Crimes Against Children Spotlight

The Neighborhood Canvass and Child Abduction Investigations

By Ashli-Jade Douglas 
Stock image of a teddy bear on the ground under an empty swing in a park. © Thinkstock.com

In 76 percent of child abduction murders, the victim was killed within three hours of the reported abduction, and in 89 percent of child abduction murders, the victim was killed within 24 hours.1 These dramatic statistics illustrate the importance of executing the most effective recovery strategies immediately after a child goes missing. A neighborhood canvass is one such tactic. According to FBI studies, the majority of successfully resolved child abduction cases included a neighborhood canvass.2 Past FBI cases demonstrate the importance of conducting a neighborhood canvass and showcase why this investigative tool frequently helps resolve child abduction incidents.3

At times, law enforcement personnel overlook or underemphasize the importance of this practice. Yet, according to the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit’s (BAU) Child Abduction Response Plan (CARP), the neighborhood canvass is, perhaps, the most vital step in missing children cases.4 Based on the number of reported child abductions in which a neighborhood canvass facilitated the recovery of the victim, the FBI confidently asserts the imperativeness of neighborhood canvasses during all child abduction investigations.5

A Useful Tool

A neighborhood canvass may cover the area around the victim’s residence or last known location—the most recent place the victim was sighted after the initial abduction. An effective neighborhood canvass provides intelligence about the physical location and its residents. Thorough searches of the victim’s neighborhood and last known location, in conjunction with interviews, help investigators develop potential suspects and establish a timeline for the missing child. According to BAU’s CARP, in many cases, the offender resided, worked, frequently visited, or otherwise spent time in the immediate area of the abduction. If executed meticulously and in a timely manner, a neighborhood canvass can provide crucial intelligence about potential suspects.

A thorough neighborhood canvass allows investigators to search for the missing child while identifying and interviewing all individuals near the victim’s abduction site or last known location during the critical period that follows a child’s disappearance. In the hours immediately following an abduction, investigators must begin the canvass promptly as there typically is a two-hour delay in missing children being reported to authorities.6 During this process, officers should interview every resident and visitor from the neighborhood in question.7

Additionally, any missing child case poses myriad possibilities for the cause of the victim’s disappearance aside from abduction. The victim could be a runaway, lost child, “throw away” child, or victim of accidental death. Even further, the abduction could have been completely fabricated to cover up a family member’s crime against the victim or other such domestic issues.8 Assessing the aforementioned items will eliminate some possibilities of how the child disappeared, reveal the options that remain, and help investigators decide which leads they need to pursue.9

BAU reports that when investigators receive a missing child complaint, determining the child’s whereabouts presents the most challenging task. Crucial locations to search include any nearby isolated area where an abductor would feel safe and secluded enough to take the child. This includes drug houses, vacant properties, trails and parks, closed construction sites, empty parking lots and garages, abandoned businesses and factories, trailers, and storage lockers.10

Perhaps even more critical, a neighborhood canvass can reveal if a reported abduction never occurred at all. For example, if parents or guardians injured or killed a child during a domestic dispute, they may report that the child went missing to cover for their crime—this also is known as a false allegation. In these instances, interviews with neighbors may provide critical information, such as suspected child abuse or an unstable family situation, which could lead investigators to discover that the child was not abducted at all. If an abduction never occurred, the sooner investigators reach this conclusion, the less time and resources they waste on a fruitless search.

FBI Child Abduction Cases

FBI reporting analyzed the investigative tools used in 61 child abduction cases in fiscal year 2010 and indicated that 50 percent of these cases were solved or at least significantly assisted by the immediate execution of a neighborhood canvass.11 Additionally, the FBI outlines different levels of thoroughness to describe neighborhood canvasses. Level 1, the most detailed canvass, is likeliest to provide investigators with vital information to assist them in their investigation.12 A Level 1 canvass requires interviews with all residents in the vicinity of the last known location, along with an effort to obtain lawful consent from the residents of the homes, to search the front and back yards of nearby houses, as well as abandoned buildings and other publicly accessible areas. Investigators also can request that residents allow a search of the interior of their homes. When legal requirements permit and a true abduction is suspected, investigators may search a location without the residents present. Ideally, every neighborhood canvass should be held to the Level 1 standards of thoroughness to ensure a complete investigation. FBI child abduction case examples demonstrate the effectiveness of employing a neighborhood canvass.

  • Family members reported that their child went missing while camping. Investigators canvassed the campsite and obtained crucial intelligence about the family’s activities during the trip, which later became useful for solving the investigation.
  • When interviewing residents at an apartment complex where a child was reported missing, investigators discovered witnesses who saw the abductor’s license plate and could provide accurate descriptions of the vehicle. Also, FBI agents determined that one of the other residents in the complex had a drug connection with the abductor, which explained his motivation for entering the building.
  • Interviews with neighbors allowed investigators to identify a woman whose daughter saw the missing child at the last known location. From this witness’ information, investigators honed in on one location, where they found a drug house. Later, they discovered that laborers were working inside the house at the time the child went missing, which helped them develop a list of suspects. The witness’ sighting confirmed that one suspect lived close to the victim’s last known location; eventually, this individual was convicted as the offender.
  • A neighborhood canvass helped correct an inaccurate timeline. The initial investigative team created a timeline based on information provided by other officers, rather than from interviews with residents of the neighborhood or surrounding areas of the last known location. However, once the FBI’s Child Abduction Rapid Deployment (CARD) team conducted a neighborhood canvass, it developed an accurate timeline that assisted investigators in determining the suspects’ whereabouts.13
  • During a case in which investigators suspected the reported abduction never occurred, a neighborhood canvass revealed that no neighbors saw the missing child for a week prior to the alleged abduction. This information led investigators to a greater understanding of the victim’s abnormal family dynamics, the behavior of the parents, and the child and offenders’ last known location.14

Conclusion

The neighborhood canvass has proved one of the most critical and effective investigative tools for child abduction investigations. The intelligence gleaned from these interviews and searches helps investigators accurately develop a timeline, identify suspects, gather new evidence, and realize when allegations of abduction are false.15 A prompt, thorough, and well-executed neighborhood canvass can make all the difference in an abduction case and, thus, between life and death for a child.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“A neighborhood canvass may cover the area around the victim’s residence or last known location—the most recent place the victim was sighted after the initial abduction.”

 

Ms. Douglas serves as an intelligence analyst in the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. 


Endnotes

Robert McKenna, Katherine Brown, Robert Keppel, Joseph Weis, and Marvin Skeen, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Investigative Case Management for Missing Children Homicide Investigation (Seattle, WA, 2006).

FBI Crimes Against Children Unit.

For the purpose of this article, the author defines abduction as “the initial report of a child being taken without the knowledge of a parent or guardian.”

FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit 3, Child Abduction Response Plan (2008).

High confidence generally indicates that FBI judgments are based on high-quality information from multiple sources or a singly highly reliable source or that the nature of the issue makes it possible to render a solid judgment.

McKenna, Brown, Keppel, Weis, and Skeen, Investigative Case Management for Missing Children Homicide Investigation.

Ibid.

FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit 3, Child Abduction Response Plan (2008).

Ibid.

10 Michael Conrad, “Behavioral CARD Team Training Power Point” (presented April 20, 2011).

11 Based on research by the author of child abduction nonransom cases the FBI opened from October 1, 2009, to September 30, 2010.

12 Christopher Young, “Investigation and Interviewing: Techniques for Search and Rescue Responders,” http://www.1srg.org/Contributed-Materials/Investigation-Interviewing.pdf (accessed February 10 2011).

13 Robert King, e-mail correspondence to author, February 14, 2011.

14 For further information about the FBI’s CARD team, visit its website at http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/vc_majorthefts/cac/card. For further information about the FBI’s Crimes Against Children Unit, visit its website at http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/vc_majorthefts/cac.

15 Alasdair Mackenzie, e-mail correspondence to author, February 16, 2011.