National Spotlight Shines on Missing People in the Area
Jun 14, 2007
A national spotlight shines on missing people in the Midland Empire. The 4th Annual Missing Persons Tour made a stop in two area towns. Word of Branson Perry’s disappearance will reach 11 states by the end of June, giving his family another glimpse of hope that the 26-year-old will soon be found.
“It’s an awesome feeling, it makes you feel like there is hope, that there are people that really do care,” Becky Klino, mother, said.
Monica Caison is leading the “On the Road to Remember” tour spreading the word and pictures of 75 missing adults across 5,100 miles.
“A lot of these cases that we are featuring, are cases that have gone cold, because they weren’t promoted properly at the beginning, of they just didn’t have enough information to go on,” Caison said.
For the remaining 2,400 miles the van will attract the attention of many people in small and big communities. They also want to grab some media attention.
“It’s important that we get the press involved, and get Perry’s name out,” Ben Espey, Nodaway County Sheriff, said. “We’re still looking for clues and leads that we can follow up on.”
Branson’s mother said it’s vital to keep these cases front and center. So far the group has helped bring in several new leads in other cases. Every opportunity to get Branson’s name to one more person could mean one more clue.
“You feel like you’re very alone and with organizations like this, you feel like you are embraced with a lot of love, a lot of support and it gives you strength,” Klino said.
“We don’t have a reason or rhyme or why, we’re here for them and its just one more piece that it gives them to get through another day,” Caison said.
The tour is sponsored by the community uniter effort organization. The tour features mostly missing adults, whom they said are often left by the wayside.
The group also stopped by Krug Pool to feature Ashley Martinez. Her family has been searching for her since she disappeared from this same area three years ago. The runaway would now be 18 years old.
Her mother said having the community united effort feature her daughter’s story in 11 states could lead to her where abouts. Martinez’s family and friends gathered at the park wearing pins with her picture on it.
They said they’re not giving up hope on finding her. For more information on the tour log on to www.ncmissingpersons.org
Knowledge of a missing Northwest Missouri man’s whereabouts could land someone a Nashville recording contract.
Tennessee-based Castle Records recently decided to offer the $25,000 deal in exchange for information that leads to the arrest and conviction or location of Skidmore, Mo., resident Branson Perry.
Mr. Perry mysteriously vanished from his home in Skidmore on April 11, 2001. He left the residence on foot to take a pair of jumper cables to a shed on a lot adjacent to the house and hasn’t been seen since.
An advocate, Linda Stovall, and Mr. Perry’s mother, Becky Klino, had spoken with the company about the idea. It’s a technique the company has employed before, according to Castle Records’ Ed Russell.
“If a person gets hungry enough, they’ll get closer to the trap,” he said. “Our main purpose is to help this lady. We know that some of this stuff works.”
The record company will submit any information on the case directly to law enforcement investigators, which Mr. Russell
said can be accepted as anonymous and otherwise be kept confidential.
The record contract reward will be given once the case is resolved through the location of Mr. Perry, Mr. Russell said.
From there, he said it’s up to the award winner to decide how they wish to work with Castle on cutting a complete
compact disc of any musical style – even if that means bringing in a backup band into the studio or acting on someone else’s behalf should they have musical promise.
“You can do anything you want with it,” said Mr. Russell, who has some prior law enforcement crime scene experience. “That’s entirely up to them.”
According to its Web site, the studio’s music recording experience includes work with Jimmy Dean, a tribute to Roy Acuff, and the Conway Twitty Project.
Ms. Klino welcomes the idea that the promise of a recording contract could induce someone to come forward with information about her son.
“You don’t turn away anything,” she said. “It actually came as quite a surprise.”
She has appeared with nationwide tours that draw attention to missing-persons cases, including one caravan that made several stops in the region in June.
Mr. Perry’s case was also recently added to the “America’s Most Wanted” Web site, another project on which Ms. Stovall assisted.
His story is also featured on other Web sites, such as http://www.bransonperry.com and the National Center for Missing Adults at http://www.theyaremissed.org.
For tips on the case, contact the Nodaway County Sheriff’s Department at (660) 582-7541, Mr. Russell at (615) 401-7110 or Castle Records by e-mail at DebWalling@CastleRecords.com .
Monica Caison travels the country to bring missing back into media, people’s minds
Tammy Navinskey’s daughter, Ashley, disappeared from the Krug Park swimming pool three years ago, and to mark the anniversary, Ms. Navinskey joined with families of other missing people Thursday afternoon.
“Ashley loved to talk,” Ms. Navinskey said at the pool parking lot. “I can’t imagine her being missing this long without calling.”
The fun-loving teen would be 18 now, and the man she left with remains in police custody – but mum about her whereabouts.
“We’ve lost a lot of hope that she’s still alive,” said grandmother Sue Kibble, adding that the recent Kelsey Smith abduction case in Overland Park, Kan., has caused her to cry fresh tears. “We still would like to bring Ashley home, so I could take her a flower, have that closure.”
The mothers gathered at the Krug pool as part of the “On the Road to Remember Tour,” sponsored by the Community United Effort Center for Missing Persons. The caravan tour began in North Carolina on Monday and will make 22 stops in 11 states to promote 75 cold cases. This is the first year the tour has stopped in Missouri, and the cases of Ashley Martinez and Branson Perry are being highlighted.
“The whole concept is we’re giving these people national attention,” said Monica Caison, while on the St. Joseph leg of the national tour. “It’s a sad story wherever you go, and this is a grass-roots effort to revive the missing cases in the communities.”
While local attention is important, she says, national coverage is key, too. She’s seen numerous cases in which somebody from several states away has been able to provide crucial information because they had been traveling through the area when an abduction occurred.
The volunteer caravan is needed most when the missing person case goes cold, fades from public radar or never snags national headlines, Mrs. Caison said. Since 1994, she has brought cold cases to CNN, People Magazine, and “America’s Most Wanted.”
Sgt. Jill Voltmer, lead missing persons investigator at the St. Joseph Police Department, says local officers take two or three missing person reports each day. The majority are cleared quickly – usually when the teen runaway overstays their welcome on a friend’s couch or the mentally ill adult or juvenile gets hungry.
Only after a year passes without any new information is the case considered “cold.” National sightings of Ashley are fairly regular to Ms. Voltmer – about twice per week. Over the years, most have come from transient communities and big cities and states such as Kansas City, California and Florida.
“Sometimes it’s as general as we saw her at the carnival, and I’ll follow-up with the local police,” Ms. Voltmer said.
A tip last month led police in Maine to Jaime Thomas, another St. Joseph endangered runaway. Unlike Ashley, Jaime had corresponded with her mother throughout her one-year disappearance.
Before the St. Joseph leg of the tour, the roving volunteers stopped in Craig, Mo., to highlight the case of Branson Perry. The now 26-year-old man went missing from his Skidmore, Mo., home in 2001.
Like Ashley, Branson’s family says it is uncharacteristic for him to be out of touch with family and friends for more than a few days.
“The thing we really took away (from the tour) was not give up hope and continue to believe he’s still out there,” said stepfather Jim Klino.
05/02/08- A northwest Arkansas police department will unveil a newly redesigned cruiser today that will feature a photo of Branson Perry
Arkansas police department to display Perry photo
Friday, May 2, 2008
A northwest Arkansas police department will unveil a newly redesigned cruiser today that will feature a photo of Branson Perry, who has been missing from Nodaway County since 2001.
The Clarksville, Ark., Police Department effort supports a mission by a regional foundation formed to bring missing children home safely. The 20-year-old Mr. Perry vanished from his Skidmore, Mo., home on April 11, 2001.
The “Picture Them Home Campaign” is sponsored by the Morgan Nick Foundation. The nonprofit organization was formed after the abduction of an Arkansas girl in 1995. The foundation cooperates with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Twelve cruisers will display photos of people, like Mr. Perry, who are currently missing from Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas.
Call the foundation at (877) KID-HOPE for more information, or visit the Internet at www.morgannick.com.
Morgan Nick Foundation **FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Colleen Nick, Executive Director
Contact Tara Landers @
Morgan Nick Foundation:
877.KID.HOPE (877.543.4673)
479.632.6382
www.morgannick.com
Re: Branson Perry
Missing from Skidmore, MO since April 11, 2001
**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Northwest Arkansas, May 2008 – The Morgan Nick Foundation is pleased to announce that on May 2, 2008, the Clarksville Police Department will unveil their newly redesigned police cruisers in support of our mission to bring missing children safely home through the “Picture Them Home Campaign”.
These 12 cruisers will display photographs of children who are currently missing from Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Texas. Over 2000 children are reported missing every day in America. With the increased visibility given to children featured on the cars, their opportunity of being returned home dramatically rises.
“One out of six missing children is safely recovered due to someone recognizing their photograph,” said Tara Landers from MNF. “We hope that with the Clarksville Police Department’s valuable partnership, all of the missing children featured on the cars will soon be returned home.”
The unveiling of the police cruisers will be at the Marvin Vinson Community Center located at 1611 Oakland Street in Clarksville beginning at 11:00am, Friday, May 2nd, 2008.
For questions regarding this event or any other questions, please contact the Morgan Nick Foundation at 877.KID.HOPE or visit www.morgannick.com.
The Morgan Nick Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that works in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Juvenile justice & Delinquency Prevention, as well as the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Since its establishment in 1996, MNF has assisted Law Enforcement with more than 3800 missing child cases, resulting in the recovery of more than 3724 children.
A northwest Arkansas police department will unveil a newly redesigned cruiser today that will feature a photo of Branson Perry, who has been missing from Nodaway County since 2001.
The Clarksville, Ark., Police Department effort supports a mission by a regional foundation formed to bring missing children home safely. The 20-year-old Mr. Perry vanished from his Skidmore, Mo., home on April 11, 2001.
The Picture Them Home Campaign is sponsored by the Morgan Nick Foundation. The nonprofit organization was formed after the abduction of an Arkansas girl in 1995. The foundation cooperates with the U.S. Department of Justices Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Twelve cruisers will display photos of people, like Mr. Perry, who are currently missing from Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas.
Call the foundation at (877) KID-HOPE for more information, or visit the Internet at www.morgannick.com.
May 16, 2008
CLARKSVILLE- On May 2, the Clarksville Police Department posted on a police cruiser a photograph of smiling, redhaired Dixie Rogers, who ran away from her Conway home.
Before the clock struck midnight, Rogers, 16, resurfaced. The adult she was staying with in south Arkansas heard that police were looking for the girl, panicked and had her call home.
On Thursday, parents of 24 other missing children prayed that the Police Department new program leads to their safe return as well.
While photographs of missing children have long been posted on fliers, billboards and grocery store bulletin boards, Clarksville Police Department is the first in the nation to post such pictures on its vehicles, said Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Its a simple yet inspired idea that the Virginia-based nonprofit plans to ask more law enforcement agencies to consider.
Nationally, one in six missing children featured in a photograph campaign is located, Allen said.
I can imagine a better place to put these pictures than on a police cruiser because, believe me, people pay attention to police cars, he said. The power of these images is really extraordinary The 15-officer department in Johnson County has affixed names, telephone numbers and photographs of missing children from Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Missouri to the rear windshields of Clarksvilles police cruisers.
Clarksville Police Chief Greg Donaldson got the idea while watching television and seeing a photograph of a missing child on the side of a cement truck.
Donaldson contacted the nonprofit Morgan Nick Foundation, which had placed the photograph on the cement truck through its Picture Them Home campaign. The Alma-based foundation has helped law enforcement agencies find 3, 721 missing children since its founding in 1996.
Today, Clarksville cruisers each sport photographs of two missing children on their rear windshields. Each police officer also carries a set of fliers in the cruiser with biographical information about the missing children.
On Thursday, Donaldson and Morgan Nick Foundation founder Colleen Nick wept as they pasted a red Recovered sticker over Rogers photograph on the cruiser.
Nick’s daughter, Morgan Nick, was abducted in 1995 while attending a little league baseball game in Alma. She was 6.
She hasnt been heard from since.
Morgan was one of about 800, 000 children who vanish across the United States each year, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
More than half of these children are believed to be runaways. Many others are abducted by family members. Only a fraction are taken by strangers who intend to kill them, keep them permanently or demand a ransom.
It hard to say exactly how many children are missing in Arkansas, said Robin Sanford, an analyst with the center.
All law enforcement agencies are required to report missing children to a Federal Bureau of Investigation National Crime Information Center database. But its hard to break out numbers for missing children because many are lumped into a category that includes missing adults.
However, the database shows there were at least 3, 812 new reports of Arkansas children who ran away from home in 2007 more than 300 per month.
Branson Perry, who disappeared from his home north of Kansas City, Mo., on April 11, 2001, is among those featured on the Clarksville Police Departments cruisers.
Mother Becky Klino said her 20-year-old son was at the family home with a friend before he disappeared.
Perry went outside to put some jumper cables in a shed. He never came back.
He had never run away before or run afoul of the law. Klino is sure he was abducted.
But shes equally sure that hes still alive, despite no word from Perry in seven years.
She has to believe that to make it through the day.
You have to keep believing. You have to keep looking until there’s no hope left. Until theres evidence, you don’t give up,she said. If you have children, then you surely understand why you just cant give up. Perry’s photograph on a Clarksville cruiser gives Klino just a little more hope that she’ll be reunited with her son one day.
Donaldson challenged every law enforcement agency in the nation to follow his departments lead.
While it costs $150 per cruiser to affix the photographs, its money well spent, he said.
Theres no way that it can get any better than doing what we did this morning: putting a recovered sticker on a child’s picture, he said of Rogers, who was missing for 17 days.
I know every chief and every sheriff wants to do the same thing.More information about the Picture Them Home campaign can be found at www.morgannick.com
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – If you know something, say something. That’s the message from local parents at a fundraiser for murdered and missing children.
Dozens joined together in Kansas City Saturday afternoon for the 65-mile benefit ride and poker run.
Organizers say the third annual ride drew the biggest crowd yet.
Parents welcomed the support but say nothing can take away their pain.
“In a way every day is a bad day because you just want to make up one day and not miss them so much and that’s never going to happen,” said Misty Kirwan.
Misty’s son, 21-year-old Chris Bartholomew, was killed in a drive-by shooting in Westport last spring. But he wasn’t the target.
“His killers are still walking the streets and nobody’s talking,” she said.
Becky Klino hasn’t seen her son for seven and a half years. Branson Perry was last seen outside his father’s home in Skidmore, Missouri.
“Branson had a heart of gold,” said Becky.
Knowing Branson could be alive keeps Becky going.
“Chances are real slim and that’s the hardest thing, but you have to keep believing.”
Branson’s stepfather drives a special van everyday. It has a picture of his son on one side and Chris Bartholomew on the other.
It keeps their faces fresh in the public eye. It’s also a reminder that a senseless crime can happen to anyone.
“You don’t know what’s behind somebody’s face. You don’t know what’s going to happen when you drive down the street. And it’s scary,” said Becky.
Branson Perry reward recently doubled to $20,000. Chris Bartholomew’s reward is $30,000.
SKIDMORE, MO – Branson Perry disappeared from outside his home in Skidmore April 11, 2001. He left his home on foot and indicated he was taking a pair of jumper cables to a shed that sat on a lot adjacent to the residence. It is unknown if he ever arrived.
More than seven years have passed with no productive clues to his disappearance, but those still searching for Branson hold hope the palm of their hands. It’s a simple deck of cards with Branson’s picture on the six of clubs. Five-thousand decks have been printed and are headed to jails and prisons for inmates to use.
Thirty law enforcement agencies throughout Missouri have submitted cold cases involving unsolved homicide, missing persons, unidentified persons and wanted fugitives.
The program began on February 1, 2009. “Families who suffer a long term missing person never reach a level of understanding or acceptance, in their loved ones unknown fate”, said Monica Caison, The CUE Center for Missing Persons founder. “The one thing commonly shared among families of the missing is they all believe that someone holds information in their case and they hold onto the hope that someone will step up and do the right thing”, she added.
The CUE Center for Missing Persons takes to the highways each year traveling thousands of miles promoting colds cases of the missing as a part a nation awareness campaign called “On the Road to Remember Tour”; the group endorsed, three years ago the card initiative through the program creation from the Center for HOPE located in Albany, New York.
In 2007 and 2008 CUE visited several towns across Missouri distributing sample cards to agencies, families of the missing and law officials that were in attendance at each pre planned rally stop; Branson Perry was a tour feature. “Many states are coming on board with this new effort and we hope in some small way our campaign has helped”, Mrs. Caison said; after the group distributed the cards throughout South Carolina in 2007, it was adopted in 2008 for state prison systems featuring the case of Eva DeBruhl, one of CUE’s cases and tour recipients.
If anyone knows the whereabouts of Branson Perry or may have information concerning this case, please contact: Nodaway County Sheriff’s Office (660) 582-7451 or the CUE Center for Missing Persons (910) 343-1132 or (910) 232-1687 24 hr.; calls can be confidential.
It’s not unusual to see stock cars covered with advertisements and sponsor’s logos. In Warrenton they unveiled some cars with special signs. They are adorned with the pictures of missing children. It’s all part of Shawn Hornbeck Foundation and Team Hornbeck Racing. 17 year old Kara Kopetsky disappeared last May. Her mother is glad the teenage girl’s photo is on a stock car. The mother, Rhonda Beckford told Fox 2, “The public forgets so fast you have to do things to make sure it stays out there because if people don’t look she’ll never be found.”
Craig Akers the C.E.O. for the Shawn Hornbeck Foundation said, “The ultimate goal would have this lead to the recovery of one of the children featured on the cars.” They are using age progression photos in the cases of kids who have been gone for a long time. Becky Klino’s son Branson Perry disappeared 7 years ago, she said, “Does it get easier to live with? No. There’s still that emptiness still that heartache.”
The stock car drivers are happy to be part of a winning cause. Lane Ehlert is a driver, he said, “I really hope we can find them just keep awareness up saying we’re still looking for them.” Organizers say the program also promotes child safety.
