Looking At the Facts, In the Aliayah Lunsford Case

 

 Of all my readings on this blog, and all the cases I have featured, Aliayah's case is one that many people write to me about, ask about, and still actively read about. I have done readings on her, but never rehashed the facts of the case. With all the suspicions and rumors that surround Aliayah's disappearance, I think re-examining the facts and information of this situation would be a good thing to do. 

I will follow up this post with two others. One will address my thoughts on the 911 call, and another on the video interview with Lena and her mother.

  "I believe in my heart that Aliayah is alive.  That belief is keeping me going through these horrible days.  If Aaliyah's photo stays in the public eye, maybe some one will notice something, which will lead to a break in the case.  Thank you to to the volunteers and law enforcement officers who have been helping and who give us hope.  I  continue to fully cooperate with the investigators who are working so hard for Aliayah's return home. Sadly, a relative of ours who has no knowledge of the real facts has been making uninformed comments to the media which I hope will come to a stop by my speaking out now.  Please keep Aliayah, my other children, and our entire family in your prayers.  I believe the person or persons who are responsible for this nightmare will see justice soon." - Lena Lunsford




What we do know, What are the facts?

1. Lena was incarcerated at the time of Aliayah's birth for abusing drugs while she was pregnant with Aliayah and on Parole. She was still in jail by the time Aliayah was 4 weeks old, and without Aliayah. That has to be rough on parent-child bonding. I wonder why the children were given back to the mother who was actively abusing Aliayah by using drugs before she was even born? Up until May of 2011, Joanne, Lena's mother had been raising all of the children while Lena was incarcerated. That means Lena and Ralph only had Aliayah for three or four months tops before she vanished into thin air.

2. On the 23rd of September, Aliayah was reported to have been staying overnight at a friend's, she was sick, she had to be brought home that night after defecating in her pants, and hasn't been seen by anyone outside of her family sense. Aliayah Lunsford's mother, Lena, and the child's 9-year-old sister told police they saw the girl around 6 a.m. - 6:30 am on Saturday morning of 9-24-2011. The child was reportedly still sick in bed.

3. Lena said she returned to check on her child about three hours later to take her temperature, but Aliayah had vanished. The girl's stepfather, Ralph Lunsford, had supposedly already been picked up and left for work with another unidentified person before the child went missing.

4. At this point, Lena got into her car and says she went looking for the child. Claiming that she searched for two hours, and even states to have run out of gas while driving around looking for the child. Why would she drive around while looking for her, this child is three, how far did Lena think she had traveled sick and on foot?


5. Lena called 911 to report Aliayah missing around 11:30 a.m., 2 hours after finding the child missing. Why would she wait so long to call for help? I have so much difficulty understanding what she was thinking? Was she disposing of the child's remains?



4. Lena and Ralph Lunsford, Aliayah's mom and step father, have extensive criminal back grounds. By the time she was 28 years old, Lena was the parent of seven children, and had more than twenty criminal charges. The most recent charge being Welfare fraud, which occurred after Aliayah's disappearance. She was caught trying to sell her food stamps and is currently serving time for those charges. All of the kids are currently in the custody of child protective services.

5. Ralph, Aliayah's step father, has a history of drug abuse and charges, conspiracy, domestic abuse, and at one point he even tried to attack his own niece with an axe, and broke all of her car windows out. According to the child's family members Ralph failed one polygraph test, while the other was inconclusive.

6. Ralph's step father is a sex offender who served over 17 years for child molestation and incest, what was he up to when Aliayah went missing?  I am curious if that man has been ruled out as a suspect? Ralph also has a cousin, who is suspected in the disappearance of Ralph's aunt and grandmother, this occurred in the late nineties. I definitely see an emerging pattern of violence toward women. Most the time if you see violence toward women, you will see child abuse too.

 Paternity:

1. The child's father, said to be named Eric C. Harris during Lena's 911 call, was not informed of his child's existence. That statement or claim was later disproved through DNA testing, as at one point Harris was in the Tygart Valley Regional Jail. Is it possible the child's father, whom ever he may be, knew he had a child that was not being cared for? Could someone have told him that his child was in danger, so she was taken? I hope so, but find that theory doubtful.


The family, the town, neighbors, and their statements surrounding the case:

The press aired one short video clip of the mother standing next to her own mother shortly after the news of the disappearance was released. In the interview Lena said, "we want her to come home." While she said this, she looked away and shook her head side to side in the motion of "no". Both women stand very still, only moving their heads every so often while speaking. Some might speculate the "we language" used in this interview would show a shared responsibility, and consider whether the grandmother knows what happened to the child, but is staying silent to protect her own daughter. Lena's Step Sister, Donna, was interviewed and said that Joanne has a history of protecting Lena from the repercussions of her bad behavior. She went on to say that Lena has been taught to be evasive, and hide things well, due to Joanne's constant protection. I will further examine this interview in another post.

Shortly after Aliayah's disappearance was announced by the police, a neighbor man being interviewed by the press said that he did not see Lena looking for Aliayah at all on the morning of the disappearance. He went on to say that he was out side all morning until 10am, working on his truck, directly across the street from the Lunsford home. He stated that he didn't see any disturbances that morning while out side. He publicly stated that Lena was not ever out side calling for Aliayah during the time she says she woke up to find Aliayah missing, that Lena never approached him, or asked him if he had seen the child, and appeared to be calm when she left in her car "to go find" Aliyah.


The Last Photo of Aaliyah, according to the FBI, and statements of FBI Special Agent, Jeff Killeen throughout the investigation: Aliayah having missing teeth, and being seen with a bruised face in the above photo released by the FBI, has stirred public concern. Leading people to fear possible abuse or neglect being present in the home, The photo coupled with the criminal history, and reported drug dabbling of the parental figures in this child's life is alarming and leaves me with a very uneasy feeling. Jo Ann, Aliayah's grandmother, said the above picture was taken on July 10th from her cell phone. She states she is not sure who took the picture, and further says, that the child had ran into a door prior to the photo being taken, thus causing the bruising on her face. Relatives state that Aliayah was not abused at any time while in Jo Ann’s care.

FBI and Case Development:
Investigators don’t know what caused Aliayah Lunsford's missing four teeth. The photo of the child with bruising on her face was taken, "shortly before she disappeared and is one of the last known photos of the child", according to Killeen, which I believe is a frightening and sad thought to consider. Kileen added that the case is still being considered a homicide, abduction, or concealment, and has not discussed persons of interest or suspects. He also states that, "The investigation has narrowed", and "they also have determined there is no threat of danger to other children in the community." According to Killeen, the dozens of people who were working on the case at the time included law enforcement and personnel at the various crime labs representing the agencies. The things Killeen says all lead me to think that they have some kind of evidence being held or processed, this evidence must be enough for them to suspect these parents or they would not have followed them as closely as they had been. Seems to me these investigators think the parents know where the child is at? “We have many pieces of this puzzle together, we are pleased with our progress." States Killeen. Is the picture on this puzzle Ralph and Lena Lunsford disposing this child's body? Seems like that is what the law thinks in this case. There were many media reports showing the police searching the Lunsford home, the hotel the Lunsfords were staying at, and they were shown removing many items during evidence collection. The most recent search location is focusing on an area that Ralph once called home, 1903 Vadis Road, this is the address Ralph Lunsford lived at when he was arrested in 2009, for the ax attack on his niece and her car.

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