Missing Kansas Boy Was Abused, Says Kin

Adam Herrman Allegedly Spent Time Chained Up In Bathroom Of Adoptive Home

(CBS/AP)  Adam Herrman, the Kansas boy who was recently discovered missing 10 years after his disappearance, had been abused in his adoptive home, including an instance of being locked in a bathroom, according to the boy's aunt and adopted brother.

Kim Winslow, the sister of Valerie Herrman, told CBS' The Early Show that she last saw Adam, then 11, at a Superbowl party in 1999.

"He was locked into a bathroom. He was either handcuffed or chained to the bathroom faucets in the tub," said Winslow. "We were told not to use that bathroom, to use another bathroom, because he was in there supposedly because he was bad."

Adam's adoptive brother, speaking anonymously with CBS affiliate KWCH-TV in Wichita, also claimed he was abused by his adoptive parents.

"What I remember most is the abuse and how we would defend him and do everything we could not to let it happen," he said.

The search for Adam - who would be 21 if he is still alive - has confounded authorities and left family members regretting that they did not do more when they noticed he was gone.

His disappearance finally came to light last week when authorities - acting on a tip to the Sedgwick County Exploited and Missing Children's Unit - searched the empty lot in Towanda where the family's mobile home once stood.

Butler County Sheriff Craig Murphy has refused to say much about the case except that no human remains were found during the search.

Adam and two younger siblings were adopted by Doug and Valerie Herrman after being removed from their biological mother's allegedly abusive home. Valerie Herrman allegedly singled Adam out and struck him, according to Winslow.

"I've never seen Doug raise a hand to any of his kids, but I have seen Valerie raise a hand to Adam before. It was like that she picked him out of all the kids to be mean to," said Winslow.

Winslow said she doesn't believe Adam is still alive.

The publicity around the search has spawned a flood of tips to the sheriff's office. More tips are expected following Tuesday's release by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children of a computer-enhanced photo showing what Adam might look like today.

No charges have been brought against Valerie and Doug Herrman. Murphy said consideration of any charges would wait so officials can concentrate on the search for Adam. Investigators plan to scour the banks of the Whitewater River just west of the mobile home park on Saturday.

Doug Herrman, who lives in Derby and owns a masonry business, said Tuesday that the family would not comment.

Family attorney Warner Eisenbise said Adam had a history of running away and that the Herrmans feel "very guilty" they did not report him missing. The family assumed he had found one of his siblings or went back to his biological parents, he said.

Asked on NBC's "Today" show Wednesday if his clients had anything to do with Adam's disappearance, Eisenbise replied: "Not at all. Nothing at all."

The boy's biological father, Irvin Groeninger II, also expressed regret. The Indiana trucker was divorced when authorities took Adam and his siblings from their mother's home. He says he was cleared of any wrongdoing and tried to get custody of his children, but child welfare officials terminated his parental rights.

"Basically, I have lost him twice," Groeninger said.

The boy - whom he knows only by his birth name of Irvin Groeninger III - was 18 months old when Groeninger last saw him. He had hoped his son would try to contact him when he was old enough to search for his biological family.

He says he wishes he could tell his son: "I love him and I wish I had fought harder back then to get him and keep him in my custody."

While Adam and two younger siblings were adopted by the Herrmans, Adam's older biological sister, Tiffany Broadfoot, was adopted by another Wichita family. Broadfoot has not seen her brother since a birthday party when he was 7 or 8 years old.

Broadfoot said the first time she called Adam's adoptive mother she was told everything was fine and Adam was doing well. Other times she was told not to call again because Adam and his siblings did not know they were adopted.

In August or September, she called Valerie Herrman again. "The last time I talked to her she was very in my face and very adamant: `You have no business calling here. You have no right. That is not your family. Don't call here. Don't talk to us. Don't do anything. That is not your concern. Back off,'" Broadfoot said.

Linda Bush, a former sister-in-law of Valerie Herrman, remembered Adam as a timid little boy. She has not seen him since he was at least 6 years old.

"He wasn't boisterous, running around making a lot of noise like other children. And he stared a lot. That was strange," Bush said. "He gave me the creeps sometimes because he would stare. But it was nothing to hate him for."

Bush said she remembered Valerie Herrman telling the boy he was stupid.

"It was the tone. It was constant. She constantly berated him and put him down, a hateful tone," Bush said. "It was constant and we couldn't figure out what that boy had ever done to make her hate him like that."

The Herrmans did not treat Adam's two younger siblings the same way, she said.

Bush said she first heard Adam was missing last month, when Valerie Herrman called her and said police thought the boy was missing and may have been murdered. That was the first she heard that Adam had a history of running away.

Bush said the Herrmans told other family members that they had turned Adam back to the Department of Social and Rehabilitative Services. She said she had no reason to believe otherwise because the couple had other foster children who went back to state custody.

"They had turned other children back, whether voluntary or mandated," Bush said. "Nobody had any reason to disbelieve. Who would think of something so heinous happening? Nobody did."

[differnet]

I know the people around Adam feel guilty for not questioning the parents about him, but I suspect they were fooled into believing them - partially because they wanted to see the boy removed from the home and were happy to think that he was somewhere else. So, when the parents said Adam was returned to state custody, it made sense to them. Their only shame is for not calling authorities when they saw the abuse. That''s what they should be ashamed of.... Not that they failed to ask after the child. As for the other children, they were as much victims as Adam was and again, they have reached adulthood and are asking questions and telling their truths.

At this point, I don''t know what the parents hope to gain - other than remaining free - by not telling the truth. Their children and family will never trust them again. They will be pariahs in their communities. I''m sure the father will find his business decline greatly. If nothing else, they should be prosecuted for the fraud of claiming a child no longer in their care. I pray Adam is alive, but I have little hope of it. God forgive them. I could not.

[farremoved]

I hope the police look in every wall cavity this mason every built..........and if the speculation is true, I very much hope Valarie Herrman gets what''s coming to her in this life..........

[centerfall94]

Well, the Wichita, Kansas area seems to be popping up a lot on the freaky evangelistic nutcase news radar.

[lizzieborde1]

I posted essentially the same response on a related article yesterday: what has this culture come to? We live in a society resembling the Dark Ages: it has become routine to read about people who disappear/abandon/kill their children without giving a second thought to their behavior or its consequences. Wouldn''t you rather be known as someone who returned his kid to foster care than as one who killed the kid? Apparently this pair doesn''t give a *** how they''re perceived. They remind me of the cons on Law and Order who say, "I can do twenty years sitting down!" No big deal. Pathetic. Sad. Insane.

[differnet]

lizzieborden, It''s never been that much better in the past. It''s just more common to read about it because our news media now broadcasts information country and world wide. In the town I grew up in, during my childhood 2 children were kidnapped and murdered. Consider that Jesse James killed his first person at age 14. The past was not necessarily better.

[actornaught]

Posted by differnet at 11:49 AM : Jan 07, 2009

Indeed, nothing new under the sun. I''ve read my local county''s history books. There was a story from the 19th century about a little girl that disappeared, and speculation that she was taken by "gypsies".

The depravity that so many lament as new, is far from it. The history of Rome is documented well enough to show how abuse and sexual perversion was rampant. And there''s no reason to think that it was new then.

A case could more easily be made that our information rich civilization is safer, because more people are educated to what is right and fair.

[bhrater-2009]

I am amazed these people come out after ten years with their stories, what about them saying something during the last ten years.
They are as lame as the foster parents. It should be investigated by the authorities but I wonder what they can find after such a long time.
Very sad!

[deathofusa]

People that live in trailers should not be allowed to adopt kids!

[neonink]

People that live in trailers should not be allowed to adopt kids!
Posted by deathofusa

--- I think I agree.

[ladyephesus1]

Mrs. Vermann knows what happened to that boy.
You cant run nor hide from God baby!!

[redgreen68]

People that live in trailers should not be allowed to adopt kids!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by deathofusa at 01:08 PM : Jan 07, 2009



I''ll bite.....why shouldn''t people in trailer houses be allowed to adopt kids?

Sounds more like you are ignorant. That''s what''s wrong with society today. People like you judging others before you even know them. I lived in a trailer once...back in college. I needed a place to live, and in a college town that can be a bit hard to find. Saying that people who live in trailers shouldn''t be allowed to adopt children is just downright rude and ill-mannered of yourself. Remember, your actions directly reflect on your parents. Is that how you want your parents to be thought of?

[misb101]

We wonder why these babies get hurt and noone knows about it. Everyone needs to stop turning their heads like it will go away if they don''t look. The family should have called it in when the child was chained in the bathroom. The mother should have fought for visitation.
I hope the adoptive parents never get a moments peace.
God bless the child and be with him wherever he is.

[kennergirl]

I, like the some of the other posters, can''t understand how so many people could stand by and say absolutely nothing all this time. This poor child was abandoned by everyone and now he''s missing (for 10 years!) and all these people have the nerve to say how much they loved him and miss him etc etc etc. All I see is indifference on their part. That''s the tragic part of all of this. I''ve seen more people take more initiative in finding a lost dog then they did trying to locate this child (if he really did run away like they are saying). It''s a little late for his family to start caring where this child may be! They should have been looking 10 years ago when the child disappeared!

[wolf77creek]

All persons not reporting abuse, suspected or actual witness to it are to blame. Of course these people have killed the boy & probably cemented him in one of their mason jobs. Why are these nuts allowed to adopt? Another good reason to abort rather than subject them to a life of abuse,first in your own home & then in a strangers. We certainly need more control over who can have children naturally, adopted or fostered. All these religous organizations & pro life nuts that want everyone to keep breeding regardless of your ability to care,love or support them need to take a look at all these horrible things happening to children. It would be interesting to see how many pro-life people have adopted or foster children. And if so many people are out there that want these unwanted children why are there so many unadopted & homeless?

[flubberguts]

The reason why people are not adopting, wolf77creek, is not that they do not want to adopt, but that adoption agencies are uniformly--with no exceptions that I have been able to find--selling babies and children for a great deal of profit. It costs anywhere from $20,000 to $50,000 to adopt a child in this country thanks to unregulated adoption agencies (by comparison, it cost my wife and I about $6500 to do an interstate private adoption, which requires paying a lawyer in both states, plus paying for the home study). Most of the babies that are placed for adoption in agencies come from mothers whose prenatal care and hospital bills are paid for by Medicare (the agencies themselves encourage the birth mothers to sign up for these federal funds). Adoption agencies have very little overhead; all they have to pay for is legal fees, and they almost always do intrastate adoptions to cut down on those fees as much as possible. Most adoption agencies are run by churches, and they have tax-exempt status.

If you want to blame someone for the poor state of the adoption system in this country, blame the agencies. It should not cost more to adopt than it does to give birth. By putting high dollar values on babies and children, adoption agencies are perpetuating the idea that children are property to be owned. Having a great deal of money to spend does not make one any more a fit parent than someone who has less money to spend. It just means you can buy more kids.

[flubberguts]

Part Two: I would call myself pro-choice but anti-abortion. That''s pretty much the same stance as our president-elect. I would like to see more help for good families like my own to adopt children without having to go into dangerous debt to do so, and I would like to see price controls on adoption agencies. I would like to see better *** education programs in which kids are taught about contraception, among many other things, so that they can avoid getting pregnant in the first place (some churches do not like this concept mainly because it is they who are profiting from selling babies through their adoption agencies). I would like to see better support for young mothers-to-be who want a chance to care for their own children. All of these are ways to reduce the number of abortions, to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies, and to provide better care for children. They seem to me to be a sensible approach.

Maybe if people would stop treating children like property and start treating them like the human beings they are, things like what seems to have happened in this story would not happen as much.

[Krazcarl]

WHY would anyone adopt a child to abuse they should be publicly shot does anyone see it this way. I''m a man I learned young not to tell others how to treat thier bodies it''s none of my business period..

[tes314]

Ms. Bush (the sister) knows what was happening to him and it sounds as if she never called anyone to report this abuse. If I went to someone''s house (family or otherwise) and they stated that a child was handcuffed to a faucet in a bathroom because he was bad, I would check it out and then called the police immediately. Lord what is it with these people???

[beybe-2009]

You can''t blame the siblings of this child for not coming forward, they were only babies themselves. You CAN blame Linda Bush (and those like her) who witnessed the abuse and did nothing. Who''s to say the other children they "returned" weren''t in fact, murdered? I''d like to see an accounting of those "returned" children.

((quote))And he stared a lot. That was strange," Bush said. "He gave me the creeps sometimes because he would stare.((end quote)). What does one expect from an abused child? Of course he wasn''t loud and boisterous, he was abused. To say he gave her the "creeps", what a ***. How about instead of judging him she called Child Services and report the monster abusing him?

Yes, I firmly believe Adam is dead due to Mrs. Herrman''s remarks to the sister, not reporting him missing and her statement to her former SIL about "and may have been murdered". A sign of guilt? I think so.

deathofusa, your name says it all. Just because someone lives in a trailer doesn''t mean they''re destitute. Personally, I think people with names like "deathofusa" shouldn''t be allowed to breath, but like you, that''s just MY opinion.

[reader18]

Having relinquished a child, it is always disheartening to hear such sad stories. I wish more success stories were put out there to show that not every foster home or adoptive parent is bad. I won''t judge any of these parties with so little information but I hope people realize that it is our duty as a society to protect children. If there was known abuse going on it should have been reported. If you are not part of the solution, you ARE part of the problem. In regards to the comments about adoption being expensive, it is expensive to have a baby. Much of the money paid goes to cover medical expenses, and possibly to keep these agencies going. There are not many publicized resources for adoption and it seems to have a such a terrible stigma attached to it. I am lucky that I found a good family willing to go through the intense scrutiny required to adopt my son. He will be 18 this month, I hope and pray that his life has been a good one.

[gingersmart]

The Department of Social Services in this county and these "adopted parents" need to be thoroughly investigated. All monies the "adopted" family gained from Adam should be returned and the fact they they lied about "returning their adopted child" need to be investigated. This is something that should easily be investigated.

[differnet]

wolfcreek77, but you see, they didn''t think the child had dissappeared. They were told that Adam was returned to state custody. It was such a relief to their psyche that he was no longer being abused that they were happy with the story. In addition, it is rather believable. I can fault them for not calling the authorities when they saw the child chained or beaten. I cannot fault them for believing the story that was told to them by people who treated their other children well. Most people think that abusers abuse all their children equally, but that isn''t always the truth. One child is often singled out for the abuse.

[gingersmart]

Just a reminder; the biological family had to battle the government for custody of Adam (not easy). The sister of Adam is doing the right thing in looking for her brother.

[wolf77creek]

I agree with the statements about the buying & selling of children, It should be illegal. The only cost should be for the hospital & doctor at birth. In regards to young children having children & getting more support to raise them, all the children I have been around or heard of are living off welfare, living at home with their parents, going to college for free, free medical for both kid & mom, & in most cases the parents are stuck taking care of the kid more than the mom who is out sleeping around & partying every night. I have yet to see a good outcome from these situations. I say if you are under age & living at home your parents should pay for & support the children they allow you to bring in the world, not the rest of us. Of course every one of them claim they have been on the "pill" at the time of conception!!! I do beleive most keep the baby so they can sit at home & collect welfare & party on, it has nothing to do with love for the child.

[ms1-1-1]

- Ladies and Gents:

If only you could hear me screaming now...

No charges have been brought against Valerie and Doug Herrman.

This is great police work ain''t it, fax me an applicaton quick,

Kim Winslow, the sister of Valerie Herrman, told CBS'' The Early Show that she last saw Adam, then 11, at a Superbowl party in 1999.

"He was locked into a bathroom. He was either handcuffed or chained to the bathroom faucets in the tub," said Winslow. "We were told not to use that bathroom, to use another bathroom, because he was in there supposedly because he was bad."

Doug Herrman, who lives in Derby and owns a masonry business....

My guess Adam''s body is under cement where the family''s mobile home once stood... USE A JACKHAMMER PEOPLE...

[anglea75]

God Bless Adam. As for his "family" & I use that term extremely loosely: The coals are being raked downstairs to keep them good & hot for them as we speak.
ALL Children are a gift from God and should be treated accordingly.

[gingersmart]

The question to the biological father is now what will you do on behalf of Adam''s sake? Your rights were wrongfully terminated; other parents and biological relatives feel the same way when their babies and children are taken away and given to strangers.

[donotfear]

I don''t believe the Herrmans. No parent, adoptive or biological, would just ''assume'' their missing 11 year old went back to family. Get real, they didn''t care what happened to the boy. The Herrmans are guilty of neglect, without a doubt. It''s plain and simple, a fact as obvious as the deceptive nose''s on their face. Duh, it''s so plain...11 year old minor "runs away", nobody reports it!!!????? That has got to be the lamest, stupidest example of ''excuse'' I''ve ever seen. The very fact that they didn''t report the child missing is evidence they didn''t want to draw attention to it. In addition, they are guilty for not reporting it!! My gut feeling tells me this child is gone forever. Sometimes the evidence is so plain we can''t see it when it''s right out in front of us. Like we''re in denial.

[staycalm]

He was probably staring all the time because he was trying to understand, inside his head, why God has allowed him to have such a miserable life and I am asking the same question. Each young life is so precious but their joy and self-confidence is a fragile thing that can be snuffed out. This is one of the greatest crimes any adult can commit. Even if she didn''t murder his body, she surely murdered his young soul. Shame on this woman.

[spakat1]

you know it''s a shame when every one who spoke to the reporter witnessed some kind of abuse to this child and yet said nothing to no one. Are they not just as guilty in some sort of odd way. The system is also to blame here....did they check on this child? I hope this poor lost child at last has finally found a better place, whether in life or death.