grange whilst the police work continues, least of all about any tabloid speculation surrounding it,” a spokesperson for Madeleine McCann’s parents–Gerry and Kate McCann–said during a recent press conference.

    The burglars in question were allegedly involved in crimes in the actual apartment block from which Madeleine was abducted. Investigators have pored over cell phone records from the region, during the time of Maddie’s disappearance. They especially concentrated on those coming from three burglars.

    Scotland Yard’s Metropolitan Police Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood said during the summer when the case went from a simple inquiry back to a full-on investigation that he believes it is possible that Madeleine McCann could still be alive.

    ”There is no clear, definitive proof that Madeleine McCann is dead, so on that basis I still genuinely believe that there is a possibility that she is alive,” he said.

    It would indeed be a miracle if Madeleine, now 10 years old, is found.

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