Archive for the ‘parents’ tag
AL AMBER Alert: Geontae Glass
10.18.09: Kevin Towles Found Guilty. Read about it at The End of the Story
Original Post: September 26, 2008Last Updated: September 27, 2008View Sources
Yesterday the mother of 5-year-old Geontae Glass went into a convenience store and then reported that her car had been stolen with her son inside. Witnesses in the area had said they had seen a pickup truck drive up and a black male exit the pickup truck. He got into the mother’s vehicle and drive off. The driver of the pick up truck also drove off. The mother indicated to authorities that she had left her vehicle’s engine running when she went into the convenience store. 1
September 27, 2008
An Alabama Amber Alert that was issued yesterday has been canceled. The reported kidnapping was a hoax and police have arrested the mother and another male and have charged them with the death of the 5-year-old boy.
“…The body of Geontae Glass and the car that was reported stolen Monday morning were found Tuesday at a residence in Etowah County, Sheriff James Hayes said.
Shalinda Glass, 25, of Rainbow City, and Kevin Andre Towles, who is believed to own the house where the body was found, were being held, Hayes said…”2
Authorities have not yet determined the cause of death and it is not clear if the boy was already dead at the time of the reported abduction.
It is so hard to keep believing parents when they report a missing child when stories turn out this way. It is such an abuse of the Amber Alert system and law enforcement resources when parents use those resources to cover up a crime.
Atlanta Journal Constitution.com
- Car Left Running Stolen with Child Inside, WSMV.com, Last Accessed: September 26, 2008. [↩]
- AJC.com [↩]
MD Endangered Runaway: Tania Molina-Raudales
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:
“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.
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Missing: Tania Molina-Raudales
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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.
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Suspect: Unknown
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Hispanic male
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Suspect Vehicle
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dark colored, older model, four-door sedan
As far as Tania getting into the car willingly, I am reminded of a similar case.
Thirteen-year-old Cori Baker was reported missing when she failed to come home from her Tulsa, Oklahoma school. People at school told authorities they had seen the girl getting into a vehicle driven by an African American male. The school surveillance cameras caught the incident on video. Yes, the girl did get into the vehicle willingly because the driver was her older sister’s boyfriend, Marquis Bullock. She knew him and they had made plans to go to the mall so Cori could buy her sister a Christmas present. She trusted him. He was arrested for Cori’s kidnapping and murder. In March of this year Cori’s remains were located in a paint ball field.
This is just one example of how the appearance of a teen willingly getting into a vehicle with someone does not mean it would be entirely safe for the teen to do so, even if the person is known to the teen. Marquis Bullock’s jury trial is scheduled to begin in March 2009.
This is how Corey Baker’s father spoke of his daughter:
Cori Baker has never run away and has good attendance in school. She loves basketball and had a game Saturday morning. She has been calling everyone, inviting them to come watch her play. Her father says she would’ve never missed that game willingly.
Cori Baker’s bedroom is that of a typical 13 year old: pictures of her and her friends on one wall, posters of cute boys on another, stuffed animals nearby and her most cherished possession, her basketball, still in her bed, where she often sleeps with it.
“Cori is silly, very outgoing, really loves her basketball games and just an all around great kid,” said Cori’s father, Daniel Baker.
Cori Baker’s father pretty much described his daughter the same way the family friend of the Molina-Raudales describes Tania. Not very sophisticated.
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November 4, 2008
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The Montgomery County, Maryland Department of Police reported on October 3, 2008 that Tania was located in a Silver Spring apartment of a friend; she was uninjured. Her parents asked police to thank the media for getting their daughter’s disappearance out to the public.
Parents Search for 12-year-old Silver Spring Girl, WIJLA.com, September 27, 2008.
Crime and Justice – Murder of Cori Baker, Crime and Justice.us, September 27, 2007.
OK v Bullock: Victim: Cori Baker, Oklahoma State Courts Network, September 27, 2008.
Burt Mummolo Remains of Cori Baker Found, KTUL.com, September 27, 2008.
Update: Missing Girl Located in Silver Spring, Montgomery County Maryland.gov, November 4, 2008.
FL Amber Alert – Bryan Dos Santos-Gomes
A Florida Amber Alert was issued late Friday for an infant kidnapped from his mother at knife point by an unknown woman.
This story surrounding how this kidnapping occurred was a bit hard for me to understand at first.
Apparently the infant’s mother, Maria Fatima Ramos Dos Santos, was carrying the child and walking with a friend and her child down the street in the vicinity of U.S. 41 and Linhart Avenue. The group was approached by a woman driving a SUV. She asked them for directions to a neighborhood called Pine Manor. For some unknown reason the women decided to get into the SUV with the woman, who was a stranger to both of them, and show her the way. The woman apparently told the two that she would drive them back to the location after being shown the way to Pine Manor. Read the rest of this entry »
