October 15, 2009
Tips have nearly dried up.
But in the ongoing search for Adji Desir, Collier County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Ken Becker said hope remains for bringing home the missing Immokalee boy.
The breakthroughs in the Jaycee Dugard, Shawn Hornbeck and Elizabeth Smart cases in the last few years are proof.
“It’s just further evidence that there’s still hope out there that even long-term missing children can be reunited with their family,” said Becker at a press conference Thursday, which coincided with Adji’s seventh birthday. “And that’s our hope with this case.”
Adji was last seen playing outside of his grandmother’s house in Farm Worker Village in Immokalee on Jan. 10, while his mother was at work.
As to what may have happened to the developmentally-challenged boy, Becker said that remains unknown.
“I have no idea what happened to Adji,” he said. “I wish I did so we could focus on one direction or the other. At this point we don’t know if it’s a case where Adji walked off and got lost, or Adji got picked up by somebody and taken away from Farm Workers Village.”
And as time goes on, Becker said authorities are more and more dependent on assistance from the public to try to crack the case.
That’s why Collier officials said the search for Adji would extend to the mailboxes of millions of residents across the United States.
Adji’s photo will be featured on national direct-mail advertising fliers to be distributed to 75 million homes across the United States from Nov. 8 through Dec. 13.
“We’re hoping with those flyers and this conference today, that we can remind people that they may have the bit of information that may reunite Adji with his mother, stepfather and his new baby sister,” said Becker.
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children has partnered with Valassis, one of the nation’s leading media and marketing services companies, and the U.S. Postal Service in distributing the fliers as part of Valassis’ Have You Seen Me? picture program.
Carleen Coelho, who coordinates the Missing Child program for Valassis, said that the company would also be featuring Adji in their freestanding newspaper inserts.
“It’s unprecedented,” said Coelho. “He’s going to be featured across a very broad national network.”
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children president and CEO Ernie Allen said the nonprofit pushes very hard to keep these cases alive — especially in a case like Adji’s.
“I firmly believe that somebody knows where Adji is and that somebody knows what happened to him,” said Allen.
He added that a picture is the most important tool authorities have in the search for a missing child.
Nine out of every 10 American households is expected to get a flier/newspaper insert, said Allen.
“Virtually every home in America will receive Adji’s information,” Allen said. “Our hope is that somebody out there has seen him.”
The fliers will be distributed weekly by region, starting in the Northeast on Nov. 8. They are scheduled to arrive in Florida mailboxes the week of Nov. 15.
The search for Adji and the other children who have gone missing from Collier County over the years won’t end until they’re found, Becker said.
“I’m always confident that they will come home some day,” he said.
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2009/oct/15/search-adji-birthday-sparks-new-plans-find-7-year-/**Please note that I added Adji's photograph at the top of the article, just as they printed it. It is a shame that more news agencies that printed stories because of his birthday, did NOT put his photograph in the article. We all know how critical it is to finding the missing by getting their photograph out there, and I would like to thank Elysa Batista for making sure it was included. She has done quite a few stories on Adji, and in addition to e-mail correspondence with Elysa, I have also had the pleasure of speaking to her on the telephone a few times. Thank you Elysa for keeping Adji's photograph out there, and for all the coverage you have given to his case. NaplesNews.com has given more local media attention than other local news outlets and Elysa is a wonderful person who truly cares. Thank you again Elysa !
Also, thank you Susan for posting the articles printed due to Adji's birthday, as I was in Kentucky for five days with no internet access.
Another thank you to our dedicated members/readers of Adji's website. Despite the length of time that has passed, I continue to pray for Adji and his family each day and still have a missing poster in the back window of my van. Wherever I go, Adji goes ! He has gone with me to several states since he has been missing, even though I live in Michigan. Realistically, I know it has been a long time since Adji has gone missing, but there is NO proof he is deceased, so I continue to pray for him to be located safe and unharmed, as some of the news stories have even mentioned the Jaycee Dugard case, which gives hope to everyone with a missing loved one. With Adji being developmentally disabled, he is 'easy prey' for sick people and sadly cannot tell people he is missing and wants to go home ! Whatever the outome, it is on God's time and in His hands. I do pray for this case to be resolved, no matter what the circumstances are, even if it is a recovery, as soon as possible.
I would also like to thank the Collier County Sheriff Department for all of their hard work on this case. I know with language barriers, it must be quite challenging for them, and they made a wonderful YouTube video for Adji, asking for the public's help to locate him, by sharing and reposting on all social networking sites and websites that the general public uses. With researching and following several thousand cases, I can honestly say that this is quite unusual and they are going above and beyond to generate leads to help locate Adji. You do not usually see Law Enforcement making very nicely done YouTube videos to locate a missing child....this is an 'exeption to the rule'. This is also a very nicely done one and you are able to view it on this website dedicated to locating Adji, or of course on YouTube, but we do try to keep all information available regarding Adji on this site for everyone's convenience. In my opinion, Adji has touched the Sheriff's Department's hearts, just as he has touched so many of ours.
As always, my thoughts and prayers for Adji, his family, friends and his baby sister, Adjiana, that he has never met.
In closing, thank you to everyone again and FindAdji.com will remain up and running until Adji is located or rcovered, and the case has come to a full conclusion.
God Bless,
Debra
