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Precious 5-Year-Old Boy Vanishes From Field Near Family Home · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:07
Speaker 1: How does a five year old boy go missing from
0:12
Speaker 1: in the middle of a field in Fruitland, Idaho? First
0:17
Speaker 1: of all, what is a five year old boy doing
0:19
Speaker 1: alone out in the middle of a field, but then
0:22
Speaker 1: go missing? Crime stories with Nancy Grace. First of all,
0:40
Speaker 1: take a listen to this. Pruveland police start searching for
0:43
Speaker 1: a missing and endangered five year old. The boy, Michael Vaughan,
0:48
Speaker 1: was last seen in the area of Southwest ninth in
0:50
Speaker 1: Arizona in Pruveland late Tuesday. He was wearing a light
0:53
Speaker 1: blue Minecraft shirt and dark blue boxer briefs with sandals.
0:58
Speaker 1: Anyone with information should call nine one one, the paid
1:01
Speaker 1: County Sheriff's office or Fruitland Police. So far, officers have
1:05
Speaker 1: scoured through three thousand acres of farmland, drained irrigation ditches, starts,
1:10
Speaker 1: through garbage cans, and a septic tank. I've got a
1:16
Speaker 1: lot of questions. Let's introduce an all star panel to
1:19
Speaker 1: break it down and put it back together again. First
1:21
Speaker 1: of all, joining me twenty seven years metro major case
1:25
Speaker 1: including swat now Lawyer James Shellnut at Shelnut Law Firm
1:29
Speaker 1: dot com, Doctor Angela Arnold, renowned psychiatrists joining us out
1:33
Speaker 1: of the Atlanta jurisdiction. Karen L. Smith, forensic expert, lecturer
1:38
Speaker 1: University Florida and host of a hit series, Shattered Souls podcast.
1:44
Speaker 1: Eric Grossarth now joining us from the area with the
1:47
Speaker 1: East Idaho News dot Com and you can find him
1:49
Speaker 1: on Instagram, Twitter at Eric Grosarth. Eric, I don't understand
1:53
Speaker 1: how this little five year old boy just goes missing,
1:57
Speaker 1: who was supposed to be watching him. You know something
2:00
Speaker 1: that investigatives haven't necessarily told us yet. We do know
2:04
Speaker 1: that he was in his neighborhood. It is a neighborhood
2:07
Speaker 1: in a small, small community. But those streets end up
2:10
Speaker 1: right there on farmfield, so you got acres and acres
2:14
Speaker 1: of farm fields, and then the interstate right from there,
2:17
Speaker 1: and then the snake rivers. So okay, wait wait wait
2:20
Speaker 1: wait wait wait wait wait, that was a lot of information.
2:22
Speaker 1: Eric Grosar. Eric Grosar joining me from East Idaho News
2:26
Speaker 1: dot Com. Let me take that one line at a time,
2:31
Speaker 1: because I'm hearing open Field. Then I heard you say
2:35
Speaker 1: all the streets converge at this location. A very small community,
2:41
Speaker 1: but you're leaving me to believe it is a residential
2:45
Speaker 1: community like a suburban community, and near an interstate and
2:49
Speaker 1: near the Snake River. All of that means potential locations
2:55
Speaker 1: for this five year old little boy we're talking about
2:58
Speaker 1: Michael Vaughan. What happened, Derek, Let's just start at the beginning. Yeah,
3:02
Speaker 1: so Michael was last seeing around his house around six
3:06
Speaker 1: thirty PM that day and at some point his family
3:10
Speaker 1: or Eric, do you have children? Eric? Just curious? I do, okay,
3:15
Speaker 1: So then you know, six thirty for children this young,
3:21
Speaker 1: it's getting about supper time if they haven't already. You know,
3:24
Speaker 1: they like to eat it four thirty and five o'clock
3:26
Speaker 1: in the afternoon. So at this point I would assume
3:30
Speaker 1: the parents are home from work. I'm just speculating here.
3:33
Speaker 1: I don't know this. You got to help me. And
3:36
Speaker 1: the child is there at six thirty than what in
3:39
Speaker 1: the hey is he doing out in a field after that?
3:42
Speaker 1: And you know, that's the million dollar question there associated
3:46
Speaker 1: with this key. Somebody just said that they saw him
3:50
Speaker 1: walking along that street and in the close that minecraft.
3:54
Speaker 1: He showed what they saw and he vanished. A lot
3:58
Speaker 1: of these details hadn't been where we get just because
4:02
Speaker 1: there is a lot of unknowns, but he did at
4:05
Speaker 1: some point walk wander away from the house, and we
4:09
Speaker 1: all know with kids how easy it is. They can
4:11
Speaker 1: walk long distance very quickly. No, actually I don't. I don't.
4:17
Speaker 1: I know that other people say that. But I can
4:19
Speaker 1: tell you this. If the twins at age five or
4:22
Speaker 1: at home at six thirty, I don't know how they
4:25
Speaker 1: would have gotten out of the house and wander away
4:29
Speaker 1: without anybody noticing anything. I will tell you this, Eric
4:34
Speaker 1: gross Arth. On our back door, we had, of course
4:39
Speaker 1: the door handle, would you could lock it, and then
4:43
Speaker 1: we put a but yes, yeah, thank you Jackie's side
4:49
Speaker 1: bark slide bark. Well listen this, Eric, there were some
4:56
Speaker 1: steps going upstairs right beside that back door. I mean,
4:59
Speaker 1: like stand on the step and open the door, the doorknob.
5:02
Speaker 1: It's right there. Together John, David Lynch and Lucy Lynch,
5:07
Speaker 1: by the time they were eighteen month two years old
5:10
Speaker 1: could go up two steps and reach up and change
5:13
Speaker 1: a site slide bar. So we had to put something
5:16
Speaker 1: even higher up so they couldn't reach it. That like
5:20
Speaker 1: little monkeys. So I'm not saying he can't get out
5:24
Speaker 1: because they could do that at two years old. And
5:26
Speaker 1: this Michael is five. But how does he how has
5:30
Speaker 1: he gone that long and nobody noticed Eric, and why
5:33
Speaker 1: aren't police telling us what happened? You know, this is
5:37
Speaker 1: one of those that they're still trying to piece together
5:39
Speaker 1: everything that happened. There's a lot of information, including the search.
5:45
Speaker 1: There is several investigators that have been called in to
5:48
Speaker 1: talk to people. There's been the witness after with this,
5:51
Speaker 1: hundreds of them that have been coming in with different tips,
5:54
Speaker 1: and they need to come in and talk with all
5:56
Speaker 1: of these people searching these homes talk to different investigators,
6:00
Speaker 1: So there's a lot. They have said that Michael's parents
6:04
Speaker 1: have been cooperative with investigators, but they still have a
6:08
Speaker 1: lot to talk about and there's still a lot of
6:11
Speaker 1: unknowns in a case like this, especially where you still
6:15
Speaker 1: have this person missing. Michael's one of the few people
6:18
Speaker 1: that would probably know exactly what happened at that moment
6:22
Speaker 1: when he walked away, that would tell them what happened
6:25
Speaker 1: with me. Yeah, I mean, I know the child is
6:28
Speaker 1: what happens if the child is still alive. You were
6:30
Speaker 1: earlier hearing our friends at Idaho Knees six. Now take
6:35
Speaker 1: a listen to our cut too. This is Kristen Skariva
6:38
Speaker 1: Idaho Knees. The search for a missing treasure Valley Boy
6:42
Speaker 1: escalates as it goes into a second day. Police officers
6:45
Speaker 1: in Fruitland need the community's help in locating that little boy.
6:49
Speaker 1: Five year old Michael Joseph Vaughan is considered endangered and
6:52
Speaker 1: was last seen at his home near south West ninth
6:55
Speaker 1: and Arizona in Fruitland. That was around six thirty eight
6:58
Speaker 1: Tuesday evening, and search efforts have it begin immediately to
7:02
Speaker 1: find whole teams walking through nearby neighborhood, searching by air
7:06
Speaker 1: with rons and even a helicopter. The Idaho Mountain Search
7:09
Speaker 1: and Rescue Team brought their search dog to help with
7:12
Speaker 1: the efforts. Vaughn is about three and a half feet tall,
7:15
Speaker 1: his blonde hair and blue eyes. He also goes by
7:17
Speaker 1: the nickname monkey. I'm just thinking about that. Just three
7:22
Speaker 1: and a half feet tall. He's a little bitty thing,
7:26
Speaker 1: goes by the nickname monkey. I'm looking at him right now,
7:33
Speaker 1: big beautiful smile. He's very very tiny. Allegedly goes missing
7:39
Speaker 1: from a field near his home. Now. I'm looking at
7:44
Speaker 1: the field right now, and I noticed that people going
7:49
Speaker 1: through the field are with the FBI. Now very curious
7:54
Speaker 1: as to why. The Idaho State police has called in
7:58
Speaker 1: the FBI to help find Michael. But something about this
8:02
Speaker 1: story is not hanging together for me. Now, tell me
8:07
Speaker 1: about the area. That's so one of my problems here
8:09
Speaker 1: at Grossarts joining me from East Idaho News dot Com.
8:12
Speaker 1: You're saying it is a residential community. I'm looking at
8:16
Speaker 1: the field that I think this is the one where
8:20
Speaker 1: he was last same, I don't see anything in the distance.
8:25
Speaker 1: I see what I think to be a structure where
8:30
Speaker 1: a few outhouses around it. But it looks like a
8:33
Speaker 1: farming structure. So it is a residential neighborhood or what. Yeah,
8:38
Speaker 1: So this is kind of common out here in Idaho.
8:40
Speaker 1: You'll have these small communities with maybe five six thousand
8:44
Speaker 1: people and there'll be a residential community and then it's
8:47
Speaker 1: surrounded by farm fields. I'm in a larger town by
8:50
Speaker 1: Paris house is here, but their backyard is farmfield and
8:54
Speaker 1: it goes on for miles and miles. So there are
8:57
Speaker 1: these residential communities in these farm fields. But something else
9:01
Speaker 1: to point out that this is only about now or
9:03
Speaker 1: from Idaho's largest city of Bois. You hop on Interstate
9:07
Speaker 1: eighty four there in between the Idaho and Oregon, so
9:11
Speaker 1: you're nearer, larger communities, but there's still lots of these
9:15
Speaker 1: farm fields. And when we talk farm fields, that's another
9:18
Speaker 1: theme that investigators have been searching as canals. They've got
9:21
Speaker 1: to bring the water into these fields. So there are
9:24
Speaker 1: lots of canals and different waterways throughout all of this
9:28
Speaker 1: is a maze of little waterways and fields in these
9:31
Speaker 1: small communities in Idaho. So yes, there is that residential aspect,
9:36
Speaker 1: but it's right next to the western farming communities. Okay,
9:41
Speaker 1: now I'm starting to get an idea of what you're
9:43
Speaker 1: talking about. It's very similar where I grew up, as
9:46
Speaker 1: some people will say, out in the middle of nowhere
9:48
Speaker 1: in Middle Georgia. There were maybe maybe four to ten
9:53
Speaker 1: houses around our home. But then if you go behind
9:58
Speaker 1: the homes, there would be woods, verily, very heavily wooded,
10:04
Speaker 1: and then it gives a way to farmland as far
10:08
Speaker 1: as the eye could see. So, yes, there are homes
10:12
Speaker 1: around his home, Michael's home, but beyond that it's all farmland.
10:33
Speaker 1: Crime stories. With Nancy Grace, we are talking about the
10:38
Speaker 1: disappearance of a five year old little boy, his name
10:41
Speaker 1: Michael Vaughan. Take a listen now to our friend at
10:46
Speaker 1: the Fruitland Police Department. This is Chief J. D. Huff.
10:50
Speaker 1: Listen today the Police Department, in conjunction with the State Police,
10:55
Speaker 1: multiple Treasure Valley law enforcement agencies, and the Federal Bureau
10:58
Speaker 1: of Investigation, we continue to search for missing and endangered
11:02
Speaker 1: five year old Michael Joseph Vaughan MJ to his family
11:06
Speaker 1: and friends. Michael was last seen near his residence on
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Speaker 1: Southwest nine Street in Fruitland at approximately six thirty pm
11:15
Speaker 1: on July twenty seventh, twenty twenty one. Operations to date
11:23
Speaker 1: include the methodical search of the area near Michael's residence,
11:27
Speaker 1: which included two irrigation runoff ditches which were drained by
11:31
Speaker 1: the Fruitland Public Works Department in an extensive search and
11:34
Speaker 1: rescue effort including the use of k nines, aeriel and
11:39
Speaker 1: marine and land support. Idaho Fish and Game officers are
11:43
Speaker 1: continuing to search the river by boat for four to
11:46
Speaker 1: five miles down river and back up and then the
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Speaker 1: slews of the Snake River as well. Joining me an
11:52
Speaker 1: all star panel. Let's go straight out to James shelnot
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Speaker 1: twenty seven years metro major case including swat now lawyer
12:00
Speaker 1: at Shelnut Law from dot Com. Jameson why typically would
12:03
Speaker 1: the FBI be called on a case like this. Well,
12:06
Speaker 1: so the FBI has a policy, Nancy. This says that
12:10
Speaker 1: if a child is of tender years, then the FBI
12:14
Speaker 1: will get involved in the investigation of a missing child.
12:17
Speaker 1: And tender years to the FBI means a child's under
12:20
Speaker 1: twelve years old. So if a child is under twelve,
12:23
Speaker 1: all that has to be done is a call place
12:25
Speaker 1: to the local FBI office and they will send FBI
12:28
Speaker 1: just to come out there. Typically, the FBI does not
12:30
Speaker 1: get involved in a bowl cases unless there's some indication
12:33
Speaker 1: that there's some type of interstate crime going on. But
12:36
Speaker 1: with a child that young, the FBI's policy is to
12:39
Speaker 1: get involved in provide assistance anytime it's requested. Let me
12:42
Speaker 1: understand something else. Eric Grossar's joining us from East idahunes
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Speaker 1: dot com. Michael's last thing wearing a light blue Minecraft shirt,
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Speaker 1: dark blue boxer briefs, and size eleven blue flip flops.
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Speaker 1: Child eleven. I mean he had on his underwear. That's
13:01
Speaker 1: what they're shaying, is that he had his T shirts
13:04
Speaker 1: and then his box or brief underwears and then his shoes.
13:08
Speaker 1: So he was running around that day in his underwear.
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Speaker 1: And it's my understanding that he has two siblings, and
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Speaker 1: I'm curious about their ages. For those of you just
13:20
Speaker 1: joining us, the tip line is two zero eight six
13:23
Speaker 1: four two six zero zero six. That's the Fruitland Police.
13:27
Speaker 1: Repeat to zero eight six four two six zero zero six.
13:32
Speaker 1: Joining me, forensic expert Karen L. Smith. So he's home
13:36
Speaker 1: at six thirty. How did he get out? And who
13:40
Speaker 1: saw him in the field? Good question? You know, he's fine,
13:46
Speaker 1: he's little. You said that your kids were able to
13:49
Speaker 1: unslide the lock when they were two, So I don't
13:53
Speaker 1: know about if he was out there and nobody knew.
13:58
Speaker 1: The reporter mentioned somebody's being him on the streets. Do
14:01
Speaker 1: we have any and more information about that? Who was
14:04
Speaker 1: the last person to see this child? Which direction was
14:07
Speaker 1: he going? You know? Was he running? Was he playing?
14:11
Speaker 1: Was he walking? Was he lost? Did he lose track?
14:14
Speaker 1: Of which house was his? These are all questions that
14:17
Speaker 1: should have been asked and answered already, Nancy. The frantic
14:21
Speaker 1: search goes home for a five year old little boy
14:23
Speaker 1: who goes missing, seemingly right under his parents. Knows who
14:28
Speaker 1: is this little missing boy? Michael Vaughan, again, if you
14:32
Speaker 1: could describe for me, Eric Grossarth, what he was wearing. Yeah,
14:35
Speaker 1: so Michael was last seen wearing this blue Minecraft T shirt.
14:40
Speaker 1: It's been lastered all over the missing person's report there.
14:47
Speaker 1: He also was wearing I guess the black boxer briefs
14:50
Speaker 1: with a lion green stitching and then size Levy flip flops.
14:54
Speaker 1: So he was in a T shirt in his boxer
14:57
Speaker 1: briefs and flip flops, last seen on his street running
15:01
Speaker 1: around the neighborhood. And that neighborhood again is surrounded by
15:05
Speaker 1: fields and canals and all of that farm community that
15:10
Speaker 1: we talked about a minute ago, you know. Part of
15:13
Speaker 1: it to doctor Angela Arnold, I'm renowned psychiatrists joining us
15:16
Speaker 1: out of the Atlanta jurisdiction is that much like where
15:20
Speaker 1: I grew up, there's a very very low crime rate,
15:24
Speaker 1: and people think they can let their children go play
15:28
Speaker 1: outside without watching them because nothing has ever happened in
15:34
Speaker 1: the neighborhood before. So under those circumstances, the parents probably
15:40
Speaker 1: thought there was no problem letting him go outside. I'll
15:44
Speaker 1: tell you the burning question that I'm having inside, is
15:47
Speaker 1: this a typical behavior? Like do they do the kids
15:50
Speaker 1: typically run around outside at night after dinner, and as
15:54
Speaker 1: you also pointed out, Nancy, where were his siblings? Like
15:57
Speaker 1: if everybody runs around outside, it that's one thing, isn't it?
16:02
Speaker 1: But why was this the only kid? And are his
16:05
Speaker 1: siblings older or younger than him? But why was he
16:08
Speaker 1: the only one that was outside playing at this time
16:10
Speaker 1: of night? Now I understand Eric Grace Art the parents.
16:14
Speaker 1: I want to follow up on what doctor Angel Arnold
16:16
Speaker 1: just said. The parents saw him in the home at
16:19
Speaker 1: six thirty and you still can't tell me he saw
16:23
Speaker 1: him out in the field. What I can tell you
16:26
Speaker 1: is that the investigators are keeping that close to them
16:29
Speaker 1: during this investigation. They've been talking to a lot of
16:32
Speaker 1: the neighbors, going from home to home, looking through surveillance video.
16:37
Speaker 1: But he was the last seen near his house at
16:41
Speaker 1: six thirty pm on July twenty seven, so they were
16:44
Speaker 1: searching shortly after that time that he disappeared. The first
16:49
Speaker 1: alert for the neighborhood like a reverse NIME when one
16:52
Speaker 1: call was around eight twenty pm, so a couple hours
16:55
Speaker 1: later and investigators are searching through that neighborhood. So it
16:58
Speaker 1: wasn't like he was missing for days when he was
17:02
Speaker 1: reported missing, it was just moments after he was last
17:05
Speaker 1: seen in that neighborhood that investigators were called out and
17:09
Speaker 1: they began their extensive search. You know what, the search
17:14
Speaker 1: has been extensive, but I'm still we've still got a
17:17
Speaker 1: big gaping hole in the timeline because I don't know
17:21
Speaker 1: who saw him out in that field. I know that
17:25
Speaker 1: they missing in endangered child lord goes out at eight
17:28
Speaker 1: twenty pm, But who saw him last at six thirty?
17:33
Speaker 1: Was that in the home or was that out in
17:35
Speaker 1: the field. How far away is the field from his home? Eric,
17:39
Speaker 1: So what we do know all investigators have said again
17:42
Speaker 1: is that a person. We don't know who that person is,
17:47
Speaker 1: but they said that somebody saw him near his home
17:50
Speaker 1: on this southwest ninth Street which dead ends into a
17:53
Speaker 1: farm field at six thirty. So investigators haven't released to
17:57
Speaker 1: us who last saw him, but somebody saw him on
18:01
Speaker 1: the street, which again goes towards the field. Guys, take
18:04
Speaker 1: a listen to more from the Fruitland Police Chief J. D. Huff.
18:10
Speaker 1: We also want to emphasize the Michael's family continues to
18:13
Speaker 1: be one percent cooperative with our investigation, and we're asking
18:17
Speaker 1: you to be extremely respectful of their privacy during this
18:20
Speaker 1: situation and we would appreciate that super difficult time, as
18:24
Speaker 1: you would know. So Michael's last scene wearing a light
18:28
Speaker 1: blue minecraft T shirt over here on my left, dark
18:32
Speaker 1: blue blocks or briefs. Child size eleven sandal and he
18:36
Speaker 1: stands three foot seven inches tall. He's fifty towns. He's
18:41
Speaker 1: got blonde hair, blue eyes, and he answers to the
18:44
Speaker 1: nickname Monkey. The Fruitland Police Department will continue to organize
18:48
Speaker 1: search and rescue operations with resources provided by the Idaho
18:51
Speaker 1: Mountain Search and Rescue Team, the Fruitland Fire Department, and
18:55
Speaker 1: the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and Others
19:12
Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Then you's also searched for
19:17
Speaker 1: a five year old little boy, goes on. Police have
19:19
Speaker 1: already looked through nearly two hundred garbage cans, drained canals
19:23
Speaker 1: and irrigation ditches, and even pumped a septic tank in
19:27
Speaker 1: the area. That's interesting to me, James shell Nut. Why
19:30
Speaker 1: would they pick out that particular septic tank. You know,
19:34
Speaker 1: there's some indication that the child may be in there.
19:37
Speaker 1: There's some indication that it is a possible dumping site
19:41
Speaker 1: for this child, and it's also possible indication that the
19:45
Speaker 1: child could have fell in there. I think there's several
19:47
Speaker 1: reasons that they could be doing that. I need to
19:50
Speaker 1: explain you to explain because a lot of people listening
19:54
Speaker 1: and watching right now, James shell Nutt, they don't know
19:57
Speaker 1: how you just fall into a septic tank. So I'll
20:02
Speaker 1: let you explain that. Well, I'll tell you this kids,
20:06
Speaker 1: kids can It depends on the top of septic tank too.
20:09
Speaker 1: Is this a top of septic tank that has an
20:12
Speaker 1: access on top of it? How large is the access
20:16
Speaker 1: or is this one of those that you would have
20:18
Speaker 1: to move the lid? Okay, I think that's that's what
20:21
Speaker 1: we need to also underground septic tanks, as Nancy, Oh, great,
20:27
Speaker 1: chuff in. So Nancy, this septic tank that they focused
20:30
Speaker 1: in on somebody head so there are what this makeshift
20:34
Speaker 1: wooden lid that was about two feet by six feet white.
20:37
Speaker 1: So that's an area that he could have easily fallen
20:41
Speaker 1: in there. It was just a wooden lid. All he
20:43
Speaker 1: would have to have done is pushed it up a
20:45
Speaker 1: little bit and he could have fallen in that tank.
20:48
Speaker 1: That sheds a lot of live because you know, the
20:50
Speaker 1: normal septic tank is you know that we see nowadays
20:52
Speaker 1: around most houses has got a small access hole in
20:55
Speaker 1: case it needs pumping, and to the extent it doesn't
20:58
Speaker 1: has a large concrete lid that a child couldn't have
21:00
Speaker 1: moved in. That does explain a lot, and it tells
21:02
Speaker 1: me that the police or at least put some credibility
21:07
Speaker 1: into the fact that the child may have left on
21:10
Speaker 1: his own age. I agree, because if they thought that
21:14
Speaker 1: the family was involved or the child had been kidnapped,
21:17
Speaker 1: they wouldn't be looking at a septic tank. I don't
21:21
Speaker 1: think to explore whether he could have fallen in there
21:24
Speaker 1: by accident or while playing. To you, Eric gross Arth,
21:27
Speaker 1: is a septic tank underground or do you have to
21:30
Speaker 1: climb up on top of it? From what I understand,
21:32
Speaker 1: this is one of those that's set in the ground,
21:34
Speaker 1: and of course they have those access points there that
21:38
Speaker 1: they can pull off when they do need to promplement
21:41
Speaker 1: maintenance provide maintments on the septic tanks. So from what
21:45
Speaker 1: I understand, they could have been a he was playing
21:47
Speaker 1: and happened to fall in, And that seems to be
21:49
Speaker 1: a large section of their searches, these canals and these
21:54
Speaker 1: other areas they were asking people to look. At one
21:57
Speaker 1: point for areas where Michael could hidden in their house,
22:01
Speaker 1: check their cars, check little crawl spaces, things like that.
22:04
Speaker 1: So early on in the investigation, they've been looking at Hey,
22:08
Speaker 1: this kid could have wandered off and been trapped somewhere
22:11
Speaker 1: that he was just exploring. He was inquisitive, and that's
22:15
Speaker 1: something that happened quite frequently with five year old kids.
22:19
Speaker 1: Take a listen to our friends, say kat VB News
22:22
Speaker 1: Channel seven. From the air and on the ground, crews
22:27
Speaker 1: from multiple agencies went door to door talking to neighbors,
22:31
Speaker 1: searching yards and nearby fields, all in hopes of finding
22:35
Speaker 1: five year old and Michael Jokes who've gone. Neighbors say
22:38
Speaker 1: they learned about the five year old's disappearance around seven
22:41
Speaker 1: thirty on Tuesday night. They say Michael was a happy
22:45
Speaker 1: kid who lived in this neighborhood with his parents and grandfather.
22:49
Speaker 1: Cynthia Walker lives in the neighborhood and was walking her
22:52
Speaker 1: dog as the search was happening. Five years old, I
22:56
Speaker 1: don't know that he would walk under too far without
23:02
Speaker 1: one of us snim by. Now there are volunteers, many
23:06
Speaker 1: many volunteers outten scanning the fields, and we just want
23:12
Speaker 1: to have Michael back. We want him home safe. You know,
23:16
Speaker 1: I'm curious about something you said, Eric Grossar, it's joining
23:19
Speaker 1: us from East Idaho News dot Com about the interstate.
23:24
Speaker 1: How close to his location where he's last scene is
23:28
Speaker 1: the interstate? Oh? You know, I'd say the closest distances
23:33
Speaker 1: thread to five farm fields away you run into the
23:37
Speaker 1: interstate there. Can you see this location from the interstate?
23:41
Speaker 1: You know, it's kind of hard to see exactly, like
23:46
Speaker 1: the two areas right there. It's very flat, Eric, it's
23:50
Speaker 1: very flat land. I'm looking right at it. That field
23:54
Speaker 1: as flat as a pancake. And the reason I'm asking,
23:57
Speaker 1: I don't know who on the panel remembers Shasta and
24:01
Speaker 1: Dylan Grownee. They were playing in an above ground pool
24:08
Speaker 1: in Cord Delane And if you fly over that and
24:13
Speaker 1: look down, you see nothing but green, nothing but farmland
24:19
Speaker 1: and green forest. That's it. And this freak was driving
24:25
Speaker 1: along the interstate, looks over and at a distance sees
24:31
Speaker 1: Shasta the little girl grownee at that above ground pool.
24:37
Speaker 1: Comes off the interstate and late in wait he goes in.
24:43
Speaker 1: He massacres the whole family to get Dylan, the little
24:47
Speaker 1: brother at Shasta grownee and keeps them for weeks and
24:52
Speaker 1: weeks and weeks. I think I covered it nearly every night,
24:55
Speaker 1: trying to find them, torturing them, molesting them. He would
25:01
Speaker 1: molest the little boy over and over and over, and
25:04
Speaker 1: he would strangle the little boy until he would pass
25:09
Speaker 1: out and then come back and wake back up, over
25:13
Speaker 1: and over and over. He ended up killing the little boy. Ultimately,
25:19
Speaker 1: Shasta was with her kidnapper and they were walking around
25:23
Speaker 1: inside like a seven to eleven, like a quick trip.
25:27
Speaker 1: And the woman there, the clerk, had seen Shasta on
25:34
Speaker 1: one of the programs and called in a tip and
25:37
Speaker 1: saved her life. That was in the middle of nowhere,
25:42
Speaker 1: no crime, zero crime rate. But this guy driving along
25:47
Speaker 1: the interstate happened to look over and in the distant
25:51
Speaker 1: seize the little girl, and then the whole thing unfolded.
25:55
Speaker 1: That's my curiosity. You said this is one hour from Boys,
25:59
Speaker 1: is that correct? Era, Yeah, so this is about an
26:01
Speaker 1: hour and twenty minutes from Boise, And talk about could
26:04
Speaker 1: somebody have seen Michael wandering away from that house on
26:08
Speaker 1: that field. So Michael's house stiffs on the field. But
26:10
Speaker 1: there's a little bit of an embankment down towards the
26:13
Speaker 1: end of that neighborhood where the road's up there, So
26:15
Speaker 1: it's not the clearest shot from the interstate to Michael's
26:19
Speaker 1: street there. But again it's always that possibility. Did he
26:23
Speaker 1: wander a good distance through these several farm fields to
26:27
Speaker 1: the interstate. I don't know. But again, you're about an
26:31
Speaker 1: hour from Boise, which is a large populated area. There
26:34
Speaker 1: is a crime over there in Boise, not more than Fruitland,
26:38
Speaker 1: but again it's it's hard to see it from that interstate.
26:43
Speaker 1: Do we know if there were crops coming up in
26:45
Speaker 1: that field at the time, and of so, what top
26:46
Speaker 1: of crops they are? I mean, this is prim planning
26:48
Speaker 1: cop just saying, shall not the field I'm looking at
26:52
Speaker 1: where everybody's searching. It's ankle. The growth is at your
26:57
Speaker 1: ankle ankle height. Crime stories with Nancy Grace, guys are
27:18
Speaker 1: talking about an unsolved case. The little boy is missing
27:22
Speaker 1: right now tipline two zero eight six four two six
27:25
Speaker 1: zero zero six. Its name Michael Vaughan, mother Brandy and
27:30
Speaker 1: father Tyler desperate to get their quote monkey back, that's
27:35
Speaker 1: his nickname. I want you to take a listen to
27:38
Speaker 1: our cut sixteen. This is Kim Feels at Katie VB
27:43
Speaker 1: news Channel seven. It has been almost a week since
27:45
Speaker 1: a five year old boy disappeared in Fruitland, and today
27:49
Speaker 1: the Fruitland Police Department is asking residents to check security
27:53
Speaker 1: footage and search their property as they and multiple other
27:56
Speaker 1: state and federal agency search for Michael Vaughan. Michael, who
28:00
Speaker 1: also goes by the nickname Monkey, was last seen six
28:03
Speaker 1: days ago on Tuesday evening in Fruitland. He has three
28:07
Speaker 1: feet seven inches weighs about fifty pounds. He was last
28:10
Speaker 1: seen wearing a blue shirt and boxer briefs. Fruitland Police
28:13
Speaker 1: say that they have combed through the entire city and
28:16
Speaker 1: even surrounding areas also enlisted the public's help to do so,
28:21
Speaker 1: and now they're asking residents to search their property and
28:25
Speaker 1: only their property, as other agencies combed through the area.
28:29
Speaker 1: They also say to again review any security footage if
28:32
Speaker 1: you have it, maybe even your doorbell cameras. Check that
28:34
Speaker 1: because you never know. And they're asking anybody to report
28:38
Speaker 1: credible information to the Payatt County Sheriff's Office. Speaking of
28:43
Speaker 1: ringing doorbell cameras and other types of home security videos,
28:47
Speaker 1: I understand Eric about sixty videos from residents and businesses
28:51
Speaker 1: have been collected and officers are coming through the footage
28:54
Speaker 1: as we speak right now. Yeah, they're going through all
28:57
Speaker 1: of this footage they're piecing together. When you haveighborhoods with
29:00
Speaker 1: rene video camera one after another, you can follow a
29:04
Speaker 1: person along until those cameras stops. So again they're piecing
29:07
Speaker 1: all of those together, trying to see who was in
29:09
Speaker 1: the area at the time, where was Michael going. All
29:12
Speaker 1: of that can be put together from these cameras that
29:15
Speaker 1: could have picked up something. But again they are not
29:19
Speaker 1: releasing everything that they found, of course, just hoping that
29:22
Speaker 1: they won't hurt well, you know what, doctor Angela Arnold
29:26
Speaker 1: psychiatrists joining us, This is a real call to arms
29:28
Speaker 1: for citizens, for people, because let me just remind you,
29:32
Speaker 1: for instance, just out of the blue, Molly Tippot's case
29:36
Speaker 1: was really cracked by home surmillance video that saw Molly
29:40
Speaker 1: jogging by this home was not connected to her in anyway,
29:45
Speaker 1: and then you see the perp going by in his car, reversing,
29:49
Speaker 1: going back and forth, and due to the distinct markings
29:52
Speaker 1: are the perps vehicle, they end up finding the vehicle
29:57
Speaker 1: and thereby finding the p and thereby finding Molly Tippets.
30:00
Speaker 1: So this is a time. For everybody out there that
30:04
Speaker 1: thinks they cannot make a difference, you can make a difference.
30:08
Speaker 1: You can make a difference, Jumpy and Angie with anything
30:12
Speaker 1: that they see, Nancy. And you know what bothers me
30:15
Speaker 1: a lot also is these criminals. If this was the
30:19
Speaker 1: act of a criminal, know that everyone has some sort
30:24
Speaker 1: of device now to record people that go by. So
30:29
Speaker 1: how bold, how emboldened do you have to be to
30:33
Speaker 1: take a child if you know or did somebody lure
30:36
Speaker 1: the child away? But I hope, like you said, Nancy,
30:41
Speaker 1: that people get on their ring doorbells and look at
30:44
Speaker 1: that tape and like you said, turn it over see
30:46
Speaker 1: if there's absolutely anything on there that can help, because
30:50
Speaker 1: this little boy has been gone for a long time,
30:52
Speaker 1: hadn't he I you know another thing, I'm curious. I
30:56
Speaker 1: just do not believe it was I don't have any
31:00
Speaker 1: fact to basis on right now, but I don't think
31:03
Speaker 1: it was one of the parents that saw the little
31:05
Speaker 1: boy out in the field, because if they had seen
31:08
Speaker 1: the parents have been totally cooperative with police, are doing
31:11
Speaker 1: whatever's required of them. I believe if they saw the
31:15
Speaker 1: little boy out in the field, they would have told
31:16
Speaker 1: them to come home. So I think someone was driving
31:20
Speaker 1: by or walking by and saw him and didn't think
31:23
Speaker 1: anything about it. How many times have you seen a
31:28
Speaker 1: situation and the thought goes through your mind that's not right,
31:31
Speaker 1: and you do nothing. You do nothing. Guys, we're getting
31:38
Speaker 1: a lot of texts and emails about what is being
31:41
Speaker 1: done to find Michael. I want you to take a
31:43
Speaker 1: listen to our cut eighteen. This is our now friend,
31:48
Speaker 1: Chief J D. Huff. Listen. You know five year olds
31:52
Speaker 1: can get into almost anything. So we've looked through nearly
31:55
Speaker 1: two hundred garbage cans, drained canals, and irrigation ditches, pumped
32:00
Speaker 1: the septic tank in the area that had to make shift.
32:02
Speaker 1: You buy six wooden plank lid. We've gathered sixty different
32:07
Speaker 1: videos from residential and business security cameras and we're combing
32:10
Speaker 1: through that data as we speak. To date, we've received
32:14
Speaker 1: one hundred and sixty three tips. All have been assigned
32:17
Speaker 1: to investigators for follow up, and many have already been cleared.
32:21
Speaker 1: Others are being worked on as we speak. We've conservatively
32:26
Speaker 1: estimated the number of man hours from law enforcement agencies
32:29
Speaker 1: to be in the hour or to be in the
32:30
Speaker 1: range of twenty five hundred man hours and that doesn't
32:34
Speaker 1: include our EMS search and rescue partners or the hours
32:38
Speaker 1: put in by the volunteers from our community. I got
32:42
Speaker 1: to tell you, I've never seen a presence like this,
32:45
Speaker 1: And on behalf of Michael's family and the citizens of
32:47
Speaker 1: the city of Fruitland, I sincerely extend our thanks to
32:51
Speaker 1: the chiefs and sheriffs who have came to our aid,
32:53
Speaker 1: providing manpower and resources over the last week and certainly
32:57
Speaker 1: in the weeks to come. That's not all. Take a
33:00
Speaker 1: listen to our cut twenty and the last hours. This
33:03
Speaker 1: is what the chief has to say. Drone flights will
33:06
Speaker 1: continue along with riverbank searches by boat. This morning, the
33:11
Speaker 1: search continued in the area below Southwest Date Street, where
33:14
Speaker 1: some heavy foliage was removed and a specialized canine was deployed.
33:19
Speaker 1: In the near future, we have a dive team scheduled
33:21
Speaker 1: to search pond in the slews down in the area
33:23
Speaker 1: of Southwest Date and our search effort and rescue efforts
33:28
Speaker 1: will continue as long as we have those resources available
33:30
Speaker 1: to continue. That you know what means a lot to me.
33:34
Speaker 1: Let me go out to you, Karen Smith, as that
33:36
Speaker 1: the parents are so cooperative of course, you first look
33:40
Speaker 1: in the home, and that's to be expected. You look
33:44
Speaker 1: at the parents and the siblings, as suspects, the grandfather,
33:48
Speaker 1: anybody's in and out of that home, because statistically speaking,
33:52
Speaker 1: that is where your part will lie. But I'm always reminiscent.
33:58
Speaker 1: I always think of Mark Class, who's the poster parent
34:02
Speaker 1: for this, When his daughter Polly went missing from a
34:06
Speaker 1: sleepover at her own home, he tells the cops here,
34:12
Speaker 1: take my DNA, my fingerprints, my hair. Wouldever search my place,
34:16
Speaker 1: search my car, search my business, do whatever you have
34:20
Speaker 1: to do. I don't care, so you can get past
34:22
Speaker 1: me and look for her kidnapper. And they did. These parents,
34:27
Speaker 1: from all I understand, are being completely cooperative. Yeah, and
34:32
Speaker 1: that is so important. You know, when you have a
34:35
Speaker 1: home where a child lives or in siblings, you go inside,
34:39
Speaker 1: You look at the home. You kind of take in
34:41
Speaker 1: all of the information. Are their toys? Is it fairly clean?
34:44
Speaker 1: You know? Is their food in the fridge? All of
34:47
Speaker 1: the things that we look for. As far as making
34:49
Speaker 1: sure it's not an abusive situation, it doesn't sound like
34:52
Speaker 1: that at all. These people are helping. They are desperate,
34:56
Speaker 1: and God bless them. I really hope they find Michael States.
35:01
Speaker 1: But here's the thing, Nancy, they are expanding this search
35:04
Speaker 1: out and further out and further out. You have Route
35:08
Speaker 1: thirty to the east of their home. You have Interstate
35:12
Speaker 1: eighty four to the west. You have the Snake River,
35:15
Speaker 1: which is right there at I eighty four, and that
35:17
Speaker 1: borders Oregon. So, you know, and I hate to say this,
35:22
Speaker 1: but the first place my mind went when I heard
35:24
Speaker 1: this little boy was missing under really strange circumstances like that,
35:28
Speaker 1: was where are all the sexual predators and sexual offenders
35:31
Speaker 1: in this area, because every single one of them needs
35:35
Speaker 1: to be investigated within a thirty to forty mile radius
35:38
Speaker 1: of this home. Well, Karen Smith, you're right, You're right,
35:43
Speaker 1: and there's nothing wrong with your mind or what you're thinking.
35:46
Speaker 1: That is s op to look at known or register
35:50
Speaker 1: sex offenders or people that have even had rests in
35:53
Speaker 1: the area, and you nab them first and question them
35:56
Speaker 1: and searched their homes. And I'm assuming that has been
36:00
Speaker 1: and done. Guys, I want you to take a listen
36:02
Speaker 1: to our cut twenty two from news Channel seven kat
36:06
Speaker 1: v B. Well, bring Michael home. Those are the words
36:10
Speaker 1: plastered on flyers, signed and social media posts around the
36:14
Speaker 1: Treasure Valley. Five year old Michael Vaughan has been missing
36:17
Speaker 1: for ten days. Search efforts around the city of Fruitland
36:20
Speaker 1: and nearby have not slowed down, and people around the
36:23
Speaker 1: area say they won't slow down until he know where
36:26
Speaker 1: he is. This little boy now missing for days and days.
36:32
Speaker 1: The tip line two zero eight six four two six
36:35
Speaker 1: zero zero six. Take a look at Michael vaughan Nancy
36:41
Speaker 1: Grace crime story signing off goodbye friend.