TN TN - Jennifer Wix, 22, & Adrianna Wix, 2, Cross Plains, 24 March 2004 - #1

[Kan499]

Just wanted to add that my thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. I hope they are found safely and quickly!

 

[knale]

I have a question, if anyone can help answer. What jurisdiction does the FBI have in Aruba. I have just noticed that the FBI is there looking for Natalie, but when I begged them to get involved in my children's case, they told me that they did not have jurisdiction over my state police, unless there was evidence of a kidnapping and the girls being taken by force over state lines. Does that mean that they are investigating a kidnapping with Natalie? Just wondering, if anybody knows the law about that.

Thanks

 

[gatetrekker44]

According to Fox News a suspect will be charged tomorrow with kidnapping, homicide and accessory to a homicide. Since it appeared from the start that at the very least that a kidnapping had occurred, I believe that is why the FBI became involved so quickly. Also because the Aruban authorities ASKED for assistance-this can make all the difference in such a case. As ong as local authorities don't ask, such as in the case of Jennifer and Adrianna Wix or Maura Murray, without clear and compelling evidence of a kidnapping, travel across state lines, etc. the FBI's hands are tied.

Bring Maura home!

 

[knale]

Thanks for helping me make sense of this. I have never understood why the FBI would not get involved, I have begged and begged. Now I can't even get our local LE to return a phone call! I am infuriated. The detective in charge of the case has been on "vacation" for 6 weeks, and has left no one "in charge" in his absence. They are doing absoultly nothing to find out what happened to Jennifer and Adrianna. I cannot understand why there is not some kind of police for the police to see to it that they do their job!

 

[TKSands]

I was on my too Alabama and went through TN. I am almost positive I drove past the billboard featuring Jennifer and Adrianna with the reward. It was a great billboard and incredibly noticable. I check in on this story all the time hoping for any new news. My thoughts are with the family.

 

[Peabody]

I have a question, if anyone can help answer. What jurisdiction does the FBI have in Aruba. I have just noticed that the FBI is there looking for Natalie, but when I begged them to get involved in my children's case, they told me that they did not have jurisdiction over my state police, unless there was evidence of a kidnapping and the girls being taken by force over state lines. Does that mean that they are investigating a kidnapping with Natalie? Just wondering, if anybody knows the law about that.

Thanks

khollway,

I cannot refer you to any specific law.

However, I know for certain that 36 hours after Maura Murray went missing, the FBI told her family that "we will help as soon as we are invited." The Murray family pleaded for NH LE to invite the FBI for assistance. Finally, NH LE released to the press that they had requested FBI assistance.........indeed, they requested the FBI to interview family in friends in her hometown. Contrary, to the statements of Lt. Scarinza of NH SP, The FBI has never had an active role in her missing.

I recently saw an FBI agent on a news show (Bill O'Reilly on Fox News, I believe). The agent was being asked why the FBI was investigating in Aruba investigating the disappearance of Natalee and why were they there so quickly. The agent replied "The FBI is always willing to assist when invited. We will assist any LE, foreign or domestic, when there is a US citizen involved." The agent went on to explain that the FBI has offices in two other neighboring Carribean Islands and that is why they were able to be on the scene so quickly.

Back to what the FBI told the Murray family: if certain criteria are met, the FBI does not have to receive an invitation........it is when the required criteria are not met that the FBI need an invitation.

What I have yet to understand is why any responsible LE would not extend an invitation or as in the Murray case even refuse the assistance of the FBI...........

Of course my failure to understand does not mean that I am not aware of what is going on: Sadly, it is widely known that various LE agencies are jealous of one another's territory ........just this week I heard a news story that 911 would probably have been prevented if the FBI and CIA had cooperated together (the story gave specific facts about the hijackers, but I know I would not get it correct) :banghead:

 

[Bobbisangel]

Thanks for helping me make sense of this. I have never understood why the FBI would not get involved, I have begged and begged. Now I can't even get our local LE to return a phone call! I am infuriated. The detective in charge of the case has been on "vacation" for 6 weeks, and has left no one "in charge" in his absence. They are doing absoultly nothing to find out what happened to Jennifer and Adrianna. I cannot understand why there is not some kind of police for the police to see to it that they do their job!

If you can't get any cooperation from the local detectives go to the Chief of Police. If your story hasn't been on America's Most Wanted then tell the chief that you would like him to contact them. I've found that they..AMW.. take LE seriously when they make a request. The LE have the info AMW needs in order to verify that the story is true.

If you don't feel that you are making any headway with the Chief then write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. Talk about what LE is NOT doing to help find your girls. Get the community stirred up....every citizen has a family and but for the grace of God.....if something happened to one of their loved ones they would want LE to never give up.

I wouldn't call LE....I would go there in person at least once a week to see what they are doing. They may get sick of seeing you but you will be a constant reminder of your girls. Just keep going to their office regardless of what they say. I would demand that they contact AMW.

When my daughter..25 yrs old... was murdered and her ex ran I used to stop in and talk to the detectives every week and on the phone besides. Our lead detective and I would put our heads together and try to think of new ways to catch him.
Eight years later the killer was finally caught in Mexico. Our lead detective told me later that I was the reason that they never gave up....because I stayed right on top of the case for those 8 years. I know that the detectives and officers wanted to see the killer caught as much as I did though. I'm sure that there were time that LE wished I would go away. Lol.

I would also ask them why they haven't asked for help from the FBI. I would probably tell them that they can't seem to make any headway in finding the girls and maybe bringing in new LE who aren't familiar with the case will bring some new ideas to the case. Let the detectives know that you know that they have to invite the FBI into the case and you want the FBI to help.

These are just suggestions and our personalitys may be a lot different but it didn't bother me to go nose to nose with anyone when it came to the rights of my daughter...the Pros...and making sure that the detectives were on the case. The FBI was involved in hunting for the killer and our detectives did contact AMW and our case was shown at least 3 times over the 8 years.

My daughter was my baby girl and losing her like I did was almost more than I could stand but I don't know how anyone survives their children being missing and not knowing where they are or what has happened to them. My heart breaks for you and your beautiful daughter and grandbaby. Confront those detectives and let them know that you aren't going to go quietly away. I hope the girls are found soon. God bless you and your family.

 

[knale]

Thank you all so much for your help answering my questions about the FBI.

Bobbisangel...............I am so sorry for the loss of your daughter. I know the pain is so horrible. I am so glad that LE found the person responsible for taking her from you. I will keep you in my thoughts.

I too am relentless with LE on my childrens case. They all know full well that I will not go away. There are a couple of detectives that are very close to retirement and I made the comment to them once that whoever took their place would also have to deal with me until they found what happened to my precious babys. Our LE does not like me too much, there is no doubt about that, they have made that VERY clear. But, as I told them, that doesn't matter, they still will have to deal with me. I WILL NOT GIVE UP! I really believe that they thought that I would, but I also believe that they now know that I will not. My frustrations with them is that they just do not seem to think of this case as high on their priority list. I realize that they have lots of cases and that they deal with this everyday, but this is my only case and I am not accustomed to this at all! I have been to the Chief of Police, the Sheriff, the DA, the TBI, and the FBI. No matter where I go, the story is the same, "we are doing all that we can do". Well they may be now, but the fact is, they did not in the beginning, if they had, we may have the answers that we so need. I was even told by our DA that I was "obsessed"! DUH! We are in a small town and my belief is that our LE is just not trained and experienced enough to handle the case. And yes, they do have the power trip thing going on concerning asking for higher LE to lend them a hand, I know this for sure by comments that they have made when I asked them to do so. I either go there or call their office at least once a week. They always try to put me off with either, "sorry, he's not in his office", or me just getting the voice mail and leaving messages that are rarely ever returned. The detective in charge of the investigation has been out of the office, presumbly on vacation, for six weeks! In his absence all that you can get from the ones that are there is " that is something that he will have to answer". In my opinion, LE has only made this nightmare even more unbareable, if possible. I only can hope that at some point, someone in that office will take a personal interest in solving the case and not just looking the other way and trying to keep the departments good name from being tainted by the fact that proper procedures were not taken immediatly, if that person finally comes along then I may someday have my children back and justice served.

When AMW has been brought up in discussions, they want me to continue to try to get AMW attention to the case, they say that they will gladly accept the help but never have they offered to try to help me get the girls case profiled on the show.

Sorry to go on and on, but I feel better now!

 

[shelley]

Bobbisangel and Kathy,
First of all Bobbisangel I am so terribly sorry for your loss. I cannot imagine enduring what you did, and having the strengtht o fight for as long as you did. But, being a mother is the key --you don't know what you're capable of until you are faced with something like you suffered. Again, I am so sorry, but thankful that the man responsible was caught. You were so lucky that LE stuck with you and were as determined as you were to find her killer.
Kathy, you know how my heart breaks for you over all this. I think people who read here would have to live here to get the picture completely as to what you have faced since March 26th last year. Their lack of professionalism, lack of concern, and statements they make to the press yet, telling you something completely different. I am certain there is crappy police work done all over the country on any given day, but to watch this unfold for the last 15 months has been unreal. Things that could have been done from day one were done improperly, or not at all. The rudeness you face when speaking with the LE and DA etc., is inexcusable. After all, they are working for you, not the other way around. No one should have to deal with a missing family member, but most certainly when that occurs, no one should have deal with what you have dealt with. May the powers that be, do the right thing, and get this case solved, and soon.

 

[sharon25]

My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family, and especially with Jennifer and Adrianna.

Have you contacted your local media about covering her birthday party???
I can help contact them if you would like.

 

[knale]

Thank you for thinking of Jennifer and Adrianna. Jenn's birthday is in August and Adrianna's in January. The local media have been very helpful and have came to each and every event that we have had. I just wish there was a way to get National media for the girls. If either of them is still alive, I do not believe that they are anywhere around here and it would be so nice for people in other parts of the country to see their faces. Thank you again!

 

[knale]

Thinking of Jennifer and Adrianna everyday. Praying and keeping hope that they will come home or that whoever holds the answer to what happened to them will gain the courage to come forward with information. Someone knows what happened to my beautiful girls, there is no doubt, they did not just vanish into thin air.

Loving you both always,
Mom (Mimi)

 

[Timex]

praying for you and your family...and hoping for answers soon.

 

[nvfc]

@kholloway Wishing you the best and hope things are better. Send me an e-mail as to what we discussed on the phone and I have an idea that I came up with since.

 

[Jenn]

Thinking about you Kathy and praying for answers. May God grant you many blessings.

 

[duffy]

Bump for KHolloway and her lovely daughter and grandaughter.

 

[knale]

A bump for Jennifer and Adrianna. Thinking of them as always.

 

[mysteriew]

kholloway,
I am not sure if this will help at all, but I just found it today and thought I would post it for you to read, and see if you can use it to your advantage in anyway.
http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cid/cac/kidnap.htm

FBI Agents Recognized at National Missing Children's Day Ceremony - May 23, 2002

The Federal Bureau of Investigation exercises jurisdiction and investigative responsibilities pursuant to federal statutes addressing kidnapping under Title 18 of the United States Code, Sections 1201, 1204, and 1073. Individual FBI Field Offices throughout the country serve as the primary points of contact for persons requesting FBI assistance.

The 1982 Missing Children's Act defines a missing child as any individual younger than eighteen years of age whose whereabouts is unknown to their legal custodian. The circumstances surrounding the child's disappearance must indicate that the child may possibly have been removed by another from the control of his or her legal custodian without the custodian's consent, or the circumstances of the case must strongly indicate that the child is likely to have been abused or sexually exploited.

For more information about current kidnapping, missing person, and parental kidnapping cases being investigated by the FBI, visit the Kidnapping, Parental Kidnapping, and Seeking Information pages

The way I understand it, child kidnapping is a federal offense, and therefore is under the jurisdiction of the FBI whether the locals invite them or not.

 

[dannyodie]

kholloway,
I am not sure if this will help at all, but I just found it today and thought I would post it for you to read, and see if you can use it to your advantage in anyway.
http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cid/cac/kidnap.htm



The way I understand it, child kidnapping is a federal offense, and therefore is under the jurisdiction of the FBI whether the locals invite them or not.

thanks for keeping jennifer and her daughter in your thoughts by posting this, the fact that the child is also missing along with jennifer might appear to the fbi as a case other than an abduction since the child disappeared with the mother. the local sheriffs dept. complety ignored this case from the very beginning, as if they did not want to look for the possibility that these two girls could have met with foul play at the hands of either the boyfriend or the boyfriend and his father. I feel strongly that foul play was committed on these two girls, and the sheriffs office claims that they just ran away to protect the benton name. the boyfriend pulled a gun on his last girlfriend the same as he did with jennifer, except this girl had him arrested, he probably won't get much more than a slap on the hand, I am sure he won't do any jail time for this. the police or the tbi haven't done much as far as really searching that property to find any evidence, I would say by now there is no chance of finding any evidence on that property. there has been a concrete slab poured just behind the fathers house, if they are anywhere on that property it is most likely under the concrete.

 

[knale]

I felt that I needed to bump Jennifer's thread as tomorrow is her birthday. This will be the second birthday without her and I hope will be the last. I miss both her and Adrianna more and more everyday. This is a very difficult time as I look back and remember all the happy times that Jennifer has brought to my life.

Please continue to think of Jennifer and her precious Adrianna and pray that at some point LE will see that they have to do more to help.

Thank you
www.missingwixchildren.homestead.com