Missing and Murdered Children

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The California Amber Alert issued this morning for 9-year-old Zane Newton has been removed from the NCMEC Amber Alert page.

Zane was playing outside his friend’s home when a car approached. An unknown male exited the vehicle and reportedly shot Zane. When he fell to the ground the suspect picked the boy up, put him in the vehicle and drove away. Although the boy who witnessed the abduction stated Zane had been shot police did not find any blood or shell casings at the scene.

I wondered about this abduction and I thought maybe this was a case of two kids playing with a gun and one of them getting hurt.

While I am writing this entry there is breaking news on my local television station - KCAL 9:

Reporters in the Bakersfield area are reporting a portion of a dirt field approximately one block from the abduction has been blocked off. Police are not allowing media or neighbors in the area. However, family members have been seen in the area on the sidewalk crying. An unconfirmed report is that Zane’s body has been located buried under the dirt in that field.

Updates:

• March 19, 2008: 5:18 p.m. - The Amber Alert has been canceled and a body has been found approximately one block away from where the reported abduction took place.
  

  Police searching for a missing boy found something in a tunnel in a sump near where the boy was reported kidnapped Wednesday morning.

  Initially police called firefighters to conduct a rescue but…”but, almost immediately, the rescue operation was called off.”¹

  I wonder why in an earlier article I read the California Highway Patrol believed the alleged abductor could be headed to the San Francisco Bay area.

• 5:35 p.m. - Local news station KNBC4 is reporting in the 5 p.m. newscast that they have confirmation from authorities the body found in the collapsed cave is indeed that of Zane Newton. Also, there is more information regarding the alleged shooting. This report states Zane was shot with a paintball gun in the shoulder. The witness was also shot with the paintball gun as well.
• 11:45 p.m. - Apparently what happened today was Zane and his friend were playing in an area that was supposed to be off limits - it was fenced. It was also known in the neighborhood that Zane played in this area with other neighborhood children. Zane and his friend were seen playing there earlier in the morning by neighbors. Unfortunately it was not until several hours after the Amber Alert was issued that two of those neighbors decided to jump the fence and search the field. They are the people who found Zane’s body.Investigators brought the friend in for questioning. So far it has been determined that Zane and his friend were digging a hole, Zane climbed into the hole and the dirt caved in on him. The friend became frightened and ran to Zane’s home and told the story of shooting and kidnapping; triggering the statewide Amber Alert. No charges are pending at this time against the boy for telling the kidnapping lie. I wonder if Zane could have been saved if his friend had only told the truth.²

1. ’Amber Alert Canceled; body possibly found,’ KGET.com, March 19, 2008. [↩]
2. KTTV11 News at 10, March 19, 2008. [↩]