Update To Colton Barrera Petition

 

Colton Barrera has now been missing for seven years. There was talk at one point about involving the FBI, but no investigation was ever done by them. There have been tips called in over the years to the sheriff in Russell County, Kansas, concerning a possible murder and possible whereabouts, but it appears that the sheriff and all of his men have chosen to ignore any information that is offered, all the while refusing to ask the FBI for help. I have updated the petition I wrote a few months ago. Please sign it and share it; the link is here: Petition Requesting An Update To Colton Barrera's Case.

Updated Poster For Colton Barrera

Another glaring example of inaction by Kansas authorities. This information was never terribly publicized in 2008, when Colton Barrera disappeared, because police thought he had run away from home. A serious problem with that logic, and with the ineffective police work that accompanies it, is that it does not matter whether a missing child has run away from home, or disappeared by some other means; a missing child is in danger either way. With each passing hour, opportunities to find Colton alive were lost in 2008, and with each passing year, chances of finding him at all grow slimmer. Meanwhile, folks in Russell who know what happened continue to excuse violence and protect criminals, never caring about the law.

New Law In Kansas

A new law took effect in Kansas on Monday of this week. The Kelsey Smith act, named for the daughter of Senator Greg Smith, of Overland Park, Kansas, was passed in 2009, and took effect this week. Kelsey disappeared in 2007, after shopping. She was an adult at the time, but had no history of disappearing for days at a time, and after a massive search, she was found in neighboring Johnson County, Kansas. She had been murdered.

The Kelsey Smith Act rules that law enforcement must search for any person in Kansas who is reported missing, no matter the person's age. The police cannot simply dismiss the disappearance of a teenager as a "runaway" situation and forget about it. Police were very helpful to Smith during the four days it took to find his daughter, but Smith noted that helpfulness and kindness from law enforcement during a missing persons case isn't always standard protocol in Kansas. Colton Berrera disappeared in 2008, at the age of seventeen, and was dismissed as a runaway. No one besides his close friends and family have taken a true interest in finding him. Adam Herrman is also missing; he disappeared from his foster/adoptive home in 1999, and no one reported him missing until 2009! The thought of following him up or asking about him never occurred to child protective services. And now no one can find him.

Hopefully, the Kelsey Smith Act will make a difference in cases like this. After watching progress made as a result of this law, it can hopefully become a national law instead of a Kansas law.

 

 

 

Colton Barrera Still Needs To Be Found

Colton Barrera, the seventeen year old boy who disappeared in Russell, Kansas four years ago, is still missing and his case needs more attention. The media and law enforcement apparently cannot get the advertisements and endorsements to support telling the general public that this young man is missing, so I will run his picture again. Here is a link to the Facebook page that has been set up for discussion of his case and to spread the word. Four years is a long time for a family to look for a missing child.

 

The Kansas Media Has Ignored Colton Ross Barrera

Colton Ross Barrera, seventeen, disappeared from Russell, Kansas, on September 26 of 2008. While I had been in Kansas for about a year, I did not hear about Colton. Neither did quite a few other people. Colton had made plans to go to the skate park in Russell, and was supposed to have been dropped off there by a friend. He had told his family that he would call the same friend for a ride home from the skate park. The last place anyone actually remembers seeing Colton is actually at the local high school. He never called his friend for a ride home.

Why didn't I hear about Colton Barrera, and about the fact that he is missing? I would have been very happy to print up flyers and try to help find him. Aside from some unpublicized vigils, what efforts have been made to find this boy? I would like to know. His profile appears in in every missing persons data base that I have checked, including the Charley Project and NCMEC, just nothing in local newspapers or websites. It looks as if the local police and the Kansas Bureau of Investigations wrote Colton off as a runaway and declined to search! Did they even question the last person to see Colton?

Colton's age progressed picture is on the upper left corner of this post, and here is the Facebook page dedicated to finding him. Below is a missing persons poster of Colton, with contact information.