You always think…”it won’t happen to me”…but yesterday,it did
Yesterday, by far, was the worst day of my life.
At 12:30 yesterday afternoon I received a call that every parent dreads…my autistic son, Caleb, was missing. Police had been dispatched to my home and were searching for him. I was about 30 miles south of my home at work at the time. I dropped everything and drove straight home.
I tried to call Jason on his cell…but to no avail. I called my ex (Caleb’s dad) and told him that Caleb was missing and he left work and headed over to my house as well.
I continued to try to get a hold of Jason…but I just got voicemail. I left messages and kept trying to call him back. I called the house, talked to my daughter (Dora) and my mom to find out what had happened.
Apparently, before Caleb got home from school…my mom ran over to the store to grab some items for dinner leaving Dora, Corin and Jonah at home. Dora got Caleb off the bus at 11:10am and into the house locking the door behind them (we lock all the doors when Caleb is home so that we can keep a better eye on him). Dora then checked on Jonah and Corin, who were downstairs playing. She went into the kitchen to take her medication (antibiotic for an ear infection) and then called for Caleb as she was walking through the dining room. When she got to the front door the key was in the door and it was unlocked and ajar. Caleb was gone.
She ran out of the house and up the street and couldn’t find him. She continued to look for him around the block and still didn’t see him. So she went to a neighbor’s house to get help. From there she called the police.
I was about a block away from the house when I got a call from my ex telling me that the police had found Caleb…he was OK…but he had been stripped of all of this clothing.
I got home and was immediately greeted by an officer who shoved a paper in my face telling me she needed me to fill out a statement. All I wanted to know was where my son was and was he OK. She told me that he was being “checked out” by the rescue team and that my mom was with him and they would be bringing him home shortly.
I went inside to see my other kids and talk to them. A few minutes later the ambulance arrived with Caleb and my mom inside. I ran out to the ambulance and they opened the doors. My baby was wrapped in a blanket and indeed had no clothes on. He put his little arms around my neck and I held him tight…clinging to his little body thanking God that he was brought back to me. My ex and I took him inside and checked him over to see if he had been injured in any way or violated. He seemed, for the most part, to be unharmed. He had what appeared to be grab marks on his left forearm and some abrasions on his right arm and elbow.
We couldn’t see, at that time, any other signs of injury. We got him dressed and talked more with the officers. At first they thought that he’d walked to the area where they found him…but I told them that it wasn’t possible. Caleb wouldn’t go near a busy street…he’s too scared of the cars. Not only that…his feet were clean and there were no sign of abrasions or redness on his feet that would indicate that he’d been walking on hot concrete or asphalt…and there would be on a day that it was 98 degrees outside.
Not to mention the fact that Caleb would never take his clothes off outside…especially his shoes. He doesn’t like going anywhere without shoes…not even in the house.
We wound up taking him to Children’s Hospital around 2:30pm to be fully examined and to collect any forensic evidence that may be on him. He fell asleep on the way there…poor baby. While there and waiting on the criminalist to arrive, the detectives, Jason and I went through different scenarios that may have occurred. We came to the conclusion, after the detectives had been observing Caleb for several hours that someone had to have abducted him and then let him go. They probably tried to change his clothes in order to avoid an Amber Alert and he freaked out on them and they realized that he wasn’t “normal” and decided that they may be in over their head. Speculation I know…but the police were unable to find any of his clothes and if he did walk all that way and took off his own clothes…the clothes would probably be in a pile somewhere.
However, even after having the K-9 unit out searching last night…the clothes have not been found.
Caleb underwent a rape kit test and examination. They took DNA samples and swapped the scrapes and such for foreign DNA. During the exam we noticed a bruise had surfaced on his back next to his spine. So they swabbed that too. He was a good boy through it all and I had to help out with collecting evidence off of him because they didn’t want to traumatize him more than he’d already been.
We got him home around 9pm. He ate, since he hadn’t eaten anything since 7am that morning…watched a movie for a bit and then finally fell asleep.
The K-9 unit arrived around 9:30 or so and searched the area until after midnight. They found nothing…Caleb’s scent was lost just past our neighbor’s property.
We believe that Caleb went outside, wandered over to the neighbor’s yard…and was grabbed by someone. That they tried to change his clothes…but he freaked out…so they shoved him out of the car.
I’m just glad that he’s home…that he’s alive….and that he’s OK.
Although…I pray to God that the police catch whoever did this to my baby.
UPDATE:
7/16/05
Thank you all for your kind words and support. You have NO idea how much it means to me…to my family. So thank you.
The police were at my home again first thing yesterday morning. They had 50 officers searching my neighborhood for Caleb’s clothes and talking to every person they could, to see if anyone knew anything or saw anything. They came up with close to nothing. His clothes still have not been found. I believe that the clothes will never be found…I think that the clothes were taken by the abductees and have probably been destroyed by now.
If the clothes are outside…it has already rained and any forensic evidence that would have been found on them are now lost. I keep praying that whoever did this doesn’t do it to some other child…or come back for mine. I just want the police to find them…put them away so they may never hurt another child again. No parent should ever have to go through this…and unfortunately…too many do it every day.
One of the most frustrating things about having an autistic child is that he can’t tell me what happened…or who did this to him. I’m keeping my eyes and ears open with him anyway…hoping that he will give us some kind of clue as to what ocurred….something….anything.
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