The Time Has Come for Delayed Reporting Laws

A child gone missing is always a tragic event.  So what is one to think of the apparent increase in the number of cases in which parents do not immediately report a child missing?  It is difficult to really say whether these cases have become more frequent.  This is not an area for which statistics are kept.  Likely, there have always been a few cases each year, although I can't prove it.  Whether there has been an increase or not, clearly the media has increased its coverage of such cases, especially since the sensational case of Casey Anthony in Florida.  The case was media ready.  The young, attractive mother didn't report her baby missing for thirty-one days, calling emergency services only after her mother confronted her about the whereabouts of the child.  A car trunk with the smell of decomposition.  The mother that tells five thousand lies to police - and is found not guilty.  The networks could ask for nothing more than this pre-made media darling. 

Of course, after evaluating the ratings fest that was the Casey Anthony case, the media is hoping for a repeat.  Now seemingly every case where a parent waits to report to the police gets reported by the media.  Presently, there is the case of nine-month old Levon Wameling.  Levon has been missing since May 29, 2013 and was allegedly last seen by his father, Jevon..   Jevon Wameling claims that he got locked out of the house, left Levon on the front steps while he went around back and when he opened the front door, Levon was gone.  Problem is, Mr. Wameling waited until June 11th to report Levon missing, doing so only after his parents implored him to do so.  Community searches have been organized but there has been no sign of Levon thus far.  Mr. Wameling has not been named as a suspect and has retained an attorney, which is not only his right, but a very good idea indeed.

The media is also covering the case of eighteen-month old Elaina Steinfurth of Toledo, Ohio.  Elaina went missing on June 2, 2013.  Her mother, Angela Steinfurth, has been arrested for child endangerment.  Ms. Steinfurth allegedly told police that she last saw Elaina at her ex-boyfriend's home on the morning of June 2nd, when she noticed Elaina had a black eye and bloody nose.  She did not get the child medical attention and instead left the child with her ex-boyfriend, Steven King II.  Thus the child endangerment charges.  Apparently, the exact time the child went missing is not known, as the mother did not report that the child missing until after the father, T.J. Steinfurth, attempted to pick up the child for visitation.  Mr. Steinfurth was told he could take the couple's four year old, but not Elaina.  After much stalling, the mother finally admitted that Elaina was missing.  Nothing is known by the media regarding the child's whereabouts after that morning, although there have been several searches at the Maumee River, on the bank of which a diaper was reportedly found. 

I will not speculate at this time about the fate of these children.  It is clear, however, that the most important time in an investigation is within the first forty-eight hours.  Even under the best case scenario, where the parents are not involved in these crimes, any delay in investigation greatly decreases the chances that investigators will find the missing.  There is no rational reason that a parent would delay reporting a child missing.  None.  This is why the parents are under such heightened scrutiny by both police and the media.

The scrutiny given these cases by the media should result in more than just increased ratings for the networks.  Any result short of a change in the law would be entirely unsatisfactory.  First and foremost, the children must be recovered if at all possible.  But regardless of individual outcomes, we should push hard for new laws that make failure to report a missing child within a reasonable time a felony. First, the law would deter delay.  Additionally, in those cases where a parent is involved somehow in the disappearance, a law making delay a felony will allow authorities to charge parents even where the parent has done a thorough job of destroying any trace of what became of her child.  I am not usually a punishment only proponent.  But at the juncture where a child is gone forever and but for the parent's behavior the child might have been found, I see no alternative.