I still think Loren Herzog unfortunately fits the bill for both Michaela and Malakia.
"To me, this looks like a "job" more than a personal abduction. I know Michaela's mother has stated she feels this guy was an amateur but I have to disagree. I think anyone that brash and brazen has definitely done this before and has either gotten away with it or got away with a very light punishment. With criminals, confidence is usually gained by experience. And the fact that he wasn't concerned with showing his face makes me think he was planning on handing her off to someone else quickly."
I would have to agree with you. This was a person that seemed to have people to protect him, and wasn't worried about being caught. Sadly they were right. I know Sharon has a conflict with her emotions of wanting her daughter back, but not wanting to hear about what might have happened to her.....I understand this completely. I think people like you though that try and solve this, might just save more children. These people will never stop, and it seems as though one gets put away or dies, another sicko steps up. I'm one that thinks all of the missing children in the bay area during that time were connected. Michaela's Mom also seems to have a major problem with people like us trying to solve it, and thinks we should let the police to do their jobs. I feel that the police have closed the books on all of these cases, and don't want to spend any time or resources on them. Its taken 20 years to get them to put Michaela's case on a computer. Like with Jacob Wetherling, I think it is going to be an online sleuth that eventually solves this, and hopefully she is alive and brought home.
I agree, Michaela's mother posted about Richard Helwig who was involved in trafficking of child *advertiser censored*. In March 1989 he was stopped at the border after returning from a trip to Mexico. He was discovered to have child *advertiser censored* in his vehicle, along with articles about Michaela and Amber Swartz. Helwig had a girlfriend in Mexico and two daughters who were deaf. Authorities interviewed the girlfriend who had earrings just like the ones Michaela was wearing, she told them that Helwig had given it to her, then changed her story and said she had gotten them from the flea market. She also said Helwig had given her a T-shirt just like the one Michaela was wearing but the police never found it.
Both his daughters were interviewed separately, and both independently confirmed that both Michaela and Amber had been there, in Mexico. Helwig died of AIDS in prison, even on his death bed he refused to talk about Michaela and would neither confirm or deny his involvement.
San Diego Here's an article about Helwig. He was 54 in 1990, so he obviously wasn't Michaela's abductor. I think the abductor was simply someone who was working as a middleman for a trafficking network, he was described as having severe acne that was like boils all over his face which might suggest drug abuse. It's possible he was doing this to pay off a drug debt. He might not even be from the area.
Do you know where I could find more information on Richard Helwig. I am not finding anything on a google search.
DA charges man with murder following 1988 disappearance of Michaela Garecht
DA charges man with murder following 1988 disappearance of Michaela Garecht