Jaliek Rainwalker 12, msg 11/1/07 Cambridge-Greenwich, NY

[Nut44x4]

The Times Union (Albany, New York)
 
December 21, 2007 Friday
 
FBI to retrace last trip of father, boy ;
Man believes missing adopted son is living with black family somewhere
 
GREENWICH - The father of missing 12-year-old Jaliek Rainwalker will meet today with FBI agents who will retrace the pair's steps on the night the boy disappeared.

Washington County resident Stephen Kerr said Thursday he is "100 percent sure" that Rainwalker, his adopted son, is alive and living with an African American family in Albany or Troy. He said Rainwalker, who had one African- American parent and one white parent, has always wanted to live with a black family. Kerr is white.

Today, FBI agents and Kerr will meet in the parking lot of a Best Western hotel on Western Avenue in Albany. That's where Kerr picked up Rainwalker on Nov. 1, after a five-day stay at a respite home.

From the hotel, agents will retrace Kerr and Rainwalker's trip to the home of Kerr's father in Greenwich. Kerr and his son stayed the night in the house by themselves. The next morning, Rainwalker was gone and Kerr produced a note in the boy's handwriting suggesting he ran away.

FBI officials declined to comment Thursday.

Kerr said he's pleased to be dealing with the FBI because he wants to find his son. But he is convinced that Rainwalker is alive and living with a family who, for unknown reasons, is keeping him hidden.

"Every time we went through a predominantly African American neighborhood he was like a kid in a candy shop. `Can we stop there and go shopping?'... I'm 100 percent sure he's in an urban setting within an African American community," Kerr said.

Police don't think so. Since Rainwalker's disappearance on Nov. 1, police, forest rangers, and FBI agents have combed the woods and waterways around the Washington County towns of Greenwich and Cambridge.

There is no evidence to suggest Rainwalker is living in a nearby city, police said.

Kerr's remarks came in a phone call to the Times Union Thursday to dispute a newspaper article that said he was tearing down fliers advertising a Sunday evening vigil organized by other relatives and former caregivers of Rainwalker.

The "Light the Night for Jaliek" event at the Greenwich VFW will include lighting a dozen searchlights and signing a Christmas card for the boy.

Kerr denied tearing down posters, but did say he asked store owners to remove them. However, police sources and multiple eyewitnesses have said they saw Kerr removing the signs.

He said the event is being organized by people who have slandered him, and he therefore wants no part of it.

"They just want to say that I've killed him. They've done nothing except harass me and my family," said Kerr who has not been named a suspect. The event's organizers include Kerr's mother-in-law, Barbara Reeley, and Elaine and Tom Person, the Altamont couple who provided respite care for the emotionally troubled youth.

When asked if, in fact, he harmed Rainwalker in any way, or had anything to do with his disappearance, Kerr said, "No. I did not."

But he added, "I could understand how people picture me as a prime suspect. That is completely understandable." He said, though, that he's opened his credit card, banking and phone records to police and let them search two homes he had access to.

"I've done everything," he said.

"All they want to do is string me up and hang me but they don't have any evidence," he said.

Police dispute much of what Kerr told the Times Union, including Kerr's claim that he has placed 78 phone calls to Greenwich-Cambridge Police Chief George Bell since Rainwalker disappeared.

On Thursday, Bell said Kerr's behavior has been unusual throughout the ordeal, and that Kerr hasn't been the constant presence at the police station one might expect the parent of a missing child to be.

"If it was your 12-year-old child, where would you be?" Bell said. "This is a public building. Don't you think you'd be camped out on the doorstep?"
http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=574&topicId=100020825&docId=l:719841377&start=14

[NYC_lover]

Interesting facts in this case IMO.
Kerr said he's pleased to be dealing with the FBI because he wants to find his son.

Kerr says his family is not holding up well and some have questioned Kerr's cooperation in the search. To date, he has not taken a lie detector test. Still, he says he has not lost hope his son will be found.

Kerr believes Jaliek ran away after a fight between the two of them.

[Nut44x4]

The Times Union (Albany, New York)
 
December 24, 2007 Monday
Keeping the flame for missing boy;
About 50 people gather in Greenwich to ``Light the Night for Jaliek'' 
GREENWICH - Jaliek Rainwalker's likeness was all around the room.

Dozens of photographs of the missing boy flashing his now-familiar smile in happier times hung in the Greenwich VFW to boost the spirits of the 50 people who congregated there Sunday to remember the 12-year-old who disappeared nearly two months ago.

"The idea is to keep this in the public eye and to let the public know we don't want Jaliek forgotten," said Elaine Person, the Altamont woman who watched Rainwalker when his adoptive parents needed a break. So at 6:45 p.m. - the exact time on Nov. 1 that Person says she saw Rainwalker for the last time - the somber and emotional "Light the Night for Jaliek" ceremony opened with inspirational and holiday music.

The event culminated with the lighting of seven large flashlights to symbolize the search for Rainwalker. Participants spoke words like "understanding," "family unity" and "peace" as they switched on the lights.

"We hold Jaliek deep in our heart and you are here to represent your feelings also," said the Rev. Peggy Were, who officiated the event.

People scrawled messages to the boy on a poster board.

Eleven-year-old Kylee Bentley and her grandparents Gail and Jeff Gillis of Argyle were among those who turned on one of the flashlights.

The girl said she and Rainwalker took karate classes together in Greenwich.

"Every time I saw him, he was always happy and smiling," said Bentley.

Neither Rainwalker's adoptive father, Stephen Kerr, nor Kerr's wife, Jocelyn McDonald, attended the event. The boy's disappearance has strained relations between Kerr and Person.

Some people in Greenwich complained that Kerr had been seen around town removing signs touting Sunday's vigil. Police said they had received calls from people perplexed by the behavior, but Kerr insisted he did not tear down the posters. He did, however, say he asked some store owners to remove them.

He contends Person and her husband, Tom, have slandered him and he wants no part of the event.

Rainwalker disappeared on the day Kerr picked him up in a motel parking lot in Albany. Rainwalker, a troubled boy who relatives said could be unruly, had spent the previous five days in the care of the Persons, an Altamont couple who opened their home to children to allow their parents a break.

The night he picked up the boy, Kerr and Rainwalker stayed the night by themselves in the Greenwich home of Kerr's father. The next morning, Rainwalker was gone and Kerr produced a note in the boy's handwriting suggesting the boy had run away.

Police have not named any suspects in the disappearance, though they have said they fear for the child's safety. Police have searched wooded areas and streams around Greenwich and neighboring Cambridge.

On Thursday, Kerr met with the FBI to retrace his steps on the night Rainwalker disappeared.

Kerr told the Times Union last week that he believes Rainwalker is living with an African-American family in Troy or Albany. Rainwalker had one black biological parent and, Kerr said, always wanted to live with a black family. Kerr is white.

Elaine Person has questioned Kerr's statements about the note Rainwalker left, suggesting it was a letter of apology Kerr insisted he write for misbehavior rather than a "goodbye" note.
http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=574&topicId=100020825&docId=l:720733598&start=3

[bleachedblack]

Search Scaled Back for Missing Boy

Greenwich, New York - December 26, 2007

Authorities in New York have scaled back their search for a missing boy.

12-year-old Jaliek Rainwalker has not been seen since his father left him with a family member two months ago, at a home in Greenwich, New York.

Police suspect foul play and the boy's adoptive father is the prime focus of their investigation. Several areas in New York and Vermont have been searched, but there has been no sign of the little boy.

A $25,000 reward is being offered in the case

http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=7542595&nav=menu183_2_4

[bleachedblack]

Vigil held for missing New York youngster

Wednesday, December 26
GREENWICH, N.Y. — Police have scaled back the search for 12-year-old Jaliek Rainwalker, but Elaine Person, who spent the six days with him before he disappeared, did not want to let the case become a cold one. On Sunday, Person held a vigil at the VFW post on Abeel Avenue to keep Rainwalker from being forgotten and announced that a book will be written about the missing boy.

"This is not a candlelight vigil. We are using spot lights, and we have 12 of them, one for each year of Jaliek's life, to light up the sky and search," said Person. "The purpose is to keep awareness of his disappearance in the public eye."

Person took care of Rainwalker multiple times including the six days prior to his disappearance at her Altamont respite home. She recently said that a goodbye note written by Rainwalker was a homework assignment given to him by his adoptive father, Stephen Kerr of Greenwich, but refused to comment about that during the vigil.

"In those six days, we came to love that child," said Person.

 All who attended the vigil were given a Christmas ornament with Rainwalker's picture on it. The ornaments, made by Mary Jane Protus of Greenwich and are magnetic, so
they can be used after the holiday on refrigerators, said Person.

 The case will be in the public eye as TV news cameras, photographers and reporters surrounded the spotlights and a large Christmas card, made for Jaliek by Jackie Killeen of Nassau and signed by over 50 people who attended the event.

 It was announced that a book titled, "An Inconvenient Child," is planned about Rainwalker's life. The book will be written by Alex S. DeFazio and Stephen Gnojewski from New Jersey.

 The book was described as "a tale of a beautiful, intelligent and loving child born to a drug-addicted mother on the flood of his grandmother's kitchen; shuttled through a series of seven foster and adoptive homes only to disappear at the young age of 12 in a mysterious case fraught with strange and inexplicable clues."

A Web site for the book is expected to be operational after Jan. 1, and a meet the author night is to be scheduled in the upcoming weeks. All proceeds will be used to provide post-adoptive services for the Capital Region, according to a release from Person.

The vigil began with a prayer by the Rev. Peggy Were at 6:45 p.m., the time Kerr picked up Rainwalker from Person's home. Were said that Rainwalker was a child who could light up a room and is worth remembering and looking for.

The crowd then moved outside, where friends and families, some of which had taken care of Rainwalker, lit up the spotlights.

"He was a sweet kid," said Colleen Mahar of Schodack, who worked in a haunted house that Rainwalker often visited, after lighting the seventh spotlight. "He said if he were old enough, he'd want to work there."

Rainwalker has been missing since Nov. 1. Police have investigated more than 200 leads, used infra-red cameras to search in the Hudson River, scoured the Greenwich area, areas near the Batten Kill Country Club in Greenwich, where two sets of police dogs showed interest in a pond near the 5th hole, and searched within a five-mile radius of Kerr's home on Hill Road.

Divers searched Carter's Pond in Cossayuna and in the Batten Kill River.

Cambridge/Greenwich Police Chief George Bell has said that he doubts that Rainwalker has gotten far.

A $25,000 reward, offered by Rainwalker's adoptive mother Joselyn McDonald, and a short piece on the show "America's Most Wanted," turned up no evidence of his whereabouts, said Bell.

There are six investigators, from the FBI, New York State Police and the Cambridge/Greenwich Police, working on the case, according to Bell, but there are no active searches.

"Jaliek is still an active investigation," said Bell.

Last week, the FBI followed the path Kerr took when bringing Rainwalker back to Greenwich after his stay with Person but did not find any clues.

http://**/headlines/ci_7810612


   

[bleachedblack]

Former foster parents create task force to find missing Greenwich boy

 December 28, 2007
Editor's Note: A correction was made to the story at 1:10 p.m, changing the information related to the custody of Jaliek's foster siblings.

GREENWICH -- Five foster parents who cared for Jaliek Rainwalker during the years before he was placed at a home in Greenwich have started a task force dedicated to finding the missing 12-year-old.

Altamont resident Elaine Person will head the group — taking a leave of absence from her job as executive director of a "small non-profit agency" to guide it — leading activities that will include fundraisers, a toll-free hotline and at least one Web site. They also plan educational efforts about foster care and adoption.

The group will begin its effort with a press conference Tuesday morning in Greenwich, at which a new reward will be offered and another "exciting" announcement will be made, Person said.

Person and her husband run a "respite home" for foster children, where Jaliek spent six days before he disappeared.

Jaliek’s adopted father, Stephen Kerr, picked the boy up at that home the night of Nov. 1. Kerr reported him missing the next morning, prompting a massive manhunt that has not turned up any clues to the boy’s whereabouts.

Kerr’s mother-in-law and father-in-law also will be part of the task force, but Person said Kerr and his wife have not been asked to take part.

Person and the mother-in-law, Barbara Reeley of Poestenkill, have made it clear they believe Kerr has not told all he knows about the circumstances of Jaliek’s last known contact Nov. 1-2. They’ve criticized him for refusing to take a lie detector test in the first days of the inquiry.

"First of all, they wouldn’t (take part)," Person said. "Second of all, we don’t trust them."

Kerr said Friday that it was "wonderful" that the group was going to step up efforts to help find Jaliek.

"Anything anyone can do to help me find my son, I’m in favor of," he said.

But he bristled at accusations made by Person and the others who have publicly questioned whether he had a hand in Jaliek’s disappearance.

"All of these people had a chance to adopt Jaliek before us but didn’t," he said. "They let this boy down. We didn’t."

He said the public does not know the efforts he and his wife, Jocelyn McDonald, went to to try to help the troubled boy, including an intense, two-week therapy session which Kerr, McDonald and his wife took part in with Jaliek.

Kerr has said he believes Jaliek -- who had a history of emotional problems -- ran away and is in hiding somewhere.

He has said he did not take the lie detector test because police violated his rights and threatened him.

Cambridge-Greenwich Police Chief George Bell said Person discussed the task force’s intentions with police Thursday, and he was "100 percent behind it."

"I think it’s a good idea," he said. "They want to put up their own reward and do whatever they can to help us."

Kerr and McDonald have offered a $25,0000 reward in the case, with the amount dropping by $5,000 for each month the case is not solved to try to entice those who know something to come forward earlier.

Person said she hopes to.

She said she believes there is a lack of oversight in the foster care system, and had there been oversight Jaliek might not have been allowed to stay in the Kerr home in East Greenwich, where there was no running water and limited electricity in recent years. She said Jaliek told her he was locked in his bedroom at times at Kerr’s former home in Salem.

They’ve also questioned why Kerr and McDonald continued to receive $1,500-a-month payments from Albany County to be foster parents for Jaliek after his disappearance.

The couple’s other children were out of their care temporarily, in part because the East Greenwich home where they were staying did not have a certificate of occupancy. Kerr and McDonald have been staying recently with the children at the Hill Street, Greenwich, home that is owned by Kerr’s father and where Jaliek was last seen Nov. 1.

Person said a Web site will be used to keep the public informed about the investigation.

Meanwhile, Bell said he plans to meet with the State Police in the coming days to go over the agencies’ next step in the investigation. The State Police, FBI, state Department of Environmental Conservation and Washington County Sheriff’s Office have worked with Cambridge-Greenwich Police.

The task force’s press conference is to be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Washington Square Deli in Greenwich. The Web site will be set up at www.findjaliek.org.

http://www.poststar.com/articles/2007/12/28/news/latest/doc477528af6445f952345167.txt

[bleachedblack]

Father of missing child offered second chance at lie detector

 January 8, 2008 6:15 PM EST
GREENWICH — The adopted father of Jaliek Rainwalker has been asked again to take a lie detector test, but five days later, police have not gotten an answer to that request.

Police on Friday asked Jeffrey McMorris, lawyer for Stephen Kerr, if Kerr would take a polygraph test administered by the FBI, but as of Tuesday afternoon, police had not heard back from either Kerr or his lawyer, a law enforcement source familiar with the matter said.

Barbara Reeley, Rainwalker’s adopted maternal grandmother, said she was aware of the fact police planned to make the request, but she said Tuesday that she had not heard whether an answer was given.

Cambridge-Greenwich Police Chief George Bell would not discuss the matter Tuesday but said police planned to release more information on the investigation in the coming days. He would not elaborate.

A phone message left for Kerr on Tuesday was not returned. On Friday afternoon, Kerr said he was not aware of a new request that he take a polygraph test.

McMorris would not say whether he was asked to allow Kerr to take a lie detector test.

"I’m not going to discuss any of the discussions we’ve had relative to the FBI," McMorris said.

He added, though, "We’re not considering any kind of polygraph." McMorris has pointed out the tests are not admissible in court and said they are considered unreliable by many.

A spokesman for the FBI in Albany, who identified himself only as "Dave," said the office does have equipment to administer a polygraph test, but he said he was not familiar with the Rainwalker case or whether arrangements had been made for a possible test of Kerr.

Kerr turned down a request to take a State Police-administered polygraph test in early November, the first week of the investigation of Rainwalker’s Nov. 2 disappearance. Kerr has said he did so because investigators were violating his rights and mistreating him, and a lawyer he consulted at the time told him he should not take it.

Police floated the idea of the FBI test after McMorris publicly requested last month that the FBI take over the investigation, saying Cambridge-Greenwich Police and State Police were treating Kerr as a suspect with the belief Rainwalker is dead, instead of focusing on the possibility he ran away and is in hiding.

McMorris said that’s what Kerr and his wife, Jocelyn McDonald, believe happened. Kerr has been posting fliers bearing Rainwalker’s picture around the Albany area.

"We believe we’re being fully cooperative with what we’re being asked to do that would lead to Jaliek returning home," McMorris said.

McMorris also addressed concerns raised by former foster parents of Rainwalker’s about Kerr and his wife continuing to receive a $1,500-a-month payment from Albany County’s Department of Social Services for caring for Rainwalker. He said the family continues to receive the money because they have expenses for Rainwalker’s care.

"They have a son, and they need to provide for him," McMorris said.

He said the broaching of the issue over the payment "is more indicative of the hostility" exhibited by the former foster parents toward Kerr.

That hostility between the two sides apparently manifested itself Tuesday afternoon, when police were called to the Kerr/McDonald home on Hill Street in Greenwich by McDonald, who was complaining that Reeley — her mother — wouldn’t leave. Bell said the complaint is under investigation and may result in a non-criminal trespass charge against Reeley.

"She (Reeley) said she brought her grandkids Christmas gifts, and it just went from there," Bell said.

Reeley has made it clear she does not believe Kerr has been completely forthcoming as to what he knows of Rainwalker’s disappearance.

The troubled boy was reported missing by Kerr on Nov. 2, after spending several days at a respite home in Albany County because of threats of violence he made to a 4-year-old. Kerr told police he awoke that morning to find Rainwalker gone, and a note in which Rainwalker wrote, "Goodbye."

http://www.poststar.com/articles/2008/01/08/news/latest/doc4784041575a02433474443.txt

[Nut44x4]

http://www.findjaliek.org/

Just look at this precious boy...he is so handsome!  I just do not have a good feeling at all about this tragic missing persons story 

[pdh3]

What an adorable child! And it seems as though he had no one at his adopted home who really loved him. What a tragedy.
I also have a bad feeling about the outcome for this beautiful little boy.
The adopted Dad is guilty of harming Jaliek IMHO.
Does anyone care enough to keep this case alive? Are they still looking for him?

[Nut44x4]

He is listed on the AMW website now and I just noticed this blog has a rally update>>>
http://accordingtokim.wordpress.com/2008/01/12/rally-for-jaliek/


Rally for Jaliek
January 12, 2008 at 12:02 pm (Jaliek Rainwalker, Missing people, News)


I received an email that there will be a rally for Jaliek tomorrow, Sunday Jan 13th.  Here’s the information:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – 1/11/08Elaine PersonFind Jaliek Task Force518-861-6262518-527-6868 celleperson@capital.net 

WHAT HAPPEN TO JALIEK RAINWALKER NEWS CONFERENCE



On December 30, 2007, Doreathea Brace, a slightly built African American woman came out of church and was met on the street by Stephen Kerr, the adopted father of Jaliek Rainwalker.  Jaliek is the 12 year-old who disappeared from Greenwich, NY over ten weeks ago on November 1st.  Stephen Kerr was the last person to see Jaliek alive and has stated that he believes his adopted son ran away and joined a gang in Albany or is living with an African American family in a rural area.

As Mr. Kerr attempted to hand her a reward flyer, she confronted him with angry allegations that it was he, who had harmed Jaliek.  It was all caught on tape and later shown on the news.  Doreathea has had many sleepless nights since that encounter and is driven to help find Jaliek.  She is also outraged at Mr. Kerr’s allegations about the Black community hiding this child.

She has organized a news conference/rally scheduled for Sunday, January 13th at the Albany Housing Authority at 200 South Pearl Street in Albany at 3:00pm.  Doreathea has spent many hours passing out her own flyers advertising the event.  It reads, “Women, Mothers, all females of all Races.  Please come out.  Tell the authorities this young man has become a victim of foul play.  Come one, come ALL!!  Let’s STOP THE KILLING OF OUR CHILDREN!”

[Nut44x4]

http://wordpress.com/tag/jaliek-rainwalker/

[pdh3]

I'm so glad Ms. Bruce hasn't let this case die. God Bless her. It's a relief to know that this child does have someone who cares enough to keep looking for answers.

[pdh3]

I meant to add.....thanks for the info!

[bleachedblack]

Parents of Missing Boy May Move to Vermont

 January 18, 2008
The parents of a missing boy, who are under a cloud of suspicion, may move to Vermont.

Jaliek Rainwalker, 12, disappeared from his home in Washington County, New York, on November first. Since then, police have searched in New York and parts of Vermont where the family used to camp.

The missing boy's adoptive father, Stephen Kerr, is being investigated. He was the last person to see the boy alive and police have named him as a "person of interest" in the case. Police say Kerr is not cooperating with police and has refused to take a lie detector test. He has no alibi for the night Rainwalker went missing.

Kerr has denied any wrongdoing and police have not charged him with any crime. He says he believes the boy ran away.

Now Kerr, and his wife, are reportedly looking to buy property in West Rupert, Vermont.

http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=7743097&nav=4QcS

[Nut44x4]

They know this boy is dead and isn't coming home. NO ONE WOULD MOVE in just a little over 2 months after a child goes missing!! Especially if they thought he ran away and there would be a chance he would come home. They know he won't be. MO

[bleachedblack]

They know this boy is dead and isn't coming home. NO ONE WOULD MOVE in just a little over 2 months after a child goes missing!! Especially if they thought he ran away and there would be a chance he would come home. They know he won't be. MO

I completely agree Nut44x4 . I hope their move gets stopped by authorities but it isn't likely. Makes me suspicious they are trying to hide from something.

[Nut44x4]

The Times Union (Albany, New York)
 
January 18, 2008 Friday
 
Psychics in search for boy;
``Intuitives'' fail to turn up new information in Jaliek Rainwalker case
 
By DAN HIGGINS Staff Writer
 

Three psychics joined the search for 12-year-old Jaliek Rainwalker last week, but information they offered officials about the missing boy failed to best anything offered by basic police science.

According to relatives, two of the psychics, or "intuitives" as they prefer to be called, had similar visions of where Rainwalker's body might be, which led to a meeting with police, relatives, a third psychic and searchers last Thursday.

The group visited wooded sites in Greenwich not far from the Cossayuna home Rainwalker shared with his adoptive parents and four siblings.

The search turned up nothing.

But it highlights the fact that 10 weeks since the boy was last seen, police still have virtually no clue as to where Rainwalker, missing since Nov. 1, might be.

"If someone contacts us and says they have a vision, and it fits in to where we believe (Rainwalker) might be, and we have someone who can go with them, yes, we'll do a search," said George Bell, chief of the Greenwich-Cambridge Police Department, who is in charge of the Rainwalker investigation. He readily admits his frustrations with the case.

Elaine Person, who has provided respite care for the emotionally troubled Rainwalker and saw him a day before he disappeared, said she appreciates any help she can find. She defended the use of psychics.

"I like to keep an open mind," she said. "When you have a child who is missing, you owe it to that child to use every resource at your disposal," she said. "And, who's to say that maybe people have access to a kind of information that the rest of us don't have?"

So many psychics have been contacting Rainwalker's relatives and police that the Web site about the search, www.findjaliek.org, includes a link inviting intuitives to contact them by e-mail.

Meanwhile, Rainwalker's adoptive father, Stephen Kerr, is trying to move the family to West Rupert, Vt., about 10 miles east of their Washington County home. That information was reported by WNYT NewsChannel 13 and confirmed by Bell, who said he has been speaking with Kerr daily for the last several weeks.

Someone who answered Kerr's cellphone on Thursday said Kerr was not available to talk.

Rainwalker went missing after spending the night of Nov. 1 alone with Kerr at Kerr's father's home in Greenwich. Kerr's father, Graham, was out of the country at the time.

Rainwalker, who has a long history of emotional problems and outbursts, had just spent five days with Elaine and Tom Person of Altamont, who cared for Jaliek for several days at a time to provide respite to the family.

The relationship had grown so stressful, in fact, that Kerr and wife Jocelyn McDonald were planning to undo their adoption of Rainwalker at the time he disappeared. It's not clear how far along they were in that process the night of Nov. 1.

When Kerr awoke Nov. 2, he said he found a note in Rainwalker's handwriting, in which he apologized for hurting people. Kerr said the note is proof his son ran away from home. Elaine Person believes the note was a homework assignment Rainwalker completed while at her house. Rainwalker had to apologize for allegedly making a sexually explicit threat to a 4-year-old in the family's home-school group.

Kerr has said he believes that his son is living with an "African-American gang or family" in Albany, Schenectady or Troy. Rainwalker is biracial and has always been fascinated with black culture, said Kerr, who is white. Police said there is no evidence to support Kerr's theory.

On Monday, Bell and State Police investigators announced Kerr is a person of interest in the case, though there is not enough evidence to charge Kerr with a crime. Police said they have an image from a surveillance camera that captured the image of a van similar to one Kerr was driving on the night of Rainwalker's disappearance. Police want to re-examine the van but Kerr has denied their request.
http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=574&topicId=100020825&docId=l:730815259&start=12

[Nut44x4]

Jaliek’s family and friends work to keep his memory alive

GREENWICH, N.Y. - Jaliek Rainwalker’s grandmother Barbara Reeley said, “My heart breaks more and more. If Jaliek is not alive, I want some closure. I want to be able to put him to rest. It just eats at me day after day after day.”

Friends and family of Jaliek said they can’t rest until they find out what happened to him in early November when he disappeared. The Find Jaliek Task Force held a bake sale to raise money that will go toward the reward for any information leading to Jaliek’s whereabouts, but people here said, more importantly, they’re keeping his memory alive.

Jaliek’s Respite Home Caregiver Tom Person said, “We feel that it’s very important that it’s not forgotten and people know that we care about Jaliek and we want him found or whatever happened, we want to know.”

Kylee Bentley, 11, said, “He was always happy all the time and always smiling. He was always goofing around.”

Even though the goal of this group is to find Jaliek or find closure, they said the Find Jaliek Task Force will exist indefinitely.

“Until we know he is either safe and alive or until we find his body, it is very hard for us to have any peace of mind,” said Reeley.

Jaliek’s former foster mother Jodi Schoen said, “He loved to run, love to play soccer and play little jokes. He loved to read and he loved his dinosaurs. He was our son and you don’t stop loving someone just because he can’t live with you.”

Meanwhile, we’re told investigators continue to follow up on each lead they receive and are in constant contact with Jaliek’s family. Police named Jaliek’s adoptive father Stephen Kerr a person of interest last week, but no one has been charged with any crime in connection with his disappearance.

http://accordingtokim.wordpress.com/2008/01/22/jalieks-memory-will-not-fade/

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Elaine Person, the Altamont respite worker who cared for Jaliek Rainwalker, says his adoptive parents allow family members to run around their East Greenwich home naked.

Strange Accusations Against Adoptive Parents of Missing Boy

Last Update: 1/25 5:38 pm
There are strange new allegations against the adoptive parents of a Greenwich boy who's been missing since November 1st.

An Altamont respite worker who spent time caring for 12-year-old Jaliek Rainwalker says there were a lot of bizarre things happening at the boy's primary home in East Greenwich.

Elaine Person has compiled a list of what she calls "factual statements" on her web site: www.findjaliek.org.

Person explains, "What we wanted to do was to put them all together in one place where people could go to see them."

Among the allegations, that Stephen Kerr and Jocelyn McDonald, Jaliek's adoptive parents, let family members run around naked.

Person says Kerr also punished his adopted son by dunking him in a creek.

She alleges that, on the morning of Jaliek's disappearance, Kerr took a shower and returned movies before calling police to notify them that his adopted son was gone.

Cambridge-Greenwich Police Chief George Bell tells FOX23 News, "That was within his own admission to us early on which we thought was kind of weird in itself that he took care of all of this other stuff before he called police that morning."

Chief Bell confirms all of Person's accusations excepted the so-called "naked time."

Investigators say there's been nothing easy about this case.

Police tell us they've finally located Jaliek's biological mother.

Chief Bell tells us law enforcement officials in Clearwater, Florida obtained a DNA sample from her on Friday.

Investigators still can't get a DNA sample from Stephen Kerr.

Kerr also refuses to take a polygraph test.

Bell says he doesn't have enough information for a warrant or to name Kerr as a suspect.

Chief Bell defends his public crusade against Kerr, the last person to see Jaliek alive.

"It's not so much what the police have done to Stephen; it's how Stephen has portrayed himself through media and whatever and his lack of cooperation that has put him as a person of interest in this case," Bell tells us.

Investigators say their priority remains finding Jaliek.

Person is recruiting search volunteers.

She tells us, "We haven't lost hope of finding him; we just don't feel that he's going to be found alive."

FOX23 News reached both Stephen Kerr and Jocelyn McDonald on their cell phones on Friday.

Neither one would comment specifically about the new allegations.

Kerr tells us his main goal is still finding Jaliek.

http://www.fox23news.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=d11781f8-edf8-4554-bd68-0cc195f010c2

[bleachedblack]

Cops to Rainwalker letter writer: Send more information

 Saturday, February 02, 2008
GREENWICH -- Police asked Friday that whoever wrote the letter sent to area newsrooms that indicates Jaliek Rainwalker is alive send further correspondence to "provide further proof Jaliek is well."

Cambridge-Greenwich Police Chief George Bell said an FBI forensic analysis of the letter had not been completed as of Friday afternoon.

Police are hoping the letter or the envelope it was sent in will yield some clues -- such as fingerprints or DNA -- as to who sent it and whether that person has any connection to the missing 12-year-old or whether he or she was simply perpetrating a hoax.

Copies of the letter were sent to newspapers and television stations around the region this week, and most media outlets that received them turned them over to police.

The letter reads:

"Jaliek still alive

Needed a foot soldier for this war on drugs

Picked him up Rt 40 Post 30

He's ok

No fake

He says ask his Mama and Papa

Who are the macaronni family?

My cat name diamond?

Why does Franti yell fire?

Don't try to look we are not there."

The letter did not have a return address, but the one received by

The Post-Star

was postmarked "Westchester, NY." There's a Westchester County downstate, but the only Westchester postmark appears to be in the north Bronx.

Jeffrey McMorris, a lawyer for Rainwalker's adoptive parents, said he was heartened to hear police were taking the letter seriously.

He said Thursday that the letter contains information only Rainwalker would have known, and his clients, Stephen Kerr and Jocelyn McDonald were excited that it was a sign Rainwalker is still alive.

"I hope they're making some pleas in that area -- maybe putting up some fliers or posters," McMorris said.

McMorris and his clients have theorized since his Nov. 2 disappearance that Rainwalker ran away, and they have chastised police for concluding he is likely dead and focusing on Kerr as a "person of interest."

Neither Kerr, Rainwalker's adoptive father, nor McDonald, his adoptive mother, responded to calls for comment on the letter Thursday or Friday.

Bell said police are hoping to sit down with McMorris, Kerr and McDonald in the coming days to discuss the letter and the significance of the comments.

He said Rainwalker apparently had a cat named Diamond, but the significance of the other statements in the typed letter were not yet known.

Whether they begin searching the Westchester County area will depend at least in part on what Kerr and McDonald can tell police about the letter and whether police can draw any conclusions about its authenticity, the chief said.

"To say we're just going to pack up the whole show and move to Westchester County, based on this letter, I can't say that right now," Bell said. "We can't just go down and search a five-mile area around the post office in Westchester County."

http://www.poststar.com/articles/2008/02/02/news/local/13310307.txt