June 26, 2024

Chapter 79: Without A Trace-The Disappearance of Wesley Dale Morgan

Chapter 79: Without A Trace-The Disappearance of Wesley Dale Morgan

In the spring of 2001, 2-year-old Wesley Morgan lived in Clinton, Louisiana with his 19-year-old mother, Ruby Harvard, and her boyfriend, 37-year-old Burnell Hilton Jr. He was a happy toddler, who loved to play and learn. Still, on the morning of May...

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In the spring of 2001, 2-year-old Wesley Morgan lived in Clinton, Louisiana with his 19-year-old mother, Ruby Harvard, and her boyfriend, 37-year-old Burnell Hilton Jr. He was a happy toddler, who loved to play and learn. Still, on the morning of May 15th, a mother's worst nightmare becomes a reality when Wesley vanishes from the family home without a trace. 23 years later, Wesley's case is cold, and authorities are adamant that Ruby is not telling the truth about what happened on that fateful day.

If you have any information regarding Wesley's case, you are urged to call the FBI at 1 (800) CALL-FBI (225-5324) or Crimestoppers at (504) 822-1111. There is a $10,000 reward offered by authorities for information in the case.You can also call the east feliciana parish sheriff’s office at 225-683-5459.

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4538DMLA - Wesley Dale Morgan. (n.d.). https://www.doenetwork.org/cases/4538dmla.htmlAmerican Press Staff. (2015, December 14). La. two-year-old still missing after disappearing in 2001 - American Press. American Press. https://www.americanpress.com/2015/12/14/la-two-year-old-still-missing-after-disappearing-in-2001/Arledge, H. (2023, May 26). What happened to Little Wesley Morgan? HL Arledge’s Bayou Justice. https://bayoujustice.com/2023/05/what-happened-to-little-wesley-morgan/Associated Press. (2001a, May 17). Search continues into night for missing two-year-old boy. The Daily Advertiser, 8.Associated Press. (2001b, May 18). Search for toddler enters third day. The Town Talk, 5.Associated Press. (2001c, May 19). FBI questions missing boy’s mother. The Daily Advertiser, 10.Associated Press. (2001d, May 20). Boy’s disappearance brings unrelated arrest. The Town Talk, 24.Associated Press. (2001e, May 21). Couple may have lied about missing boy. The Daily World, 2.Associated Press. (2001f, May 25). Investigators appeal to relatives of missing boy. The Daily Advertiser, 14.Associated Press. (2001g, June 6). Consultation with Psychic brings on new search. The Daily Advertiser, 10.Assosciated Press. (2001, May 24). Missing boy’s mother faces more questions. The Daily Advertiser, 12.Baker, K. (2020, October 22). Police Still Search for Boy, 2, Who Vanished from La. Porch in 2001: 'It's Something You Never Forget' Peoplemag. https://people.com/crime/police-still-search-boy-missing-porch-louisiana-wesley-dale-morgan/Editorial Team. (2011, January 3). Cost of adoption Update: 2009-2010 | Adoptive Families. https://www.adoptivefamilies.com/resources/adoption-news/cost-of-adoption-2010/FBI investigating disappearance of Louisiana boy 15 years later. (2016, August 16). NBC News....

WEBVTT

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Hi guys. I'm Courtney and I'm
Lisa, and welcome to the next chapter

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00:00:05.080 --> 00:00:08.800
in the Book of the Dead.
Brought to you by dark Cast Network indie

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podcasts with a twist. I'm down
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true crime podcast dedicated to people from
or living in Scotland. Just like anywhere

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00:00:44.600 --> 00:00:48.759
else in the world, these murders
can be truly horrific and shocking and we

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00:00:48.840 --> 00:00:52.840
want to shine more light upon them. Join us every two weeks on Scottish

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insight into the other side of Bonnie
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podcasts, as well as on social
media. Join us there, Bye,

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00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:18.120
Hello, Hello, Welcome to the
next chapter of the Book of the Dead.

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00:01:18.519 --> 00:01:23.680
Lisa is again not with me.
She's still recovering from the car accident.

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She's still not feeling that great,
so it's just me once again.

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00:01:29.680 --> 00:01:33.120
But she will be back soon,
I promise. I know I keep saying

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that, but we are going to
jump right into this case together. Now.

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It's been a while since we covered
a missing person's case, but while

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00:01:44.120 --> 00:01:48.319
looking for cases to research, I
came across the story of a disappearance from

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two thousand and one, that of
a little boy who vanished from the front

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porch of his home and was never
seen again. The story I have for

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you today is the disappearance of wes
Dale Morgan. Now Wesley Morgan was born

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00:02:02.519 --> 00:02:07.400
on March fourteenth, nineteen ninety nine, to teenage parents Ruby Harvard, who

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was seventeen at the time, and
his father, Dewey Morgan in Slaughter,

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Louisiana. At some point after Wesley's
birth, Ruby and Dewey broke up,

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and Ruby retained primary custody, but
Dewey was supposedly very active in his son's

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life and a handslot father. As
Wesley got a little bit older, he

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was your average toddler, curious and
playful, and by the time he was

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two years old in two thousand and
one, he and Ruby were living not

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far from Dewey in a rented home
on US Highway sixty three, which was

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near the Bluff Creek community in Clinton, Louisiana. They were living with Ruby's

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thirty seven year old boyfriend, Burnell
Hilton Junior, and Burnell's seventeen year old

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son Burnell Hilton, the third.
The road they lived on was fairly busy

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as it was a main high way, but the house itself was set on

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relatively rural lands. It was set
back from the highway. On May fifteenth,

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two thousand and one, at around
nine in the morning, Ruby and

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Wesley are out on the front porch
and she's watching her son as he plays

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with their puppies. At around nine
forty five, according to an article for

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The Daily Advertiser, Ruby went inside, leaving Wesley out on the porch so

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that she can make some pickled eggs. Some reports do differ on this.

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Some say she was going to make
the pickled eggs, others say that she

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went to go eat pickled eggs.
Either way, she left Wesley on the

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porch and went into the house.
When she came outside a few minutes later,

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Wesley and two of the puppies were
gone. Ruby immediately starts looking for

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Wesley. She checks the front lawn
around the house, and after fifteen minutes,

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when she can't find him, she
calls the police. According to Bayoujusice

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dot com, the initial report filed
by Clinton Police Captain Howard Weathers said,

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quote May fifteenth, two thousand and
one. At ten oh five Tuesday morning,

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Chief Eddie Stewart advised Captain Weathers that
Ruby Harvard called Clinton Police Department and

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stated that her child was missing.
Captain Weathers went to the address a twenty

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seven thirty nine Highway and met with
the complainant. Advised that she and her

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child were outside the home before she
went inside to boil some eggs. She

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was gone for about five minutes.
When she came back outside, the child

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was missing. Now. Ruby claimed
that she hadn't heard any cars pull up

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to the house while she was inside, and described what Wesley had been wearing

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when he disappeared. He was wearing
some sandals, a gray Mickey Mouse shirt,

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and blue shorts with a green stripe
on the leg. Immediately, a

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search is launched in order to try
and find Wesley. Dozens of law enforcement

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officers, firefighters, and close to
two hundred volunteers, including deal Louis Morgan

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and a couple of inmates from local
jails, searched the area looking for Wesley,

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and neighbors were spoken to as well
to see if anyone had seen him.

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According to the Daily Advertiser, the
Chief Sheriff's deputy in East Feliciana Parish

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Paul Perkins said that the search aveiled
the location of one of the puppies across

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the highway from Ruby's home, but
it was much farther than what a two

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year old was expected to walk.
As the day went on with no idea

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as to Wesley's whereabouts, the search
efforts ramped up, with the Louisiana State

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governor declaring a state of emergency now. He did this in order to finance

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the use of the Louisiana National Guards
helicopter that was equipped with thermal imaging.

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According to the Charlie Project, the
search expanded to a five mile radius,

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with volunteers looking in the woods southeast
of Clinton and north of Blairsville and looking

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well into the night. While many
volunteers and officers did leave as it got

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dark, some deputies stayed to continue
the search. Firefighters used the pump to

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join a sewage oxidation pond near Ruby's
home to verify that Wesley had not wandered

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off and fallen in, and they
searched the creek that borders the family home

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as well, but no evidence of
Wesley was found. Sheriff Talmadge Bunch himself

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actually stripped off his clothes and borrowed
some pants from one of the inmates that

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was helping in the search, and
got into a deep pond on the other

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side of the highway to search it
himself, feeling his way along the bottom

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to look for Wesley. Roadblocks were
set up to question anyone driving in or

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out of the area, with no
real results coming from that, and the

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Louisiana National Guard took to the skies
with their thermal imaging, but they found

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no evidence of Wesley in the area
at all. On May sixteenth, the

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FBI is brought into help with the
search, according to The Daily Advertiser,

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and that family's question is part of
procedure, with the FBI spending four hours

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searching Ruby's home and Burnell's pickup truck
for any evidences of foul play. They

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also brought in candaver dogs to search
the area, but they were unable to

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00:07:04.839 --> 00:07:11.920
track anything, which was a small
blessing that Wesley was not found deceased,

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but he was still missing. Sometime
that day, Ruby and Burnell, as

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well as Burnell's son, underwent polygraph
tests, which, according to Sheriff Bunch,

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00:07:21.120 --> 00:07:27.120
they both failed. He said quote
both of them failed their polygraphs,

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his was off the charts, but
what exactly they were lying about was not

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00:07:31.120 --> 00:07:39.040
released. Now. As a side
note, Burnell was actually arrested and charged

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00:07:39.759 --> 00:07:45.600
a few days after Wesley's disappearance with
attempted murder, which was then changed to

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second degree attempted murder, and this
stems from an incident on Halloween night in

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nineteen ninety eight when a pedestrian was
shot in the face. Now, obviously

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00:07:57.480 --> 00:08:01.040
this had no relation to Wesley's disappearance, but it was interesting that he was

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00:08:01.319 --> 00:08:07.920
arrested for a violent crime during the
course of the investigation. Although Burnell does

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00:08:07.000 --> 00:08:11.319
continue to claim to this day that
he was not home on the day that

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Wesley vanished, he was at work, but this was never confirmed nor disproven

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00:08:18.160 --> 00:08:22.879
publicly. Now, the consensus by
day three, at least according to Sheriff

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Bunch, was that Ruby and or
her boyfriend were involved. He told the

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00:08:28.199 --> 00:08:31.519
Daily World that he hoped that Wesley
was alive and that he was part of

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00:08:31.600 --> 00:08:39.440
an illegal adoption. Now, Burnell
didn't speak on the polygraph results, at

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00:08:39.519 --> 00:08:43.440
least not at the time they were
administered, but he did say that Ruby

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was taking the whole thing hard.
As police announced Wesley's disappearance was now being

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00:08:46.960 --> 00:08:52.720
looked at as a criminal investigation.
Burnell said, quote, they've been treating

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00:08:52.799 --> 00:08:56.039
us like we're murderers. They're looking
at the wrong people. But like they

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00:08:56.120 --> 00:09:03.399
said, they're doing their job now. There was mention of the FBI potentially

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00:09:03.480 --> 00:09:07.759
wanting to talk to Ruby again,
according to the Daily Advertiser, but this

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00:09:07.000 --> 00:09:13.879
wasn't elaborated on. Neither was the
possibility of Ruby taking another polygraph test,

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00:09:13.360 --> 00:09:18.080
and this was allegedly due to a
policy the FBI had about not revealing that

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00:09:18.200 --> 00:09:24.039
kind of information. However, Ruby
did allegedly say she would be more willing

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00:09:24.120 --> 00:09:28.960
to speak to the FBI in Baton
Rouge instead of in Clinton, such as

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00:09:30.159 --> 00:09:35.240
at the East Feliciana Paris Jail,
which is probably where a lot of interviews

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00:09:35.240 --> 00:09:39.960
are being conducted, being that Clinton
is a very small town. The supervisor

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00:09:41.039 --> 00:09:45.200
of the FBI's Baton Rouge office,
Alexis Hatten, said, in response to

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00:09:45.240 --> 00:09:50.080
this quote, if someone feels more
comfortable talking at some other location, we'll

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00:09:50.080 --> 00:09:54.759
try to accommodate them. And honestly, that makes sense, as a lot

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of people who feel like they're being
put in or are in a high pressure

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00:09:58.360 --> 00:10:05.039
situation and might be more willing to
speak to an agency if they are removed,

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00:10:05.279 --> 00:10:11.159
even just physically from the situation.
A week after Wesley disappeared, police

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00:10:11.200 --> 00:10:16.240
were frustrated with Ruby and Burnell as
they really weren't giving police anything to go

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00:10:16.360 --> 00:10:20.519
on, so they appealed to the
family, asking them to come forward with

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00:10:20.600 --> 00:10:26.039
any information regarding Wesley's disappearance. This
was done in the hope that someone in

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00:10:26.039 --> 00:10:33.279
the family was told something by Ruby
or Burnell. According to The Daily Advertiser,

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00:10:33.399 --> 00:10:35.840
Sheriff Bunch said, quote, we've
gotten to the point that she won't

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talk to us and won't talk to
anybody, But somewhere down the line,

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she's got to put her trust in
somebody, and that person could help us.

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00:10:46.360 --> 00:10:50.200
It is worth mentioning that at some
point during this time Ruby and Burnell

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00:10:50.320 --> 00:10:56.960
broke up and she started seeing another
man near Zachary, Louisiana. Wesley had

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00:10:56.960 --> 00:11:01.480
apparently been to this man's home,
and this home was searched by police and

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00:11:01.519 --> 00:11:05.559
cadaverdogs, as well as an area
near Bluff Creek. After Sheriff Bunch had

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00:11:05.559 --> 00:11:11.240
a meeting with Reverend Rosemary Kerr from
Escondido, California. Now, this woman

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00:11:11.279 --> 00:11:15.360
was allegedly a psychic who had been
successful in helping find a missing man in

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nineteen eighty nine. So a meeting
was set up and she said that they

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00:11:18.480 --> 00:11:24.120
should search the creek, but nothing
came of it. Sheriff Bunch mentioned that

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00:11:24.200 --> 00:11:28.080
he knew that it was probably crazy
to listen to her, but he was

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00:11:28.240 --> 00:11:31.840
so desperate at this point that he
was willing to try anything to find Wesley.

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Regarding this unnamed boyfriend, his mobile
home was searched for three hours and

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they questioned him, but nothing new
was learned. As Louisiana headed into summer,

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Wesley's case had gone cold with no
new leads about Wesley's whereabouts. Now,

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00:11:50.840 --> 00:11:54.200
before I continue, I know there's
at least a few of you who

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are probably asking yourself about an amber
alert. This was two thousand and one,

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and the Amber alert had already been
established. However, not every state

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00:12:03.879 --> 00:12:07.679
had an operational amber alert plan in
two thousand and one, and Louisiana was

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one of those states. Louisiana's plan
was not operational until October of two thousand

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and two, so over a year
after Wesley went missing, and even if

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it was, his case did not
fully meet the criteria of an Amber alert.

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00:12:24.799 --> 00:12:30.440
According to the Louisiana State Police website, the following criteria must be met

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00:12:30.480 --> 00:12:35.039
before an Amber alert is activated.
Quote. Law enforcement confirms a child aged

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00:12:35.120 --> 00:12:41.480
seventeen or under has been abducted.
Law Enforcement believes the circumstances surrounding the abduction

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00:12:41.639 --> 00:12:46.919
indicate the child is in danger of
serious bodily harm or death. There must

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00:12:48.000 --> 00:12:54.519
be enough descriptive information about child,
abductor and or suspects vehicle to believe an

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00:12:54.559 --> 00:13:00.200
immediate broadcast alert will assist in the
recovery of the child. They all to

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00:13:00.240 --> 00:13:03.279
state it on their website that the
Amber alert plan is not applicable to every

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00:13:03.320 --> 00:13:11.000
situation or for every missing child.
Unfortunately, based on this, Wesley's case

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00:13:11.000 --> 00:13:16.200
would not have met the criteria for
an alert broadcast because they didn't have enough

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00:13:16.240 --> 00:13:20.840
information to tell people. No one
saw anyone take Wesley and no one saw

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00:13:20.919 --> 00:13:26.600
him be placed into a car.
The only thing police could tell the public

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00:13:26.720 --> 00:13:30.559
was what Wesley looked like, what
he was wearing, and where he had

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00:13:30.639 --> 00:13:33.919
last been seen. As a side
note, there is actually a procedure now

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00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:37.559
for a missing child cases that don't
meet the criteria for an Amber alert.

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00:13:37.559 --> 00:13:43.879
In Louisiana, there is a level
two action plan called an Endangered Missing Child

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00:13:43.919 --> 00:13:48.639
Advisory, and essentially the LSP can
take the information about the case from whichever

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00:13:48.759 --> 00:13:56.159
law enforcement agency is requesting this advisory
and distributed to a statewide media contact list

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00:13:56.240 --> 00:14:00.399
to get the information out there.
In two thousand and three, according to

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00:14:00.559 --> 00:14:07.159
WAFB nine news, experts at the
Louisiana State University, Faces lab Age progressed

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00:14:07.159 --> 00:14:09.480
photos of Wesley to show what he
would look like at the age of four,

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00:14:11.240 --> 00:14:15.480
and it did garner some new leads, but nothing that turned up anything

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00:14:15.600 --> 00:14:20.279
helpful. From that same article,
Sheriff Bunch said, quote, I think

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00:14:20.320 --> 00:14:26.559
about him every night. I pray
for the little fella every night. And

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00:14:26.639 --> 00:14:30.600
he spoke about how the case had
stalled and how frustrated he was with the

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00:14:30.600 --> 00:14:35.519
little evidence that had been produced over
the last few years. Quote we don't

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00:14:35.519 --> 00:14:39.559
have any evidence right now to follow
any leads up. And that's what we're

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00:14:39.639 --> 00:14:43.240
looking for, is somebody to call
in and let us know a sighting or

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00:14:43.279 --> 00:14:46.960
a visual of him, or just
anything to give us something to go on.

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00:14:48.879 --> 00:14:52.639
Regarding Ruby, he said, quote, I got a feeling in my

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00:14:52.840 --> 00:14:56.120
heart that she knows where the baby's
at, just the way she responded to

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00:14:56.159 --> 00:15:01.440
the situation and the way she handled
it. She never speaks to us either.

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00:15:01.919 --> 00:15:05.320
She's never been by here one time
and try to have a follow up

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on the baby. So, at
least according to law enforcement, Ruby was

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not acting like a mother distraught and
concerned over the whereabouts of her child.

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She just went on with her life, which, to be quite frank,

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does not make her look innocent.
In fact, the only quotes I could

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find regarding the family speaking out were
from Dewey's side of the family. On

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Wesley's sixth birthday, Dewey's sister Mary
Dufour said quote, I feel like he's

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still alive and I hope wherever he
is they're taking care of him now.

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The police have always had one theory
about what happened to Wesley, and normally

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I cover police theories towards the end
of the case, but this one is

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important to mention now. Within this
timeline, the police, as I said,

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theorized that Wesley is alive and they
believe that Ruby sold her son in

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an illegal adoption. This would seem
like something they would need proof for which

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they never had until an incident in
two thousand and eight, which would strengthen

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00:16:08.639 --> 00:16:15.159
this theory. In two thousand and
seven, Ruby became pregnant again. According

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to WAFB nine News, Ruby,
when she was pregnant, decided to give

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her baby up for adoption, and
she found a couple willing to adopt her

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child. According to Vocal Media,
the couple had met with multiple lawyers,

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but ultimately they were unable to afford
the fees that are associated with adoption privately

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00:16:34.840 --> 00:16:40.159
or through an agency. Now for
reference, in two thousand and nine,

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00:16:40.320 --> 00:16:44.200
these were the average fees that one
could expect when they went through the process

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00:16:44.200 --> 00:16:49.159
of adopting a newborn through a lawyer
within the United States. According to Adoptive

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00:16:49.240 --> 00:16:56.360
Families dot Com, the average fees
were as follows. Home study fee one

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00:16:56.440 --> 00:17:02.320
thousand, six hundred and forty dollars, the agency application and program fees six

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00:17:02.399 --> 00:17:07.559
thousand, four hundred and thirteen dollars, attorney fees ten thousand, two hundred

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00:17:07.599 --> 00:17:15.000
and sixty one dollars, document preparation
and paperwork fees six hundred and forty dollars,

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00:17:15.799 --> 00:17:21.400
advertising and networking three thousand, two
hundred and fifty nine dollars, birth

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00:17:21.480 --> 00:17:26.519
mother expenses in counseling five thousand,
seven hundred and twenty nine dollars, travel

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00:17:26.599 --> 00:17:33.640
expenses one thousand, six hundred and
twenty eight dollars. Any other expenses accrued

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00:17:33.720 --> 00:17:37.960
during the process could equal up to
one thousand, six hundred and twenty eight

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00:17:37.000 --> 00:17:44.000
dollars. The total of all of
these fees before claiming any adoption tax credit

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00:17:44.119 --> 00:17:49.119
or any applicable adoption reimbursement benefits is
thirty one thousand, four hundred and sixty

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five dollars again in two thousand and
nine. As you can see, adoption

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is very expensive, and that's just
if you're only going through a lawyer.

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If you're going through an agency,
or you're adopting outside of the United States,

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it's even more expensive. In order
to try and lower the costs,

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the potential adopted parents and Ruby went
to a notary and signed a statement saying

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00:18:15.359 --> 00:18:18.160
that Ruby would allow the couple to
adopt her baby for the cost of around

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00:18:18.200 --> 00:18:23.200
two thousand dollars. Now. Allegedly, after the birth of the baby,

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Ruby changed her mind, which is
something that does happen birth mothers changed their

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00:18:30.359 --> 00:18:34.759
mind, and she decided she wanted
to keep her baby. The adopted parents

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00:18:34.799 --> 00:18:40.599
were very angry and reported Ruby to
the police, which led to her arrest

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00:18:40.720 --> 00:18:45.559
for the attempted sale of a minor
child. The baby was removed from her

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00:18:45.599 --> 00:18:49.720
care by social services, but she
was ultimately released after her bail was set

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00:18:49.720 --> 00:18:56.839
for the cost of the paperwork that
was filed, totaling thirty dollars. Now

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00:18:56.079 --> 00:19:02.200
apparently she was immediately offered a plea
deal well if she told police what happened

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00:19:02.240 --> 00:19:07.000
to Wesley, but the charges were
dropped after she was able to prove that

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the money she received from the adoptive
couple was used only for medical expenses during

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the birth of her child. In
response to the charges, Ruby's attorney,

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Ronda Covington said, quote, if
they are going after miss Harvard for attempting

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00:19:21.440 --> 00:19:25.400
to sell her child, why aren't
they prosecuting the ones who tried to buy

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00:19:25.440 --> 00:19:29.960
it. Additionally, in response to
whether or not Ruby had done the same

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00:19:30.039 --> 00:19:33.799
thing with Wesley, Ronda said that
Ruby was a teenage mom with a fifth

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00:19:33.799 --> 00:19:41.079
grade education. How could she possibly
fool the FBI. The main problem I

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00:19:41.119 --> 00:19:45.400
have with this statement is that the
FBI knew she was lying about something,

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00:19:45.680 --> 00:19:52.079
They just don't know what it is. In twenty eleven, the National Center

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00:19:52.119 --> 00:19:56.960
for Missing and Exploited Children released a
new age progressed image showing what Wesley would

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00:19:56.960 --> 00:20:00.119
look like at eleven years old in
an attempt to garner fresh leads, but

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00:20:00.480 --> 00:20:07.839
it didn't bring up any new information. They also released another photo a year

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00:20:07.960 --> 00:20:12.680
later in twenty fourteen. Another photo
was released, this time showing Wesley at

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00:20:12.720 --> 00:20:18.400
fifteen years old. In twenty twelve, according to Bayou Justice, a retired

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00:20:18.480 --> 00:20:23.680
Baton Rouge police officer who had grown
up in the East Feliciana Parish area named

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00:20:23.839 --> 00:20:30.319
Richard Sobers was concerned with the lack
of progress in Wesley's case, so he

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00:20:30.359 --> 00:20:34.000
wrote to the local sheriff and volunteered
his time to assist in the investigation.

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00:20:36.200 --> 00:20:41.519
However, he never got a response, so Richard reached out to the FBI,

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00:20:41.839 --> 00:20:45.720
and he, along with the Baton
Rouge and New Orleans divisions of the

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00:20:45.799 --> 00:20:51.960
FBI, created a joint Child Abduction
Rapid Deployment Team and offered up a ten

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00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:57.359
thousand dollars reward for information leading to
the location of Wesley. The new team

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00:20:57.480 --> 00:21:03.400
consists of quote high trained and experienced
subject matter experts, including FBI agents,

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00:21:03.960 --> 00:21:11.599
intelligence analysts, and behavioral analysis profilers. CARD as it's called, also utilizes

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00:21:11.720 --> 00:21:18.119
resources from the National Center for Missing
and Exploited children and a variety of search

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00:21:18.200 --> 00:21:23.240
teams. In response, the National
Center for Missing and Exploited Children generated a

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new image of Wesley to display on
twenty one digital billboards across the southern part

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00:21:29.599 --> 00:21:34.359
of Louisiana as well as Mississippi.
In December of twenty fifteen, Richards stood

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00:21:34.359 --> 00:21:40.640
outside the Clinton Courthouse handing out missing
Persons flyers and bumper stickers that read Where's

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00:21:40.720 --> 00:21:45.839
Wesley that he funded the production of
with his own money. In twenty sixteen,

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00:21:45.200 --> 00:21:51.200
fifteen years after Wesley went missing,
the FBI and local law enforcement searched

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00:21:51.200 --> 00:21:56.359
the woods in Clinton looking for new
evidence, but nothing relevant to the case

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00:21:56.480 --> 00:22:02.920
was discovered. Richard also attempted to
organize a candlelight vigil for Wesley to remind

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00:22:02.960 --> 00:22:07.079
the community that he was still missing, but allegedly some of Wesley's family threatened

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a lawsuit if Richard went through with
it. He said, quote, Wesley's

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00:22:11.880 --> 00:22:17.519
aunt called me regularly for a time
and has recently reached out to express her

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00:22:17.519 --> 00:22:22.039
gratitude for my efforts. But back
when I planned the vigil, she asked

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00:22:22.039 --> 00:22:26.640
me to stop before someone got hurt. Now this could have simply been a

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00:22:26.640 --> 00:22:30.599
statement in regard to Richard's stirring up
painful memories for the family, or even

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stirring up the rumor about Ruby possibly
being behind Wesley's disappearance. But it does

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00:22:37.920 --> 00:22:42.759
have the connotation of sounding like a
threat, which some people have read a

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lot into. But there's no basis
for that. So you could go either

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00:22:48.240 --> 00:22:52.079
way. You could say she was
threatening him, but you could also say

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00:22:52.200 --> 00:22:57.599
she was just worried about what stirring
up painful memories were going to do to

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00:22:57.640 --> 00:23:04.880
Wesley's family. Richard also claimed that
in response to Ruby always insisting that police

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00:23:04.920 --> 00:23:08.880
had a bias against her was because
of rumors floating around that she was a

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00:23:08.880 --> 00:23:15.680
police informant. He also expressed how
disappointed he was in the public and in

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00:23:15.720 --> 00:23:19.519
public officials for the lack of Karen
looking for Wesley. He said, quote,

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00:23:19.799 --> 00:23:25.440
sometimes it seems like some secret society, or at least an elite level

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00:23:25.480 --> 00:23:30.480
of citizenship, controls the justice in
East Feliciana. If you were not a

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00:23:30.519 --> 00:23:33.759
member of this upper echolon, it
doesn't matter how good your ideas are or

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00:23:33.799 --> 00:23:40.599
how worthy your cause is. Wesley
Dale Morgan would not still be missing if

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00:23:40.640 --> 00:23:45.640
he had been born into these families. The whole country would know his story,

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00:23:45.599 --> 00:23:49.440
and I have to say that's true. He was born to a teenage

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00:23:49.440 --> 00:23:56.319
mother, it was a poor family, and the media, for whatever reason,

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00:23:56.440 --> 00:24:02.240
did not think his story worthy to
be shared annie national scale. I

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00:24:02.359 --> 00:24:06.680
kept mentioning the Daily Advertiser as my
main source. It's not one article,

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00:24:06.839 --> 00:24:11.079
but they're really one of the few
people that did write the articles regarding Wesley's

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00:24:11.119 --> 00:24:17.559
case, and any other article around
that time was really kind of saying the

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00:24:17.559 --> 00:24:22.680
same information that the Daily Advertiser was, but most of those articles were from

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00:24:22.720 --> 00:24:27.680
local newspapers. In twenty eighteen,
without Wesley's family being present, butterflies are

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00:24:27.680 --> 00:24:33.720
released outside the courthouse to honor Wesley, organized by Richard. He said,

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00:24:33.839 --> 00:24:37.960
quote, what keeps me going is
because I know someone knows something, several

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00:24:38.000 --> 00:24:42.119
people, and I'm hopeful that one
day their conscience may get the best of

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00:24:42.160 --> 00:24:49.160
them and they'll come forward or either
submit some information anonymously. Again. Ruby

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00:24:49.200 --> 00:24:53.720
has not spoken out publicly since Wesley
first disappeared, but Mary, his aunt,

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00:24:53.880 --> 00:24:59.000
said in twenty sixteen that she hopes
that God has been looking after him

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00:24:59.640 --> 00:25:03.440
and that it's possible he is unaware
of who he really is and that his

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00:25:03.480 --> 00:25:07.599
family is looking for him now.
Unfortunately, twenty eighteen is the last update

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00:25:07.640 --> 00:25:11.400
on the case, but that is
just the mention of the release of the

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00:25:11.440 --> 00:25:17.200
butterflies. What I can tell you
is that according to local police, the

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00:25:17.279 --> 00:25:22.400
case has never been considered shelved.
It has apparently consistently been worked on,

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00:25:22.559 --> 00:25:26.519
and local law enforcement meets regularly with
the FBI to discuss updates and leads,

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00:25:27.160 --> 00:25:32.799
and they are still actively looking for
lead in Wesley's case. Regarding whether or

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00:25:32.880 --> 00:25:37.359
not Ruby is responsible, anything is
possible. But if she truly gave Wesley

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00:25:37.440 --> 00:25:42.119
away, she didn't do it for
money. There was no evidence that she

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00:25:42.240 --> 00:25:47.759
had received a large amount of money
around the time of his disappearance. And

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00:25:48.000 --> 00:25:52.519
additionally, there is no evidence that
she received a large amount of money around

301
00:25:52.559 --> 00:25:57.319
the time of his disappearance, no
evidence that she had made some purchases outside

302
00:25:57.319 --> 00:26:06.000
of her norm buying new things,
just her regular standard, everyday purchases were

303
00:26:06.079 --> 00:26:11.400
what we're seeing because police did look
into this, and additionally, there is

304
00:26:11.480 --> 00:26:15.920
nothing out there to prove that anything
happened in the days before he was reported

305
00:26:15.960 --> 00:26:21.039
missing. If Ruby gave her son
away, why would she do it within

306
00:26:21.119 --> 00:26:26.279
twenty minutes of calling the police,
especially when they responded so quickly and were

307
00:26:26.279 --> 00:26:30.200
putting up roadblocks within an hour of
her calling them. This was not a

308
00:26:30.279 --> 00:26:34.200
national news story by any means,
as I said, but I think someone

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00:26:34.240 --> 00:26:40.079
would have said something if someone they
knew showed up with a strange child.

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00:26:41.359 --> 00:26:45.240
Besides the fact that it is very
possible that someone did take Wesley, their

311
00:26:45.279 --> 00:26:49.599
home was set back from the highway
and from pictures, there's no neighbors close

312
00:26:49.640 --> 00:26:56.640
by. It was relatively isolated,
and it's very possible that Wesley wandered off

313
00:26:56.680 --> 00:27:00.759
the porch and someone driving by took
advantage of the suit situation. I mean,

314
00:27:00.799 --> 00:27:04.480
the Gulf of Mexico was a two
hour drive away, and if Ruby

315
00:27:04.599 --> 00:27:10.759
never saw or heard a car,
which she says she didn't, if someone

316
00:27:10.839 --> 00:27:15.160
did take him, police wouldn't know
who to look for. Although admittedly stranger

317
00:27:15.200 --> 00:27:19.680
abduction is rare, only twenty five
percent of missing children cases are the results

318
00:27:19.720 --> 00:27:25.200
of stranger abduction, according to Kidshealth
dot Org, and most of them are

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00:27:25.319 --> 00:27:32.160
older children. The kidnapping of a
child under the age of eight is rare

320
00:27:32.359 --> 00:27:37.799
statistically now. At the time of
his disappearance, Wesley Morgan was two years

321
00:27:37.839 --> 00:27:41.160
old, three feet tall, and
forty pounds. He had blonde hair and

322
00:27:41.200 --> 00:27:47.000
blue eyes, and was wearing a
gray Mickey Mouse shirt, sandals, and

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00:27:47.759 --> 00:27:51.640
shorts with a green stripe on one
leg. Now, some reports do say

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00:27:51.680 --> 00:27:56.240
these shorts were blue, other reports
say they were gray. But that was

325
00:27:56.400 --> 00:28:00.559
also twenty five years ago. It's
now, oh, kind of irrelevant because

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00:28:00.599 --> 00:28:04.720
I doubt anyone's going to be able
to come forward really remembering what he was

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00:28:04.759 --> 00:28:10.640
wearing. Wesley would be twenty five
years old today, and I will post

328
00:28:10.640 --> 00:28:14.480
the age progress picture on our Instagram
for you so that you can see what

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00:28:15.039 --> 00:28:22.799
they theorize he looks like. Now. Again, police fully believe that Wesley

330
00:28:22.960 --> 00:28:26.440
is alive. They do not believe
he was a victim of foul play,

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00:28:26.079 --> 00:28:30.240
and I am truly hoping that is
the case for this little two year old

332
00:28:30.319 --> 00:28:37.599
who have not have met some terrible, terrible end, and that someone desperate

333
00:28:37.680 --> 00:28:42.119
for a baby made a terrible,
horrific decision to take the child from his

334
00:28:42.200 --> 00:28:48.839
mother, but is ultimately raising him
and loving him. If you have any

335
00:28:48.880 --> 00:28:53.480
information regarding Wesley's case, please call
the FBI at one eight hundred, call

336
00:28:53.759 --> 00:29:00.759
FBI two two five five three two
four, or crime Stoppers at five oh

337
00:29:00.839 --> 00:29:07.039
four eight two two one one one
one. There is a ten thousand dollars

338
00:29:07.039 --> 00:29:11.079
reward offered by authorities for information on
the case. You can also call the

339
00:29:11.119 --> 00:29:19.319
East Feliciana Parish Sheriff's office at two
two five six eight three five four five

340
00:29:19.519 --> 00:29:23.759
nine, and again I will put
those numbers in the source notes for you

341
00:29:23.839 --> 00:29:29.960
so you have access to them.
This case is frustrating, and it's frustrating

342
00:29:30.400 --> 00:29:36.559
because it's been so long. It's
frustrating that the national media did not seem

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00:29:36.559 --> 00:29:41.119
to care about this missing little boy. It's frustrating when the media done a

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00:29:41.240 --> 00:29:45.519
national skill doesn't care about any missing
child. Unfortunately, it's been twenty three

345
00:29:45.599 --> 00:29:48.880
years and I don't know if they're
ever going to find him. But again,

346
00:29:48.960 --> 00:29:53.799
my hope is that if he was
taken by somebody, he was taken

347
00:29:53.839 --> 00:30:00.240
by somebody who was loving him.
And if Ruby did give him up for

348
00:30:00.400 --> 00:30:06.119
adoption and did it in an illegal
way, she at least chose a family

349
00:30:06.160 --> 00:30:10.240
that would love him. But she
needs to come forward and say, look,

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00:30:10.799 --> 00:30:15.640
I did not feel equipped to raise
a baby. You know, I

351
00:30:15.720 --> 00:30:19.440
thought I could, but it was
just getting too hard or too difficult.

352
00:30:21.039 --> 00:30:25.920
You know. She was nineteen when
Wesley went missing, so anything is possible.

353
00:30:26.000 --> 00:30:29.920
I'm not saying she did put him
up for adoption, but the police

354
00:30:29.920 --> 00:30:33.680
seemed to think she did, and
maybe she did, but if she did,

355
00:30:34.000 --> 00:30:37.200
she needs to come forward and say
that. But I hope if she

356
00:30:37.240 --> 00:30:41.799
did, she gave him to a
loving family that loves him and is taking

357
00:30:41.839 --> 00:30:48.359
care of him, and he's grown
up to be a wonderful person and he's

358
00:30:48.400 --> 00:30:52.720
gotten to live his dreams again.
Hopefully Lisa will be in the next one.

359
00:30:52.160 --> 00:30:55.599
I'm not going to make any promises
because every time I do, I

360
00:30:56.000 --> 00:30:59.319
seem to be wrong. But I
thank you all for listening. I urge

361
00:30:59.359 --> 00:31:02.920
you all if you have any information
at all, I know I have listeners

362
00:31:02.960 --> 00:31:10.599
in that general area, please please
call those numbers and give the family some

363
00:31:10.720 --> 00:31:14.279
answers, because at the very least, even if Ruby does know something,

364
00:31:15.079 --> 00:31:18.799
it seems like it is very likely
that his father does not. And with

365
00:31:18.839 --> 00:31:22.200
that, I know this was a
shorter one, but they tend to be

366
00:31:22.279 --> 00:31:27.079
shorter when I do them myself.
But hopefully the next one I'll have someone

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00:31:27.119 --> 00:31:30.559
to talk to and Lisa will be
here. But as always, I hope

368
00:31:30.599 --> 00:31:34.519
you all have a wonderful, wonderful
week and we will see you on the

369
00:31:34.519 --> 00:31:41.079
next chapter. Of the Book of
the Dead. Bye guys, thank you

370
00:31:41.240 --> 00:31:45.359
so much for listening to this chapter
of the Book of the Dead, and

371
00:31:45.599 --> 00:31:51.680
don't forget that you can always connect
with us on Instagram, you can connect

372
00:31:51.759 --> 00:31:56.000
with us on Twitter, and you
can absolutely connect with us on Patreon.

373
00:31:56.720 --> 00:32:00.720
We also have a merchore as well
that we have frequent discount codes coming out

374
00:32:00.759 --> 00:32:06.880
for so that you guys can get
March hand drawn by myself at a better

375
00:32:06.920 --> 00:32:10.880
cost. We hope you have a
lovely rest of your week and just remember,

376
00:32:10.960 --> 00:32:17.039
please be kind and don't forget to
always stay safe, stay curious,

377
00:32:17.200 --> 00:32:22.640
and stay vigilant. Bye guys,
Bye,