OCT 18, 2019
FBI: ’Every second counts’ for missing Alabama child Kamille 'Cupcake’ McKinney
It’s been six days since 3-year-old
Kamille “Cupcake” McKinney disappeared from a Birmingham birthday party and experts say time is no friend to child abduction investigations.
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Since day one, investigators have treated Kamille’s disappearance as a stranger abduction, though they say they have not ruled out any scenario. Such incidents grab headlines, but are rare in any city in the U.S.
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The last time Birmingham experience anything close to Kamille’s disappearance was on Thanksgiving Day, 1993, when 6-year-old Peggy Chappell was seen getting into a van or SUV with a man who witnesses said kissed her on the cheek.
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A medical examiner found no evidence Peggy was sexually assaulted, but police found a pornographic magazine next to her body in the garbage bag.
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Her killing remains unsolved. Where Katie Chappell is today is not clear.
“From what our Behavior Analysts folks say, it’s not very common to have a 3-year-old abducted by a complete stranger,’’ said Birmingham’s FBI Special Agent in Charge Johnnie Sharp Jr. “When you’re looking at child predators who are looking to abduct a child for sexual purposes, those children tend to be older.”
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The FBI mobilized its Child Abduction Rapid Deployment teams to Birmingham. “Any time you have a missing or abducted child, history has demonstrated that time is of the essence’’ Sharpe said. “Every minute, literally every second, counts -- especially when the child is abducted by a stranger.”
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“When it’s truly an abduction by a stranger, 99 percent of the time it’s for nefarious purposes so we know generally it’s not going to have a happy ending.”
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Though the FBI is acting in a supporting role to Birmingham police, the agency has opened its own kidnapping investigation as well. “The presumption is made whenever there is an abducted child that there’s the potential that they cross state lines,’’ Sharpe said. “That goes back decades when the FBI first got involved in kidnapping investigations going all the way back to the Lindbergh baby.”
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In addition to the CARD team, the FBI has brought in the Behavioral Analysts team from Quantico. They have a psychology background and start analyzing facts of a case to build a profile of who investigators are likely looking for in terms of a suspect.
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Thirdly, the FBI’s Evidence Response Team has assisted Birmingham in a number of searches already, most notably when an SUV sought in the case was recovered by police 24 hours after Kamille’s disappearance.
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"If you’re dealing with a stranger abduction, history shows and case studies have documented, that the longer the time elapses between the time of the abduction and when the child is recovered, they typically don’t have a happy ending,’’ Sharpe said.
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Sharpe said he doesn’t yet know how long the CARD team will stay in Birmingham.
“As long as we have enough leads to justify these resources, then we’ll keep going as long as we need to go,’’ he said. “As leads dry up, we will scale back our resources.”
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Kamille's family is handing out this flyer.
