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Tag: missing children

  • Madeleine McCann Abducted By Mystery Predator?

    Madeleine McCann was probably the victim of a mysterious child predator, claims a new book on the Madeleine McCann case.

    Authors of the book Looking For Madeleine, Anthony Summers and Robynn Swan, present startling information on the goings-on at the resort she was abducted from.

    They say that a man knocked on the door of a woman who was staying near Madeleine McCann and her family. He said that he was taking donations for an orphanage. The woman then noticed that he was staring intently at her three-year-old daughter.

    Summers said, “She later saw that man watching her place during the afternoon. The next day she went upstairs to fetch something for a moment and as she started to come downstairs she saw what she thinks was the same man in the room where her child was and as soon as she started to come into the room he (fled).”

    Three years earlier, a strange man reportedly got into the bed of a young girl at a nearby resort. When the girl woke up, she ran and he began chasing her while her sister asked if he was their father or their uncle.

    Swan said of the girls, “What they noticed about this man was that he was wearing what seemed to be a surgical mask and he had wound laundry around his feet, seemingly to keep from making prints or leaving marks,”

    “He disappeared without interfering with the two girls.”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNI5up44Nho

    That is creepy, but the authors present even more suspicious evidence that the man had Madeleine in his sights. Apparently the same man that pretended to be collecting money for an orphanage a few days earlier was spotted spying on the McCann’s apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal.

    “Two separate witnesses apparently saw a man, whom both described as very ugly or with a spotty or pimply face, staring fixedly at apartment 5A. They both described him being in the same position in the street,” Swan said.

    “That’s combined with the fact that on the very day Madeleine disappeared, a lady visiting the apartment upstairs saw from her balcony a man behaving very oddly in the lane between the apartments and the pool. The man was going out of an adjacent gate, closing the gate repeatedly to see if it was creaky. He seemed to be looking around and generally acting very peculiarly before leaving.”

    There had been a recent history of child abductions and sexual predators in the area when Madeleine McCann’s family arrived. The authors speculate that, had there been a warning posted somewhere in the apartment, Madeleine’s parents wouldn’t have left the door unlocked as they dined nearby and checked on the kids every 30 minutes.

    This possibility seems fairly likely to be the simplest explanation of what could have happened to poor Madeleine McCann. What do you think? If these facts are true, do you think the authorities should have taken more care to warn families that were vacationing in the area?

  • Amber Alerts: Do They Save Lives?

    In 1996, nine-year-old Amber Hagerman was abducted while riding her bicycle in Arlington, Texas. Her body was found four days later in a storm drainage ditch. Her murder has never been solved.

    In the years that followed, Amber’s family and friends worked tirelessly, not only to try to find her murderer, but to help ensure that such a thing never happens again. That very year, the basic idea and structure for Amber Alerts was in place, but was being handled manually. In 1998, the first fully automated Alert Notiication System came online.

    Since then, the Amber Alert system has expanded with every technological opportunity it can find. Amber alerts are distributed via smartphone apps, text messages, electronic traffic signs on highways, commercial and satellite radio stations, and even on electronic billboards of participating companies.

    The term “Amber Alert” has been modified. While its roots will always be with Amber Hagerman, it is now said to stand for “America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response”.

    But does it work?

    Some Amber Alerts are issued due to custodial issues. A non-custodial parent fails to bring a child back home when arranged. If the other criteria for an Amber Alert are present, police may issue the alert.

    The criteria are:

    1. Law enforcement must confirm that an abduction has taken place.
    2. The child must be at risk of serious injury or death.
    3. There must be sufficient descriptive information of child, captor, or captor’s vehicle to issue an alert.
    4. The child must be under 18 years of age.

    In the case of a non-custodial parent issue, if that parent has a history of violence, is believed to be under the influence of drugs, or some other reason that is determined to put the child at risk, an Alert may be issued.

    Other cases include children who were in carjacked vehicles, as well as outright abductions like Hagerman’s.

    The program is considered very effective. It has helped save the lives of 495 children nationwide. One of the goals of the program is not only to respond very quickly in the event of an abduction, but to discourage such crimes from ever occurring because the odds of getting away with it are getting slimmer as the avenues for Alerts become ubiquitous. If a child’s description and other information are spread so quickly that they outrun the perpetrator, that narrow window to save a life becomes more effective.

    Image via AmberAlert.Gov

  • Natalie Calvo Rescued by Local Woman, Hours After Abduction

    Amber Alert stories often don’t get instant happy endings. However, in Antioch, California, one did. Natalie Calvo, 7-years old, was found at a marina near the Antioch police station on Friday night, the same night she went missing.

    A man followed Natalie Calvo and her mother home from a Walmart trip. While Calvo’s mother unloaded groceries from the car, the perpetrator made his move. He tried to force Calvo into his van, but her mother interjected his attempt. The perp then responded by pulling out a gun on her. Next he shoved Calvo into his van and took off. Several abduction attempts were reported at that same Walmart a couple of days earlier.

    Approximately three hours after the kidnapping, LaShay Burks saw the suspect at the marina. Reports say that the suspect was shirtless sitting in his parked car at the marina.  Burks became aware of Calvo’s story from her sister. Her sister saw the news report earlier that evening. Once she identified the suspect’s car, Burks called the police.

    David Allen Douglas, 43, was found in his car with Calvo. Later he was identified in a lineup as Calvo’s kidnapper. Douglas has no prior sexual assault charges. However, there are reports of previous conflicts that required the authorities to get involved.

    A reporter from the CBS San Francisco news team, Andria Borrba, filled her Twitter account yesterday with updates on the case. Borriba also tweeted about earlier abduction attempts that happened that day.

    Calvo showed no signs of physical harm, and she reunited with her parents after questioning. Calvo now sleeps safely at home.

    We’re glad this nearly tragic story turned into a story of local heroism.

    Image Via NewsInc.com

  • Avonte Oquendo: Search for Missing Autistic Child

    It was October 4, 2013 when Avonte Oquendo, a fourteen-year old autistic boy from Queens, New York, went missing. He was last seen leaving his school in Long Island City, New York, which was caught on a surveillance camera. A school safety officer also reportedly stopped him, but police state that the safety official is not to blame. The boy is described as 5-foot-3-inches, weighing about 125 pounds, and was last seen wearing a grey stripped shirt and black jeans.

    Oquendo is fascinated with trains, and police believe that he may have boarded one to New Jersey or further. Daniel Oquendo, Avonte’s brother, told the station: “Maybe if he’s not out in the street, then somebody does have him and I just hope that whoever does have my brother, they just give him up please so we can have him back.” Oquendo’s family members have described him as non-verbal, which makes the task of finding him even more difficult.

    According to the U.S. Department of Justice’s most recent study, there were approximately 800,000 children younger than eighteen-years old who were reported missing in a one-year period of time, which equates to about 2,185 children who are reported missing each day. As many as six children with autism go missing each week, and over half of all autistic children will run away at least once before the age of seventeen. Interactive Autism Network reported that 49 percent bolt or “elope” after the age of four-years old.

    They may not respond when their names are called, run away to the sound of police sirens, and hide in small, closed spaces. Children with autism also interact with others very differently, and are affected by situations in their own distinct way. According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), autistic children often have a diminished sense of fear. They cannot register the elevated risks, and may walk straight into traffic, wander into the woods, or move toward water. In fact, 91 percent of autistic children who are found dead is due to drowning. In 2013, fourteen autistic children wandered away and have been found dead.

    Stories of missing autistic children do not always end in tragedy. There have been many cases where the child was found. In October, 2011, Robert Wood Jr., an eight-year old from Virginia, disappeared for about a week and was later found in a creek bed. In April, 2013, Angelo Messineo, a sixteen-year old from Georgia, was found alive on a horse farm, four days after he left school.

    Many volunteers have joined in the search of Avonte Oquendo, and prayers are made each day for his safe return. Autism Speaks, a non-profit organization that attempts to increase autism awareness, has joined in the family’s efforts with a $70,000 reward being offered for any information on Oquendo’s whereabouts. According to the organization, autistic children that wander away is “common, dangerous, and puts stress on families.”

    “We can’t even sleep. It’s hard to sleep knowing your child is out there and he could be cold and hungry and he can’t even communicate,” stated Oquendo’s father.

    Those with information are asked to contact the NYPD at 1-800-577-TIPS.

    Image via Autism Speaks

  • Missing Girl Found Under Family Bed

    Missing Girl Found Under Family Bed

    A California girl that went missing Friday evening has been found – hiding under a bed.

    According to a Bay Area NBC report, Amieya Renee Stewart was reported missing at around 5 pm on Friday night. The girl went missing during a family gathering at the girl’s grandmother’s house in Richmond. Police and family members searched for Stewart for hours before finding her at around midnight.

    The girl was reportedly found hiding under a bed in the house where the family gathering had taken place. Police have stated that she was surrounded by objects that had been stored under the bed, and could not be seen. Even police dogs brought in on the search had not located the girl.

    After finding the girl, Amieya’s mother, while hugging her daughter and crying tears of relief, apologized for any worry the incident may have caused.

    View more videos at: http://nbcbayarea.com.

  • Google Adds Amber Alerts to Mobile and Desktop Searches

    Google is taking Amber alert information provided by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and working it into their search results, the company said today.

    Now, Amber Alerts will appear in users’ search results when they search for related information in certain locations (like where the child was taken or where the actual alert was issued). Searchers can also expect to see the Amber alerts if their queries are more specific, for instance referencing the name of the abducted child.

    The Amber alerts will appear in both desktop and mobile search, and will also pop up in Google Maps.

    “By increasing the availability of these alerts through our services, we hope that more people will assist in the search for children featured in AMBER Alerts and that the rates of safe recovery will rise,” says Google’s Phil Coakley, part of the Public alerts team.

    The Amber alerts will be shown as part of Google’s Public alerts platform, which currently shows emergency updates concerning weather, public safety, and earthquakes from the National Weather Service and the US Geological Survey.

    Google amber alerts

    Google added that they are working with other child protection agencies in Europe and Canada to try to expand this program to other countries.

  • NotFound Wants to Turn Your 404 Page into an Online Milk Carton

    Unfortunately, 404 error pages are some of the most-visited pages on the entire internet. It’s unavoidable – sometimes, pages just can’t be found. Now, one project in the European Union wants to raise awareness that there are other thing out there that can’t be found, and they are a lot more important than webpages.

    Missing Children Europe, with the help of Child Focus, have just launched the NotFound project. The initiative asks that websites let them take over their 404 error pages to help display information on missing children across the EU.

    It’s pretty simple: Site owners can install the NotFound application right from the site. After that’s complete, any time an internet user lands on the site’s 404 page, an image of a missing child will be displayed. It will also include some basic information, the number for the European Hotline for Missing Children, and this message:

    Page not found, neither is (Alessia & Livia Schepp)…

    “This project will allow us to once again concentrate the attention on children whom we haven’t heard of for many years. These children risk to fall into oblivion. The choice of the shown missing persons message on the 404 page will be at random: it could be a recent disappearance, or on the contrary, a child that has been missing for a long time. We already have a few major partners and invite every business or person with a website to join our project. No financial investment is required, just good will,” says Maryse Roland of Child Focus.

    Some websites take the time to spice up their 404 pages, to make them funny or interesting. NotFound’s goal is to make them useful.

    “The 404-page is a cornerstone of the internet culture. An increasing number of websites designs have customized error pages that limit frustrations for the user. With the NotFound-project we are however taking this one step further by giving these pages a reason to exist. The next step came easily: Page not found, neither is this child,” said project creator Laurent Dochy.

    According to NotFound, they already have close to 1,000 sites (of varying notoriety) participating in the initiative.

  • FBI Child ID App Aims To Help You Find Your Missing Kid

    I’m not a parent, but I can imagine that one of the scariest things any parent can imagine is losing a child in a public place. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has just released an app that can help parents if this worst case scenario ever happens to them.

    Called the FBI Child ID app, its main function is a place to store vital information about your child that can aid law enforcement in the event that they go missing. With the app, parents can store multiple photos of their child along with other basic information like height and weight. This way you can quickly pull up all of this info to show anyone who is helping in the search.

    Probably the most helpful function of the app is that it allows you to quickly email your child’s photos and physical description to the authorities in just a few steps.

    The app also includes safety tips and guidance for what steps to take in the hours following a child disappearance.

    In the future, the FBI says that the app will be updated to add more features.

    The FBI Child app is free. Currently, it is only available on iOS. The FBI says that they “plan to expand this tool to other types of mobile devices in the near future.”

    I can already see the question forming in your head, as it popped into mine right away – What about that information, where does it go?

    Here’s what they say about that –

    An important note: the FBI (and iTunes for that matter) is not collecting or storing any photos or information that you enter in the app. All data resides solely on your mobile device unless you need to send it to authorities. Please read your mobile provider’s terms of service for information about the security of applications stored on your device.

    According to their blog, a child goes missing every 40 seconds in the United States. I guess it couldn’t hurt to put your child’s information down in the app on the off chance that something unexpected happens.