Day 88 for Two Families Needing Answers
Story Created: September 26, 2005
It is day 88 for two families. One awaits news of who murdered their 5 year-old daughter and granddaughter; the other family awaits finding out what happened to their 7-year-old son that disappeared in the middle of the night.
Richard Christie is the grandfather of 5 year-old Evelyn Celeste Miller who disappeared from her home in Floyd, Iowa sometime during the night of June 30/July1 of this year. Read Richard’s blog here. A massive search was conducted for Evelyn and her body was discovered by kayakers in the Cedar River six days after her disappearance. There was a meeting of the Grand Jury but as of yet no indictment. Last week, Casey Frederickson, the fiancé of Noel Miller, Evelyn’s mother, and the person who was caring for Evelyn on the night of her disappearance attempted suicide. Noel said in an interview that Casey’s frustration of not knowing who murdered Evelyn and having the investigation focused on them led to Casey’s actions. I am not so sure about those reasons but as I said earlier, there is no way I can possibly know how these family members feel. I guess in that regard I also cannot know how one might act out on those feelings as well.
Richard Holland’s family lost their son on the night of June 30/July 1 of this year in Williamston, Michigan. Apparently Ricky pushed his bed up underneath his window and climbed out sometime during the night. There was also a massive search conducted to find Ricky but to no avail. It was at first thought that perhaps Ricky had run away from home because he had done so in the past. This thinking delayed the release of an Amber Alert. I do not know if it would have made a difference in this case or not.
Tim and Lisa Holland, Ricky’s adoptive parents have given one interview to the local media. It has come to my attention that they have personal and legal reasons for not appearing in the main stream media. It has also come to my attention that Tim and Lisa Holland have both spent quite a bit of time searching for their son including passing out fliers all over the state of Michigan.
Tim and Lisa Holland have had the finger of law enforcement pointed at them as well. Two separate searches were conducted of their home. The first search concerned a report by the Holland’s that they had buried the family dog in the backyard of their home soon after Ricky’s disappearance. Law enforcement conducted a search of the backyard to make sure that the dog was buried in the backyard and not Ricky. The search produced what the Holland’s indicated was in the backyard; dog bones. The second search conducted included taking items from the home such as the computer and the family vehicles.
I cannot imagine how I would feel if my child was missing or had been murdered and law enforcement were searching my home.
The Holland’s, Miller’s, Frederickson’s, and Christie’s are all looking for closure, empathy, answers and justice in their own way. They are also looking to be released from the incredible pain of the loss of a child. I wish I could help them; two families connected by a single night but with the same fate.
The Disappearance of Richard Paul Holland Vs Evelyn Celeste Miller
Story Created: August 4, 2005
Richard Paul Holland, age seven years, pictured at the left, went missing on July 1, 2005 from his home in Williamston, Michigan. It has been one month and three days since his disappearance. Law enforcement seemed a bit reluctant to call him a “true” missing child because he apparently had a history of running away in the past according to his adoptive parents.I cannot imagine a 7-year-old in a withdrawl syndrome not drawing attention to himself if he were out in public.
The circumstances of the disappearance of Ricky Holland to me seems a bit suspicous. The coverage of his disappearance has been almost nonexistent. I am comparing the coverage of his disappearance to that of the disappearance of Evelyn Miller during the same week and in a small town in the state of Iowa.
Evelyn Miller’s coverage was extensive in both the media as well as on the Internet. A simple google search of Evelyn Miller’s name brought hits to many links to read about her disappearance and the progress of the search for her. Even today as I write this entry I had to include the words “missing child” to get any sort of hits on google while searching for information regarding Richard Holland. Even the links that were retrieved contained old information from approximately 3 weeks ago.We have heard nothing from the parents. When Evelyn Miller went missing her parents were on the news pleading for her safe return. Even if Richard’s parents are of the belief that he did in fact run away from home I would think they would be on the news begging for him to come home or at the least letting him know it was safe for him to come home and that they still love him.
The differences between the disappearance of Evelyn Miller and Ricky Holland:
- Gender
- History of being a runaway
- History of a mental disorder
- History of being adopted
- Age
- Disappearance in the middle of the night
In my estimation it should not matter if there is a past history of running away in a child as young as Richard Holland especially when there are significant safety factors involved such as a mental illness requiring medication.
We all know the outcome of Evelyn Miller’s disappearance, she was murdered.
It is still troubling to me that we have not heard more from Richard’s parents in the media. I don’t believe Richard ran away. I believe the answers to his disappearance lie within his own family. I believe his adoptive parents know where Richard is now and have known since July 1, 2005.
Evelyn’s murderer has not yet been named.
The article has
2 responses