Amber Alert: Roji Davenport, Age 3 – Found Safe
May 19, 2008 by impqueen
UPDATE 5/20/08 – Turns out Roji Davenport was never missing, and the woman who reported him missing may not even be his mother. The child’s identity is in question, but he is safe with “family members”, although police don’t specify who has the child. More details at the bottom of the article.
Smithfield, NC – Siraj Munir Davenport, called “Roji”, is three years old, and he has been missing for almost 24 hours as I type this. Roji was last seen at the Brightleaf Flea Market in Smithfield at about 11:00 a.m. on SundaySunday reviews
. Roji’s mother told police she was loading fruits and vegetables into the family car with Roji beside her. But when she looked down after only a moment, Roji was nowhere to be seen.
Police shut down the flea market when they arrived and searched customer cars. They’ve even checked out the Neuse River nearby. A large ground search was in progress, but had to be stopped at about 6:00 Sunday evening for weather concerns. Searches are resuming today. So far, no evidence or traces have been found of the little boy.
Roji is just three feet tall and weighs about 35 pounds. He has dark brown hair and brown eyes. He was wearing a light blue T-shirt with a yellow truck on the front, dark blue sweat pants and Adidas tennis shoes when he was last seen.
The FBI is already on the ground and working the case along with local law enforcement. Anyone with any information at all is asked to please call 911 or the Johnston County Emergency Services at 919-934-9411.
UPDATE 5/20/08 – Early this morning, Siraj Munir “Roji” Davenport was found safe and unharmed, although police aren’t saying where.  But as today has progressed, details have trickled out of the Smithfield Police Department, and each update is a little weirder than the last.
The latest news: Roji’s name may not even be Davenport, and his mother may not be his mother at all.  Police Chief Steve Gillikin said in a press conference today that “the child was never at the flea market. We know that for a fact. The child was never here in Smithfield during the incident.”
About the possible family relationship between Roji and Rosnah Thomason, the woman who reported him missing, Gillikin said, “There’s people involved in this… we don’t know, at this particular point, what the relationships are. There is a father somewhere. There is a mother somewhere, and that’s going to be part of the ongoing investigation.”
Some sources close to the family claim that the boy known as Roji is out of the country with his father, and was never in any danger at all. They can’t say why Thomason would have reported him missing.
10:52 am on May 19th, 2008
Oh no. This has to be my worst nightmare. I pray they find him safe and sound. Poor mother.
10:55 am on May 19th, 2008
Oh, me, too, Not So Speechless! I saw it and my heart seized up and I posted it to the forums.
I know that feeling when you turn around in a store or public place and your kid is not where they were a moment ago. Everything stops. Fortunately, mine have always been hiding in the clothing racks or being silly around the corner. But it’s a fear all parents live with, I think…
P.S. Isn’t he a little cutie?
11:32 am on May 19th, 2008
Oh shit.
That is my worst nightmare. Please God, let them find this little boy okay.
12:11 pm on May 19th, 2008
Yes he is a cutie!
This is every mothers worst nightmare! I feel so bad for his mom, she most be going over every moment in her head over and over, anyone suspicious, did someone seem over friendly. What could I have done different!
I hope I never have to experience something like this, I hope they find him safe asap!
12:27 pm on May 19th, 2008
Poor little cutiepie.
12:42 pm on May 19th, 2008
It’s unbelievable how fast this happens. This is one of my worst fears. I hope he is found soon and still alive.
1:07 pm on May 19th, 2008
Something seems off here. Not jumping to conclusions, but could it be that the mom set this up to cover for doing something to her child? Just a thought, because it seems bizarre how she just turned away for a second and he was gone. Definitely possible though, I hope the little guy is ok
1:22 pm on May 19th, 2008
This was always my worst nightmare, and it still is as now I have grandchildren and when we take them somewhere, I never actually enjoy myself as I’m always on guard and never take my eyes off of the little ones, and it only takes that one second you’re not looking. I will pray for this baby and his family. Please God, let them find him safe.
1:44 pm on May 19th, 2008
This is heartbreaking…
my little boy is 4, brown hair, brown eyes about 40 pounds and has the same eyebrows as Roji. His mom must be going through so much shock and re-living that moment over and over again.
Can you image how much time when by while the police responded…..and then the flea market was shut down? Tons of people must have arrived and left during that time.
Poor baby, I hope that he is okay. God Bless him and his family, I hope he is found safe and unharmed.
1:49 pm on May 19th, 2008
Video on this page…
http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/2907869/
Said due to language barriers, mom did not report Roji missing for 1 hour after he disappeared.
2:13 pm on May 19th, 2008
That hour is so crucial. If he was abducted, he was long gone by then.
And if he wasn’t abducted, that makes mama look very guilty.
4:05 pm on May 19th, 2008
Here are a couple of additional tidbits of information. Still not much, but it’s something.
1. The mom LEFT the flea market to go home and get a translator. So there was a 2 hour delay.
2. The boy is described as exceedingly obedient, and his teacher believes he is obedient enough that he could have gone with someone who told him to.
3. The father is travelling abroad at this time.
4. The mom’s name has been released.
Details below:
=======================================================
“The boy was last seen by his mother, Rosnah Thomason, some time after 10 a.m., but searchers lost critical hours when the mother, who does not speak English, drove home to get someone to translate for her after searching the grounds herself.
The boy’s mother and translator then went to the management at the flea market, who called the police. “There was about a two-hour delay from when the child went missing to when we were called,” Gillikin said.
The Johnston County Sheriff’s Office joined the search, offering a boat to motor down the nearby Neuse River looking for any sign of the boy. The river flanks the flea market area at the base of a steep embankment. Recent rainfall has produced a swift current, Gillikin said.
The flea market was closed early and customers’ cars were searched as they left the lot, ABC News’ Raleigh-Durham affiliate WTVD reported.
Conditions Sunday prevented authorities from conducting an aerial search, but Gillikin said that an aircraft would scour the area today for any sign of the boy. The FBI has also joined the search, he said.
Authorities will continue to sift through tips from witnesses, a time-consuming process that so far has not yielded any solid leads. “The good part is you get the calls. The bad part is that you’ve got to weed out the bad ones,” Gillikin said.
The exact location of the boy’s father is unknown, but he reportedly is travelling abroad on business. “They are still nailing down where he is,” the police spokesman said.
Susie Barbour, who identified herself as the boy’s preschool teacher, described the child as “very obedient.”
“I couldn’t imagine him wandering off,” Barbour told WTVD. “He’s a very mannerly child. If someone was to ask him to go help him do something or find something, he could have been swayed off.”
====================================================
4:18 pm on May 19th, 2008
fuck, that’s a HUGE time window….that doesn’t look good at all. Poor kid, he’s adorable. I still hope they find him ok, but Jesus 2 hours is just way too long.
4:29 pm on May 19th, 2008
I’m also starting to think this looks a little bit weird. I would have stayed and called for the interpreter to come to me. They lost 2 hours due to this. That is bad. It is looking like the mom may be involved, to me at least. I wouldn’t have left. If the child was taken, he was probably gone out of the place within 5 minutes.
4:46 pm on May 19th, 2008
OMG. this little boy looks like my older one. i would never want to feel what i hope this mom is feeling. this thing is setting off my “not want to know” meter.
4:58 pm on May 19th, 2008
Now I’m really starting to get suspicious. I hope to God I’m wrong, but you had to spend an hour going home to get a translator, BEFORE even calling 911? Just weird. I could think of using hand motions to let someone know my child is missing, it’s not that hard. I would like pretend that I’m cradling a baby, that would stand for “child”, and then I would somehow try to communicate the word “missing” or “lost”. I would think it would be easier than driving to get a translator. But, I’m waiting to hear the whole story before I jump to conclusions.
5:05 pm on May 19th, 2008
What language could this woman have spoken that she had to drive home to get anyone who spoke it? Good reason to take English lessons in itself. She may have been frightened to deal with “foreign” authorities by herself and went to get family for that reason, too. I don’t buy the language problem by itself. As Solange has pointed out, if you really want to get help you can make gestures and at least let people know a translator needs to be summoned.
6:10 pm on May 19th, 2008
How do you get a driver’s license if you speak no English?
7:01 pm on May 19th, 2008
HHHHMMMM Well I will gladly take this back if I am wrong but this story just isn’t ringing true for me.
Her son must speak English at pre-school and mom has no problem with a language barrier shopping at the flea market. She looks away for a second and he is gone. That would be the point most parents would freak out and would be frantic for someone to help them. Did she even attempt to alert people at the flea market? I mean come on even if you don’t speak great English you can communicate that you lost your child and whip out his picture. Chances are there were people at the flea market who spoke her language and could have helped. If she didn’t have a cell phone she could have borrowed one or used a pay phone to call her “translator” who could have spoken to someone at the market. Who the hell would leave there to go home and bring back a translator if it was that far of a drive it took 2 fucking hours to call the police??
There is no way in hell I would have left that parking lot especially if it meant nobody was looking for him while I was gone for 2 hours. Call me a cynic but something stinks here.
7:57 pm on May 19th, 2008
I agree that something doesn’t sound right. The problem is, I can’t tell if the problem lies in the mother’s actions, her ability to relate her actions to the authorities, or the press’ ability to report those actions.
There’s not much here yet, and I can’t figure out why.
It would be easy enough for authorities to verify a few things, like
1. Did anyone see the boy with her that day (i.e., was he even there)
2. Did anyone conduct business with her, and how did she conduct that business with no English
3. Did she attempt to find him or communicate her plight to anyone else prior to leaving the scene.
etc….
I’m just saying that we’re not getting much detail, and while I agree SOMETHING stinks, I can’t lay the blame on her just yet. It could easily be a communication foul-up on down the line.
I shall be watching and waiting….
9:41 pm on May 19th, 2008
I’d like to know why the facts change from article to article.
Moms assist search for 3-year-old
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/johnston/smithfield/story/1077876.html
Sgt. R.L. Capps, the lead investigator in the case, said Sunday that the boy’s mother waited about an hour before calling authorities. He said the boy’s mother and her friends tried to find her son first.
Tammy Locklear, 38, a friend who works with Siraj’s mother, said it is unlikely that the three-year-old would wander off on his own.
“He asks his mom before he does anything,” she said. “Never would he walk away from his mom.
So we have the above statement as well as waiting for two hours while driving home to get a translator and back.
And why can’t they find the father? If my husband was away on business, I sure as heck would know where to find him.
Then we have:
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/johnston/story/1077594.html
3-year-old missing in Smithfield
[The mother] and others at Brightleaf Market, 2320 S. Brightleaf Blvd., searched for the boy for about an hour and then called the police.
BTW, the family is Malaysian.
10:08 pm on May 19th, 2008
http://www.ncwanted.com/ncwanted_home/story/2910871/
Details from the 911 call. I think I’m calling “stinky” on this one. I hope I’m wrong. Did she leave him in the hot car and doesn’t want to get busted??? Hmmmmmm… Who knows.
10:29 pm on May 19th, 2008
From the above article….
“”Every minute that goes by is another minute we don’t know where the kid is,” Smithfield Police Chief Steve Gillikin said Monday.”
Does anyone else cringe when they read, “the kid?” Why is he not saying Roji? I thought when they did press conferences they use the name of the child or victim in case the abductor see it. It makes the child a person not just another kid. I know that they have not said that this is an abduction but just in case…..
I find it really weird that the mom left. I have lived in foreign countries, there is always a way to communicate an emergency.
10:39 pm on May 19th, 2008
911 call
http://www.wral.com/news/local/video/2911075
The second person on the phone sounds like it could be mom, she talks about what she put on him that morning. Sounds like she speaks english very good.
The cop does not really sould concerned at all.
10:42 pm on May 19th, 2008
It is really weird….she makes a comment about how she asked the person who she bought veggies from if the person had seen Roji. She tears up for just a second but otherwise sounds calm and unconcerned. IMO.
11:31 pm on May 19th, 2008
I love the part where she says he is really good and usually just follows her arround. So he was following her and she wasn’t paying attention??? Did I hear that right??? HE’S 3!!! STUPID BITCH!!! You never let them out of your sight!! NEVER!!! Sorry for the rant. She may be a nice person… But dumb as rocks.
11:47 pm on May 19th, 2008
I wonder if they have cams there where the boy went missing?
1:54 am on May 20th, 2008
He has been found alive and well. The link is in the forums. I tried to post it here and it told me I was spam….lol
2:01 am on May 20th, 2008
http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/2911612/
Here is the link taken from the forum.
R
2:03 am on May 20th, 2008
Yeah!!!
Thank God he was okay! I wonder where he has been??
2:47 am on May 20th, 2008
Yeah I am interested to know the details … I’m happy that he was found ok… but two days seems odd. – thanks for the update.
5:48 am on May 20th, 2008
Why would they withhold details of finding the child?
7:05 am on May 20th, 2008
I can think of a few reasons:
- he was found with a pedophile, or
- he was found with a family member, or
- he was never lost to begin with.
I’m curious to see which, if any, is right. I really hope it’s not the first one.
7:18 am on May 20th, 2008
Thank god he’s ok. I’ll be waiting to hear where little Roji was all this time.
7:20 am on May 20th, 2008
There will be a press conference held this morning at 11am. We should know more then
7:57 am on May 20th, 2008
Happy dance!!
8:27 am on May 20th, 2008
I know it sounds weird to some of you but I’m not sure I could judge anyone about losing a kid unless it has happened to me. It’s hard to fathom what it would be like to lose a child….I’m just glad he was found safe!!
9:37 am on May 20th, 2008
Thank God he is ok. I was beginning to doubt the mom too….
11:09 am on May 20th, 2008
Press conference going on now. They are saying the child was never in Smithfield, never at the Market and never abducted. They are calling it a “hoax”. They are interviewing the mother, “she has information we would like to get”. The only thing that happened in Smithfield was the 911 call.
11:13 am on May 20th, 2008
okay, now I will pass judgement……
11:17 am on May 20th, 2008
Yeah, wow. They said he wasn’t even in that town, he was safe with relatives. He never attended the flea market. The officer said, “This we know for a fact.” This is going to turn out to be a weird story. I’m just glad that little munchkin is safe, and I hope he has relatives who can care for him while his mom gets some help. Damn
11:19 am on May 20th, 2008
Something strange from the press conference, they said there were people involved (plural) and a reporter asked if “she was the biological” mother.
11:26 am on May 20th, 2008
Well I was right about the mother. Stupid bitch! Does she have any fucking idea the resources she used for her hoax?
I am very relieved the little guy is ok but I hope there is someone better than her to look after him!
11:31 am on May 20th, 2008
Did I call it, or did I fucking call it? I knew the story was bullshit, it just didn’t sound legit.
11:32 am on May 20th, 2008
I figured something was weird about the mom. Maybe she had intentions of “losing” him and her plan didn’t work. Maybe leave him at someone’s house, and conviently have them “lose” him or her do something. I dunno. Glad he was found ok. Mom sounds nuts.
12:05 pm on May 20th, 2008
Who does that??? A hoax?? That chick needs someone to slap the shit out of her. Maybe they should put her in a cell with the chick that beat up her grandmother.
12:11 pm on May 20th, 2008
I wish we could make her pay for the costs. That would open her eyes to at least the financial aspect of her little hoax. Then I wish we could send her back to Malaysia and let her home country put up with her problems.
12:21 pm on May 20th, 2008
I’m so glad that little boy is OK!!! Too many times we’re on here talking about how they found his body. Thankfully, that’s not the case this time.
I’m wondering if mom didn’t cook this up to get her husband to come back from his business trip early??
12:30 pm on May 20th, 2008
HOAX??
I came across this article.
http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/2913240/
1:22 pm on May 20th, 2008
This story keeps getting weirder.
“Authorities are also questioning the child’s exact name and who his biological parents are.
“There’s people involved in this – we don’t know, at this particular point, what the relationships are,” Gillikin said. “There is a father somewhere. There is a mother somewhere, and that’ going to be part of the ongoing investigation.”
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