UPDATE (11/26 4:00 p.m.): Searcy Police Chief Jeremy Clark held a press conference Wednesday afternoon to update on the search for Malik. Clark said they have searched all nearby houses - including those that are abandoned, theyve drained ditches and thoroughly checked the sewer system. They also removed manholes and lowered cameras into them, but did not find any clues about the missing boy. They also used bloodhounds and cadaver dogs, but with no success. The focus has been locating this child, finding him safely and returning him home. Weve exhausted ourselves in that effort, Clark said. Clark said they have received a lot of tips and information and all of that has been checked out and followed up on. I know theres a lot of questions. Theres a lot of theories. Theres a lot of opinions. And we have our own theories and our own opinions, just like everyone else. I assure you and the public that we are investigating every possible scenario that can be thought of and investigating it thoroughly, Clark said. Clark said it is standard procedure to polygraph family members in a case like this. He did not comment on results of any of the polygraph tests. I think any reasonable person would assume that if he wandered off we shouldve found him by now. Thats not to say that didnt happen because we havent found him. I wouldve expected to find him by now and we havent, Clark said. Asked if search efforts would be scaled back, Clark said, Any assertion that we are scaling back is false. Any assertion that we are shutting down is false...the search for this boy is just as urgent, just as important as it was the moment we found out he was missing. Clark also said the fact that Thursday is a holiday plays no factor and their search efforts will continue on Thanksgiving Day if the boy has still not been found. He said they also still need volunteers to come out and help search Thursday. We need to find this boy and we need to find him soon, Clark said. You can watch the entire Searcy Police Department press conference here. The Searcy police chaplain is conducting a prayer service at 5 p.m. at the command center, located at Saint Marys Episcopal Church on West Park Avenue. UPDATE (11/26 12:00 p.m.): Searcy police say all the area storm drains have been searched. Acting on a tip about a noise coming from a storm drain off Center Avenue & Olive Street late Wednesday morning, Searcy Water Utilities lowered a camera down the storm drain. As of noon, nothing has been found so far. Police are using a helicopter to take aerial video and photos to hopefully aid their search. Investigators are not ruling out any possibilities of what could have happened to Malik, including foul play. Police say if Malik is not found today, they will continue searching on Thanksgiving day and still need volunteers to help. Police are holding a press conference 3:30 Wednesday afternoon to update on this case. KATV Channel 7 will carry the press conference live. UPDATE (11/26 9:30 a.m.): Law enforcement and volunteers are searching for a third day for missing 2-year-old Malik Drummond. Search dogs are back out and additional clothing belonging to the boy was provided for the dogs. EMA Coordinator Doug Baker tells KATV they have searched all of Searcy, but they are not giving up and they will be canvassing the city again Wednesday in hopes of finding Malik. KATV Channel 7 crews are in Searcy and will continue following this story and we will update as any new information becomes available. UPDATE (11/25 6:00 p.m.): Two-year-old Malik Drummond has been missing for nearly three days as crews continued to search Tuesday. The family said his disappearance has been hard on everyone especially his twin sister Aryanna. Malik and Aryannas mother Tanya Drummond and Grandfather John Clifton spoke to KATV on Tuesday said she took Aryanna to be examined on Tuesday.“She went to Childrens Safety over on Race street. They tried to get her to talk to see what they could find but they cant find nothing, she wont speak, Drummond said. She dont want to talk to nobody, she... is very shy, shell start to put her head down . She knows somethings up, she knows something aint fitting right.” Clifton said Maliks disappearance is stressful. “To lose two grandsons, this one not knowing where he is at even though my first grandson got hit by a vehicle. That was the worst experience that I have ever felt in my life,” Clifton said. Cpl. Steve Hernandez from the Searcy Police Department said authorities brought cadaver dogs from Oklahoma to assist with the search. Some are only trained to find a certain scent and some are trained to find a deceased body. These dogs are unique that they can actually do both,” Hernandez said. “At some point we are going to come to a point where weve searched this area and weve searched a large area and we searched it four, five or six times. at what time do we stop searching and try to find new leads. Authorities have not announced how the search will continue on Wednesday. UPDATE (11/25 11:30 a.m.): The search for Malik expanded several miles out from the missing boys house into the Northfield, Cloverdale, and River Oaks neighborhoods. Police are using two search dogs to look for Malik today. A sheriffs helicopter was used Monday, but its not known if it will be used again today. Searcy police spokesman Cpl. Steve Hernandez says they will not stop searching until the little boy is found. Hernandez confirmed that polygraph tests were given to some family members, but he would not comment on the results of the lie detector tests. UPDATE (11/25 8:30 a.m.): Police say they received another tip of a sighting of Malik in another state, but nothing turned up. Volunteers are meeting at 9 a.m. this morning to continue searching for Malik, who has been missing for more than 38 hours. If you would like to volunteer in the search, meet at Saint Marys Episcopal Church on West Park Avenue. UPDATE (11/25 4:45 a.m.): Searcy police told KATV this morning that overnight they followed up on a couple of tips that led them to search some fields. No footprints or evidence were found in the first field. Searchers found footprints in another field, but they were too big to belong to the toddler. UPDATE (11/24 11:00 p.m.): Searcy police and law enforcement continue searching Monday night, but told volunteers to go home because of safety reasons. They said they dont want people walking around outside on the streets in the dark. However, many volunteers ignored instructions to leave and continued searching for the missing toddler. Many say the reason theyre not going home is because they are parents themselves, and they wont leave until the little Malik is found. Ive got babies of my own. Im a father. I can just imagine what that family is going through. If they say get out of here, were not going anywhere. Were going to look for that baby, volunteer searcher Thomas Harper said. Many volunteers said their search will continue regardless of police direction. Channel 7 will continue live coverage of the search for Malik Tuesday morning at 4:30 on Daybreak. UPDATE (11/24 6:30 p.m.): The father, mother, and grandmother of the missing toddler spoke to KATV on Monday. With Malik missing for more than 24 hours, the family says they are getting desperate. Hes so little, you know? He doesnt know his way around, and he doesnt have nothing on but a t-shirt and some pants and shoes...thats it, Maliks mother Tanya Drummond said. Maliks father, Jeff Clifton, experienced the loss of a child almost ten years ago. He says that nightmare is haunting him again. The main thing is for him to be home safe, its not to get anybody in trouble. The main thing is to just bring my son home, Clifton said. The family is concerned that because Malik is autistic, the search efforts may be affected. Maliks mother told KATV that the boy doesnt like loud noises and would probably run away from them. Maliks mother believes someone has taken him. Thats what I suspect, because everything doesnt add up. With everybody looking, a child is not going to stay missing for that long, Drummond said. Authorities will continue looking for Malik throughout the night, but if he isnt found, volunteers are asked to return Tuesday at 9 a.m. UPDATE (11/24 5:37 p.m.): Channel 7 News received this update from the Searcy Police Department: The Searcy Police Department will continue the search and investigation throughout the night. As of this release, there have been no changes. We are not stopping the search tonight, but will scale back to a smaller group. UPDATE (11/24 1:00 p.m.): Searcy Police Chief Jeremy Clark held a press conference Monday afternoon to update the media on the search for missing two-year-old Malik Drummond. Clark said despite the hundreds of volunteers and the assistance by the FBI and search dogs, As of right now, we have not located Malik Drummond. Police say Malik was last seen by his stepmother. They received the call about the missing child at 6:30 p.m. When officers arrived at the home, they began gathering information and immediately entered Malik into the database for missing children. Clark said around 300 volunteers showed up Sunday night to help search. A team of bloodhounds was brought in from Memphis. The dogs searched for 4 hours with no success. Clark said there are no bodies of water near the childs home; however, some creeks several blocks away were searched. Asked why helicopters were not used in the search, Clark responded that the choppers usually at their disposal were not available to them at the time. The FBI is now assisting in the search for Malik. The search grid has been expanded further out than where they would think a toddler could have wandered. They are also not ruling out that the child could have been picked up by a relative. Clark said the family has cooperated with all of their efforts, and he has no reason to suspect foul play. However, all avenues are being pursued. Police are continuing to follow up on any lead and they are trying to develop new information. Chief Clark said it doesnt get more serious than a missing child. A missing child is your worst nightmare for law enforcement - second only to the parents themselves, Clark said. You can watch the entire Searcy Police news conference here. UPDATE (11/24 11:25 a.m.):The Searcy Police Department is holding a press conference at 12:30 p.m. You can watch this live on KATV Channel 7 and streaming live on our website. UPDATE (11/24 10:30 a.m.): The search command center has moved to Saint Marys Episcopal Church on West Park Avenue. Volunteers are breaking up into teams of 5 to 7 people and spreading out to canvass the area. UPDATE (11/24 8:30 a.m.): Police say Malik disappeared from his fathers home while his stepmother was bathing and his father was asleep. There was another young child in the home at that time. Officers said there is no evidence of foul play, and they hope the daylight aids in helping find the young boy. Malik is described as a fair-skinned African-American boy, 3 feet tall, 40 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. ORIGINAL REPORT (11/23 10:00 p.m.): Arkansas State Police have issued a Level 2 Morgan Nick Amber Alert for the missing Searcy toddler after police say the little boy walked away from his home. Malik Drummond, 2, was last seen around 5:45 p.m. at his home near the 700 block of West Park Avenue. Malik was wearing brown pants and a blue shirt. If you have any information regarding his whereabouts, Searcy Police are urging residents to call 501-268-3531
Posted on: Thu, 27 Nov 2014 04:21:55 +0000
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