New details in the missing persons case of 12-year-old Jonathan Foster indicate that he may have been abducted from his Houston home on Christmas Eve. Unfortunately, the discovery of a badly burned body in a drainage ditch in northeast Houston might end the missing persons case for the little boy and transform it into a homicide investigation. But as Houston Police await identification of the body by the medical examiner’s office, the search for Jonathan Foster continues unabated. Police also have revealed a few more details about what they’ve learned thus far, including that Jonathan had been home alone when he went missing and that the mysterious phone call Angela Davis, Jonathan’s mother, had received at work come from the woman with the “raspy” voice authorities mentioned in the Amber Alert issued Monday.
According to the Houston Chronicle and contrary to earlier reports, Jonathan had not been at a babysitter’s earlier in the day on Christmas Eve when he went missing. Angela Davis finally admitted he had been left alone playing video games. But the 12-year-old’s stepfather, David Davis, told police the boy had been alright at 1:45 p.m. when he checked on him.
According to authorities, it was the last time anyone admitted to seeing the boy…
About 15 minutes later, though, Angela received an “emergency” phone call at work. A supervisor took the call and told the caller that Martin would call them back shortly.
Sgt. Brian Harris of Houston Police Department’s homicide division said police believe that Jonathan Foster was on the phone at first, because the supervisor noted that a different voice — this time female — told him it was an emergency. After Angela Davis was summoned, she found that nobody was on the line.
Originally, this was where the story ended for public consumption. Details later provided by Houston Police investigators about what occurred next helped to clarify a few other subsequent gaps in the harrowing story as well.
Angela Davis then called her house.
“Angela says, ‘Well, this is Angela, I’m Jonathan’s mother. Who are you?'” Harris revealed. “And the woman is heard saying, ‘Is Angela your mother?’ And the boy replies, ‘Yes ma’am, Angela’s my mother.’ And then the phone went dead.”
Davis immediately went home. She found her son gone and the cordless phone missing. After searching for about an hour with relatives (many of whom live in the same Houston neighborhood), she called police, who arrived on the scene between 3:45 and 4:15 p.m., according to Sgt. Harris.
When police issued the Amber Alert for Jonathan Foster on Monday, the Alert announced that the 12-year-old might be in the company of a woman with a “raspy” voice. Police are still attempting to identify the owner of that voice.
Unfortunately for investigators in the case, they have had to work through various inconsistent stories and accounts to get to the current state of the investigation. The initial lies as to Jonathan’s whereabouts most likely provided much of the confusion.
Houston Police have also intensified their questioning of relatives of the missing boy, especially Angela and David Davis. In light of the discovery of the small, burned body Tuesday afternoon, authorities have begun to narrow their suspect list to those most likely to have caused the boy harm. Statistically, that would be a close family member or friend.
Police have noted that everyone is cooperating with the investigation. They have yet to name a suspect in the case.
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Source:
Lindsay Wise and Paige Hewitt, “Source: Body believed to be that of missing boy,” Chron.com
