Adam Herrman DA says, hold your horses

The prosecutor involved in the Adam Herrman case says it may be months before she decides to file charges against anyone (meaning: his adoptive “parents”) in his disappearance.

Good, sez I. The Herrmans would be facing very serious charges, possibly murder, and this isn’t something you should rush into. You need time to put a solid case together or they could get off. And it doesn’t seem like they’re going anywhere in the meantime. (I do wonder how they are surviving in the community. I bet they’re getting, at minimum, a lot of dirty looks.) I think the best policy in a case like this is to, as they say, “make haste slowly.”

William Loyd Cox’s foot, and body parts in general

William Cox, an elderly man who disappeared after a boating accident on the Sacramento River in 2007, has been found. Well, his foot’s been found, anyway. You could argue that a man can live without feet, but let’s be realistic here. I’m resolving his case.

I do have a case on Charley where they found a missing woman’s finger after her disappearance. Nothing else, just the finger. The Doe Network had — maybe still does have, I don’t know — a case of a missing woman profiled even though her skull had been located. I guess they did it because someone might find the rest of the body and need to identify it, but the skull? Not missing, people. Dead.

Ivan Henk’s confession to the murder of Brendan Gonzalez

A video of Ivan Henk’s confession to his child’s murder has been made public online. Brendan Gonzalez, age four, disappeared in January 2003. Henk, his father, has pleaded guilty to murdering him.

I’m pretty used to things like this, but that video is really revolting. Either Henk has some screws not just loose but outright missing, or he’s trying to make it look like he does. I question the value of releasing the video at all; it’s graphic, it’s sensational (they laced Henk’s statements with cuts from a video of Brendan’s last Christmas), it’s like a train wreck.

But if you want to know more, there it is.

Handy tips on how to avoid disappearing without a trace

OR: A bit of commonsense advice from a girl who’s seen it all:

1. Do not engage in outdoor pursuits such as hiking, fishing, swimming, boating, etc., by yourself. Also, carry a cellular phone or a GPS device when you do these things.

2. Do not get involved with drugs: using them, and above all selling them. To get into drugs is to poke death with a stick. This particularly applies to hard drugs, but even marijuana and prescription substances present an unacceptable level of risk.

3. Involvement with gangs and organized crime also constitute death-poking and should be avoided at all costs.

4. Dissociate yourself from anyone who is involved with the aforementioned death-poking activities.

5. Do not drive recklessly in mountain or wilderness areas, or near significant bodies of water such as oceans, lakes and large rivers.

6. If you have Alzheimer’s Disease or some other illness that can cause memory loss, invest in one of those tracking devices you can wear. I know it’s a bit Big Brother-esque, but do you want to stay alive or not?

6. Do not become a sex worker, particularly a prostitute. People in the sex trade come in contact with all kinds of vermin.

7. Do not go on a cruise. There have been an inordinate number of disappearances from cruise ships.

8. Do not get into an abusive relationship. If you’re already in one, however, that’s a bit tricky. If you try to leave your lover may decide to liquidate you. But I think on the balance of things it’s better to go than stay.

9. Do not get involved with someone who’s married or otherwise attached. Their significant other may find out about you and wipe you off the face of the earth, or they themselves may get cold feet and decide you’re too inconvenient to live.

10. If you must get drunk, do so in a safe place. That is, not in public, and not with a bunch of strangers or people you don’t trust.

11. Do not go home with strangers you pick up in bars. If you do, you’d be lucky if you just end up with VD.

It’s just one of those days

Last night my boyfriend and his roommate both insinuated I would be capable of abusing and/or killing the roommate’s dog because its barking annoyed me.

To avoid them I went downstairs to the basement to lie on the futon and read, only to discover that a ceiling pipe had leaked and the futon was soaking wet.

The next morning I drove home and was unable to get into the driveway because the town had paved the driveway and left a traffic cone smack in the middle of the entrance. I had to park on the street.

I went round to the back of the car to open the hatch, and my key broke off in the lock.

I went to the side of the car and opened the passenger door to get my books, and one library book fell out and landed in a puddle. I will probably have to pay for it.

I checked the mail and got an unexpected letter from my health insurance company saying I owe my family doctor $68.

I went next door to my neighbor’s to return a book I’d borrowed. I love talking to her and hoped she could cheer me up, but she wasn’t at home.

A few minutes ago I drank some milk. Halfway through the glass, I realized there was a dead insect at the bottom.

This doesn’t seem right…

The National Center for Missing Adults has a guy named Martin Camacho profiled. It says he is 13 but I don’t think that can be true.

1. NCMA profiles adults only
2. The guy certainly doesn’t look 13 in the picture
3. He has a lot of tattoos, more than a 13-year-old could be expected to have
4. He was released from an adult jail just before he disappeared

I wonder if his year of birth is actually 1971, not 1981. I will write them and ask.

Everett Ruess located!

The body of Everett Ruess, a young man who disappeared in the Utah desert SEVENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO, has apparently been identified. A witness allegedly saw a man chased and killed by some young Ute Indians, and he buried the body under rocks afterward. The story became public in 2008 after the witness’s family ‘fessed up. It’s said that DNA has confirmed the identification 10 billion to one, but it’s not really official until the National Geographic makes an announcement next week.

I am stunned. Frankly, I didn’t believe he would ever get found. This is the oldest resolved missing persons case I can think of, excepting the Romanovs. But they were a special case, being assassinated royalty and all.

It just goes to show you should never give up, because there’s always the possibility, however remote, that something will happen and you will find answers.

Additional articles:

The Oregonian
The Monterey Herald
The Salt Lake Tribune

Open letter to the Colonial Heights Police Department

Dear Colonial Heights Police Department,

I am mad at you! Ever since Jane Puckett was found alive I’ve been rabidly curious to find out what happened to her. No one would give me any information; they said I had to wait for the upcoming press release. You PROMISED you would issue a press release “next week.” Well, next week was last week, and I checked your website every day and Googled Jane’s name every day and…no press release.

I am seriously disappointed in you. I’m sure my blog readers also want to know more about the Puckett case.

Sincerely,
Meaghan Good

Tracy Hill’s husband is in trouble again

Tracy Hill has been missing from Ohio since 2001. Her husband Clifford is considered a person of interest in her case, and he does sound like quite a nasty character. He was released from prison last year after serving four years for robbing an Amish buggy (how cold-blooded is that?) and now he’s up poop creek again for shooting someone during a home invasion robbery. The article doesn’t say how much time that carries, but in many states that would net a life sentence.

Perhaps (and this is unlikely, but we can hope) Clifford’s upcoming extended period as a guest of the state will give the cops time to put together a case against him for Tracy. Perhaps they can use the robbery and shooting as leverage, offering him a deal if he can provide evidence. At this point he doesn’t have a lot to lose.

Body of disabled child found in storage unit

Shylea Thomas, a quadriplegic (paralyzed from the neck down) nine-year-old girl, was reported missing several weeks ago by social workers. Yesterday, she was found dead in a storage unit in Vienna Township, Michigan. Her body was stuffed in a garbage bag inside a storage container and covered in mothballs. Her aunt is being held in her death.

Shylea’s mom is in prison, and there’s no father. It says she lived with her aunt, her sister, her aunt’s four children, and her fifteen-year-old cousin’s two kids. Eight kids in the house and one adult. One teen mother of two children. Lovely. That poor girl. It’s not clear yet how she died, and given her disability perhaps it was natural causes, but god. To get disposed of like so much trash.

The aforementioned article link says she “became a quadriplegic after she was accidentally suffocated in a bassinet when she was 3 years old.” Other articles say she was three weeks old. I think the second article must be correct. Three-year-olds don’t fit in bassinets, and I don’t think they can accidentally suffocate, but infants can. I’m a little bit unclear as to how suffocation causes paralysis. Many articles talk about indications of neglect in Shylea’s life; the house was filthy and she was allegedly left in bed for long periods. I know that’s dangerous for paralyzed people because they can get bedsores that can become very nasty. Even if she did die of natural causes, it might well have been exacerbated by neglect.

What an unlucky child. What a sad life she had, and a tragic and lonely death.

Additional articles:
ABC 12
Detroit Free Press
Detroit News
Flint News