Archive for the ‘Tennessee’ tag
TN AMBER Alert: Damien Duncan
Located safe on July 10, 2009
An East Tennessee AMBER Alert has been issued for an 11-year-old Seiverville boy. His parents told police the last time they saw their son, Damien Duncan, was when they left for work just before 8 a.m. on July 8, 2009. When they arrived back home from work that day at 4 p.m. Damien was gone.
I don’t think it is legal to leave a child home alone under the age of 12 years.
Well, apparently it is legal in Tennessee. According a quote on WikiAnswers from the Tennessee Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges:
“There is no legal age for children to stay at home alone. Parents are advised to use their best judgment, keeping the child’s maturity level and safety issues in mind. Younger children have a greater need for supervision and care than older children. Obviously, young children under age 10 should not be left without supervision at any time. In most cases, older teenage children may be left alone for short periods of time.”
I don’t know, for myself I would have a problem leaving my 11-year-old home alone for an extended period of time – such as a full workday.
Well, now the child is gone. If you have seen Damian, please contact the Sevier County Sheriff’s Department at 865-453-4668 or TBI at 1-800-TBI-FIND.
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AMBER Alert Subject: Damien Paul Duncan
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Damien is an 11-year-old white male with brown hair and blue eyes. He is 4FT tall and weighs 75LBS. When last seen Damien was wearing a green t-shirt with white stripes, red and white Nike tennis shoes, and a purple ball cap with an LSU logo on the front.
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July 10, 2009: 11:30 p.m. PST
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There is now clarification of where police found Damien. He was found in an unfinished home five miles from his home. He suffered some scratches, bruises and managed to find some poison ivy. Otherwise, I guess he is going to be OK. Once again, the only person talking to the media at any great length is Damian’s biological mother. She says she is grateful her son was found safe.
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July 10, 2009: 4:45 p.m. PST
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According Damian’s mother he has been found safe. Damian was in found in a creek and has been taken to Fort Sanders Sevier Medical Center. It is not clear if Damian is injured or if it is just routine to want to examine a child who has been missing.
I am glad I was wrong about Damian’s fate. I still feel his disappearance needs to be evaluated by the proper authorities.
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July 10, 2009: 3:30 p.m. PST
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The AMBER Alert remains active for Damien Duncan; however, police now believe that he probably ran away from home. There have been several people who have claimed seeing Damien in the immediate area even as late as this afternoon.
Damien lives with his father and stepmother. I have seen Damien’s biological mother on the news searching for her son. I have not seen his father or stepmother out searching nor have I read reference in the news media that they are out searching. I am not comfortable with this child’s “disappearance”. Damien was last seen according to his father when he and his wife left for work on the morning of July 8. The father explains that he did not bother calling police when he found Damien gone on the evening of July 8 because he thought his son was with his mother. Well, I suppose the smart thing to do at that point was to call his ex-wife and ask if the boy was with her. Apparently he did not do that and Damien’s disappearance was not reported until sometime July 9. Damien’s mother has been quoted in the media that she was told Damien was being punished and he ran away.
When Ricky Holland was reported missing from his home in Williamston, Michigan the parents said he ran away and had a history of doing so. Many of the town’s people searched for Ricky and several people claimed to have seen Ricky in the area. Almost a year later Ricky’s adoptive father, Tim Holland, led investigators to a swamp where he had dumped Ricky’s body. Tim and Lisa Holland were found guilty of Ricky’s murder. When they called police to report Ricky’s disappearance, Ricky’s body had already been dumped.
I hope Damien is in fact hiding somewhere, afraid to come home after causing such a ruckus in the town for running away. I have my doubts.
AMBER ALERT Issued for Missing Sevier County Boy, WLVT, Last Accessed: July 9, 2009.
AMBER ALERT: Search Continues for Boy Believed to Have Run Away, WLVT, Last Accessed: July 10, 2009.
AMBER ALERT CANCELLED: Sevier County Boy Found Safe, WLVT, Last Accessed July 10, 2009.
WA Endangered Missing: Lindsey J. Baum
Missing Since June 26, 2009
Original Post: June 28, 2009Updated: July 28, 2009Contact InfoView Sources
According to news reports all 10-year-old Lindsey Baum was doing Friday night was walking four blocks to her home from a friend’s house.
Lindsey had some sort of argument with her brother on the way to the friend’s house. She was only at the friends home for a short while until the friend’s father, Scott Williams, encouraged Lindsey to return to her home before it got too dark. The time was 9:15 p.m. in McCleary, Washington. In that part of the United States McCleary is just becoming blanketed by darkness. A friend even walked with Lindsey half way to her home. According to the friend nothing untoward happened while they walked together.
Lindsey’s mother, Melissa Baum, says her daughter has never run away from home. She did acknowledge that Lindsey has had difficulty adjusting to her parent’s recent split but she feels confident her daughter would not run away from home. First of all, she does not have money to run away with. Well, when children run away they don’t usually think first about how they will support themselves on the streets. They just go on emotion and run.
Lindsey’s father has been contacted at his home in Tennessee and he is not suspected in his daughter’s disappearance.
According to news accounts McCleary is a small town and the neighbors know each other very well. According to Dave Pimentel of the Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office:
“Such a small community like this – you can’t do much in a town this size without everybody knowing about it,”… “Everybody in town knows she’s unaccounted for.”1
Not only does everyone in town know she is unaccounted for, they are all out looking for her. Most of the search is being conducted in the town and surrounding forests. A bloodhound brought into the search failed to pick up Lindsey’s scent.
As of this morning the FBI has been brought into the search because of their experience in solving missing children cases.
Missing Child: Lindsey J. Baum
Lindsey is described as a 10-year-old white female with brown hair and brown eyes. She stands 4’9″ tall and weighs approximately 80 pounds. When last seen she was wearing a gray or blue pullover sweatshirt with blue jeans and black shoes.2
Anyone knowing Lindsey’s whereabouts or the circumstances surrounding her disappearance is asked to call the Grays Harbor 911 Center at (800) 281-6944 or the McCleary Police Department at (360) 495-3107.
Pictures
Tipline: 1 (866) 915-8299
Grays Harbor 911 Center: 1 (800) 281-6944
McCleary Police Department: 1 (360) 495-3107
Websites:
Updates
July 1, 2009
There is really no news in the search for Lindsey Baum. Her mother has been quoted in the local media that she believes her daughter is still alive but no longer in McCleary. She believes someone abducted her daughter. She bases her belief in the fact that the town has been thoroughly searched with no sign of her daughter.
I looked at the list of registered sex offenders in McCleary – list totals four and they all appear to be under the age of 30. One registered sex offender piqued my interest because his offense was communicating with a minor for immoral purposes. It is not a stretch to think he may have had contact with Lindsey because they both have MySpace pages. I was dismayed to see that Lindsey’s MySpace is not set to private. This is not a judgment, but an observation and my opinion. Some of the content on her page makes her appear much older than 10. I am not referring to pictures on her site because I did not see any pictures other than her profile picture. It is just my opinion that Lindsey should have kept her profile private.
I visited the MySpace page of the sex offender in question and I think he professes his desire or attraction for adult females too much. One would never suspect he has a conviction for being a pedophile because he has so many ‘seductive looking’ adult female friends. Oh, well I guess it is a good cover.
I hope Lindsey is found safe and sound and she did just decide to run away from home. Maybe she decided to head out to Tennessee to live with her dad and he is unaware of her plans. The longer Lindsey is missing, the worse the outcome is apt to be.
July 2, 2009
Lindsey’s mother and the father of the friend where Lindsey was last seen volunteered to take polygraph exams. According to a spokesperson for the Sheriff’s office both individuals passed their exams and authorities are happy with their cooperation and timeline of events.
Specialists from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children have been brought in to aide in the investigation. Henry Schmidt, one of the investigators with the NCMEC opined that Lindsey most likely left with someone she knows:
“From what knowledge we have and the information that I have that it’s someone that she possibly knows, somebody that is in the area.”…3
Maybe she did meet up with one of the local sex offenders.
I think of two cases in particular of children who went missing and later found murdered. Jamie Rose Bolin went missing and her body was found in the apartment of a neighbor who lived below the family. She was 10-years-old. Destiny Norton was last seen playing on her front porch. Her body was found in a neighbor’s basement. He lived on the other side of a backyard fence. Destiny was just 5-years-old. I guess my point is you really can’t trust anyone just because they are a neighbor and you have known them for quite some time.
July 28, 2009: 2 p.m. PST
Search teams made up of the FBI, Gray’s Harbor and Pierce County Sheriff’s office are in McCleary today following up on leads. They are utilizing search dogs to aid them in the search for Lindsey Baum. CrimeStoppers has offered a $6,000 reward to anyone with information leading to the whereabouts of Lindsey Baum.4
- FBI Joins Search for Missing 10-Year-Old Girl, KOMONews.com, Last Accessed: June 28, 2009. [↩]
- Lindsey J. Baum Missing Poster, NCMEC, Last Accessed: June 28, 2009. [↩]
- FBI: Stranger Not Likely Behind Girl’s Disappearance, KOMO News.com, Last Accessed: July 28, 2009. [↩]
- Searchers With Dogs Looking for Missing McCleary Girl, KIROTV.com, Last Accessed: July 28, 2009. [↩]
Successful Recovery of Abducted Children
It always makes me feel both happy and relieved when I hear that a child who has been missing is recovered safe. It is especially encouraging when that child has been missing for many years because the longer a child is missing; the outcome is usually not going to be a good one.
Today I received news via email from the NCMEC that Kaylee Faith Dale has been located safe and sound in Oregon. Kaylee was a victim of a parental abduction out of Tennessee in 2004. Her biological mother was the alleged abductor. At the time of the abduction Kaylee was just 2 years of age. Read the rest of this entry »
