news Time is the 'enemy' in missing children cases, says U.S. expert

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Time is the 'enemy' in missing children cases, says U.S. expert


1 hour, 39 minutes ago




By Allison Jones, The Canadian Press

WOODSTOCK, Ont. - Parents at eight-year-old Victoria Stafford's school dropped their children off amid a heavy air of worry Tuesday as classes resumed without the missing girl following the Easter long weekend.
"I'm terrified for my children," said Heather Ditchfield, a mother of two, including an eight-year-old girl. "I can't let them go anywhere without me... I'm just really shook up."
Victoria, known as Tori to friends and family, vanished outside Oliver Stephens Public School after classes Wednesday and was seen on surveillance video walking with an unidentified woman.
Oxford Community Police released an enhanced version of the surveillance video Monday, but so far neither officers, nor the family nor members of the community have been able to identify the woman with Tori.
A traumatic events response team met with staff Monday - which was a school holiday - to teach them how to deal with the children, said Kate Young of the Thames Valley District School Board.
Eight counsellors were at the school Tuesday to help the children cope, and Young said the school was trying to keep the day as normal as possible for the 230 students because children like routine.
It's a difficult time for everyone in the school community and beyond, she said.
"I'm sure every parent at this school and every parent in Woodstock and in Ontario and Canada is thinking twice about how their children are getting to and from school today," she said.
At a time when even police appear to have few answers about what happened to Tori, some parents were at a loss at how to explain the situation to their young children.
"I have no answers for my kids," Ditchfield said. "I can't comfort them."
Young said the school has a policy to work out a plan between teachers and parents of children in junior and senior kindergarten about where the children are going after school, but not the other grades.
Tori's 10-year-old brother, Daryn, is said to have walked his little sister home from school every day, except Wednesday, when he opted to show kindness to a disabled friend and escort that person in a different direction.
The investigation into the disappearance was in its sixth day Tuesday after police ended their ground search the day before. The investigation has not taken police beyond the city of Woodstock, according to the information they have released to the public.
Even after the ground search ended Monday officers could be seen canvassing door to door in the area around Tori's school, which is also the area where her mother, Tara McDonald, lives.
Two poster boards sit in the window of McDonald's house, one pink one pleading for Tori's safe return to her family and another that appeared to be signed with messages for Tori.
Oxford Community Police Const. Laurie-Anne Maitland, the public face of the force during the investigation, said Monday she believes Tori is still alive.
On Tuesday, Maitland said she would not prejudge the outcome after being told she's a "little more optimistic than most."
"I believe it, but I'm told that I have to be realistic with any possible outcome."
While questions have been raised about the timeliness of the police response to Tori's disappearance, Maitland said it's "easy to take the position of a Monday-morning quarterback."
"We have acted just as quickly as we possibly could," she said.
Tori disappeared at about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday. Police were notified around 6 p.m., local media received a news release around 3 a.m. Thursday, and the release went to a wider number of media at 6 a.m.
Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Virginia, said Tuesday that time is the "enemy" is missing children cases.
"I think it's really important that there be the most rapid possible dissemination of information," said Allen, who added he didn't know enough about the investigation to comment directly on Tori's disappearance.
"There is always the potential in these cases that there could be foul play and that the child's at risk, and that we shouldn't wait until tomorrow."
Still, Allen added it's "important that Canadian citizens understand just because it's been X number of days that doesn't mean that there's not hope."
Police are investigating Tori's disappearance as a missing persons case and have not called it an abduction. But parents outside Tori's school Tuesday morning were still anxious.
Jeff Ebel was walking his seven-year-old son Colton - one of Tori's classmates - to school. He said his 13-year-old daughter usually takes on that responsibility but she was sick.
Ebel called the whole situation "depressing."
"It is unfortunate that it's come to this, where you can't rely on them just walking to school even two blocks," he said.
He has spoken to his children in the past about what to do if a stranger approaches them or if someone they know tries to get the kids to come with them, but Ebel said he has stepped up his message since Tori went missing.
"We explained the situation to (Colton) the best that we can and just keep trying to reinforce to him that hopefully everything's good and (Tori) returns to school really soon," Ebel said.
Leeann Dellow said she talked to her 14-year-old son, who is in Grade 8 at Tori's school, before she dropped him off Tuesday morning.
"I'm not going to panic and I'm not going to keep him home from school either," Dellow said.
"I think that by and large it was an isolated incident and I hope that there isn't somebody out there that is going to continue preying on children."
The latest figures available from the RCMP show that 60,582 children were reporting missing in 2007. Of that number, 56 were reported kidnapped by a stranger while 285 were abducted by a parent. The vast majority, 46,189, were classifieds as runaways.