Missing and Murdered Children

In my experience of writing about missing children it has been a rare occurrence when there is any news coverage devoted to a endangered runaway. I suppose there are reasons why this case is being covered in the media, but I certainly am glad that it is being given coverage.

The story really is a parent’s worst nightmare. You send your 12-year-old daughter off to catch her bus for school and you assume, just like all of the other days before, she arrived there safely. Except this day. A message is left on the answering machine telling you that your daughter did not attend classes that day. Most likely by the time you are listening to that message it is after you have come home from work and maybe it is about 6 or 7 p.m. You know your daughter left home at about 7:30a.m. She is missing for 12 hours now.

You don’t know what to do. Your daughter has never run away from home before and it seems as though things are going fine with her. She acts like any other normal 12-year-old little girl. You go around and talk to her friends and to the neighbors and your stomach drops when someone tells you they saw your daughter near the bus stop getting into a car and it appeared she was getting into the car willingly. The driver was an unknown male - it is time to call the police. That terrible day was Monday; today is Saturday and there is still no word about where your baby could be.

The scenario above is the nightmare the parents of twelve-year-old Tania Molina-Raudales of Silver Spring, Maryland are living. Police are concerned for her safety although at this time it does not look as though there is any foul play associated with Tania’s disappearance.

In researching this case I came across some disturbing comments left in one online newspaper’s comments section. Some are judging Tania because she does not dress like a twelve-year-old; they believe she dresses and looks much older. Some are judging her and her parents and claiming that most likely the car Tania was seen getting into probably belonged to her boyfriend. So far from all of the media accounts I have read Tania’s parents have not indicated she even has a boyfriend.

Some commenters have in gone so far to suggest that Tania has gone off to be initiated into a gang. Most of these comments, suggestions, or judgments have been based on the fact that Tania is a Hispanic female.

Below is how a friend of the family described Tania:

From www.wjla.com:

“This girl is very good, plays in the house, goes to school and come back and I don’t know what’s going on,” said Ronald Brown, a family friend.

It does not sound as if Tania was a very sophisticated young girl from that description

If you know where Tania Molina-Raudales is or of anyone who knows what happened to her on the morning of Monday September 22, 2008 please call the Montgomery County Maryland Police Department at 1-301-279-8000 or call 1-800-THE-LOST.

Missing: Tania Molina-Raudales

Tania is a twelve-year-old Hispanic female with black hair and brown eyes. She is 5′5″ tall and weighs 135lbs. Tania was last seen on September 22, 2008 getting into a dark colored, older model, four-door sedan.

Suspect: Unknown

Hispanic male

Suspect Vehicle

dark colored, older model, four-door sedan

As far as Tania getting into the car willingly, I am reminded of a similar case.