LUCAS HERNANDEZ STILL MISSING

LUCAS HERNANDEZ STILL MISSING

by | Apr 12, 2018 | Criminal Investigation, Missing Person

 

3109398_1280x720In a few short weeks, it will have been two months since five-year-old Lucas Hernandez was last seen in his Wichita home. The search following his disappearance has been frustrating and fruitless, as investigators involved with the case remain stymied, leaving friends, family, and even strangers on the internet to provide their own armchair detective theories about what happened to the missing boy.

Lucas was last seen on March 17th, 2018 in his bedroom in the home of his father, Johnathan Hernandez. On the day Lucas disappeared, Hernandez left him in the care of his stepmother, Emily Glass, 26.

According to police reports, Glass checked on Lucas at 3:00 PM in his room. She then took a shower and fell asleep. When she awoke to find Lucas missing, she called Wichita police to report his disappearance.  at approximately 6:15 PM.

The investigation into Lucas’s disappearance led investigators to uncover an unrelated child-endangerment complaint filed against Glass the day before the five-year-old went missing. The complaint concerns Lucas and his one-year-old sister, claiming Glass “unlawfully, knowingly and unreasonably caused or permitted a one-year-old child to be placed in a station in which the child’s life, body or health may be endangered.” The charge regarding Lucas’s safety was eventually dropped.

Friends, neighbors, and even family close to the investigation have told both law enforcement and media outlets of their suspicions that Lucas and his sister were being abused, having cited photographs of bruises on Lucas’s body, and statements by Lucas to family that Glass had beaten him and dragged him across the floor. Despite pleas with an arraignment judge to lower her $50,000 bond, Glass still remains in jail.

Lucas-Hernandez-abuseSince details alleging child abuse have surfaced, Hernandez has responded with frustration, feeling that a discussion about the possibility of child abuse is distracting law enforcement from finding his son. He told KAKE-TV, “Now, if you want to bring that up later that’s fine. That’s a whole separate issue. I think it’s taking away from what’s happening and I don’t appreciate it. Not from my family, not from strangers. “When asked for some perspective about how this could have happened, Johnathan Hernandez told Brenda Carrasco of KWCH12 in Wichita, “I’ve been fully cooperative and I’ve done everything that’s been asked of me and I think anybody that knows me knows the kind of person I am or the kind of father I am. I think if they did, I don’t think they would ever say anything about me or my family.”

Jamie Orr, the boy’s biological mother, was involved in the original grid search for her son that spanned several local parks, desperate for confidential tips that might lead to her son’s safe return. However, her interactions in her personal relationships and social media have led both family and strangers alike to believe that she might know more about her son’s disappearance. Her ex-boyfriend, Robert Cook, has alleged in screenshots from text messages and posts on social media that Orr had a plan to kidnap her son and elope with Hernandez.

Unfortunately for those praying for Lucas’s safe return, the investigation has slowed to a crawl. Police officially closed the tip-line regarding the Hernandez case on March 12th. In addition to the investigation conducted by Wichita police, they have also given Screenshot-92permission for a Texas-based search and recovery team known as Texas EquuSearch, to begin their own search as of March 2nd. The team has used the boats, ATVs, and sonar equipment at their disposal to assist in over 1700 missing person cases, including the high-profile disappearance of Natalee Holloway. The team’s founder, Tim Miller, empathizes with the missing boy’s parents, as his own daughter, Laura, was missing for seventeen months before her body was recovered many years ago. He told ABC News, “I remember every minute of that seventeen months—of the helplessness, the hopelessness, the loneliness, and I just made a promise to God that I’d never leave a family alone if there was anything I could do, and here we are.”

Lucas was born Dec. 3, 2012, has brown hair and brown eyes, is about 4 feet tall and weighs about 60 pounds. He was last seen wearing black sweats, white socks and a gray shirt with a bear on it. As the original tip line has been closed, investigators ask that anyone with information that might lead to Lucas’s safe return to call detectives at 316-268-4407 or Crime Stoppers at 316-267-2111.

Don’t Do It Yourself! Top 5 Reasons to Hire a Private Investigator

by | May 12, 2010 | Private Investigations News

From missing loved ones to marriages gone wrong, there are a number of reasons why one should hire the services of a qualified private investigator. Don’t make the mistake of trying to do this work yourself! Here are the top five reasons on why a private investigator from your state:

1.) Avoid Danger. By putting yourself in the position one needs to be in to be a private investigator, you are exposed to grave danger. This is because you are unlikely to know how to master the art of surveillance or counter-surveillance – a sure way to get caught early in the investigation. Secondly, the subject you are following may realize your presence and may respond with violent behavior.

2.) Skill and Experience. It is likely that your skills will not match those of a good private investigator. Although the role may look quite easy on television, private investigation is a real art form that requires the utmost dedication and training. Private investigation is much more than simply following a car and taking photographs. Additionally, private investigators of today need to know how to: use overt and covert cameras to their ultimate advantage; install and download GPS tracking devices; use trace mail systems; use the Internet to obtain information; and most importantly, undertake threat assessments and risk management profiles. They also must think many steps ahead in regards to the investigation, and be versatile enough to not only change clothing and/or appearances during the course of surveillance, but also their vehicles.

3.) The Art of Investigation. The work involved with investigation is not simply asking a lot of questions. Although interviewing is a crucial skill for a private investigator in Connecticut and other private investigators to have, more importantly is the manner in which the private investigator asks these questions. For instance, a private investigator may use different probing techniques, or ask certain open-ended questions that will provide leads and answers. Several investigations of today require knowledge of forensic accounting, or, in other words, following a paper trail and discovering the stages of a fraudulent transaction.

Private investigation work also involves highly specialized and often expensive equipment.

4.) Knowing the Law. A professional private investigator is highly familiar with laws and abiding by them. He or she will know the proper way to gather evidence for possible court proceedings, and will never take the risk of losing evidence or disregarding court evidence rules. Police and properly registered private investigators are also the only people that are exempt and allowed to follow individuals and record their movements.

5.) Time and Evidence. As we can all imagine, the time it takes to do the work as a private investigator in Connecticut and other states is considerable. Private investigation is a full time job, and unless you are willing to devote that much time to it, it is very likely you would be able to adequately handle all of the obligations necessary for carrying out the investigation.

And even if you did spend an enormous amount of time on the project, you may come to find out that it was wasted if none of the evidence you gathered is admissible in court. The money you would then have to pay for an attorney could have been invested wisely into the services of a professional private investigator.