GUILTY VA - Noah Thomas, 5, Pulaski County, 22 March 2015 #1

[Starry Night]

http://new.livestream.com/WDBJ/events/2735752

is this live or am i watching a repeat?? anyone know?

it looked like a repeat at first-now I don't know-staying with it just in case

 

[Kelly Faraday]

Are they checking vehicles? Especially trunks of vehicles should be checked.

Just coming out of lurk mode to say what a great idea. I hope they are checking vehicles/trunks. It wouldn't be the first time a child was found there.

I really thought he's be home by now.

Praying along with everyone else for his safe return.

K.

 

[Starry Night]

Anthony Akers-talking-VA DEpt of Emergency Management-Sheriff ? from Gillespie County now talking

 

[iamnotagolem]

From the presser:
extending the search area to 1 mi
researching the area that was searched yesterday
interviewing anyone that has leads
neighborhood canvass again today
investigators exploring all leads

questions, i couldn't hear the questions, just the answers:
-parents have been cooperative, been with them thru night & with us now, not interested in speaking with media
pursuing everything coming out
-yesterday we accomplished a fast search, on the ground immediately, fast search, on the ground today more aggressive, more detailed search
-we are confident that the picture you have of yellow & black pants & chargers jersey w/number 21, jacket is camo with skull & crossbones pattern on it
-we currently have FBI, Sherriffs office, Virginia state police, numerous agencies have come in, LE & SAR, we are not asking for volunteers
teams we have out now are professional search teams, teamed with LE on the ground now, and a great number of them, well over 100
-our goal is to find Noah safely and return him home, we are investigating every lead or rumor that we hear, no evidence of foul play or vehicle in the area, lot of people moving around on a Sunday morning, rural area but residential type area
-we have had people who have been working since 10am yesterday that have not been home, the first hour i waited to hear he was home, by hour 4 i knew that we needed to send out the ones on standby
-we are still searching aggressively (chopper very loud can't hear)
-there is a time we will scale back the search, but i don't see that in the immediate future, we plan to return him home
-our search teams have experience, have been in contact with local forces that know this child and know him well, the FBI has certain avenues to help us that we are utilizing now that will go into that depth
- registry (I assume RSO) has been pulled, we began yesterday with that and we're widening the area, that is being pursued
- at this time we have the national exploited child out but for an amber alert it's too vague, for amber alert we'd need vehicle and tag, already they are getting calls every time someone sees a small child
- neighbors have cooperated greatly, they like this child, he's talked to them on several occasions, they know his habits of playing in the yard, this residence is slightly off the traveled portion
- farmland, each house has to be asked permission to search houses, vehicles, buildings, we had divers in a pond, we are 80% sure he was not in the pond
- we're hoping today brings results
- we literally have hundreds of people in the area, we're hoping that generates more leads
-concentration is 1 mile from the residence, we will go back and do a detailed search again out to 1/4 mi, then 1/2 mi, then expand to the 3 mi that we are interested in


sorry i can't hear anything, my 5 y/o just got his new training wheels, come home Noah

 

[Starry Night]

We have air search in different areas-foot hounds-we are interviewing anyone who has leads-pursuing all leads-every avenue we have is being used in this search-parents cooperative last night and this afternoon

 

[Starry Night]

Not asking for vounteers to come out-teams we have now are professional officers and that's what we have on the ground now

 

[Starry Night]

our goal is to locate Noah safely-no evidence of foul play-no report of any vehicle in the are-rural community

 

[Sigh Sister]

Paraphrasing from presser:

More thorough and detailed search today.
Not asking for volunteers at this time. Professionals handling it right now. If volunteers show up, they are being asked to go to fairgrounds. Too many volunteers can complicate search.
No amber alert at this time.
RSO's are being looked at
I THINK he said parents are wanting to talk to media and they will be working on that
They have pulled video from surveillance cameras and didn't see anything other than family at a store which confirmed what he was wearing
Asking volunteers to call first and they will be given a date that they might be needed
80-100 volunteers out in groups of 4-7
May give another presser later today

 

[Starry Night]

wow-this is a repeat of this morning's presser!

 

[blefuscu]

It's not good that a 5 year old has been missing so long. With each passing hour the chance of finding him alive goes down. What is the weather like in that area at the moment?

 

[Starry Night]

Have you talked to child psychologists? We are talking to all.

 

[Starry Night]

We began yesterday to pursue RSO registry

 

[Starry Night]

I'm done-this is a repeat of this morning presser

 

[charminglane]

Why does it say that the local forces know this child well?

 

[iamnotagolem]

Why does it say that the local forces know this child well?

I wondered that as well, I heard him say that but he didn't expound upon that. Maybe the family is related to or has friends in the local LE?

They didn't say why the parents weren't interested in talking to the media either. Although after reading some of the comments in social media, they are getting blasted so maybe they are wanting to avoid some of the tough questions reporters will ask?

 

[sarx]

Color me confused. I thought I saw online this morning on a FB page of some group/person (will not name as I don't know their credibility) that they were actually requesting volunteers? This presser states they are not? What a nightmare for them if that was said incorrectly.

On that note though, I really wish towns would accept volunteers, ask a reputable organization to come in and manage them, and let said volunteers work assignments in the outer fringes. They are doing the searches right and working radius rings, at the same time, an able bodied child can get quite a ways away in a hurry (like miles). SAR teams can't cover that far and must work systematically, so why not use volunteers in an organized fashion farther out?

 

[vasportsmom]

Thanks for recapping the presser. We were at soccer and Rita was dying for updates. I hadn't been following this but I'm trying to catch up.
Several people on my FB have shared a post begging for volunteers to meet at the fairgrounds but I guess that LE is contradicting that?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[JeannaT]

Color me confused. I thought I saw online this morning on a FB page of some group/person (will not name as I don't know their credibility) that they were actually requesting volunteers? This presser states they are not? What a nightmare for them if that was said incorrectly.

On that note though, I really wish towns would accept volunteers, ask a reputable organization to come in and manage them, and let said volunteers work assignments in the outer fringes. They are doing the searches right and working radius rings, at the same time, an able bodied child can get quite a ways away in a hurry (like miles). SAR teams can't cover that far and must work systematically, so why not use volunteers in an organized fashion farther out?

I agree. A mile radius is not NEARLY enough for a 5 year old healthy child. In our district, schools within a mile don't get bus service because it's expected that the child can walk the mile to and BACK from school each day although usually people carpool now. If a 5 year old went out on an explore and got lost, he could have walked 15 miles, IMHO, before becoming too tired. So often when searches are done for little ones, LE fails to realize how very far they can get.

And then, again, I suspect the pic they are circulating really doesn't look like Noah - what if he's wandered in to some where that it's not unusual to see a child, and he's in a fugue state?

 

[blazelet]

I don't think there was a new presser. WDBJ7 has a misleading link on their page stating live press conference. When you click it goes to the archived presser from this morning. The presser notes people have put here have been identical to the morning presser.

If anything were ever to happen to my kids I would do whatever LE thinks best to help finding them. That includes speaking or avoiding the press, wearing a pink wig, wouldn't matter.

The armchair commenters attacking families on social media for whatever reason, make me nuts. Leave them alone. If they've done something truly wrong LE will sort them out. Until then, lend positivity.

/rant off

 

[ami]

I feel like the conflicting info about volunteers and searches and early information that's often coming thirdhand through friends of friends of facebook friends or through a completely unedited and un-fact-checked media is pretty much the rule rather than the exception in the early days of a missing person case. At least all of the ones I've been involved with on WS.

At this point it seems like the morning schedule with the dad going to work and the mom coming home with the kids - plus the 'last seen' outfit - are the only solid things we've heard.

I do think it's interesting if it's true about the dog scenting search stopping at a roadway, since often the dogs can even track people who have gotten into cars - but once again, man, the number of times dog search info has been misreported or misinterpreted is just so huge that it's impossible to know the truth of it.