Charles Lockard 18 & Donna Kiernan 19,(Found Safe) Msg 10/09/09, Lenape Trail PA

[sarahhod]

Searchers fail to locate missing Pocono teens

http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=PR&Date=20091013&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=910130331&Ref=AR&maxH=230&maxW=370&border=0&Q=80 (http://javascript<b></b>:NewWindow(870,625,window.document.location+'&Template=photos');)
Charles Ray Lockard, 18, and Donna Marie Kiernan, 19, are missing after a weekend search failed to locate the pair in the Indian Mountain Lakes community on the border between Monroe and Carbon counties.Contributed photos



October 13, 2009

Two mentally handicapped teenagers are still missing after a weekend search turned up nothing when firefighters and emergency search crews looked for the pair in the Indian Mountain Lakes community at the border between Monroe and Carbon counties.
Crews are no longer searching the area for the teens but they are still classified as missing, according to state police at Fern Ridge.
Charles Ray Lockard, 18, and Donna Marie Kiernan, 19, were reported missing on Friday afternoon from a home on Lenape Trail in the Carbon County section of the development around 6:30 p.m.
Emergency crews searched door to door over the weekend and used search dogs to try to locate the teens, according to the Penn Forest Volunteer Fire Company.
They are described as mentally handicapped with a sixth-grade mental capacity and the disappearance is being treated as a runaway situation, according to Sarah Zappola at the fire company.
Lockard is described as a white male, 5 feet 7 inches tall, 150 pounds, with blue eyes and brown hair. He was last seen wearing a black hat with a skull on the side, a green and white hooded sweatshirt, a black shirt, blue jeans, gray and white sneakers and a black wallet with a chain attached.
Kiernan is a white girl, 4 feet 11 inches tall, about 135 pounds with blue eyes and blonde hair. She was last seen wearing blue jeans, pink and black sneakers and a gray hooded sweatshirt with "West Coast Choppers" printed on it.
Anyone with information on the teens is asked to call state police at 570) 646-2271.

http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091013/NEWS/910130331

[sarahhod]

Father Speaks About Missing Mentally Challenged Son

Tuesday, Oct 13, 2009
Laurie Monteforte

PENN FOREST TOWNSHIP, CARBON COUNTY - This is the fifth evening two mentally challenged teens have been missing from their homes in the Poconos. Charles Lockard is 18 with the mental capacity of a third grader. Donna Kiernan is 19 with the mental capacity of a sixth grader.

They were both last seen Friday in the Indian Mountain Lake Community. It has more than 3,000 lots and sits in Monroe and Carbon counties.

Ronnie Lockard lost his son once, when the boy was a year old. He explained, "He had a big seizure. They pronounced him dead on my mom's kitchen table."

But someone insisted on doing more CPR and young Chalres Lockard survived. His father exclaimed, "I got him back and that was so great!"

Nor Ronnie hopes he can get his son back again. He said, "Maybe something happened. Maybe somebody picked them up."

Alicia Hendershot was one of the last people to see the pair. Charles is her brother. She said, "My brother means a lot to me. He means the world."

The family started to search the woods of the community Friday. Ronnie said, "I heard him say 'daddy' to me twice yelling and I bolted to where this voice was. And he went to go say it again - it got part way out - it was like somebody shut him up and I heard this brush move."

Then police called in search and rescue teams but they didn't find the teens. Lockard cried, "It hurts. It hurts really bad."

The family doesn't believe Charles would run away. They said he left his asthma and seizure medicines at home. Alicia said, "He never ever did this."

Plus he was looking forward to having a tattoo finished. It's a portrait of his mother who died of cancer last year. Alicia said, "He bragged about it constantly."

While the official search is over, the family says they won't stop searching until they get Charles back. Ronnie sighed, "I can't eat, slop or nothing until I find this kid."

Charles Ray Lockard is a white male, 5 feet 7 inches tall, 150 pounds, with blue eyes and brown hair. He was last seen wearing a black hat with a skull on the side, a green and white hooded sweatshirt, a black shirt, blue jeans, gray and white sneakers and a black wallet with a chain attached.

Donna Marie Kiernan is a white girl. She's 4 feet 11 inches tall, about 135 pounds with blue eyes and blonde hair. She was last seen wearing blue jeans, pink and black sneakers and a gray hooded sweatshirt with "West Coast Choppers" printed on it.

Anyone with information can call state police at 570-646-2271.

http://pahomepage.com/content/fulltext/?cid=105892

[Faith]

Mentally-challenged teens missing

Up to 75 people have spent two days combing through a sprawling Carbon County development searching for two mentally-challenged teens.

Charles Ray Lockard, 18, and Donna Marie Kiernan, 19, left a home in Penn Forest Township around 6:30 p.m. Friday and haven't been seen since, according to state police at Fern Ridge.

Lockard, who is 5'7'' and 150 pounds with blue eyes and brown hair, was last seen wearing a black hat with a skull on the side, a green and white hoodie, a black "AC/DC" shirt, blue jeans and gray and white sneakers. He also had a chain attached to his wallet.

Kiernan, who is 4'11'' and 135 pounds with blue eyes and blonde hair, was wearing blue jeans, a gray hoodie with 'West Coast Choppers" on it and black and pink sneakers.

Since Saturday, emergency management workers and firefighters from Monroe and Carbon Counties have searched through Indian Mountain Lakes, a 3,000-home wooded development in Tunkhannock Township, Monroe County and Penn Forest Township, Carbon County where the teens live.

State police are asking anyone with information to call 570-646-2271.

http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/all-news-1search-cn,0,7623081.story

[Faith]

Father Refuses To Give Up Search For Missing Son

POSTED: 10-14-2009 07:07 PM ET

The search continues for two mentally challenged teenagers in Carbon County. Police say 18-year-old Charlie Lockard and 19-year-old Donna Kiernan have been missing since Friday. WFMZ's Jaccii Farris reports on a fathers's search for his son.

>> Charlie!

>> REPORTER: Ronnie Lockard has been searching since Friday.

>> Charlie! it's daddy! can you hear me buddy?

>> REPORTER: That's how long his 18 year old mentally challenged son and his girlfriend 19 year old Donna Kiernan have been missing. The teens disappeared after going for a walk.

>> There's tire marks coming back here.

>> Now Lockard and his brother-in- law are walking all over the Penn Forest area.

>> Hello?

>> REPORTER: And following leads. Spending hours slowly driving country roads.

>> If they ran away, somebody would have seen them by now. Nobody has seen them.

>> REPORTER: Lockard says Charlie and Donna weren't dressed for the Poconos bitter temperatures and had no money.

>> I can feel that he's scared, he's scared. He's crying I can hear him he's telling me daddy that he's crying out to me daddy please daddy.

>> REPORTER: Lockard says he's trying to remain positive.

>> I believe in God.

>> REPORTER: But it gets more difficult as the days pass.

>> I just gotta keep my faith and keep it up that the Lord's going to guide me to the right spot.

>> REPORTER: State Police have been investigating the disappearance.

>> Please let me find him.

>> REPORTER: But until the teens are found..

>> I am not going to stop.

>> I want to check by the lakes again.

>> I will not stop until i find my son.

>> Anyone with information on the what happened to Charlie and Donna is asked to call police.

>> Can you hear me buddy! Come on pal answer me!


http://wfmz.com/view/?id=1283286


:1187603408.CR.Mothe

[packy]

So frightening that the father heard his son calling out.

Hope they are in one of the houses out there and will be found.

[SavannahStar]

Watching this on NG right now......

[Faith]

I pray these children are safe and found very soon.

[Faith]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuazCTG1aDQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcBVhQ8auJI

[Faith]

Aired October 14, 2009

GRACE: And tonight, live to Pennsylvania. Two mentally handicapped teens with the minds of a 3rd and 6th grader vanish. Tonight, the search for two helpless handicapped teens. Where are Charles and Donna?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pennsylvania police are searching for two mentally disabled teens who vanished in the Poconos Friday night. Eighteen-year-old Charles Lockard and nineteen-year-old Donna Kiernan left around 6:30 PM, headed out for a walk, and haven`t been seen since. A massive search was launched over the weekend with emergency management workers, firefighters, residents and search dogs all out scouring the area for clues. Authorities say the teens both have a 6th-grade mental capacity, and they are desperate to find them. State police say they plan to continue looking until the pair are found.

(END VIDEO CLIP)


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Authorities are desperately searching for two mentally disabled teens who vanished in the Poconos Friday night. The teens, 18-year-old Charles Lockard and 19-year-old Donna Kiernan, were last seen around 6:30 p.m. Friday, headed out for a walk.

Nearly 100 searchers including firefighters, emergency management workers and volunteers all spent the weekend searching the area for the teens. Workers went door-to-door and even used search dogs hoping to find any clue that could lead them to the teens.

Police say they will continue to search for the pair who both have a sixth grade mental capacity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Straight out to Bob Matthews, news director, WVPO Newstalk 840 960 AM. Bob, what happened?

BOB MATTHEWS, NEWS DIRECTOR, WVPO NEWSTALK (via phone): Well, Nancy, basically, these two youngsters were getting on Friday night. They were going over to visit the young man`s grandmother. The family was gathered outside the grandmother`s house.

And Charles Lockard`s sister went inside for a couple of minutes, and when they came back outside, both Lockard and his girlfriend, Donna Marie Kiernan, were missing. And they didn`t know where they got to. They felt well, maybe they took a walk or maybe they wandered off to the woods.

And then of course the family started to look for them around the property and then started to panic when they couldn`t find them. And then -- you know, Lockard`s father was running into the woods and said he`d heard his son screaming out, screaming out. And all of a sudden the screams stopped and he started to panic.

However, they didn`t call police or fire officials until the next day as they continue to look around the property to try to locate the two youngsters.

GRACE: Now, Bob Matthews -- Bob joining us from WVPO from Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, what did the father claim to have heard the son calling out? Any words?

MATTHEWS: He said he heard him calling daddy, daddy, daddy. And then all of a sudden he said he heard it again. The third time he heard daddy, dad -- and then it stopped abruptly. And that`s when his father became worried and he said he started searching frantically.

GRACE: To Matt Zarrell, our producer on the story. Matt, what can you tell me about their mental disabilities?

MATT ZARRELL, NANCY GRACE STAFFER, COVERING STORY: Well, the boy, Charles, he`s got the mental capacity of, I think, a third grader. And Donna has the mental capacity of a sixth grader, Nancy.

GRACE: Back to Bob Matthews. Bob, what more can you tell me? What is the type of area? Where are they missing? And number two, why did they wait until the next day to call police?

MATTHEWS: Now let`s talk about the area where they went missing. It`s a rural development. And there are, you know, woods and swamps and bushes and clips out when you get into the deeper terrain. But other than that, there are houses there mixed in among the trees.

So this is like they`re out in the middle of a forest. And basically, what happened is -- I guess from what I heard, there were conflicting stories back and forth as to why they didn`t go to the police right away. Some said they were nervous. Some said that they -- you know, thought they could find them on their own and didn`t really want to alert and alarm authorities.

And then when the youngsters didn`t come home and they couldn`t find them, that`s when they panicked and said oh, we better call somebody and called state police and then the township of (INAUDIBLE) or fire company.

GRACE: OK, Bob, that doesn`t make sense. What would they be nervous about?

MATTHEWS: Well, some people involved in the case, and again, this is just hearsay, and I got this information from a third party, said that they had had some activity in the past with law enforcement. But they really didn`t go into specifics or details. And some people speculate they may have been afraid to go to authorities because they may have thought that they were going to get into some kind of trouble.

GRACE: To Mike Brooks, formerly fed with the FBI, what do you make of it? I mean these are two teens with the minds of a sixth and a third grader. They are helpless.

MIKE BROOKS, HLN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST; FMR. D.C. POLICE DET., FBI TERRORISM TASK FORCE: Absolutely. I mean, in D.C., if we were looking for them, even if they thought they might have run away, Nancy, or whatever the circumstances could be, it would still be classified as a critical missing person because of their mental capacity.

You know, but this whole delay in calling 911, it just doesn`t add up to me. It doesn`t make sense. And you know, it could cost these children their lives for not calling the police when they should have called.

GRACE: To Marc Klaas, founder of KlaasKids Foundation, your expertise is looking for lost children. What should be done and what has gone wrong?

KLAAS: Well, certainly, I think Mike just hit the nail on the head when he said the delay in contacting law enforcement may have been a critical mistake. But one of the things that they can do right now is they can ask all property managers, all real estate agents, farmers, ranchers, anybody that has access to unoccupied properties or outbuildings to please go and check those properties to see if the kids might be there.

Although they do not have -- although they`re mental capacity is challenged, they certainly understand the need to get shelter, I`m sure. So I think that that would be one place to start and that might end up solving the case.

GRACE: Back to Bob Matthews, WPVO. Bob, I had heard a report, but I want to confirm this with you. There are a lot of vacation homes in that area. There`s about 3,000 homes is my understanding. Is it true that one of the homes appears to have been used by the two teens? They have been in there?

MATTHEWS: Yes, Nancy, the latest information we have from state police, there are a lot of homes in that area that unfortunately have been foreclosed upon so there are vacant homes in that development, the Indian Mt. Lakes development.

And state police say based on some eyewitness accounts and people who reportedly saw these two youngsters, that they had stayed in one of the homes Saturday. And when they went to investigate, the youngsters were already gone. The teens had already left the home.

So police are saying right now they think there are still somewhere within the development but that`s why, you know, with a program like yours and others, they are still trying to get the word out in case, you know, they managed to slip their way out of Indian Mt. Lakes or out and about somewhere and as you mentioned just a short time ago, the elements up there, the temps are supposed to drop into the low, around freezing, maybe even into the low 30s, upper 20s by the weekend.

So it`s imperative that they find the youngsters quickly. And if they`re in a home, these home -- you know, these homes probably don`t have the heat turned on and some probably don`t have the electricity turned on so that could pose a further danger.

GRACE: Everyone, we are talking about two teens with the mental capacity of a third grader and a sixth grader. If they don`t find shelter, they are in the elements. They are completely helpless and missing now for several days.

Tip line, 570-646-2271.

Caryn Stark, how do people like this make their way in society? There`s a third grade mentality and a sixth grade mentality.

STARK: Well, what happens is they get a lot of support, Nancy, and they need to have people around them all the time who are helping them. And a nice thing is that they found each other, so they can support each other. What concerns me is the fact that they were yelling out to dad and then they got cut off.

GRACE: If they have fallen prey to a predator, their moral support to each other is not going to account for very much.

To Renee Rockwell, can the family be held responsible for not reporting them missing for so long?

ROCKWELL: I would think so, Nancy. This would be tantamount to not reporting a third grader and a sixth grader missing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Charlie Lockard and Donna Kiernan, 18 and 19 years old respectively, are mentally challenged and comprehend at the sixth grade level. They went for a walk in the Indian Lakes development Friday afternoon and didn`t return.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just want her to come home. That`s all I want. Or at least call me, please let me know she`s OK. I`ll come and get her. I just want her home so I can hold her. She`s my daughter, you know. And she`s my baby.

Donna, please come home. Please.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: These two children need your help so desperately. They look like teenagers, but they are mentally handicapped. They have the mind of a third grader and a sixth grader.

If they can`t find shelter or if they have fallen prey to a predator, God only knows what has happened to them. The tip line, 570-646-2271.

ELAINE: I just want to know why did it take the parents so long to report them missing? And also, would they know their phone number or their address or know a way to get home?

GRACE: To Bob Matthews, would they know -- do they know enough to know their address if they`re asked?

MATTHEWS: Well, they both know -- you know everybody keeps talking about the mental capacity of a third and a sixth grader. They`re both pretty sharp. I mean they are functional and from what I`m told Donna Marie Kiernan really loves school, really pays attention. She`s a pretty sharp girl. So, hopefully, I mean, I don`t know for sure, but hopefully they know.

GRACE: OK. To Dr. Shu.

MATTHEWS: . some people in the area.

GRACE: . pediatrician. Weigh in, Dr. Shu.

SHU: Yes. A 4-year-old or a 5-year-old knows their phone number. They know their address. So I would expect that they would know it whether they have access to a phone, I`m worried about. And you can go two days without water and really get dehydrated.

I also worry about some hypothermia for them and maybe getting themselves injured in the woods. So I think it`s really important to find them quickly.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0910/14/ng.01.html

[Faith]

Where are these teens? Where could they be??????

[Faith]

POSTED: 10-15-2009 06:40 PM ET | MODIFIED: 10-15-2009 08:04 PM ET
Sweatshirt Belonging To Missing Teen Found

New details in the search for two missing mentally challenged teenagers in Carbon County. 69 News has now learned that a sweatshirt belonging to 18-year-old Charlie Lockard has been found in a summer home in Penn Forest Township. Police brought in dogs to search that area yesterday. Lockard and 19-year-old Donna Kiernan have been missing since last Friday.

http://wfmz.com/view/?id=1284011

[annalyzer]

Where are these teens? Where could they be??????

I don't know Faith and if it's cold here where I live it has to be really cold in that area. And what are they eating?

[Faith]

I don't know Faith and if it's cold here where I live it has to be really cold in that area. And what are they eating?

I bet it is cold up there and the sweatshirt was found. Idk, I pray they are found safe and home soon.

[Dellia]

Physically Charles and Donna are adults. Mentally they're youngsters. They have survival skills of youngsters I'd guess. According to the news, they went to some of the summer homes before they vanished. You got to think, did they have a particular home they wanted to go back to? It is something I hope the sheriffs think about. The mama of one of the kids was on the tube a day or so back. She was crying so hard, she couldn't hold her head up to look at the camera.

[Amusedtdth]

I don't know Faith and if it's cold here where I live it has to be really cold in that area. And what are they eating?

I bet it is cold up there and the sweatshirt was found. Idk, I pray they are found safe and home soon.

They are up in the Poconos.......I live in Central Jersey and it snowed last nite in N. Jersey......the Poc's mountain area and surely is much colder up there...I'm concerned because now they have found Charlies sweatshirt....what is he wearing? I fear for these two, its way to cold and without food and water.....
Please God, guide them home.....

[Faith]

Two teens missing since last week found unharmed

October 16, 2009

Two mentally handicapped teenagers missing since last Friday have been found.

Charles Ray Lockard, 18, and Donna Marie Kiernan, 19, were reported missing from a home on Lenape Trail in the Carbon County section of Indian Mountain Lakes.

The two were located around 7 p.m. Thursday near Watauga Lake by Lockard's father.

Emergency crews had searched door to door over the weekend and used search dogs to try to locate the teens, according to the Penn Forest Volunteer Fire Company. The weekend search turned up nothing and the crews called off the search.

The teens are described as mentally handicapped with a sixth-grade mental capacity according to Sarah Zappola at the fire company. \

They were found in good health according to state police at Fern Ridge.

http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091016/NEWS/910169980/-1/NEWSMAP

[Faith]

Thank God they are safe!!

[annalyzer]

Yay!

Now find out why they felt it necessary to run off.

[Faith]

Yeah for real!! Hope they don't pull this stunt again.

[SavannahStar]

Glad it had a happy ending!