I have decided to expand this blog with a couple of new sub-domains. One will be completely devoted to my personal opinions on certain cases. I have something to say and need to say it. There are so many missing child cases in which I question many things. I will also post some comparison cases, too. The opinions section will not necessarily be just about missing or murdered children; it could very well be about adult cases, as well.
The other sub-domain will be true crime cases that have sparked my interest over the years or ones that I have discovered online or on television. I love reading or watching stories about true crime, so I have decided to open up this blog to that as well.
I will be working on these sub-domains over the next few weeks. Be watching here for updates.
Ebony Simpson
On August 19, 1992, nine-year-old Ebony Simpson of Australia, was walking home from school when she saw a man standing by what appeared to be a broken down Mazda. As she passed the stranger, the man reached out and grabbed her, and threw her into his car. He took her to a secluded area where he raped her repeatedly. Ebony begged him to let her go back to her mum, but the man didn’t listen.
When he was done raping her, Andrew Garforth bound her, weighed down her schoolbag with rocks, then threw her into a dam where she drowned.
Over 200 volunteers and 100 law enforcement officials searched for Ebony, including her killer. Garforth confessed to the crime after police detained him. Garforth showed no remorse for the Ebony’s murder during the confession and court sessions. He pleaded guilty to her murder, and in 1993 he was sentenced to life in prison. Justice Peter Newman refused to fix a non-parole period and ordered that Garforth’s papers be marked “never to be released”.
Rest in peace, little one.
Source: Wikipedia.com
Andrew Garforth, Ebony's killer
Leanna Warner, c. 2003
At 4:30 p.m. on June 14, 2003, seven-year-old, Leanna Warner, who also goes by the nickname of “Beaner”, from Chisholm, Minnesota walked to a friend’s house not too far from her own home. When she knocked on her friend’s door, nobody was home.
A neighbor saw her pet a dog, and then Leanna began to head west sometime between 5 and 5:15 p.m. This young girl, often described as fearless and precocious, usually checked in with her parents every 20 minutes. But, on this day too much time passed and her mom began to worry. Forty-five minutes after Leanna first left home, her parents launched a frantic search of the neighborhood. Shortly before 9 p.m. they called police and reported her missing.
Her parents went on “The Maury Povich Show” in 2006, and stated that Leanna had been acting strangely prior to her disappearance. The article, from La Crosse Tribune is below:
CHISHOLM – The parents of Leanna Warner say their daughter was behaving strangely in the weeks leading up to her disappearance in 2003.
Leanna Warner’s parents, Chris and Kaelin Warner, told the syndicated TV show “Maury,” hosted by Maury Povich, that their daughter appeared one day with a case filled with Barbie dolls and their clothes, but would only say she’d gotten them from “a little old lady.”
Their daughter, nicknamed “Beaner,” also packed a suitcase a week before she vanished, saying she wanted to go live at her “new family’s house,” the mother said, according to excerpts released by the show, which was scheduled to air Wednesday.
And they say that two weeks before she disappeared, they found Leanna sleeping in the closet.
“She said there were monsters outside her window,” Chris Warner told the Duluth News Tribune. “I actually went out and looked, because you never know if there’s a footprint out there. The second time, I said: ‘They won’t get you.’ That was a real eye-opener. Our flags kind of went up at that time.”
Leanna was 5 years old when she was last seen June 14, 2003, after walking over to a friend’s house to play.
Police said the information was not new to them. Investigators looked into Leanna’s behavior, but it didn’t lead anywhere, Chisholm Police Chief Scott Erickson said.
Erickson said the parents had mentioned the Barbie dolls and suitcase, but there was nothing to indicate that an adult had used the toys to befriend or lure the child.
The Barbie dolls were considered such a minor lead that St. Louis County Sheriff Ross Litman said he doesn’t even remember it. “It doesn’t ring a bell with me,” he said. “I don’t think that’s a lead of significant importance, because if it was, I would’ve heard about it.”
Still, Erickson said, featuring the case on national TV probably can’t hurt.
“Hopefully, she’s alive and well somewhere. That’s the best-case scenario. We’ve seen it before,” Erickson said. “Keeping it alive in the public is important. It could inspire somebody to give us a call and turn this thing around.”
