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Two-year-old boy missing from rural home
By Kevin
Walker
A child is
lost. Even at 11:00 p.m. it stirs something
inside. I guess it is knowing that it is cold,
and dark out, and that it is for a two year old.
The team was
activated, and rolled to the Elsinore Sheriff's
office. After a short wait there, a deputy led us
to Rancho California, and then out into the maze
of dirt roads and citrus groves that make up the
rural area of Rancho California. Upon arriving at
the mobile home where young Frank (Frankie)
Shaffer lived, Walt Walker and Larry Roland spoke
with the parents. They learned that Frankie was
last seen sitting on the steps eating a burrito,
and when his mom stepped back out to see how he
was doing, he and his dogs (Lady, Happy and
Freckles) were gone. The border patrol was called
in, but found nothing in the orange grove that is
next to the mobile home. Frankie was only wearing
blue jeans, t-shirt and tennis shoes, and it was
now quite cool out.
After giving
the info to the members, everyone broke up into
teams of two and headed off to the North of the
home to search while the sheriff's explorers
searched the nearby orange grove one more time.
My teammate Jim Garvey and I walked out about two
miles to where a stream runs the majority of the
year. It was the type that erodes the banks
severely during heavy rains, just right for a
little one to fall off of. As we slowly searched
along the bank we could hear the eerie sound of a
coyote pack howling somewhere out in the
darkness. One could not help but think about the
recent incident in the San Fernando Valley, when
a coyote attacked and killed a young child.
Normally teams
stop in the early morning hours for a couple
hours of sleep. But not in this case. Everyone
continued on through to first light. At about
6:00 a.m. the teams returned to report what they
had found. Larry Roland and Craig Beasley
reported that they saw one print next to a dirt
road approximately one mile north of Frankie's
home. After eating a quick sandwich that the
sheriff brought for the troops. We headed back
over to where the print was found. There, we
split up and wandered around through the waist
high grass and weeds. But nothing was found. It
was now about 9:00. Teams were assigned to work
the general area where the print was found. Joe
Erickson and I jumped in and rode with Craig
Beasley in his Baja Bug. We were assigned to go
out into the hills and cover as much ground as
possible. Having the Bug really helped in this
case as we would drive from one area to another
and then search on foot and then move on. By
10:00 we were not alone. Friends neighbors and
concerned residents had joined in on the search.
Sierra Madre, China Lake and San Diego had been
activated and were rolling. At 11:15 we were
called back to base.
The Hemet team
had just arrived and was going to join us in a
line search (tree to tree) of the orange grove,
as no clues had been found to the North. Just as
we were preparing to start, a local real estate
agent drove up with young Frankie. He was in good
shape considering he had been out all night. The
man spotted Frankie sitting on a little knoll
overlooking a dirt road. After asking Frankie
what happened, it was learned that after
wandering off with his dogs, and walking around
for some time, he just cuddled up with the dogs
and slept through the night.
Including
RMRU, Hemet, and Citizen volunteers, 62 people
participated in the search for 2 year old Frank
Shaffer. It was a really good feeling to see all
those people working for a common cause. And it
was even a better feeling to see Frankie reunited
with his parents. That's just what it is all
about.
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