Former Sheriff Never Thought Missing Child Was in Danger
By: Michael C. Fehn
Updated: January 11, 2013
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- A sheriff's deputy who investigated the 1994 disappearance of an Indiana boy who has been found living as an adult in Minnesota says he never feared for the child's safety.
Seventy-year-old retired LaGrange County sheriff's deputy John Russell said Friday he spent at least two months investigating the disappearance of then-5-year-old Richard Wayne Landers Jr. from Wolcottville, Ind., but kept running into dead ends.
Police say the boy's paternal grandparents took him out of state during a dispute with his parents over his custody.
Russell says the grandparents had raised the boy since birth but he isn't sure they had legal custody.
He says he understands why they took the child, but it was still wrong. But he says he never thought the child was in any danger.
Seventy-year-old retired LaGrange County sheriff's deputy John Russell said Friday he spent at least two months investigating the disappearance of then-5-year-old Richard Wayne Landers Jr. from Wolcottville, Ind., but kept running into dead ends.
Police say the boy's paternal grandparents took him out of state during a dispute with his parents over his custody.
Russell says the grandparents had raised the boy since birth but he isn't sure they had legal custody.
He says he understands why they took the child, but it was still wrong. But he says he never thought the child was in any danger.
