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Post by meme on Jul 8, 2013 1:06:32 GMT -5
11-year-old autistic boy missing from Menifee
Sunday, July 7th, 2013 Issue 27, Volume 17. MENIFEE - Sheriff's officials are searching for an 11-year-old autistic boy who went missing overnight from his Menifee home, a sergeant said today. Sheriff's deputies were dispatched at 10:33 a.m. today to a home in the 33000 block of Helen Lane. They learned that Terry Dewayne Smith went missing on Saturday at 7:30 p.m., according to Riverside County sheriff's Sgt. Lisa McConnell. Deputies searched for Terry but couldn't find him in the area, even with a bloodhound, McConnell said. Terry is 4 feet 8 inches tall, weighs 76 lbs. and has blonde hair and blue eyes. He was last seen wearing blue basketball shorts.
Deputies urge anyone who has seen Terry or knows about his whereabouts to call the sheriff's Perris station at (951) 210-1000 or sheriff's dispatch at (951) 776-1099.
www.thevillagenews.com/story/72111/
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Post by meme on Jul 8, 2013 1:12:58 GMT -5
Boy, 11, With Autism Is Missing In Menifee
MENIFEE (CBSLA.com) — Authorities are asking the public to help them find an 11-year-old missing Menifee boy. Sheriff’s officials say Terry Dewayne Smith — who has autism — went missing overnight. Deputies were dispatched at 10:33 a.m. Sunday to a home in the 33000 block of Helen Lane. They learned that Smith went missing on Saturday at 7:30 p.m., according to Riverside County sheriff’s Sgt. Lisa McConnell. A search for Terry turned up no clues. A bloodhound did not pick up his scent. Smith is 4 feet 8 inches, weighs 76 pounds and has blonde hair and blue eyes. He was last seen wearing blue basketball shorts. Deputies urge anyone who has seen Terry or knows about his whereabouts to call the sheriff’s Perris station at (951) 210-1000. losangeles.cbslocal.com/2013/07/07/boy-11-with-autism-is-missing-in-menifee/
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Post by meme on Jul 10, 2013 13:34:00 GMT -5
Missing Menifee Boy: Police Search Home for Remains
MENIFEE, Calif. (KTLA) — Authorities on Wednesday suspended the search for a missing Menifee boy, and were instead combing the area around his home for remains, police said. Terry Dewayne Smith, 11 Crime tape surrounded the house in the 33000 block of Helen Lane, where 11-year-old Terry Smith, who is autistic, was last seen on Saturday night. The area was being investigated as a crime scene, according to Riverside County sheriff’s Deputy Albert Martinez. Investigators had reason to believe there were human remains on the property, though none had been found, Martinez said. The developments came as the search for Smith entered its fourth full day. Menifee police were initially called to the family’s home around 10:30 a.m. on Sunday. Terry was not in his room on Sunday morning, according to his family. He was apparently last in the care of his 16-year-old stepbrother on Saturday night. It was initially reported that Terry’s stepbrother had seen him playing video games in his room. But when interviewed by police, the stepbrother said he left the house sometime between 7:30 and 9 p.m., and Terry tried to follow him, Martinez said. He told investigators that he was walking toward the market when he turned around and saw Terry, according to Martinez. He said that he yelled at the boy to go back inside and then continued on his way. Smith’s disappearance set off an extensive search involving law enforcement personnel and as many as 1,000 volunteers. Their efforts were coordinated in large part via social media, including a “Find Terry Smith” Facebook page. On Wednesday, many of those volunteers vowed to continue searching, saying they were not giving up hope. “Until we find him, we’re not going to stop looking for him, volunteer coordinator Bill Gillette said. “Our volunteer group right now, what a miracle it will be when we actually do find him. That will be a great story,” Gillette said. Smith was described as 4 feet 8 inches tall and 78 pounds, with blond hair and blue eyes. He was last seen wearing blue basketball shorts. He is autistic, but is highly functioning, according to his family, and answers to the nickname “Juju.” He is in need of medication, they said. Anyone with information was asked to call Menifee police at (951) 210-1000 or Riverside County sheriff’s dispatch at (951) 776-1099.
Read more: ktla.com/2013/07/10/search-intensifies-for-missing-menifee-boy-with-autism/#ixzz2YfXYRZ3E
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Post by meme on Jul 10, 2013 13:41:08 GMT -5
Menifee missing boy: Remains found at Terry Smith's family home
Wednesday, July 10, 2013 MENIFEE, Calif. (KABC) -- Remains have been found at the Menifee home of an 11-year-old boy with autism who went missing Saturday, officials said. Investigators are working to determine if the remains are human.
Terry Dewayne Smith Jr. disappeared from his family's home in the 3300 block of Helen Lane Saturday between 7:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. The 11-year-old boy was initally said to have been last seen in his brother's room Saturday night. On Wednesday, however, officials said his 16-year-old brother saw him following him to a nearby market. Once his brother realized Terry was following him, he told him to go home. Terry then disappeared. Crime tape blocked the street that led to the boy's family home as the investigation continued Wednesday. Officials said Smith's family was cooperating with the investigation and that no one had been placed under arrest. No other details were released but the professional search effort by the Riverside County Sheriff's Department was suspended Wednesday. This new twists comes after law enforcement expanded their search area to 81 square miles Tuesday. Meanwhile, volunteers said they would continue their search Wednesday. On Tuesday, volunteers had to suspend their efforts overnight due to dangerous conditions. Organizers say more than 700 volunteers walked through thick brush and 100 degree heat searching for 11-year-old Terry Smith. Volunteers say they will not let law enforcement's presence at the boy's home deter them from the hope that they will find Terry. Smith, who responds to the name "JuJu" has blond-sandy hair and brown eyes. He is 4 feet 8 inches tall, weighs 76 pounds and was last seen wearing blue basketball shorts.
No other details have been released. A press conference was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. Anyone with information was asked to contact the Riverside County Sheriff's Department at (951) 776-1099.
abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news%2Flocal%2Finland_empire&id=9168042
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Post by earl on Jul 10, 2013 15:38:53 GMT -5
How does an 11 yr old die in a home without the parents knowing?  |
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Post by meme on Jul 10, 2013 18:22:39 GMT -5
How does an 11 yr old die in a home without the parents knowing? remains sound to me as though whom ever these is has been there for sometime  Terry hasn't been missing that long unless he was just recently reported missing  |
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Post by earl on Jul 11, 2013 3:15:23 GMT -5
Hard to imagine a 16 yr old killing his 11 yr old half-brother. Terry Dewayne Smith Jr. Murder Investigation: Family Member Arrested, Human Body FoundBy GILLIAN FLACCUS 07/10/13 07:58 PM ET EDT  MENIFEE, Calif. -- A 16-year-old family member was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of murder in the case of a missing 11-year-old autistic boy in Southern California, police said Wednesday. A body that matched the description of Terry Dewayne Smith Jr. was found partially exposed in a shallow grave on the family property, Menifee police Chief John Hill said at a news conference. The body has not yet been positively identified, Hill said, adding that the death was the result of "a domestic issue" at the house. Terry has a 16-year-old half brother who authorities have said was the last person to see the boy. However, Hill identified the suspect only as a "family member" and would not confirm if the suspect lived at the house. Police responded to a tip about the body early Wednesday before they discovered the body, said Hill. Televised news reports showed sheriff's investigators concentrating on what appeared to be a small hole by a tree and about 75 feet from the house, which sits in a rambling, weedy lot off a remote road. The 16-year-old family member, the boy's mother and other family members were taken in for questioning before the arrest, said Albert Martinez, Riverside County sheriff's deputy. Terry had been missing from his Menifee home since Saturday, and hundreds of volunteers have helped search for him. Volunteers were told to stop searching Tuesday night, because they were getting stranded in the desert and causing problems, hours after local officials pledged to continue searching for the boy. The boy was reported missing on Sunday morning in the Riverside County community about 70 miles southeast of Los Angeles. Terry was last seen Saturday night, reportedly following his half brother, who told the boy to go home, the Desert Sun said. The boy's mother, Shawna Smith, said she didn't realize he was missing until the next day. Searches of the area with a bloodhound, horses and a helicopter were unsuccessful. Hundreds of volunteers also joined the effort but days of covering miles of desert in 100-degree temperatures turned up nothing. Terry's family worried that he may have wandered off without food, water or special medication. However, "foul play has never been ruled out" by investigators, Martinez said. www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/10/terry-dewayne-smith-jr-_n_3576252.html?1373499174&ncid=webmail1 |
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Post by meme on Jul 12, 2013 22:32:33 GMT -5
Woman: 'Visions' led her to dead California boy
Posted: Jul 12, 2013 3:40 AM CDT Updated: Jul 12, 2013 8:51 PM CDT
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) - Pam Ragland was watching a TV report about the search for an 11-year-old California boy missing in a rural town miles away when she felt something wasn't right.
Ragland said she began crying and then a haunting vision popped into her head: A young boy lying on his side with his eyes closed.
The boy, Terry Dewayne Smith Jr., wasn't sleeping - and by the time Ragland's visions stopped, she had led detectives to his decomposing body behind his house in the Riverside County community of Menifee.
The remains had been partially buried in a shallow grave under a tree more than 60 miles from Ragland's Orange County home.
Prosecutors on Friday charged the boy's 16-year-old half brother with murder. The teen is due in juvenile court on Monday, and prosecutors have requested a hearing to determine if he should be tried as an adult.
The Associated Press is not naming the suspect because he is a juvenile.
Detectives acknowledged it was a bizarre way to find the boy's body, and they are investigating whether Ragland had anything to do with the death.
Ragland, 50, said she relies on intuition to see things that others don't. "It was just his recurrent picture that was in my head that never changed," she said. "I was getting a snapshot, but I couldn't understand why he wasn't moving. He had his eyes closed, but I just thought he was sleeping." Sgt. Lisa McConnell, a Riverside County sheriff's spokeswoman, confirmed that Ragland called in the tip that led them to the body, but she would not comment further. An investigation to rule out Ragland's possible involvement in the crime was ongoing, McConnell said.
"In terms of any kinds of abilities that she has, I can't confirm that," McConnell said. A detective involved in the search, however, said he was impressed with the discovery.
"She actually went right up the driveway of the house, onto the property, and right up to the body of this boy," Riverside County sheriff's Detective John Powers told KFI-AM radio, which was the first media outlet to get officials to confirm her account.
"Not in 23 years have I ever seen anything like this," Powers said. Powers did not return a call from The Associated Press. At first, Ragland didn't want to get involved but said she couldn't ignore the images that kept coming back to her.
She said she saw a dirt road, a distinctive building that looked like a hay barn and a single tree standing alone. She saw a dark night with city lights in the distance.
She called the tip line Tuesday and a sergeant directed her to the sheriff's command center in Menifee, more than an hour's drive away. She piled her kids - a 10-year-old son and a 12-year-old daughter - into her car.
By the time they reached the town 80 miles southeast of Los Angeles, it was pitch black and the third day of a massive search was winding down for the night. Ragland said she had a powerful sensation as she pulled into the gravel parking lot of the rustic market that was serving as an impromptu search headquarters.
"I literally physically turned my body all the way around like a compass and I looked at the store ... and I said, 'He's back there,'" she recalled. An off-duty firefighter agreed to drive her behind the store and within minutes Ragland had spotted the distinctive hay barn-type building that she had seen in her vision. Something urged her to keep going, but it was private property.
The group approached members of a family sitting in a driveway and asked if they could keep going through their property. It was the family of the missing boy and they said yes. "We started to drive up this hill and it was steep so we stopped the car and walked," Ragland said. "All of sudden there was a single tree and then I smelled something."
There was a fence around the tree with a small break in it, and the group squeezed inside in the dark, with only the truck headlights and flashlights for light. Ragland's kids walked over to a bump in the dirt.
"My kids said ... 'Mom, there's a dead animal' and I walked over and said, 'Oh my gosh, that's not an animal,'" she recalled. "He was partially exposed and we were looking at it almost in shock. My son started throwing up and my daughter was screaming and crying."
The group immediately called authorities. Ragland says she initially kept quiet about her role in the discovery but decided to speak out as questions multiplied about who had tipped off authorities.
It wasn't immediately clear how deputies using bloodhounds, on horseback and in helicopters over four days had missed the remains, which Ragland has described as sticking 6 or 8 inches out of the dirt.
McConnell said the area had been searched previously but no one saw anything. She did not know if the body was there at the time or had been moved later.
Now, Ragland is trying to get back to her regular life, which includes running a business that helps people work through stumbling blocks in their life using a combination of "intuition, expert coaching and practical advice." Ragland says she has tried to help authorities once before, when two teens were missing in an Orange County wilderness area earlier this year.
They were ultimately found by rescuers who heard their cries for help. Ragland does not consider herself a psychic but instead relies on a "sixth sense" or "intuition" that most people don't realize they have, she said.
"I've heard all the comments and people will say I'm crazy," she said. "At this point, all I can do is hope that this has brought the family closure and kept people from searching needlessly."
"We were truly hoping to find a little boy." Initial reports from the mother of Terry Jr., relayed by law enforcement, described him as an autistic boy who took special medication and answered only to his nickname, "JuJu."
His father, however, insisted that his son was not autistic.
Read more: www.myfoxorlando.com/story/22822825/dad-slain-calif-boy-wanted-to-live-with-him#ixzz2YtP3jD00
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