LAKELAND, Fla. — Alma Martinez picked up her three-year-old granddaughter, Analise, at the girl’s bus stop Wednesday afternoon. It’s normally her son’s favorite thing to do, but 16-year-old Marco Martinez disappeared on April 5th.
Kevin Martinez, Marco’s younger brother, remembers coming home to the bizarre scene: “So I came in the backyard. She was on the steps just crying and shaking. So I went inside and he wasn’t in there.”
No sign of struggle, or even evidence that he ran away. His bedroom is as he had left it. He didn’t even take his cash savings from his part-time busboy job at Fred’s Market on Harden Rd.
Kevin said his brother had a court appearance set for two days after he vanished. It was over driving without a license, but his family said the teen wasn’t nervous or scared about the situation.
The day of his disappearance, Alma called Marco after he picked up Analise from the bus stop. They agreed he would order pizza for dinner. Later, when she called her son again, she got his voicemail after a few rings. Two more times, and the phone went straight to voicemail.
It’s strange, Kevin says, that he’d just leave Analise all alone. “He loved her a lot,” Kevin said. “He wouldn’t call her his niece. He would call her his baby. Because I know that a lot of people know things and they just don’t want to say anything.”
Anyone with information is asked to the Polk County Sheriff’s Missing Persons Unit at (863) 534-0740. Calls after 5pm should go to (863) 533-0344.
At Kathleen High School, where the junior hasn’t been seen in over a month, some students told ABC Action News there are lots of rumors about Marco’s disappearance.
Stories or not, the Polk County Sheriff says he has no leads and wants to hear what’s being said.
“We know that someone knows something. They’ve got a missing link. They may think it’s a rumor, they may not think it’s true,” Sheriff Grady Judd said. “But we want people to call us.”
Judd went on to say that the young man was busted for having marijuana once in the past, but he doesn’t believe that would be connected to Marco’s disappearance.
Kevin says his family’s praying more than they ever did before. Little Analise, he says, just thinks Marco’s been at work all this time.
Kevin’s begging for someone to come forward with answers about his big brother.
Copyright 2010 The E.W. Scripps Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Concern Shifts to Whether Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station Violated Mitrice Richardson’s Civil Rights
Congress member Maxine Waters continues her steadfast efforts to assist the family of Mitrice Richardson, who vanished eight months ago, following an incident in a Malibu restaurant that led to her being transported to the Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station for booking.
Rep. Waters is awaiting a response to a letter she wrote last week to the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, requesting a federal investigation of the puzzling case.
Waters is adamant that she is deeply concerned that Richardson’s civil rights have been violated. She directed key staffers to meet with the woman’s mother, Latice Sutton, and her family support group members, including Dr. Ronda Hampton, a psychologist with whom Richardson, a Cal State Fullerton honors graduate in psychology, interned, after Waters received numerous telephone calls, emails and faxes asking her to assist their efforts to find the missing woman.
In a letter to Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez, who heads the civil rights section, that was copied to Attorney General Eric Holder, Waters writes, “I am deeply concerned about the circumstances surrounding the detention and release of Mitrice Richardson…who disappeared on Sept. 17, 2009.”
The representative challenges the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s assertion that deputies didn’t know Richardson was mentally ill.
Waters says that restaurant personnel told deputies about the woman’s bizarre behavior, and there reportedly are witnesses who attest to at least one deputy acknowledging that she was “acting crazy.”
Rep. Waters continues, “People with disabilities, including mental disabilities, are a protected class in this country. It appears the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Department failed to follow its own policies, which state that individuals with mental disabilities are to be released into the care of family, friends, or medical professionals.”
The Congressmember concludes “I believe that the Justice Department is the best-equipped agency to handle this investigation.”
Spokespersons for the LASD maintain that Richardson was handled properly, according to all the department rules, and that she was coherent and rational while in LASD custody.
Reiterating her concerns, Waters said, “I believe that Mitrice’s civil rights were violated when she was arrested and then let go in the middle of the night without money, a phone, or transportation. The roads of Malibu are dark and dangerous at night, and since the Los Angeles Police Department later concluded that Mitrice appeared to be suffering from bipolar disorder that evening, I believe that the circumstances surrounding her disappearance warrant a thorough federal investigation.”
Waters is giving the case this attention even though Richardson is not a resident of her Congressional district.
RECAP
On Sept. 16, 2009, Geoffrey’s restaurant personnel placed a 24-year-old African-American woman, Mitrice Richardson, under private person arrest for nonpayment of an $89.51 dinner tab. A staffer telephoned Lost Hills Station directly, saying “to come pick her up.” The female caller described the woman’s behavior as “crazy.” Witnesses said Richardson told them she was from Mars and began speaking gibberish.
Several deputies took Richardson into custody and drove her to Lost Hills for booking on misdemeanor charges, which could have been handled with field citations that would have allowed her to return to her car and drive away.
A booking cage video, the existence of which was first denied by Lost Hills officials, reportedly indicates physical and mental stress. Richardson appears to be trying to curl up into a fetal position. Family members say her booking photo differs dramatically from her usual appearance. Her eyes appear vacant.
None of the LASD personnel involved in the booking process is willing (or being allowed) to speak to the media.
Richardson was released from the station shortly after midnight on Sept. 17 on foot into the dark and remote industrial area with no money or cell phone.
Her purse had been left in her car that the restaurant reportedly called the Malibu tow yard to remove from the parking lot, including documentation that the woman had several thousand dollars in the bank.
No immediate search was undertaken the first few days that Richardson was reported missing by her mother, but there have been several official agency search efforts in the weeks and months that followed, including aero-drone reconnaissance and mountain search and rescue team field checks that covered areas around the Lost Hills Station. These have not produced a single clue to her whereabouts.
Richardson’s mother, who agrees with subsequent medical assessment that her daughter was experiencing bipolar disorder onset, and her circle of relatives and friends have repeatedly expressed frustration with what they view as foot-dragging by the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department and the City of Los Angeles Police Department—the agency formally in charge of what is still classified as a missing person case.
BACKGROUND
Ronda Hampton and Charles Croft, another support team member, have been working with Congressmember Waters’ staffers from her Washington D.C. and Los Angeles offices for several months.
Several weekends ago, one of her reps, who flew in from Washington, and another rep from her L.A. office met with Hampton and Croft in Malibu to trace Richardson’s steps.
The four also went on an extensive tour of Monte Nido where Richardson is believed to have been sighted at around dawn on the morning that she went missing and several other areas where suspicious activity has been reported.
They then drove to the Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station and talked with a deputy at the front desk. Finally, the four made contact with people who had been at the restaurant on Sept. 16 who “confirmed that Mitrice was not in her right mind and one deputy [who was at the restaurant] agreed.”
After several hours of reconstructing what is known to have transpired, Hampton said Waters’ staffers were reportedly convinced that the FBI needed to become part of the investigation and that Richardson’s civil rights had been violated.
The FBI had declined earlier involvement in the case because Richardson is an adult and there is no indication of foul play, but civil rights violation allegations might be viewed differently.
Hampton told the Malibu Surfside News “that Maxine Waters’ office has stated that they have been following the case, particularly through [MSN articles], and they were waiting for something to break that would allow them some intervention. They stated that there had been nothing they could really do to push for a missing person investigation, but after [the MSN] article about the viewing of the [previously denied] video, they felt that this was an opportunity to investigate a civil rights violation.”
PARENTAL DISCORD
The close cooperation between Waters staff and the mother’s support group has reportedly angered Mitrice Richardson’s father, Michael Richardson, who interrupted Rep. Waters at a political press conference on Monday, demanding recognition that it was he who was bringing about potential DOJ involvement, not the Congressmember.
The father originally took his daughter’s missing person case to a number of media outlets, but many of these outlets are now downplaying his involvement, according to Latice Sutton, who says that they question his behavior and statements.
Mitrice Richardson’s parents never married and went their separate ways when she was very young. Sutton said that since her daughter was six, her husband Larry Sutton was Mitrice’s “de facto” father. She indicated that Michael Richardson was “out of his daughter’s life for about 10 years” and only recently began establishing contact.
Latice Sutton said that public officials tell her they do not want to work with the father, which prompted her to write Congressmember Laura Richardson (no relation), whose political aid Sutton is also trying to enlist, “I do not support Michael Richardson’s antics, views, methods, intimidation, or narcissism, and do not work with him in any way.” Laura Richardson represents the Congressional district where Mitrice Richardson was living before she disappeared.
Sutton said Michael Richardson’s “ambush” of Waters at the press conference has forced her to make her strongest statement so far about him. She told the Malibu Surfside News, “I know that when we bring Mitrice home, and she is well, she will disown his actions. Michael Richardson deserves no credit for aiding in this investigation, but he will get the credit if he destroys the federal investigation.”
NEXT SEARCH EFFORT
The mother and her family and friends are planning a large two-day search the weekend of June 5 and 6 in the greater Malibu area. Maurice Dubois, the father of murdered teenager Amber Dubois who has become a vocal missing persons advocate, will help to coordinate an effort that will involve hikers, horseback riders and trail bikers, as well as general flyer distribution throughout the region.
INFORMATION
Anyone who was in Geoffrey’s restaurant or parking lot the evening of Sept. 16 and recalls anything, no matter how seemingly insignificant, that might be related to this case is asked to email The News at editor@malibu surfsidenews.com
Additional information about the case is available on the mother’s website at www.findmitrice.info; or by contacting Dr. Ronda Hampton at 951-660-8031.
Authorities are looking for a 12-year-old boy who was last seen Monday and may have run away from home.
Nickolai Whelpley was wearing a navy polo style shirt, khaki shorts, white socks and hiking boots when last seen. He is 4-6, weighing about 70 pounds with a buzz cut and brown eyes. Nickolai wears glasses and looks younger than his age.
He may be in the Chenal neighborhood around the Promenade at Chenal, according to police.
According to the missing persons notice, Nickolai has left home before for extended periods of time and reportedly has eaten out of trash bins behind restaurants.
Detectives can be reached at 918-3545 if this boy is seen.
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.
