Aliayah Lunsford 3 Missing from Weston, West Virginia

[horsegirl]

Here is the latest Missing Poster photo, apparently she ran into a door;

[kniption]

i thank you for posting that, @horsegirl , even though it is sad to see...

[princessgrandma]

Really sad. That poor kid. I think the "door" she ran into was Mommy, or someone else who abused her, but I have no evidence. Just my feeling on the mess.

[Whisper]

Really sad. That poor kid. I think the "door" she ran into was Mommy, or someone else who abused her, but I have no evidence. Just my feeling on the mess.

Given the history I question it BUT I have a pic of my son at 1yo sleeping with 2 black eyes and face bruised I took it after we came home from hosp
He was a preemie and born with a bone disease he out grew but his ankles would disconnect and he fell into the pillars between livingroom and diningroom face first

[cubby]

Ever how it happened, poor baby!

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Lena Lunsford, mother of missing Aliayah Lunsford, 3, has violated her federal probation terms, according to court documents.

U.S. Pretrial Services Officer Brian Kilgore recommended home incarceration and substance abuse treatment for Lunsford, U.S. District Court documents state. Kilgore wrote that she has violated the terms of her probation with two incidences of "non-compliance."

Federal records show State Police troopers found Lena Lunsford and her husband Ralph in possession of synthetic drug bath salts in Clarksburg on Nov. 1. The records show Lunsford then failed to report the incident to her supervising officer.
[...]

Regarding her probation case, however, Kilgore wrote, "The defendant appears to be demonstrating a lack of willingness to fully cooperate with the conditions of her supervision, and she appears to be selectively censoring what she wants her supervising officer to know."

She has a bond revocation hearing Nov. 28 at federal court in Elkins.

http://www.wboy.com/story/16058484/2...iayah-lunsford

Officers apparently found Lena Lunsford in constructive possession of bath salts and now want her under house arrest and treated for substance abuse. If it is found that her husband Ralph is the only user, they may have to live apart until he complies with counseling.

Paperwork from the U.S. District Court in Clarksburg indicate a state trooper found bath salts in a car that the Lunsfords were in on November 1.

Lena will stand trial on January 17 in Elkins for charges related to selling her families food stamps for money.

http://www.wdtv.com/index.php/home/l...lated-her-bond

[Bohring]

Given the history I question it BUT I have a pic of my son at 1yo sleeping with 2 black eyes and face bruised I took it after we came home from hosp. He was a preemie and born with a bone disease he out grew but his ankles would disconnect and he fell into the pillars between livingroom and diningroom face first

The other day Caden ran face first into one of them heavy-duty trashcans at Disneyland and messed his face up. I'm always like, I wonder what people think about that big ass lumpy bruise.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

The other day Caden ran face first into one of them heavy-duty trashcans at Disneyland and messed his face up. I'm always like, I wonder what people think about that big ass lumpy bruise.

I rarely suspect abuse when I see a kid with a single bruise. In my own kids, there was always one or the other that had a bruise somewhere. Kids are kids. In fact, our twin girls played so hard at 4, the daycare asked me was I sure they weren't boys. One of the girls has a knot on her forehead in formal portraits taken at age 3 and 4. I swore she did it on purpose!

A bunch of bruises or an always bruised kid might draw my attention but a single one I would think was an accident of some sort.

Most folks don't beat their kids but most kids sport an obvious bruise at one point or another.

Folks that don't understand that and jump to the "OMG! Abused kid!" scenario as a first thought are not worth worrying about. They wouldn't believe the truth if they asked you.

[princessgrandma]

OK, maybe it's not abuse. But to me, you'd think that people wouldn't take pictures of their kids like that if they don't want someone to question it. I know it happens, though, and it's an innocent thing, but in this case, maybe it's just me, but with all the crap she's into, I am thinking that Lena or someone close to her did something to her daughter.

When my kids were 2, 1 and newborn, hubby and I got this crazy notion to go and have a family picture taken. I was holding my son's hand as we walked in and he stumbled and fell on the curb before I could catch or pull him up. He cracked a tooth and looked like I had punched his mouth. We still had the picture taken b/c we had the appointment. He still grinned from ear to ear, which he always did before the camera. Never a frown on the kid. It made for an interesting story to tell at family gatherings but we got some looks until we could get him into the dentist and get it taken care of. So, I know about kids and accidents. So, yeah, maybe I'm wrong and she's with someone who's taking really good care of her and loving her to pieces.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

OK, maybe it's not abuse. But to me, you'd think that people wouldn't take pictures of their kids like that if they don't want someone to question it. I know it happens, though, and it's an innocent thing, but in this case, maybe it's just me, but with all the crap she's into, I am thinking that Lena or someone close to her did something to her daughter.

When my kids were 2, 1 and newborn, hubby and I got this crazy notion to go and have a family picture taken. I was holding my son's hand as we walked in and he stumbled and fell on the curb before I could catch or pull him up. He cracked a tooth and looked like I had punched his mouth. We still had the picture taken b/c we had the appointment. He still grinned from ear to ear, which he always did before the camera. Never a frown on the kid. It made for an interesting story to tell at family gatherings but we got some looks until we could get him into the dentist and get it taken care of. So, I know about kids and accidents. So, yeah, maybe I'm wrong and she's with someone who's taking really good care of her and loving her to pieces.

I was only commenting on Bohring's questioning regarding what people must think about her son's face.

I would be appalled if those who know us suspected us of abusing our kids because they had a bruise. People that don't know us and jump to that conclusion wouldn't believe us if we told them how the bruise got there. They would probably just think we are lying... after all, if they asked about it, who in their right mind would say "Yeah, I beat the bruise onto the kid"??

In Aliayah's case, questioning a bruise isn't odd. There's a history there on top of her being missing. But in a normal situation, I wouldn't think about it except to wonder how it happened (and abuse wouldn't be the first thought)... I'd only ask if I knew the parent or if curiosity got the better of me.

[Rockin Ma]

http://www.wboy.com/story/16058484/2...iayah-lunsford

http://www.wdtv.com/index.php/home/l...lated-her-bond

Let that bitch get zombie and maybe she will babble about Aliayah and where she is.

[Whisper]

Family Says Stepfather Of Missing Toddler Failed Polygraph Test

New developments in the case of a missing 3-year-old Aliayah Lunsford.

Since Aliayah disappeared more than two months ago, no suspects have been named in the case, although investigators have labeled her disappearance a crime.

Throughout the investigation, her mother, Lena Lunsford and step-father, Ralph Lunsford, have been questioned extensively.

According to Aliayah's great-aunt, Vickie Bowen, a West Virginia State Trooper told her on Friday that Ralph Lunsford has been given two polygraph tests. Bowen says the trooper told her one of the tests was ruled inconclusive, but another he failed.

Eyewitness News reporter Leslie Rubin was on HLN's Nancy Grace show on Thursday to talk about the case.

According to producers, Lena Lunsford's attorney told them that Lena has been asking to take a polygraph herself but hasn't been able to because she was pregnant.

Her attorney said Lena hopes to be cleared soon by a physician to take the test, and has an appointment next week with her doctor, according to the show's producers.
[..]

http://www.wchstv.com/newsroom/eyewi...202_7597.shtml

[Silvahalo]

Here is the latest Missing Poster photo, apparently she ran into a door;

Heart breaking. I question it more that she looks SO sad AND that she's now missing.

[Deja]

I gotta say, she kinda resembles me as a child - there are no pictures of me smiling until I'm about age 5, I always looked sad in pictures, while my other sisters always beamed from ear to ear. However, there were never any bruises on my face like the ones shown in her pictures. I grew up in a loving, nurturing home. I think it's because she looks so much like I did, I want to give her parents the benefit of the doubt. OH WAIT - she's missing and they don't care, fuck that benefit.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

It's been almost three months since 3-year-old Aliayah Lunsford was reported missing. Other than right after it was reported, her parents haven't spoken to the cameras. 5 News reporters tried talking to them outside a Lewis County Courthouse on Monday.

Ralph and Lena Lunsford were in court for a closed hearing Monday but neither had much to say about their daughter Aliayah's disappearance.

A WCHS reporter asked Ralph, "You never told us anything about Aliayah's disappearance and many fingers are being pointed at you so what do you have to say about that?"

Ralph said, "No comment."

5 News then asked, "Ralph do you have any idea of where she is or where she might be?"

Ralph was silent. Extended family members rallying outside the courthouse had strong messages.

"We're just hear to get Aliayah's information out. See if Ralph or Lena, either one of them, will say something, something, something. Where she's at or something about her," says Aliayah's cousin Sean Smith.

"We just want her home safe, good or bad. We need anything - to know where she's at," says Tina Smith, Aliayah's aunt.

Neither Lena nor Ralph are listed as suspects in Aliayah's disappearance. Formally no one is.

While walking into the courthouse, 5 News also asked Ralph, "If you guys have nothing to do with this, why won't anyone speak? Why don't you want to get your daughter back?"

Again, there was no response.
[...]

http://www.wdtv.com/index.php/home/l...-disappearance

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Lena Lunsford, 29, mother of missing Aliayah Lunsford, 3, pleaded guilty to one count of federal welfare fraud Tuesday. Federal Magistrate Judge John Kaull accepted her plea bargain.
[...]

Protesters at the hearing believed she should not have been granted a plea bargain.

"We just don't feel like she should get away with anything else. She's walked free too many times," Doddridge County resident Desiree Matheny said.

Lunsford will be sentenced in six to eight weeks, Kaull said. She faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison, up to a $250,000 fine and restitution.

http://www.wboy.com/story/16488602/2...e-fraud-charge

The Lewis County Prosecuting Attorney's Office is looking for Aliayah Lunsford's genetic father.

It has posted a legal ad in the Weston Democrat notifying her father that it has filed a petition, stating that Aliayah Lunsford is an abused and neglected child.

The ad also said the Department of Health and Human Resources has permanent custody of Aliayah and her brothers and sisters.

http://www.wboy.com/story/16499781/2...nsfords-father

[Whisper]

NEW SEARCH, NEW REWARD
National Recovery Team In Weston Searching For Aliayah Lunsford

New developments in the search for a missing Lewis County toddler.

Aliayah Lunsford, 3, went missing from her Bendale home on September 24, 2011.

On Monday, search efforts resumed, and a new reward is on the table in the case.

A nationally known search and rescue crew just arrived in Weston. Their called P.P.P. Recovery, and their a national program of Patriot Outreach.

P.P.P's group has made it their mission to find Aliayah, and bring closure to a case that's made few known strides almost five months later.

Rachel Jackson is the national director and founder of P.P.P. which stands for "Ponies, Patriots, People." They're a non-profit agency that specializes in finding missing people. Jackson says they rescue horses, ponies, and dogs, with the help of patriots, who in turn, find the missing people.

"We have to be a child's voice. We can't let a child go quiet," says Jackson

"You don't know if she's alive, you don't know if she's passsed and this is just a constant grief," explains Hunter Glass.

Glass and Joe Nicholas (Joe Nick) make up her team. All are highly trained ex law enforcement officers that have taken up Aliayah's case in a quest to dispel fact from fiction and bring the toddler home.

"There's a great chance that we may not find this little girl in five days. A phenominal chance. The odds are not in our favor but at least in five days we can maybe take this book and and cut it in half and make it a more truer novel," explains Nicholas.

The team has set up a command center of the Fraternal Order of Eagles lodge in Weston. They're backed by a group of local volunteers, and they're bringing new life to the search for Aliayah.

"Everyday gets harder, everyday not knowing," says Tina Smith, Aliayah's great aunt.

"We're going to find this child," says Vickie Bowen, another great aunt.

P.P.P announced on Monday that an additional reward is being offered, but they won't specify a dollar amount. This money will be on top of the $20,000 that is already being offered by the FBI.

"I don't care who did what, I just want to know where she's at," says Nicholas.

"We have to come in and be her voice. We have to go looking for her. We have to try to not leave any stone unturned to try to find Aliayah," says Jackson.

Jackson says anyone is welcome to call or text in tips to 910-627-3244.

The group is looking for volunteers for the rest of the week's searches. If you want to help, go to the FOE Lodge on East Third Street off of Route 33 in Weston.

Vickie Bowen would like to extended a special thank you to John Goodwin, with John's Tree Service, who is allowing them to use the FOE lodge. He also helped hang banners with Aliayah's information
[...]

http://www.wchstv.com/newsroom/eyewi...206_8234.shtml

[cubby]

NEW SEARCH, NEW REWARD
National Recovery Team In Weston Searching For Aliayah Lunsford
http://www.wchstv.com/newsroom/eyewi...206_8234.shtml

I'm sorry I know this is about a missing toddler but it just drives me crazy when someone is paid money to write and it is published for others to read and they make this mistake TWICE in the same sentence!!!!

"Their called P.P.P. Recovery, and their a national program of Patriot Outreach."

[Dakota Valkyrie]

A dive team was out searching in a dam near Aliayah Lunsford's Bendale home after volunteers in a search group say they found something in the water.

The volunteers have been following leads and searching certain areas for the past few weeks. They say this dam has been a point of interest because it's so close to where Aliayah disappeared.

Volunteers had the dam lowered so they could take out a boad and an underwater camera. They found "something" around 2:30 Tuesday afternoon.

The volunteers aren't allowed to specify exactly what they found. They alerted authorities, according to protocol, who took over the search.

Divers from Braxton County weren't able to find what the volunteers found, and the search will continue when the weather clears up.

http://www.wdtv.com/wdtv.cfm?func=vi...h-Lunsford1167

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Aliayah Lunsford was reported missing more than six months ago and it's been more than three since the FBI released any information regarding the case. On Thursday, along with the WV State Police and the Lewis County Sheriff's Department, updated citizens.

For the most part, we didn't receive much new information but the FBI has been able to determine that one possible situation surrounding her disappearance, didn't happen.

Months ago there were community concerns that a break-in led to her going missing. Apparently there's no evidence that that situation could have happened.

FBI Supervisory Senior Resident Agent John Hambrick wouldn't release specifics regarding the investigation but he did say that agents keep doing extensive video analysis and looking into a small universe of persons of interest. He stopped short of calling them suspects.

When asked if any of Aliayah's family members have been questioned, he did say Lena's attorney made her available to them and they've pursued that. He said he couldn't comment further.

They've also looked into all of the 125 to 150 tips they've received. These have helped them come up with a working theory but he says he can't describe what that is.

"I believe the answer is out there. I believe that there's people within our community who can held advance our position on this matter and I encourage them to do so," he says.

Investigators have talked to PPP Recovery but the volunteers are not privy to the FBI's information. He doesn't believe the searchers are compromising the investigation, nor are the rumors that fly around.

"When you're immersed in the facts, it's easier to discern the rumors when they're just rumors. And then, sometimes, there's good information in the rumors. It may be 90% inaccurate but there may be some accurate information within that is relevant that we previously didn't have," he says.

He explained that the FBI does not investigate openly in the public so that's why a lot can't be talked about openly, including whether or not Aliayah could have disappeared before September 24 or if she's still alive.
[...]

http://www.wdtv.com/wdtv.cfm?func=vi...y-Squashed1871

[Dakota Valkyrie]

The mother of missing Lewis County three-year-old Aliayah Lunsford was sentenced Tuesday in Elkins to eight months in federal prison.

Lena Lunsford, 29, of Bendale, previously pleaded guilty to federal food stamp fraud. She sold her food stamp card.

U.S. Attorney Bill Ihlenfeld says the eight-month prison term is at the high end of the federal sentencing guidelines. He says U.S. District Judge John Bailey said anything less may not send the right message to Lunsford.

"Two months, which was the low end of the guideline range, would not be sufficient to cause Ms. Lunsford to learn to respect the law. So he felt the high end was more appropriate so he imposed that sentence," Ihlenfeld said.

Lunsford was caught by the FBI and State Police in a sting operation after they heard she may have been participating in illegal activity.

"It turns out she was and there was a controlled transaction that took place and it was recorded," Ihlenfeld said.

The money that changed hands was $115.
[...]

Lena Lunsford will be on supervised release for one year after serving her eight-month sentence.

http://www.wvmetronews.com/news.cfm?...&storyid=52855

[blacksheep]

This case has really stuck with me.

[Valasca]

Her mother is in prison for welfare fraud. Her stepfather is lying low. Her six siblings, some just infants, are in the custody of child welfare authorities. And Aliayah Lunsford, the brown-eyed 3-year-old who vanished from her West Virginia home a year ago Monday, is still missing.

"It just seems like everybody's forgotten her," said Aliayah's great-aunt Vickie Bowen, "but we're never going to forget."

In the year since Aliayah disappeared from her family's rented house in the Bendale section of Lewis County, Bowen has concluded the girl is probably dead, though she avoids using the word.

"But we still need to know. We need that closure," Bowen said. "We need to take care of her."

Aliayah's mother, Lena Lunsford, told police her daughter was in bed, wearing purple pajama pants and a pink sweat shirt, at 6:30 a.m. Sept. 24, 2011. But she said the child was missing when she checked on her a few hours later.

Six months later, an FBI official said investigators had a working theory about what happened - and it didn't involve a break-in. The agency has since refused to say what agents believe happened to Aliayah or whether they think she's still alive, though it is offering a $20,000 reward for information leading to her recovery or an arrest.

Authorities have made no arrests and named no suspects, only describing the people of interest as "a small universe."

Lewis County Sheriff's Deputy Lt. David Parks declined to discuss details of the investigation this week and referred questions to the FBI, which didn't return several messages. However, local authorities have put information about Aliayah in a brochure for people attending a hunting and fishing expo this weekend.

"It's something that stays in our minds all the time here," Parks said. "It's not something you can forget: There's a little girl missing."

Parks said the case is still active and tips are still coming in, though relatives complain they've had no updates in months.

"If there were more to do, we'd be doing it," he said. "Unfortunately, right now we're doing what we can with what we have."

Aliayah Lunsford's case has gotten little attention beyond the boundaries of her small home state, failing to resonate with the public in the way that Caylee Anthony's story did even though both girls were toddlers with chubby cheeks and brown hair.

The body of the 2-year-old Florida girl was found a month after she was reported missing in 2008. Anthony's mother, Casey, was charged with murder after telling a string of lies to police but was later acquitted.

However, Aliayah's case is different in several ways: Neither the immediate family nor the police sought national media attention. Investigators have been tight-lipped about the case, the family and their working theories from the start.

Aliayah's parents were also poor, and their family relationships were splintered before the girl vanished, so there has been no prominent spokesman.

And Aliayah has never been found, dead or alive.

The girl's mother was indicted weeks after Aliayah's disappearance on charges she illegally swapped welfare benefits for cash five times in two months. She was sentenced in May to eight months in prison after pleading guilty to selling $114 worth of credit on her food-stamp card for $50 cash and reported to prison in late June.

Attorney Mike Woelfel, who has represented Lena Lunsford in unrelated civil matters, has said Lena doesn't believe her daughter wandered off and has cooperated with investigators. She's also certain "no blood relative of Aliayah knows what has happened to her," though Woelfel has never elaborated.

Woelfel said he spoke to Lena Lunsford on Friday, and she told him she still believes "Aliayah is out there, alive."

"She's told the FBI everything she knows," he said, "so she's basically powerless to do anything other than sit and wait."

Lena Lunsford filed for divorce from her husband, Ralph Keith Lunsford, after her daughter's disappearance, and is still waiting for it to be finalized. She'd been ordered by a judge to live apart from Ralph after he acknowledged buying and using synthetic drugs called bath salts.

Both parents have repeatedly refused to comment on Aliayah's disappearance, but in a court proceeding, Ralph Lunsford acknowledged police had considered him a person of interest and repeatedly questioned him in the case.

Lena Lunsford gave birth to twins after Aliayah disappeared and before she went to prison. Bowen, their great-aunt, has never met them. Nor does she know where the other children are.

"Until we find answers for Aliayah," she said, "there's no chance of seeing them."

After a year with no solid leads, Bowen is frustrated - but she and a group of about 10 people still search regularly for Aliayah.

"If we hear anything, anything at all, we're there. No matter how unbelievable it seems to us, we go check it out," she said.

On Monday, Bowen and others will plant flowers near the welcome sign in Weston to honor Aliayah. They'll distribute flyers with her picture and post them at area businesses. They're even planning a small afternoon demonstration at the Lewis County Courthouse.

"We're not giving up," Bowen said. "There's no way we're going to give up. A child does not simply disappear."

http://www.sacbee.com/2012/09/22/484...n-missing.html