All posts by Marc Klaas

I am President of the KlaasKids Foundation and BeyondMissing, Inc. Both organizations are 501(c)(3) public benefit non profit organizations.

Amber Alert Absurdity

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How many children do we have to lose before California and the rest of the nation admit that the Amber Alert is broken? On November 10, 2010, 44-year old Charles Berlinghoff disappeared with his 15-year old niece Jean Marie Berlinghoff without her parents’ permission. They have not been seen since. The California Highway Patrol (CHP) has steadfastly refused to issue an Amber Alert. They say that the case does not fit the criteria.

A convicted sex offender who hid his past from his family, Uncle Charlie suddenly reappeared after a decade long absence. In 2005, he exploited family ties and slithered his way back into younger brother Jake’s life. A bassist for metal bands in Los Angeles, Charlie would stay with Jacob and his teen-aged daughters during occasional visits to Northern California.

 During his most recent visit Jacob intercepted a text message in which Uncle Charlie called 15-year old Jean Marie “baby”. When confronted Uncle Charlie became defensive. The brothers nearly came to blows before Charlie agreed that he would return to Los Angeles that day. Jake did not know that he would take Jean Marie with him.

 Uncle Charlie left his open, half packed suitcase on the bed and drove off in his gray 1987 Oldsmobile Cutlass with California plate 2DNX546. Many hours later, when Uncle Charlie had not returned and Jean Marie could not be located, Jake called Charlie’s cell phone. It had been turned off. The chase was on.

Charlie Berlinghoff is a dangerous predator who was convicted of indecent exposure in Shasta County in 1993. In 1998, he was charged with four counts of misdemeanor child molestation and one felony count of indecent exposure in Tehama County. On November 16, 2010 a $100,000 felony arrest warrant was issued for Uncle Charlie. He is wanted for detainment or concealment of a child from her father.

Despite repeated requests from the Shasta County Sheriff the CHP has refused to issue an Amber Alert. CHP spokesperson Fran Clader said that the disappearance, “Did not meet all the required criteria, which include the belief that the child is in imminent danger of serious injury or death”.

Jean Marie is not out for a ride with her “cool” Uncle Charlie: He is a known sexual predator The popular teenager, who always keeps in close contact with family and friends took nothing with her when she left. “Baby” has been held against her will for more than two weeks now and has seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth. If this doesn’t rise to the level of imminent threat, tha what case does?

Unfortunately, like Uncle Ernie in the rock opera Tommy, evil can manifest itself inside the family unit as easily as outside. Family abductions can be predatory. Adults who are not familiar relatives have sexual motivation associated with murdering children. In 1999, Edward Milka kidnapped and murdered his 11-year old niece Brittany Martinez. Uncle Karl Brewer sits on death row for the 1999 kidnapped and murdered 12-year old Andi Brewer. Jessie Dotson murdered his brother’s entire family in Nashville in 2008.

Among its many other faults the Amber Alert is illogical, arbitrary and broken. Two weeks prior to Jean Berlinghoff’s disappearance, the CHP activated an Amber Alert for a 13-year-old missing girl investigators believed was lured away from her home by an adult she had been communicating with on the internet. On August 20, 2010, a regional Amber Alert was activated in the Bay Area for the Oakland Police Department for a 2 year old female kidnapped by her father.

What I want to know is who decided that local law enforcement was not qualified to activate a local Amber Alert? A local activation would be based upon firsthand knowledge of the case, the family and the community. It would further save critical hours; the one issue that everybody acknowledges is the most important factor in the quick and successful recovery of children who have been kidnapped by sexual predators. After all, we trust local authorities with guns, why not the ability to activate an Amber Alert?
Posted in jean berlinghoff, missing children | Tagged | Leave a reply

48 Hours Mystery…or Travesty?

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Many were looking forward to the 48 Hours Mystery episode that featured the family of Amber Dubois.  We knew and trusted the producer, having worked closely with her over the course of nearly two-years.  Good things had resulted from the brutal kidnap and murder of 14-year old Amber at the hands of the sexually sadistic psychopath John Gardner. Friendships had been forged, legislation written and passed, and new understandings about the nature of evil and the shortcomings of California’s criminal justice system had been exposed. Why then, did 48 Hours focus on false accusations, bogus aspects of the investigation, and providing a bully pulpit to a self proclaimed monster?

Amber Dubois disappeared without a trace on her way to Escondido High School on the morning of February 13, 2009. Within 2 weeks the KlaasKids Foundation and Laura Recovery Center sent representatives to the San Diego suburb to organize a volunteer search and rescue effort. We worked for and with Amber’s family for more than a year, until her remains were recovered. KlaasKids S&R Director Brad Dennis facilitated Amber’s funeral and I hosted her memorial service.

48 Hours Mystery focused much attention on Amber’s step-father Dave Cave as a possible suspect. As Dave said during the program they did it because, “That is where the statistics lead.” He withstood multiple interrogations and polygraphs, yet he was always there for Amber. When Amber’s mother Carrie moved out of his house he held his head high and covered her back. When friends and family suspected that he was involved he “manned-up” and worked to bring her home.  48 Hours took a tabloid approach to Dave’s travails and chose to portray him in a less than flattering light, but unlike 48-Hours, who grovels on the floor looking for kernels of tragedy that they can exploit for personal gain, Dave Cave stands tall in my eyes.

KlaasKids and the Laura Recovery Center search and rescue teams have worked together numerous times to successfully recover missing children.  Neither organization charges for that service, nor do we fundraise once we have arrived at ground zero. Our complete focus is upon working with law enforcement and in this case helping Amber’s family to recover their missing child. Therefore, I was shocked that 48 Hours chose to ignore our contribution and instead focus upon a live-scent mercenary K-9 team that supposedly followed Amber’s 8-month old scent 50-miles along a Southern California freeway. Anybody with any S&R experience knows full well that even under optimal conditions scent eventually dies. Therefore it is ludicrous to think that a paid K-9 team followed Amber’s scent along a road used by hundreds of thousands of vehicles per day after week after month. The television show notes that the dogs hit upon a spot a mile away from Amber’s still undiscovered remains. They forgot to mention that in terms of search and rescue a mile might as well be 10,000 miles and that the route the dogs followed was entirely different that the one Amber and her killer traveled on the day that he raped and murdered her.

Finally, 48 Hours provided a national, primetime television audience to the monster who killed Amber Dubois and Chelsea King. Both families thought that they were done with him, that he would be forgotten and die in prison. Instead they watched him opine about his potential victimization behind bars. They saw his face and heard his voice. The producer said that the interview did a “Great job illustrating that these predators live among us and they don’t look like Charles Manson.  They look like average Joe’s.” Really, that’s the best you can come up with? The Dubois and King families were re-victimized by a tabloid television program devoid of human decency.

Watching Gardner on primetime television reminded me of my own similar experience. In the days prior to the sentencing of the goon who killed and murdered my Polly, I received a phone call from Geraldo Rivera. He told me that he had been offered an opportunity to interview the killer on primetime TV. He said that he would take the killer down and expose him for the piece of shit that he really was. Then he said that he would only do so with my permission. I asked him not to do the interview as the thought of that monster ever again appearing in public made me physically recoil. Geraldo honored my wish, but two days later another reporter aired the interview on Hard Copy! I correctly accused her of using Polly’s tragedy to further her own career. I told her that any person convicted of raping and murdering children deserved to be locked away and forgotten, not provided with a national television audience. I told her that she, just like 48 Hours Mystery, was nothing more than a tabloid whore!!!

I am mystified and embarrassed by third rate journalism that purports to do anything more than entertain at the expense of truth, clarity and useful information. 48 Hours cherry pick facts in order to portray real life tragedies as nothing more than twisted, grotesque fantasies that re-victimize people who have already been victimized enough.
Posted in amber dubois, chelsea king, missing children | Tagged | Leave a reply

The Shark Tank

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The sweet smile and angelic face of 10-year old Zahra Baker haunts my dreams. She survived bone cancer at age five, although she lost her left leg below the knee and had to use a prosthetic leg to walk. She survived lung cancer a few years later, but chemotherapy damages her high frequency hearing, causing her to rely upon hearing aids to hear.  Unfortunately, it does not look like little Zahra, who managed to smile through it all, was able to survive the malignancy of abuse, neglect and homicide that she was subjected to at home. It wasn’t until October 9, when Zahra was reported missing to a 911 dispatcher and an Amber Alert was issued that her neighbors, and then the world finally saw pretty little Australian immigrant with the freckled cheeks and trusting brown eyes. Before that, law enforcement had difficulty finding anyone who had seen or spoken with Zahra in a very, very long time.

On the day Zahra was reported missing there was another, earlier 911 call. Her stepmother Elisa reported a fire in the yard. The authorities found a ransom note, addressed to the Baker’s landlord, demanding $1,000,000 for the return of his daughter. The landlord’s daughter was not missing. Several hours later Zahra was reported missing.

On October 12, as Elisa Baker sat in jail awaiting arraignment on unrelated charges, law enforcement abruptly cancelled the Amber Alert and announced, without ambiguity, that they were now investigating Zahra’s disappearance as a homicide. Cadaver dogs had scented human remains in both of the family cars. Elisa Baker admitted that she wrote the ransom note, but her lawyer insisted that she is not a child killer.
Zahra’s stepmother Elisa is a shark, destroying whatever is in her path. She is constantly moving forward, never looking back. She holds no job, and lives a semi-transient lifestyle, never staying in any one place long enough to establish roots or expose her true nature. Elisa’s bio-daughter fears for her own life when she is around her mother. Over the past summer Elisa used the Internet to bilk an Englishman out of $10,000. And now, the little girl who Elisa called the ‘dark child’ on her Goth inspired MySpace page, and to whose care she was entrusted, is missing and presumed dead.

The FBI recently had Elisa, chained in the back of a black SUV, visiting potential crime spots, many of which are in close proximity to her past residences. It is speculated that she is cooperating with the authorities. If so it is a self-serving cooperation. Elisa does not self reflect. Like all sharks she survives by always moving forward, sinking razor sharp teeth into whatever blocks her path; but unlike the shark, she chose to be a predator, it was not a right of birth.

Zahra’s father Adam sees no evil, hears no evil, and speaks no evil, but according to arrest warrants he does write bad checks, and may assault people with deadly weapons. His convoluted 911 call reporting his daughter missing was filled with misdirection, tangents, nervous laughter, and sophomoric justifications. As reports of his wife’s abuse against Zahra surfaced, Adam admitted that it was possible his wife could be involved her disappearance, and that his relationship with Elisa, which began on the Internet two years ago, just might not be everything he thought it was. The little girl he wrenched from a safe and secure home in Australia can neither defend nor deny her dad, for she is presumed dead.

Zahra was discarded. They discarded her mattress, which was found in a landfill covered in DNA. They discarded her prosthetic leg, but it was located along the side of a road, hidden in the bushes. They discarded her memory and tried to discard her history when they removed her from society. The only question that remains is where did they discard her little broken body?

The sweet smile and angelic face of 10-year old Zahra Baker haunts my dreams.
Posted in missing children, zahra baker | Tagged | Leave a reply

Malfeasance

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KlaasKids will be taking Attorney General Jerry Brown to task at the Governor’s debate this evening for turning a blind eye to the illegal prison release of tens of thousands of potential sexually violent predators.

In 2006, Californian’s voted to pass Proposition 83, otherwise known as Jessica’s Law. Among other things Jessica’s Law mandates that, prior to release from prison, violent sex offenders who meet certain offense criteria be evaluated in person by two expert psychiatrists or psychologists. If the experts agree that the prisoner is a violent sexual predator with a high risk of reoffending the prisoner must be referred to the District Attorney for civil commitment proceedings.

Currently, California’s Department of Mental Health (DMH) Sex Offender Commitment Program managers are simply providing a cursory ‘paper screening’ or record review of potential predators by one mental health professional in lieu of an expert panel in-person evaluation. This violation of California law has thus far dumped more than 17,000 potential sexual predators back into society.
In 2007, convicted rapist Gilton Pitri was released as a result of a ‘paper screening’ and within 4 days kidnapped, raped, and murdered 15-year old Alyssa Gomez.  Petri is currently awaiting trial for Alyssa’s murder.

Are you as outraged as I am that California’s DMH is ignoring the law at the expense of public safety? If so, make your voice heard at the ballot box.

I’ll be endorsing Meg Whitman for Governor of California this evening at the candidate’s debate, as I take Attorney General Jerry Brown to task for turning a blind eye to the illegal prison release of tens of thousands of potential sexually violent predators.

In 2006, Californian’s voted to pass Proposition 83, otherwise known as Jessica’s Law. Among other things Jessica’s Law mandates that, prior to release from prison, violent sex offenders who meet certain offense criteria be evaluated in person by two expert psychiatrists or psychologists. If the experts agree that the prisoner is a violent sexual predator with a high risk of reoffending the prisoner must be referred to the District Attorney for civil commitment proceedings.

Currently, California’s Department of Mental Health (DMH) Sex Offender Commitment Program managers are simply providing a cursory ‘paper screening’ or record review of potential predators by one mental health professional in lieu of an expert panel in-person evaluation. This violation of California law has thus far dumped more than 17,000 potential sexual predators back into society.

In 2007, convicted rapist Gilton Pitri was released as a result of a ‘paper screening’ and within 4 days kidnapped, raped, and murdered 15-year old Alyssa Gomez.  Petri is currently awaiting trial for Alyssa’s murder.

Are you as outraged as I am that California’s DMH is ignoring the law at the expense of public safety? If so, make your voice heard at the ballot box.
Posted in jessica's law, legislation | Tagged | Leave a reply

Recovery & Redemption

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It is said that losing a child is a parent’s worst nightmare. From 2000 to 2006 (the last year for which verifiable data is available) 367,844 children under the age of 19 have died in the United States. The parents of these children can attest to this nightmare. The parents of deceased children spiral into confusion whether the children were victims of violent crime, accident, suicide or infant death. They oftentimes feel betrayed by God and search for reasons to continue living. The challenge is finding the path to recovery and redemption.

Following the kidnap and murder of my daughter Polly, Violet and I joined the fraternity of survivors. We are trying to recover from the sudden, unexpected death of our child, and redeem our lives in the wake of her tragedy. We testify in Congress and State legislatures. We advocate in the media, in town hall meetings and in living rooms. We pursue righteous causes, and offer encouragement, support and hope to other families who are facing life without their children. We fear not, for we have nothing left to fear. For us, rejection is a hurdle, not a brick wall. We are everywhere, because family is universal, and death does not discriminate.

Our children give meaning to their lives, but it is up to us to give meaning to their deaths. We do this by fighting back. Instead of sleepwalking through life, we extricate ourselves from the abyss of grief by communicating the lessons that we have learned in hope of preventing future tragedies. We don‘t drown our grief in the sad downward spiral of substance abuse; we choose to give new purpose to our own shattered lives by ensuring that our children did not die in vain. We reject the unsustainable heartbreak of denial and instead try to ensure that tragedies are not repeated, that we can use our experience to support others similarly afflicted, and that some level of social benefit results from our actions. This is how we ensure that our deceased children are not relegated to data points.

Polly would want our lives to have purpose and value. She would want us to love and laugh and to find a future full of hope and substance. She would encourage us to take action, effect legislation, write poetry and touch lives. The process of burying our daughter exposed our emotions like dangling nerves. But, we survived the great depression. We take time to smell the flowers, listen to the music and appreciate all of the beautiful things that life has to offer.

The following dispatches were written in the spirit of recovery and redemption. We felt no guilt, harbored no malice and are forever grateful for the experience.
Posted in KlaasKids Foundation, Marc Klaas, missing children, Polly Klaas, recovery and redemption | Leave a reply