Joshua Davis - missing Texas toddler

[Lady Cop]

WHY HASN'T TEXAS EQUUSEARCH BEEN INVITED IN??

[Lady Cop]

someone is lying like a rug. my suspicions are off the radar!

[Fibonacci Prima]

I can't help but think TES hasn't been called because of the likelihood they would find him.

[Lady Cop]

TES only comes in at LE or parents' request. i smell the odor of fish here.

[Fibonacci Prima]

Right, and something tells me parents might not want him found yet, or at all.

Fishy indeed.

[Lady Cop]

NEW BRAUNFELS — The search for missing tot Joshua Davis Jr. continued Tuesday with parallel efforts to locate the 18-month-old who vanished late last week.

The high-profile task has been the macabre search for a tiny, lifeless body hiding somewhere in plain sight. The other part involves investigators back at the police station poring over witness statements and trying to find any evidence of an abduction.

New Braunfels Police continued their door-to-door, inch-by-inch search for the boy in his neighborhood, a mobile home community on the town's south side.

An eight-officer team led by Sgt. Chris Snyder was knocking on doors and combing through yards.

“We're leaving nothing untouched or unsearched,” he said.

The boy disappeared from his parents' home Friday night, mother Sabrina Benitez said. Nine people were in the house at the time.

“We were watching ‘Toy Story,' and usually he comes in and grabs a toy and watches,” she said. “I noticed he wasn't there, so I went looking for him and couldn't find him.”

If the boy slipped out on his own, police say, he's small, frail and wasn't dressed for the temperature in the 20s. He may have curled up for warmth against the cold.

“We're looking for a tiny object,” Snyder said in explaining that the search is now an act of recovery rather than rescue.

Inside, they poked through closets and hampers, under furniture, and in attics and crawl spaces. Outside, they looked in garbage cans, playground equipment and storage sheds and crawled under and into any structure they came upon.

“The neighbors here have been great and helpful,” Snyder said. “They let us in and let us search anything. They're very cooperative. Some of them have been leaving to go to work or on errands, and they'll say, ‘Here, take my house keys and search.'”

The boy's parents have spent their time handing out fliers, doing interviews, and suffering.

“It's been hard,” Benitez said. “We should have been getting somewhere by now.”

While eternally grateful for the support from police and the community, the family is frustrated that so much effort has been spent on searching.

Cadaver dogs could not pick up the boy's scent in the yard, Benitez said, which she interpreted as another indication the boy was abducted.

“I'm not giving up until my baby comes home,” she said. “I feel my baby is still out there. I don't think he's going to give up, like we're not going to give up.”

The boy's parents made comments, some to media and some in the earshot of media, that indicated there might be leads in a criminal investigation.

Lt. Michael Penshorn, the department's spokesman, said he knew nothing of those rumors.

“We're not naming anyone of interest,” he said. “We still have people searching, but we're operating a parallel investigation.”

Texas Rangers and FBI agents are helping New Braunfels investigators pore over interviews and data collected from the scene just to make sure all angles are pursued and all possible leads discovered and exhausted.

Said Penshorn: “We're keeping our options open.”

Snyder's team continued its work, hoping to finish canvassing the neighborhood by sundown.

“They want closure. We want closure. The town wants closure.”

mysanantonio.com

[Kip]

I'm about 50-50 on this one (child wandered away vs killed/abducted), though as time goes by, the wandered-away option is seeming a bit less likely.

Little ones like that can get into small places. I don't know what the term is for the facing that goes from the base of the trailers to the ground, but, I hope they're checking for loose flaps, or anywhere Joshua might have scuttled under. He could also be in a shed, or in a dog house nestled under some old towels.

I suppose it's also possible Joshua wandered out and was hit by a car, and the driver took and hid the body rather than fess up.

It could have also been one of the adults in the house. If Joshua could get outside without anyone noticing, one of the adults could have too (maybe excused themselves to go to the bathroom and instead put Joshua in their vehicle).

Whatever has happened, I hope the little guy is found soon.

[jash]

Dogs must have been able to pick up his scent in the trailer, right? Did the scent walk out the front door? End at the bathroom? I mean, what's going on? NINE people in the house and nobody sees anything? This is just to bizarre for words.

[Lady Cop]

FOX

Federal agents have joined the search for an 18-month-old Texas boy missing since Friday.

Texas police aided by the FBI and bloodhounds retraced their steps in the search for Joshua Davis Jr. on Tuesday.

The family reported him missing Friday evening after he disappeared from their mobile home in southwest New Braunfels, Texas, Fox 29 reports.

New Braunfels police Lt. Michael Penshorn said searchers removed the skirts Monday from the crawlspaces beneath the homes in the mobile home park where the family lives. Penshorn said a parallel criminal investigation also is under way into the circumstances behind the boy's disappearance. He said he had no information on the details, but the family was cooperating.

Penshorn had said Sunday that the search had changed to a recovery effort after hopes dimmed for the child after a weekend of subfreezing weather.

The child's parents, 23-year-old Josh Davis and 21-year-old Sabrina Benitez, say they think Joshua, who suffers from asthma, walked out of the house on his own.

In response to suggestions that he may have been involved in his son's disappearance, Davis told Fox 29 that "I would never do nothing to my son."

"I really don't care what they think," he said. "God knows what happened."


NEW BRAUNFELS — The search for missing tot Joshua Davis Jr. intensified and shifted focus Tuesday from a recovery effort to a full-blown investigation.

It began at 2:30 p.m., as a Department of Public Safety helicopter began hovering behind the house, in a mobile home community on the town's far south side.

At the same time, a white truck pulled up in the driveway of the home where the 18-month-old boy disappeared Friday night.

Plainclothes investigators got out, went to the backyard and returned a few minutes later carrying a large item or items wrapped in black plastic. After loading the bundle into the back of the truck, they drove off.

The helicopter made a few larger circles around the neighborhood before leaving.

[RJs-Ex]

I wonder how much (if at all) the boy's health had to do with his disappearance? Did his special needs require too much care? He's described as 'frail' - did he get hurt/injured in some way that ended up being fatal, but to any other 'non-frail' child his age, would've been just some bumps and bruises or broken bones?

From the little I've read, the parents seem sincere, though. And despite my initial reaction to the fact that they live in a trailer, it does seem like a well-kept trailer (at least from the outside).

I sure hope this little guy is found soon. These kinds of stories just break my heart.

[Lady Cop]

NEW BRAUNFELS — The search continued Tuesday for 18-month-old Joshua Davis Jr. of New Braunfels, but with the team leading the investigation — including personnel from the FBI and the Texas Rangers — changing its focus once again.

“Although we are still searching, our primary focus is shifting more towards the investigation aspect,” said New Braunfels Police Department Lt. Michael Penshorn. “We are investigating to find out exactly what happened to Joshua Davis on the evening in question.”

in otherwords, they are looking at abduction/murder.


he's so cute!

[Lady Cop]

Additional FBI agents arrived Tuesday from the agency's behavioral science unit in Quantico, Va., and were reviewing the information that had been obtained earlier in the investigation, Penshorn said.

"They specialize in cases involving missing children."

Seven FBI agents are now on the case. The other agents also have experience in such cases, he said.

"They're providing expertise regarding missing children and also have access to additional resources, which I'm sure we'll be utilizing in the near future."

Texas Rangers and representatives from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children are also helping in the investigation.

Penshorn said all of the participating agencies have concurred with the NBPD's actions in the conduct of the investigation.

Interviews continued on Tuesday, he said.

"Since day 1, we've interviewed numerous people associated with the child, also we've checked into the tips that we've gotten," he said.

[Lady Cop]

Endangered Missing

JOSHUA DAVIS
DOB: Aug 16, 2009
Missing: Feb 4, 2011
Height: 2'0" (61 cm)
Eyes: Brown
Race: Black
Age Now: 1
Sex: Male
Weight: 30 lbs (14 kg)
Hair: Black
Missing From:
NEW BRAUNFELS
TX
United States
Joshua was last seen at his home on the afternoon of February 4, 2011. He was last seen wearing a blue and red button down long sleeve shirt, a gray long sleeve Rocawear shirt, dark blue Rocawear jeans, a beige and white Rocawear onesie, a diaper, and black and white socks. He may be in need of medical attention.
ANYONE HAVING INFORMATION SHOULD CONTACT
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
1-800-843-5678 (1-800-THE-LOST)
New Braunfels Police Department (Texas) 1-830-221-4100

[Lady Cop]

a news video with the father here:

http://www.kens5.com/home/related/Missin...95439.html


he took THREE polygraphs? makes my alarms go off. why did he need 3??

[Lady Cop]

WHERE IS THIS BABY??
where is Texas Equusearch??
case will be featured on nancy grace 8 PM eastern HLN tonight ²⁄₁₀
KENS5

NEW BRAUNFELS -- Still no sign of the missing toddler as police and the FBI continue to search and investigate.

All's quiet in front of the Davis home -- a silent street, but we're told there's plenty of action going on with investigators.

The child, 18-month old Joshua Davis, Jr., disappeared from the home last Friday. Is it a kidnapping? A child who wandered off? It's still anyone's guess.

Since Friday when the toddler disappeared, we've had below-freezing temperatures. Search and rescue teams, helicopters, even cadaver dogs have combed the area around the house.

New Braunfels police say there are leads to follow--so much so, they've got other agencies involved -- the Texas Rangers, for one.

More FBI agents arrived in New Braunfels Wednesday, part of the Child Abduction Rapid Deployment team.

The FBI says the team can help local police with the possibility of abductions that cross state lines or international lines.

[Lady Cop]

1. the dogs picked up no scent on the baby going out of the trailer. so he did NOT walk out by himself.

2. it appears some of the 9 people that were in that trailer that night HAVE REFUSED TO BE POLYGRAPHED.
not good.
9 people in a trailer and nobody noticed him? uh uh

[Freshbait78]

This is so sad. Poor baby :(

How do you fit 9 people in a trailer to begin with? lol On a serious note, The fact that SOME of the nine & not just one are refusing to take a LDT & the father was given 3 makes me think that everyone there knows what went on & it wasn't good. It would be different if one of the nine refused, but multiple people just makes it look very bad for all of them. I will never understand the thoughts & motivations of people in general.

[kfran]

This makes me so sick. This little baby is/was a doll judging by the pic posted upthread. There are so many good families that would have taken him in a heartbeat. What drives people to hurt their children, I will never understand.

[Lady Cop]

This makes me so sick. This little baby is/was a doll judging by the pic posted upthread. There are so many good families that would have taken him in a heartbeat. What drives people to hurt their children, I will never understand.

we don't know that the parents hurt him. or if he had an accident that was concealed. this is baffling at the moment for sure. bless the baby's heart!

[Duchess]

Toddlers don't wander out into the dark of the night on their own. I'm suspicious of every single person who was in that home. Even I know that you can't take your eyes off a little one for a nano second.