Search along river finds no clues Adam Herrman, Towanda Kansas

Monday, January 19, 2009 By Staff reporters
El Dorado Times
Mon Jan 12, 2009, 11:21 AM CST
El Dorado, Kan. -

TOWANDA (AP) — Investigators used search dogs Saturday to scour a wooded area along the banks of the Whitewater River, as they continued looking for Adam Herrman, whose disappearance went unreported for a decade. Butler County Sheriff Craig Murphy said no specific tips led investigators to the wooded area just west of Towanda on Saturday, but the area is a popular hangout for local youths. Murphy expressed doubts before Saturday's search because so much time had passed since the boy disappeared.

Saturday night, Murphy said the effort failed to turn up anything of interest regarding Adam's whereabouts.No charges have been filed against Adam's adoptive parents, Doug and Valerie Herrman. Authorities have said consideration of charges of any kind would wait so investigators can concentrate on the search.

Lawmaker seeks audit for case of missing boy.

A state senator wants to know if the Kansas social services department had any contact with an 11-year-old boy who went missing a decade ago but whose disappearance wasn't reported until this month.Adam disappeared from his home in Towanda in 1999. State Sen. Jean Schodorf, the Senate assistant majority leader, said Friday she had asked Don Jordan, secretary of the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services, to look for any signs that authorities had needed to take Adam out of the home and whether the state played a part in his disappearance by not acting on them.

"We need to ... find out if indeed the state or the system lost this child somewhere," said Schodorf. "It is just a mystery. Maybe everything was done correctly."Michelle Ponce, spokeswoman for the social services department, said it already was conducting a "very thorough review" and would cooperate with any criminal investigation.

The department and Derby police said they investigated at least two reports of suspected abuse of Adam in 1996 and 1998.Adam was in protective custody for two days following the 1996 report, but was returned to adoptive parents Valerie and Doug Herrman after authorities determined the report was unsubstantiated, Ponce said.

Schodorf said Adam's adoptive parents withdrew him from a Derby public school and began home-schooling him around the time of his disappearance. State law requires operators of home schools to provide a name and address but doesn't require records of students who are home-schooled, said Ed Libber, general counsel for the Kansas Department of Education. State records listed a Herrman School with a Derby address as a non-accredited private school in January 1998.