Adam Joesph Herrman born Irvin Groeninger III June 8 1987 Wichita KS
Greegor
Went missing from Foster/adopter home in 1999 but they
never even reported him missing. Would be 21 now if alive.
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&q=adam%20Herrman&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wn
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=adam+Herrman&aq=f&oq=
http://www.kansas.com/news/story/652772.html
Posted on Tue, Jan. 06, 2009
Relatives say missing Butler County boy was abused
BY TIM POTTER
The Wichita Eagle
On Super Bowl Sunday in 1999, the year Adam Herrman went missing but
no one reported it, one of his aunts says she saw the 11-year-old
chained to a bathtub faucet at his Towanda mobile home.
It looked like he had handcuffs on, said his aunt, Kim Winslow.
Winslow, now 48, said it was the last time she saw Adam.
Other close relatives of Adam's adoptive mother, Valerie Herrman of
Derby, say they saw her abuse him over the years and that he was
forced to sleep in a bathtub. In at least one instance, a relative
reported alleged abuse to authorities.
Butler County sheriff's officers plan to bring in search dogs and
ground-penetrating radar to help solve the mystery of what happened to
Adam Herrman.
The Wichita-Sedgwick County Exploited and Missing Child Unit received
a tip about a month ago that the child had not been seen for nine
years.
Detectives are investigating the case as if Adam were dead, even
though they can't rule out that he is still alive, Butler County
Sheriff Craig Murphy said at a news conference Monday.
Warner Eisenbise, the Wichita attorney representing Herrman and her
husband, Doug Herrman, Adam's adoptive father, said, "I firmly believe
that they are innocent and had nothing to do with his death, if in
fact he died."
But Eisenbise conceded that it is possible that the parents could be
charged with failing to report a missing child.
Murphy released a fourth-grade picture of Adam, who authorities think
disappeared from Towanda in the summer of 1999 when he was 11 or 12.
Murphy asked the public to call with any information.
Relatives say Valerie Herrman, who is in her early 50s, had told them
over the years that Adam was taken back into state custody. Recently,
the adoptive parents have said through their attorney that Adam ran
away and they did not report it.
Law enforcement agencies are bringing in search dogs from other
states, Butler County sheriff's Detective Sgt. Kelly Herzet said.
"We're asking for all the resources we can ask for on this case,"
Herzet said.
Relatives' accounts
Winslow said Valerie Herrman, her sister, had told her that Super Bowl
Sunday in 1999 that she locked Adam in the bathroom because he was
behaving badly. But Winslow said she never saw Adam be a problem child
or disobey Herrman.
Winslow, now living outside the Wichita area, and some of Herrman's
other close relatives said they saw Herrman abuse Adam other times
over the years but for the most part didn't report it and now feel
terrible that he is missing.
When Adam was younger, maybe 7 or 8, and living with his adoptive
family in Derby, Winslow said she heard her sister tell Adam to eat
food that his younger siblings had left on their plates. He told her
he was full, and she hit the back of his head, causing his face to
come down in a plate, Winslow said.
Winslow said it bothered her. "I went over to him, and I rubbed his
little head... and I talked to him" to soothe him, she said.
"I feel sick" for not reporting the incident, she said.
She said can't remember seeing Herrman be affectionate to Adam, as she
was to her other children.
A brother's memory
Justin Herrman, 29, who is the biological son of Valerie and Doug
Herrman, said he never saw his father abuse Adam.
"He's actually stopped it many times," said Justin Herrman, who was
about 7 years older than Adam.
Over the years, at different homes around the Wichita area, his mother
"would start hitting him or beating him with a belt," Justin said.
His father "would stop her and say, 'That's enough, Valerie,' " he
said.
One time, Justin Herrman said, his mother threw Adam, then around 4 or
5, against a wall and pulled his hair, and Justin stepped in to stop
it.
Justin Herrman said he called to report it and Derby police officers
came to the home. But he said his mother persuaded him to tell the
police that he lied. He said the officers lectured him about lying and
left.
His mother started locking Adam in the bathroom, and the boy slept in
the bathtub, Justin Herrman said.
"She would just tell us he was threatening us," and that he had mental
problems and couldn't be trusted, Justin Herrman said of his mother.
He said that for years his mother told the family that Adam had gone
back into state custody and only recently said that he ran away.
'We all believed it'
Margaret Davis, mother of Valerie Herrman, said she was stunned to
hear that the attorney now says that Adam ran away.
Valerie and Doug Herrman had a number of foster children before
adopting Adam and his two younger siblings, Davis said.
She said her daughter "can be very, very mean sometimes" and that they
have been estranged off and on.
Once, at a Derby home where the Herrmans lived before they moved to
Towanda, Valerie's aunt had to use the bathroom, and Valerie Herrman
had to unlock it first.
Behind the locked bathroom door, Davis said, she saw Adam in the tub
with a pillow and blanket.
Valerie Herrman told Adam to go immediately to his bedroom, and he
obeyed, Davis said.
"She told us that he had threatened them... he was going to wait until
they went to sleep, and he was going to kill them," Davis said.
Although Davis said she wasn't around Adam much, she said that when
she was, he seemed to be "a darling little boy."
She said her daughter told the family that Adam went back into state
custody. "We all believed it," she said.
Christmas Eve call
Linda Bush, a former sister-in-law of Valerie Herrman, said Valerie
Herrman called her Dec. 24 and in a shaky voice told her that Adam was
missing and that investigators suspected the Herrmans had something to
do with his disappearance.
Bush, 55, of Wichita, said Valerie Herrman asked her to call
detectives investigating his disappearance "and tell them about how
they loved Adam, and she only wanted to do good when they took in
foster children... that they would never hurt a child."
Bush said she never called the detectives.
In the Christmas Eve conversation, Valerie Herrman told her former
sister-in-law "that she beat Adam once with a belt" and that Valerie
had gone into her room and cried about it, remorseful.
Bush said Valerie Herrman told her that that after she used the belt,
someone at Adam's school saw bruises, and authorities were called to
investigate.
Authorities' next steps
At the news conference, Murphy said this is the first case he has
dealt with in which officers didn't learn that a child was missing
until years later.
Sheriff's officers searched the Towanda mobile home park last week
where the family once lived but did not find any human remains, Murphy
said.
Investigators are planning to conduct more searches but have not said
where.
Murphy said Adam, who is described as having brown hair and brown
eyes, may have been home-schooled. They believe he disappeared during
the summer of 1999. According to records, the family moved from
Towanda to the town of Sedgwick later that fall.
Investigators plan to release a computer-enhanced photo soon showing
what Adam would look like today if he is still alive. He was born June
8, 1987, in Wichita and would now be 21.
http://www.kwch.com/Global/story.asp?S=9628429&nav=menu486_2_3
Missing Boy's Uncle Blames Sister
Posted: Jan 6, 2009 09:13 PM CST
Updated: Jan 7, 2009 08:44 AM CST
By Michael Schwanke (WICHITA, Kan)
Kevin Bush holds nothing back when talking about his sister. "All
these years she has lied to her mother and brothers and sisters-all of
her relatives," says Bush talking about his sister, Valerie Herrman.
Bush, like Adam Herrman's other family, was told his nephew was given
back to the state. "We had no reason to question it," says Bush.
"It's a shame my sister has to put us through this. You have no idea
how bad it hurts and feels."
Bush is just one of several family members, including Valerie
Herrman's own son, who blames Valerie. Bush also talks of abuse-
stories of Adam being locked in the bathroom and forced to sleep
there. He says the abuse did not go unreported. He also has a theory
about what happened to Adam.
"I think there was an accident at that house. I think he's gone."
Bush says he has regrets and if given the chance would tell Adam.
"That I'm sorry and Uncle Kevin and Aunt Lucy love you. I'm sorry, I
wish I would have been around more maybe had him come to my house and
I want to tell his family I'm sorry. I really am very sorry."
Bush says he has spoken to his sister since the news of Adam's
disappearance. Like the story he told Eyewitness News, Valerie told
her brother that Adam ran away and didn't come back. She says the
reason she didn't report Adam's disappearance was fear of losing her
other children.
Bush says he does not believe that story.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28547691/
Adam's biological father speaks out
By KSNW News
KSNW-TV
updated 2:49 p.m. CT, Thurs., Jan. 8, 2009
WICHITA, Kansas - The biological father of missing boy Adam Herrman
spoke to KSN from his home in Indiana on Wednesday.
"You know I've lost him once, I can't loose him twice, I can't do
that," said Adam's father, Irvin Groeninger.
The heartfelt tears are from a dad who just wants to know what
happened to his son.
"Well I'm not going to point any fingers at the Herrmans," he said "I
don't know anything about what went on or what's possible that went
on, I just know what I've read in the media."
The Herrman's attorney, Warner Eisenbise, made an appearance on the
Today Show Wednesday morning. Later, when KSN interviewed him, he
admitted the Herrman's made a mistake by not reporting Adam missing,
but that they didn't call police because they figured Adam had gone
back to his biological family. He said they also feared losing their
other children because of all the problems they had with Adam running
away.
Now, Eisenbise says the Herrmans are concerned with the possibility
that they might face murder charges.
"We have a child who left, never heard of again -- wouldn't you be a
little concerned about and they're search dogs and there going to get
electronic or sonic or whatever kind of instrument to find locate
bodies underground," Eisenbise said. "They're searching rivers now,
wouldn't you be a little concerned."
Eisenbise is referring to the Whitewater River area west of Towanda
where a search will take place on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the pleas for help continue -- not only from authorities,
but from Adam's family.
"I'm sure there's somebody out there that knows something and I just
wish they'd step forward, right or wrong step forward, if you've seen
him step forward," Groeninger said.
Anyone with any information on the whereabouts of Adam Herrman is
asked to call the Butler County Sheriff's Department at 316-322-4254.
http://www.ksn.com/news/local/37234714.html
Adam's biological father speaks out
By Jessica Oakley
Story Created: Jan 7, 2009 at 5:32 PM CST Story Updated: Jan 7, 2009
at 6:10 PM CST
WICHITA, Kansas – The biological father of missing boy Adam Herrman
spoke to KSN from his home in Indiana on Wednesday.
“You know I've lost him once, I can't loose him twice, I can't do
that,” said Adam’s father, Irvin Groeninger.
The heartfelt tears are from a dad who just wants to know what
happened to his son.
“Well I'm not going to point any fingers at the Herrmans,” he said “I
don't know anything about what went on or what's possible that went
on, I just know what I've read in the media.”
The Herrman’s attorney, Warner Eisenbise, made an appearance on the
Today Show Wednesday morning. Later, when KSN interviewed him, he
admitted the Herrman’s made a mistake by not reporting Adam missing,
but that they didn’t call police because they figured Adam had gone
back to his biological family. He said they also feared losing their
other children because of all the problems they had with Adam running
away.
Now, Eisenbise says the Herrmans are concerned with the possibility
that they might face murder charges.
“We have a child who left, never heard of again -- wouldn't you be a
little concerned about and they're search dogs and there going to get
electronic or sonic or whatever kind of instrument to find locate
bodies underground,” Eisenbise said. “They're searching rivers now,
wouldn't you be a little concerned."
Eisenbise is referring to the Whitewater River area west of Towanda
where a search will take place on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the pleas for help continue – not only from authorities,
but from Adam’s family.
“I'm sure there's somebody out there that knows something and I just
wish they'd step forward, right or wrong step forward, if you've seen
him step forward,” Groeninger said.
Enhanced Photo Released In Adam Herrman Case
Reporter: Jennifer Bocchieri
Adam Herrman Poster
http://www.kake.com/home/headlines/37072474.html
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
http://www.kake.com/home/headlines/37072474.html
Butler County Sheriff Craig Muphy tells KAKE News they will expand
their search for the missing boy on Saturday. Using dogs, they will
search along the Whitewater River. They want to make sure they don't
leave any ground uncovered.
The Sheriff's Department is also writing up a search warrant for a
residence. The Sheriff won't say where.
And as of Tuesday morning, dozens of people have either phoned in or
emailed tips to the department.
It's been ten years since anybody saw or heard from Adam Herrman, 11-
years-old when he vanished in 1999 from his adopted home in Towanda.
Now, investigators hope taking the case to the public airwaves,
including CNN, will help lead them to answers.
Butler County Sheriff Craig Murphy said Monday morning his office is
now investigating Herrman's disappearance as a death, but that no
evidence exists to prove he is not living.
"We don't know what happened to him after 1999," Murphy said. By
classifying the case as a death, Murphy says it frees up more
resources to look for Herrman.
Murphy would not discuss evidence found at the former home-site in
Towanda, except that it did not include any human remains.
"He could very well still be alive, or it could be he's deceased,"
Murphy said. "We just don't know yet."
The case began to unfold three weeks ago, after a caller tipped off
the Wichita Police Department's Exploited and Missing Children's Unit
that Adam Herrman hadn't been seen in ten years.
Murphy says the adopted parents never reported his disappearance to
law enforcement.
Doug and Valerie Herrman now reside in Derby, and have long said Adam
ran away. Their attorney, Warner Eisenbise, said Monday the couple
feels terrible about the decision not to report their adopted son
missing, but that it wasn't the first time he'd left home.
Eisenbise said Adam Herrman, born Irvin Groeninger III, knew his
biological family. His adopted parents believed he left to seek them
out. Eisenbise said the Herrmans have nothing to do with Adam's
current whereabouts.
Murphy says an exhaustive check of Adam's bio-historical record shows
no activity since 1999.
He said the Herrmans are considered "persons of interest," but are not
suspects and that no evidence has yet been found suggesting they are
responsible for Adam's disappearance.
"If we were going into a courtroom with charges against somebody, and
Adam just happened to show up, what kind of job have we done?" asked
Murphy.
He said it's possible the Herrmans could face charges for failing to
report Adam as missing, but that after ten years, the state's statute
of limitations could come into play.
"It'll be up to prosecutors," Murphy said.
Meantime, one of Adam's biological sisters is holding out hope he'll
be found.
"I just need closure," said Tiffany Broadfoot.
Broadfoot says she tried to keep in touch with her brother after he
was put into foster care and eventually adopted. She says the last
time she heard from him was when she was nine and Adam sent her a
Christmas card.
On Monday morning, investigators came to Broadfoot's home to collect a
DNA sample for comparison in the event Adam is found.
"It kind of gives me the hope that now... they'll work harder to find
him," she said.
Although investigators have ten years of catching up in the case,
Sheriff Murphy says he's confident answers will begin to surface.
"One thing I've learned in my career is not all evidence disappears,"
he said Monday. "It's just up to us to dig it out."
Murphy asks anybody with any information in the disappearance of Adam
Herrman to call Butler County investigators (316) 322-4254, or toll-
free at (800) 794-0190.
Sheriff Murphy has provided a picture of Adam aged to 21 years, which
can be viewed below.
**********
Update: 10:00am Monday
Butler County authorities are holding a news conference on the search
for Adam Herrman. The boy has been missing since 1999.
Sheriff Craig Murphy said authorities don't know what happened to Adam
Herrman after 1999. Authorities are launching a nationwide search. He
plans to talk with CNN about national coverage of the search for
Herrman.
Murphy asked for anyone who may have seen something unusual in the
Towanda area during the time Herrman went missing to call authorities.
Murphy said investigators found an answer when they searched a mobile
home lot last week, however, he would not say what the found.
Murphy said investigators are treating this as a missing person case.
He asked that if Adam Herrman is still alive, that he call authorities
immediately.
The sheriff believes Herrman was being home schooled at the time of
his disappearance.
Tiffany Broadfoot and Irvin Groeninger II said the news that Adam
Herrman, who's birth name is Irvin Groeninger III, was reported
missing after nearly a decade has left them confused, devastated and
wanting answers.
"I have a lot of questions and very few answers," said Tiffany
Broadfoot, Adam's biological sister.
Just weeks ago, Broadfoot's biological father in Indiana called with
news she never expected to hear. He told her that her younger brother,
who was adopted by a different family years earlier, hadn't been seen
in nearly a decade.
"My dad went on to say he's been missing since '99 and it was just
reported around December 5th," said Broadfoot.
Broadfoot and her brother Adam, along with their other siblings, were
placed in foster care after their parents' divorce. Eventually, they
were adopted by different families. Broadfoot said she tried to keep
in touch with Adam but his adoptive family told her they didn't want
Adam to know he was adopted and asked that she not contact him. She
never imagined he might be missing.
"How did anybody not know he was missing?" she wonders. "Why didn't
his friends say something? Why didn't the schools say something?"
Last week, investigators began searching the Pine Ridge mobile home
park in Towanda where Adam's adoptive family lived and where he was
last seen. Officials have now asked Broadfoot, her father and mother
Gerri George in Colorado, for DNA samples.
"When I was first told he was missing, I was figuring he was 20 or 21
years-old... an adult. I wouldn't figure that he'd be missing, then
they told me he was missing for 9 years and I didn't know what to
think," said Irvin Groeninger II, Adam's biological father.
Investigators said last week that they did find one answer to their
questions in the mobile home park, but Sheriff Craig Murphy won't
elaborate.
"I cry a lot. It's very upsetting," said Broadfoot.
Broadfoot said her dream of having her brothers and sisters together
again is crashing around her and now she and her family just want
answers.
"Whatever happens, just that justice gets served," said Groeninger.
"I need to know what happened," said Broadfoot.
Butler county officials are expected to hold a press conference Monday
morning at 10:00. Investigators have yet to officially release the
names of Adam's adoptive parents or any pictures of Adam.
Greegor
> Adam Joseph Herrman born Irvin Groeninger III June 8 1987 Wichita, KS
> Went missing from Foster/adopter home in 1999 but they
> never even reported him missing. Would be 21 now if alive.
>
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iasFdu7N5QSE3OvpsTUFEZ3yhR3AD95JAEJG0
Missing Kan. boy was once briefly in state custody
By ROXANA HEGEMAN – Jan 9th 2009
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A boy whose disappearance went unreported for 10
years was once taken away from his adoptive parents, then returned
days later, Kansas' social services agency said Thursday.
Adam Herrman was in protective custody for two days in 1996 after a
report of physical abuse, said Michelle Ponce, spokeswoman for the
state Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services. The boy was
returned to his adoptive parents, Valerie and Doug Herrman, after
authorities reviewed the evidence and found the report
unsubstantiated.
"We are doing a thorough review of all our case records involving Adam
and his family," Ponce said.
Adam was 11 years old when he disappeared in 1999 from his adoptive
parents' mobile home in Towanda. He would be 21 years old now if he is
still alive.
His disappearance finally came to light last week when authorities —
acting on a tip to the Sedgwick County Exploited and Missing
Children's Unit — searched the empty lot in Towanda where the family's
mobile home once stood.
No charges have been filed. Butler County Sheriff Craig Murphy said
consideration of any charges would wait while officials concentrate on
the search.
The Herrmans did not return a message seeking comment Thursday.
The family's attorney, Warner Eisenbise, has said Adam had a history
of running away. Eisenbise said his clients thought the boy had done
so again when he disappeared in 1999 and felt "very guilty" not
reporting it at the time. Eisenbise has said the family had nothing to
do with his disappearance, but acknowledged that other charges may be
coming in connection with the case.
The Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services confirmed
Thursday that the Herrmans continued to receive adoption subsidy
payments for Adam after he was missing, but the agency could not
immediately determine how much. The department said it was researching
the case.
Such subsidies generally are given in situations where the children
are difficult to place or in cases in which several siblings are
adopted by the same family, she said.
The Herrmans adopted Adam and two of his younger siblings, family
members have said.
Families receiving adoption subsidies are required to file a yearly
report to verify ongoing legal and financial responsibility for the
child, she said.
"If there were a situation in which an individual would knowingly
supply false information to the state in order to receive benefits,
that is a crime," Ponce said.
Greegor
Posted on Sat, Jan. 10, 2009
Missing Kansas boy's uncle regrets not taking action
Kansas officials were unable to substantiate report of abuse
By TIM POTTER The Wichita Eagle
WICHITA One night, about four years before Adam Herrman disappeared
from his adoptive parents’ Towanda, Kan., home at age 11, the boy’s
uncle did something that still haunts him.
Sam Bush said he was living with the Herrmans at the time in 1995,
and
found their oldest biological daughter, Crystal, sitting on the
stairs
of the family’s home. Crystal was crying.
“I can’t take it anymore, what my mom’s doing to Adam,” he remembers
her saying. Crystal was 17 or 18 then.
“I said, ‘Crystal, I know what your mom’s doing, but if you turn her
in, do you realize the problems you’re going to cause with you and
your mom? Let’s hope that it’s going to stop, that she’ll get
better,’ ” Bush told The Wichita Eagle.
Over the years, Bush said, he repeatedly saw his older sister,
Valerie
Herrman, scream and curse in Adam’s face, slap him, strike him with a
belt and throw him down. Sometimes, Bush said, he tried to intervene
but backed away because he thought it would bring more abuse to Adam.
Valerie Herrman, now 52 and living in Derby, Kan., with her husband,
Doug, 54, maintains that she loved Adam and that she is being wrongly
accused of abuse.
Doug Herrman says that Bush is lying.
Bush, now 46, said he partly blames the state for the abuse he says
Adam suffered.
“They saw the bruises,” but did not permanently remove Adam from his
adoptive parents’ home, Bush said.
The Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services confirmed
last week that Adam was in protective custody for two days in 1996
after a report of physical abuse. He was returned to his adoptive
parents after authorities reviewed the evidence and found the report
unsubstantiated.
The state also confirmed that the Herrmans continued to receive
adoption subsidy payments for Adam after he was missing, but
officials
could not immediately determine how much.
“We are doing a thorough review of all our case records involving
Adam
and his family,” said spokeswoman Michelle Ponce.
But Bush said he also blames adults in his family — and “myself
because I witnessed so much” and didn’t report it.
“We should have done more. I don’t blame Crystal” or her younger
biological brother, Justin. “At the time, they were kids.
“I was the adult the night I went in there and Crystal was sitting on
those stairs, and I talked her out of it.”
Crystal, now 31, said Friday that she remembers being upset and
having
such a conversation with her uncle.
“I waited up to tell him that I was going to turn her in,” said
Crystal, who asked that her last name not be used to protect her
children’s privacy.
“Sam’s my favorite uncle,” she said, adding that she doesn’t fault
him
for persuading her not to report her allegations.
“We kept praying it was going to get better,” she said.
Finally, around this past Thanksgiving, Crystal reported her concerns
to the state’s child protection agency, uncovering Adam’s 1999
disappearance and triggering an intense law enforcement investigation
into what happened to him.
Doug Herrman said Friday that the account given by Bush and his
daughter is wrong. He also said Bush didn’t live with them during the
period Bush said he did.
“He’d do anything to ruin us,” Doug Herrman said.
“Everybody wants to hear dirt, and I’m sick of it,” Doug Herrman
said.
Bush said he has shared his story with detectives investigating
Adam’s
1999 disappearance, and decided to speak out about Adam after he read
what his sister had said last week — that she loved Adam and that the
allegations were lies.
Bush said that he had lived with his sister and brother-in-law off
and
on since he was 17.
Doug Herrman wasn’t abusive, Bush said.
“I’ve never seen Doug raise his hands or his voice at the kids,” Bush
said. “Matter of fact, he tried to stop Valerie.
“But Valerie, I’ve seen both mental and physical abuse” of Adam. He
said he saw her “berating this child, cussing him out … screaming, 2
inches from his face, spit coming out of her mouth while she’s doing
this.
“You’ve got to understand: When Valerie did this … she would be like
a
totally different person. Her looks, her voice, her sound —
everything
would change.
“Sometimes she’d use a belt. A lot of times, she’d use her hands.
Just
beat him, a lot of times for insignificant stuff. It was ridiculous.”
One incident stands out, he said. It was the same house in Derby in
1995, when Adam would have been about 7.
Bush described it this way: He had come home from work and saw Adam
folding laundry — six to seven baskets of it — in the living room.
Valerie Herrman was in the kitchen. Bush felt sorry for Adam and
started to help him fold the laundry.
“Valerie comes in and starts screaming at me” and curses about Adam,
Bush said.
“So she wouldn’t let me help him.”
From an adjacent room, Bush watched television and looked over at
Adam, still folding. Adam’s younger siblings came in and knocked over
the folded stacks. Adam told them to stop it, which prompted Valerie
Herrman to scream at Adam, telling him that she was the parent and
not
to tell his younger brother and sister what to do, Bush said.
“And she turned around, and he had all these stacks of (folded)
clothes … and she went over there and knocked them over.”
She told Adam to fold them again and cursed at him, Bush said.
Bush said his eyes met Adam’s.
“He looked helpless,” Bush said. “I felt so terrible, but I knew if I
went in there again, I’d make it worse on him.
“Everybody had to walk on eggshells around Valerie. ‘Don’t get her
all
upset.’ That’s how the whole family treated her. ‘Don’t get Valerie
to
go off. It will cause a big, huge scene.’ ”
The Herrmans moved a lot around the Wichita area, from Derby to
Towanda to Sedgwick and eventually back to Derby.
Adam was always being abused, Bush said. “There’s been so many
incidents, to put a date on it is kind of hard.”
Valerie Herrman showed affection to Adam’s younger siblings, also
adopted, Bush said.
And she can be “the sweetest person,” and he still loves her, he
said.
“She’s my sister. But I didn’t like what she did.”
The other children could eat snacks, but Adam wasn’t allowed, Bush
said.
“It was like Valerie had radar on that child. He could not move
without her screaming at him for something. … So a lot of time, he
would not do anything but sit in a chair, while the other kids were
playing … sit in a chair and watch.”
Doug Herrman disputed Bush’s description, saying, Adam “played
plenty.”
Bush said he saw Adam locked in the bathroom at Towanda and forced to
sleep in the bathtub. Other relatives have said they saw him locked
in
the bathroom in Derby, as well, before the move to Towanda, around
1998.
Valerie Herrman said Adam was kept in the bathroom on the advice of a
psychiatrist after Adam threatened the family. She said she gave him
a
sleeping bag, blanket, sheet and pillow.
Bush said he last saw Adam around the spring of 1999 at a Wichita
church.
Later, Bush said Valerie Herrman told him Adam had been given back to
the state “because we decided we couldn’t handle him.”
Bush said he felt “very relieved.”
He said he thought to himself: “He’s going to get over the bruises,
but the mental damage she was doing to him was terrible.”
Bush only recently learned that Adam disappeared nearly a decade ago,
and that his parents now say he ran away after Valerie Herrman
spanked
him. The Herrmans say they feared that the spanking and Adam’s
running
away would prompt authorities to take their other children away.
Now, Bush said, “I pray that Adam’s going to come forward. But I
think
all the family’s prepared that something terrible probably happened
to
him.”
Bush said he had a message to share: “If you see a family member
abusing their children, turn them in. Don’t sit there and be going
through what our family is going through.
“I’ve sat here, constantly thinking: ‘Why didn’t I do more? Why
didn’t
I do more?’ Because I thought it would go away, it would stop. I love
my sister. I can’t turn her in.”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28593117/
Sheriff says public pressure won't push him in Adam Herrman case
By KSNW News KSNW-TV updated 8:45 p.m. CT, Sat., Jan. 10, 2009
TOWANDA, Kansas (KSN) - A methodical search of wooded area in Butler
County near the home where missing Adam Herrman was last seen alive
turned up no useful information according to authorities.Three K-9
units and two dozen detectives from Butler County, Sedgwick County,
and Wichita Police searched and area between a river and railroad
tracks outside of Towanda. The area is to the south of the trailer
park where Adam's adoptive parents lived when the boy vanished in
1999. Authorities learned of his disappearance just last month.Adam's
parents never reported him missing to police.At a press briefing
during the search, Sheriff Craig Murphy acknowledged his department
is
being criticized by some people questioning why Adam's adoptive
parents haven't been charged with anything."What are we going to lock
them up for?" asked Murphy. "Cause if you lock someone up you better
have the proof to back up what you just did. We're not at that point.
I don't know if we're going to get to that point."Murphy said if
criminal charges are filled in this case he wants to make sure it
will
withstand the scrutiny of the judicial system. He said he will not
allow the public to pressure his detectives into filling a rushed,
sloppy case."When we go in we need to know what we're talking about,"
said Murphy. "We can't just guess."Murphy said his deputies will
search the wooded area again but no timeline is set on when they will
return. He said no specific tip led to the search stating it makes
"common sense" to look in that area.