Kendrick Jackson
Posted on 04/07/2006 7:22:14 PM PDT by Dubya
The search for a 3-year-old boy missing since 9:30 a.m. today intensified just before nightfall, as the Houston Police Department issued an Amber Alert after Texas EquuSearch joined in the investigation.
Kendrick Jackson, of 1251 Wilcrest, disappeared from his parent's home in the Canfield Falls apartment complex in southwest Houston this morning.
The little boy's father, Rodrick Johnson, went upstairs briefly this morning after he checked on the boy and saw that he was sitting up in bed.
When Johnson went back downstairs, the boy was missing and the front door to the apartment was ajar. Keyanna Jackson, the boy's mother, was not at home when the little boy disappeared.
The boy, who is three feet tall and weighs about 35 pounds, was last seen wearing a white T-shirt and pajama bottoms with a football, basketball and baseball print on a white background.
The Houston Police Department issued an Amber Alert for the missing child at about 6 p.m. today, said spokesman Lt. Robert Manzo.
The department waited until 6 p.m. to issue the alert because there are certain criteria that must be met before such alerts are sent to law enforcement agencies and the public, Manzo said.
"We have to have certain information -- we can't just say a child is missing," Manzo said. "We need information that there may have been some foul play, and we need information such as a vehicle description, or a description of a person the child may be with."
Manzo said the decision to issue an Amber Alert came after hours of searching by officers in the HPD Homicide Division.
Manzo said he did not know which of those criteria caused HPD to issue the Amber Alert.
Barbara Gibson, media coordinator for Texas EquuSearch, said that there was a witness at the apartment complex.
"The witness said she saw the boy this morning. She saw the little boy with a man who was not his father," Gibson said.
Texas EquuSearch was asked to help in the search at about 2 p.m., Gibson said.
Tim Miller, director of the Houston-based search organization, is calling for volunteers and coordinating the use of night-time search equipment to continue the hunt for the missing boy, Gibson said.
Anyone with information is being asked to contact the Houston Police at (713) 308-3600, or Texas EquuSearch at (281) 309-9500.
Aw...no. What, in God's name, is happening to our society?
I pray that he is found alive and unharmed, but I fear for his safety. God protect him form all harm.
Bump.
"left the 3 year old unattended for about 45 minumtes."
That's way too long, I agree.
bumping ...
http://www.click2houston.com/news/8592447/detail.html
Father Charged In Connection With Boy's Disappearance
Foul Play Suspected
POSTED: 8:22 am CDT April 10, 2006
UPDATED: 5:24 pm CDT April 10, 2006
HOUSTON -- The father of a missing 3-year-old boy was arrested and charged Monday, three days after his son disappeared from the dad's southwest Houston apartment, KPRC Local 2 reported.
Roderick Terrell Fountain, the father of Kendrick Jackson, was charged with filing a false report, a misdemeanor, in connection with the missing child report. He is considered a suspect in the boy's disappearance.
Police said Fountain tried to mislead investigators several times, including accounting for his time between 2:30 a.m. and 6 a.m. Friday.
Based on information gathered, volunteers have moved their search to east Harris County in the wooded areas and waterways along Interstate 10 toward Baytown.
"We don't know if he has been given to anybody, but all the indications are, based on the indications we have and our experience, that it may not be a good outcome. We're not sure. We've cautioned the family that we're not sure," said Lt. Murray Smith, with the Houston Police Department.
Kendrick was last seen at about 10 a.m. Friday at his father's Fairfield Falls Apartment unit, located in the 1200 block of Wilcrest Drive near Briar Forest Drive. The boy is 3 feet tall and weighs about 30 pounds. He was last seen wearing a white T-shirt and pajama bottoms.
"If someone out there knows something, please help us because we are victims of Katrina. We just can't take too much more," said Kendrick's grandmother, Lucia Jackson.
The Houston Police Department temporarily suspended its search for Kendrick on Sunday because it did not believe the boy was in the area anymore.
Officers removed several items, including a mop, from the father's apartment on Sunday after questioning both parents, which police said is routine in a missing person's case. Both parents were also given a lie-detector test, and authorities said family members are cooperating in the investigation.
Texas EquuSearch volunteers, along with Houston police and community members, canvassed the area surrounding the apartment complex all weekend long, looking for any sign of Kendrick.
Volunteers with the Laura Recovery Center continued to hand out fliers of Jackson Monday.
An Amber Alert was issued for the boy at 5:45 p.m. on Friday.
Kendrick's father said he left his son alone inside the apartment for a few minutes while he went to put clothes in the dryer. When he returned to the apartment, he said Kendrick was gone.
Anyone with information about the father's whereabouts between 2:30 a.m. and 6 a.m. Friday is asked to contact Crime Stoppers at (713) 222-TIPS. Police said Fountain was driving a champagne-colored Lexus at the time, and Kendrick was with him.
Texas EquuSearch is in need of more searchers. Call (281) 309-9500 to volunteer.
Previous Story:
April 9, 2006: Houston Police Halt Search For Missing 3-Year-Old Boy
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Add'l info on the newscast was that the father has an extensive criminal record both in his hometown of New Orleans and here in Houston, since he evacuated here.
Note again: "Police said Fountain was driving a champagne-colored Lexus at the time, and Kendrick was with him."
"If someone out there knows something, please help us because we are victims of Katrina...."
Uh, I think you are going to find you are victims of a much more up close and personal disaster this time.
The gist is clear, the details certainly not.
Of course I hope this child is still OK, although it appears grim.
Yeah, it does appear grim. He's just the cutest little boy. They just got a home video of him yesterday to show on the TV news, which really showed what a cute personality he has.
The mom is one of those "smiling cryers," which had my antennae up. I know with some people it's a grimace, but this was just like Susan Smith. Like she was trying really hard to squeeze those tears out. She may not have anything to do with this or know what the dad did, but she is the one who made me suspicious - which I was from the start.
We can hope he was "given" to someone, for sure. The mop evidence seems ominous, however. The TX EquuSearch people were just heartsick yesterday when told to stop. They have a new remote-controlled model-sized airplane that can take pix of the bayou every few seconds - they found a man's body last week that way.
They had the dogs, they had the people, they were really wanting to find this precious little soul. Now, it looks like they may have to use the "stinger," I think they called it - on some more distant waterways than those near Kendrick's home. *sadness*
Yeah, the mop part sounded really bad. A poor innocent child, never did nothing to nobody. Such a shame how people treat their own children, it really is a major sin.
Well, you know, that FEMA check would only fill the champagne-colored Lexus gas tank just so many times. How's an evacuee supposed to feed a whole family? Oh, that's right, Kendrick didn't even live with him.
Apologies - I have Katrina fatigue. Scared to death a story like this is going to happen right next door to me one of these days.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/3785366.html
April 11, 2006, 12:01PM
Missing toddler's father arrested on second charge
He is accused of filing a false report about son and causing him injury
By MIKE GLENN
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle
Prosecutors today filed a charge of injury to a child against the father of a 3-year-old boy whose disappearance has touched off extensive search efforts in northwest Houston and east Harris County.
Roderick Fountain, 31, remains in police custody and is expected to be transferred today to the Harris County Jail, where he will be held without bail on the felony charge, police said.
According to the criminal complaint, Fountain is accused of striking Kendrick Jackson with his hand on or about April 5 - two days before he reported the child missing from his apartment in the 1200 block of Wilcrest.
"The boy was seen on Wednesday (April 5) with that injury,'' Houston police spokesman John Cannon said.
Police did not give details about the injury. Fountain admitted to other witnesses that he had caused the injury while disciplining the child, Cannon said.
Police announced Monday that Fountain had been arrested for lying to detectives about his son's disappearance and charged with filing a false police report, a misdemeanor.
That same day, volunteer teams abruptly shifted their search for the boy to a lengthy section of waterways and wooded areas along the East Freeway toward Baytown.
Prayers from TX
Thanks for the updates.
Tonight's TV news update ... a little more detail about something they broadcast at the early news, which I didn't want to post about.
The "drone" -- that model-size remote-controlled airplane I talked about earlier, used by TXEquuSearch to take surveillance photos quickly over bodies of water and places people can't get to easily for searching -- detected an "object" earlier this afternoon floating in the San Jacinto River, or an offshoot of it, near I-10 on the east side of Houston.
They showed video of the water, which is just 3 feet deep there and told about the sighting. No one wanted to say it was a body. Tonight, they showed the actual photo taken by the RC plane and it is hard to tell. Tim Miller pointed out the colors, brown and blue, that can be seen, which would match Kendrick's description.
The water was moving very quickly there, the current really swift, so it will take much more investigation to try to find that same "item" again. If it's a body, it will still be floating, however - just how far downstream is the tricky part.
Also tonight, "the family is divided," the newscaster said. I know at the early evening news, Kendrick's grandmother, or great-grandmother, was on camera saying that her daughter is in deep denial when she (the daughter, Kendrick's mother) says "there's no way his dad did anything bad to him" - even though Kendrick had bruises on Wed of last week, inflicted by his father, Roderick Fountain (they have started pronouncing it "Fontaine" now).
God, bless this little boy and let him know peace.
Kendrick Update:
Local 4PM TV news had a few updates ... Tim Miller (TXEquuSearch) said they have seen a 2nd image in the San Jac River about 200 yards downstream from the one they photographed yesterday with the RC plane and they have boats and wave runners in the water trying to locate it. They have to be careful with their traffic and wakes, so it's slow going.
Kendrick's father, Roderick Fountain, was supposed to appear in court today on the "injury to a child" charge, but he was a no-show, having sent word from jail, where he is being held without bond, that he is in process of hiring an attorney - so the judge set the next hearing for a date in May.
Kendrick's mother was in the courtroom audience; reporter said she is still standing by "her man" and believes Fountain is innocent.
CPS may have taken custody of two others of Fountain's children, who lived with Fountain and his current wife. I believe the reporter said the kids were 3 and 2, but I may have misheard the age of the second one. One is 3, Kendrick's age, I remember that. Those children were questioned yesterday about what they knew concerning Kendrick's visible injuries and interactions with their father.
Additionally, Fountain has *six other* children in Houston, *all* by mothers who are Katrina evacuees here. Police are tracking them down to question them about Kendrick, also.
The grandmothers, great-grandmother, and many *aunts* are gathering each day at the Sheldon Rd church in Channelview that TXEquuSearch is using for the search headquarters. Hundreds of volunteers are conducting grid searches in the wooded areas nearby, with more volunteers needed each day.
Bumping for another update on little Kendrick Jackson, the adorable little missing 3-year-old boy in Houston who still has not been found.
The search was called off on Tuesday, because, TXEquuSearch leader Tim Miller said, they "had exhausted" all the clues given by LE and used every resource to scour the areas targeted. Grid searches had been re-doubled. I think Tim said they'd had over 1000 volunteers help in the daily searches.
As of the last I heard, Roderick Fountain, the little boy's father, was still behind bars, but just barely.
He was assigned a bond of $100,000 for the two charges he's being held on - filing a false police report and injury to a child, for bruises seen on Kendrick before his disappearance.
At first, the family(ies) didn't appear able to raise the money for bail, according to statements they made to the press. (I guess no one thought to sell the "champagne Lexus" Daddy drives?)
Then, *drum roll* Keyanna Jackson, Kendrick's mother, got a spokesperson - our own local Al Sharpton-type - the "New Black Panther American Party" leader Quannel X.
X apparently got them the bail money and Fountain was supposed to be released last night or this morning, but instead, a federal charge was added to Fountain's sheet, for illegal possession of a firearm, so he stays in the pokey as of now.
The strange part of all this is that two of the mothers of Fountain's 9 children "united" in their efforts to free him from jail and to loudly proclaim his innocence and their support of same. The 2nd mother, in addition to Kendrick's mother, is Kim Carter, who has a 6-yo daughter and a 6-month old child of Fountain's. She said he's a great father and likes to do family things all together - and that he would never hurt Kendrick.
Fountain also has an outspoken defense lawyer now who has been bad-mouthing the cops and pooh-poohing everything everybody says - standard defense attorney fare.
He claims that all the ladies (all 6 mothers) want Fountain out so he can help with the searches, because he's the only one who can reconstruct Kendrick's last day. And of course, the atty says Fountain is "broken-hearted over his child's disappearance." (Cops say he has not cooperated at all in helping with info for the searches.)
Oh, and lo and behold, since the atty came on the scene, he has gotten a "tip call" that Kendrick was seen on a bus going to Dallas from Houston with a man over a week ago, by some anonymous lady tipster, who thinks it "might" have been Kendrick. (Cynical me thinks the lady, if she exists, might be another of the spare mothers helping the cause.)
This case just makes me sick.
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