Child-abduction case spawns questions of communication breakdown
(Published Monday, June 18, 2007 11:43:58 AM CST)
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
Associated Press
PORTAGE, Wis. - Authorities questioned why the abduction of a missing girl, who was found safe in Wisconsin this week, went unreported for four months.
Wisconsin police found Courtney Alisa Clark safe in a home in Portage on Thursday. The following day police found a malnourished and scalded 11-year-old boy in a closet at the home, and they unearthed from the backyard the body of a 37-year-old woman presumed to be his mother.
Authorities in Pinellas County, Fla., said a caseworker waited until Jan. 25 to report Clark missing, more than four months after the girl was snatched from a foster home by her mother, Candace L. Clark.
"There was a lot of ball-dropping there. I can't answer why that happened," said Sgt. Christie Mysinger of the Lake County Sheriff's Office. "We were not told about this until January."
The twisting tale of the girl's disappearance began July 21 when Candace Clark, 23, was arrested on identity-theft and fraud charges, Lake County investigators said. After that a Pinellas County judge placed Courtney in the home of foster mother Cynthia Martell.
On Sept. 23, Clark reportedly showed up at Martell's home, persuaded her to hand over the child and disappeared with the girl, Lake County Detective James Vachon said.
Martell reported Courtney's disappearance to the Safe Children Coalition in Pinellas County 10 days later. The agency prepared a juvenile pickup order two days later but never distributed it to law-enforcement agencies, Vachon said.
On Jan. 25, more than four months after Courtney was taken, the agency's caseworker in Pinellas County called the sheriff's office to report the girl missing.
Vachon jumped on the case, spending long nights tracking down leads and tips. Finally, on Thursday, he came across a credit report showing a Portage address for Clark's boyfriend, Michael S. Sisk.
Vachon alerted Wisconsin police. They found Courtney and three other children at the home, along with the tortured boy and the woman's body.
The woman appears to have been strangled and to have sustained numerous injuries suggesting she was physically abused, Columbia County medical examiner Playman said Saturday.
Police arrested Clark and Michaela S. Clerc, 20, on Thursday at the home. They arrested Sisk, 25, on Friday at a Milwaukee bus depot.
The three are scheduled to appear in court Wednesday.
Vachon described the news of Courtney's safe recovery as "the biggest day" of his 11-year career as a deputy sheriff.
"When I retire, this will be the one (case) I will remember," Vachon said. "I really didn't think we'd ever see that girl again."
