TN TN - Analyce Guerra, 18 mos, Smyrna, 23 April 2006

luckyevan93

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NewsChannel5.com


Police Switch Gears In Case Of Missing Toddler
Posted: 4/24/2006 7:30:00 AM
Updated: 4/24/2006 2:38:10 PM

060424amber.jpg


Community members and officials spent Monday morning searching for a 18-month-old toddler who they at first thought had walked away during the night. But by Monday afternoon police were processing a crime scene.





Monday morning the story was that little Analyce Guerra disappeared from her bed in the middle of the night and somehow managed to walk out of the front door of her apartment.

By the afternoon, police were processing the apartment as a crime scene.



At first, police did not suspect foul play, but now they are calling the case suspicious. There are still no signs of the missing toddler.



An amber alert was issued Monday morning. Officials said the toddler went missing sometime between 11:00 Sunday night and 4:00 Monday morning. Her mother said she woke up around 4:00 a.m. and saw that the door was unlocked to the apartment and her daughter was missing. Police were called at 4:25 a.m. and immediately went door to door at the Meadow Wood Apartment complex looking for the girl.

Analyce is a 18-month-old Hispanic child. She was in a blue jean dress with flowers, and she has a cherry birth mark on the left side of her face.

“There are a couple areas that we are concerned about. There’s a creek area that’s not too far. So we are going to look in that area very heavily right now,” Sergeant Ken Hampton with the Smyrna Police department said Monday morning.

Monday morning police had set up a command post on Nissan Drive, across the street from the Meadow Wood Apartments where the girl and her mother live. Search dogs were out, 50 volunteers gathered, and a helicopter with heat censors also helped in the search.

By the afternoon, police called off the search and put up crime scene tape around the apartment. They are now processing the apartment as a crime scene.



Smyrna police are looking for any leads in the case.

If you have seen Analyce, please contact the Smyrna Police. Department at 615-459-6644 or the TBI at 1-800-TBI-FIND.
 
The mother said she did not discount the fact that the child could open the door, and had done so in the past. (gee, Houston, could we have a problem here?). They didn't say if the other time(s?) this happened it was in the middle of the night and pitch black outside. The father was cleared this morning by police. No mention was made of any other significant other who might have a door key.

My thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends for this baby.
 
One thing that strikes me a bit odd is the fact that the baby was wearing a Blue Jean dress. Shouldn't the baby have been in pajamas if she was "down for the night"? Another thing, why did they call off the search? Even if they suspected foul play wouldn't they keep looking?
One last observation....if mom woke up at 4am and noticed the baby missing, why did it take her 25 minutes to call the police? could be just the time frame is being reported inaccurately, but this isn't adding up in my mind.
 
tweedledee said:
One thing that strikes me a bit odd is the fact that the baby was wearing a Blue Jean dress. Shouldn't the baby have been in pajamas if she was "down for the night"? Another thing, why did they call off the search? Even if they suspected foul play wouldn't they keep looking?
One last observation....if mom woke up at 4am and noticed the baby missing, why did it take her 25 minutes to call the police? could be just the time frame is being reported inaccurately, but this isn't adding up in my mind.
Great post:clap: and my sentiments exactly. Only thing I could think of was that maybe they'd been somewhere and rather than wake the baby up changing her into pj's, she left her in her dress ? I suppose I wrote the 25 minutes off thinking she was out looking herself but when I think of it, 25 min. is a longgggg time when a baby's missing. Great post. Thanks
 
That is not the only thing that is not adding up, originally she was listed as one, I see here she is listed as 18 months but the NCMEC sent out a replacement poster that now lists her age as two and would have her at around 28 months. which accounts for the ten month discrepancy.

http://nvfc.us/content/view/2243/70/
 
I was one of the volunteers that helped in the search. the search was called off at about 100 pm because the complex and surrounding area had been searched repeatly about 5 to 6 times by foot and by helicopter. they called it off after an interview with the parents. another search was organized later, at approx. 2 pm to go back over the area to look for possible evidence. we had heard that the mom got home at about 11pm or so, and layed the kid down, but those accounts aren't very clear at this time. the time frame of her finding the kid gone and notifying the police was due to the fact that the mom spent some time looking around around the complex, and when she couldn't locate her, she called the police. after about 3 to 4 hours of searching I myself began thinking this was suspicious, that a child of that age could wonder off in a heavly populated area and not turn up in the neighborhood behind the complex, which is only 50 yards away, and a very busy 4 lane highway in front of the complex. had she gotten out and wondererd around, someone, including the camera at the food lion store only 100 or so feet away would have noticed her out and about. funny how in the past that she has gotten out and nothing happened and this time something terrible wrong has occured. the investigation is still ongoing, and police feel that this is criminal in nature, they left the apartment with an arm load of evidence bags, the dept. of children services was called in to displace the other children due to the poor up keep of the two bedroom apt. that seven small children and a mom shared, the missing girl is the seventh and youngest one there.
 
I am praying for this sweet baby....please let her be found alive and well, just a little lost.
 
dannyodie, thanks for your helping in looking for this little girl. I pray that she is found alive and well.

I can understand it taking 25+ minutes to call the police. My daughter (now 20) disappeared when she was 5. I looked everywhere, called the neighbors and had them help look. After 30 minutes or so, I called the police and then continued searching while they were on the way. Shortly after the police arrived, I found my daughter in one of our closets. She was sitting on the bar that you hang clothes on, back in the far corner. The only reason I found her at that time was because she giggled. Needless to say, I had a whirlwind of emotions go through me. So waiting that long is not out of the ordinary. Actually, the police told me I'd done the right thing.

I just hope they find this little girl and that she's safe. This hits really close to home for me.
 
I don't understand that either! She's still missing, so it doesn't make sense. The local news said that the official search is called off but that the family and community are continuing the search. I was there yesterday and it was VERY difficult to leave last night without finding this sweet baby girl! I think that they mean that they no longer think that she wandered out of her house in the night but that something else has happened to her. Who knows.........I for one know first hand that with all their good intentions and as thankful as I am for them, everything they report is not always the way it really is.
 
a few things cross my mind, first, I wonder if she had just gotten home shortly before putting the little girl down, and if so, where was she? and what others where around where ever she may have been? boyfriend? friend of a friend? I have heard sound of a stepdad? that may be the third party police might have been looking for and have not mentioned it much in fear of him running off. I also wonder if she had male friends visit the apartment from time to time? someone new in the mix? the complex she lives in is full of all sorts of people, lots have jobs, others tend to be around most if not all day long. at 11 pm in a complex such as that, I can't imagine everyone being in bed asleep, maybe someone did pick up the little girl just outside her apartment, maybe someone that even lives in a neighboring bldg. the dumpster is one of those compactor type that is very long, myself and some others nearly emptied the receiver end of it of the piled up trash and found nothing, but had someone placed her in there and activated the compactor, then that would have pushed her into the container, out of view from our search of it. I doubt police will follow it to the landfill and inspect it during the emptying process, that should be done now. if someone sexually assulted her, then they would want to dispose of her very quickly, either by the use of the dumpster, or along a roadside. a lot of area was searhed, but there are many other locations I feel that need to be looked into, especially along jefferson pike and a nearby boat launching area just off of jefferson pike. I can't see this child going far in an area like this and not being found the next morning. either someone that has been around the child in the past has done something with her, or a complete stranger took her if she did in fact walk out the door.
 
Last night Rita Cosby said that Analyce told her brother she was going to the park. Is this true? if so what time was it? Children this age can open the door themselves, I know when my daughter was Analyce's age she did it once and walked out onto the patio in the early morning hours to play. I nearly had a heart attack when I found her, but after that first time I deadbolted the doors at all times to stop her from opening the doors. Don't most apartments have deadbolts?
 
dannyodie; That was great of you to go and help in the search and with the dumpsters (yuk) but I'm wondering - wasn't this family's apartment upstairs? So wouldn't the child have to negotiate quite a few stairs ? Somehow I'm just discounting the 'wandering off child' idea more and more but I'm no professional. I think I lean more towards your ideas, danny - that friends, acquaintances should be checked out. I don't imagine the mother works - what with having six children in the household, either so, they probably know most of their neighbors. Probably a lot of tips for LE to follow up on.
 
CordovaMom said:
Last night Rita Cosby said that Analyce told her brother she was going to the park. Is this true? if so what time was it? Children this age can open the door themselves, I know when my daughter was Analyce's age she did it once and walked out onto the patio in the early morning hours to play. I nearly had a heart attack when I found her, but after that first time I deadbolted the doors at all times to stop her from opening the doors. Don't most apartments have deadbolts?
there is a door knob lock and a deadbolt directly above the doorknob, and further up on the door is a flush mounted deadbolt which she would not have been able to have reached had it been used. the " park " in question is simply a large sand covered area for kids to play in, and it is located on the front area of the property. at the time of the search, there was no indication that it had recently been played in since there was no foot prints or such, the only foot prints I noticed were of a large boot similar to that of what the search team volunteers were wearing and a few dog paw prints from the search dogs. the property has a perimeter fence around the entire complex, the fence on the front end of the property is a wood plank fence, the remainder of the property is wood planks with chain link fencing attached to it. as far as the doors being locked, it is possible for a 28 month old to reach, the other one would be impossible for her to get access to it since it is eye level to an adult. as for now, le are not conducting an active search like they were for the last two days. the family is now continueing to conduct the search on their own.
 
A new story with a lot more information

Personally, I don't know what to make of the potential arson of the duplex where they lived and the fact that the mother "wouldn't cooperate" in that investigation. There must be more to that story. No reason to burn a home you rent, it would seem to me...?:waitasec:

Maybe you guys can come up with something?

Dawn
 
DawnTCB said:
A new story with a lot more information

Personally, I don't know what to make of the potential arson of the duplex where they lived and the fact that the mother "wouldn't cooperate" in that investigation. There must be more to that story. No reason to burn a home you rent, it would seem to me...?:waitasec:

Maybe you guys can come up with something?

Dawn
A few years ago I remember a case about a family that was down and out on their luck, several children in a rental home, it was Christmas time and the family was high in debt. Their rental home was burned, the police later determined it to be arson. At the time the family received lots of donations, displaced at the holidays generated lots of sympathy, donations of a place to stay and presents for the kiddies etc. In the end the parents were charged with arson. I'm not saying that's what happened in this case, this arson investigation is still ongoing, but the arson investigators may be looking at that option. Another alternative for the mother not cooperating in the investigation could simply be the language barrier and possibly the mom's mistrust of the authorities.
 
I dreaded almost coming here to read, well the family may not be guilty of the arson, at least not proven but I do feel their kids should be removed if it is not too late for Analyce.
 

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