There are so many times that writing about missing persons cases and getting personally 
involved with searches is difficult at best and emotionally draining. Then one thinks just how fortunate you are and the pain, anguish and utter desperation that parents and loved ones are going through. This is their world and their life. The loss of a child is a pain that is like no other. Unless you are a part of this fraternity of parents, my belief is you are not allowed to even comment on the erratic behavior that may result. What is the proper way to act? Are you supposed to give up? Are you supposed to be civil when it appears that you are not getting the proper help. 
I hardly doubt it. You do whatever it takes to get you child back.
Robert Buran is just one example of the perseverance of a father’s love for his son and the unwillingness to give up. He faced many obstacles a long the way. Bad tips, poor information and restrictions within the Amber Alert system.
That being said, he never gave up. The following was an email that Erik’s daddy provided. Everyone following missing person’s cases needs to read from the mouth of one who has experienced it first hand. How would you react? All I know is that in whatever way we could we are glad to have helped Robert and get his story out there. We are also glad to have been introduced to Kelly Jolkowski at Project Jason who does a tremendous job on giving “Voice for the Missing”.
Erik Has Come Home
by Daddy
Erik and I came home about 11:00 AM December 3, Erik’s fifth birthday. After three days Erik now seems to me the same boy that left me eight 
months ago.
Erik evidences some signs of emotional difficulties from his ordeal, but I think they are temporary. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCME) is providing some counseling.
Erik complained of excessive spankings, but his body is free of bruises, cuts or abrasions. He appears a little thin and I weighed and measured him today and his statistics are unchanged from eight months ago. In the fourth year of his life Erik did not grow or gain weight.
His vocabulary is sprinkled with sub Standard English phrases like “don’t got”, “ain’t” and “how come?” but he is responding to father’s gentle corrections. His cognitive reasoning does seem improved. Some may be interested in some details so I enclose the following based on interviews of several people. This is the chronology:
April 25, 2005: Steven Streight, 53, and Karen O’Grady 50, abandon the Fernley Nevada home being paid for by Karen’s husband by a marriage subsequently annulled for fraud. They take with them my son, age 4, and travel in an unregistered small 1979 motor home painted white with bright blue stripes. For eight months their whereabouts would remain unknown.
The couple head south on Nevada Highway 95 and arrive in three days in Alamogordo, New Mexico. In the heat of the summer they initially move into free campgrounds at altitude in the Lincoln National forest. Steven Streight works sporadically at roofing jobs and general labor. He insists he be paid in cash only and he is fired several times.
By mid summer they move to Albuquerque and do most of their camping in Wall Mart parking lots with access to cheap food and restroom facilities.
Erik is told his real father is Steven Streight and is instructed to call him “Daddy”. Erik complies. He is told I am in Chicago and do not give a damn.
The investigation is plagued by lack of tips and poor information. A PI gets excited about phone calls from Karen’s parent’s home to a wealthy bay area engineer. The calls turn out to be Karen’s sister calling her boyfriend. O’Grady’s family tells investigators that the couple is in New Mexico and Streight’s family tell them they are in Texas. Much of the investigation is focused on Texas. I also provide bad tips to investigators and based on one of these detectives from the San Diego Police Department are dispatched to San Felipe, Mexico, a place the abductors never went.
read the rest here…
December 8th, 2005 at 10:00pm
Posted by
Administrator |
Amber Alert, child welfare, Erik Buran |
3 comments
A Missing persons case with a twist. Turns out that this one was charged with manslaughter and child abuse.
According to the AP, the body found by hikers near Albertville has been identified as Aaron Wade Bell. Aaron Wade Bell had been missing since August and had been found November 23 but had just been positively identified.
A missing persons report had been issued for Aaron Wade Bell on August 15, 2005 by Farrah Elizabeth Carr. However, there is a catch to this missing persons story. Bell had gone missing after being charged with manslaughter and child abuse in his infant’s death.
A body found by hikers near Albertville has been identified as a Marshall County man missing since August after being charged with manslaughter and child abuse in his infant’s death.
The body found Nov. 23 was identified this week as Aaron Wade Bell, a Marshall County Sheriff’s Department investigator said Friday.
The cause of death remains under investigation.
Both Aaron Wade Bell and Farrah Elizabeth Carr were charged with manslaughter in the death of their 3 month old baby.
When Bell tried to drive away, the person at the home got into a physical altercation with him to prevent him from driving while intoxicated. Bell left on foot.
Bell was 21 years old at the time of his arrest in April on charges of manslaughter and child abuse. Carr, the baby’s mother, was 20 years old.
The two were charged in the death of their 3-month-old baby. The baby, while still strapped in the car seat, fell off a bed at home Nov. 2, 2003.
Looks like the people of AL got a twofer; a missing persons case solved and tax payers do not have to pay for the trial of at least one of the two people charged in the death of a three month old baby.
The parents, Bell and Carr, told police they woke about 12 hours later to find the child not breathing. An autopsy showed that the baby died from suffocation. Traces of methamphetamine were found in the child’s body
December 3rd, 2005 at 09:34pm
Posted by
Administrator |
child welfare, Found Deceased, Missing, Missing Adult |
no comments
Joseph Smith who was convicted of raping and killing 11-year-old Carlie Brucia. There is 
honestly no punishment, live in prison or the death penalty, that fits the crime that this man did. There is no punishment severe enough to make this man pay for the crime that he committed.
(CNN) — In a 10-2 vote, a Florida jury recommended Thursday that Joseph P. Smith should be put to death for the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl.
Prosecutor Debra Riva argued that Smith should receive the death penalty for the killing of Carlie Brucia, who Smith kidnapped from a car wash parking lot on February 1, 2004, as the youngster was walking home from a friend’s house.
Smith, 39, was convicted November 17 of kidnapping, first-degree murder and sexual battery. It took the jury five hours to return the verdicts. Fox News: Jury Recommends Death Penalty for Killer of Carlie Brucia
SARASOTA, Fla. — After deliberating into the evening, jurors were ready to deliver their sentencing recommendation of the death penalty or life in prison without parole for a mechanic convicted of kidnapping, raping and killing 11-year-old Carlie Brucia.
“The advisory sentence on a majority vote of 10-2 recommends the court impose the death penalty upon the defendant. So say we all this 1st of December,” said the court clerk as she read the jury’s decision.
(AP): Jurors: Death for Fla. Girl’s Killer
Circuit Judge Andrew Owens ultimately will issue the sentence and could do so as early as next month. Under the law, he must give great weight to the jury’s decision before imposing a sentence of death or life in prison without parole.
Smith, 39, showed no reaction as the recommendation was read. Carlie’s mother, Susan Schorpen, let out deep sobs and hugged relatives. Patricia Davis, Smith’s mother, left the courtroom crying.
“I’m overwhelmed. Yes, it’s what I wanted,” Schorpen said. “He may be condemned, but he’s still breathing, and my daughter is not.”
(full story)
December 1st, 2005 at 10:20pm
Posted by
Administrator |
Carlie Brucia, child welfare, Found Deceased, Pictures, sex offender |
2 comments
Debra Lafave, 25, the former Florida teacher pleaded guilty today in a plea agreement to 
having sex with a 14-year-old male student. In the plea agreement Debra LaFave will avoid prison but will serve three years house arrest and seven years probation.
Debra Lafave, 25, will serve three years of house arrest and seven years’ probation. She pleaded guilty to two counts of lewd and lascivious battery. The former Greco Middle School reading teacher apologized during the hearing, saying “I accept full responsibility for my actions.”
The boy told investigators the two had sex in a classroom at the Greco school, located in Temple Terrace near Tampa, in her Riverview town house and once in a vehicle while his 15-year-old cousin drove them around Marion County.
Hillsborough Circuit Judge Wayne Timmerman said LaFave also will forever lose her teaching certificate, must register with the state as a sexual predator, may not have any contact with children including the victim, and will not be allowed to profit from the sale of her story or personal appearances.
Fox News: “I accept full responsibility for my actions,” Greco Middle School teacher Debra Lafave, 25, said during Tuesday’s trial in Tampa. (video of plea available)
I guess this is another variation of a double standard.
Tampa Bay’s 10 News: VIDEO LATEST: Tampa Teacher Debra LaFave now a sex offender
This means she will avoid any jail time.
Her charges run consecutively, with a total of probation for 10 years.
After she serves the two years of community control, she can come back to court and ask the court to convert her third year of community control to probation.
The Hillsborough County Prosecutor Mike Sinacore says they state agreed to this deal at the request of the victim’s mother who wanted to spare her son from testifying.
Reuters: Florida woman gets probation for sex with student
Sky News: ‘Pretty’ Teacher Avoids Jail Term
A female teacher dubbed “too pretty for jail” has avoided prison after pleading guilty to having sex with a 14-year-old student.Debra Lafave will instead serve three years of house arrest after a plea bargain was agreed.John Fitzgibbons had argued at previous hearings that the blonde teacher would not survive jail and that imprisoning her would have been like “putting a piece of raw meat in with the lions”.
Discussion Forum
November 22nd, 2005 at 03:04pm
Posted by
Administrator |
child welfare, Debra Lafave, Pictures, sex offender |
5 comments
