Adji Desir, AMBER Alert,Endangered, Jan. 10,2009 FL.
PHOTOS: Authorities treating case as a missing child, until abduction confirmed By LESLIE WILLIAMS (Contact) Originally published 1:48 p.m., Sunday, January 11, 2009 Updated 4:32 p.m., Sunday, January 11, 2009 IMMOKALEE — Collier County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Michelle Batten said deputies were out all night searching for Adji Desir, though an Amber Alert has not been issued for the boy. "We did not put out an Amber Alert because it's not a confirmed abduction," said Batten. "He's missing. He walked out of his house. Nobody saw anyone take him. Nobody saw him get into a car, that we know of." Batten said deputies are treating Adji as a missing person, and not an abduction, so there are no suspects in his disappearance. She said efforts to find the missing child have been exhaustive, and said it is too soon to say how long they will keep dozens of officers searching the area. "We've got deputies in the air, we've got deputies with canines, we've got deputies on horseback, we've got deputies on ATV's," Batten said. "We've brought in bloodhounds from Hendry Correctional Institute to try and locate the boy." Additionally, she said, a force of community volunteers have assisted in the effort the find Adji, and members of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's Child Abduction Response team are on their way to assist in the search. Adji, who was described as 3 feet tall, 45 pounds, with short black hair and dark eyes, has developmental disabilities, according to Sheriff's Office officials. According to the timeline given to deputies by Adji's parents, the boy has now been missing 18 hours. "My impression is they immediately called the Sheriff's office," Batten said. "At 7:15 he was watching TV and told his parents he was going outside to play with friends. We got the call at 7:42." According to floridaamberalert.com, five criteria must be met for a law enforcement agency to enact an Amber Alert: -- The child must be under 18 years of age. -- There must be a clear indication of an abduction. -- The law enforcement agency's investigation must conclude the child's life is in danger. -- There must be a detailed description of the child and/or abductor/vehicle to broadcast to the public. -- The activation must be recommended by the local law enforcement agency of jurisdiction. http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2009/jan/11/authorities-treating-case-missing-child-until-abdu/?partner=RSS Florida may not consider this child for an AMBER Alert but WE do!!

Deputies search for Immokalee boy Originally posted on: Sunday, January 11, 2009 by NBC2 News Last updated on: 1/11/2009 6:32:58 PM IMMOKALEE: Deputies have been searching since Saturday for a 6 year-old boy who was reported missing. Dozens of law enforcement officers from agencies around Southwest Florida joined over 100 CCSO deputies in the search for Adji Desir. Adji Desir was last seen leaving his home in Farm Workers Village around 7:15 p.m. to play outside. His grandmother went to check on him and he was gone. Adji stays with his grandmother and at his uncle’s home most of the time, According to Lieutenant Smith with CCSO. He was at his grandmother’s house Saturday night. Other children also live in the house. Investigators have learned that the boy is developmentally disabled and functions on a two-year-old level. The boy has a very limited vocabulary. He knows his name, but can not speak it. Adji understands Creole, but can not speak it. Deputies have talked to children who were outside with Adji when he went missing. They say they were playing and suddenly they noticed he was gone. A Helicopter completed a search of the swampland near Farm Worker's Village. CCSO said he may be hiding from searchers Adji’s description: 3 feet tall 45 pounds, Black hair Brown eyes. Blue and yellow T-shirt Blue and yellow shorts If you have any information about Adji call CCSO at 239-774-4434. http://www.nbc-2.com/articles/readarticle.asp?articleid=24909&z=3

Endangered Missing ADJI DESIR DOB: Oct 15, 2002 Missing: Jan 10, 2009 Height: 3'0" (91 cm) Eyes: Brown Race: Black Age Now: 6 Sex: Male Weight: 45 lbs (20 kg) Hair: Black Missing From: IMMOKALEE FL United States Adji was last seen on January 10, 2009. He was last seen wearing a blue and yellow t-shirt, blue and yellow shorts, and black and gray sneakers. ANYONE HAVING INFORMATION SHOULD CONTACT National Center for Missing & Exploited Children 1-800-843-5678 (1-800-THE-LOST) Collier County Sheriff's Office (Florida) 1-239-793-9300 Poster Available at: http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PubCaseSearchServlet?act=viewPoster&caseNum=1113684&orgPrefix=NCMC&searchLang=en_US

CANS Alert Issued for 6 Year Old Florida Boy Posted: Thursday, January 15, 2009 4:22 PM CT Code Amber News Service (CANS) issued this Missing Endangered person Alert after the Autistic boy went missing from his home in Immokalee, Florida on Saturday, January 10. Various law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, are involved in the search. Rewards in excess of $11,000 are available for information leading to the boy's recovery. Adji Desir is a 6 year old Black male, 3' and approximately 45 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a blue and yellow t-shirt, blue and yellow shorts and black and gray sneakers. There are no suspects in this case at this time. There is no suspect vehicle at this time. Anyone with information is asked to call the Collier County Sheriff's Office at 239-793-9300 or dial 911. http://www.codeamber.org/desirfl/

Was Adji abducted? WBBH-TV updated 4:12 p.m. ET, Thurs., Jan. 15, 2009 IMMOKALEE: After an extensive search that covered miles around the home of six-year-old Adji Desir, deputies are turning more to the possibility the boy was abducted. The FBI is deploying its CARD - Child Abduction Rapid Deployment - team Thursday. While some agencies are pulling back on the search, deputies say there will still be about 150 involved in the search Thursday - thanks to groups like CARD now getting involved. The FBI also has its Behavioral Analysis team looking at everything that happened Saturday when Adji disappeared. They will look at things like where everyone was and what they were doing. The search area up until now has covered the 12 square miles surrounding Farm Workers Village. Thursday the search area will stretch an additional four square miles. The case will also be featured on America's Most Wanted Saturday evening. It is already posted on their website. The case was also covered on Nancy Grace's CNN show Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. An Amber Alert was not issued in the case, because Adji's disappearance didn't fit the requirements. In order of an alert to be issued there has to be very clear evidence the child was abducted, a suspect vehicle description, etc. Since none of the children playing with him saw anything suspicious, there was - and still is - the possibility Adji just wandered off. Wednesday, investigators combed through the trash that has been collected in Farm Workers Village since Adji disappeared. They also got help from a group of former homicide and cold case investigators known as "Team Adam," who assisted in the search. Deputies have been going door-to-door in Farm Workers Village, but they found no sign of Adji. Until Adji is found, the sheriff's office is asking everyone to double check around their homes on a daily basis. If you have any information on where Adji is call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-780-TIPS. The reward for information leading to his whereabouts is now more than $6,000 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28671525/

Adji Desir's family turns to prayer By Tami Osborne, WINK News Story Created: Jan 14, 2009 at 12:34 AM EST Story Updated: Jan 14, 2009 at 12:36 AM EST IMMOKALEE, Fla. - Its the fourth night 6-year-old Adji Desir has been missing from home. As hundreds of deputies and volunteers search for the little boy, his family is turning to prayer. Adji's mother and grandmother joined friends and family Tuesday evening inside the home at Farm Worker's Village, where Adji was last seen Saturday night. Even though four days of searching have turned up no signs of the little boy, his mother believes he is alive out there somewhere. "He's okay. I believe that," Maria Nadia says. She says she is very thankful for all of the support she's received from the community in the search for her only son. Right now, she says its prayers she needs the most. "I need everybody to pray for me, for my family, for Adji. Just give Adji back," Nadia says. Friends of the family say they believe God knows where Adji is and will help him find his way home. "Nothing's impossible to God. God knows where he is now and we believe God will, we can get Adji back," Pastor Andre Mezirus says. The Collier Sheriff's office has searched a 12 mile radius in the Immokalee area with no signs of Adji. On Wednesday, they plan to evaluate their search so far, and decide what direction to move in next. http://www.winknews.com/news/local/37552454.html

FBI focuses on finding Immokalee boy; reward money rises news-press.com • January 15, 2009 A 17-person FBI Child Abduction Rapid Deployment team is tracking down and analyzing leads in the search for 6-year-old Adji Desir. “We had a FBI presence all along but it’s grown larger,” Collier County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Karie Partington. “They’ve got experience with all kinds of cases involving children. ... They’ve got a large database of information.” Local, state and federal officials are investigating the possibility he was abducted in addition to the ground search. The number of officers searching for Adji has doubled to 300, and the search area radiated in all directions by 4 square miles today to 16 square miles. “It includes a lot of citrus groves and fields,” Partington said. “Agencies keep sending reinforcements and additional resources.” Adji was last seen at around 5:30 p.m. Saturday leaving his grandmother’s house at Farm Workers Village in Immokalee to go outside and play. His case has been feature on “Nancy Grace” on CNN Headline News all week and will again be on the show tonight, which airs from 8-9 p.m. Adji’s plight also will be presented on “America’s Most Wanted” on FOX, which airs from 9-10 p.m. Saturday. From 3:30 to 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, investigators looked through trash that was collected from different parts of Immokalee on Monday. “It’s all been processed, and it’s being taken from that transfer station to the landfill,” Partington said. She couldn’t confirm or deny whether investigators found anything of note in the trash. Partington said the boy’s mother and stepfather are devastated but hopeful. “They said, if somebody has Adji, we hope they’re feeding him and taking care of him,” Partington said. “They have great faith that he’ll be found.” The reward for information that leads to his whereabouts is up to $11,500. The Carole Sund/Carrington Memorial Reward Foundation in Modesto, Calif., is offering $5,000; the Collier County Housing Authority, which administers Farm Workers Village, $2,500; Dell’s Food Store in Immokalee, $3,000; and Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers, $1,000. Crime Stoppers also is setting up a Bank of America account where people can donate reward money anonymously. It should be up by Friday. Crime Stoppers coordinator Trish Routte said phones are ringing off the hook with people wanting to donate reward money and give tips. “Different people have different motivations. You hope that everybody would want to do it just because it’s the right thing to do,” Routte said. “When that’s not necessarily the case, you offer up some reward money and that gets it done ... whatever it takes at this point to find him.” http://www.news-press.com/article/20090115/NEWS01/90115008/1002/RSS01

UPDATE: CANS Alert Issued for 6 Year Old Florida Boy Posted: Thursday, January 15, 2009 4:22 PM CT Code Amber News Service (CANS) issued this Missing Endangered person Alert after the boy, who is developmentally delayed, went missing from his home in Immokalee, Florida on Saturday, January 10. Various law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, are involved in the search. Rewards in excess of $11,000 are available for information leading to the boy's recovery. He is Haitian, he is non verbal, he understands creole, but can not speak it, he usually only nods his head yes and no. He only knows about five words in English. He thinks and acts in an age range of 1 1/2 to 2 years old. Adji Desir is a 6 year old Black male, 3' and approximately 45 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a blue and yellow t-shirt, blue and yellow shorts and black and gray sneakers. There are no suspects in this case at this time. There is no suspect vehicle at this time. Anyone with information is asked to call the Collier County Sheriff's Office at 239-793-9300 or dial 911. http://www.codeamber.org/desirfl/

Volunteers sought to search for missing Fla. boy Posted by daniel trotter 21 mins ago IMMOKALEE, Fla. (AP) — A southwest Florida sheriff's office is seeking volunteers to help find a 6-year-old boy who's been missing for a week. The Collier County Sheriff's Office say Adji Desir (AHD-gee De-ZEER) disappeared from a migrant farm worker village in Immokalee Jan. 10 after he went outside to play. The sheriff's office is asking for volunteers to come to an Immokalee park Saturday to pick up fliers they can distribute in their own communities. Hundreds of volunteers searched this week for the boy, who authorities say is developmentally disabled and has the mental capacity of a 2-year-old. The FBI has assigned special agents to help with the investigation. Immokalee is southeast of Fort Myers. http://www.tampabays10.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=98327

Missing Immokalee boy investigation changes focus news-press.com • January 19, 2009 The Collier County Sheriff’s Office ended the ground search for 6-year-old Adji Desir on Sunday. The Immokalee boy has been missing since Jan. 10. The focus of the investigation will now be on tips the sheriff’s office and other agencies receive about the missing boy. People with any information about Desir are encouraged to contact Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers at 800-780-TIPS (8477) or the Collier County Sheriff’s Office at 239-793-9300. Tips can also be made anonymously online at swflcrimestoppers.org. http://www.news-press.com/article/20090119/NEWS01/90119004/1002/rss01

More leads come in as 6-year-old’s disappearance remains a mystery By TRACY X. MIGUEL (Contact) Originally published 6:38 p.m., Monday, January 19, 2009 Updated 6:38 p.m., Monday, January 19, 2009 IMMOKALEE — Investigators for the Collier County Sheriff’s Office continued Monday to follow up on leads in the search for a missing Immokalee 6-year-old boy. Adji Desir, who has been described as developmentally disabled with the mind of a 2-year-old, disappeared on Saturday, Jan. 10, from outside his grandmother’s Farm Worker Village home at 814 Grace St. Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Karie Partington said investigators are following up on all the leads. She said there had been additional leads called in, yet the exact number was unknown Monday. In the week since the child’s disappearance, about 30 state, federal and local agencies and more than 1,500 people combed Immokalee’s 8 square miles and beyond. The ground search for the boy was called off as of Sunday and the investigation will continue through tips. There is a $23,500 Crime Stoppers award and a $10,000 reward from the FBI being offered for information that leads to Adji’s return. Adji fliers with a photograph and description in English, Spanish and Creole are available for print at the Collier County Sheriff’s Office Web site at www.colliersheriff.org. The Sheriff’s Office is asking for help in the search by printing copies of the flier and posting them in various communities. http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2009/jan/19/more-leads-come-6-year-olds-disappearance-remains-/

Brent Batten: Abducting a child a profile in cowardice By BRENT BATTEN 4:55 p.m., Wednesday, January 21, 2009 If this were TV, we’d have a profile. We could reasonably assume whoever took Adji Desir lived in a certain place, came from a particular background, worked in a specific field. But this isn’t TV. So we know next to nothing about who took Adji, assuming he was taken at all. The Sheriff’s Office continues to look at the dual possibilities that he either wandered off or that someone carried him off. But after a ground search involving trained tracking dogs and hundreds of people covered eight square miles in and around Immokalee, it becomes increasingly improbable the 6-year-old with the mental capacity of a 2-year-old managed to end up in some unreachable spot on his own. Sheriff’s spokeswoman Karie Partington says family members aren’t under suspicion in the disappearance. That leads inexorably toward the conclusion that Adji was taken by a stranger. And that in turn leads to the sad realization that the case is unlikely to have anything approaching a happy ending. Mark Safarik is a retired FBI agent who served with the bureau’s Behavioral Analysis Unit, the profilers depicted in the movie “Silence of the Lambs” and the TV show “Criminal Minds.” He is now one of the principals of Forensic Behavioral Services International, a security firm based in Fredericksburg, Va. Based on a summary of the known facts in Adji’s case, Safarik said there doesn’t appear to be enough information for investigators to put together a profile of a perpetrator. Adji disappeared from outside his grandmother’s home in Farm Workers Village on Jan. 10. It had been about 30 minutes since she last saw him. No witness has come forward, leaving investigators with little to go on. “You don’t even have a crime scene,” Safarik said, outlining the obstacles detectives face. Safarik isn’t quick to embrace the concept of stranger abduction. “True stranger abductions, those are pretty rare, even though people think they’re not,” he said. But the use of dogs in the search reduces the chance that the boy ended up in a well, a pond or in some other place where human searchers wouldn’t find him, he acknowledged. While immediate family members have been cleared of suspicion, Safarik says detectives should, and probably will, look at extended family and connections for a possible motive behind the disappearance. The case of Baby Bryan in 2006 in Fort Myers comes to mind. The month-old baby was taken from his mother at knifepoint, apparently by strangers. A theory developed later held that the boy was taken because his parents owed money to smugglers who had brought them into the U.S. The case remains unsolved. Initially, sheriff’s deputies said the immigration status of Adji’s parents was not part of their investigation. On Wednesday, Partington, asked if family issues might be a factor in Adji’s disappearance, said, “Nothing is leading us in that direction.” Abduction by a total stranger is a long shot, largely because of the short time window in which Adji disappeared, Safarik said. Assuming it is the case though, the outlook is grim. “If it is a stranger abduction, it’s really bad for the kid. The statistics are not good,” Safarik said. In the majority of stranger abductions, the child is killed within three hours of the abduction. More than 90 percent are killed within 24 hours, he said. Little can be known about the perpetrator without witnesses or a crime scene, Safarik said. He most likely had fantasized about taking a child previously and may have even done it. He had some reason to be in the area, either living there, working there or having occasion to travel through there. “He’s not saying, ‘Let me just drive around in places I don’t know and look for a child.”’ He acted on strong impulse. “It’s risky, taking a child. He doesn’t know he won’t be witnessed. He recognizes it’s risky and disregards the risk.” If custody issues aren’t in play and if there’s no demand for ransom, chances are the boy was a victim of sexual assault. Children as old as 6 aren’t taken by someone who wants to raise them as their own, as infants sometimes are, Safarik said. Adji’s developmental disability probably didn’t make him more of a target, as just about any 6-year-old would be highly vulnerable and a low risk for resistance or escape. Rewards offered for Adji’s safe return total more than $30,000 but Safarik says rewards rarely work in cases of child abduction. The sheriff’s investigation is now focused on following up on tips from the public. “Any searches (from now on) would be targeted based on leads,” Partington said. “He didn’t just vanish into thin air. There’s some explanation,” Safarik said. (E-mail Brent Batten at bebatten@naplesnews.com) http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2009/jan/21/brent-batten-abducting-child-profile-cowardice/?partner=yahoo_headlines

Religious leaders help search for Adji Originally posted by Stephanie Tsoflias on: Friday, January 23, 2009 Last updated on: 1/23/2009 6:32:56 PM COLLIER COUNTY: Religious leaders may be helpful in finding missing 6-year-old Adji Desir of Immokalee. The ground search for Adji ended nearly a week ago, but the search continues. Now they are asking religious leaders in Immokalee and in Miami to talk to their parishioners in the Haitian community and ask them to come forward if they have any information. A nine person task force, made up of FBI agents, FDLE and local investigators, is working the case. Adji disappeared from his grandmother's home in Farm Workers Village on January 10th. Investigators don't know if Adji was abducted or wandered off. The housing authority has put out an anonymous tip box, but they say it is empty. http://www.abc-7.com/Articles/readnews.asp?articleid=25299&z=2

Adji search, investigation continues after two weeks By ELYSA BATISTA, RYAN MILLS 7:57 p.m., Friday, January 23, 2009 The ground search may have been called off, but authorities continue to gather tips about the disappearance of 6-year-old Adji Desir and track down leads in Immokalee and across Florida. Sgt. Ken Becker of the Collier County Sheriff’s Office’s Special Crimes Bureau said he is working with four full-time sheriff’s detectives, a criminal research analyst, and an agent from each the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the FBI on the case. Lt. Thomas Smith, who headed up the ground search, is also involved, Becker said. Investigators have received more than 300 tips since Adji disappeared from outside his grandmother’s home Jan. 10. Even so, authorities still lack a solid lead that indicates if he simply walked off and got lost, or if he was taken against his will. The task force continues to investigate both possibilities. “There are so many unanswered questions and so many possibilities, we don’t have a clear direction on which we should be following,” Becker said. “So we’re following a number of possibilities.” Investigators have interviewed and searched the homes of 16 of the more than 20 sex offenders in the Immokalee area, Becker said. The others are either in jail or investigators confirmed they weren’t in the area at the time Adji disappeared, he said. Officials in Lee and Hendry counties are also checking on nearby sex offenders. Becker confirmed that for a time the task force was keeping a close eye on one particular resident, whose identity has not been released. “I think that that’s probably at a point where it doesn’t look like he’s a person of interest,” Becker said. “I wouldn’t say we’ve totally cleared him out, but it doesn’t look like he’s responsible for the disappearance of Adji.” Becker said the task force has been entering all the information that has been gathered in the last two weeks into a database. According to Florida Gulf Coast University Professor David Thomas, whose area of expertise includes criminal psychological and victimology, Adji’s disappearance would be taking a heavy toll on his family. “In regards to the family there is a certain degree of trauma that they will experience,” said Thomas in a written statement. “The psychological symptoms could range from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder to high levels of anxiety along with grief.” Thomas said the grief and anxiety come from the fact that Adji is missing and there is an uncertainty regarding his well being. “It is very similar to those who experience the loss of a loved one. The problem here is that it is limbo because there is hope that he’s well and on the other hand there is fear that Adji may be seriously injured, sick, or suffering from exposure,” Thomas said. “In either case the family’s feelings will vacillate from one extreme to the other. The greater feeling in all of this is that they will be second guessing themselves and possibly blaming themselves for something that they may have had no control over.” To address some of those issues, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s Team Adam has continued to help local authorities and the family, said Maribel Slabaugh, program manager for the Center’s Collier County office. Named after Adam Walsh, the abducted and murdered son of the center’s co-founders John and Revé Walsh, Team Adam is an on-site response and support system that provides investigative and technical assistance to law enforcement agencies in cases of child abduction and serious child sexual victimization. Its members are retired law-enforcement professionals with years of investigative experience at the federal, state, and local levels. The other big problem facing authorities is keeping Adji’s disappearance relevant to residents as time goes on, said Slabaugh, adding that keeping the community involved with the case is important to help find the missing boy. “We don’t want people to forget that we are still looking for the child,” Slabaugh said. “We want to keep the community alert and spread the word.” In an interview Friday, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children president and CEO Ernie Allen agreed with Slabaugh. “The hardest part is keeping the case alive,” he said. Becker said investigators need information from the community to help them find Adji, who has been described as developmentally disabled. Anyone with information is asked to call the Collier County Sheriff’s Office at (239) 774-4434 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-780-TIPS (8477). There is a $23,500 Crime Stoppers reward and a $10,000 reward from the FBI for information leading to Adji’s return. “I’m always optimistic,” Becker said. For more information about the search for Adji Desir, visit the Collier County Sheriff’s Web site at http://www.colliersheriff.org or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children site http://www.missingkids.com. embatista@naplesnews.com & ramills@naplesnews.com http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2009/jan/23/adji-search-investigation-continues-after-two-week/?partner=yahoo_headlines