CALEIGH ANNE HARRISON - 2 yo - Rockport MA

Police are searching for a 2-year-old girl who went missing
near Long Beach in Rockport shortly after noon today, a State Police
spokesman said.

David Procopio said State and local police, along with dive
teams, are searching for Caleigh Anne Harrison, who is 2 years, 9 months
old.

“At approximately noon, Caleigh Harrison was playing at the
beach or around the beach area with her sister -- her mother was nearby
as well,” Procopio said. “At some point in that time Caleigh went
missing.”

A preliminary investigation suggested that the two children
may have went into a grassy area looking for a ball or for some other
reason, Procopio said, and “suddenly only one of the children was in
view of the mother.” Caleigh’s sister is approximately one year older
than her, according to Procopio.

State Police have said Caleigh has light brown hair, blue-gray
eyes, and was last seen wearing a light pink T-shirt and dark pink
capri pants.

The search is ongoing and no further information was
immediately available. Anyone with information about Harrison’s
whereabouts is asked to call 911 immediately.

http://www.boston.com/Boston/metrodesk/2012/04/police-searching-for-missing-year-old-girl-rockport/REaQFBMwKiUokhFsN4CUiM/index.html

Mass Police searching for missing child
Posted at: 04/19/2012 6:24 PM

Caleigh Anne Harrison

BOSTON (AP) - Authorities are searching for a child who went missing on the beach in Rockport.

State Police say Caleigh Anne Harrison is three months shy of her 3rd birthday.

She has light brown hair and blue-gray eyes, and was wearing a light
pink T-shirt and dark pink capri pants when her family last saw her
around noon Thursday.

Rockport police say Caleigh was at the beach with her mother and a sibling on Thursday when she disappeared.

They say the little girl's mother turned around to grab something and when she looked back, Caleigh was gone.

Authorities are using a helicopter and police divers as part of their search.

They also have searched cottages in the area.

Police are asking anyone with information on the child's whereabouts to call 911.
http://wnyt.com/article/stories/S2589126.shtml?cat=300

ROCKPORT, Mass. (WHDH) – Crews searched all afternoon for a
2.5-year-old girl that was reported missing on Long Beach near Seaview
Street in Rockport on Thursday afternoon.

Caleigh Harrison, of Gloucester, has been missing since noon
Thursday. She is approximately 27 to 35 pounds and under 3 feet tall.
She has light brown hair and blue-gray eyes. She was last seen wearing a
light pink t-shirt and dark pink Capri pants.

She was at the beach with her mother and sister when she
disappeared. Her mother went to pick up a ball and when she turned
around Caleigh was gone.

Crews are searching the area on land, in the air and in the water
hoping to see a sign of her. The Coast Guard has been searching all
afternoon. Ambulances are at the ready and patrols line the beach, but
no evidence of the young girl has turned up. Searchers have canvassed
the cottages on the beach -- there are 146 of them on the mile-long
stretch of sand.

Caleigh disappeared in an area known for having a strong undertow,
especially when the tide is going out -- which is when Caleigh was last seen.

Many volunteers helped search for Caleigh on the beach Thursday.

“Last I heard she was down at the boardwalk. They went to retrieve
a ball for her. Then she was gone. That’s all we know,” said Terry
George, who joined the search. “It’s awful. It’s on the worst point down
there. We don’t allow them [children] to play there because the
undertow is so bad, it sucks you right under.”

Officials are hoping family members can help retrace their steps
to figure out where Caleigh was and what she where she was going before
she disappeared.

“The creek that empties all of this water when the tide goes out
and that runs very rapidly. She’s only [two] and doesn’t swim. It’s just
a little sad,” said one man.

In a press conference on Thursday evening officials said the state
police dive team was suspending its search for Caleigh, but will return
Friday morning. Other crews, however, will stay on the scene Thursday night.

State police said they are not ruling out foul play and will treat
the beach like a crime scene. Officials said it is an active search and
investigation for the missing girl.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47104986/ns/local_news-boston_ma/#.T5DIvNnPw-E

One minute, Caleigh Anne Harrison was playing with her family at Long
Beach in Rockport, Mass. - and then the next, she was gone.

It is
a mystery that kept several agencies in Rockport, Mass. busy throughout
the day Thursday, as they intensely searched for 2-year-old Caleigh.
State police say she was with her mother, 4-year-old sister and dog
around noon. When her mother turned her back, she was gone.

"He
said, 'You gotta help me, you gotta help me, she's missing, she's
missing,'" said family friend Dan Rapp, describing the frantic phone
call he received from Caleigh's father.

"He said that his wife
was at the waters edge with the dog, playing with a ball," said Rapp.
"The ball went into rough water, she went to get the ball and when she
turned around, the daughter was missing."

The family was on or near this foot bridge between Long Beach and Cape Hedge Beach on the rocky shore.

"They
were in an area where an estuary empties," said Mass. State Police
spokesman Dave Procopio. "At that time of day, it would have been
emptying out into the Atlantic Ocean. It was probably right after high
tide."

State Police dive teams spent four hours in the rough
conditions before suspending their efforts for the night. Helicopters
searched the ocean, creek and land from above, and police searched 200
nearby cottages and cars - all came up with nothing.

And while police say they won't rule out any possibility, many signs point to the ocean.

"On
the outgoing tide, it all funnels, it can suck you right out," said
Rapp. "I've seen surfers and guys ripped off the shore fishing. It's a
nasty place, people take it for granted."

http://www.necn.com/04/19/12/Search-continues-for-toddler-missing-fro/landing.html?blockID=693010&feedID=4753

ROCKPORT, Mass.—The search for a 2-year-old girl who went missing while her family was visiting a Rockport beach has resumed.

Local
and state police as well as the U.S. Coast Guard using a helicopter
started looking for Caleigh Anne Harrison on Friday morning.

Police
say Caleigh, who's three months shy of her third birthday, was last
seen around noon Thursday with her mother, 4-year-old sister and their
dog on Long Beach. The family is from Gloucester.

Police
say the mother went to retrieve a ball that bounced over a beach wall
and when she returned two minutes later, Caleigh was gone.

The spot is near an estuary that was emptying into the ocean as the tide went out.
Foul play has not been ruled out.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2012/04/20/search_for_missing_mass_toddler_resumes/

Police, including divers, spent Friday searching near Long Beach in
Rockport, Mass. for 2-year-old Caleigh Anne Harrison, who reportedly
disappeared when her mother went to retrieve a ball that bounced over a
wall.

Divers have suspended their search for the day.

The
latest strategy was to launch a buoy the weight of Caleigh; it drifted
into rocks on the beach, but state police found nothing.

At this
time, foul play has not been ruled out because there is no body or
Caleigh herself and they don’t have any other explanation as to why she
would go missing, according to a spokesman for the state police.

Police
say Caleigh Anne of Gloucester was reported missing around noon
Thursday on an outing with her mother and 4-year-old sister on Long
Beach in Rockport. Her mother said she lost sight of the girls for about
two minutes, and Caleigh was gone when she returned.

Police have
spoken to the 4-year-old sister but are not commenting on what she may
have said. A child expert is being brought in to speak with her, as
well.

Rockport, Mass. mother Liz Finer sympathizes with what the family is going through.

http://www.necn.com/04/20/12/Child-expert-to-speak-with-missing-Mass-/landing_newengland.html?blockID=693492&feedID=4206

Missing 2-year-old Caleigh Harrison still hasn't been found as divers
and police set to enter day three of the search. The little girl was
last seen on Thursday when she, her mother, her 4-year-old sister and
their dog were playing around a footbridge at a beach in Rockport.
According to the mother, Allison Hammond, the ball they were playing
with bounced over a wall into a residential yard. She left the children
alone to fetch the ball, but when she returned the 2-year-old was gone.
Due to bad weather in the area, police do not plan on continuing searches for Caleigh
Harrison until Tuesday. By then the child will have been missing five
days, when statistically the first 48 to 72 hours are the most vital in
the search for a missing child. Meanwhile it's been reported several
times now that investigators are not ruling foul play and abduction out
in this case. There are quite a few questions to ask about the day the
child disappeared.

• Is this beach a heavily trafficked area or is it a more secluded and quiet beach?
  
• Are there any surveillance cameras aimed at the area of the alleged disappearance?
  
• Are there any witnesses who may have seen the mother and both children
  together playing? Are there any witnesses who saw anything at all?
  
• Is there any type of custodial dispute between the mother and father of the child?
  

A sex offender search of the area didn't return any results with ease, so
it's not easy to find out whether or not the area is crawling with
RSO's. Since police aren't ruling out abduction, could there be some
details not released that lead them to a potential theory about it?
If the child was abducted, wouldn't the 4-year-old sibling have seen or
heard something? According to recent reports, it's as though the sibling
didn't even realize Caleigh Harrison was around, much less missing.
That's why she's going to be interviewed by a child expert. Hopefully
the child can help in revealing more clues in this case.
http://news.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474981280130

Sorry Allison, your version of this is as leaky as a colander.
Who leaves a 2 and 4 yo alone to climb a fence in a yard to retrieve a ball?
Grill her like a burger and find out what really happened!

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's U.S. Coast Guard, 1st District office, issued the following news release:

Coast Guard rescue crews are suspending a search today for a 2-year-old girl who went missing near Rockport, Mass.


The girl, Caleigh Anne Harrison, went missing Thursday at 12:25 p.m.


Coast Guard crews worked with local authorities to cover an area of 248-square nautical miles and searched more than 18 hours.


Other agency personnel assisting in the search were: Gloucester Fire and
Police Department and Harbormaster; Rockport Fire and Police Department
and Harbormaster; Massachusetts Environmental Police; and Massachusetts
State Police and divers.


Coast Guard Sector Boston rescue coordinators launched several units
including a 47-foot Motor Life Boat and 25-foot rescue boat from Station
Gloucester, a 49-foot rescue boat from Aids to Navigation Team Boston,
the 87-foot patrol boat Flying Fish, and an MH-60 Rescue Helicopter from
Air Station Cape Cod.


"This is an unfortunate and frustrating case, even with tremendous
coordination with our local partners, an extensive search area and
favorable weather conditions were unable to find Caleigh," said Cmdr.
Thomas Morkan, Sector Boston Chief of Response.


Local and state authorities, including the harbormaster and Rockport
Police Department boat and helicopter crews, also aided in the search.


Any new information about the missing girl can activate the search again.


Anyone with information regarding the missing girl is asked to call
local authorities or the Coast Guard command center at (617) 223-5757.

http://www.fireengineering.com/news/2012/04/20/coast-guard-suspends-search-for-missing-girl-near-rockport-mass.html

ROCKPORT
— About two dozen state police divers and a sonar vessel will resume
the offshore search Wednesday for a 2-year-old girl missing from a Rockport beach.

State police spokesman David Procopio said Monday that search will
incorporate a dive training exercise. He said a side-scan sonar search
planned for Tuesday is postponed because of forecast high winds and seas.

Caleigh Anne Harrison was reported missing from Long Beach about noon
on Thursday. Her mother told investigators she turned away from Caleigh
and her 4-year-old sister for a couple of minutes to retrieve a ball,
and Caleigh was gone when she returned.

Rockport and state police continue to investigate the girl’s disappearance and say they haven’t ruled out any possible causes.

Crews last searched the water Saturday before a nor’easter brought rough seas and rain.
http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/20120423divers_sonar_search_for_girl_missing_from_rockport_beach_to_resume_wed/srvc=home&position=recent

Cops talk to sister in search for toddler
By O’Ryan Johnson
Tuesday, April 24, 2012

The 4-year-old sister of a missing Gloucester tot was interviewed by detectives yesterday as authorities continue to investigate her little sister’s disappearance, state police said.

State police are focused on Cape Hedge Beach in Rockport, where Caleigh Anne Harrison was last seen Thursday with her sister, mom and the family dog. Police declined to comment on what the sister told them about Caleigh’s disappearance.

Tomorrow, all 20 members of the state police dive team are expected to fan out along the coastline to search for the girl, state police said. The search was planned for today, but choppy seas will keep investigators out of the water for another day. Troopers also will use side-scan sonar to look at the ocean floor in that area in an attempt to find Caleigh.

“To date, no possible cause for her disappearance has been ruled out,” state police spokesman David Procopio said yesterday in a statement.

The sisters were playing with a ball on the Saratoga Creek Footbridge, which connects Long Beach and Cape Hedge Beach, when the ball bounced over a wall and into a cottage yard, police said. Caleigh’s mother told police that she climbed over the wall to retrieve the ball and when she returned moments later, the little girl was gone.

http://bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/20220424cops_talk_to_sister_in_search_for_toddler

Kin hold out hope for finding Caleigh
By John Zaremba
Wednesday, April 25, 2012 - Updated 3 hours ago

The family of missing Gloucester tot Caleigh Harrison attempted to re-create the oceanside scene of her disappearance yesterday, saying they believe their walkthrough at Rockport’s Long Beach gives credence to their desperate hope she was abducted and not swept out to sea.

Caleigh’s aunts and uncles, along with her father, Anthony Harrison, and friends of the family paced through several scenarios yesterday, trying to piece together how she vanished from her 4-year-old sister’s side while their mother ran after a beach ball that had drifted away.

“We think it’s very plausible that somebody did take her,” her uncle, David Harrison, told the Herald. “It’s very plausible someone just came from the parking lot and grabbed her.”

Caleigh’s parents were preparing to release a statement yesterday afternoon but held off at the last minute, saying they’d received information that caused them to doubt the little girl had been pulled into Thursday’s outgoing tide. They would not provide details about the source or content of that information.

“It’s very possible she’s not in the water,” Harrison said, but declined to elaborate.

State police spokesman David Procopio said investigators have not ruled out any scenario, and after days of searching have failed to turn up evidence of a drowning, they remain open to theories of an abduction. He said there was no new information to release in the case yesterday.

Harrison said Caleigh’s sister, who has been interviewed several times by police, has told family members nothing about the disappearance.

“She’s still in shock from the whole thing or just doesn’t want to talk about it,” Harrison said. “Every time you ask her about it, she changes the subject.”

The surf could have been loud enough to drown out any commotion or cries for help, he said.

Yesterday marked the family’s fifth day with no information on Caleigh’s whereabouts, or how she may have disappeared. A state police dive team is expected to resume the water search today, after bad weather and rough sea conditions caused them to call off their operations since Sunday.

Harrison said the family is satisfied police are doing what they can to track the missing girl.

“We’re not trying to override anybody. We’re trying to keep peace of mind for ourselves,” Harrison said. “Because all you do is you sit, and you think, and you think, and you think.”

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/20220425kin_hold_out_hope_for_finding_caleigh/

No Evidence Found To Support Tot Abduction - State Police Continue Search For Girl Who Disappeared At Beach

POSTED: 3:50 pm EDT April 25, 2012
UPDATED: 5:06 pm EDT April 25, 2012

ROCKPORT, Mass. -- Massachusetts State Police have found no evidence to support the theory that a 2-year-old girl who disappeared while playing at Rockport beach since last week could have been abducted, officials said Wednesday.

Crews on land and in the water have been searching for Caleigh Anne Harrison, who was last seen Thursday off Rockport's Long Beach. The child's relatives have expressed concern that the girl may have been abducted.

"At this point we have investigated the theory of abduction," Massachusetts State Police spokesman David Procopio said. "We have interviewed four witnesses who were in the vicinity of the girl when she went missing. We have not been able to establish that there was anyone else in the vicinity that could have been responsible for an abduction."

A state police boat used side-scan sonar to search the area again Wednesday, and state police said they would continue the search Thursday.

"If she's not there, then, you know, I think somebody took her," Caleigh aunt, Catherine Curcuru, said earlier. "It doesn't add up, because -- you hear it all the time -- somebody could've taken her before the 911 call was even made. I mean, because, when you lose a child you're frantic, and you're looking in the ocean and you're looking everywhere. You don't pick up the phone right away and call 911. You look first."

The toddler's mother told investigators she turned away from Caleigh and her 4-year-old sister for a couple of minutes to retrieve a ball they were playing with, and Caleigh was gone when she returned.

The family has plastered the town with posters of the girl, and some residents have even placed single lights in their windows to symbolize the town's concern over her disappearance.

"Effort's great in the ocean, but if she's not there, we're wasting ... I don't want to say wasting time, but our efforts should be somewhere else, too, just to make sure that's out there, too. Because if somebody does have her, and they're walking around with her in a supermarket or something, thinking, 'Hey, we have this baby,' and somebody bumps into them and sees her, like, 'Oh, I know that girl,'" said Caleigh's uncle, David Harrison.

Police said they haven't ruled out anything yet in their search.

Read more: http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/30955274/detail.html#ixzz1t5aGc4f6

ROCKPORT, Mass.—State police divers and boats have ended their search of waters off Rockport for a 2-year-old girl who disappeared a week ago from a beach.

State police spokesman David Procopio said Thursday no new searches are planned unless there's new evidence in the case of Caleigh Anne Harrison of Gloucester.

Her family says they believe she was abducted since she hasn't been found. Police say they have turned up no evidence of any crime after an intense investigation, but will follow up any new information.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2012/04/26/divers_end_offshore_search_for_missing_mass_girl/

The sister of a missing 2-year-old Massachusetts girl saw "a mean
guy" kidnap the toddler from the beach, her father says, though police
insist they have no evidence of any "mysterious man" or an abduction.
Caleigh Harrison was last seen by her mother and 4-year-old sister at Rockport's Long Beach, on
the North Shore of Massachusetts, around noon April 19. Since then,
authorities have conducted water, ground and air search for the toddler, to no avail.


The missing girl's father, Anthony Harrison, told HLN's Nancy Grace
on Thursday night that he believes Caleigh was kidnapped. He bases his
belief on what his 4-year-old daughter has told him, as well as drawings
by the older sister. Harrison said his older daughter was with Caleigh
when she went missing while their mother went to retrieve a ball.

"At first it was the mean
guy," Harrison said of the 4-year-old's description of Caleigh's
alleged abductor. "And then she got into detail about black shorts, he
was smoking a cigarette, he had facial hair."

Harrison first publicly
mentioned such a man a day earlier, calling the girl's description "a
little bit scattered" and among a "couple of different stories" he'd
heard from her.

The children's mother,
Allison Hammond, also appearing on HLN, said the older sister "simply
shuts down and says I just don't want to talk about it," when she
presses her for details.

"She has not acted the
same since that day," Hammond said of her 4-year-old daughter. "If you
ask her questions about the pictures she's drawn, she becomes
expressionless, she just changes."

Massachusetts State
Police spokesman David Procopio said by e-mail Thursday that authorities
"have found no evidence to support the abduction theory."

"That does not mean that
we can say with 100% certainty that foul play did not occur, only that
we have found no evidence of it -- including no evidence of a mysterious
man on the beach," Procopio said.

That day, Hammond said
she'd taken her daughter and her parents' dog to the beach, about 40
miles northeast of Boston, where they played in the water and went for a
walk.

At one point, Hammond
said she threw a tennis ball for the dog "terribly" and it went over a
wall near some cottages. She then "got the kids situated ... playing in
the sand and by the rocks," as she walked over to some stairs to get the
ball, Hammond said.

"I could see them the
whole way when I was walking over to the stairway ... and they were
fine," she said of her daughters. "And one of the times I looked back,
Caleigh was just gone."

Hammond said she went
down to find her 4-year-old daughter with her "arms outstretched and she
said, 'Caleigh's gone.' She didn't say anything more than that."

Afterward, the mother said she began looking intently for the toddler,
who "was wearing bright pink that day."

She found no sign of
her. Nor did authorities looking through "ocean and tidal areas for
several days with divers, sonar, dogs, boots on the ground and
helicopters," said Procopio.

The state police
spokesman added that investigators also spoke to a female surfer, two
women walking on a sidewalk above the beach, a man playing basketball
and others.

"None of them saw anyone
or anything suspicious in the vicinity of the family," Procopio said.
"Likewise, no one saw her actually fall into the water."

A "forensic interviewer
who specializes in speaking to children (involved in) traumatic
incidents" talked with Caleigh's sister, the police spokesman said,
though he wouldn't offer details.

Harrison said that he
didn't have an explanation why it took two weeks for him to discuss what
his daughter told him about the alleged abductor. Regardless, he said
he's convinced her story is true.

"I wouldn't put my
daughter under this kind of scrutiny (if I didn't believe it)," Harrison
said. "This came from the heart. And I believe her."
http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/03/justice/massachusetts-missing-girl/

Two police K-9 search dogs and up to 12 Massachusetts state troopers
returned to Long Beach today to take up a renewed search for any signs
of missing Gloucester 2-year-old Caleigh Harrison.



But despite getting help from Rockport Public Works backhoes and other
heavy equipment, searchers found nothing, and called off the exercise
around 4 p.m.



Following up on a lead that emerged Thursday, State Police said this
morning that searchers are to comb a small portion of Long Beach for
missing litte girl. The lead was produced by a dog that had a "strong
reaction to some type of stimuli on in a very specific area of the
beach," State Police spokesman David Procopio said.



Rockport police had checked the lead yesterday, but were stymied by the
incoming tide and cleared the scene, State Police said the search would
resume at 3 p.m. today, when the tide will be low.



Caleigh Harrison was last seen on Long Beach with her mother Allison
Hammond, her 4-year-old sister Elizabeth and the family dog, Lucas
around noon on April 19. According to reports, Hammond left the girls to
go after a wayward ball; when she returned, Caleigh had vanished.



State Police have not ruled out foul play, and in a TV interview earlier
this week, Anthony Harrison, the girls' father, said that Elizabeth —
who was interviewed by state police and by an investigator with
experience in child psychology — has talked of seeing "a man on the
beach who took her sister."



State Police, however, have also said they have found no evidence of any
abduction, never issued an Amber alert, and focused the search for
Caleigh on the waters off Long Beach before the active water search was
called off April 26.

http://www.gloucestertimes.com/breakingnews/x157481162/Police-plan-search-for-Caleigh-today-in-wake-of-Thursday-lead

The 4-year-old sister of missing toddler Caleigh Harrison may hold clues
about her disappearance and is slowly remembering more about what
happened on April 19 when her sister vanished.

Lizzie, 4, wasn't talking in the beginning, but her parents said she is
now sharing more details of the day she said her 2-year-old sister was
abducted.

"At first it was the mean guy and then she got into detail about black
shorts, he was smoking a cigarette, he had facial hair," Anthony
Harrison, the girls' father, told Nancy Grace.

Lizzie even drew a picture of the man she said took her little sister.

The toddler disappeared on April 19. Caleigh's mother, Allison Hammond,
said she was playing ball with her two daughters on the beach in
Rockport, Mass. When Hammond returned from chasing after a ball, Caleigh
had vanished.


"I looked down and Lizzie had her arms outstretched and she said,
'Caleigh is gone.' She didn't say anything more than that," Hammond
said.


State police have searched the beach and said there are no signs of an
abduction. Experts also cast doubt on Lizzie's account, which came weeks
after frantic searches.


"What happens in children that young is they incorporate comments by
people into their own psyche like they're real and so in her mind it may
be real. In reality it may not be real at all," said Brad Garrett, a
former FBI agent and ABC News consultant.


Lizzie did not mention anything about an abductor during a meeting with a state psychologist, authorities said.


Still, her father is holding out hope Lizzie's memory will help bring Caleigh home.


"This came from her. This came from the heart and I believer her," Anthony Harrison said.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/caleigh-harrison-missing-girls-sister-4-may-hold-144057431--abc-news-topstories.html

Skin-like material was discovered this morning on
Good Harbor Beach, less than a mile south of the place from which
Gloucester 2-year-old Caleigh Harrison disappeared nearly three weeks
ago.

Although Gloucester detective Steve Mizzoni said he was
virtually certain the material was not from a human, it was sent to the
state medical examiner for forensic examination.

The discovery was made by the Gloucester Department of
Public Works beach sweeper, who clears the rack each morning and found
the material in seaweed.

According to Mizzoni, the DPW was working near the
northern end of Good Harbor, which is separated from Long Beach by the
Brier Neck granite outcrop.

The toddler was last seen at the northern end of Long
Beach, which stretches about one third of a mile until it meets Cape
Hedge Beach. The tide pushes southward, down the southeast back shore of
Cape Ann past Emerson Point at the tip of Brier Neck toward Good
Harbor. At low tide, a sandbar from the beach to Salt Island creates a
closed harbor.

"They found some skin, but it doesn't appear that the
remains are human," said Mizzoni, who studied them after they were
pulled from the sand by the DPW's Charlie Nicastro early this morning.
"It looks like dark bedsheet, shredded, or the membrane from some animal
— a seal or a deer — that has been in the ocean for months."

Mizzoni said that Rockport Police were also called in upon the discovery of the material on Good Harbor Beach.

Caleigh Harrison, age 2 years, 9 months, disappeared
during an April 19 visit to Long Beach with her four-year-old old
sister, Elizabeth, and her mother Allison Hammond of Gloucester, April
19 on a windy day near the bridge over a creek separating Long Beach
from Cape Hedge Beach to the north.

The events surrounding Caleigh's disappearance remain
uncertain. While not ruling out foul play, Massachusetts state Police
have said there is no evidence pointing to an abduction, despite claims
by Caleigh's parents, Hammond and Anthony Harrison, that 4-year-old
Elizabeth has talked of seeing a man on the beach who may have taken her
little sister. Police have interviewed Elizabeth both in the immediate
aftermath of Caleigh's disappearance, and two days later, with the aid
of an investigative child psychologist.

Police, however, also called up a search of the waters
off Long Beach April 26, after a week's worth of scouring the area
yielded no apparent clues; authorities also briefly revived the search
last Friday after a resident's dog began barking and digging in an area
of the beach near where Caleigh disappeared, but that response also
yielded nothing.

We will update this story here at gloucestertimes.com if any more information becomes available
http://www.gloucestertimes.com/local/x2089087728/Good-Harbor-finding-not-seen-as-tied-to-missing-Caleigh

Three weeks and a day after 2-year-old Caleigh
Harrison disappeared from Long Beach, hundreds of people from
Gloucester, across Cape Ann and beyond "held hands" Friday night as a
show of support and solidarity for her and her family in an outpouring
of community emotion on Stacy Boulevard.

The "Hold Hands for Caleigh" vigil — with those on the
Boulevard joined by fishing boats and fishermen in Gloucester's outer
harbor — was organized just this week by Caleigh's family and friends,
volunteers with the Boston-based Mission for the Missing support group,
and others as a means of not only joining in hope for her return, but of
raising awareness of child safety.

David Harrison, brother of Caleigh's father Anthony
Harrison, said the effort was inspired in part by the "Slow Down for
Allie" campaign that followed the tragic 2009 death of Allie Kastner, a
15-year-old girl who was struck and killed while crossing a street in
Marblehead.

Harrison and other family members and volunteers last
night distributed bracelets and bumper stickers reading "Hold Hands for
Caleigh," with Harrison noting in an earlier interview that parents must
always be aware that a child can be lost in a virtual instant.

"People shouldn't think it can't happen to them, because it can," David Harrison said while discussing plans for the vigil.

It was just after noon, and shortly after high tide on a
day with dangerous surf warnings that little Caleigh Harrison, playing
at Long Beach near Cape Hedge Beach with her 4-year-old sister
Elizabeth, her mother, Allison Hammond, and the family's dog, Lucas,
vanished while her mother had turned away for an estimated one to two
minutes to retrieve a ball that had gone over a nearby wall. When she
looked back, Caleigh was gone.

Massachusetts State Police, Rockport Police and, for a
time, the U.S. Coast Guard — along with volunteers and fishermen off the
coast — carried out an extensive water-based search, but no sign of the
girl has turned up.

Police, however, have also not ruled out foul play. And
family members have said they've come to increasingly wonder whether
Caleigh may have been abducted. Police have said there is no evidence of
an abduction, and authorities never issued an Ambet Alert after the
little girl's disappearance.

But David Harrison and Maureen Flatley, a child safety
advocate with Mission for the Missing, both say that Caleigh's sister
Elizabeth — who reportedly told investigators at first that she could
not remember or didn't know what happened, now consistently describes a
man on the beach who may have taken her little sister.
http://www.gloucestertimes.com/local/x241730498/A-vigil-for-Caleigh

So, what did "mom" do with this baby? Push her into the undertow?? Hinky me thinks.

Caleigh's family questions cops

May 18, 2012
By Joann Mackenzie Staff Writer

"Police said they couldn't issue an Amber Alert because there was no evidence of an abduction," says Catherine Curcuru, an aunt and godmother of missing Gloucester 21/2-year-old Caleigh Harrison.

"But when you think about it, there was no evidence — and there's still no evidence — that she was in the water, either," Curcuru says. "So, why automatically rule out abduction? We're an island. Why not close the roads? What would it take? How much would it cost?"

Curcuru, the sister of Caleigh's father, Anthony Harrison, was speaking to the Gloucester Times on Wednesday night in a lengthy phone interview, recalling how, on that first awful April afternoon exactly one month ago Saturday, she, like virtually everyone else, assumed the tiny toddler had been swept out to sea.

"When I got to the beach, my gut told me she was in the water," she recalls now. "But, listen, I was in line when they handed out the common sense, and it just didn't make any sense to me to rule out abduction, either."

Although grateful for all police had done by way of sea searches, Curcuru said that she and other family members have felt a sense of disconnect with the status of the ongoing investigations. That observation gained sudden credibility when, in the midst of the interview, she received a phone call on her land line from Anthony Harrison that Massachusetts State Police divers had returned Wednesday to the Long Beach scene of Caleigh's disappearance to re-enact some earlier tests.

While Caleigh's family continues to raise the issue, state police reiterated after Wednesday's beach visit that there is no such evidence of an abduction.

In fact, police said that a float test showed that currents at Long Beach, such as those of the day Caleigh vanished, could have swept a 2-year-old swiftly out to sea.

"We put a float in the water and a diver underneath, and they shot out into the ocean," State Police spokesman David Procopio said through media reports. "Within 15 minutes, the float and the diver underneath were swept out in the currents."

Procopio said State Police investigators believe there is no evidence of foul play in Caleigh Harrison's disappearance, which occurred when she was playing at Long Beach with her mother, Allison Hammond, and her 4-year-old sister, Elizabeth.

Procopio said investigators have received and followed up on some 200 tips from people in and outside the area.

"We have no evidence of foul play. Nobody saw anyone in the area who could have committed an abduction. Nobody saw any cars or people," he said.

The family's clinging to an potential abduction, however, comes in part from 4-year-old Elizabeth, who after reportedly initially telling police she did not know what happened, now consistently recalls "a man on the beach" who could have taken her sister.

Catherine Curcuru said the family knew nothing of state police's return to Long Beach on Wednesday until they saw coverage of it in the media.

Caleigh's mother, Allison Hammond, said yesterday that the latest state police visit to the area had come as a complete surprise to her, too.

Referring to a TV report that she had left her children by the footbridge at the edge of Saratoga Creek, Hammond said, in an emotional phone interview with the Times, "I would never have left my daughters by the footbridge."

Hammond, whose family owns a cottage on Long Beach, is very familiar with the notorious undertow of Saratoga Creek at high tide.

"The currents change by the hour there," she said, "and it was super moon, the tide was ripping."

Hammond says she left her "girls" where her sister-in-law Catherine says she did — nestled in a safe spot in the rocks some distance from the creek.

"I'm very grateful for all the police have done to find Caleigh," Hammond said, "but I wish they hadn't just focused so fast on the water, because there's no more evidence that she went into the water than there is that she was abducted."

Hammond, who, like other family members describe Caleigh as a child who did not particularly like the water, and who would never go into it on her own, said she and her girls were planning to build a sand castle there on the spot where she'd left them.

Instead, when she looked back at the spot where she had left the two of them, only one of them, Lizzie, was there, her arms raised, saying, "Caleigh's gone."

"I'd feel better with state police saying that the just don't know what happened to Caleigh. Because that's the truth," Hammond said.

"They don't," she said. "None of us do."

http://www.newburyportnews.com/local/x1561284448/Caleighs-family-questions-cops

The family of Caleigh Harrison is publicly trying to keep the focus
on the search for the two year old who was last seen one month ago by
Long Beach in Rockport. But privately, Caleigh’s father Anthony Harrison
has expressed concern to Rockport Police regarding his 4-year-old
daughter Lizzie’s welfare, and his estranged wife’s state of mind.
By law, police must report his concern to state child welfare officials.

RELATED: Family Of Caleigh Harrison Investigated For Neglect

Today Caleigh’s father said he never intended for a state
investigation, explaining, “I don’t know what it’s about, I’m trying to
find out what it’s about, and that’s what I can tell you.”

Caleigh’s uncle, David Harrison says he doesn’t want to lose focus on the search for Caleigh.

“We can’t lose focus that this is what it is all about, it’s about
Caleigh,” says David. “It’s not about anything else. Are we concerned
about Lizzie, of course, but we have a little girl who is missing and we
have no answers yet.”

Caleigh was last seen April 19th by Long Beach. Her mother said she
was there with her daughters, she went to retrieve a ball, and when she
came back Lizzie was there but Caleigh was gone.

Police have said there is no evidence of a crime, and no criminal
charges in connection with Caleigh’s disappearance. The Department of
Children Youth and Families will look into the welfare case.

Caleigh’s parents, Anthony Harrison and Allison Hammond, are going
through a divorce. The families are sharing custody of Lizzie now.

Maureen Flatley, a child advocate and family friend, is concerned
about the fact that the discussion over Lizzie’s welfare and safety are so public.

Flatley says, “Any time there is an allegation of abuse and neglect
the parties and the child are entitled to privacy, so I am disturbed
that there has been a public and ongoing discussion with the 51-A and
the allegations around it.”

She says, “This matter has been discussed in a public way is enormously prejudicial.”
http://boston.cbslocal.com/2012/05/18/father-of-caleigh-harrison-denies-filing-neglect-report/

Hmmm.....still a little hinky to me.

Could the 4 year old be coached to the point that she says her sister was with her and mom at the beach, and really wasn't?
I just don't think the younger one was there at all.
She went missing before this jaunt in the sand.
Has anyone ever confirmed that both girls were present?