Richard Wayne Landers Jr., who was abducted from Indiana by his grandparents nearly 20 years ago, when he was 5 years old, has been found alive in Minnesota under a different name, with a wife and a baby on the way!
Richard Wayne Landers Jr., of Wolcottville, was abducted 19 years ago in northeastern Indiana by his paternal grandparents, Richard E. and Ruth A. Landers, who were upset over custody arrangements. Indiana State Police said the 24 year old Landers was found in Long Prairie, Minn., thanks in part to his Social Security number.
Police spokesman Sgt. Ron Galaviz said it appears the boy’s father was never in the picture. Lisa and Richard Harter had married a year earlier. They were charged at the time with misdemeanor interference with custody, but the charge was dismissed in 2008 after the case went cold. Investigators reopened the case in September when Richard Harter turned over the boy’s Social Security card to an Indiana State Police detective. That turned up a man with the same Social Security number and date of birth living in Long Prairie, Minn., about 100 miles northwest of Minneapolis. A driver’s license photo for the man appeared to resemble Landers, police said.
His grandparents were living under aliases in a nearby town and confirmed his identity, investigators said. Police declined to say whether the grandparents would face charges.
Landers’ mother, Lisa Harter, screamed and was “jumping up and down for joy” when she learned a few days ago that her son had been found, her husband Richard Harter told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Thursday. He said his wife is “the happiest woman on earth.” Harter said he and his wife were working with an attorney and hoped to reunite with his stepson soon. Police said Landers is married and expecting his first child.
“By all accounts, it didn’t appear he suffered from any abuse, either physical or mental,” Galaviz said.
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