Police in Colorado are currently searching for missing 12-year-old Raeanna Rosencrans. Rosencrans was last seen on Wednesday, April 25 in Grand Junction, Colorado. According to the New York Post, police said that Rosencrans was likely abducted by an unidentified male around 3 PM The male suspect has been described as middle-aged (in his forties or fifties), balding, and of medium build with a height somewhere between 5'7" and 5'8".
The man apparently called Raeanna by name before she entered his vehicle near her home at D 1/2 Road and Larry's Meadow.
The authorities believe that Raeanna is most likely in some kind of danger and would like the general public to be on the lookout for her. Rosencrans was last seen wearing black jeans, a black t-shirt with some white configurations on it, and a pair of white Adidas shoes. Rosencrans, who has been listed at 5'1" tall and weighing 135 pounds, was also wearing a black backpack with white designs on it.
On their Facebook account, the Grand Junction Police Department claimed that they have called in other law enforcement agencies in order to help them find Raeanna.
The Colorado Bureau of Investigations has already issued an Amber Alert for the missing girl, as well. Grand Junction police officers would like anyone with any information regarding Raeanna to call a tip line at (970) 242-8206.
Few details
So far, little has been published about Raeanna Rosencrans. Besides what she was wearing yesterday, investigators also know that the suspect, who Raeanna appears to have known, picked her up as she walked home from school. FOX31 in Denver has also reported that the suspect's car has been described as "boxy." The one picture that has been released of the 12-year-old shows a girl with strawberry blonde hair and a fair complexion.
Frightening statistics
Child abductions are far more common in the United States than most realize.
According to Parents Magazine, a child is abducted or goes missing every forty seconds. In 2001, the FBI found that as high as 90-percent of all missing person cases in the US involve children. A majority of these cases (about 49-percent) can be described as family kidnappings. These crimes involve family members abducting their own relatives for various reasons. The second most common type of kidnapping is an acquaintance kidnapping, which involves friends or acquaintances kidnapping people they know. The most fearsome type of abduction, the "stranger kidnapping," occurs about 24-percent of the time.
It appears likely that the case of Raeanna Rosencrans falls either into the family or acquaintance kidnapping categories.
However, federal law enforcement studies have shown that 80-percent of stranger kidnappings occur within a quarter mile of the victim's home. This fits with what we know about Raeanna's abduction. The one good news here is that only one out of every 10,000 missing children is found dead after the disappearance is first reported. However, the longer a person goes missing, the likelihood of a fatality increases.