A joint operation by the U.S. Marshal service in the southern district of West Virginia and the southern district of Ohio netted the location of 45 missing children. Thirteen of those missing children were found in West Virginia as part of what was called Operation Autumn Hope.
U.S. Marshal for the Southern District West Virginia Mike Baylous said his office joined the operation in neighboring Ohio to increase the size and scope of the operation.
“We had a few, but we also had leads from other states. We decided instead of having our own operation down the road, since we are a small district, we would just with southern Ohio. It was very successful,” Baylous said Wednesday on MetroNews “Talkline.”
The 13 children discovered in West Virginia included three reported missing in San Bernardino, California who were located in Beckley. They had been taken in a parental dispute. Three other children, located in Jackson County, were reported missing form Ohio. One child missing form Richmond, Va. was located in Princeton.
According to information released by the Marshal Service, three children who had been reported missing in Lawrence County, Ohio were also found in Lawrence County, Ohio. There were also three children missing from southern West Virginia. Two of those children were located in Kanawha and Putnam counties. The third child was found in Princeton and in that case had been missing for less than six hours.
“Some of them were runaways. A lot of them tend to be a domestic situation where a parent or relative kidnaps them and some of them are kidnapped by strangers.
Baylous credited the numerous small police departments and other small law enforcement agencies which worked together as part of the CUFFED task force and helped with details on the investigations.
“U.S. Marshal Service has been the experts since 1789 when it comes to tracking people downs,” Baylous said. “They think coming into rural West Virginia they’re going to be able to hide out. That may work for a little while, but West Virginians know their neighbors and when we see something suspicious, we’re going to report it to authorities.”
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