CA - Hasanni Campbell, 5, Oakland, 10 Aug 2009 - #5

[pudd]

Ah, ok Whyaduck, I shall bow before your superior knowledge of kid stuff!

Ya know, I'm really surprised that JC is managing the shoe store - she really doesn't look "up to it", if you know what I mean. Usually a managing role would require someone who is a bit more of a people person, and JC seems so quiet and beaten down. Meh, maybe I'm just misreading her, and the other employee has the "spark", but... If she's worked there for 5 years as (I think) Columbo mentioned, she must be good at her job. Maybe it's all gone downhill since she moved in with LR and stuff started going weird?

Uh, I'm rambling. Still thinking of Pepperfritz and all the wisdom we never got to learn from her....

 

[WhyaDuck?]

Ah, ok Whyaduck, I shall bow before your superior knowledge of kid stuff!

Ya know, I'm really surprised that JC is managing the shoe store - she really doesn't look "up to it", if you know what I mean. Usually a managing role would require someone who is a bit more of a people person, and JC seems so quiet and beaten down. Meh, maybe I'm just misreading her, and the other employee has the "spark", but... If she's worked there for 5 years as (I think) Columbo mentioned, she must be good at her job. Maybe it's all gone downhill since she moved in with LR and stuff started going weird?

Uh, I'm rambling. Still thinking of Pepperfritz and all the wisdom we never got to learn from her....

I know - I hate to say it, but JC seems rather dull and dim. I don't know what to make of her, yet. There's something really immature about her.

 

[Columbo]

UPDATED: Missing Fremont boy's foster father calls police investigation "irrelevant" after release from jail
Posted: 09/01/2009 09:02:51 AM PDT
Updated: 09/01/2009 07:51:12 PM PDT
<snipped>
Louis Ross, foster father of Hasanni Campbell, described jail as "hell" and refused to answer questions about the police investigation into the boy's disappearance after he was released from jail tonight.

Ross was released from Santa Rita Jail in Dublin at 6:30 p.m. wearing black sweatpants, a white hat and white long-sleeve shirt. He was unshaven and visibly angry. Asked what it was like in jail, he said: "One word: hell."

He said he and fiancee Jennifer Campbell, the boy's foster mother and aunt, would continue looking for the boy, who Ross reported missing Aug. 10.

"As long as I have got breath in my body, we will search for Hasanni," he said.

Ross was arrested at the family's Fremont home Friday. He said he was told to step out of his house, identify what he was wearing and put his hands up. He waived his rights and talked to police for a little while Friday afternoon and then asked to speak to attorney John Burris, who has been counseling Ross, 38, and Campbell, 30.

"I told the same story I told to the detectives," Ross said tonight. "They got the same story, but they weren't happy with that story. They wanted something else."

Several times while speaking to the media after his release, he called the police investigation "irrelevant."

"We are going to do what we need to do as parents," he said. "We don't care what (the police) do."

Campbell, while awaiting Ross' release from jail tonight, said that after her neighbors told police that they hadn't seen Hasanni for three weeks before his reported disappearance, she produced a receipt showing that the family had gone shopping at the Wal-Mart on Aug. 6.

Campbell said police have told her that they have evidence that the couple is implicated in this crime but that they will not say what it is.

"I don't know what type of evidence they plan to come up with," she said. "I know I am innocent, and I know Louis is innocent."

Campbell said she last saw Hasanni around 7 a.m. Aug. 10 while the boy was still sleeping. She said she kissed him goodbye and went to work. "It's been a living a nightmare ever since," she said.

She said that when she returned to her house Monday after being released from jail, every room was a mess from a police search conducted Friday after the couple's arrest. A couch was flipped over, things were pulled out of dressers and cupboards, Hasanni's clothing out of the closet and some of her paperwork was missing. "Everything is everywhere," she said. "They went through every single room."

Investigators, who are treating the case as a homicide, said today they have no substantial open leads and will not be conducting any more searches for Hasanni unless they receive new information.

"We believe we have a case, and there is a lot of information we can't make public while the investigation is open," said Oakland police spokesman Officer Jeff Thomason. "But the video we're releasing is big. This is the last time anyone other than our two suspects confirmed Hasanni was alive."

Thomason said the Oakland police investigation has not included searches in Monterey, where Ross lived until about nine months ago according to a former housemate.

"There are probably only two people who know where Hasanni is, and those are our suspects," Thomason said.

Burris said he has lined up criminal lawyers to defend the foster parents should charges be filed in the future.

The 1-year-old girl was taken into protective custody after Hasanni's disappearance. Campbell went to court today and learned that her parental rights are being severed and that the girl will be put up for adoption. "I basically will never see her again," she said.

Frame grabs of a video show Hasanni Campbell at a Fremont Wal-Mart on Aug. 6, the last confirmed sighting of the boy before he was reported missing Aug. 10 by his foster father, Louis Ross. Hasanni is in the front of the shopping cart basket.

Acting police Chief Howard Jordan makes some brief statements at a news conference at the Oakland Police Headquarters on Tuesday about the release of Louis Ross.

Jennifer Campbell, right, Louis Ross, center and attorney John Burris leave Santa Rita Jail on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2009, in Dublin, Calif. Ross was released from the jail after being arrested Friday by Oakland Police on suspicion of murder in the case of his missing foster child Hasanni Campbell, 5. Jennifer Campbell, also arrested Friday, was released from the jail on Monday. The Alameda County district attorney's office said there was insufficient evidence to hold either one.

Louis Ross talks with reporters after leaving Santa Rita Jail on Tuesday September 1, 2009 in Dublin, Calif. Ross was released from the jail after being arrested Friday by Oakland Police on suspicion of murder in the case of his missing foster child Hasanni Campbell, 5. Jennifer Campbell, at right, also arrested Friday, was released from the jail on Monday. The Alameda County district attorney's office said there was insufficient evidence to hold either one.

VIDEO: Oakland Police Release Video Of Hasanni 1:44
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1870899437?bctid=36558193001

Article:
http://www.insidebayarea.com/top-stories/ci_13245654

:angel:

underlining by me.

Does it seem to anyone else that his calling his statements to LE "stories" says a lot about how untruthful he is? I keep comparing him to John Walsh and trying to imagine what John Walsh would have said. Would he have said "I told LE the same story" ? I guess it's the word "story" that is bugging me--and the fact that it's coming from him. It sounds like a little kid caught in a web of lies. Wouldn't you just say "I told them the truth" ?

Sorry--I may be going overboard! me and my semantics and Freudian slips !

 

[WhyaDuck?]

underlining by me.

Does it seem to anyone else that his calling his statements to LE "stories" says a lot about how untruthful he is? I keep comparing him to John Walsh and trying to imagine what John Walsh would have said. Would he have said "I told LE the same story" ? I guess it's the word "story" that is bugging me--and the fact that it's coming from him. It sounds like a little kid caught in a web of lies. Wouldn't you just say "I told them the truth" ?

Sorry--I may be going overboard! me and my semantics and Freudian slips !

It's hard not to look at their language, as so much of it strikes one in the gob as... just off.

And I agree, "that's my story" sounds weird.

 

[eyes4crime]

Ah, ok Whyaduck, I shall bow before your superior knowledge of kid stuff!

Ya know, I'm really surprised that JC is managing the shoe store - she really doesn't look "up to it", if you know what I mean. Usually a managing role would require someone who is a bit more of a people person, and JC seems so quiet and beaten down. Meh, maybe I'm just misreading her, and the other employee has the "spark", but... If she's worked there for 5 years as (I think) Columbo mentioned, she must be good at her job. Maybe it's all gone downhill since she moved in with LR and stuff started going weird?

Uh, I'm rambling. Still thinking of Pepperfritz and all the wisdom we never got to learn from her....

Sorry about the loss of your fellow blogger - sounds like a great person to learn from.

Regarding going down hill - I totally agree with you. Seems everyone he comes in contact with either sues him or leaves. Doubt Jennifer is strong enough to do that. I looked up Shuz and it said 'employed two employees'...approx. 1/2 million in sales. Maybe the owner works also. Seems very strange to me that two people would be working on a Monday afternoon. mho

 

[YellowSubmarine]

underlining by me.

Does it seem to anyone else that his calling his statements to LE "stories" says a lot about how untruthful he is?

I so agree! Trying to put myself in that position (of course, I can't know for sure) I picture myself saying "I told them what happened" or "I told them the truth" NOT "I told them the story"

I have so much to comment on, as I have been AWOL for a few hours . . . I still think Hasanni was wearing gray sweatpants in Walmart, but, could be wrong.

Who is this roommate from Monterey?

I don't know if she could pull that off at work all day ~ meaning, it seems like she'd give off some clue that something wasn't right, like being overly nervous, or whatnot. I also can't imagine why if it were just an accident all this cover up including disposing of his body somewhere and staging an abduction.

JC comes off, to me, as a people pleaser. Very meak. Knowing LR's personality, I think it's very possible he convinced her she had to do this and she was merely "doing as told" by the man she loved. JMO

 

[impatientredhead]

underlining by me.

Does it seem to anyone else that his calling his statements to LE "stories" says a lot about how untruthful he is? I keep comparing him to John Walsh and trying to imagine what John Walsh would have said. Would he have said "I told LE the same story" ? I guess it's the word "story" that is bugging me--and the fact that it's coming from him. It sounds like a little kid caught in a web of lies. Wouldn't you just say "I told them the truth" ?

Sorry--I may be going overboard! me and my semantics and Freudian slips !

I think the words we choose are very important, especially when someone is talking without rehearsing what they will say.

To me the story word is very important. And everytime I hear either one of these two speak it is to communicate why this that and the other thing being said about them is wrong, taken out of context, or misinterpreted.

If your child is missing and you have no clue whether they are dead, alive, being tortured, sexually abused, or starving to death you don't waste precious camera time on the details of rumor about yourself. You show pictures, you talk to your child, you plead with the abductor, you beg the public for help.

Someone who only talks about the evidence and the rumors about their involvement, well the main thing on their mind is whether the investigation is focusing on them and what has been found. It clearly isn't on finding your child, and it clearly isn't something you don't already know the outcome of.....


moo

 

[pudd]

Sorry about the loss of your fellow blogger - sounds like a great person to learn from.

Regarding going down hill - I totally agree with you. Seems everyone he comes in contact with either sues him or leaves. Doubt Jennifer is strong enough to do that. I looked up Shuz and it said 'employed two employees'...approx. 1/2 million in sales. Maybe the owner works also. Seems very strange to me that two people would be working on a Monday afternoon. mho

e4c, I was so curious that I went back and looked at the video of the store, where the guy who owns it was talking to camera *and letting a woman try on shoes with no socks/stockings on* (gasp!). Anyway, maybe as you said he works there as well, so only needs two employees to fill in the gaps? But with so few staff, surely he'd be aware of any "routine" of LR dropping the kids off to stay with JC while he went to school?

I have to say, looking at the pictures of JC wearing the red shirt as she leaves the jail with LR (as in many previous photos) she just looks so depressed, as if she'd made a huge mistake that she couldn't take back and now her life was down the drain, and she was trying to make the best of what is going to be a really crappy life. Poor thing. jmoo, of course....

 

[WhyaDuck?]

e4c, I was so curious that I went back and looked at the video of the store, where the guy who owns it was talking to camera *and letting a woman try on shoes with no socks/stockings on* (gasp!). Anyway, maybe as you said he works there as well, so only needs two employees to fill in the gaps? But with so few staff, surely he'd be aware of any "routine" of LR dropping the kids off to stay with JC while he went to school?

I have to say, looking at the pictures of JC wearing the red shirt as she leaves the jail with LR (as in many previous photos) she just looks so depressed, as if she'd made a huge mistake that she couldn't take back and now her life was down the drain, and she was trying to make the best of what is going to be a really crappy life. Poor thing. jmoo, of course....

I'm not joking when I say this, but she's likely depressed because she's going to have to listen to him go on about this for a long, long time after those photos.

 

[eyes4crime]

e4c, I was so curious that I went back and looked at the video of the store, where the guy who owns it was talking to camera *and letting a woman try on shoes with no socks/stockings on* (gasp!). Anyway, maybe as you said he works there as well, so only needs two employees to fill in the gaps? But with so few staff, surely he'd be aware of any "routine" of LR dropping the kids off to stay with JC while he went to school?

I have to say, looking at the pictures of JC wearing the red shirt as she leaves the jail with LR (as in many previous photos) she just looks so depressed, as if she'd made a huge mistake that she couldn't take back and now her life was down the drain, and she was trying to make the best of what is going to be a really crappy life. Poor thing. jmoo, of course....

I have to say - other than Shuz being the place Ross called 911 - I don't think it has anything to do with Hasanni. He was never there that day and I find Ross' stupid story insulting as I'm sure LE does along with most everyone else. I can't believe the time and resources he is wasting by his preposterous story of abduction. :rant: mho

 

[pudd]

I'm not joking when I say this, but she's likely depressed because she's going to have to listen to him go on about this for a long, long time after those photos.

Totally inappropriate, but I lol'd at that. Can you imagine? He'd never shut up about the injustice of it all, keeping him in jail when he's so clearly innocent!

But seriously, it's such a bad situation, and one that I don't think she has the strength to get out of. So sad... and what an atmosphere to bring a child into. :twocents:

 

[Paintr]

I think the words we choose are very important, especially when someone is talking without rehearsing what they will say.

To me the story word is very important. And everytime I hear either one of these two speak it is to communicate why this that and the other thing being said about them is wrong, taken out of context, or misinterpreted.

If your child is missing and you have no clue whether they are dead, alive, being tortured, sexually abused, or starving to death you don't waste precious camera time on the details of rumor about yourself. You show pictures, you talk to your child, you plead with the abductor, you beg the public for help.

Someone who only talks about the evidence and the rumors about their involvement, well the main thing on their mind is whether the investigation is focusing on them and what has been found. It clearly isn't on finding your child, and it clearly isn't something you don't already know the outcome of.....


moo

Great post! That is exactly what bothered me about the Ross interviews...too much me, me, me and not enough Hasanni. Now JC is also doing the same thing.

May LE be suscessful in their hunting!

 

[Paintr]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/09/01/california.missing.boy/

Police say missing boy dead, foster parents suspects

Thomason declined to explain why the case had become a homicide investigation less than a month after Hasanni's guardians reported him missing. No body has been found.

"There's a lot of evidence right now we feel we still need to keep close to the investigation," he said.

"Even though they're released, they're still suspects," he said. "They're the last people who saw Hasanni alive."


......


Ross and Campbell have maintained their innocence and continued to cooperate with police, said John Burris, a lawyer who has been advising the couple since the boy's disappearance.

"They're both very emotional. It's been traumatic for her as she'd never been in custody before. She felt she'd been treated terribly, that they'd been duplicitous toward her after she'd been cooperating with the investigation," Burris said.

"Mr. Ross is quite emotional as well, though he seemed to be more worried about her," Burris said

 

[mischiefmanager]

I don't know if we can get an answer to this or not...but I wonder where THEIR box to the car seat went??? Did they put it out for the trash? Could we find out pick up dates for their trash??? Did neighbors see it out by the curb??? (Where I live you can only put trash out the NITE BEFORE pick up)...ORWill we find it when we find Hasanni???

 

[Paintr]

Even though we had come to the reluctant conclusion that Hasanni was dead, it is still a blow to the senses to read it in a headline.

 

[pudd]

I don't know if we can get an answer to this or not...but I wonder where THEIR box to the car seat went??? Did they put it out for the trash? Could we find out pick up dates for their trash??? Did neighbors see it out by the curb??? (Where I live you can only put trash out the NITE BEFORE pick up)...ORWill we find it when we find Hasanni???

Ouch, mischiefmanager, that's a good question! Big box. But maybe it was broken down and put in the recycling? A month ago.... I'm going to see if I can find out what the trash pickup day is for that area. brb!

-----------------------
Edited to add: well that's irritating! Impossible to find, unless a local can call the waste company?
Contact Us
Contact Allied Waste Services at (510) 657-3500 to obtain garbage services.

 

[Paintr]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/09/01/BAVA19H138.DTL

Hasanni Campbell's foster parents - whom Oakland police held over the weekend on suspicion of being involved in the 5-year-old Fremont boy's disappearance - would appear to be the least likely of suspects, according to social service records that have been turned over to investigators.



In fact, regular home inspections and other checks by San Francisco's Department of Human Services into Louis Ross and Jennifer Campbell of Fremont show a spotless record of foster parenting.

Hasanni and his baby sister, now 1 year old, were placed with Ross and Campbell, the children's aunt, in late 2008. The children's biological parents live in San Francisco, so social workers in the city kept tabs on them.

Both Campbell and Ross were run through state and FBI databases for any criminal record or instances of child abuse. They came back clean.



So this answers one of my questions. The foster care situation was offical, and not an informal arrangement among family.

 

[WhyaDuck?]

I don't know if we can get an answer to this or not...but I wonder where THEIR box to the car seat went??? Did they put it out for the trash? Could we find out pick up dates for their trash??? Did neighbors see it out by the curb??? (Where I live you can only put trash out the NITE BEFORE pick up)...ORWill we find it when we find Hasanni???

VERY excellent question.

I am reminded of the Boy in the Box... wasn't he found in a cardboard box originally containing a bassinet? Another classic case of "enter new baby, exit unwanted child"?

(ETA: Though, on second thoughts, I am not sure how this would fit with the abduction story, unless (1) they assumed no one would find out what they bought, and/or (2) they reckoned Hasanni would never be found. Still, good thinking!)

 

[Paintr]

http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_13245654?source=most_viewed

Louis Ross calls police investigation "irrelevant" after release from jail

Louis Ross, foster father of Hasanni Campbell, described jail as "hell" and refused to answer questions about the police investigation into the boy's disappearance after he was released from jail tonight

.....


Hasanni's 1-year-old sister was taken into protective custody after the boy's disappearance. Campbell went to court today and learned that her parental rights are being severed and that the girl will be put up for adoption. "I basically will never see her again," Campbell said tonight while awaiting Ross' release from jail

....

Campbell said police have told her that they have evidence that the couple is implicated in this crime but that they will not say what it is.

"I don't know what type of evidence they plan to come up with," she said. "I know I am innocent, and I know Louis is innocent."

Campbell said she last saw Hasanni around 7 a.m. Aug. 10 while the boy was still sleeping. She said she kissed him goodbye and went to work. "It's been a living a nightmare ever since," she said.

.....

Thomason said the Oakland police investigation has not included searches in Monterey, where Ross lived until about nine months ago according to a former housemate.

"There are probably only two people who know where Hasanni is, and those are our suspects," Thomason said.

Burris said he has lined up criminal lawyers to defend the foster parents should charges be filed in the future.

....


There will be a search Saturday at Fremont's Lake Elizabeth at 40000 Paseo Padre Parkway. Volunteers may meet at the main entrance at 9 a.m. Experienced divers are needed to help out. For more information, e-mail [email protected] or call 510-276-9090.

 

[Paintr]

So the possibility of the little girl being returned to JC and Ross has been removed. I wonder if CPS talked to LE. Hmmmm! :waitasec: