BENJAMIN KAISER-GRIFFIN - 9 yo - Hawai'i / from AZ

The Hawai’i Police Department is assisting authorities from
Chandler, Arizona, in searching for a 9-year-old boy believed to be in
the custody of his non-custodial father.
The case is listed on the website for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Benjamin Kaiser-Griffin has been missing since May 21. He is
described as Caucasian, 4-feet tall, 65 pounds with blond hair and
brown eyes.
His father, 43-year-old James Anthony Kaiser, is described as Caucasian, 6-feet tall, 200 pounds with blond hair and hazel eyes.
Authorities in Arizona believe the father and son may be in Hawai’i.

James Kaiser

Police ask that anyone with information on their whereabouts call
the Hawai’i Police Department’s non-emergency line at 935-3311.
Tipsters who prefer to remain anonymous may call Crime Stoppers at
961-8300 in Hilo or 329-8181 in Kona. All Crime Stoppers information is
kept confidential.

Big Island police are assisting
authorities from Chandler, Ariz., in the search for a 9-year-old boy,
believed to be in custody of his non-custodial father.Benjamin
Kaiser-Griffin has been missing since May 21. He is described as white,
standing 4 feet tall and weighing 65 pounds. He has blonde hair and
brown eyes.His father, 43-year-old James Anthony Kaiser, is
described as white, standing 6 feet tall, weighing 200 pounds with
blonde hair and hazel eyes.Authorities in Arizona believe the father and son may be in Hawaii.If you have any information you are asked to call Hilo Crime Stoppers at 961-8300.

An Arizona boy who was abducted by his father may be in Hawaii.
Benjamin Kaiser-Griffin and his father were supposed to take a short
trip to the Big Island in late May, but they never returned. The boy's
mother, who has full custody, hasn't heard from them since. The last
time Shelly Griffin saw her precious son was nearly two and a half
months ago.
"It gets harder the longer he's gone. Some days are good. Some days are bad. I don't sleep very much," she said.
The nine-year-old boy left with his father, James Kaiser, for a
scheduled visitation on May 21. The two were supposed to travel to
Hawaii where they had vacationed before. The child was due back at his
mother's Arizona home on May 31. When they didn't return, Griffin went
to Kaiser's condo and found it cleaned out.
"I was shocked actually. I was scared. I knew what had happened. I knew that he had taken him," said Griffin.
"Every indication is that he wants to be in Hawaii. That's where he
goes and that's where he told people he's going to go," said Detective
Chris Keipert of the Chandler Police Department.
Authorities in Hawaii are helping Arizona police track down leads.
Griffin also created a MySpace page hoping her computer-savvy son will
find it on the internet.
"Children do google their name a lot. I thought about that and Ben
does. I've seen him do it. Maybe that'll pull up and he'll get to
realize that he is not just on vacation," explained Griffin.
Authorities don't believe Kaiser will harm his son. However, they
are worried about psychological effects, and they do feel the child is
still in danger. Kaiser-Griffin takes medication for his Attention
Deficit Disorder. He is supposed to start the fourth grade next week.
"If he is living like a transient, how healthy is that for a child
to be living like a transient? Where are they getting money? How is he
eating?" wondered Keipert.
Benjamin is four feet tall, weighs 65 pounds, and has blonde hair and brown eyes. If you see him or his father, call 911.

He will find you.
Sometimes a forceful e-mail is all it takes to convince a teen that
there's no point in running away from home, because in the end,
Chandler police Detective Chris Keipert says he will find them.
It's what he writes in every e-mail to every runaway teen, because even after they flee, they still get on the Internet.
When that doesn't work, Keipert will comb phone records, Facebook, classmates, friends and - even better - enemies.
Keipert is the detective in the Family Crimes Unit, dedicated to tracking down runaways and monitoring custodial interference cases
More than 300 cases of runaways and custodial kidnappings land on his
desk every year, and he says he finds nearly every one of them.
The only exception: a 17-year-old boy who hitchhiked north, worked
on a farm and called the detective personally to say, "I'm OK, but I'm
not telling you where I am."
On his 18th birthday, the boy, who left because of family issues, returned to Chandler to thank Keipert for his diligence.
"He was a good kid, so it turned out OK," he said.
The teen never told Keipert where he was, living off the grid and paying everything in cash.
Keipert understood; he, too, refuses to give up his methods even when the kids ask him just how he was able to track them down.
"I'm good," he tells them.
The department doesn't keep track of the number of missing kids who
are found by detectives, and when the cases come up, the reports stay
in the patrol unit for four days before landing on Keipert's desk. He
takes action if the children don't come home on their own or aren't
found by patrol officers.
His high success rate includes the custodial-interference cases he
also handles. Those, he said, are harder and more emotionally taxing.
"It tends to be emotionally draining because you know the victim in
the whole thing is the kid," he said, before following up to say that
he never gets emotionally involved. "If you do that, what good are you
to the investigation?"
He has one open custodial-interference case, that of 9-year-old Ben
Kaiser-Griffin, whose father told the boy's mother that they were going
on a Hawaiian vacation in May and then never returned.
Keipert obtained a warrant for the father's arrest on custodial-interference charges on Wednesday.
He also has police in Hawaii searching for the man and his son, and local television stations have picked up the story.
He said he often works with other agencies and is well connected
around the country. When other agencies call looking for missing kids
thought to be in the Valley, Keipert said he returns the favors
In May last year, a father without custody rights signed his
6-year-old son out of a Chandler elementary school and took off. With a
series of phone calls, Keipert knew where the man might be headed and
authorities in Abilene, Texas, arrested the man the next day.
"It's not my job to decide who should have custody, we just want kids returned to where they belong," Keipert said.
In 2008, the police department got 472 calls for missing kids. The
vast majority are runaways, Keipert said. The sheer volume of the
runaway caseload means he spends most his time recovering kids who
don't want to be recovered.
For all those calls for service, there are 345 arrests in missing juvenile cases.
That, the detective said, is largely because he always charges the
teens who run away. It's a sort of tough-love strategy to help ensure
they don't keep taking off.
On the occasion that runaways claim abuse, Keipert hears them out
and then forwards any legitimate cases to other detectives in the
Family Crimes Unit. It's usually easy to tell, he said, between those
who are mad at their parents for taking away privileges and those "who
are really scared to go back home because there are problems."
In the meantime, Keipert spends his days clad in polo shirts on the
bottom floor of the police station, where he tracks down leads that
crisscross state lines. He meets with friends of the missing, and the
parents of friends. And he is learning Twitter.

After four months of searching, a Chandler mother is finally reunited with her son.
The last day Shelly Griffin saw her nine-year-old son, Benjamin
Kaiser-Griffin, was May 21. James Anthony Kaiser, 43, picked up his son
for a nine-day, court-ordered visitation that Thursday. The two fled
the state without a word to Griffin.
Chandler police issued a felony warrant for Kaiser's arrest and
Benjamin was registered with the National Center for Missing and
Exploited Children's Network. For months, police searched for the boy.
During a routine traffic stop in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., on Saturday, Kaiser was arrested by police. Ft. Lauderdale detectives
found the boy and put him in protective custody overnight.
Benjamin and his mother were reunited in Florida on Sunday afternoon and flew back to the Valley late Sunday night.
"A sense of peace has really come over me," said Griffin after arriving in Phoenix
. "My little guy is home."
Griffin first got word from Ft. Lauderdale that her son had been found around 9 p.m. on Saturday night.
"I was screaming," she said. "I waited for that call day in and day out."
"It was a relief. That whole worried feeling was gone."
Griffin and Benjamin, who was wearing a red Super Mario Brothers
T-shirt and black Ft. Lauderdale hat, were escorted from the plane by
Chandler Detective Chris Keitert, who had been working on the case.
Griffin said that on Monday her and her son were going to sleep in, make pancakes, and go swimming.
Chandler Police said Benjamin's mother has full custody and his father only had visitation rights.
Griffin told The Arizona Republic in June that because Kaiser lost custody, he did not get to spend a lot of time with Benjamin.
But for about three months before the abduction, Griffin allowed
Kaiser to have more time with his son because Benjamin enjoyed spending
time with his dad. They even attended a Scounting event together.
Griffin said she didn't understand why Kaiser disappeared with their son.
Extradition proceedings are underway to bring Kaiser back to Arizona to face felony charges of parental abduction.


Shelly Griffin kisses her son Benjamin Kaiser-Griffin after their arrival
Sunday, Sept. 6, 2009 at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix.

Police arrested James Kaiser, 43, in Fort Lauderdale on Saturday during a routine traffic stop.A
month ago, police issued a felony warrant for Kaiser's arrest for
parental abduction of his nine-year-old son from Chandler, Ariz.Police
said the father failed to return Benjamin Kaiser Griffin, after a
scheduled court-ordered visitation in May, and fled out of state.
Angela Glad said she had no idea there was a warrant for Kaiser's
arrest when he answered her ad for a handyman in Florida two months ago."I'm upset about the whole situation because Ben was very happy with his father," said Glad.Glad,
who said she's still in Kaiser's corner, described him as a good father
and said he did not approve of his son's prescribed medication."While
he was here, Ben was a very well behaved child without drugs, he was
mentally stimulated, he was home-schooled and his father only had the
best interests for him," said Glad.Investigators said Florida
detectives took Benjamin into protective custody Saturday until he was
reunited with his mother on Sunday.While in Florida, Glad said Kaiser and his son stayed in a home that she owned, and that Benjamin did not want to leave."His
father is an educated man and a quality minded man and it upsets met
hat this whole thing has been blown out of proportion," said Glad.Extradition proceedings are underway to bring Kaiser back to Arizona to face charges in the parental abduction case.Benjamin and his mother arrived at Sky Harbor International Airport at about 10:40 Sunday night.

Benjamin Kaiser-Griffin returned to the Valley wearing a present that marked the end of his 3 1/2-month journey.
The fitted black Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) Police Department hat, a
gift from the Florida officers, didn't get in the way as his mother
kissed him on the cheek at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
Shelly Griffin and her 9-year-old son returned to the Valley late
Sunday after she flew across the country to pick him up. His father is
suspected of abducting him in May.
Chandler police say that James Anthony Kaiser, 43, picked up his son
for a nine-day, court-ordered visit on May 21. Police say Kaiser then
fled the state with Ben without a word to Griffin.
A felony warrant was issued for Kaiser's arrest, and Ben was
registered with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

For months, police searched for the boy. They worked with private investigators, non-profit groups and publicists.
But ultimately a routine traffic stop led to Kaiser's arrest in Fort Lauderdale on Saturday. Detectives found the boy and put him in protective custody overnight.
Benjamin and his mother were reunited in Florida on Sunday afternoon and flew back to the Valley.
"A sense of peace has really come over me," Griffin said after arriving in Phoenix. "My little guy is home."
Griffin first got word around 9 p.m. Saturday night that her son had been found.
"I was screaming," she said. "I waited for that
call day in and day out."
A few weeks after Ben's abduction, Griffin came across NationalVigilForHope.org,
a national coalition advocating for more awareness of missing children
and adults. Griffin contacted Michelle Bart, chairperson of the
coalition.
Intrigued by Griffin's story, Bart worked as a pro bono publicist in the search for Ben.
"This is a lot different when every word you say could affect a
child coming home," Bart said. "My job with families is clear - to keep
loved ones' faces and cases known at all times."
Police said there is no documentation of Ben's records
being transferred to Florida. Most Valley schools have been in session
for about a month, and Griffin said she'll look into seeing if Ben
needs tutoring to catch up to other fourth-graders.
Chandler police said Ben's mother has full custody and his father only had visitation rights.
Griffin told The Arizona Republic in June that because Kaiser lost custody, he did not get to spend a lot of time with Ben.
But for about three months before Ben disappeared, Griffin allowed
Kaiser to have more time with his son because the boy enjoyed spending
time with his dad.
Griffin said she didn't understand why Kaiser disappeared with their son, as police allege.
Kaiser is being held on a $50,000 bond and is awaiting extradition back to Arizona to face felony parental abduction charges.