MI MI - D'wan Sims, 4, Livonia, 11 Dec 1994

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/s/sims_dwan.html

At the time that Sims disappeared, I was a senior in high school, living in the same neighborhood as D'Wan on the West Side of Detroit. Even just after it happened, we all speculated that he would never be found. Rumors began to trickle in, about his mother and her violent boyfriend. We heard all kinds of things, mostly that D'Wan was killed accidently and his body was hidden to protect the guilty. None of us believed his mother when she tried to say she had no idea what happened to her son. And now, after 11 years, seeing he's still unaccounted for. It makes me feel even more angry and sad. I still firmly believe his mother is in someway complict in his demise. Hopefully someday, he will be found and vindicated. For his own sake, if no one elses.

D'Wan Christian Sims
Missing since December 11, 1994 from Livonia, Wayne County, Michigan.
Classification: Endangered Missing

Vital Statistics
Date Of Birth: October 29, 1990
Age at Time of Disappearance: 4 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 3'0; 50 lbs.
Distinguishing Characteristics: Black male. Black hair; brown eyes.
Clothing: Sims was wearing a blue winter jacket over a multi-colored windbreaker, dark blue sweatpants and low-top FILA tennis shoes at the time he was last seen.

Circumstances of Disappearance

Sims' mother told authorities that her son disappeared while shopping with her at The Wonderland Mall in Livonia, Michigan on December 11, 1994.
Harris claimed that Sims was walking along the corridor between the Target store and the main area of the shopping mall with her when he suddenly vanished.

Investigators administered two polygraph tests to the mother shortly after Sims disappeared. She failed both of the tests. Authorities did not believe her story and believed Sims was never at The Wonderland Mall the day he disappeared. She has maintained her innocence in her son's disappearance.

Investigators
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact: Livonia Police Department 313-421-1920

NCIC Number: M-101211142
Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

Source Information:
The National Center For Missing and Exploited Children
The Detroit News
The Doe Network: Case File 834DMMI

Link:
http://www.doenetwork.us/cases/834dmmi.html

I did a search and nothing came up, however, I could very well have done it incorrectly. Anyways, does anyone remember this little boy? Missing from the Target store @ wonderland mall in Southfield Michigan? I live very close to the mall and this case has always haunted me that he literally disappeared w/o a trace.

Here's a snip and some background info -

http://www.angelsmissing.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=5113

another link with more background information. Taken from the childseeknetwork.com - article is date July of 1999.

"BY SUZETTE HACKNEY
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER



A top Detroit Police detective said Wednesday he is confident he and coworkers can crack the 1994 disappearance of 4-year-old D'Wan Sims.


"We're close to identifying the perpetrator of this crime," said Ira Todd, a member of the Violent Crimes Task Force and one of the department's leading detectives.


He is part of a reopened investigation of the case.


D'Wan's mother, Dwanna Jackson, told police she last saw her son at Wonderland Mall in Livonia.


The previous investigation had focused on the child's mother.


Todd would not comment on whether Jackson is the prime suspect.


But Jackson said Wednesday she has no doubt that she is Todd's target, after what she described as a recent 14-hour interrogation in a locked room at police headquarters.


"Mr. Todd had assumed he could get me to confess to something that I did not do," Jackson said. "As long as the investigation focuses on me, it will never be solved."


However, Todd said Jackson was free to go at any time during the interrogation. The interview was not focused on her guilt or innocence, he said, but on D'Wan's disappearance.


"She is a victim," Todd said. "I want to go into this case with an open mind and look at the totality of the incident."


On Dec. 11, 1994, Jackson told police she and her son walked through the doors of Wonderland Mall's Target department store heading toward the food court when she noticed D'Wan had vanished.


In the weeks that followed, law enforcement officials conducted one of southeast Michigan's most intensive searches. Pictures of the boy appeared on 57 million cards in a national mailing about missing children.


Police and community members searched trash containers, abandoned buildings, relatives' homes, along railroad tracks, in alleys and in ditches. They interviewed former baby sitters, relatives, friends, neighbors and others who might have known the family.


D'Wan, who would turn 9 this October, was never found.


Target and mall surveillance tapes showed no sign of him or his mother. Police also said Jackson failed two lie detector tests.


"I take a personal interest in this one, but I take a personal interest in them all," said Todd, a member of the unit known for its ability to solve even the toughest mysteries.


Todd said detectives will look differently at all the evidence that was collected during the initial investigation. They also plan to reinterview Jackson, family members and other witnesses. They will explore phone and financial records and D'Wan's family background.


Known pedophiles and child abductors in Livonia will be questioned, and a psychological profile of D'Wan's mother and father will be done. Many of those tools were not used during the initial investigation.


"When his mother reported him missing, it was treated as a kid lost in a mall," Todd said. "There's obviously more here, and the Violent Crimes Task Force will get to the bottom of it."



source: [Link]








SUZETTE HACKNEY can be reached at 313-222-6672 or at hackney@freepress.com. "



I remember at one time there was a foul odor detected at the mother's home and they tore the place apart yet found nothing. So if anyone knows of an update etc. Can you post here?

Thanks!

BTW if I have this in the wrong place can someone please move to where it belongs?

I posted this elsewhere and think I did it in the wrong spot so here goes .


I did a search and nothing came up, however, I could very well have done it incorrectly. Anyways, does anyone remember this little boy? Missing from the Target store @ wonderland mall in Southfield Michigan? I live very close to the mall and this case has always haunted me that he literally disappeared w/o a trace.

Here's a snip and some background info -


another link with more background information. Taken from the childseeknetwork.com - article is date July of 1999.

"BY SUZETTE HACKNEY
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER



A top Detroit Police detective said Wednesday he is confident he and coworkers can crack the 1994 disappearance of 4-year-old D'Wan Sims.


"We're close to identifying the perpetrator of this crime," said Ira Todd, a member of the Violent Crimes Task Force and one of the department's leading detectives.


He is part of a reopened investigation of the case.


D'Wan's mother, Dwanna Jackson, told police she last saw her son at Wonderland Mall in Livonia.


The previous investigation had focused on the child's mother.


Todd would not comment on whether Jackson is the prime suspect.


But Jackson said Wednesday she has no doubt that she is Todd's target, after what she described as a recent 14-hour interrogation in a locked room at police headquarters.


"Mr. Todd had assumed he could get me to confess to something that I did not do," Jackson said. "As long as the investigation focuses on me, it will never be solved."


However, Todd said Jackson was free to go at any time during the interrogation. The interview was not focused on her guilt or innocence, he said, but on D'Wan's disappearance.


"She is a victim," Todd said. "I want to go into this case with an open mind and look at the totality of the incident."


On Dec. 11, 1994, Jackson told police she and her son walked through the doors of Wonderland Mall's Target department store heading toward the food court when she noticed D'Wan had vanished.


In the weeks that followed, law enforcement officials conducted one of southeast Michigan's most intensive searches. Pictures of the boy appeared on 57 million cards in a national mailing about missing children.


Police and community members searched trash containers, abandoned buildings, relatives' homes, along railroad tracks, in alleys and in ditches. They interviewed former baby sitters, relatives, friends, neighbors and others who might have known the family.


D'Wan, who would turn 9 this October, was never found.


Target and mall surveillance tapes showed no sign of him or his mother. Police also said Jackson failed two lie detector tests.


"I take a personal interest in this one, but I take a personal interest in them all," said Todd, a member of the unit known for its ability to solve even the toughest mysteries.


Todd said detectives will look differently at all the evidence that was collected during the initial investigation. They also plan to reinterview Jackson, family members and other witnesses. They will explore phone and financial records and D'Wan's family background.


Known pedophiles and child abductors in Livonia will be questioned, and a psychological profile of D'Wan's mother and father will be done. Many of those tools were not used during the initial investigation.


"When his mother reported him missing, it was treated as a kid lost in a mall," Todd said. "There's obviously more here, and the Violent Crimes Task Force will get to the bottom of it."












SUZETTE HACKNEY can be reached at 313-222-6672 or at hackney@freepress.com. "



I remember at one time there was a foul odor detected at the mother's home and they tore the place apart yet found nothing. But they also never found him on the survelliance camera at the Target store. It was high profile news then it disappeared. So if anyone knows of an update etc. Can you post here?

Thanks!

BTW if I have this in the wrong place can someone please move to where it belongs?
http://newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=1126059

Welcome Boyz_Mum! Thanks for letting us know what's going on-or rather not going on-with this case.

Boy! That little boy's face sure looks familiar to me, but I imagine it is from seeing his picture back when he first went missing. I hope this is one of those cases of somebody wanting a child of their own and not a pedophile or murderer. I hope he is safe.

He is such an adorable little boy. I wonder why him and his mother didn't show up on the camera? She said that they got inside the store.

Evidentally the detective who boasted about finding him didn't find him. I wonder why there was nothing else written about this case after 1999?

I can see why LE suspected the mother. I wonder if the camera always caught everyone that walked into the store?

I hope we hear more about this case or did LE just give up on it and put it in a drawer somewhere?

im confused on how a 3 year old dissapears. well not really I have a two year old and he runs around i just have to keep up with him BUT was she looking at something and turned around and he was gone, or did she let him stay in the toy isle while she shopped? I work at a mall in a bookstore and it just floors me at the amount of people that leave children under the age of 5 by themselves in the childrens section, in a tourist mall right near an interstate. Ii will never understand

I think law enforcement put it in a drawer after tips stopped coming in. They reviewed majority of the various tapes at Target, and his mother was seen on a few different sections but never little D'wan. IF i remember correctly, she has a small policy on him from somewhere, and collected on it, the community got upset, because even after that became publicized she still wanted donations from the public. I also remember she failed TWO different polygraph tests. I can't find anything on the case after 1999 but will search some more later and post if I find anything else. Guess Im not the only one that never heard anything more!

Some more info that was found giving more details about the cameras at target etc - Taken from angelfire.com

Details of Disappearance
Sims's mother, Dwanna Harris (who later married and changed her name to Dwanna Jackson), told authorities that her son disappeared while shopping with her at The Wonderland Mall in Livonia, Michigan on December 11, 1994. Harris stated that Sims was walking along the corridor between the Target store and the main area of the shopping mall with her when he suddenly vanished. Sims was wearing a blue winter jacket over a multi-colored windbreaker, dark blue sweatpants and low-top FILA tennis shoes at the time he was last seen. He has never been heard from again.
Investigators administered two polygraph tests to Harris shortly after Sims disappeared. She failed both of the attempts. Authorities stated that they did not believe Harris' story and believed Sims was never at The Wonderland Mall with his mother the day he disappeared. No witnesses saw him there and he does not show up on the surveillance camera tapes.
Harris has maintained her innocence and said in 1995 that she was in therapy to deal with her son's disappearance. Relations between law enforcement and Harris have been strained due to their conflicting beliefs, but Harris told the media that she keeps in contact with all agencies regarding Sims's case. Harris has never been charged in connection with her son's disappearance and no suspects have been identified. Her mother says Harris was emotionally devastated by her son's disappearance.
There have been numerous leads regarding Sims's whereabouts throughout the proceeding years, but all failed to produce any evidence. The latest possible lead came in 1999, when investigators received a tip from another law enforcement agency regarding Sims's fate. Authorities excavated an area in Dearborn Heights, Michigan's Hines Park and discovered a bag of bones buried at the location. DNA tests were performed on the evidence, but the bones were not Sims's remains.
Sims remains missing. He enjoys watching television, especially the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers show. His case remains open and unsolved.

He was ruled out as the child whose remains where found in Georgia as noted here -


In November 2003, the possibility was raised that Sims may be an unidentified child whose skeletal remains were found in Dekalb County, Georgia in 1999. The child is an African-American male approximately four feet tall. He was between five and seven years old when he died, and was wearing red denim jeans, new size 11 brown suede Timberland boots, and a long-sleeved hooded pullover shirt. The body of the shirt was blue plaid material and the sleeves and hood were dark blue thermal material. An artist's sketch of the child is posted below this case summary. DNA tests were conducted using DNA from Sims's parents, comparing them to the unidentified child's DNA. The testing ruled out the possibility that Sims was the boy. If you have information about the unidentified boy, call the Dekalb County Police at 404-294-2670.

_____________________________________________________________

An age progression dated 2003 from Missingkids' website

http://www.missingkids.com/missingk...=en_US&orgPrefix=NCMC&caseNum=798503&seqNum=1

_______________________________________________________________

Unfortunately the rest of the articles I was coming across was just repeat information. :banghead:

I started another thread here http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=41559


With more information, including what the police think etc.

Since it was written about the Georgia boy that wasn't D'wan, I haven't read or seen a thing in the news. Some years back, I remember a "local news station" did have a tiny blurb about having a psychic who came in and gave details, but those details didn't "pan out", so to speak. I have tried to search for a link, but I am somewhat internet challenged and couldn't access some of the archives of the different newspapers. At the time that D'wan went missing, the Detroit newspapers did carry stories and the "BIG" papers at the time were the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News. I don't know if either have archived stories about the psychic story.

As per this case ending up in a drawer, I wonder this also. There have been several unsolved cases of all types here in Michigan. I don't know why it seems this way but it gets frustrating with all the technology that this case and others really seem to "fall out of the eye of the news".

I appreciate the welcome and hope my post isn't out of the realm because of the date of D'wan's disappearence it seems a lot of the stories aren't online because the world wide web was rather limited then. I have tried different search engines and entered all the different search terms I could think of, if anyone has any ideas out there to help me search, feel free to make suggestions.

Thanks again for the welcome!

Nope not internet challenged, just the press and the news archives after a period of time (forget how long) You can search and get the points of the article for free, but in order to access the entire article you have to pay an "archive" retrieval fee. Haven't figured out a way around it, might try the local library this weekend and check out the articles on microfiche.


And it doesn't help that wonderland mall is no longer in existence, it's been replaced w/ A newer target, a walmart, and some other "big" stores. I googled mom's name and nothing came up. But yes, our great state does seem to be notorious for headlines all over the place and then no follow up!

I'm glad you posted this JinxieJada. Not long ago I was wondering whatever happened with this case but I couldn't remember the little boys name.

...we communicate by e-mail (he's an old friend of mine...)...Word on the street was that mom did it for the insurance money, and that the body was perhaps taken out of state somewhere and will never be found...

They wanted to arrest her, but didn't have enough evidence....Although I would think that the fact that D'Wan never showed up on the store security tape, (although mom did), would have been reason enough, along with her behavior after the event....(A "Scott Petersonesque" kind of thing...)...They definitely had enough to arrest her for witholding information from the police/shielding someone, if, in fact whe did not actually commit the murder herself, but hired someone to do it...

What a biotch!!!!!!

Why would she kill him and then hide his body out of state since his body would have to be found to collect the insurance money?

...and she could collect...Trust me, the police think she did it...

http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache...6004.htm+d;wan+sims'&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=2

http://www.childseeknetwork.com/?archive=619

The police also thought that the mother viewed the child as "in the way"...

JinxieJada said:

Nope not internet challenged, just the press and the news archives after a period of time (forget how long) You can search and get the points of the article for free, but in order to access the entire article you have to pay an "archive" retrieval fee. Haven't figured out a way around it, might try the local library this weekend and check out the articles on microfiche.


And it doesn't help that wonderland mall is no longer in existence, it's been replaced w/ A newer target, a walmart, and some other "big" stores. I googled mom's name and nothing came up. But yes, our great state does seem to be notorious for headlines all over the place and then no follow up!

Click to expand...

Thanks for confirmation that I am not totally challenged! (I don't know how to do quotes though, so this post may be a little skewed!) Anyway, I believe it was Channel 2 news out of Detroit that did the psychic story and if memory serves me right the psychic "felt" that D'wan was taken from the mother by someone who drove a white Pontiac Grand Prix and then possibly murdered. Since a body was not found during the "investigation", the news didn't have anything else to go on and I believe the next story related to an unidentified boy in Georgia (which wasn't D'wan) and I think that was confirmed in or about 2003.

Of course lots of stories (hearsay) did seem to relate to the mother being involved and I have googled her name as well! I found lots of names on zaba search (can I say that here?) that seem to fit with being D'wans mother, but most information there is on a pay for use basis.

And to the poster who said that the mother was under scrutiny by the police I also believe that but they didn't have enough "evidence" to bring any charges. I can only imagine how hard it is for police to bring charges in cases like this!

JinxieJada I totally understand what you mean about our great state not having the best follow up... with technological advances we are doing better however we have a long way to go! Sometimes our state seems to have an "I don't care" attitude... it's sad! Prayers for D'wan and I again hope that this will renew interest in his story...

This one has always haunted me as well. I have always felt that the mother had something to do with it.