MI MI - D'wan Sims, 4, Livonia, 11 Dec 1994

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Niq said:
I randomly learned about this case yesterday and spent a few hours researching it. I can't believe the mother wasn't charged with *****. I mean, I know that homicide can be hard without a body. But she could've at least went to prison for lying. It was just her word against the cameras and that was it? That was the end all, be all? She says "my kid was there," the cameras show her but no sign of him.....and that's just it? Crazy.
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Today she'd obviously be charged with murder, but no-body murder cases were very rare back then. If she's still alive, then she may still be charged eventually.
 
there is a guy on Facebook posting toddler photos of himself, claiming he is D'wan.

He's been put in touch with Michigan State Police so a DNA swab can be collected.

Could this be D'wan?

----waiting patiently---
 
D’Wan Sims was reported missing on Dec. 11, 1994 at the Wonderland Mall in Livonia. His mother, Dwanna Harris, told police he disappeared while shopping with her.

Surveillance video revealed that Harris was at the mall, but didn’t show her son. That led investigators to believe he was never at the mall in the first place. The family became the focus of suspicion.

“I was here at the department and we looked at all of the video, we checked everything, and we never saw D’Wan with Ms. Sims,” Livonia police Captain Ron Taig said.
7EFJPGIPMFFELJHYLDP6S2SMRY.jpg

(L) D'wan Sims photo, (R) Age progressed photo of D'wan Sims from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
Police reached out to the mother to obtain DNA for a test and it’s unclear if she will cooperate. Sources tell Local 4 that the man reached out to Harris on Facebook messenger and she blocked him.

Police said they first heard about the man’s theory after he posted his belief about his identity on Facebook. He also shared concerns about what his parents told him about his childhood. He went to the police station a couple days ago.

“I guess what’s odd is that he claimed that he didn’t want any of this information out in the media and from what I understand he has put this out on social media,” Taig said.

“We are going to reach out, obviously, to the family and provide his information, to see if they want to contact him,” said Taig.

Mother speaks during 1994 news conference
The following are quotes from Harris from when she spoke to WDIV in 1994 in the days after her child’s disappearance.
  • “The focus is finding D’Wan, he’s 4 years old, he’s alone and he needs to come home to his mother,” Harris said in a news conference which was held after the boy initially went missing.
  • “I feel that a lot of the turns that they’re (Livonia police) taking is because of the Susan Smith case and I do understand what the Livonia police have to do and that’s why I have been cooperating with them,” Harris said.
  • The Susan Smith Harris refers to is a mother who confessed to drowning her two young sons after originally claiming she’d been carjacked. The case made national news in 1994. Smith was convicted of two counts of murder.
  • “The only thing that I want the public to know, is that my only concern is finding my son,” Harris said. “Whoever has my baby, I know he’s safe, and I know you’re taking good care of him ... What I’m hoping is that someone may have ran across my child ... We’ve got your Christmas ready, so, just come home,” Harris said.
Click here to view the poster from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
Man thinks he may be D’Wan Sims, boy who went missing in 1994; Livonia police take DNA sample
 
Dwanna Harris told police she took her son, D'Wan Sims, to Wonderland Mall in Livonia on Dec. 11, 1994, where he vanished into a crowd of shoppers.

Surveillance video revealed that Harris was at the mall, but didn't show her son, however, leading investigators to believe he was never there in the first place. The family became the focus of suspicion, but nearly 25 years later, the disappearance remains unsolved.

"My family has nothing to hide," said Beverly Sims, D'Wan's grandmother.
Where some of Michigan's biggest unsolved cases stand in 2019
 
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In 2009, the Associated Press reported Sgt. Shelley Holloway was the lone officer remaining on the force at the time who was there when Sims disappeared. She, too, questioned the story given to police by Harris.

“We’re pretty confident D’Wan never made it to Wonderland Mall,” Holloway said in 2009.

In that same report, Harris -- who is now known as Dwanna Jackson -- said it hurt her when people asked about her missing son, but held out hope she would see him again.

“Hopefully, we’ll be having one of those, ‘How does it feel that he’s finally home?’ days,” she said in a telephone interview at the time

Current LPD Captain Ron Taig told WDIV he saw the security footage as well and he, too, says they never saw Sims with his mother at the mall. No one has ever been charged in the disappearance due to lack of evidence.

It is unclear when the DNA test results will be returned to police. Attempts by MLive to reach detectives at the Livonia Police Department were unsuccessful Thursday evening.
Man claims to be D’wan Sims who went missing in 1994, gives DNA to Livonia Police
 
Police reached out to the mother to obtain DNA for a test and it’s unclear if she will cooperate. Sources tell Local 4 that the man reached out to Harris on Facebook messenger and she blocked him.

Police said they first heard about the man’s theory after he posted his belief about his identity on Facebook. He also shared concerns about what his parents told him about his childhood. He went to the police station a couple days ago.

“I guess what’s odd is that he claimed that he didn’t want any of this information out in the media and from what I understand he has put this out on social media,” Taig said.

“We are going to reach out, obviously, to the family and provide his information, to see if they want to contact him,” said Taig.
Man thinks he may be D’Wan Sims, boy who went missing in 1994; Livonia police take DNA sample
 
Thanks for the recent updates! I remember this case like it was yesterday and always wondered what happened to the sweet little boy. There was always something fishy about Ms. Harris' behavior, and I couldn't help think that D'Wan hadn't been at the mall with his mother and that something sinister was going on. If this man is D'Wan, Harris must be scared about what might be revealed about his mysterious disappearance.
 
I suspect this will end much like the man who pretended to be Timmothy Pitzen earlier this year.

It was reported that the mother blocked him on FB after he couldn’t answer any questions that only D’wan would know

I believe she also knows for a fact that D’wan is deceased, so she knows this isn’t him.
 
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D’Wan Sims’ mother spoke with man who believes he could be her missing son

DNA test results expected within 3 to 4 months

...Harris is living out of state, but Livonia police said that she has spoken with them and the man who claims to be her missing son. She asked him things that only she and her son would know about D’Wan like his birth date and some birth marks he had as a child. The man was unable to answer her questions...
 
chi123 said:
I suspect this will end much like the man who pretended to be Timmothy Pitzen earlier this year.

It was reported that the mother blocked him on FB after he couldn’t answer any questions that only D’wan would know

I believe she also knows for a fact that D’wan is deceased, so she knows this isn’t him.
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Totally agree.
 
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