Found Alive IN - Richard Landers, 5, LaGrange, 29 July 1994

[deca]

So the grandparents, so far, have not claimed that they took him from abuse or anything- just that they weren't happy about the custody arrangement???
:furious:

 

[Bodhi]

http://www.kltv.com/story/20560451/indiana-boy-abducted-in-94-found-in-minnesota

According to this MSM report, the Todd County (Minn.) Sheriff's Office stated Richard has been living under the name Michael Jeff Landers. His grandparents use the names Raymond Michael Iddings and Susan Kay Iddings.

 

[Hope32]

Richard Wayne Landers Jr. was just 5 years old when he and his paternal grandparents, who were upset over custody arrangements, disappeared from Wolcottville, a town about 30 miles north of Fort Wayne.

Indiana State Police said the now 24-year-old Landers was found in Long Prairie, Minn., thanks in part to his Social Security number. His grandparents were living under aliases in a nearby town and confirmed his identity, investigators said.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/11/richard-wayne-landers-jr-found_n_2454809.html

 

[~n/t~]

Mom was homeless and living in a car. Yes, it was wrong for the grandparents to take him but if the courts weren't doing anything to protect this child, I can understand their reasoning to take him and keep him safe. Dad was never in the picture.

The good news besides the "boy" being found alive and well is he is 24 years old now and hopefully can decide what he wants to do. There will be no custody issues to deal with. Bad news if the grandparents get charged but they did break the law even if it was to protect him.

 

[tlcya]

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/boy-abducted-5-found-indiana-article-1.1238079

"I'm not sure that they (the grandparents) ever had legal custody," said John R. Russell, who spent several months investigating Landers' disappearance in 1994 when he was a road deputy for the LaGrange County Sheriff's Department.
The then-5-year-old boy's mother and stepfather were unemployed and lived in a car, Russell recalled.
"These people (the grandparents) were nice people. It was wrong for them to do it, but I can understand why," he said. "But I also didn't think the child would be in any danger at all with them."

 

[tlcya]

Abducted Indiana Boy Located In Minnesota - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community

is a thread already started about this story. I have asked a mod to merge.

 

[katydid23]

I was really mad at the grandparents. But then hearing that their 5 yr old grand son was living in a car with their DIL and her new husband, and they were being shut out of his life, I actually understand and sympathize with their actions. :angel:

If I had a grandchild living in a car, I could see making a rash decision like that.

 

[Reader]

I was really mad at the grandparents. But then hearing that their 5 yr old grand son was living in a car with their DIL and her new husband, and they were being shut out of his life, I actually understand and sympathize with their actions. :angel:

If I had a grandchild living in a car, I could see making a rash decision like that.

I can sympathize with the grandparents' situation but they should have gone about it the legal way....there is legal aid help for custody cases in most areas, or they could have made a complaint to CPS and probably the child would have been placed with them anyway...but to kidnap and then not let the child and mother have any contact all these years...no, I cannot sanction that.

 

[songline]

I saw this story, and knew immidiatly that I will find more information on WS.
I was right.
WS ROCKS!!!


Mother's joy after 5-year-old son who was abducted by grandparents in 1994 is found happily married and living under a new identity 650 miles away
- Richard Landers taken from Indiana home by paternal grandparents in 1994
- They were raising the boy but his mother was trying to regain custody
- Now living in Minnesota with his wife under the name Michael Jeff Landers
- Tracked down using the missing boy's social security number
- His mother, Lisa Harter, is 'the happiest woman on Earth'


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ents-1994-living-Minnesota.html#ixzz2Hhl6S8HJ

 

[deca]

Even if they were living out of the car THEN, and Richard would have had a better live with the grandparents, who is to say that the mom didn't get her act together within a year and would have been a perfectly good parent and provider. That was no excuse AT ALL to keep a mom from her child for that many years.

 

[katydid23]

I can sympathize with the grandparents' situation but they should have gone about it the legal way....there is legal aid help for custody cases in most areas, or they could have made a complaint to CPS and probably the child would have been placed with them anyway...but to kidnap and then not let the child and mother have any contact all these years...no, I cannot sanction that.

I am not saying it was the correct decision on their part, only that I sympathize with them. I bet they did look at lots of other options, like CPS, before they did what they did.

And I bet it was more than him just living in a car. usually that happens when there are other issuers as well--like alcohol/drugs/mental health problems. JMO

Again, it was not the right decision. Nobody should kidnap a child. But if my grandchild was living in a car and i thought they were in danger, I might consider it myself.

ETA: Also the article said that the boy KNEW his real name but chose to use an alias. It makes me wonder if he perhaps WANTED his grandparents to 'kidnap' him. Maybe he hated his old life. JMO

 

[katydid23]

Even if they were living out of the car THEN, and Richard would have had a better live with the grandparents, who is to say that the mom didn't get her act together within a year and would have been a perfectly good parent and provider. That was no excuse AT ALL to keep a mom from her child for that many years.

None of us know what really happened behind the scenes. LE has said they are not bringing charges. That makes me wonder if maybe the grandparents had good reasons to take this aggressive action.

Maybe mom would have gotten it together---but maybe not. If I was the grandparent I would be in agony if I had to gamble with my grandchild's life in that way.

Living in a car is not the main problem. That can be easily remedied. But what comes along with that? Usually it only comes to that if there are other deeper issues as well. MOO

 

[tlcya]

I agree with those who say these grandparents were wrong. I don't care if you are coming from a loving concerned place. taking someone else's child (even one who had the audacity to divorce your son, even one who is homeless) and just disappearing with that child is NOT okay.

They broke the law and caused a woman years of heartache and worry, all because they were unhappy with their access to their grandchild being limited and if they thought they had a good legal case they never would have run. MOO

These grandparents knew they would not get what they wanted through legal means and so they chose to break the law.

MOO

ETA and for those who feel mom living in her car indicates there are deeper issues I ask, where was this fine upstanding couple's son? Why were his exwife and his child homeless? These are questions I would like answers to before deciding mom has substance abuse or other issues which caused her homelessness. I want to know what this child's father was doing. Where was he when his parents were so busy trying to fight his wife for custody?

 

[SoBeCzar]

If mom were living in a car, the in-laws could have helped her out and not stolen her child for the next decade and a half.
These are the kinds of in-laws that think the child should be theirs and not that horrible ex wife of their son.
They had several options. One being to take care of the child while the mother got on her feet. This is what family does for each other. The poor little boy went without a mother during the years he needed her most. I am sure he loved and missed her every day. It was pure selfishness that motivated them. If they had given a thought to what was best for the child they would have made drastically different choices.

 

[katydid23]

If mom were living in a car, the in-laws could have helped her out and not stolen her child for the next decade and a half.
These are the kinds of in-laws that think the child should be theirs and not that horrible ex wife of their son.
They had several options. One being to take care of the child while the mother got on her feet. This is what family does for each other. The poor little boy went without a mother during the years he needed her most. I am sure he loved and missed her every day. It was pure selfishness that motivated them. If they had given a thought to what was best for the child they would have made drastically different choices.

You might be 100% right.

The only reason I still have some sympathy for the grandparents is because I worked in an elementary school where some of the students were from a homeless population. And many of the parents, although 'loving' their kids, were incapable of parenting.

I do not know if these grandparents did this kidnapping out of greed, or concern. We don't know enough about the situation.

You say they could have helped the mom get a place to live. Some of the homeless families I met did not want a place to live. Some of them liked the 'freedom' as they called it. It was very hard on their kids, but CPS does not automatically take kids away from homeless parents.

I guess I am just feeling like giving the grandparents some benefit of the doubt until I know more.

What would you do if your little grandchild cried and begged not to be sent back to his mom and stepfather to live in the car after a visit with you?

 

[amberdawn723]

I couldn't help but look his alias up on facebook. Looks like he is living a happy life with his wife. I do sympathize with the grandparents a little, but I can't imagine being the mom in this picture....going through tough-times and having a child taken away for years with no answers. Then finding out he's alive and well and married and expecting her grandbaby...... I feel so sad for the mom.....

 

[EGirl]

I am not saying it was the correct decision on their part, only that I sympathize with them. I bet they did look at lots of other options, like CPS, before they did what they did.

And I bet it was more than him just living in a car. usually that happens when there are other issuers as well--like alcohol/drugs/mental health problems. JMO

Again, it was not the right decision. Nobody should kidnap a child. But if my grandchild was living in a car and i thought they were in danger, I might consider it myself.

ETA: Also the article said that the boy KNEW his real name but chose to use an alias. It makes me wonder if he perhaps WANTED his grandparents to 'kidnap' him. Maybe he hated his old life. JMO

I'm sorry, but there isn't a 5 year old alive that can make that 'choice'. His grandparents had YEARS to mold him.

Maybe it was in his best interest, but the courts should have decided that.

 

[epiphany]

Have not read anything yet that leads me to give paternal grandma and grandpa a pass:

Before the abduction, Landers' paternal grandparents, then known as Richard and Ruth Landers, were raising the young boy as his mother had had a troubled relationship with their son.

Child welfare services stepped in after she ended up in a homeless shelter and because she has some developmental disabilities, Harter's attorney Richard Muntz told the Star Tribune.

But in 1994, when she was living in her own home, working and remarried, she began fighting to regain custody of her son. However, the grandparents were upset about the court proceedings.

Just days before Landers' mother was due to take him for a one week visitation in July 1994, he disappeared without a trace.

'The grandparents went to the bank, drew $5,000 out of a home equity line and stopped for breakfast at a local restaurant,' Muntz said. That was the last time they were seen in the town.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ents-1994-living-Minnesota.html#ixzz2Hi79xAfI

 

[xlurker]

No mention of the Dad, but with the Mom having developmental disabilities their son (the father) may have also had them. This could explain why the grandparents had been caring for the child and were given temporary custody.

After 5 years the Mom has a new husband, a developmental disability, and is living in a car. The judge said he did not know if she could deal with the child, but they had to give her the chance. I'm not saying they were right in taking him, but I can see how it would be hard to hand him back to his Mom.

http://www.startribune.com/local/186372571.html?refer=y

 

[epiphany]

No mention of the Dad, but with the Mom having developmental disabilities their son (the father) may have also had them. This could explain why the grandparents had been caring for the child and were given temporary custody.

After 5 years the Mom has a new husband, a developmental disability, and is living in a car. The judge said he did not know if she could deal with the child, but they had to give her the chance. I'm not saying they were right in taking him, but I can see how it would be hard to hand him back to his Mom.

http://www.startribune.com/local/186372571.html?refer=y

Also from your link:

In her own home, remarried and working a job, Harter sought to regain custody.

"We had a number of hearings, and during the last one the judge said, 'I don't know if the mother can handle the situation, but we have to give it a try,'" Muntz said. "The judge ordered the child returned to the mother for a trial period. The grandparents went to the bank, drew $5,000 out of a home equity line and stopped for breakfast at a local restaurant."