Texas EquuSearch brought in to search for Jaliek

I don’t think I have to tell anyone how big this is!!!

Texas EquuSearch helping in search for Jaliek

TEXAS — A Texas-based search and recovery team is stepping in to help in the search for 12-year-old Jaliek Rainwalker. The Greenwich boy has been missing since Nov. 1, and at this point police haven’t found any clues as to what happened to him.

Jaliek’s grandparents contacted Texas EquuSearch, which provides horse mounted search and recovery for lost and missing persons.

The organization has been involved in other high profile missing person cases, such as the Natalee Holloway case. She disappeared on the final night of a high school graduation trip to Aruba in May 2005.

The group said it will do what it can do assist in the search for Jaliek.

http://capitalnews9.com/Default.aspx?ArID=111419

Update on Alexandra

Hi guys!  Kalley just left the following comment:

if you go to the caring bridges website. I was able to put a picture on there Kim but was not able to mail one from these computers at the hospital. its caringbridges.org Alexandra Handy is the name of her site! One of the parents showed me this site and helped me set it up! She is doing pretty good today. We recieved our one month road map, for her treatment. the next 6 months is going to be long. I am so glad that we have so much support and thank you all so much, prayer and faith help us through this. Even though all I feel like can do is cry. It is hard to see your child suffer. I wish I could do it for her. But I will do it with her and hold her hand and be there! I am scared to death, I think this is a normal fear. We are going to be here for a while. Visits are welcome. Visitors help us through this.

Please continue to pray for Alex and her family.

Still waiting for news

There hasn’t been anything new to report on Jaliek.  I know we are all patiently waiting for forensic results to come in.  With any luck we will hear something this week.  So while we wait I have a story to share.

On Saturday I went to the Amtrak station in Rensselaer to see if I could hang some posters.  One would think that Kerr would have gone there, it seems an obvious place to hang posters for a runaway.  Perhaps he tired and was unsuccessful, I don’t know.  What I do know is that I was unsuccessful.  It seems as if I need permission from the bus company since they own the building.  They are only there Monday – Friday from 9:00-5:00 and it was Saturday so I was out of luck.  I planned on calling yesterday but my day got away from me so I will be calling this morning. 

Since I couldn’t hang my posters I took them to Rite Aide on 9&20.  The manager said he didn’t have anything like a community board to hang it on so I asked “how about the window?”.  He said he couldn’t.  What the hell is wrong with this world?  I wasn’t about to fight it because I wasn’t going to win.  From there I took some posters and hung them in the covered bus stops near the train station. 

I will let you know what the bus station says.

Joshua Szostak Still Missing

Search for Josh Szostak must not be forgotten

It was ironic that the Feb. 10 Times Union carried an article on missing local people and the devotion of family and friends in trying to find them. Sunday was also the day of the second fundraiser for Josh Szostak. The first fundraiser received media attention — this one not as much. It has sadly become old news.

But it will never be old or far from the family’s mind. The search for Josh needs to continue for their sake, but also for anyone who ventures into Albany after dark. Until he and a reason for his disappearance are found, people should not assume that Albany is safe, regardless of reports the officials publish about crime falling.

Continue the search effort and bring Josh home. It’s important for everyone in the Capital Region to have a resolution to this tragedy.

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=666099

Prayer Request for Alexandra Handy

One of my faithful readers and commenter’s, Kalley, left the following comment:

 Please put my daughter Alexandra Handy in your prayers, she was diagnosed friday with Leukemia and is in Albany Med, I came home to get some things for the extended stay at the hospital, and knew that the most caring people are here, and knew that if anyone could get a prayer request out it would be all of you .. Kalley

Please keep Alexandra and Kalley in your thoughts and pray for Alexandera to make a quick recovery!

Events held for Jaliek Rainwalker

2 events draw attention to case of missing boy

GREENWICH – There were two events Friday night in Washington County to help solve the case of a missing boy. Both of these events gave people an opportunity to support Jaliek Rainwalker’s extended family. Parts of that family have become increasingly divided on how best to learn what happened to the 12 year old who has been missing more than three and a half months.Barbara Reeley sits at the Washington Square Deli in Greenwich; just a few blocks away from where her adoptive grandson Jaliek Rainwalker was reported missing by her son-in-law, Jaliek’s adoptive father Stephen Kerr. That was on November 2, 2007. Kerr has since been named a person of interest in the case. Since the boy’s disappearance she has become increasingly estranged from her daughter Jocelyn and her son-in-law. Reeley says she will come to the deli every Friday afternoon and evening until there’s a resolution to her grandson’s disappearance. Friday, she says supporters came to take more posters of the boy. Share stories about Jaliek and if they think they have clues to his disappearance to anonymously leave them here. “[Saturday] I’ll open them up and the ones that need to go to Chief Bell will go to Chief Bell and the ones that need to go perhaps on the website, stories about Jaliek that’s where they’ll go,” she said.Joy Purdy was Jaliek’s foster mom when the boy was 2 and 3 years old. She went to the second event to help find the missing boy. At the Methodist Church in Salem she says there was a small turnout and two people were noticeably absent. “We didn’t stay long, but we wanted to be there for Jaliek. I was disappointed that Jocelyn and Stephen weren’t there. That’s you know…. I’m kind of confused about that,” she said. Both women tell me they’ve learned that Joycelyn and Stephen are vacationing in South Carolina with their other children. Newschannel 13 also learned from Greenwich Police Chief George Bell that items taken from the home where Jaliek was reported missing, are still in the hands of State Police and the FBI. The chief says the outcome of tests on those items is expected in a little more than a week.

http://wnyt.com/article/stories/S355469.shtml?cat=300

News within the next week

There could be news on Jaliek Rainwalker within the next week.  There’s a news clip on CBS 6.  Police Chief Bell says it will be another week or so before results are out on the analysis of evidence taken from the Hill St. home.  In the meantime, Barbara Reeley will be meeting with people on Friday afternoons from 3:00-8:00 at the Washington Square Deli in Greenwich.  There she will be answering questions and handing out posters.

Last night a fund raiser was held at the Salem Methodist Church by Stephen and Jocelyn’s friends and minister.  Stephen and Jocelyn were not present, they are vacationing in South Carolina.

HAC’s Sleepathon – March 7th, 2008

The Homeless Action Committee (HAC) is dedicated to improving the lives of homeless people and advocating for permanent solutions to the problems of homelessness.  HAC operates permanent Single Room Occupancy (SRO) housing for people who had been living on the streets for years and who have alcoholism.  This SRO has helped countless people to get off the streets, have a home, and begin making changes in their lives.  HAC is also the proud operators of the Outreach Van program which assists hundreds of people on the streets each year by providing them with compassionate human contact, a listening ear, food, clothing, blankets, referrals and transportation to area services. 

http://www.homelessaction.com/

No new news

Good Morning!

I haven’t heard anything new on Jaliek over the past couple of days.  It’s snowy and cold out so I don’t think any searches are being performed.  Spring is right around the corner tough and the search will move on full speed ahead! 

Let’s keep Jaliek in our thoughts and prayers and his name in the forefront so he is not forgotten.

PD, chief, village receive notice of claim from Jaliek’s parents

GREENWICH, N.Y. – The Greenwich Police Department, Chief George Bell, and the village received a notice of claim Tuesday morning — a precursor to a lawsuit — after Jaliek Rainwalker’s adoptive parents Stephen Kerr and Jocelyn McDonald say police entered their home on February 7th without a search warrant.

Washington County DA Kevin Kortright said he does not want to discuss the case on camera, but he did say he does not believe the department acted unlawfully.

He made a statement saying, “I have worked with the Greenwich Police Department for many years and the officers have always acted lawfully. I have faith that the department and the chief did what they needed to do to obtain evidence without breaking the law.”

Meanwhile, Chief George Bell continues to defend the actions of his department.

He said, “I believe we handled ourselves within the color of the law that day when we entered 11 Hill Street.”

Bell said his officers did enter the home before the search warrant was issued, but they did not do anything illegal.

“There was no searching done until the search warrant was in our hands and signed by the judge.”

Bell also said Stephen and Jocelyn were home when police got there, but they were not detained by police. Their lawyer said the couple was illegally detained the day police seized the evidence from the home.

“It’s just another thing that Stephen and Jocelyn…it just shows where their intent is. It’s not about finding Jaliek. It’s about throwing up these smoke screens all around the case,” said Bell.

Meanwhile, Jeffrey McMorris who is representing the couple said they have one year to decide whether or not to go ahead with a full fledged lawsuit. He said his clients have felt that since Day 1 police have been trying to convict Stephen Kerr of a crime, and he adds that McDonald and Kerr believe Jaliek is alive and still hope he comes home safely.

http://capitalnews9.com/Default.aspx?ArID=110852