JESUS deLaCRUZ - 6 yo (1996) - Lynn MA

Jesus de la Cruz is 20 years old, or so he appears in the digitally enhanced rendition of him as a young man, not a 6-year-old boy, featured in the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's Web site.
"Age progressions are very important," Bob Lowery, executive director of the Center's missing children's division, said Monday, noting how the discovery a year ago of a California woman abducted 18 years earlier involved age progressed photographs of the woman.
"Photos of Jayce Dugard strongly resemble what our artists created," Lowery said.
Former Connery School Principal Vincent Spirito remembers de la Cruz as a first-grader in the West Lynn school. He hopes the boy "is alive somewhere" and said he thinks of de la Cruz every time he drives past the disappearance site.
De la Cruz vanished on a sunny Saturday afternoon 14 years ago today.
Children who told police they were playing with the boy within feet of his 22 Park St. home said at one point on that afternoon they saw him standing at the corner of North Common Street with a man and a dog. Police identified the man as Robert C. Levesque, whose last residence was Lowell. At the time of de la Cruz' disappearance, the former emergency medical technician lived in an apartment on Western Avenue around the corner from de la Cruz' home.
Levesque called in sick from his job on the night of the disappearance and was arrested after de la Cruz was reported missing. He was held on motor vehicle offenses, but never charged in the De La Cruz case.
De La Cruz's disappearance triggered a massive search.
Open areas around Lynn, including Pine Grove Cemetery, were searched and police set up an "informational roadblock" exactly one week after the disappearance. Drivers passing the corner where De La Cruz was last seen were asked if they had seen a man or a boy and a dog standing on the corner of Park and North Common.

Spirito recalled FBI agents removing the boy's desk from his classroom to scour it for fingerprints. He said De La Cruz' two brothers and sisters, as well as his parents Juan and Magdalena, were left with questions and no answers.
"The children were very despondent," Spirito said.
The De La Cruz disappearance remains an open police case and tips or suggestions continue filtering into the Center's missing children's Web site. In August, 2008, the disappearance of East Boston boy Ernesto Gonzalez from his father's downtown Lynn apartment became the city's second missing child case.
Lowery said the Center has received about 90 tips and leads over the 14 years. He called the number a fairly small amount for a disappearance case dating back over a decade, but said the center will not close the De La Cruz file until police determine exactly what happened to the boy.
"We work with the family and law enforcement to keep a case alive and in front of the public. The best chance of solving it is to have some person who knows exactly what happened come forward," he said.
Anybody with information on this case should call the Lynn Police or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-843-5678.

NonFamily Abduction

JESUS DE LA CRUZ

DOB: Jan 3, 1990 Missing: Sep 28, 1996 Age Now: 20 Sex: Male Race: Hispanic Hair: Brown Eyes: Brown Height: 4'6" (137 cm) Weight: 60 lbs (27 kg) Missing From: LYNN MA United States

Age Progressed

Jesus' photo is shown age-progressed to 19 years. He was last seen walking on Park Street in Lynn, Massachusetts on September 28, 1996. Jesus has a scar above his left eye, a birthmark on his left calf, and a birthmark on the left side of his forehead. His left ear is pierced.

ANYONE HAVING INFORMATION SHOULD CONTACT National Center for Missing & Exploited Children 1-800-843-5678 (1-800-THE-LOST) Lynn Police Department (Massachusetts) 1-781-595-2000 Or Your Local FBI

Jesus De La Cruz

Information at the time of disappearance

Missing Since: September 28, 1996 from Lynn, Massachusetts
Classification: Non-Family Abduction
Date Of Birth: January 3, 1990
Age: 6 years old
Height and Weight: 4'6, 60 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: Hispanic male. Brown hair, brown eyes. Jesus has a scar above his left eye. He has birthmarks on his left calf and on the left side of his forehead. Jesus's left ear is pierced. His hair was short at the time of his September 1996 disappearance.
Clothing/Jewelry Description: A white t-shirt, blue jeans and brown or yellow boots or high-top shoes.

Details of Disappearance

Jesus was last seen at about 6:00 p.m. on September 28, 1996, walking with a nine-year-old male friend on Park Street in the Commons area of Lynn, Massachusetts, near his family's residence. Jesus was pushing his pink Huffy bicycle, which had two flat tires at the time. He was on his way home after playing in Bennett Circle.

Jesus's friend told authorities that they were approached by an unidentified Caucasian man in his twenties or thirties with shoulder-length black hair. The man was walking with a shepherd/collie dog with one white eye and one brown eye. His friend said that the individual lured Jesus away by promising him a new bicycle. Jesus never returned home and has not been seen again. He attended Connery Elementary School at the time of his disappearance.

Authorities identified the man as Robert C. Levesque, 26, shortly after Jesus vanished. Levesque's apartment was searched and investigators discovered duct tape and handcuffs. It is not known if the items were related to Jesus's case. Levesque lived just around the corner from Jesus's home in 1996. He owned a dog matching the description of the alleged abductor's animal in 1996, and his dog, named Peaches, was found at one of the seven addresses he had given as recent residences. He called in sick at his job the evening of Jesus's disappearance and was arrested after Jesus vanished. Levesque was charged with a parole violation, motor vehicle offenses, and possession of stolen property in mid-October 1996. He has never been charged in connection with Jesus's disappearance.

The Massachusetts Department Of Social Services (DSS) accused Jesus's mother, Magdalena Rodriguez (some agencies refer to her as "Magdalena Ramirez"), of neglect in the weeks following her son's disappearance. The agency said that Rodriguez did not report Jesus as a missing child until midnight on September 28, six hours after his apparent abduction. Others speculated that Jesus was abducted as the result of theorized drug use by his family members. Rodriguez denied any wrongdoing in Jesus's case and maintained that the claims were the result of racism against Hispanic individuals.

Various rumors concerning Jesus's case circulated after his disappearance. Some people claimed that he had been taken to Puerto Rico, New York City, or the Dominican Republic as part of a deal to keep Rodriguez out of unspecified trouble. She has denied the allegations. Rodriguez has been interviewed by the police regarding her son's disappearance and says she is not concealing any knowledge connected to his case. She has since moved to another part of Massachusetts.

Jesus's father, Juan De La Cruz, had been accused of allegedly abusing his son and threatening to abduct him from Rodriguez's custody prior to Jesus's disappearance. Authorities stated that Juan was at home at the time his son went missing, however. Juan has never been charged in connection with Jesus's case, and maintains contact with the police handling the investigation.

There have been many possible sightings of Jesus around the country in the years after his disappearance, but none of the sightings have been confirmed. Jesus has never been located and his disappearance remains unsolved.

Agency in Charge

If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Lynn Police Department
781-595-2000
OR
Massachusetts State Police
781-396-0100

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