Internet Powerful Tool In Finding Kids

Technology and the Internet have become powerful weapons in the search for missing and abducted children, raising recovery rates of the most serious and urgent cases in the United States to more than 90 percent.

Andrew and Jonathan Norton, aged 8 and 3, were abducted by their father from their home in Dutchess County, New York, in July, 2000. He bought a camper and they began a long trek that took them across the entire country, never staying more than a few days in any one place.

"They were in every state west of the Mississippi and Mexico as well. My ex-husband paid for everything in cash. Then, nine months later, they turned up in a recreational vehicle camp in California, 20 miles south of San Jose," said their mother, Elizabeth Norton.

A woman in the next camping spot became suspicious because neither boy went to school and they seemed angry and confused. She knew one was called Jonathan so she connected to the Internet and did a search on the words "missing kids." She was instantly directed to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, based in Alexandria, Virginia.

"She typed in 'Jonathan' and the site brought up all the Jonathans listed as missing. My Jonathan was one of them. She called the sheriff and that's how I got my kids back. Without that technology, I believe I'd still be looking," said Norton.

Last year, some 723,000 children were reported missing in the United States. Many cases are children who go astray for short periods and are quickly located. But around 160,000 children a year are abducted by other family members, usually embroiled in child custody disputes. A small number, probably 4,000 to 5,000, are abducted by non-family members, many for sexual purposes.

"In the search for a missing kid, time is of the essence. The longer a child is missing, the lower the chances are of a safe recovery," said the center's president, Ernie Allen.

In years past, when a child was reported missing, it could take weeks to disseminate pictures around the country. If a child was taken overseas, the chances of identification and recovery were slim. Today, a picture can be scanned into a computer and sent around the world within minutes.

The center's Web site, Missingkids.com, receives 3 million hits a day and operates a 24-hour hotline. The results have been dramatic.

"In 1990, our recovery rate for the most serious and urgent cases was 62 percent, which was pretty good for that time. Now, the recovery rate is up to 94 percent and the overwhelming cause of that improvement is technology," said Allen.

In the center's computer laboratory, former police composite artist Steve Loftin works on digitally aging the images of children who have been missing for several years.

"Using pictures of the parents when they were young where available or of older siblings and employing our knowledge of hereditary factors and the aging process, we can stretch, cut, paste and air brush images, turning a 5-year-old into a good likeness of what that child might look like as a 17-year-old," said Loftin.

Sometime, when a child is recovered, the computer image is remarkably similar to the actual child, despite the fact that Loftin has to make educated guesses about factors like hairstyle and tooth development.

Such images placed on milk cartons or postcards can breath new life into long moribund cases.

An age-enhanced image helped in the recovery of Johnny Tello, six years after he was snatched by his father from his home in Illinois in 1993 when he was only 3.

After six years and many fruitless leads, the center received a new tip from an anonymous caller in August 1999 suggesting the child was enrolled in a school in Texas.

Police showed school personnel age-progressed photographs of Johnny. One staff member recognized a photo that resembled "Huber," a student living with his single father. When confronted by police, the father confessed and Johnny was reunited with his mother.

In another case last year, Katrina Maltson, who was abducted by her mother, was recognized from an age-enhanced image printed on a post card six years later.

"We have recovered 331 cases where an age progression was done," said Loftin.

One woman recognized an age-processed photograph as herself. She had been abducted years before and one of her parents was still looking for her.

In another case, a golfer at the Masters Tournament in Augusta, Georgia, carried an image of a missing child on his golf bag. Someone recognized the image when it flashed on the screen. The abductor was arrested and the child reunited with his parents.

Technicians also rebuild images from skeletal remains. In one case, Nevada police found an unidentified skull believed to be of a teen-age male. When the face was reconstructed and shown on television, a man called in saying he thought it was his missing son. DNA tests confirmed the identification.

Elizabeth Norton looks back on the nine months without her sons as a time of indescribable agony. But at least the story had a happy ending.

"Thank God we had the technology to bring them back to me," she said.

By Alan Elsner