IA IA - Breiton Ackerman, 4, Orange City, 22 May 2005

lostfaith said:

http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050929/NEWS/509290313/1001/NEWS


First I heard of this one. Sad.

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While Breiton is presumed drowned, nothing was ever found: not his body, not even a trace of clothing or his scent by search dogs.

The case remained in the headlines for months. But after Breiton's disappearance stopped getting so much attention, his friends, family and community were left to pick up the pieces.

A small creek is now the site of a mystery; one that 500 searchers couldn't unravel.

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But as time passes, the reality that he may never know what happened to his son becomes more evident.

"I don't understand it. Don't like it, but you can't change it. It's over in an instant. You wished you could go back and say we shouldn't have gone down there that day or I should have had him, you know, tied to my belt or something like that. But you can't do it," he said.

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Breiton disappeared from Willow Creek. Normally shallow, the creek running through a corn field was swollen with rain.

“Water was the only thing that makes sense,” Ackerman said. “And that still doesn’t make sense.”

Divers, volunteers and search dogs scoured the creek without finding anything. They followed it 17 miles to the Floyd River in Le Mars, Iowa. Then, they searched the Floyd River down to the Missouri River.

Searchers tore up the concrete bridge Breiton was last seen on in the days after he went missing. Volunteers dug up the creek bed with heavy equipment. Mesh fencing strung across the creek yielded nothing.

They did this even though experts said a child Breiton’s size would’ve only floated 100 yards down the creek, said Sioux County Sheriff Dan Altena.

“We found nothing. Not one iota,” Altena said. “Not a piece of ripped shirt or anything.”...

Sioux County deputies reexamined the case a few years ago. They gave a polygraph examination to a relative at creek that day. Although they didn’t suspect the man, who went for help, of harming Breiton, Altena said they wanted to know if Breiton could have sneaked inside the vehicle without anyone knowing it.

The man passed the polygraph. No one at the creek is suspected of harming Breiton, Altena said.

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When four year old Breiton disappeared, he'd been fishing with his family. Three adults and five kids were all down along the creek enjoying the afternoon. In an instant, he was gone. He vanished without a trace.

Ackerman said, "Everybody's just catching them and throwing them in the bucket and I think I had looked across , I asked one of the kids where'd Breiton go? It was just that quick. He was just standing by the bucket dumping fish in and boom that was it."

In the hours that followed, a frantic search of Willow Creek, southeast of Alton, Iowa. Gates were placed downstream as a precaution, search dogs combed the banks. Heavy equipment was brought in tear out the culvert and the land around it.

"They dug down and back in the bank to make sure he didn't fall in a hole or was covered up or all the center and culverts that had to come out were searched with dogs and people. Just looking for any stitching, any clothing," said Breiton's father...

Brad Ackerman said, "He had bare feet. He's like I am, tender feet. I can't stand to walk on cement hardly with bare feet, so he wouldn't have just run up the hill. Nobody came down that road to where we were at."

Even though he believes the chance is slim, Ackerman followed the advice of law enforcement and submitted his own DNA for a national "missing children" database...

Sioux County Sheriff Dan Altena said his team hasn't given up on this case and that he's still baffled by it. He's hoping there will be a clue at some point, a piece of clothing that could help locate Breiton.

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5498DMIA - Breiton Scott Ackerman​

Physical Description​

Identifiers​

Clothing & Personal Items​

Circumstances of Disappearance​