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| Richard Landers in 1994 |
In 1994 Richard Wayne
Landers Jr. was abducted from his hometown of
Wolcottville, Indiana by his paternal grandparents. Richard and Ruth
Landers abducted their grandson because they were "upset over pending court
proceeding" involving the custody of five year old Richard Wayne Landers
Jr. The now 24 year old boy was found living in Long Prairie, Minnesota due to
his social security identification number. Landers social security number was
given to the police in early September by his step father, Richard Harter. This
information found a man with the same Social Security number and date of birth
living in Long Prairie, Minnesota. His driver's license photo resembled
Landers, police said. The grandparents were found living in a nearby town with
alias names and soon after being discovered they admitted the he was in fact Richard
Wayne Landers Jr. Police say it does not look like Landers has suffered
physical or mental abuse over the 19 years.
http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/boy-abducted-by-grandparents-in-1994-found-in-minnesota-1.1109160
This connects to law 12 because the young boy was kidnapped by his grandparents because they did not yet have custody over the boy. Taking him away without full custody is kidnapping.
How I See It...
This article definitely takes family feuds to the extreme. I was just happy to read that he did not suffer any physical or mental abuse over the years. I think what the grandparents did was wrong, taking a child away from their mother at such a young age isn't good for anyone. Its fair to assume that the grandparents believed they were saving their grandchild. In some way perhaps this was an act of love. We will never know why the grandparents went to this extreme or what had happened to convince them his mother was unfit to raise him. There are two sides to every child and a lot I'm sure the media doesn't know.
