The signs on street corners and the announcements on subways are hard for any mother or father to bear. A boy is missing, away from all he knows and loves.
But mixed in with the awful angst of seeing and hearing about the disappearance of 14-year-old Avonte Oquendo is a glimmer of reassurance — for New York City is united in the search to find one of its own.
Family, police officers and volunteers scour the city. Strangers know that Avonte, last seen 11 days ago after slipping out of the Center Boulevard School in Long Island City, is autistic, and non-verbal. We know he is fascinated with trains.
Therein lies, police hope, a hint of where he may have headed. Non-essential track work was suspended as more than 200 men and women searched the city’s vast system of subway tunnels.
The message is powerful: If one of our children is lost, we will find that child. The nation’s largest city? Yes. Also, still, a community.
Thinking about Avonte, praying for his safety, our thoughts keep returning to 4-year-old Anjelica Castillo, who for 22 years was known only as Baby Hope — until relentless detectives finally learned her name and arrested her cousin as her alleged killer over the weekend for the monstrous, sickening act.
“It’s hard for me to believe that nobody knows who she is,” lead Detective Joseph Neenan said back in 1991.
Many people must have known. Anjelica, after all, was living with seven adults when she disappeared — including her now-confessed killer and his sister, who apparently helped dispose of her body. She was the victim mostly of a single evil crime, but also of many smaller acts of neglect.
So-called loved ones failed a little girl; only the city’s professional protectors, police who did not know her name, kept watch and kept faith.
Now, a boy is missing. He is surely confused and afraid. The city looks again — this time, together. We will not relent. And we will, God willing, find him.
http://newyork.greatlocalnews.info/?p=15707
via Great Local News: New York http://newyork.greatlocalnews.info
No comments:
Post a Comment