Small Boy Buried in Playground Sand in Albuquerque, NM

Only 38" tall and weighing a mere 38 lbs the body of a small boy, estimated to be between 3 and 5 years old, was found buried in a playground in Albuquerque, NM on Friday. As if the death of the child was not horrible enough, being left buried in the sand of a playground to be found by mothers and other innocent children - makes whoever buried the child twice the monster in my opinion. The location of burial is a deliberate act of cruelty whether the child died of natural causes or unnatural.

The Albuquerque Police indicate there have been no reports of missing children in the area, which indicates either the child is from elsewhere or the person who buried him simply hopes no one will know he is missing, or someone is afraid to come forward. Police had speculated the child may have come from the neighborhood surrounding the park. As of today there still is no identification of the young boy and no family, friends, or guardians have come forward to claim him. The experts who exhumed the child's body told police he could not have been dead longer than 48 hours when he was found by a woman who took her children to the park to play.

John Walsh, the Public Information Officer with Albuquerque Police Department readily provided me with a description of the child. The little boy was 38" tall, 38 lbs with brown eyes and ¼ inch length dark hair. He was wearing Skechers brand tennis shoes in a child's size 9, black and gray & lime green in color. His clothing was Arizona brand, size 3T consisting of black jogging pants with a red stripe and a red t-shirt depicting a truck. His nationality is either Hispanic or Native American.

As is always the case with missing people/children, or a child/person who has been killed, accidentally or deliberately, someone, somewhere, knows something. Sometimes people have knowledge they don't even realize they have. Many people do not call information in or report information they have out of the fear of "appearing silly" or "over dramatic". In the scope of things, does it really matter if for one moment you "appear silly" to someone you may never speak to again - if that one moment can make a difference in solving a crime or helping to find a child?

There is a possibility the child's family may not have legal status and out of fear have not contacted the authorities. Briant Rodriquez, a 3 year old child who had been abducted from his home in southern California, was amazingly found wandering the streets in a Mexican border town after missing for two weeks. His mother Millan did alert authorities to the loss of her son after he was abducted by two gun men who left her and her other children tied up when they broke into the families home. While Millan is not an American citizen, Briant is.

I think it would be beneficial to tell all people of any citizenship status, that if your child is missing, no matter what your status do not hesitate to contact authorities concerning your missing child. The focus at that time would be and should be the child. If kidnappers are preying on those too afraid to come forward, then in essence they are being given a free catalog of children to prey on.

The case of Briant Rodriquez shows that even when all hope seems to be gone...miracles do happen. The case of the unknown child buried in a place where children play - shows us exactly how vulnerable any child in this country truly is, and how important it is for those in the community to report any and all information they may have concerning knowledge of a kidnapping, a death, or any concerns about a child.

If you have any information, no matter what state you live in...please contact either the Albuquerque Police Department at (505) 242-2677, or your local authorities. You can also make a report on APD"s Online Citizen Reporting System. Please remember, children can go missing in one location and show up many miles away, as is evident with Briant's recovery in Mexico.No information is ever too little.

Write articles, post blogs, translate to other languages, send out information - it is the one way we as citizens of this country can make an effort to help in recovery of lost children and/or the apprehension of those who murder or abandon innocent children who depend on adults to protect them. Every child is all of ours - child. This child's identity is NOT unknown, it is UNTOLD!

Sources:

John Walsh, Public Information Officer, Albuquerque Police Dept.; Telephone contact

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