Boy abducted in 1994 found in Minnesota
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Richard Wayne Landers Jr. was just 5 years old when he and his paternal grandparents, who were upset over custody arrangements, disappeared from a small town in northern Indiana.
Nineteen years later, news that he has been found living under an assumed name in Minnesota left his mother overjoyed and "jumping up and down," her husband said Thursday shortly after police announced the break in the case.
Indiana State Police said the now 24-year-old Landers was found in Long Prairie, Minn., thanks in part to his Social Security number. His grandparents were living under aliases in a nearby town and confirmed his identity, investigators said.
Police declined to say whether the grandparents will face charges, citing the ongoing investigation.
Landers' mother, Lisa Harter, was "jumping up and down for joy" when investigators told her a few days ago that her son had been found, her husband Richard Harter told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
He said his wife is "the happiest woman on earth."
Harter said he and his wife were working with an attorney and hoped to reunite with his stepson soon. Police said Landers is married and expecting his first child.
Harter declined further comment and referred questions about the case to his attorney, who didn't immediately return phone messages Thursday. Investigators declined to release the names under which Landers and his grandparents had been living.
Police said the boy's paternal grandparents, Richard E. and Ruth A. Landers, abducted him in July 1994 because they were "upset over pending court proceedings" regarding his placement.
Police spokesman Sgt. Ron Galaviz said it appears the boy's father was never in the picture. Lisa and Richard Harter had married a year earlier.
Authorities believe the grandparents took the boy from their home in Wolcottville, about 50 miles southwest of South Bend, and fled. They were charged at the time with misdemeanor interference with custody, which was bumped up to a felony in 1999. But the charge was dismissed in 2008 after the case went cold.
Investigators reopened the case in September when Richard Harter turned over the boy's Social Security card to an Indiana State Police detective.
That turned up a man with the same Social Security number and date of birth living in Long Prairie, about 100 miles northwest of Minneapolis. A driver's license photo for the man appeared to resemble Landers, police said.
Indiana State Police then contacted Minnesota law enforcement agencies, which began investigating along with the FBI and the Social Security Administration.
The grandparents were found living in nearby Browerville, Minn.
"By all accounts, it didn't appear he suffered from any abuse, either physical or mental," Galaviz said.
I kind of had the same thing happen, My former inlaws thought they knew best and took my son. I didn't see him for 17 years. I cant wait for the day I can dance on their graves!!
 @signboy I would hunt them down and kill them.
Why did it take 19 years for the mom to produce a social security card for the missing boy? I can get one from SS in days. Also, it was the step-dad who turned over the social security card to detectives? ... something is not being reported here. I wouldn't be chasing those grandparents down to hell quite yet.
The story clearly states that the grandfather produced the social security card, not the mother.
It says the grandfather produced the social security card.
 @cdc Very good points. The video also reveals that the boy had always lived with his grandparents and that, at the time of the custody battle, the mother and step-father were living in their car.
The grand parents should go to prison. Kidnapping is still a crime and they should pay.
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@newdragon @DeadRabitz That isn't the point and you know it. They committed a crime and should be punished, otherwise we say its fine because the ends justify the means.
As a parent who child was abducted almost 5 years by someone our family knew well. I am really happy that the mother has closer and knows that her son is alright, but I also know the worry and fear that she may be feeling at this time. My prays are with you mom and I hope that one day soon, everyone will feel like a great happy family. You are very strong for making it this long xoxo
Okay, so now that the young man is married and expecting his first child they are going to step in an turn everything upside down for him. Since they never lost custody of the child there really isn't any need to get lawyers involved to reunite with their son. How it plays out for the grandparents is another story. I feel so sorry for this young man, no matter how it plays out it will affect him in an adverse way.
This makes me wonder again about the photographers at my daughter's wedding. A husband/wife couple who we visited with at length before hiring them for the wedding. We got along really well and while the guys were chatting, the wife shared with me that they had been raising their granddaughter. They had legal custody because their daughter had been into drugs and had numerous questionable boyfriends. However, the daughter was initiating court proceedings to try and regain custody, which this grandmother was really worried about since she still didn't feel things were good or stable in the daughter's life. Anyway, they did the wedding shoot and provided all the pics except the final wedding book, which we weren't paying for until pick up anyway. When they didn't call about paying for and picking up the book, we tried to get in touch and found that they had disappeared. Empty house, website gone, no leads on the internet, nothing new coming up under their names except for other people who were searching for them and wondering where they'd disappeared to. Anyway, ever since then I've wondered if their disappearance had something to do with the granddaughter and the custody issues.
This site has a little more info:
http://www.wane.com/dpp/news/local/lagrange-co-boy-missing-since-1994-found-in-minnesota
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I just can't believe they aren't going to charge the grandparents! I hope the FBI comes down on them at least.
I would have no problem tossing them in jail, regardless of how much time has passed. For the rest of their lives, as an example to anyone else considering anything like it.
OMG people, slow down and read the article again.
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 @deadcandance It wasn't their daughter. It was their daughter in law. That should clear it up for you.
 @annieg Not even their daughter-in-law but the mother of their sons child.
It's real simple; you don't get to simply ignore Court decisions when you don't like them. If the grandparents had some sort of a legitimate concern about the boys safety while in the custody of his mother than they should have said so in court.
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According to the article the boys biological father was never in the picture. That deadbeat dad is their son. Looks to me like they viewed raising their grandson as a chance at a do over.
@Petwlkr --In most states, grandparents don't have any legal rights to their grandchildren. They can submit declarations in reference to the court proceedings, but they don't hold much weight. They are viewed in the same light as a friend submitting a declaration. There's not a lot of information in this article, so I'm curious to know if the grandparents had a custody order and it was about to be changed and they didn't like it. They must have felt like the consequences were worth the risk, I suppose.Â
@winbridge40 Or they were/are just selfish a holes.
The fact that the grandparents were upset over custody arrangements make me question if they did not have custody of him already and maybe his mother was trying to get custody back after the grandparents had already been raising him. Did she have custody when she remarried? Did he ever even meet his new step dad? Those are some questions I would be asking before trying to judge the grandparents.
No matter the circumstances these grandparents belong in jail. Period.
@Phinn - oh yes, let's throw them in jail while we let real crimnals (pedophiles, etc) run around on the street. >sarcasm>Â
@Elaine2 They kidnapped a boy and kept him from his mother for 19 years and you don't think they desrve jail?
"By all accounts, it didn't appear he suffered from any abuse, either physical or mental," Galaviz said"
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Since when is stealing a child away from his Mom & the life he knew not mental abuse? I see no details as to why the Granparents took him, other than that "they were upset over court proceedings, so I say that not knowing if the child was living in an abusive situation before his abduction.Â
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@Shelly - we don't know if he was mentally abused. We only have this short article by KOMO. I would like to know more, too, but we probably will never know. If he wasn't abused by grandparents and he's okay now, I think we should leave it be.
@Elaine2 So if someone kidnapped your child as long as they didn't abuse your child you would be okay with it? That is essentially what you are saying. They took this mothers child from her for 19 years. Just because they didn't mistreat the child does not make it okay.
@ Elaine2 Mental abuse isn't just calling a kid names or yelling at them. If you can't see how taking a child away like that from the world he knows is mental abuse, I don't know if there is anything I can say in response to help you understand, other than I see it differently than you do. That being said, I did say that I didn't know if the child was in an abusive situation with his parents or not. If he was, then perhaps taking him away like that was the lesser of the two evils.Â
 @Shelly How do you know the grandparents stole him away from his mom and did not already have custody and been raising him and she was trying to get him back ?
@4ShotLatte Perhaps I incorrectly assumed that, but if I did it's because I'm thinking innocent people with custodial rights generally don't run off with the child, change the childs name, and evade the court system.Â
Only Richard knows how he was really treated and we should wait and see if the Grandparents did this for him. If they did this because the Mother was unfit then I applaud the Grandparents for doing "Anything possible" to get Richard away from harms way before something bad happened to him and he became a statistic.Â
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We have to wait and see what unfolds in this case to really know who was "in the wrong".
 @Seahawker Why would, or should it matter how he was treated? Jesus, are you serious? So it's ok to kidnap a child if you treat said child well?
"By all accounts, it didn't appear he suffered from any abuse, either physical or mental," Galaviz said
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I can't imaging what his mother went through....
Wow... all of those years stolen. I can't even imagine. Almost 20 years and a simple run of the SS# cracked the case. He likely had been using it for school and such for years. Wouldn't they have run his SS# in every state just to check? She could have had her son back years ago...
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Regardless, I hope their reunion is a happy one and that "little" Richard has a loving wife to help get him through the discovery that his parents are liars and kidnappers and the adjustment of getting to know his mother and stepfather again. Perhaps the upcoming birth of his own child will help him gain perspective and ease all sorrow. Best of luck!
 @Table9 It's entirely possible that the grandparents told him they were his grandparents, not his parents, and the whole story *from their perspective*. They may have thought the daughter wasn't a fit parent at the time (sounds like she was a single, unmarried woman) & felt they were doing what was best for the boy. From the limited info here, it doesn't sound like the young man suffered any ill effects from being raised by his grandparents.
 @katiemcc  @Table9 How many stories have we heard of courts awarding custody to a mother who then goes out and gets involved with some guy who is unfit to be a parent, then ends up abusing the child, etc. We don't know what really went on here, but if the grandparents saw a scenario like that in the boy's future, they may have done what they did to keep the boy from being abused. Without more info it's impossible to say what the real situation was.
 @uscit16791949 @Table9 YES absolutely I would remove a child I loved from a situation where they were in danger! And would willingly suffer the consequences to ensure the well-being of that child.
@uscit16791949 @dg54321 @katiemcc If I had a relative such as a niece, nephew or grandchild that was in imminent danger and the authorities were going to allow the abuser to maintain custody anyway then I might do something like this. Better for me to serve time in jail than risk the life of the child. If something were to happen to the child and I did nothing then I might as well be in jail. Better jail than that personal hell. Sometimes morals are morals with or without the law backing your decision. The consequences will fall where they may. But there is no evidence that this was the situation presented in this scenario. Therefore it is a moot point.Â
 @dg54321  @katiemcc  @Table9 Would you take it upon yourself to do something like this? If so, you should be locked up. Permanently.
@dg54321 @katiemcc I don't disagree. I was simply saying that Richard is going to have a hard time learning that he was kidnapped and being re-introduced to his mother and stepfather. He's an adult now with a wife and baby on the way. Hopefully having a life of his own now will soften the new hit of reality and media attention.
@katiemcc "Police spokesman Sgt. Ron Galaviz said it appears the boy's father was never in the picture. Lisa and Richard Harter had married a year earlier." He had a mother and stepfather when he was abducted. Regardless of whether he was abused or not, there are going to be "ill effects" of being kidnapped even if your grandparents are the kidnappers. Even if they told him "the truth" that they were taking him for his own good... being torn from your mother (even if she's not a really good one) is traumatic. And it wasn't their right to make that decision.
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Who's to say she was unfit? It's just as likely that they got jealous of the new stepfather. Maybe Little Richard started calling him Daddy and since their son, his biological father, wasn't in the picture they got scared they would no longer get to see their grandson. It was almost 20 years ago and details of the case weren't discussed in detail in this article. But either way... a crime was committed and a child was caught in the middle of it.
 @Table9 Actually I voluntarily allowed my parents to be the guardians of my child for the fist couple years of his life for exactly that reason - at the time I was unable to provide him a stable, secure home. And he got over it.
@katiemcc I'm sure if a relative saw you in a negative light and decided to kidnap your children you'd be fine with that. Your kids would be taken care of and they'd get over it. No foul.
 @Table9 I misread the part about "married a year earlier" - for some reason I had it that they married a year after the boy was taken away. Otherwise I stand by my statements.
Kids go through "trauma" & frequently come through it just fine. Divorce is traumatic. Marriage of a parent can be traumatic. LOTS of things are traumatic to a 5 year old. Maybe if kids weren't coddled & sent to therapy over every "traumatic" event, they'd learn to move on & not grow up with all the mental health issues today's society seems laden with.