Free The Last Place You'd Look by Carole Moore

sleepover—officers spotted a motion-activated security camera along her most probable route and contacted the building’s owner to view the video. They didn’t look at the film until eighteen hours after Carlie vanished, by which time she had already been raped and strangled.
    They found footage of the missing girl being approached by a strange man who grabbed her by the arm and led her offscreen. The Manatee County Sheriff’s Department issued an Amber Alert.
    Smith would be apprehended based on tips that came into the department following the release of the video to the media. He directed authorities to a church parking lot near the site where he had hidden Carlie’s body. Smith is awaiting execution on Florida’s death row.
    NCMEC’s Sheppard says police responses to incidents like Carlie’s must be timely, organized, and systematic. He recommends that departments train dispatchers to ask the right questions, including, “Where was the last known location of your child?” By asking the correct questions, police can jump-start an investigation.
    Police need to have a written protocol on handling cases involving missing children and that protocol should involve the police command system.
    “Supervisors need to be on the scene,” says Sheppard.
    But the two most important factors in working a case involving a missing child—or any missing person—says Sheppard, are a combination of strong policy and procedures within the department combined with excellent training and education for the officers.
    R
    On March 2, 2007, a woman named Jessica Lenahan, formerly Gonzales, addressed the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. This is the story she told them.
    Jessica, a former resident of Castle Rock, Colorado, was separated from her husband, Simon Gonzales. The couple had three little girls together—Rebecca who was nine, Katheryn who was eight, and six-year-old Leslie.
    Simon had in the past exhibited “erratic and abusive” behavior toward Jessica and their daughters. Jessica described a time when she had to call for help; she found Simon trying to hang himself in front of the girls. He broke the kids’ toys, threatened to kidnap and hurt them, and also threatened Jessica with both physical harm and sexual abuse. She says Simon took drugs and his behavior escalated until she separated from him.
    In May 1999, Jessica obtained a temporary restraining order, or TRO, forbidding Simon from going near Jessica, the girls, or their home. During that time, Simon violated the order on multiple occasions. On June 4, 1999, a judge declared the TRO permanent and outlined specific visitation for Simon.
    In the early evening hours of June 22, Simon abducted the three girls as they played in their front yard. That started the following chain of events:
    • As soon as she discovered the girls were missing, Jessica called the Castle Rock Police. A dispatcher told her she would send an officer to her home. No one came.
    • After two hours, Jessica contacted the police department again. This time two officers were dispatched. She shared the restraining order with them and told them that she believed Simon had the girls. Jessica says one of the officers told her, “Well, he’s their father. It’s okay for them to be with him.” The officers left and told her to call them back if her daughters weren’t home by 10 p.m.
    • Simon’s girlfriend contacted Jessica and told her Simon was threatening to harm himself.
    • At 8:30 p.m. Simon answered his cell phone in response to a call from Jessica and said that he had the girls at a Denver amusement park. Jessica asked the Castle Rock Police to contact the Denver Police but says they refused and advised her to take the matter to divorce court.
    • Jessica continued to call the police. At 10 p.m. she says, the dispatcher told her she was being “a little ridiculous, making us freak out and thinking the kids are gone.”
    • At midnight Jessica went to Simon’s apartment.