TERRY DEWAYNE SMITH JR - 11 yo - / Arrested: half brother, unnamed - Menifee, CA (80 miles east of LA)

Remains found at California home of missing autistic boy    

7 hours ago Society

By Dan Whitcomb

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Investigators found remains on Wednesday at the home of an autistic 11-year-old California boy who became the subject of an intense manhunt this week after he was reported missing, and were trying to determine if they were human, police said.

Terry Smith was reported missing from his home in Menifee, about 80 miles east of Los Angeles, by his mother on Sunday morning, prompting a search by authorities using helicopters and bloodhounds and assisted by volunteers from the community.
The remains were discovered by investigators who went to the boy's home early on Wednesday, armed with a search warrant, said Deputy Alberto Martinez, a spokesman for the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.

Martinez said he had no immediate information on the condition of the remains or where at the house they were found. It was not immediately clear what prompted investigators to seek the search warrant.

The Riverside Press-Enterprise newspaper reported that forensic investigators could be seen digging in the back yard, and local television showed sheriff's deputies working under canopies set up there.

If an initial examination establishes that the remains are human, they will be sent to the Riverside County Coroner for identification, autopsy and further analysis, Martinez said.

Martinez said the boy was last seen between 7:30 and 9 p.m. on Saturday night by his older brother and was reported missing by his mother when she didn't find him in bed the following morning.

There have been no arrests in connection with the disappearance, and sheriff's officials say the family has cooperated in the investigation.

A statement posted on the city of Menifee's website on Tuesday said that more than 1,000 citizen volunteers had helped search for Terry Smith and that local businesses had donated food and water.

"The Menifee community has come together despite these tough weather conditions with a huge outpouring of time, resources and support to help bring Terry home," Mayor Scott Mann said in the statement.

http://news.yahoo.com/remains-found-california-home-missing-autistic-boy-190300695.html

 
Missing: Terry Dewayne Smith Jr went missing Saturday night while his step-brother was babysitting
 
Teenage half-brother of missing autistic boy, 11, arrested for murder after child's body is found in shallow grave
 
Police in Southern California have made an arrest in the case of an 11-year-old autistic boy who went missing over the weekend after a child's body was found partially exposed in a shallow grave today.
Police found the body, believed to be little Terry Dewayne Smith Jr, when they searched his family's home in Menifee, California, in Riverside County.
 
After the grim discovery, officers arrested a 16-year-old family member - thought to be his half-brother, who was the last person to see Terry alive.
 
Terry's mother and other family members were taken in for questioning.
The body was found under a tree about 75 feet from the house, which sits in a rambling, weedy lot off a remote road.
About 1,000 people, including sheriff's deputies on horseback, emergency workers and volunteers, hunted for Terry on Tuesday.
Authorities were concerned that he wandered away without food, water or his medication in an area 70 miles southeast of Los Angeles where temperatures have topped 100F.
Riverside County sheriff's detectives were led to the home shortly after 1am on Wednesday based on evidence indicating there might be a body there, Deputy Albert Martinez told the Riverside Press-Enterprise.
 
Shallow grave: Investigators found the boy buried under a tree just 75 feet from his house
 
Investigators started searching Terry's family home after receiving a tip that he might be buried there
 
In danger: Terry, who weighs 76 pounds and is 4'8", most likely did not take his medicine with him which will cause problems because he is a high-functioning autistic
 
The 4-foot-8 boy with sandy brown hair and brown eyes was last seen wearing blue basketball shorts. Local children were asked to not wear blue, to help avoid confusion.
Terry was last seen when he followed his 16-year-old step-brother to the store on Saturday. The teen said he told the boy to go home, the Desert Sun reported.
 
The boy's mother said she didn't realize he was missing until 10.30am the next day as she was out for the evening.
 
Terry's mother shared details of the boy's habits on the searchers' Facebook page. Without his medication, Terry may be 'over sensitive and may be walking on his tiptoes', the page said.
Searchers were also instructed to call him by his nickname 'Juju' because hearing his full name called out might cause him to believe he's in trouble and flee.
Neither Terry's mother nor his 16-year-old step brother have spoken out publicly, nor have the police said why the teenager did not notice that his brother was missing sooner.
Investigators took quick action sending out the first search party on Sunday morning shortly after the boy's mother called to report him missing.
 
The boy's father lives outside of California and has been ruled out as a suspect.
Police sent out hundreds of searching volunteers as well as police mounted on horseback and in helicopters.
'We too have a special needs child and we know how sometimes that they wander off and our hearts are breaking,' said volunteer Danielle Adamson.
Family friend Sophia Masih warned that if anyone spots Terry, who goes by the nickname Juju, they should approach him cautiously and try to initiate a conversation so that he begins to trust them.
'He acts and looks like he's seven,' she told The Press-Enterprise.
'Because he hasn't taken any of his medication his personality could be very angry, (so) no sudden movements or anything like that.'
 
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2359897/Terry-Dewayne-Smith-Jr-Body-autistic-boy-11-family-member-16-arrested.html
 
I left out several pictures of the search.  Click on web site to view.  I have three cousins by marriage.  I never thought of them as step-cousins.  I loved them like all my cousins.  Guess this step brother did not have love in him.  William

William, worse than that, the suspect is probably  his half brother.  They called him both but used the half brother more.

Why would a reporter not verify that instead of using both terms in one article?

MENIFEE, Calif. (AP) — Terry Dewayne Smith Sr. had been expecting his 11-year-old son to fly home this summer to live with him in West Virginia after two years with his mom in Southern California.

On Thursday, the bereaved father talked about flying Terry Dewayne Smith Jr.'s ashes back to West Virginia instead.

The boy was reported missing Sunday, prompting a massive search. On Wednesday, authorities announced they had found a body matching Terry Jr.'s description in a shallow grave under a tree behind his mother's house.

The boy's 16-year-old half brother was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of murder and could be charged as early as Friday, a person familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press. The person requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the ongoing investigation.

The suspect's name has not been released. He has the same mother as the victim, but a different father.

"All I want to do is get Terry Jr. back here because that was the last thing he told me on the phone," said Smith Sr., a 62-year-old retired truck driver. "He wanted to come home."

Initial reports from the mother, relayed by law enforcement, described Terry Jr. as an autistic boy who took special medication and answered only to his nickname, "JuJu." His father, however, insisted that his son was not autistic.

The boy lived with him until 2011, when he went to live with his mother, and was a normal kid who loved video games and baseball, he said.

"He was a very bright, well-adjusted child, at least he was when he left here," said Smith Sr. "He pushed buttons and would aggravate you. But, other than that, it was just the typical way ... of a typical boy trying to get his way."

Smith Sr. also helped raise the half brother accused in the case, he said. The teen moved from West Virginia to California after his mother abruptly pulled him out of school, he said.

"I taught him how to walk. I helped him when he was on the baseball team here," he said, recalling that he called the half brother "little Spider-Man."

A phone listing for the boy's mother, Shawna Smith, was disconnected. Messages left at a second number associated with her address were not returned.

Investigators told Smith Sr. that Terry Jr. died after a hit to the head but declined to say more, citing a request from police who are still working the case.

Hundreds of volunteers searched for Terry Jr. for more than three days in abandoned trailers and campsites tucked into the scrubby hillsides of rural Riverside County, where horse ranches dot the landscape and large stretches of land remain undeveloped. Sheriff's deputies fanned out on horseback and with bloodhounds in the triple-digit heat and helicopters buzzed overhead, searching for clues.

A detective involved in the search gave credit for the discovery of the body to a volunteer woman who said she had a vision of where to find Terry.

Detective John Powers told KFI-AM radio on Thursday that Pam Ragland and her children came to the property where investigators, including him, had searched thoroughly already and found the body immediately.

"She actually went right up the driveway of the house, on to the property, and right up to the body of this boy," Powers said. "Not in 23 years have I ever seen anything like this."

Posted by David Perez

Read more: http://www.kfiam640.com/articles/local-news-465708/menifee-domestic-case-update-11477461/#ixzz2YrCUkYYi

Terry Smith case: Arrested teen was violent - missing boy's dad

 
MENIFEE, Calif. (KABC) -- New details and questions are coming out in the Terry Smith case, including from the boy's father, his mother's partner and the woman who says she found the body.


Smith's mother, Shawna Smith, along with her partner and a third woman appeared at the family home in Menifee briefly Thursday and quickly went inside.

About 30 minutes later, the mother got into a blue Ford SUV and drove away. She didn't say anything, but her partner, Dennise Bugna, asked for privacy.

"We're just asking for a little time to grieve, everybody has known Terry, if they're lucky, for five minutes, we've known him for 11 years, and we have 11 years of grieving to do, they have three days of searching," she said. "We appreciate all the pain that they have, but they have to remember ours, it's a lot deeper."

Not only is the family grieving the loss of the 11-year-old boy, but presumably, it's the 16-year-old half brother that is under arrest for the boy's murder.

In an interview with Eyewitness News, Smith's dad said the 16-year-old was violent, and his mother knew it.

"(The mother) knew that he did get violent with his brother and sister. I begged her to get him the right kind of help," said Terry Smith Sr., who lives in West Virginia. "In fact, I begged her to get the right kind of help for herself, and it just never happened."

The teen was taken into custody on Wednesday. News of the arrest came hours after authorities revealed they found a body matching the boy's description in a shallow grave behind the family's home.
The identity of the remains has not been confirmed, but authorities said the remains are of a male juvenile that fits Smith's description.
Hundreds of people had volunteered to search for the boy, who was reportedly autistic. But Terry Smith Sr. said his son did not have autism.

"He was rambunctious. He was not autistic. I'll fight that until the day I die," he said. "He was a typical little boy. He loved life. And Thomas the Train set."

The school district also disagreed with the family about whether the boy was ever diagnosed with autism.

"I know it's going to be a bit of a shock to people to hear this, but no, he was not autistic," said Jenny Smith, who said she taught the boy.

What happened between the two boys remains unknown. But Smith's father said after a phone call with the mother earlier this week, he grew worried.

"She told me (the half brother) had been sneaking out of the house, and Terry Jr. went to follow him, and him and (the half brother) got into it. She didn't go any further than that, but as soon as she said him and (the half brother) got into it, I knew they wouldn't find Terry Jr. alive," he said.

It is also unknown why it took detectives four day to find a body that was less than 100 feet from the home. According to Pam Ragland, the woman who says she found the body, the size and rural characteristics of the property could have been a factor. She also thinks people weren't expecting to find a body.

"I just believe that when everybody was looking initially, they probably, I'm sure, looked for signs of foul play, decided that they were looking for a child, so when they looked up in that area, they were looking for a child. I really think that's why they missed him."
Ragland, of South Orange County, says it was a vision she had that led her to the house two nights ago with her children.
It was dark, and she says it was actually one of her kids who found the body.
"My kids found this one spot, and they said, 'Mommy, we found a dead animal,'" she said. "And I went over and looked at it and said, 'Oh, that's not an animal.' It was a head."
Ragland admits that she is no forensics expert, but she said in her opinion, it appeared the body had been there for some time. The sheriff's department said deputies and volunteers had searched the inside and the outside of the home several times.

According to Terry Smith Sr., the boy was born in West Virginia and moved to California with his mother about three years ago. But the boy wanted to return to West Virginia, he said.
"Terry Jr.'s going to get his last wish. And that's to be back home here," he said. "He was born back here, this is where his life started, and this is where he's going to wind up at."

Smith's mother and her partner spent several hours Wednesday at the sheriff's station in Perris for questioning. Authorities have not said what role they had in this case, but they are not facing criminal charges.
"This has been a devastating week for our family and for everybody involved in the search," the family said in a statement. "This community has been amazing and we appreciate all the support."
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Riverside County Sheriff's Department at (951) 776-1099.

(Copyright ©2013 KABC-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)
http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/inland_empire&id=9169276

How could they not have noticed the fresh dug earth in the back yard?  Surely there was an odor.  This makes no sense.

I don't understand these murderers who "search" for the body after their blood letting.  Evil is the only word for this.  Pure evil to the bone.

I guess the mother knows there is nothing she can to to help her murdered son and she doesn't want to lose another one.  But... surely she must admit to herself that he is evil.