'Cody is not forgotten here'
Kittitas boy disappeared one year ago today
Posted: Sept. 12, 2005
By ANDREA PARIS
KITTITAS -- It's been a year since 11-year-old Kittitas boy Cody Haynes disappeared under questionable circumstances. What remains is a haunting picture of a smiling boy whose bright eyes and grin peer at passers-by from a simple 8 1/2-by-11 piece of paper announcing he is missing and endangered. That and a lot of unanswered questions.
Sept. 12, 2004
Richard Cody Haynes always preferred to be called by his nickname, Cody. He lived with his biological father Richard Haynes, his father's new wife, Marla Harding-Haynes as well as his four sisters inside a run-down two-story building in the heart of Kittitas's downtown.
Harding-Haynes once described Cody as a deceitful child who needed limitations and a strong sense of discipline. Cody's grandmother, Audrey Haynes, said earlier Cody was a "normal, rambunctious little boy." Others have said Cody was a caring, playful and artistic child.
On Sept. 11, 2004, Cody had been sent to his room for disciplinary reasons. Harding-Haynes reported earlier she was told by Richard Haynes to have no contact with the boy as Haynes himself said he would speak to his son when he returned home later on Sept. 12.
Richard Haynes told police he left his home in the early morning hours of Sept. 12. Haynes said his route took him first to the Lower Valley to look for car parts and then on to Sprague west of Spokane where he encountered car problems. Haynes reported he did not get home until the late afternoon of Sept. 12.
Missing
Nearly 17 hours after the boy was sent to his room, Cody's father reported his son missing to authorities. Haynes told police Cody was being disciplined and was made to stay in his room without meals or contact from the rest of the family during that day. Haynes and Harding-Haynes reported Cody had arranged his stuffed animals under his covers to make it look as though he were in bed, took a bag of clothes, and managed to slip away unnoticed.
Officers reported finding a bag of clothing inside a shed on the Haynes' property along with the boy's bicycle.
Officials learned much later Cody and Harding-Haynes had a heated argument on Sept. 11 in which the boy was made to stay at the kitchen table for nearly four hours after reportedly refusing to do dishes and put leftovers away. Cody was told to go to his bedroom around midnight.
That was the last time anyone has seen Cody.
Alone
The Haynes family was insular by choice.
Cody and his sisters had been removed from the public school system and were being home schooled by Harding-Haynes. The children weren't often in the company of those from outside the family unit, and when they were, oddities were noticed.
School friends reported the children were made to stand outside for extended periods of time during the winter without shoes or a coat. In 2002, an Ellensburg elementary school principal reported he believed the children were suffering from emotional and physical abuse and neglect at the hands of their father and Harding-Haynes. None of the allegations were proven, and the children remained inside the home until Cody's disappearance last year when officials removed the four Haynes girls from the home on Sept. 17, and placed them into foster care.
Kittitas Police Department Chief Steve Dunnagan said the Haynes girls have since been found dependent and currently are wards of the state.
The case
Dunnagan and Kittitas County Sheriff's Office detective Jerry Shuart have spent countless hours working the Cody case, a case Dunnagan himself admits haunts him.
"It's been a year," he said sitting at his desk surrounded by mounds of paperwork he has either collected or generated in the Cody case. "It's draining me. Every day it's 'what are we going to do to find Cody today?' It's constant. Eighty five percent of my time is spent on this case."
Dunnagan said the case has led he and Shuart to California, Oregon, Idaho and a farmer's field in Sprague. Cadaver dogs, aerial searches, national television exposure and good old-fashioned police work have yet to bring hoped for results though leads continue to trickle in.
Officials from the FBI, Washington State Patrol, Green River Task Force and national organizations like the Center for Missing and Exploited Children have lent a hand in the investigation. Sex offenders living in and outside Kittitas County have been interviewed and eliminated as suspects including the notorious Joseph Edward Duncan.
Nothing tangible has been found to lead police to a suspect though many items have been collected from the Haynes' home and automobiles and taken to the state's crime lab where it is being processed as evidence.
Dunnagan said he does have an active DNA sample and said Cody's biological mother, whose name has not been released, is very cooperative as is the rest of Cody's family. That is except father and stepmother who have refused to talk with police since last October and who do not make inquiries into the progress of the case, he said.
What's next
Dunnagan grimly said all that's left to do is "chase leads."
"There are things that just don't make sense," he said.
Meanwhile Dunnagan continues to try to prove Richard Haynes' story of his early morning jaunt around Central Washington the day his son disappeared. Dunnagan plans a trip to Naches and Toppenish where he will circulate pictures of Cody and Richard at car shows Richard Haynes reportedly attended last year at this time.
"I'm trying to retrace his steps to confirm his route," Dunnagan said. "The only person who says he was there is Richard. I can't confirm or deny Marla's story."
When the case will break is unknown, Dunnagan admits, though he is hopeful Cody is alive, somewhere.
"This case has had its ups and downs every time I get a tip," he said. "I keep wondering how many more I'll get until I find the truth or what happened. I'm still going. Cody is not forgotten here."
http://www.kvnews.com/articles/2005/09/12/news/news01.txt
:banghead: i can understand why he would have wanted to run away but some things don't make any sense :waitasec: