Found Deceased IA - Xavior Harrelson, 10, Montezuma, 27 May 2021

[PommyMommy]

JUN 9, updated JUN 14, 2021
Nearly $17K reward offered in search for missing Montezuma boy | weareiowa.com
A reward of nearly $17,000 is available to anyone who can provide any information on a Montezuma boy who has been missing for over two weeks.

[...]

 

[Buddha_with_mace]

As someone who is pretty much bed bound with a complicated spinal cord injury, who lives alone, if I didn't have the means (thanks mum) to pay for someone to help me in the home my house would be dirty and horrendously messy, never mind adding a young boy in to the mix, as I can do nothing myself, not everyone has the luxury of an able body and the means to pay for adequate help, as someone said, he looks well dressed, clean, healthy and happy, of course we never know if that's really the case because as it's been proven time and time again, outwardly appearances mean very little so can not be judged.

 

[Inthedetails]

JUN 14, 2021
Map shows flyer coverage of missing 11-year-old Xavior Harrelson | KGAN (cbs2iowa.com)
It's been 18 days since the disappearance of Xavior Harrelson, the search continues to stretch from Powesheik County to the entire state.

[...]

... thousands of missing person flyers have been printed out for Xavior.

Organizer of Mollie's Movement and owner of Live Now Designs, JV created a map of counties where flyers of Xavior have been seen.

As of Monday, 43 counties have coverage.

[...]

In Oskaloosa, DD's business, Doty's Print and Design Services, is creating yard signs with the same information as the flyer.

DD's is selling these yard signs for $10 just to cover the cost of making them. You have to place the order in increments of 10.

[...]

JV's local Brooklyn shop is printing out T-shirts, buttons and magnets.

"It builds awareness, it may be they recognize the face and they remember something or they see him later or even the name matters because Xavior Harrelsons name get's out there, he can run up to someone and say 'I'm Xavior," explained JV.

[...]

The official poster that the Poweshiek County Sheriff's Office and Total Choice put together can be found and printed here.

Impressive, generous work from the community, all the more impressive since the family is so quiet.

Xavior has captured so many of our hearts.

jmo

 

[ChatteringBirds]

I wonder if anyone has been asked by LE to stay quiet for now while they continue their investigation?

 

[Shamrock1]

It may well have been an unhappy home. But that doesn’t mean the mother harmed her son. She’s been described as cooperative, I believe.

I can’t quite get my mind around the refusal to call police though.

 

[jenn83]

It may well have been an unhappy home. But that doesn’t mean the mother harmed her son. She’s been described as cooperative, I believe.

I can’t quite get my mind around the refusal to call police though.

That is the biggest red flag to me. Why didn't she want police there?

 

[SharonNeedles]

It may well have been an unhappy home. But that doesn’t mean the mother harmed her son. She’s been described as cooperative, I believe.

I can’t quite get my mind around the refusal to call police though.

I’ve thought about this a lot as well, but we need to be careful not characterize this as something it’s not. It almost seems like the neighbor’s first response was that something must be very wrong, but as a parent my first response is to stay calm. It’s a tough predicament, you don’t want to feel stupid for calling the police when your kid’s with a friend down the street. The panic is real, but the first thing you want to do is ask yourself all the questions the police would ask you. For all we know that may be exactly what mom was doing and she might have been 30 minutes from exhausting those options and calling the police herself.

 

[Shamrock1]

I’ve thought about this a lot as well, but we need to be careful not characterize this as something it’s not. It almost seems like the neighbor’s first response was that something must be very wrong, but as a parent my first response is to stay calm. It’s a tough predicament, you don’t want to feel stupid for calling the police when your kid’s with a friend down the street. The panic is real, but the first thing you want to do is ask yourself all the questions the police would ask you. For all we know that may be exactly what mom was doing and she might have been 30 minutes from exhausting those options and calling the police herself.

That’s a good point. If it was his habit to go out, she wouldn’t want to be seen as a bother. I’m also wondering if we should be skeptical of the neighbor’s claim - I think it was the neighbor who said the mother “refused” to call police.

 

[helpfulcharlie]

It may well have been an unhappy home. But that doesn’t mean the mother harmed her son. She’s been described as cooperative, I believe.

I can’t quite get my mind around the refusal to call police though.

"... is cooperating with authorities" is often misleading. "is cooperating" can mean actually helping, and can also mean they've got their ducks in a row, and continue to answer questions and aren't shutting down the conversation or lawyering up. When I hear it, I always take it with a grain of salt. A person is cooperating, until they're not.

 

[LClapper]

I'd rather seem stupid in the eyes of police or anyone looking in, if my child was missing and it was apparently long enough that neighbors noticed his/her absence.
Imagine if you didn't want to look stupid and it turns out they were in grave danger and could have been helped if you would have contacted authorities sooner/if at all.
Also, do we know this was normal for him? Perhaps I missed that, as I thought I had read he played within the mobile home park and didn't ever wander too far.

 

[Inthedetails]

I'd rather seem stupid in the eyes of police or anyone looking in, if my child was missing and it was apparently long enough that neighbors noticed his/her absence.
Imagine if you didn't want to look stupid and it turns out they were in grave danger and could have been helped if you would have contacted authorities sooner/if at all.
Also, do we know this was normal for him? Perhaps I missed that, as I thought I had read he played within the mobile home park and didn't ever wander too far.

I agree. Not one parent of a missing child wants to come forward in front of the public and lay themselves bare at the worst moment in their lives....but most do it in the hopes it will help their child. Sometimes they can't do it and a spokesperson does it on their behalf. It's unusual not to have anyone.

jmo

 

[PommyMommy]

I'd rather seem stupid in the eyes of police or anyone looking in, if my child was missing and it was apparently long enough that neighbors noticed his/her absence.
Imagine if you didn't want to look stupid and it turns out they were in grave danger and could have been helped if you would have contacted authorities sooner/if at all.
Also, do we know this was normal for him? Perhaps I missed that, as I thought I had read he played within the mobile home park and didn't ever wander too far.

This was posted May 27 however, I have no idea where the information came from (mother, father, neighbor...). MOO

Poweshiek County Emergency Management Agency | Facebook
This is very unusual of him to be gone for so long and without any contact.

 

[MntnHiker]

I'm going to reserve judgment on the "not calling police" thing until we have more information. Is the "refused to call them" verbiage coming from the neighbor? For all we know, this neighbor has a personal beef with the mom or isn't fond of her for whatever reason, so is extra critical of her decision not to call the cops THAT precise moment. That is just one hypothetical example of how this can get misconstrued for the media.

Maybe his mom is used to him being gone most of the day during summer break out playing and wandering around. Just because the neighbor is concerned they didn't see him that morning, his mom may have wanted to wait and see if he came home by X time, for instance - maybe the time he normally comes back home after being out and about. We really have no idea. It could have been Mom said, "I don't want to call the police this second but if he isn't home by X time, I will" and that wasn't good enough for the neighbor. I just don't think we can judge until we have more info, if we ever have it. Obviously, he never came home, and it's good the neighbor called police, but we have no clue if Mom would have later that day or not. MOO

 

[PommyMommy]

JUN 15, 2021
Search for 11-year-old Xavior Harrelson continues almost 3 weeks after he disappeared | who13.com
[...]

The DCI is a requested agency that often works in more rural parts of the state that typically don’t have the same resources as larger cities.

To find Xavior Harrelson, Mortvedt said the DCI has been hyper-focusing on the town of Montezuma where Xavior was last seen, then working outward to other rural areas. This has included holding search parties with up to 150 law enforcement officers and nearly 400 volunteers.

After covering the entire Poweshiek County, the DCI is now using digital media as a tool.

DCI has recently launched a new missing person website with Xavior Harrelson displayed on the homepage.

Mortvedt says within the last few years social media has been a game changer in helping law enforcement find missing children.

[...]

 

[PeriwinkleE]

Something just ain’t right here. Are there abandoned structures he could be hiding in? Could have been injured in? Have they checked the crawl space underneath the trailer they lived in? Sorry if this has been asked before.

 

[Shamrock1]

Something just ain’t right here. Are there abandoned structures he could be hiding in? Could have been injured in? Have they checked the crawl space underneath the trailer they lived in? Sorry if this has been asked before.

I do wonder if he maybe got hit by a car on his walk - I don’t know the area though. Trailers have a skirting that allows for easy access to utilities, so I don’t see anything under there going undiscovered IMO.

 

[Inthedetails]

JUN 15, 2021
Search for 11-year-old Xavior Harrelson continues almost 3 weeks after he disappeared | who13.com
[...]

The DCI is a requested agency that often works in more rural parts of the state that typically don’t have the same resources as larger cities.

To find Xavior Harrelson, Mortvedt said the DCI has been hyper-focusing on the town of Montezuma where Xavior was last seen, then working outward to other rural areas. This has included holding search parties with up to 150 law enforcement officers and nearly 400 volunteers.

After covering the entire Poweshiek County, the DCI is now using digital media as a tool.

DCI has recently launched a new missing person website with Xavior Harrelson displayed on the homepage.

Mortvedt says within the last few years social media has been a game changer in helping law enforcement find missing children.

[...]

I like this development. I hope their work is successful.

jmo

 

[ChatteringBirds]

We can't bring SM here, but could someone advise whether it's worth seeking it out at this point, or is it just a dramatic mess best avoided over there?

 

[Tealgrove]

We can't bring SM here, but could someone advise whether it's worth seeking it out at this point, or is it just a dramatic mess best avoided over there?

It’s worth seeking out.

 

[Hoytie]

Gosh, this is so frustrating. I check everyday for an update all to no avail. This case needs more media attention. What about the parents? This child deserves more.