Clock is Ticking for Missing Disabled Boy Hassani Campbell

cbsnews.com
August 19, 2009

NEW YORK (CBS) “The longer he’s out there and not found, it doesn’t look good,” Louis Ross says, choking up, in an interview about his missing foster son, 5-year-old Hasanni Campbell. Campbell disappeared Aug. 10 in Oakland, Calif. when Ross (supposedly) left him standing near the family car in the parking lot behind the shoe store where his fiancée, Campbell’s biological aunt and foster mom, Jennifer Campbell works.

Upon seeing that their son had disappeared Ross and Campbell called 911 and began frantically searching. “Hasanni does not wander away,” Ross told CBS 5 San Francisco. How can Ross be so sure? Hasanni was born with Cerebral Palsy, a type of permanent disorder that inhibits development of movement and posture, i.e., he had trouble walking, but according to Ross, could do so with concentration...

When asked what he think did happen in those five minutes, Ross tears up: “as a father, those are thoughts you don’t want to entertain.” Jeff Thomason says Ross is mostly likely correct in his assumption that Hassani did not walk away: “anything’s possible but it’s not likely…right now no witnesses saw Hassani walking away from that area.”

The FBI has joined the search, along with several other local agencies...

A $10,000 reward was offered Monday by Oakland Police and Crime Stoppers for information leading to the whereabouts of the boy. “This is a continuous investigation that will be conducted day and night,” Officer Seth Neri said in a press conference.

The Oakland PD has been in touch with the biological mother, who lives in San Francisco, and told Crimesider that she is not a person of interest at this point. Hasanni was removed from his 25-year-old mother’s home because she had physically abused him.

Shemika Campbell, who also has Cerebral Palsy, says she thinks someone kidnapped him. In an exclusive interview with CBS 5 she says, “I always had a feeling that he would be gone from me one day.” More at CBS affiliate KPIX San Francisco.

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