7/26/2010 10:00:00 PM Search effort continues for 2-year-old Flagstaff boy
Les Stukenberg/The Daily Courier A lone toy on a picnic table is all that remains at the Beaver Creek campsite as search efforts continue for 2-year-old Syler Newton near Sedona Monday evening. Below is a Courier map (Source: Valasis) and a family photo of Syler.
The search continues in the air and on the ground for two-year-old Syler Newton in and around the Beaver Creek Campgound near Sedona, Arizona on Monday, July 26, 2010.
Search and rescue members continue to comb the Beaver Creek Campground where a 2-year-old Flagstaff boy went missing this past weekend.
The Yavapai County Sheriff's Office continues to look for Syler Newton, who apparently wandered from his family's campsite early Sunday morning.
Bloodhounds from the Department of Corrections, a Department of Public Safety helicopter crew, and volunteers are part of the round-the-clock search in the area, which is about two miles from Interstate 17 and off Forest Road 618.
Sheriff's Spokesman Dwight D'Evelyn said the boy's custodial mother, Christina Priem, 36, Christina's mother, Nancy Collins, 57, 12-year-old sister, 14-year-old brother and a 14-year-old friend went on the camping trip.
D'Evelyn said the family is not a suspect or facing any charges at this time and they are cooperating with investigators, who also are working to talk to Newton's biological mother.
Priem, who is attempting to adopt Syler, last saw him in a sleeping bag with one of her children around 12:30 a.m. Sunday.
Around 1:45 a.m., Priem discovered Newton was missing and originally tried to call the Sedona Fire Department for help about 15 minutes later, according to D'Evelyn, who said YCSO deputies got to the scene around 3 a.m.
D'Evelyn said deputies went through interviews with about 25 campers and took the family's tents along with a Toyota Corolla and Camry to search for evidence.
"We're working from the inside out," he said.
Deputies came up empty on a sex offender search, according to D'Evelyn.
A little toy on a bench is all that remained early Monday evening from the family's campsite.
The search is a conundrum for Jeff Newnum and his crew.
Newnum, search and rescue coordinator for the Sheriff's Office, said the area was cut into grids as they look for places a small child might hunker down in like under a bush or a fallen tree.
A search of five pools in the area also came up empty, according to Newnum, who said they have not found any trace of blood from an animal trying to take Newton away.
Mountain lions, insects, lizards, bears and coyotes live in the area.
"We have not seen any type of predatory attack in our search area," he said.
The heat, humidity and rugged terrain also are a factor.
D'Evelyn said the Federal Bureau of Investigation is helping out and at least one of the adults with Newton took a polygraph test, which is normal in a missing child investigation.
Newnum said the search at the campgrounds will continue for the next few days.
Posted: Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Article comment by:
Keith S.
Bruce Miller......
I hope they find this 'lil tyke soon.....
Posted: Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Article comment by:
B Logical
There are so many possible scenarios. If the biological mother was involved and knew they were camping there, that is one possibility. It is amazing that a small child could have wandered so far that he hasn't been found yet. Four days in that terrain doesn't sound good. This could be one time that a kidnapping may be a preferable crime as it provides at least a chance that this little boy will be found safe. We live in the strangest of worlds these days, where the bizarre has seemingly become the new normal. I pray that this innocent little boy is found safe and soon.
Posted: Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Article comment by:
Need any Help with this Effort?
I would be interested in lending support in any way I can. If anyone has any information on who to contact to help in search efforts please post it. I'm hoping this horrible situation is resolved and the baby is found safe, unharmed and returned to his family. Godspeed. Blessings to Syler.
Posted: Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Article comment by:
I really hope
I really hope at this point that this was some sort of custodial thing and that this boy is safe at home somewhere :( If I start to think otherwise and how scared he is oh my god it makes me physically ill. By the way I thought that Keith S. had a good suggestion I didn't think that it was said in a bad way, well atleast I hope that it wasn't!!
Posted: Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Article comment by:
Tricia Lorraine
Apparently because it's already been on CNN & Nancy Grace.http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/nancy.grace/ . I pray that he's found alive & well soon.
Posted: Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Article comment by:
James Tobin
Hope this has a positive outcome. Good to know a hard working and dedicated Deputy like Newnum is leading the search.
Posted: Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Article comment by:
Bruce Miller
to Keith S.
very rude and insensitive comment. A family has lost one their own and that is the best you can come up with? Stay away from the keyboard and stop feeding, troll
Posted: Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Article comment by:
Keith S.
Has anyone contacted CNN or Nancy Grace?
Posted: Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Article comment by:
Corky Smith
Hope that precious little boy is found alive and well before I get finished typing this. My heart and prayers go out to him and his family.
