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Thread: Arlin Henderson missing since 1991

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    Senior Member rachy's Avatar
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    Arlin Henderson missing since 1991

    The St. Louis FBI is holding a press conference today to renew interest in the cold case of Arlin Henderson.

    Arlin disappeared on July 25, 1991, while riding his bicycle near his home in Moscow Mills, 50 miles north of St. Louis. He was 11. Today Arlin would turn 30.

    Arlin's bicycle was found three months after his disappearance in a nearby bean field. Nearly 19 years later, his family holds out hope that their boy is still alive.

    Law enforcement has never discovered Arlin's body, though they've tracked down a fair share of leads over the year including speculation that he may have been abducted by Michael Devlin.

    However, no connection has ever been made to Devlin who was discovered in January 2007 living in his Kirkwood apartment with two abducted boys -- Shawn Hornbeck and Ben Ownby.

    The most promising lead seemed to come back in 2001 when a local drug dealer named Josh Spangler admitted to killing Arlin to settle a drug debt with his family. Spangler described abducting Arlin and shooting him in the head three days later with a nine-millimeter handgun. Spangler claimed to bury the body in a shallow creek bed.

    Law officials excavated the supposed grave site but could never locate Henderson's body. Afterward investigators became convinced that Spangler made up the story in an attempt to paint the police as incompetent. Spangler -- who was serving a sentence for burglary when he told police the tale -- later pleaded guilty to perjury in fabricating the story.

    Arlin's father has passed away since his abduction and his sister was murdered by her estranged husband. According to website for missing children, Arlin's mother continues to list her deceased husband's name in the phone book in the hopes that her lost son may one day find it and call home.

    http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2010/03/arlin_henderson_fbi_renews_effort_to_find_missing_ boy.php
    http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/h/henderson_charles.html

    i feel sorry for his mother 
    losing a husband and a daughter and missing son,i hope they find him.
    I won't feel sorry for me, I'm getting drunk
    But I'd much rather be somewhere with you

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    Senior Member Rhythmisasadist's Avatar
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    Re: Arlin Henderson missing since 1991

    Poor woman, she's had alot to go through. I hope that they can find or missing son or at least give her an answer as to what happened

  3. #3
    Senior Member rachy's Avatar
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    Re: Arlin Henderson missing since 1991

    Family hopes sight of Arlin Henderson's bike will jog memories, bring new leads

    Her hands and voice trembling as she saw her son’s bicycle for the first time in 10 years, Debbie Griffith said she hopes anyone else seeing it will do the right thing and come forward with information about her missing son, Arlin Henderson.

    Arlin disappeared from their Moscow Mills neighborhood July 25, 1991 as he was riding his BMX style bike to a friend’s house. He has not been seen again.

    And Monday, March 16, which is Arlin’s 30th birthday, his family and the FBI St. Louis Field Office showed the bike publicly for the first time since it was discovered October 10, 1991 almost 10 miles from his home.

    Griffith said she remembers the bike well, since it was an 11th birthday present to Arlin just months before he disappeared.

    Debbie Griffith said she hopes “someone out there knows something” about her son’s disappearance and hopes the sight of the bike will jog some memories of those who know what happened..

    “If anyone out there knows what happened to my son almost 19 years ago, I only got to have him 11 years,” she pleaded, her hands shaking and voice quivering. “Eleven very blessed years I got raise him. If anyone out there has a heart, none of us are getting any younger, and I sure would like to know what happened to my son before I die. I’d just like to see his smile again if he’s alive. If he’s dead I would like to bury him and be at peace.”

    FBI Special Agent Billy Cox said they hoped displaying the bike in public for the first time could “jog somebody’s memory that may have seen something that day.”

    Cox said a standing $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction the FBI publicized in 1997 is still in effect.

    “We believe there is somebody out there in the area, be it either in Moscow Mills or the general St. Louis area, who has information and has been withholding it all these years, that could lead us to Arlin’s whereabouts and what happened to Arlin,” Cox said. “ We’re hoping today that, for whatever reason those people have been holding onto this information for 19 years, this will cause them to want to come forward and provide us that information.”

    The bike was contained in a wooden crate and was not removed because it is evidence and could not be touched. Still, Arlin’s mother glanced several times at the bike, and as her hands trembled said she remembered the bike “very well. He just got it for his 11th birthday. He took very good care of that bike.”

    She admitted it was hard on her to see it again “and it’s a little hard to see it dirty, too.”

    “Arlin would be having a fit,” she said. “He was told if he kept it clean and took care of it, for his next birthday he would get a go-kart or something. So he was really particular about that bike.”

    “Arlin was the type of little kid that could talk out you of your shirt and then sell it back to you at a profit,” she said, chuckling a bit. “But he had a heart as big as Texas so he’d probably feel bad afterwards and give it back to you. He was smart, and funny, and liked to pull your leg a lot. He was just a funny little boy. He was my life. I miss him. I miss him every day,”

    Asked what she would say to Arlin if he was seeing and hearing press reports of his disappearance and seeing his family and bike, Debbie said “I love you. I miss you and I hope you had a good life. I would like to have been part of it.”

    Asked if she believed he was still alive after 19 years, she said “every mother wants to believe that that they‘re still alive, that they haven‘t been abused and that‘s it‘s all been a fairy tale.”

    “But in your mind it’s hard to believe,” she said. “But I’m not going to give up hope. He’s alive.”

    Cox said the bike has been dusted for fingerprints and processed for the presence of trace evidence, such as hair and clothing fibers and DNA samples.

    He said some trace evidence was found but would not disclose what kind it was.

    Cox also said everyone who lived in the Moscow Mills trailer park Arlin lived in when he disappeared has been questioned. He also confirmed the FBI had a list of persons of interest over the last 10 years but would not disclose any other information about suspects.

    Cox said the FBI believes the bike was just dumped at the location it was found, and that someone may have seen it being dumped, or saw it in the back of a vehicle.

    “We just thought it was time to show it and again, jog somebody’s memory about something they saw way back then,” Cox said.


    Cox said after Michael Devlin was captured in January, 2007 and Sean Hornbeck and Ben Ownby freed, the FBI interrogated him but found “nothing to indicate he was involved.”

    Debbie Griffith said she believes she’ll see Arlin again someday.

    “I believe in miracles and I’m going to hold on to that,” she said. “I’ll see him one day. That’s all I have to hold on to.”

    http://www.globe-democrat.com/news/2010/mar/16/family-hopes-sight-arlin-hendersons-bike-will-jog-/
    I won't feel sorry for me, I'm getting drunk
    But I'd much rather be somewhere with you

  4. #4
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    how heart breaking for this mother not only two loose two children in such a tragic way prayers for her she will get him home for a proper memorial and closser

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