Scared Monkeys Missing Persons Site

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An Email from Robert Buran, father of Erik Buran

There are so many times that writing about missing persons cases and getting personally Erik 1involved 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. ErikI 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 Erik Robertmonths 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 | Amber Alert, child welfare, Erik Buran | 3 comments

Erik Buran Found Safe & Sound! (Miracles of Christmas)

Just some amazing news for Robert Buran. Erik Buran has been found. ErikPort3

From Bring Erik Home

I told friends we must find him by Christmas or we must stop Christmas.

Detective Cherie Rye called an hour ago while I was sleeping.

Erik is OK and has been taken into protective custody and LE is going to contact me immediately to arrange return to Reno.

A tremendous job an effort put in by Kelly Jolkowski of Project Jason.

Read the following and many of the other cases she is following. What a fantastic job and joyous occasion.

What a Christmas gift that will never be forgotten.

Other related posts

November 29th, 2005 at 09:40pm Posted by | Erik Buran, Found Alive, Missing, Missing Children, Pictures | 2 comments

Erik Buran, 4 year old boy, kidnapped by his mother, Karen O’Grady (Amber Alert?)

Father asks for help in finding kidnapped son, Erik Buran, as warrants issued for kidnapping.

A Reno father is asking for the public’s help in finding his 4-year-old son Erikbelieved abducted by his mother in April. Lyon County issued a warrant June 27 charging Karen O’Grady, 49, with felony kidnapping in the abduction of her son, Erik Buran, on April 25. According to father, Robert Buran, he and his ex-wife have shared joint custody of Erik since their divorce in 2001. Buran had Erik three days a week, and O’Grady had him four days. Just before the abduction, Buran had filed for sole custody of his son and had lodged a complaint with Child Protective Services alleging O’Grady’s boyfriend physically abused Erik. Since then, a Reno judge awarded Buran sole custody.

Erik is listed as missing by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Nevada Child Seekers, Child Find of America and the Vanished Children’s Alliance.

Texas Missing Persons Clearinghouse Online Bulletin -Poster

• Erik Buran is 4 years old, 3 feet, 6 inches tall, with bluish-grey eyes and sandy blonde hair.

• Karen O’Grady is 49 years old, 5 feet 4 inches tall, with blue eyes and brown hair. She also uses the last names of Akers, Buran and Ligon.

• Anyone with information about their whereabouts or about a motor home O’Grady or her companion purchased just before they disappeared is asked to call the Lyon County Sheriff’s Department at 577-5096.

(Full story)

Project Jason: Voice for the Missing has an amazing piece on Erik Buran and has been following the story since the beginning. They bring up a rather perplexing issue when it comes to Amber Alerts, although it seems that rules were bent when it came to missing teen, VCU freshman, Taylor Behl. It would seem to me that when it came to the safety of a child no rule is beyond breaking. Why no Amber Alert issued is sad. This program was set up to alert people and help find children, not create frustrating road blocks.

I want to remind you of the post I made on September 16th, entitled “Rules Meant to be Broken?”. This post outlined the State of Virgina’s Amber Alert criteria, admittedly broken for Taylor Behl. As of news stories today, police still state they have no evidence of foul play in her case. The State never responded to my letter, which asked how they were able to do this for Taylor. In Nevada, Robert Buran has been told that Erik does not meet their criteria because it is a case that involves parental abduction. Robert tells me that his research shows that since the Amber Alert began in Nevada in July of 2003, 15 Amber Alerts have been issued. 9 of those 15 were cases of parental abductions, with one being issued by the jurisdiction that tells Robert “no”.

Written plea from Erik’s dad. Erik Buran Discussion Forum

September 28th, 2005 at 01:29am Posted by | abduction, Amber Alert, Erik Buran, kidnapped, Missing Children, Taylor Behl | one comment