OH-Amber Alert: Two More Children May Be In Danger

[mysteriew]

Police have issued an Amber Alert for two children who may have been abducted by a man and driven away in the trunk of a car, News 5 reported.

A boy and girl, ages 5-7, may have been abducted on Dalton Street near the main post office, in the West End, police said.

Police are looking for a red or maroon Honda Accord with temporary tags.

The driver is said to be a white man about 40 years old, 6 feet 2 inches tall and 150 to 170 pounds. He was said to be wearing a white T-shirt and tan khakis.
http://www.channelcincinnati.com/news/5073507/detail.html
http://www.wkrc.com/breaking/story.aspx?content_id=8E5439A4-BD5B-4CF7-A7AE-59CE8F96DF47

[cobra2000]

I'm just watching this on 12 News here...the car has not yet been spotted.

What's with Cincinnati today? Geez...I need to move. :bang:

[mysteriew]

This news is just breaking. The children were abducted in a post office parking lot. It was observed by 2 postal employees. The women said they saw the man order the girl into the trunk, she was screaming and yelling. They saw another victim in the trunk of the vehicle- they aren't sure of the sex of that child. After putting the girl into the trunk, the man walked into the post office and there the two women confronted him. He then ran from the post office, got into his car and drove away.
Media is not saying if any children have been reported as missing, or if any parents have come forward.

[mysteriew]

I'm just watching this on 12 News here...the car has not yet been spotted.

What's with Cincinnati today? Geez...I need to move. :bang:

Hi neighbor.
This one reminds me a whole lot of the alert last year where a man was seen putting 2 kids in the trunk of his car and there was also a woman in the car.
Come to find out, they were his kids and the kids were begging for a ride in the trunk.

[mysteriew]

The above link was updated:

Police issued an Amber Alert after two postal workers said they observed a man forcing a screaming girl, 5 to 7 years old, into his trunk in the parking lot. They told police another child may already have been in the trunk.

The witnesses said they confronted the man in front of the post office, but he ran to his car and drove away.

Police are looking for a red or maroon Honda Accord with temporary tags.

The driver is said to be a white man with sandy blond hair, about 40 years old, 6 feet 2 inches tall and 160 to 170 pounds. He was said to be wearing a white T-shirt and tan khakis.

Police are hoping the surveillance camera inside the post office will help them identify the man, Longnecker reported.
http://www.channelcincinnati.com/news/5073507/detail.html

http://www.wcpo.com/news/2005/local/10/07/amber_eve.html

[Bobbisangel]

Good grief...it just keeps going on and on. If the girl was screaming that would mean that she didn't want a ride in the trunk of the car. It's to bad the women didn't think fast and one try to keep him occupied while the other called LE. He must have gone into the post office for some reason. That was pretty bold of him! Shove the kid in the trunk and then stroll on into the post office...strange.

I sure hope the kids are found alive and safe. Wonder where the girl's mother was. She is pretty young to be out on her own. Maybe it was his kid and she did something he didn't like and the trunk was a punishment as she didn't want to get into it. Either way...the guy needs punished.

[mysteriew]

I am looking at the codeamber.org site and there is no alert up for the kids. How long does it take to get it up on the website?

[ketel0ne]

I am looking at the codeamber.org site and there is no alert up for the kids. How long does it take to get it up on the website?
To be blunt, most Alerts are announced and resolved before code amber ever gets them up.

[fourboys]

Police seek this man in possible child abductions:

http://www.channelcincinnati.com/news/5073507/detail.html

[fourboys]

An amber alert issued by Cincinnati police Friday night around 10:45 p.m. has now been canceled.

Post office employees at the Dalton Annex post office saw what they thought might be an abduction.

http://www.wcpo.com/news/2005/local/10/08/amberalert_cancel.html

[fourboys]

Police canceled a statewide Amber Alert Saturday morning after it was determined that a man who drove away from a Cincinnati post office with two children was actually a father who was leaving the post office with his family.

The statewide alert was issued late Friday after police said the man drove off with the children in the trunk of his car.


According to Cincinnati police, an employee at the post office saw the two children crawling in the trunk through the car's back seat. The employee said he thought he saw something suspicious taking place and called police when he saw the man driving away with the children in the car's trunk.



Police said the man later saw a surveillance photo of himself from the post office on a Cincinnati television station's newscast and called police, saying that was him and the children were his.



No criminal charges would be filed, police said.

http://www.nbc4i.com/news/5073657/detail.html

[Bobbisangel]

According to Cincinnati police, an employee at the post office saw the two children crawling in the trunk through the car's back seat. The employee said he thought he saw something suspicious taking place and called police when he saw the man driving away with the children in the car's trunk.

Police said the man later saw a surveillance photo of himself from the post office on a Cincinnati television station's newscast and called police, saying that was him and the children were his.



Here is the first story supposedly told by the postal workers:


Police issued an Amber Alert after two postal workers said they observed a man forcing a screaming girl, 5 to 7 years old, into his trunk in the parking lot. They told police another child may already have been in the trunk.

The witnesses said they confronted the man in front of the post office, but he ran to his car and drove away.




I really have a problem with this. These two stories are nothing alike. Did they see a screaming kid being forced into a trunk or did they see the kids crawling into the trunk through the back seat???? The postal people said when they confronted the man he ran out of the post office. Did they actually confront him or not?

One story would cause anyone concern...a kid SCREAMING being FORCED into the trunk of a car...I would call LE too. Kids crawing into a trunk through the back seat with dad standing watching them...I might go out and ask what was going on but .......

Either the news wanted to make this story more exciting then it was or the cops are down playing the event. Either way :furious:

[Marie]

I agree with you, that was some very poor reporting and/or investigating. Given the 2nd story, the Amber Alert system should have never been used. People are going to stop paying attention if they begin believing alerts are abused in this way. Shame on some body!

[mysteriew]

I was afraid of that! That is the second time in Cincy that has happened. Same story- someone sees a kid entering trunk and calls LE. Come to find out it is a parent and it is a lark for the kids.
The only reason I posted the story was because they said the girl was screaming.
Still and all, in many areas they are calling that child endangerment when they put a kid in the trunk. Cincy may want to consider that.

[dannyodie]

It is nice to know that the kids are ok. one thing that really erks me is that when people see things happening like this they tend to just stand there with there jaw dropped down to there knees and do nothing physical about it except make a phone call after the car drives off, and many times when they do that they can't even give a tag number, I know this case says a temp tag was inplace, but to many other times on other cases I have read, the tag number could have been gotten but was not. its good that two people actually saw this going on, had this been me and I saw this happening I could assure you I would not stand there watching and wondering, I would approach the incident and intervein. I carry a camera every where I go, if I see criminal activity taking place I take snapshots of what is going on, I get involved and so should everyone, because once a child is abducted and driven off they are at the mercy of that driver and chances are the child will be found murdered or never found.

[Marie]

Dannyodie, that would be a tough decision for a lot of people. It's usually not wise to interfer with someone who is in the midst of committing a crime. I have 3 young children and I don't think it'd be fair to them if I risked my life. But of course if it were my children being forced into a trunk then I'd be so grateful if someone intervened! And I know my own instinct would be to confront anyone who I thought was harming a child. It'd be wonderful if we could all do as you suggest and carry a camera; I think that's a good idea. Also a pen and notebook to jot down details like license plate #'s and fresh descriptions.

[SewingDeb]

If I actually saw a child dragged kicking and screaming and being forced into a trunk (apparently that was misreported), I would follow the car writing down the tag number while calling the police with any information I could give them. I don't think I would actually go up to the person without a lot of back up.

[fourboys]

The kids were trying to play a joke, hiding in the trunk of their father's new car. But police thought the man was abducting the children.

Web Wilson, 43, of Fort Mitchell, Ky., said he doesn't take issue with Cincinnati police, despite officers mistaking him for a kidnapper Friday night.

The mix up began after Wilson left work at a fitness club in suburban Green Township, where he is a part-owner and general manager.

Wilson drove to a Cincinnati post office to drop off some letters. Inside his new Honda Accord, which he had bought earlier in the day, were three of his four children, plus one of their friends.

When he returned to the car, two of his children surprised him by sneaking into the trunk from the back seat using a pass-through area.

"I said, 'You guys get back in the back seat,' " Wilson recalled.

Wilson got back in the car and, because it was new to him, stepped on the gas too hard and left the area too fast.

Those events, witnessed by U.S. Postal Service employees, led them to believe Wilson was abducting the children and trying to leave in a hurry.

The postal employees called Cincinnati police, who issued an Amber Alert. Videotape of Wilson taken inside the post office was picked up by local television stations.

Wilson knew nothing about it until Saturday morning when his father-in-law called to say he'd seen Wilson's picture on TV and that police were looking for him.

Wilson rounded up the kids and took them to the Fort Mitchell police station to tell them what had happened.

"I think he was more nervous that there was going to be a SWAT team coming down on him or something," said police Spc. Andy Hyett.

http://www.wave3.com/Global/story.asp?S=3959744&nav=0RZF

[Bobbisangel]

I think that the newspaper reporter who wrote the first story and went out of his/her way to sensationalize the whole thing should receive a BIG fine.
Talk about a story that in no way matches what the postal workers had to say! Better yet, that newspaper person needs to be fired. IMO. Send a message to the others that they need to stick to the facts of a story even if jazzing it up might get more attention or sell more papers.

[hollyjokers]

This story went out later in the day when little Aaliyah's body had been recovered in the park - playing on people's emotions which were already running high. I guess I would rather hear that it was a false alarm than read another abduction with a tragic ending.

Thanks for posting it Mysteriew, I had wondered what had happened to those kids.

[gardenmom]

The only person who should get a fine is this dad, who drove away without those children in their seat belts!That is totally a pet peeve of mine, not to mention it is against the law in OH.