STEVIE DRAKE - 13 yo - Lawrence (btwn Topeka and KC) KS

Friends of the family of a missing Lawrence teen spent Monday posting
more fliers around local businesses, hoping someone will have
information that leads to the boy’s safe return home.

“I just know that his mom’s worried sick, as any parent would be,”
family friend Crystal Dunn said. “I have two kids of my own, and if it
was me, I wouldn’t know what to do.”
Lawrence police consider Stevie Drake a runaway. The 13-year-old
South Junior High student was last seen on the afternoon of May 29, just
days after a Douglas County judge signed a court order allowing
Stevie’s father to have only supervised visits with his son. Because the
case does not involve a child abduction, no statewide Amber Alert can
be issued.

Stevie has run away before, but now that he’s been missing 10 days,
family members feel there’s cause for concern.
“We’re just exhausted,” Stevie’s aunt Elizabeth Alvarez said. “We
don’t sleep well because we don’t know where he is.”

Lawrence police said Stevie’s case is not unusual. The department
received 185 reports of runaways in 2009 and to date in 2010 another 47
kids have been reported as runaways. Still, police actively search for
the children.

“We get so many reports of runaways that if we have information that
somebody knows where a juvenile or runaway might be, we will go to those
places of interest and seek them out if we can,” Lawrence police Sgt.
Matt Sarna said.

Sarna said the majority of runaways are found through word of mouth.
“We find a lot of the juveniles through the kids,” Sarna said. “A
lot of them know where they’re hiding out, and they’ll give us a call and let us know.”
That’s why friends and relatives are continuing to spread the word,
plastering Stevie’s pictures all over town.
“Anything we can do to get the word out,” Dunn said, while hanging
fliers at a strip mall near Clinton Parkway and Kasold Drive. “Don’t
hesitate to call. If you’re a young kid and know where he is, you won’t
get in trouble. His mom and dad just want to know if he’s OK.”

Anyone with information on Stevie’s whereabouts can call the Lawrence
Police Department at (785) 832-7509 or the anonymous Crime Stoppers hot
line at (785) 843-TIPS.

A Lawrence teen who has been missing for more
than a week has been found.The family's attorney said
Wednesday 13-year-old Stevie Drake has been located. No circumstances
about his condition or where he was found have been released.Family
members said Drake was angry with his mother when he ran away because
she wouldn't let him go to the swimming pool. His mother said Stevie has
been upset a lot lately because of a bitter custody battle she is
having with his father. She said it's the third time he has run away,
but it's the first time he's been gone for more than a day.Besides
fliers, the family has created a group on Facebook that they said is
already more than 700 members strong.