LaGrange Co. boy missing since 1994 found in Minnesota

[SLM]

LaGrange Co. boy missing since 1994 found in Minnesota

Updated: Thursday, 10 Jan 2013, 5:36 PM EST
Published : Thursday, 10 Jan 2013, 1:59 PM EST

• Kate Taylor

LAGRANGE COUNTY, Ind. (WANE) - A LaGrange County boy who had been reported missing since he was five years old, was found over 18 years later, alive and well, living in Long Prairie, Minnesota.
According to police, Richard Wayne Landers, Jr. was abducted by his paternal grandparents after they were upset about the pending court proceedings regarding the placement of their grandson.
Police said the grandparents, Richard and Ruth Landers, took Landers, Jr. to an unknown destination on July 29, 1994.
According to LaGrange County Sheriff Department Deputy John Russell, who is now retired, arrest warrants were issued for both grandparents, charging them with Interference with Custody, a class B misdemeanor. In 1999, those charges were elevated to Interference with Custody, a class C felony. In September 2008, after the child and his grandparents had still not been found, the LaGrange County Prosecutor’s Office dropped the charges.
According to police, in September 2012, Landers, Jr.'s stepfather, Richard Harter, gave them Landers, Jr.'s Social Security card. Police found a man living in Long Prairie, Minnesota using the same Social Security number and date of birth as Landers, Jr. The man even appeared to look similar as to how the missing boy might look in his twenties.
In October 2012, Landers, Jr.'s grandparents, who are currently living in Browerville, Minnesota under different names, verified that the young man who was using Landers Jr.'s Social Security number, was actually Landers, Jr.
Police said Richard Wayne Landers, Jr., is now 24-years-old and is married.
The LaGrange County Sheriff's Department said there will be no charges filed against Lander, Jr.'s grandparents because the statute of limitations has expired in LaGrange County.


LaGrange Co. boy missing since 1994 found in Minnesota


I'm surprised that there is a statute of limitations on kidnapping (of any sort-custodial interference, whatever) but it's nice to see a missing child, any missing child, turn up alive and well.

 

[petros]

If he went in foster care it would have been easy to find him in LaGrange County Jail Lagrange County Jail Inmate Search, Lagrange Indiana where he'd have remain lost in the system forever.

A far better life with family than in paid families.

Police found a man living in Long Prairie, Minnesota using the same Social Security number and date of birth as Landers, Jr. The man even appeared to look similar as to how the missing boy might look in his twenties.

In October 2012, Landers, Jr.'s grandparents, who are currently living in Browerville, Minnesota under different names, verified that the young man who was using Landers Jr.'s Social Security number, was actually Landers, Jr.

Police said Richard Wayne Landers, Jr., is now 24-years-old and is married.

Hooray for the Grandparents.

 

[Sal]

So, who did they take him from, his mum

AND if so, they have caused this woman an unmeasurable amount of grief and IF she was a fit mother, they are whack jobs

 

[petros]

He was 6 when they left and he's 24 now. He's had 6 years to say something if it upset him.

 

[Sal]

He was 6 when they left and he's 24 now. He's had 6 years to say something if it upset him.

But what if he thought she was dead, or what if he was told mummy didn't want him. It's easy to trick a six year old into believing anything especially because he was with his grandparents and obviously had access to his dad.

 

[petros]

He would have been aware of what was going on at 6. Fights, poverty, substance abuse kinda sticks to a kid's memory if there was already custody proceedings as well he's know. Kids know.

 

[Sal]

He would have been aware of what was going on at 6. Fights, poverty, substance abuse kinda sticks to a kid's memory if there was already custody proceedings as well he's know. Kids know.

But we don't know any of that, once again they haven't told us much so it is uniformative about the circumstance. IF the grandparents felt his life was threatened that would be understandable but to me is seems as though the family has chosen not to speak publicly so thus it is hard to know who the bad guy is.

 

[petros]

the family has chosen not to speak publicly so thus it is hard to know who the bad guy is.

If the family is keeping their mouths shut it was the Courts

 

[damngrumpy]

Did I miss it? i didn't see anything about substance abuse or the unfit mother routine.
Perhaps there was interference because these people are religious nut cases and yes
that is unfair we don't know that either. I put that out there because it demonstrates
there is little to go on as to why and what the circumstances were. What the child was
told and under what circumstances he was raised.
I think these issues should be looked at not for this case but for future cases where
people are put through this.
For all we know the mother may have been in the right, if it were the other way round
and the father and grandparents were going to win why would they abduct him?
There are too many questions and this injustice may well be swept under the rug.
Hooray for injustice

 

[gopher]

Local news media are not filling in on details re the mother or step father. So we do not know if they were or could have been good parents. However, the media has shown the now grown kid on TV and he says he is quite happy with the turn of events. He will soon be a father, lives in a nice comfy house in a rural district, and is happy as can be.

 

[petros]

Richard Wayne Landers, Jr. was abducted by his paternal grandparents after they were upset about the pending court proceedings regarding the placement of their grandson.

In custody disputes, a parent, grandparent, aunt, uncles etc are awarded custody, Children aren't placed into their custody.