Posted on 04/15/2006 9:20:46 AM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
MILWAUKEE -- The families of two boys missing for almost a month said Saturday that their sons' bodies had been recovered from a park lagoon near where they disappeared.
Purvis Virginia Parker, 11, and Quadrevion Henning, 12, were last seen on the afternoon of March 19 when they asked Henning's grandfather if they could play basketball at the nearby park.
The bodies were found in the park lagoon on Friday.
"Yes, it's my son," said Angela Virginia, who said she identified Purvis from a photo that police showed her.
The Henning family identified Quadrevion on Friday night.
"The discovery does bring closure to the families right now. Is it the type of closure that we were hoping for? No, it's not, but it does help us get ready to go to that next level and finish things out and just continue," Quadrevion's uncle, Dennis Frazier, said.
Police did not immediately confirmed the identities. Autopsies were scheduled Saturday and police scheduled a news conference for later in the day.
The first of the two bodies was found about 7:30 p.m. Friday after a man and his son walking in the park saw something floating, Police Chief Nan Hegerty said.
Police and Fire Department divers found the second body around 10 p.m. Both bodies were fully clothed, had been in the lagoon from quite some time and were bloated, authorities said.
After the boys' disappearance, police and volunteers searched the neighborhood, posted leaflets around the city and made repeated appeals for information anyone might have.
Divers waded through the lagoon's icy water, but because of the muddy bottom, it was possible the bodies could have been missed in a search, Hegerty said.
The boys' families said the two had no history of running away and had good school attendance records, and police fielded hundreds of calls on a tip line offering possible leads.
A Florida group called A Child Is Missing also had helped police in the search. The group called all home and business telephone numbers within a mile of where the boys were last seen and played a recorded message about the pair, officials have said.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and America's Most Wanted also posted pictures of the boys on their Web sites.
The Henning family thanked the community for their search efforts. The Parker family refused comment Saturday morning.
Prayers for the families.
Is there any indication why the boys were in the pond? Accident or murder?
A month ago means mid-March ... was there still ice on the pond back then? Since they said they were going to play baseball, I could see them going out on thin ice to retrieve a ball and tragedy strikes.
Are you saying Fox News won't cover this because the boys are black?
The most irrsponsible thing said about the finding of these boys was said by former Milw. Mayor Pratt.
He said on the TV this morning that he isn't a big person on conspiracy theories, but it is more than coincidental that these boys were found just when a verdict was due to come in on a case where Milw. police were accused of beating a biracial man. He insinuated that the police staged finding these boys to draw attention away from the verdict.
Was the pond/lagoon dragged last March?
I wonder how close the basketball court is to the lagoon and if they brought a basketball with them.
We have a simular setup here in Chicago where the basketball court is about...80 feet away from a rather large lagoon. Last year while playing with my 8y/o nephew the ball rolled in.
Yes, he ran for it and almost fell in himself. I pulled him back then walked around on the other side got a large branch and walked into the sticky mud and rolled the ball towards me to pull it out.
Thanks for posting this. I'm so sorry to hear that the boys were found dead; glad for the finality of it, though.
There had been a man on our local TV stations here in Houston back in March saying that his son had gone to visit a friend in Milwaukee and had disappeared, so he was asking for help from the public. That went on for a couple of days and I never heard anything else, but you can't forget a name like Quadrevion.
Then I would see these updates on the missing Milwaukee boys and kept thinking the story was so similar to the one I had heard here in Houston, but nothing indicated that this Quadrevion was from TX. I thought maybe it was a more common name in the black community than I would be aware of.
Everything continued today to say "Milwaukee boys," so I had to look around a little and I found out that this is, indeed, the same Quadrevion from Houston.
He was living temporarily in Milwaukee with his grandfather because his father, Quentin, (all the ones in that family have first names that start with "Q") is in the Army Reserves and was deployed to Iraq at the time this happened--he had gotten a leave to come home and lead the search for his son. The family, and "Dre" are all from the Houston area.
I'm glad to get that cleared up, but so sorry for this ending to their sad tale. I hope it was an accident, such as chasing a basketball - then they would've died doing something they loved, the best way to go.
By COLIN FLY
Associated Press Writer
MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Two boys missing for almost a month apparently drowned in an icy park lagoon near where they were last seen, and authorities said Saturday foul play was not suspected. Purvis Virginia Parker, 11, and Quadrevion Henning, 12, disappeared the afternoon of March 19 after they asked Quadrevion's grandfather whether they could play basketball at the nearby park. The bodies were found in the park lagoon on Friday.
Police Chief Nan Hegerty speculated Purvis, who could not swim, fell in first, and Quadrevion, who was a strong swimmer, tried to save him.
"There has been no sign of foul play," Hegerty said. "We do not believe that it is anything other than a tragic accident."
She did not guess why the boys went near the lagoon, which was partially covered with ice when they disappeared, and said the investigation is closed unless someone comes forward with new information.
"There was no evidence of any injury or any foul play," said Milwaukee County medical examiner Jeffrey Jentzen. "The bodies appeared to be in conditions that were consistent with having been submerged since the time they'd been missing."
Jentzen said the children could have lost consciousness immediately in the cold water.
"That makes it kind of nice for the family that they weren't held against their own will," said Quadrevion's uncle, Dennis Frazier.
"It's my son," Purvis' mother, Angela Virginia, told The Associated Press by phone. She later told WTMJ-TV that she was now at ease because all she had wanted was closure. "I got what I asked for because I have to go on from here," Virginia said.
The first of the two bodies was found about 7:30 p.m. Friday after a man and his son walking in the park saw something floating, Hegerty said. Police and Fire Department divers found the second body around 10 p.m. Both bodies were fully clothed. Authorities appeared somber and shaken in announcing the autopsy results.
"I want all parents to keep their children close to them," Hegerty said. "This was nothing more than a tragic, tragic accident that has taken an emotional toll on us and the rest of the community. Parents, hug your children."
After the boys' disappearance, police and volunteers searched the neighborhood, posted leaflets around the city and made repeated appeals for information anyone might have. On March 23, divers searched the large lagoon, which was as deep as 20 feet, but because of the muddy bottom, it was possible the bodies could have been missed in a search, Hegerty said.
Officers went to the homes of Parker and Henning after the discovery of the bodies were made, and forensic experts used dental records to confirm their identities along with the families' identifications through photos. The boys' families had said the two had no history of running away and had good school attendance records, and police fielded hundreds of calls on a tip line offering possible leads. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, who spoke with family members Saturday, said they used the word "closure" with the day's events. "The uncertainty is horrible, and there is no happy ending," he said.
He was living temporarily in Milwaukee with his grandfather because his father, Quentin, (all the ones in that family have first names that start with "Q") is in the Army Reserves and was deployed to Iraq at the time this happened--he had gotten a leave to come home and lead the search for his son."
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