Still Missing CA - Michaela Garecht, 9, Hayward, 19 Nov 1988 *ARREST*

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"To me, this looks like a "job" more than a personal abduction. I know Michaela's mother has stated she feels this guy was an amateur but I have to disagree. I think anyone that brash and brazen has definitely done this before and has either gotten away with it or got away with a very light punishment. With criminals, confidence is usually gained by experience. And the fact that he wasn't concerned with showing his face makes me think he was planning on handing her off to someone else quickly."

I would have to agree with you. This was a person that seemed to have people to protect him, and wasn't worried about being caught. Sadly they were right. I know Sharon has a conflict with her emotions of wanting her daughter back, but not wanting to hear about what might have happened to her.....I understand this completely. I think people like you though that try and solve this, might just save more children. These people will never stop, and it seems as though one gets put away or dies, another sicko steps up. I'm one that thinks all of the missing children in the bay area during that time were connected. Michaela's Mom also seems to have a major problem with people like us trying to solve it, and thinks we should let the police to do their jobs. I feel that the police have closed the books on all of these cases, and don't want to spend any time or resources on them. Its taken 20 years to get them to put Michaela's case on a computer. Like with Jacob Wetherling, I think it is going to be an online sleuth that eventually solves this, and hopefully she is alive and brought home.
 
Leprikawn said:
"To me, this looks like a "job" more than a personal abduction. I know Michaela's mother has stated she feels this guy was an amateur but I have to disagree. I think anyone that brash and brazen has definitely done this before and has either gotten away with it or got away with a very light punishment. With criminals, confidence is usually gained by experience. And the fact that he wasn't concerned with showing his face makes me think he was planning on handing her off to someone else quickly."

I would have to agree with you. This was a person that seemed to have people to protect him, and wasn't worried about being caught. Sadly they were right. I know Sharon has a conflict with her emotions of wanting her daughter back, but not wanting to hear about what might have happened to her.....I understand this completely. I think people like you though that try and solve this, might just save more children. These people will never stop, and it seems as though one gets put away or dies, another sicko steps up. I'm one that thinks all of the missing children in the bay area during that time were connected. Michaela's Mom also seems to have a major problem with people like us trying to solve it, and thinks we should let the police to do their jobs. I feel that the police have closed the books on all of these cases, and don't want to spend any time or resources on them. Its taken 20 years to get them to put Michaela's case on a computer. Like with Jacob Wetherling, I think it is going to be an online sleuth that eventually solves this, and hopefully she is alive and brought home.
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I agree, Michaela's mother posted about Richard Helwig who was involved in trafficking of child *advertiser censored*. In March 1989 he was stopped at the border after returning from a trip to Mexico. He was discovered to have child *advertiser censored* in his vehicle, along with articles about Michaela and Amber Swartz. Helwig had a girlfriend in Mexico and two daughters who were deaf. Authorities interviewed the girlfriend who had earrings just like the ones Michaela was wearing, she told them that Helwig had given it to her, then changed her story and said she had gotten them from the flea market. She also said Helwig had given her a T-shirt just like the one Michaela was wearing but the police never found it.

Both his daughters were interviewed separately, and both independently confirmed that both Michaela and Amber had been there, in Mexico. Helwig died of AIDS in prison, even on his death bed he refused to talk about Michaela and would neither confirm or deny his involvement.

San Diego Here's an article about Helwig. He was 54 in 1990, so he obviously wasn't Michaela's abductor. I think the abductor was simply someone who was working as a middleman for a trafficking network, he was described as having severe acne that was like boils all over his face which might suggest drug abuse. It's possible he was doing this to pay off a drug debt. He might not even be from the area.
 
“ The K-9 team will be in the area for about a week. During that time, they are going to be looking at three separate cases. Tracy Jones works with special K-9s Search and Recovery out of Texas. This week, she is working a levee outside Woodland with four-year-old field trial golden retriever Hannah.......“
———-
“ On this trip to Northern California, they are revisiting several cold cases, including 11-year-old Michaela Joy Garecht, who went missing from Hayward back in 1988. Tracking is a challenge with a case this old, especially if there is water, but Jones says it can be done.“

Texas K-9 Team Brought To Sacramento Area To Help Crack Cold Cases
 
Murkywaters said:
I agree, Michaela's mother posted about Richard Helwig who was involved in trafficking of child *advertiser censored*. In March 1989 he was stopped at the border after returning from a trip to Mexico. He was discovered to have child *advertiser censored* in his vehicle, along with articles about Michaela and Amber Swartz. Helwig had a girlfriend in Mexico and two daughters who were deaf. Authorities interviewed the girlfriend who had earrings just like the ones Michaela was wearing, she told them that Helwig had given it to her, then changed her story and said she had gotten them from the flea market. She also said Helwig had given her a T-shirt just like the one Michaela was wearing but the police never found it.

Both his daughters were interviewed separately, and both independently confirmed that both Michaela and Amber had been there, in Mexico. Helwig died of AIDS in prison, even on his death bed he refused to talk about Michaela and would neither confirm or deny his involvement.

San Diego Here's an article about Helwig. He was 54 in 1990, so he obviously wasn't Michaela's abductor. I think the abductor was simply someone who was working as a middleman for a trafficking network, he was described as having severe acne that was like boils all over his face which might suggest drug abuse. It's possible he was doing this to pay off a drug debt. He might not even be from the area.
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Do you know where I could find more information on Richard Helwig. I am not finding anything on a google search.
 
Snip:
...
Michaela Garecht, 9, and a friend rode their scooters to a market two blocks from home in Hayward on Nov. 19, 1988. After making their purchases, Michaela realized her scooter was missing. She spotted it in the parking lot and, when she went to retrieve it, a man waiting in the adjacent car leaped out, grabbed her and drove off.

The case became a staple of the nightly news and crime shows like “Unsolved Mysteries.” Over the years, nearly every infamous child killer in California has been probed for links to Michaela’s disappearance — none leading authorities any closer to finding the missing girl.

The most compelling suspect is Loren Herzog, one half of the Speed Freak Killers duo. Along with Wesley Shermantine, the pair are suspected in the murders of up to 70 people. Herzog was paroled in 2010 after an appeals court threw out his convictions. He killed himself in 2012, allegedly shortly after he was told that Shermantine was working with authorities to show them where the bodies were buried. After his death, Shermantine noted Herzog looked very similar to the suspect sketch of Michaela’s kidnapper. Searches of Herzog and Shermantine’s burial site in Linden, Calif., did not uncover evidence linking either man to Michaela.
...
These Bay Area residents vanished and have never been found
 
EnNK-oTVQAEV9UR


Bumping for Michaela, today marks 32 years since she was kidnapped.
 
jewelsmac said:
DA charges man with murder following 1988 disappearance of Michaela Garecht


DA charges man with murder following 1988 disappearance of Michaela Garecht
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Such bittersweet news. Michaela's mother has kept an active blog for many years, hoping one day Michaela would see it and find her way back home. I can't imagine the heartbreak in learning of this development, especially this time of the year, which is so close to when Michaela went missing and the upcoming holidays.

I can't help but feel that her mother must now mourn the loss of her daughter all over again, except this time there is no hope that she'll ever find her way back home.

_____
From the live presser in the link above (which should be available to replay after its done airing):

The man charged with her murder has also been charged with special circumstances because A. the murder happened during the course of a kidnapping and B. he has been convicted of previous murders (18-year-old Michelle Xavier, and 20-year-old Jennifer Duey, which occurred in 1986).

He has two prior felonies- assault with deadly weapon and one burglary, which happened just 3 months before Michaela's kidnapping.

___
https://www.acgov.org/sheriff_app/

Screen Shot 2020-12-21 at 1.25.06 PM.png

He's been held at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, CA since 2018 for the murders of MX and JD. Dublin is just the next town over from where all of these tragic murders took place.

Local police are saying they cannot rule him out for other similar murders in the area around the same time.

He has an arraignment tomorrow (12/22/2020) at 9am.

____

Rest in peace, Michaela, justice is finally on its way. May you wrap your wings around your mom extra tight tonight.
 
WOW this is huge! I really thought this one would stay cold forever!

I have followed her mom on her blog for years; almost felt like I knew her. She is battling metastatic breast cancer....I cannot help thinking the timing worked out well.

But I'm HEARTBROKEN. All hope is gone for a reunion on this side of heaven.

In shock and sad right now.
 
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