missing: June 2008 Archives

West Covina's most famous chimp, Moe the Chimp has escaped from Famous Exotics in Devore, according to reports from the San Bernardino Sun. Here's the top of their story:

Moe is making headlines again.

On Friday afternoon the chimp, featured in several news stories over the years, escaped from Jungle Exotics, a commercial business in the Devore area.

By Saturday wildlife volunteers and county animal control had searched for the animal in the heavily-forested area near the business.

A privately-owned helicopter circled over the area on Saturday.

The chimp has never escaped into the wild before, and would not have access to any food or water.

For the most part, the animal which once lived in West Covina and has been housed at different sanctuaries since the late 1990s, is a friendly and social creature.

But anyone who comes across the chimp is urged to contact local authorities instead of approach him.

I've got an email in to Gloria Allred, attorney for Moe's family St. James and LaDonna Davis of West Covina. I plan to update the post when she writes back.

This note comes from Jude Lopez regarding the America's Most Wanted Web site and its description of his missing daughter Jennifer Lopez DeJongh and her three children.

Here's what Jude wrote:

I was looking at the America's Most Wanted website and it occurred to me that my daughter and her kids were listed as "white."  While I realize that is the correct race for Hispanics, the website does classify Hispanic and white as different. And, they considered children from White/Hispanic parents as "biracial". So why is my daughter considered as white when she is 100% Hispanic?  I trace my family from 1622 when they came from Spain and settled in Northern Mexico which later became part of the U.S.  My wife's mother was born in Mexico and is still a citizen of that country.  Her father was born in Colorado but both his parents were born in Mexico.

Maybe, someone is ashamed that the children are "biracial."  Or, maybe they just want to be racially correct?

El Monte resident Candace Aikin testified before a grand jury in Joliet, Illinois last week regarding the disappearance of her niece.

Her niece happens to be Stacy Peterson, a 23-year-old woman who went missing in October and has become the missing woman case that the cable news networks love to cover, mostly because of her husband Drew.

For good reason perhaps. According to Wikipedia:

Drew Walter Peterson (born January 6, 1954), is a former Bolingbrook, Illinois police sergeant and alleged double-murderer who has received nationwide attention in the United States for becoming a suspect in a police investigation following the death of his third wife and subsequent disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy.^[1][2] Peterson has repeatedly denied involvement in both cases.

Here's part of what Aiken said, according to thekansan.com:

"At the end they asked me what kind of a mother (Stacy) is, what kind of a person she is and would she ever leave her family. That was really hard," Aikin said, still visibly shaken from her testimony. "I'm glad I was able to talk to the jurors and tell them my love for Stacy and what a great person she is, and to be able to help the case in any way that I can."

<snip>

Aikin, of El Monte, Calif., last saw her niece in August. Although Peterson had told her aunt of marital problems for more than two years, Aikin said Peterson was seriously considering leaving the relationship by the time she visited in August.

"She wanted out," Aikin said. "There was so much pressure. Fear too."

 

The saga of Jennifer Lopez Dejongh and her three missing children made America's Most Wanted Saturday night. Here's the story:                                                                      Police tell AMW that Dejongh was supposed to drop Brian, Christian, and Evan off at Miller's home on November 17, 2007, for an extended visit, but she never showed.  When it seemed apparent that Dejongh and the children weren't going to appear at the agreed-upon location, investigators were called in.

Cops say the children are believed to be safe with Dejongh, so an AMBER Alert was never issued for the kidnapped children. Police tell us Dejongh and the missing Miller children may be hiding out on the East Coast, or may have fled to Mexico.  The boys may now have dyed their hair black, or could have shaved heads or crew cuts.