When rumors swirled about the possibility Melinda Duckett could have sold her son 2-year-old Trenton Duckett, most people gave it little thought. It just isn’t something a parent would do. However, cultural differences may force authorities to re-evaluate how to investigate missing children cases.
Recently, parents reported two women pretending to work for the Department of Social services took their boy. Police said the two women were the boy’s grandmother and aunt, and that the mother knew the whole time.
As it turned out, the mother is Asian and the father Latino. Police said that per cultural custom, the boy’s father owed his in-laws a dowry, or payment, for marrying their daughter and that dowry had not been paid.
In the case of Bryan Dossantos-Gomes, a reward of $21,000 is being offered for the safe return of the baby. The parents allegedly owe several hundred dollars to smugglers who assisted them in illegally entering this country. The kidnapping may be in retaliation for the unpaid debt.
In the case of a reported missing child in Escondido, California police believe there may have been no abduction, and no foul play even though the child was discovered missing 10 hours prior to being reported to police.
“…Search crews were still looking late Sunday night for a 19-month-old boy reported missing earlier in the day from his home in a rural area of unincorporated Escondido, Sheriff’s authorities said.
Sheriff’s officials said there was nothing to suggest foul play.
“It could be cultural differences or faith they would find him themselves,” Revell said, adding that while circumstances “may seem unusual,” there is no evidence to suggest abduction…”
Erika Panyavong, the Escondido, California mother who reported her 19-month-old toddler, Keithan, missing over the weekend was booked on suspicion of murder hours after leading sheriff’s investigators to a trash bin near her home where they found the baby’s body, authorities said.
Note:
The U.S. State Department estimates human smuggling is a $10 billion annual global industry, with hundreds of thousands of people paying to get into the United States each year. About 18,000 people are brought in by human traffickers, who force clients to work off their debts in often inhuman conditions.
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