Ricky Holland update

As quoted on the From Whispers to Roars forum (http://fromwhisperstor.6.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=753&start=30):

Sheriff reveals new information about parents of Ricky Holland (Ingham
County, January 30, 2006, 6:34 p.m.)

Husband against wife, each accusing the
other of murder. The victim: their seven-year-old adopted son. Ricky Holland
disappeared last July from his Williamston home, east of Lansing in Ingham
County. Friday, his father, Tim, led police to the boy's body and accused his
mother, Lisa, of murdering the boy. The case, police say, is unraveling as fast
as the Hollands' marriage. The Ingham County sheriff told 24 Hour News 8 there's
no doubt the two were conspiring together in July to cover up what really
happened. But last week, Lisa Holland was arrested for allegedly trying to kill
Tim Holland by throwing a plugged-in hair dryer into his shower. Both are now in
jail, and police say evidence from the crime lab will show who the killer really
is. Either way, prosecutors believe both parents knew the boy was dead and where
his body was hidden, even as they helped thousands in the community search the
area for days in blistering hot July weather. Along with the volunteers were
police officers from around the state, experts on child abduction from around
the country, as well as Coast Guard and state police helicopters, and K-9 units.
The parents claimed Ricky had run away, something they said he'd done before. At
noon on Friday, Tim Holland and his attorney contacted investigators to discuss
the disappearance. As a result, human remains were found in Dansville, a rural
area southeast of Lansing. They were through dental records as those of Ricky
Holland. Lisa Holland was arrested at 4:45 p.m., Tim an hour later. Both are now
in jail, being held on million dollar bonds, charged with obstruction of justice
and as material witnesses. Now, police are waiting on forensics evidence from
the autopsy to show whose story is true. The sheriff says he knew this day would
come. "I wasn't confident we'd ever find Ricky's remains," says Sheriff Gene
Wriggelsworth. "But there were things that happened, even the first day, that
would make even an inexperienced police officer think, 'Something's wrong here,
this story isn't right.'" He says, as thousands of community volunteers joined
officers and experts from around the country in searching for the boy, Lisa
Holland brought him an updated picture of Ricky, then asked the location of the
search team mounted on horses. Her other children wanted to see them. "Never
once asked how the search was going, if she could get anything else. Her focus
was on entertaining the rest of the kids. This is my 40th year in the business
and never have I seen a reaction like that from a parent whose child is
missing," says Wriggelsworth. Police also doubted Tim Holland's story, digging
up the family's backyard in August, getting fingerprints and DNA samples, giving
both parents polygraph tests. The sheriff won't discuss the results but says Tim
Holland was familiar with how such tests work. He took them several times a year
as part of his job as a civilian defense contractor with the Army, doing
intelligence work with a top-secret clearance. Police expect to have evidence
back from the crime lab as early as next week. http://www.woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4431228&nav=0Rce

One Way to Get Involved

A lot of times those of us ordinary people who care about missing people feel powerless to help them. I know I personally sometimes feel frustrated that there doesn't seem much I can do except hang up a few posters of the local ones and pray. Right now, however, there is something else all of us ordinary people can do.
A missing persons organization in Nebraska called Project Jason (http://www.projectjason.org/) is conducting what it calls Campaign for the Missing 2006. You can read all about this campaign at http://voice4themissing.blogspot.com/2005/12/121305-campaign-for-missing-2006.html. Basically you write letters to your local state senator and representative, asking them to sponsor a model law to improve the way law enforcement handles missing persons cases. (Sorry to any non-American readers, but I assume this campaign is just in the U.S.) The link above includes a model letter you can use.
Perhaps the campaign cannot help those who are currently missing, but hopefully it will help those who go missing in the future.

Alexis Nicole Mattocks--Landover, Maryland

Update: December 10, 2006 -- Alexis' information has been removed from the NCMEC website, so it is likely that she has been found. However, I have yet to read anywhere that says she definitely has been located.
Alexis' info and photo from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) website (http://www.missingkids.com):

ALEXIS NICOLE MATTOCKS
Case Type: Endangered Missing

DOB: Oct 19, 1990
Sex: Female
Missing Date: Dec 4,
2005
Race: Black
Age Now: 15
Height: 5'4" (163 cm)
Missing City:
LANDOVER
Weight: 125 lbs (57 kg)
Missing State : MD
Hair Color:
Black
Missing Country: United States
Eye Color: Brown
Case Number:
USMD053391219
Circumstances: Officer Safety***Child is SUICIDAL*** Child may
have traveled to Baltimore City, Maryland.

ANYONE HAVING INFORMATION SHOULD CONTACT Maryland Center for Missing Children1-800-637-5437 (1-800-MDS-KIDS)
Prince George's County Police District III / Ofc. Johnson 301-772-4900 or 301-499-8113

You can print a poster of Alexis here. (Make sure to change your page setup to landscape, or some of the information will be cut off.)

Missing hunter, Jeromy Childress

Website for Jeromy: http://jeromy.4ourangel.com/
National Center for Missing Adults (NCMA) Poster for Jeromy: http://www.theyaremissed.org/ncma/gallery/ncmaprofile_all.php?A200402062S

Info and Photo of Jeromy from The Charley Project (http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/c/childress_jeromy.html) :

Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance
Missing Since: October 17,
2004 from Tillamook County, Oregon
Classification: Endangered Missing
Date Of Birth: September 15, 1973
Age: 31 years old
Height and
Weight: 5'10, 170 - 175 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: Brown hair,
brown eyes. Childress has previously fractured some of the fingers on his right
hand. His two upper front teeth are crooked and the left one is chipped. He has
a tattoo of a dolphin and the number 14376 on his right shoulderblade and a
tattoo of a rising phoenix on his left shoulder. He smokes Marlboro Reds
cigarettes. Childress wore a moustache at the time of his disappearance.
Clothing Description: A dark brown Carhartt jacket, size 32x34 stonewashed
Levi's blue jeans, a blue Nike baseball cap with a lighter blue swoosh on the
front, brown Copeland hiking boots, a silver Citizen watch with an eco-drive,
and a gold wedding band with five diamonds set at a diagonal angle.

Details of Disappearance
Childress was on an annual elk hunting trip
with Shane Luey and Luey's young son, Shane Jr., in Tillamook County, Oregon on
October 17, 2004. He was last seen at 4:30 p.m. that day at Tucca Creek Road and
Boundary Road in the Tillamook National Forest. He was was carrying a rifle, a
wallet, his car keys, half a pack of Marlboro cigarettes, and possibly a
pocketknife at the time of his disappearance.
Childress became separated
from his companions in the forest after they became lost trying to find their
way back to camp. He walked into the brush alone, thinking he could find the
camp by himself. The Lueys eventually made it to the rendezvous point, but
Childress never arrived. All of his overnight gear was left behind at camp. He
has never been heard from again and an extensive search turned up no clues as to
his whereabouts.
At the time of his disappearance, Childress was employed as
an industrial bridge painter and blaster. He enjoys hunting, fishing, and
boating and he has two young children. The area where he vanished is very steep,
rugged, brush-covered terrain with lots of gullies and fallen trees, and
populated with wild animals including bears, cougars and coyotes. Foul play is
not suspected in his disappearance; it is believed that Childress became lost or
injured in the wilderness and died. His wife obtained a death certificate for
him in 2006 based on that theory. She will now able to sell their jointly owned
property and collect Social Security benefits for their children.

Investigating Agency If you have any information concerning this case,
please contact: Tillamook County Sheriff Office 503-812-0112

Now You Listen: In Memory of Ricky Holland

I thought that if Ricky Holland was found dead I would cry hysterically. Instead I am angry.
You can now read about Ricky Holland's death on many sites, including Huff's Crime Blog (http://huffcrimeblog.com/?p=452), Malevolence Amongst Us (http://malevolenceamongstus.blogspot.com/), From Whispers to Roars (http://fromwhisperstor.6.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=753), Secrets from Within (http://nvfc.us/blog/?p=131), the Scared Monkeys forums (http://www.scaredmonkeys.net/viewtopic.php?t=2774), and the Project Jason forums at Truckingboards.com (http://www.truckingboards.com/trucking/upload/showthread.php?t=15353). Steve Huff, writer of Huff's Crime Blog, says he wrote about Ricky once on his other blog, Twilight Kingdom. The writer of Malevolence Amongst Us admitted he or she had never written about Ricky back when there was a chance that he might have been alive. Now people pay attention because we know Ricky is dead.
Ricky's info was briefly shown at least once on "Nancy Grace" on CNN Headline News, and the writer of a blog called Ricky Holland Vanished had emailed the show to try get him a longer segment. There had never been a response. I respect Nancy Grace and her show, but of course now she will probably give Ricky coverage because he is dead.
Now people will listen because Ricky is dead. Why is this often the way? Why do some missing people get the coverage in death that they should have gotten while there was still a possibility of life?
I had been contemplating starting a blog or website for missing people. My mom told me yesterday because of all my frustration that I should start a blog. It looks, then, that Ricky Holland has become the straw that broke this camel's back.
This blog will be devoted to the missing persons cases that I have been following, with information and updates on them. I will probably also do some posts on the Joseph Edward Duncan trial and updates on the case of Julie Crocker, a missing English woman recently found dead. Finally, of course, there will be updates on Ricky Holland's case.

Updates on Ricky's cases at Where is Richard Holland website: http://home.earthlink.net/~tabloidtrisha/updates.html
Ricky Holland is Missing forum: http://forums.cjb.net/richardhollandi.html
Ricky Holland Vanished blog: http://richardhollandvanished.blogspot.com