Hours before his wife would call police to report her husband and son missing, Chandler lawyer Conrad Hernandez told a Yavapai County dispatcher Friday he had run off Interstate 17 in the mountains north of Phoenix.
He said during the 911 call that he was severely injured, according to a Chandler police report. He told the dispatcher he couldn’t move and was stranded with his 7-year-old son, Max, outside his wrecked Mazda 3, five miles south of the Sunset Point Rest Area.
But help did not come until Sunday afternoon.
On Sunday, Chandler Officer Michael Sippitka was investigating the disappearance of the father and son when he heard about the 911 call. He alerted the state Department of Public Safety and asked it to dispatch a helicopter to search for Hernandez. The agency initially said it couldn’t because its Flagstaff helicopters were out of service, but later sent a helicopter out of Kingman, Sippitka’s report said.
At 4:55 p.m. Sunday, the lifeless bodies of Hernandez and his son were found outside their vehicle at the bottom of a 200-foot ravine near Black Canyon City. The police report said the vehicle had flipped over several times, throwing both of them from the car.
DPS officials declined to comment on the account in the Chandler police report, saying only that the two bodies had been removed from the ravine and taken to the Yavapai County medical examiner. The Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that it received the 911 call Friday afternoon, but referred other questions to DPS.
Chandler police also said they verified the 911 call through Hernandez’s cellphone records. Several people called Hernandez after the crash, but, based on the cellphone records, it wasn’t clear if he answered any of the calls or if his voicemail picked them up.
DPS also declined Monday to answer other questions about the case. It’s not clear whether the agency had attempted to locate the red Mazda 3 on Friday, and it is also unclear when Hernandez and his son died.
But those aren’t the only mysteries in the case.
No one is certain where the father and son were headed on a Friday afternoon when Max was supposed to be in school and his father was scheduled to be in a meeting with his wife and another lawyer to go over documents related to the IRS.
Hernandez’s wife, Karen Maile Hernandez, said her husband never appeared for the 10 a.m. meeting. When she called Chrysalis Academy, a school for autistic children that Max attended, teachers there said her husband had called in that morning to say Max was sick.
Karen filed a missing persons report with Chandler police shortly before 4 p.m. Friday. She didn’t know her husband had called 911 three hours earlier.
Karen initially told police she didn’t think her husband would hurt Max, and that although he had seemed depressed recently about financial problems, there was no talk of suicide.
But two family friends told officers that Conrad had talked about how much better Karen would be without him and that he had thoughts of suicide. One friend said he asked to borrow $1,700 and expressed concern over financial difficulties.
Karen told police he had concocted an elaborate suicide plan two years earlier, when he planned to jump off a second-story balcony at St. James Theatre in New York City. He was found in New York unharmed.
When Conrad went missing Friday, friends and family began calling hotels in the Grand Canyon, a regular sanctuary for him. They sent out pleas on Facebook and MySpace. Police began working with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Then, late Sunday afternoon, a DPS worker told the Chandler officer that the red Mazda had been found.
The Chrysalis Academy in Tempe canceled classes Monday so that parents and staff members could have time to grieve and talk to their children about Max’s death.
“You have to understand that these kids with autism or any special needs have to be handled differently,” said De Freedman, president of the Chrysalis Academy Parents Association.
“Max was an amazing kid,” said Freedman, who had known the boy for the past three years. “He was beloved. He had an infectious smile and a sparkling personality.”
The school and parents’ group planned a candlelight vigil Monday night for Max. Source
Little Falls, N.Y. – A child is reported missing every 40 seconds in the United States. That translates into over 2,100 children per day, in excess of 800,000 children each year. And according to the federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, another 500,000 children go missing in this country without ever being reported.
It is a parent’s worst nightmare and it can become a community tragedy.
That is why the Little Falls Police Department is stepping up its efforts to bring people home safely by utilizing a high-tech tool that can reach 1,000 people a minute.
Called A Child is Missing, the rapid response telephone system alerts residents in a targeted area about a missing child, elderly person, college student and mentally challenged or disabled individual.
“It is a powerful tool,” said Chief of Police Michael Masi at Monday night’s Police and Fire Board meeting. He added that it is not uncommon for departments to receive calls of teenagers not returning home when they are supposed to be home. “Those calls are classified as missing persons until we determine where they are. With this system, we can wrap those cases up in minutes.”
Masi said that with a nursing home, retirement community and a considerable elderly population in the city of Little Falls, the system would not be put to use just for children.
“This system can be used for any case involving a missing person,” he said, adding that he attended a training seminar in Rome and that he was impressed with its effectiveness.
A Child is Missing can place 1,000 calls in sixty seconds, can process multiple cases simultaneously and can work without jurisdictional boundaries. Success stories abound, as 670 people have been successfully rescued since the Fort Lauderdale-based program began in 1997. The average recovery time in those safe recoveries has been 90 minutes from placing alert calls.
The program is at no cost to the department or to the public, as financial support comes from special events, sponsorship, private and corporate donations and state and federal funding. Appropriations from each state are used to maintain the program in that state.
Officer Shane Riolo said that when a person goes missing, his department will call A Child is Missing with a description of the missing person and where they were last seen. Within 15 minutes, people who live in the area will be notified by telephone through an automated telephone message system.
“When we receive a missing person call now, we hit the streets and knock on doors, but that is a few officers searching in a relatively small area,” said Riolo. “By utilizing this system, we can blanket a much larger portion of the community within minutes. It is a really effective system.”
Riolo said the automated voice will give the resident a description of the missing person, explain where he or she was last seen, what he or she was wearing and what car he or she was driving in. The pre-recorded message asks residents to help police by walking outside and looking for the individual.
“It’s as quick and easy as that,” said Riolo. “And if the missing person is seen in another area of the community, a second wave of messages can be sent out specifically targeting homes in that area.”
The system will only call public phone numbers. Individuals who only have a cell phone or who have a home phone number that is private are asked to sign up online at www.achildismissing.org and register their number, so they, too, can receive the emergency alert.
Riolo said individuals will only be contacted in the event of an emergency.
A Minneapolis assisted-living facility and one of its maintenance workers are being blamed for poor supervision of a resident with Alzheimer’s disease who wandered outside and died of hypothermia in November.
The Minnesota Department of Health determined the woman left through an external gate at the Jones-Harrison Residence that was supposed to be locked, and her caregivers waited too long to initiate a missing-person search, according to a state investigative report released Tuesday.
The woman, who was not named in the report, was found dead in a wooded area near the facility, which is close to Cedar Lake. She was discovered about 11 a.m. Nov. 22 — roughly 19 hours after caregivers last reported seeing her.
“Although staff had an opportunity to intervene, no one implemented the missing-resident protocol in a timely manner,” the report concluded.
The state’s finding concluded that Jones-Harrison was responsible for neglect of supervision. No fines were issued because the state found on a March re-inspection that the facility had corrected its deficiencies.
Police found tracks from a walker on the floor of the facility’s underground garage. They surmised the woman used her walker, which was found near her body, to wheel across the garage and out a gate that led to the woods.
The gate is typically locked after hours, but a maintenance worker admitted he had used the exit at the end of his shift Nov. 21 as a shortcut to his car. He failed to lock it or report it unlocked, according to the report.
A home health aide recorded that the woman ate lunch Nov. 21, and a volunteer reported that she was in the gift shop about 3 p.m. After that, the state report indicates substantial confusion over whether she was out on a facility movie night or away with her daughter. Her absence from dinner and her scheduled medication times prompted three calls to her room that went unanswered.
Complicating matters was the fact that the woman’s daughter took her out Nov. 20 but failed to sign a required form when she brought her back later that day.
A nurse called the daughter about 10 p.m. Nov. 21 to check whether the resident was with her. But a search for the resident didn’t start until after 7:30 the next morning, when the daughter called to report her mother wasn’t with her.
The state pointed out several missed opportunities: A home health aide waited too long to report the absence to a supervising nurse, and the staff waited too long to initiate a search after that. Confusion over the failure of the daughter to sign her mother back in could have been addressed by checking subsequent meal records.
Leaders at Jones-Harrison have taken steps to prevent future incidents. The maintenance worker who opened the locked door was fired. Staff received new instructions on how to address confusion over a resident’s whereabouts and to track residents participating in off-site activities such as movie nights. Keys to the locked door were restricted, and an extra alarm was installed.
“This was an incredibly sad day for Jones-Harrison — one we’ll never forget,” said Lowell Berggren, president and CEO of the senior living complex.
Berggren said the facility will not appeal the state’s finding.
BERKELEY — After the family of a teenager who has been missing for the past 14 years contacted Berkeley police, detectives are calling on the community for solid leads they hope will allow them to investigate further.
Patrick McColl
Patrick McColl, missing for 14 years, in a computer rendering showing how he could look today.
On Aug. 28, 1995, Berkeley High School student Peter John McColl, then 16, disappeared after telling his brother he was going to a bookstore on Telegraph Avenue. He last was seen about 10:30 a.m. that day by family members at their home in the 700 block of The Alameda in North Berkeley, police said.
McColl declined an invitation to have breakfast with his mother and instead told his brother he was headed to the bookstore. At 11:39 p.m. Aug. 28, when McColl had not come home or contacted his parents, the family called Berkeley police and reported him missing.
At the time of McColl’s disappearance, he was going to enter his junior year at Berkeley High and had been a member of the school’s crew team. McColl was described by family members as “a loving, quiet young man who shared a passion for music and playing the guitar,” police said.
At the time of his disappearance, McColl was nearsighted and wore glasses. He would be 30 now, but the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children only has a picture enhanced to age 22, police said.
McColl’s father, John McColl, has a message for his son: “Peter, if you are out there, we still love you. Please come home. Our hearts ache for you.”
Anyone with information regarding this case is asked to contact the Berkeley police homicide unit, which routinely handles missing person cases, at 510-981-5741 or the department’s nonemergency line at 510-981-5900. Callers can remain anonymous by calling Bay Area Crime Stoppers tip line at 800-222-8477 or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 800-843-5678.
STOCKTON – Stockton Police are searching for a 14-year-old McNair High student who has been reported missing since Friday.
Missing Teens
Marija Mikalonis is described as white, between 5 feet 3 inches and 5 feet 6 inches tall, 140 pounds, with blue eyes and brown hair.
Family members said Makalonis is a freshman at McNair High who has few friends and usually comes straight home after school. The family does not believe she would run away.
She did not come home from school Friday and has not been seen or heard from since, her uncle, Justin Kerlin, said.
Officer Pete Smith said police on Friday did not consider Mikalonis at risk. On Monday, police received information that Mikalonis was seen by a school employee hitchhiking on Eight Mile Road near Highway 99.
“The fact that she was seen engaging in dangerous activity like hitchhiking elevated this to an at-risk case,” Smith said.
Anyone with information on this missing person case can contact Stockton Police at (209) 937-8323 or after hours at (209) 937-8245.
SALINAS, Calif- Police are looking for Ruben Acosta. Acosta disappeared last Thursday after leaving the HOPE Rehabilitation Center on Brunken Avenue. Police say he’s mentally handicapped and has trouble speaking.
Missing Persosn
“At this point we are concerned because its Monday and he still hasn’t returned. He was sighted last Thursday afternoon and hasn’t been seen since,” said home care center director Gina Perata Fiallos.
Acosta left work, but he never returned to the home care facility for people with disabilities. The home’s director, Perata Fiallos says that’s rare.
“This is out of his routine and we are extremely concerned, we notified law enforcement, distributed flyers, relatives are also involved,” said Perata Fiallos
Acosta is independent, he uses MST buses for transportation and goes to thrift stores. This is the fifth missing person case on the central coast. In the last month, I asked police if they’re doing anything different this time.
“It’s on the website, twitter and we also utilize facebook. Every case is different, it’s still early to say how this one will turn out but we’re definately hopeful that we’ll be able to find Ruben,” said Lalo Villegas with Salinas Police.
Ruben Acosta has lived at the homecare facility since 1999, the director also said they are looking for ways to prevent this from happening again.
Acosta was last seen wearing a blue hooded jacket, blue jeans, and carrying a flower print handbag. He is 5-10, 206, brown eyes, black & gray hair, and has moderate mental retardation. He has the mental capacity of a 12 year-old.
If you see Acosta, you are asked to call police at 758-7321
