Missing and Murdered Children

Original Post: Monday July 20, 2009Click for UpdatesView Sources

Yes, you read it right, a Virgin Island AMBER Alert. When I first saw the missing poster for this child with the letters “VI” for what I thought was the initials of the state of residence I thought it was an error. Certainly they must have meant “VA” for Virginia. Anyway, call me nationalistic in my thinking. But you can’t call me that either because much to my surprise the Virgin Islands are considered part of the United States. Of course that echoes in my brain somewhere – United States Virgin Islands. I guess I just think AMBER Alerts are for the fifty states that make up United States of America. Enough of my meandering.

According to a Virgin Islands news website called St. Croix Source, two-year-old Alayah Watley resides with her mother on the island. She was last seen on Saturday at the home of her father, Rolando Watley. According to the article, Alayah was in her father’s temporary custody, however he is currently “off island”.

The AMBER Alert issued by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children states that Alayah is the victim of a non-family abduction and is believed to be traveling in a car owned by her father but driven by Candice Hazel. The AMBER Alert goes on to state that if contact is made with Alayah or either Candice Hazel, Delicia Hazel, Tiffany Hazel, Kyle Hazel or Rolando Watley police should be called. It sounds as if Alayah has more than one abductor, including her father.

I like the way the reporter for the St. Croix paper put it in no uncertain terms what will happen to anyone not contacting law enforcement if they know anything about this abduction:

If you are with Watley or may know her whereabouts please contact Detective M. Myers at 712-6046 immediately. Anyone withholding information on the whereabouts of this missing child and does not contact police immediately will face criminal charges.

It is refreshing to see someone not be so politically correct when asking for help to find a missing child.

Victim: Alayah Watley

Alayah is a 2-year-old Black female with black hair and brown eyes. She is 1’5″ tall and weighs 30lbs. When last seen Alayah was wearing black pants, a red shirt, gold earrings and no shoes. Her hair is worn in braids and her ears are pierced. Alayah is in need of medical attention.

Suspect: Candice Hazel

There is no information about Candice Hazel except that she is a female.

Suspect Vehicle

White Compass with License Number CDH-815

Anyone with information about this case is asked to contact Detective M. Myers at 712-6046 or the Virgin Islands Police Department at 340-772-9111.

Updates

July 20, 2009: 9:30 p.m. PST

The AMBER Alert activated this afternoon for Alayah has been canceled. A relative contacted police this evening and said Alayah was with her. Police interviewed the relative and then returned Alayah to her mother. Detectives will contact the Attorney General to see what charges, if any, will be filed.

Sources

Two-Year Old Alayah Watley Missing on St. Croix, St. Croix Source, Last Accessed: July 20, 2009.

AMBER Alert: Alayah Watley, NCMEC, Last Accessed: July 20, 2009.

Alayah Watley Missing Poster, NCMEC, Last Accessed: July 20, 2009.

Source Staff, VI Amber Alert Called Off: Missing 2-Year-Old Found on St. Croix, St. Croix Source, Last Accessed: July 20, 2009.

UpdatesSources

I have been in a sort of a I don’t know, I guess a daze since the discovery of Christopher Barrios’ body last month. It seems as though the Amber Alerts and missing children reports come in bunches. Frankly, I could not manage to blog about another missing child because I was feeling so emotionally spent after following Christopher’s story.

I skipped blogging about Lars and Remi Baugher, kidnapped by their father after a scheduled and court-ordered visit. I almost blogged the initial Amber Alert but then I felt myself holding back from writing the story because the father had mental problems according to published reports. I became even more frustrated about the story when I found out the reason the parental visits had stopped 9 months ago.

There were some allegations against the father of sexual abuse regarding the daughter. After an investigation the judge ruled that the allegations were unproven. The judge ordered the father to have an unsupervised visit that weekend but also told the father he needed to get a psychiatric evaluation.

I could not understand why the judge would order the unsupervised visits to resume prior to the psychiatric evaluation being done.

So there is another judge sitting somewhere wondering if he/she made a mistake in approving the visitation. Thankfully the father was apprehended after I think 3 days or so and the children were found unharmed. If the children never had a reason to fear their father before, they certainly do now. I would hope he will not be getting any visits any time soon.

So, I read about the story but did not blog about it.

There was another story that I saw for a potential blog entry and that was Isaiah Vargas who was reported kidnapped by two unknown black males outside of his apartment building in Mesa, AZ. The story broke this afternoon that the father’s girlfriend led authorities to a shallow grave where his body was buried on Wednesday.

Heather Nicole Miller — who is the girlfriend of the boy’s father — has confessed to killing Isaiah Vargas on Wednesday.

Police say she grabbed the boy’s arm and pushed him into his bedroom after he refused to go.
Miller apparently tried to cover up the crime by burying him near a child daycare center, then fabricating a kidnap story.

With all of the missing children in this country it really makes me mad when people make up a story to cover up the murder of an innocent child.

So, Heather Miller is now facing 2nd-degree murder charges and Isaiah’s father gets to plan a funeral for his 3-year-old son and people can become just a bit more jaded about reports of abducted child.

Updates 

December 12, 2009

A jury in a Maricopa County, Arizona courtroom returned a guilty verdict of first-degree murder and felony child abuse against Heather Nicole Miller in the death of Isaiah Vargas. Initially Miller was charged with second-degree murder. I am guessing the reason the first-degree charge was also sought was because it was determined that little Isaiah died from blunt force trauma to his head at the hands of Miller.

Miller faces a sentence of forty-five years to life when she is sentenced on February 8, 2010. I wish they would have sought the death penalty.

Thanks to a reader for the heads up on the verdict.

Sources 

Mike Sakal, Woman Guilty of Killing Fiance´s Son, The East Valley Tribune, Last Accessed: December 12, 2009.