American Association for Lost Children Team Rescues Two Children on Monday
by Holly Meade
May 31, 2007
LATROBE, PA (ANS) -- Buddy Hall knows what it's like to have his children kidnapped. Hall's two daughters were abducted in 1989. Hall hired investigators and contacted missing children's organizations desperately trying to find his girls. Hall says, "There are lots and lots of child-find businesses. But they all said they didn't actually go out and look for the children. I contacted Mark and he found my kids in two days for free."
Mark Miller of Latrobe, Pennsylvania, is founder of the American Association for Lost Children. Miller, a former stock broker, used his life savings to start the non-profit charity in 1987 after he saw an advertisement for a missing child in the grocery store. The caption, "Have you seen me"? caught his eye and his heart. Miller soon discovered there weren't any organizations actually looking for the children.
One desperate woman from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, contacted Miller in March for help in finding her two children, ages five and six, who were kidnapped in January 2006.
Miller, who often uses volunteers to help on missing child cases, asked for Hall's help in finding the children and Hall gladly volunteered.
Hall says, "I give my life out of grateful appreciation to help find these kids. I do it first to show appreciation to Mark. I feel indebted to him."
After only two months of investigation, Miller and the American Association for Lost Children team reunited the boy and girl with their mother on Monday.
Hall's daughter, Tara, played an important role in breaking this case. Twenty-seven-year-old Tara was eight when she was kidnapped. This is the first time a previously abducted child led Miller and the AAFLC team to missing children.
When Miller and officials rescued the missing children, they were living with their aunt in filth and fear. The children were not attending school or even allowed to go outside. They had to hide under blankets when someone came to the door. They were also dirty and malnourished.
Miller said, "The little girl was so thin she could have been a model for a poster child. I think she had lost about fifteen pounds since last year. She woofed down two cheeseburgers like she had never seen food before."
Miller and the charity have been featured on various local and national television and radio programs since 1987. Miller also added that a production crew followed him on this recent case in hopes of creating a weekly television series about missing children.
Parents often turn to Miller and the American Association for Lost Children after attempts with police and detectives have failed. The charity relies on donations since Miller never charges the parents any fees. Since 1987, more than 120 missing children have been rescued at no cost to the parents.
Miller says, "It's something in me that drives me. I'm going to keep going 'cause I'm going to help somebody and do the best I can and know that God will open the door to get the child back."
© 2007 ASSIST News Service, used with permission.
