VA VA- Unidentified 12-year-old abducted in Spotsylvania, 4 July 2013

[floridamomma]

None of those are acceptable reasons for why this child is apparently missing but STILL unreported, IMO. What, parents just take their kids' word for it that they have a sleepover, and don't bother to check with the other parents to make sure it's actually a mutually agreed upon event? My mom always did. And the foster parent scenario? I doubt it. The thing is that it's been over 24 hours now, and even if the other kids are covering, or the parent thought their child was at another person's house for a sleepover... don't the parents start to think, "hmm... maybe my kid has worn out their welcome and I should make arrangements to pick them up or call to have them sent home?"

my daughter had a friend when she was younger, and this girls mom would let her stray with us until i sent her home, wiyhout even checking on her for an entire wkend. more than once.

eta: we even have had deputies pull up looking for her, grandma hadnt seen her in weeks and reported her missing. ugh.

 

[margarita25]

my daughter had a friend when she was younger, and this girls mom would let her stray with us until i sent her home, wiyhout even checking on her for an entire wkend. more than once.

I'm afraid I too know some very irresponsible parents!

 

[Knox]

LE Pressor can be viewed here-

http://wtvr.com/2013/07/05/spotsylvania-child-abduction-investigation-update/

 

[SuperTmo]

Maybe this perp targeted this kid bc he noticed the kid was alone a lot and/or somehow knew he didn't have much supervision?

Maybe he even worked in his home.

New carpet? Movers? Repair man? Landscaper?

Or...maybe he's not a worker at all, and he's just a dirty looking guy who drives a van. If he was driving a van used for work, I'd assume most would have some sort of writing or logos to identify the business for advertising purposes. Getting hung up on it being "work" or "construction" van, and him being a worker or some sort in this neighborhood is limiting the scope of suspects quite significantly.

 

[ClaireNC]

<slightly o/t: "Spotsylvania" is an odd name / word.>

also o/t: Too funny, I always say the same thing when we drive through there.

Now back to the topic. Does anybody have a link that mentions that the boy has been seen before in the area on his bike? I would like to know if he just recently started showing up in the area.

A theory: If the man in the van and the boy on the bike both just started showing up in the neighborhood over the past few weeks, they could be traveling together. Possibly even father and son. The man could be a drifter of sorts, seasonally moving up and down the east coast as the weather gets warmer taking on odd construction jobs. The boy could be his son or a runaway/throw away that he just picked up along the way. They could be living in the van, maybe in a campground nearby or in a cheap hotel. They may not have access to media or be in the habit of watching the news. Kind of living off the radar, so to speak. Of course, there could be a really dark side to the relationship between the man and boy, but I am choosing not to go "there" with this post.

So now that school is out, the man and boy show up in Virginia looking for work. The man is working construction during the day and the boy is out riding his bike around the neighborhood and doing what boys do. Yesterday was a holiday, so maybe the man was not working. The two got into a disagreement and the boy took off and the man simply came and retrieved him. The boy might be on the spectrum, as somebody previously suggested, or a really angry boy that is being forced to live this drifter lifestyle.

I somehow think it is relevant that Spotsylvania is right along Route 95. I live close to Rt 95 in NC. There are definitely drifters that do a regular seasonal route up and down the coast looking for work. The other point of being close to 95, is if it was a stranger abduction, it makes for a fast get away.

 

[margarita25]

Or...maybe he's not a worker at all, and he's just a dirty looking guy who drives a van. If he was driving a van used for work, I'd assume most would have some sort of writing or logos to identify the business for advertising purposes. Getting hung up on it being "work" or "construction" van, and him being a worker or some sort in this neighborhood is limiting the scope of suspects quite significantly.

Could be! Anything is possible.

I agree that tunnel vision is so detrimental to a case! However, at least there is something to look into here! I believe the construction aspect is a plausible lead and worth digging deeper into!

Re: work vans, not all have logos on them, some are just plain...

Maybe he doesn't want a logo on the van so he can kidnap people!

 

[margarita25]

LE Pressor can be viewed here-

http://wtvr.com/2013/07/05/spotsylvania-child-abduction-investigation-update/

I noticed on the video footage that there is a sign right there that says "Watch for Children".

 

[margarita25]

also o/t: Too funny, I always say the same thing when we drive through there.

Now back to the topic. Does anybody have a link that mentions that the boy has been seen before in the area on his bike? I would like to know if he just recently started showing up in the area.

A theory: If the man in the van and the boy on the bike both just started showing up in the neighborhood over the past few weeks, they could be traveling together. Possibly even father and son. The man could be a drifter of sorts, seasonally moving up and down the east coast as the weather gets warmer taking on odd construction jobs. The boy could be his son or a runaway/throw away that he just picked up along the way. They could be living in the van, maybe in a campground nearby or in a cheap hotel. They may not have access to media or be in the habit of watching the news. Kind of living off the radar, so to speak. Of course, there could be a really dark side to the relationship between the man and boy, but I am choosing not to go "there" with this post.

So now that school is out, the man and boy show up in Virginia looking for work. The man is working construction during the day and the boy is out riding his bike around the neighborhood and doing what boys do. Yesterday was a holiday, so maybe the man was not working. The two got into a disagreement and the boy took off and the man simply came and retrieved him. The boy might be on the spectrum, as somebody previously suggested, or a really angry boy that is being forced to live this drifter lifestyle.

I somehow think it is relevant that Spotsylvania is right along Route 95. I live close to Rt 95 in NC. There are definitely drifters that do a regular seasonal route up and down the coast looking for work. The other point of being close to 95, is if it was a stranger abduction, it makes for a fast get away.

Great post!

 

[margarita25]

LE Pressor can be viewed here-

http://wtvr.com/2013/07/05/spotsylvania-child-abduction-investigation-update/

"Pearce said other neighbors have reported seeing the child and the van in the neighborhood at various times this week."

 

[margarita25]

LE Pressor can be viewed here-

http://wtvr.com/2013/07/05/spotsylvania-child-abduction-investigation-update/

&#8220;The left hand door has a dark tinted window. The right hand door that swings out from the rear is a solid door with no window. About two-thirds of the way down the door there is a light-colored Bondo spot similar to where a repair may have occurred on that vehicle recently.&#8221;

(edit: interesting, only one window on the rear door...definitely sounds like a work vehicle, right? What type of vans have only one window on the left rear?)

 

[Knox]

The video's of the LE press conference linked above are chalk full of info.

This is interesting; LE says the witness stated the suspect's "clothing was very dirty, dirt stains, mud stains, as if the person had been working". I noticed the mud on the tires and the foot pedal of the bike. Maybe the suspect was muddy/dirty because the abduction point wasn't his first encounter with the boy that afternoon? Maybe the boy got away earlier?

But why wouldn't he have stopped at, for instance; the neighbor who saw him riding his bike down her street, yelled for help?

None of this makes sense, sigh~

 

[TGIRecovered]

The video's of the LE press conference linked above are chalk full of info.

This is interesting; LE says the witness stated the suspect's "clothing was very dirty, dirt stains, mud stains, as if the person had been working". I noticed the mud on the tires and the foot pedal of the bike. Maybe the suspect was muddy/dirty because the abduction point wasn't his first encounter with the boy that afternoon? Maybe the boy got away earlier?

But why wouldn't he have stopped at, for instance; the neighbor who saw him riding his bike down her street, yelled for help?

None of this makes sense, sigh~

If he had been through any severe terror or trauma maybe he was in shock, or just plain afraid to ask for help. Abusers can convince their victim that anyone they ask for help will just return him to the abuser.

 

[rachaellouise]

I guess at this point it wouldn't hurt to just assume the worst (at this point, an abduction) so that anything else is good news, KWIM?

 

[margarita25]

Glad LE is taking a better safe than sorry approach...maybe this is just a case of an angry parent retrieving his child because he ran off without doing his chores or something and the witness reports of the physical altercation were exaggerated...maybe the parent was in such a huff he didn't care about the bike, and/or decided he would come back for it later (or maybe even punishing the kid by leaving the bike there...) Maybe now the parent is afraid he'll be accused of being abusive or something (or doesn't want the cops at his house for whatever reason), I don't know.

I'm afraid I have nothing else to contribute at this point, lol, until LE has more time to do their job and gives us more info.

 

[bdawk20]

Unless the "abductor" was from outside of the area where they aren't seeing the news of this incident, I can't imagine nobody recognizing the description of the van....it's so detailed.
This one is super-confusing.

 

[TGIRecovered]

I wonder if police have the van on any surveillance video. I haven't seen any mention of it and I doubt police would choose not to show it if they had it.

Does anyone here know what places would have cameras in that neighborhood? ATM's, stores, banks, traffic cameras? Is there a particular route out of town from that neighborhood which would likely have no cameras anywhere?

If there really is no video at all, I'm thinking that the van didn't go far. Maybe he went straight to a warehouse or garage nearby.

MOO

 

[margarita25]

Dirty clothes....
landscaper, mechanic, food worker?

painter cargo pants...

 

[Knox]

That question was asked at the pressor TGIR. LE stated they are in the process of gathering any possible footage. But they did not want to disclose any details of the investigation, so cut off the line of questioning.

 

[hollye]

The 4 o'clock news with new video came on a while ago on NBC, but family came home from the pool right at that time. I don't see it online yet.

The news crew tried to talk with the female witness, a black woman, appeared to be in her 30s. They indicated that she had just arrived home and had been at the police station most of today. She did not want to speak to the press, understandably.

I was able to figure out where she lives and indicated it on the map. Her house is 3 houses north west on Holleybrooke of the abduction site, still a ways away for a good visual, IMO, but much better than where I originally thought and she would have likely had a good view of the back of the van, as the boy was being put in, if the vehicle was traveling away from her house.

 

[YidArmyRach]

What surprises me is that the boy hasn't been identified by his bike.

One of my boys is massively into bmx-ing. They all meet up at various parks in different towns. They all have different bikes, they all take a lot of interest in each others' bikes and they will all have different identifying features where they have customized them (like the stunt pegs on that one). They might not know everyone's name, but they'll all know who rides which bike. To say they are obsessed with their bikes, isn't an understatement.

If that photo has been put out locally, then I'm amazed no one has come forward with a name.