LA LA - Rondreiz Cortez “Junior” Phillips, 4, Homer, Claiborne Parish, 05 Apr 2018

I live about 3 miles as the crow flies from where this is happening and you're right there are a few alligators in Corney Lake and I suspect some are in Lake Claiborne but I doubt there's any in the ponds. Most likely because there's not enough food to support them like there would be in a lake. We've never seen any fishing any of them anyway. There's literally hundreds of ponds in this area. There was a lot of dairies in this area last century and everyone has ponds. The house I own was the operations center for a dairy and I have a pond and the acreage that was the actual dairy has another one 400 or so yards from that one in the back field. There's a pond across the road, the property next to it has one, my neighbor across the street has one and their neighbor also has one as well as just about every property connected to those. A lot of them were put in by the WPA or CCC in the 1930s. My friends and their kids fish a lot of them and have never seen any gators in them so I wouldn't worry to much about that aspect. What most of them do have is rather large snapping turtles, water moccasins (probably to cold for them to be an issue) and as you mentioned there's bear, feral hogs, lots of coyotes, bobcat, fox and the occasional cougar. We also have a wolf hybrid that reported sightings have been made, but that's extremely rare. Like you said a lot of these ponds are very inaccessible especially at the waters edge due to lack of maintenance over many decades of no longer being needed for their original intent, to water livestock. My neighbor's daughter and son-in-law are Claiborne Parish volunteer firefighters out of the Summerfield station and were part of the search from the start. I also know the Sheriff, Ken Bailey, he's a good man and will not give up until this child is found if he's still in this area. This community has been through this before and they did as I knew they would, they came together to help in any way they could. All we can do now is hope for the best.
Thank you so much for all this information. You say the community has been through this before, what do you mean by that?

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I live about 3 miles as the crow flies from where this is happening and you're right there are a few alligators in Corney Lake and I suspect some are in Lake Claiborne but I doubt there's any in the ponds. Most likely because there's not enough food to support them like there would be in a lake. We've never seen any fishing any of them anyway. There's literally hundreds of ponds in this area. There was a lot of dairies in this area last century and everyone has ponds. The house I own was the operations center for a dairy and I have a pond and the acreage that was the actual dairy has another one 400 or so yards from that one in the back field. There's a pond across the road, the property next to it has one, my neighbor across the street has one and their neighbor also has one as well as just about every property connected to those. A lot of them were put in by the WPA or CCC in the 1930s. My friends and their kids fish a lot of them and have never seen any gators in them so I wouldn't worry to much about that aspect. What most of them do have is rather large snapping turtles, water moccasins (probably to cold for them to be an issue) and as you mentioned there's bear, feral hogs, lots of coyotes, bobcat, fox and the occasional cougar. We also have a wolf hybrid that reported sightings have been made, but that's extremely rare. Like you said a lot of these ponds are very inaccessible especially at the waters edge due to lack of maintenance over many decades of no longer being needed for their original intent, to water livestock. My neighbor's daughter and son-in-law are Claiborne Parish volunteer firefighters out of the Summerfield station and were part of the search from the start. I also know the Sheriff, Ken Bailey, he's a good man and will not give up until this child is found if he's still in this area. This community has been through this before and they did as I knew they would, they came together to help in any way they could. All we can do now is hope for the best.

Thank you for the great local information, WeldonHunter and welcome to WS !!


:welcome4:
 
Thank you so much for all this information. You say the community has been through this before, what do you mean by that?

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I assume they are referring to this story:

http://m.ksla.com/ksla/pm_/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=od:LjEM2g9a

There was also this search recently:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cb...ts-kills-assistant-wardens-teen-stepdaughter/

There was another case of a missing woman a few years ago near this same area. I can’t remember her name/age, but I remember that she was either from here and headed to Arkansas or vice versa. Her vehicle was found abandoned. I was puzzled by the lack of media coverage on that case.
 
Sheriff Ken Bailey says the department will continue their search for the child. They are planning on sending divers to a couple of ponds Monday as a part of their continued efforts to find the child. Sheriff Bailey says the department will turn its attention to focusing on areas of interest identified during the search.

"We sincerely appreciate the publics help in the search for Jr Phillips. We have had a tremendous outpouring of support. At this time we are calling off the public search," the agency said in a press statement issued Sunday afternoon.

Philips was reportedly last seen about 11:30 a.m. Thursday in the 100 block of Howard Road, wearing a white shirt, blue jeans and black and yellow rubber boots. Sources say, the child reportedly wandered off while outside with his mother's boyfriend.

https://www.ktbs.com/news/search-se...ign=blox&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social
 
There is talk on insider facebook pages that existed before this disappearance. You won't be able to get on because you have to prove a link to North Louisiana.

The only thing I can say is that supposedly/allegedly the searchers were told this is a recovery operation, not a rescue. That was obviously before the public search was called off.

Searchers are using bloodhounds, cadaver dogs and thermal heat imaging devices to search.

No new news so far this morning.
 
I didn't realize that the two pond searches were completed. I only recall the Sheriff's office mentioning carrying out further interviews. There is a third pond in the area to be searched.



http://www.ksla.com/story/37906231/divers-search-2-ponds-near-missing-4-year-olds-home

I believe they had been searching the ponds prior to yesterday and it was just not made public knowledge until Sunday. I was made aware that they were interested in searching bodies of water on Friday evening. This image shows the home (star) and the 5 ponds in immediate proximity; I would think these 5 are all within a mile.
 

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Local news is reporting that Junior is still missing.

A bit of what is discussed the video:

There is some video of the area/yard where Junior was last seen.

Detectives and the Sheriff's office are on scene.

No articles of clothing found.

No POIs, suspects, or arrests to date.

Not clear when public searches will open. Too much confusion for the dogs and LE, hence closing the volunteer searches.

Divers were expected to search ponds again today.

Mom and stepdad have been interviewed and it will be aired on KNOE (5 PM, 6PM, and 10 PM) and knoe.com tonight.



https://www.facebook.com/KNOE8News/...fref=gs&dti=196015994509341&hc_location=group
 
Poor little boy :( Whatever's happened to him hope has to be fading after this length of time :-( I hope they find him soon.
 
A mother's plea for missing son, search continues for 4-year old

"Somebody picked my baby up out this yard; I don't care what nobody says, my baby, ain't never left up out this yard. He's never walked in no woods," she said.

Nicholas Gilbert, the step-father, said he does not believe their son wandered away from the front yard.

"Whoever picked Junior up, no matter how they feel or what's going on, just drop him off," Gilbert said.

He said the family is hurting, especially after hearing rumors he could have something to do with Junior's disappearance. Gilbert said he volunteered to take a lie detectors test and passed.

http://www.knoe.com/content/news/A-...arch-continues-for-4-year-old--479205683.html
 
Thank you so much for all this information. You say the community has been through this before, what do you mean by that?

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Just trying to give a first hand perspective of what this area is like. Lots of planted pine forest for harvesting and thick underbrush laced with bayous in low areas and ponds everywhere. What I meant by we've been through this before is there's been other missing persons cases over the years. Some were just people or children that got lost and some were the result of criminal activity.

Edit: I want to mention this. I said the community has come together like I expected because we've been through this before. One thing I meant by that is this community has some of the nicest people I've met in my entire life and they rise to the occasion when things like this happen. I've only owned this place about 14 years and have been welcomed into the community as if I've lived here my entire life. Keep one thing in mind, some of the same people out searching as law enforcement as well some that were private citizen searchers are some of the same people that hook up their boat to the truck or get in their car and drive to help during floods here and in other states. You might know them as the Cajun Navy.
 
A mother's plea for missing son, search continues for 4-year old

"Somebody picked my baby up out this yard; I don't care what nobody says, my baby, ain't never left up out this yard. He's never walked in no woods," she said.

Nicholas Gilbert, the step-father, said he does not believe their son wandered away from the front yard.

"Whoever picked Junior up, no matter how they feel or what's going on, just drop him off," Gilbert said.

He said the family is hurting, especially after hearing rumors he could have something to do with Junior's disappearance. Gilbert said he volunteered to take a lie detectors test and passed.

http://www.knoe.com/content/news/A-...arch-continues-for-4-year-old--479205683.html

I don't buy this. Maybe I am out of line for saying it, but that just doesn't seem like a plausible scenario.

They live in a very rural area. No one has ever mentioned anyone approaching their yard or the house. It would be too obvious if someone did by car and, logically, Junior would have likely screamed if someone came out of the woods and snatched him.

Something stinks here...
 
Somebody picked my baby up out this yard; I don't care what nobody says, my baby, ain't never left up out this yard. He's never walked in no woods," she said.

Is this the same "somebody/they who walked him along both sides of the trail.
Why hasn"t anyone asked them whom that was?
 
I don't buy this. Maybe I am out of line for saying it, but that just doesn't seem like a plausible scenario.

They live in a very rural area. No one has ever mentioned anyone approaching their yard or the house. It would be too obvious if someone did by car and, logically, Junior would have likely screamed if someone came out of the woods and snatched him.

Something stinks here...

I'm forced to agree with you, there is something else happening here. For one, if someone snatched him from the yard wouldn't the step-father have heard a car, doors opening/closing? I mean, he was apparently working under his own vehicle at the time of the disappearance. The only way I can see a kidnapping possibly working is if Junior wandered away from the yard and a passing person picked him up but even that seems really out of the ordinary. I'd really like to know who the person was that brought him into the woods and if LE has questioned that person.
 
I'm forced to agree with you, there is something else happening here. For one, if someone snatched him from the yard wouldn't the step-father have heard a car, doors opening/closing? I mean, he was apparently working under his own vehicle at the time of the disappearance. The only way I can see a kidnapping possibly working is if Junior wandered away from the yard and a passing person picked him up but even that seems really out of the ordinary. I'd really like to know who the person was that brought him into the woods and if LE has questioned that person.
You can't necessarily hear a lot if you've got your head way under the hood, or if you're using tools that make a lot of noise like an air wrench.





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