9 replies to this topic

[Lori Davis]

Jeremy has now been missing 23 years.  Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.

[Lori Davis]

http://www.crimestop...=1073485708

Crimestoppers of Lowcountry, Inc. - Jeremy James Grice

[Lori Davis]

http://www.doenetwor...es/100dmsc.html

Doe Network profile for Jeremy James Grice

[Lori Davis]

http://chronicle.aug...et_318065.shtml

Aged photos often assist child search
Web posted Sunday, February 15, 2004
By Stephen Gurr | Staff Writer
Non-Family Abduction 
DOB: May 12, 1981
Age at time of disappearance: 4 years
Missing: Nov 22, 1985
Race: White

Jeremy, a starry-eyed 4-year-old with tousled blond hair, vanished from his North Augusta home nearly 20 years ago. In 2000, forensic artists with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Washington, D.C., aged Jeremy's photo into a handsome, clean-cut 19-year-old for a missing persons bulletin. Next year, on the occasion of his 24th birthday, his photo will get another update.

Age progression, the process of showing people what a person might look like after years of growth, has become frequently used since the dawn of the computer age. Jeremy and another missing child from Aiken County, Tilwanda Cheatham, are among more than 20 people from South Carolina who have had their portraits aged by forensic artists and posted on Internet sites.

Each year, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Persons produces about 350 age-progressed photos, according to Stephen Loftin, a forensic imaging specialist at the center.

"It's manual manipulation of photographs using a computer," Mr. Loftin said. "It's more art than science."

And it produces results.

More than 400 cases have been resolved at least partly because of age-progression imaging, Mr. Loftin said. One California man who went missing as an infant was located from a poster that progressed his age from 47 days to 21 years.

"We've had some good success stories where the image pretty well matched the missing child when they were recovered," Mr. Loftin said.

In their work, forensic artists gather as many reference photos of family members as possible. Ideally, they use photos of mothers or fathers taken at the same age as the child, compare the image to those of siblings and search for hereditary traits the child is likely to inherit.

Starting with the missing child's most recent photo, the artist sizes the picture on a computer screen at 400 by 500 pixels, 150 dots per inch. The first stage of manipulation stretches the face to show growth.

"The general shape of the face is going to change some," Mr. Loftin said. "The lower two-thirds is the most dramatic. The lower mandible will become broader."

To learn about skeletal growth, the center has sought expert advice from a forensic anthropologist at the Smithsonian Institution.

The shape of the eyes, the mouth and nose will change slightly to grow with the face but will retain the same overall look, Mr. Loftin said.

"If the child is smiling in the picture, you want to keep that child smiling to better mirror the actual photograph," Mr. Loftin says. "We'll then apply more mature dental work."

The final step in age progression, refinement, is the most laborious. Often, this is where guesswork displaces science. Artists rely on a database of 30,000 reference photos showing people from preschool to adulthood.

Hair styles, clothes, jewelry "who knows what they're into," Mr. Loftin said.

The entire process takes four to eight hours, and for someone Jeremy's age, is updated every five years.

Lt. Troy Elwell, an investigator with the Aiken County Sheriff's Office, said Jeremy's age-progressed photo has generated new leads and helped keep the case alive.

"Every time we get one of those, we have hope with it, though so far nothing has panned out," Lt.Elwell said. "We'd love to be able to close this case in a good manner. We don't give up hope."

[Lori Davis]

The 25 year mark of Jeremy's disappearance is quickly approaching.  Praying for his family and loved ones.

[Jenn]

http://www.aikenstan...ocal/1122-GRICE

25 years later, boy's disappearance still affects Aiken County

11/22/2010 12:03 AM By KAREN DAILY Staff writer

Any time Lt. Becky Edmonds looks over the black-and-white photo of 4-year-old Jeremy Grice, who disappeared from his North Augusta home 25 years ago Monday, she said her heart breaks.

The boy has never been found, but Edmonds admits that she occasionally sees boys who would have been his peers who resemble the blond-haired, hazel-eyed boy and wonders if he is Jeremy.

His peers, however, have left the playgrounds where the 4-year-old once played. They have graduated from high school or college and may have children of their own by now.

Grice would be 29 years old.

"I'll have 30 years with the sheriff's office in January ... and I was hoping someone would have come forward before now," she said.

The morning Jeremy disappeared, Edmonds said, it was cool and rainy. Her supervisor, Jim Whitehurst, first told her about a missing boy.

"He told me to grab my partner, Daisy Stallings, who has since died, and told us to go help out," she said.

When the two went to Grice's home on Miller Street, she said the child's mother, Donna Arrington, was visibly upset.

"She was frantic," Edmonds recalled.

The evening before the little boy disappeared, his mother checked in on him on her way out for work. She never saw him in his bed, but the blankets were pulled up and she didn't disturb him.

"She assumed he was asleep," Edmonds said.

His mother left for work and never saw her son again. His stepfather was at home with the boy, but no one in the family ever reported seeing or hearing anything suspicious that night.

There was "nothing," "no evidence" of foul play, said Capt. Troy Elwell, a spokesman for the Aiken County Sheriff's office who was also once a juvenile investigator.

Like many unsolved or cold cases, investigators periodically review the Grice disappearance. Elwell and Edmonds are no exception.

The white cardboard boxes that hold the Grice files are stuffed with yellowed FBI reports and dozens of copies of the original reward fliers that Edmonds put together.

The flier shows the photo of the smiling blond-haired boy. Above his photo is the $2,500 reward offer.

Edmonds said she can still remember going door-to-door with those fliers.

"I remember it like it was yesterday," she reflected.

The updated posters show the same photo of 4-year-old Jeremy as well as an age-progression image created by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

The most recent photo was updated this week.

At the bottom of the most recent flier is information about the day Jeremy disappeared. Jeremy was last seen by a neighbor about 8:45 a.m. the morning of Nov. 22.

He was standing barefoot near a mailbox in his pajamas, a neighbor told police. She said she saw him with his bike, but that lead was never substantiated, investigators said.

"At that time, we were getting calls all the time," said Edmonds. "Anytime someone saw a child with a man, they would call. It would inevitably turn out that the child was his son."

But the community was on alert and nervous, not only for Jeremy, but parents were also fearful their children would be abducted.

The disappearance came only four years after 6-year-old Adam Walsh was kidnapped from a department store in Florida and later found murdered. His murder gained national attention and struck fear into the hearts of parents across the country. Aiken was no exception.

Years later, reflecting on the investigation, Edmonds said she only wishes they had modern-day resources available.

"Any of the technology today, such as an Amber Alert or a notification system, would help," Elwell said.

Edmonds spoke up, "We had nothing but foot power."

She said investigators spent days on end in the community, searching for something. They drained two nearby ponds and followed up with every suspicious person.

Over the years, especially early on, a few persons of interest surfaced, but no one has ever been implicated in his disappearance.

"I think every investigator has their own theories and beliefs, but all we can say officially is he is missing and it is an open case," Elwell said.

Although cold, the investigation is not closed.

"There is never a day that goes by that I don't see a child and think about him," Edmonds said. "Now, all I can say is if any person can shed light on this case, they should come forward."

Anyone with information should contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at (800) 843-5678 or the Sheriff's Office at 642-1761.

[Deborah]

Jeremy is still missing.

NamUs Profile
https://www.findthem.../cases/6141/17/

[Deborah]

Jeremy is still missing.

 

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at (800) 843-5678

or the Sheriff's Office at 642-1761.