Destiny Norton

Article Last Updated: 07/25/2006 03:14:54 AM MDT

Destiny found dead
Police arrest a man living next door

By Nate Carlisle The Salt Lake Tribune

The Salt Lake Tribune reported the body of Destinty Norton had been found in the basement of her next door neighbor, Craig Roger Gregerson, 20.

America's Most Wanted coverage

On America’s Most Wanted television show Saturday night, there was approximately a five second mention of the disappearance of Destiny Norton. They displayed a photo with an announcer doing a voice over.

By all accounts, her story has been mostly a regional story with little, if any, national coverage. Since her pictures and story have been on the internet for over a week, will a short blurb on AMW help that much?

It is somewhat ironic with the vote on H.R. 4472, the ‘‘Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006’’ and the upcoming 25th anniversary of his death, you might have thought there would have been more coverage of her disappearance.

Tracking sex offenders

"Pedophiles use the Web to hunt our children. Now we will start using the Web to hunt down sexual predators," Sen. Orrin Hatch

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3 1/2 feet tall and weighs about 45 pounds

Destiny Norton

When is a poster created in the NCMEC database? I searched today for information on Destiny Norton and found none. What is the criteria? The only criteria I could find regarding the database is:

1) Case has been entered into the Federal Bureau of Investigation's National Crime Information Center (NCIC).

2) Waiver from parent, guardian, or law-enforcement agency is on file at NCMEC giving permission to disseminate photograph of missing child.

3) Posters containing photograph of abductor(s) are included only if a felony warrant has been issued for the abductor and the subject has been entered into the NCIC Wanted Person File.


An Amber Alert was issued Monday for a 5-year-old girl, Destiny Norton, last seen at her Salt Lake City house Sunday night.

"...She was last seen about 8:30 p.m. Sunday night after she reportedly had had an argument with her mother and went outside to "cool off," .

Her father noticed a suspicious man in the area. A check of court records by the Deseret Morning News found, however, that the man, a 51-year-old Bosnian national, was charged in 3rd District Court in 2002 with two counts of sexual abuse of a child, both 2nd degree felonies, and one count of sexual abuse of a minor, a class A misdemeanor. A jury acquitted the man on all charges in February 2003...."

But police worked separately from volunteers. They even asked the media to discourage volunteers from coming into the neighborhood.

Reporter: "Do you want help from the public in searching?"

Robin Snyder, Salt Lake City Police Dept.: "Not yet. We don't have an organized search effort yet, but if we do get one, we will definitely put out the word."

By 11:30 a.m. the Amber Alert was cancelled because the person they were looking for was found, said Salt Lake City police detective Robin Snyder, and the criteria for issuing an alert was no longer there. However, more than 50 city police officers along with agents from the FBI continued looking for Destiny.

By noon Monday, police were not accepting volunteers from the public to help search but said they might do that if the search area expanded. Family members, however, walked up and down the neighborhood passing out fliers with Destiny's picture.

Detailed article.

All statistics point to time being of the essence. Florida implemented the Child Abduction Response Team CART program began in early 2005 as a result of the tragic abduction of 11-year-old Carlie Brucia in Sarasota, Fla. in February 2004. It is designed to mobilize assistance quicker.

Lifetime Achievement?

Remember Richard W. Thompson, the sex offender who was too short to go to prison?

Nebraska State Statute 29-4002 declares that sex offenders present a high risk to commit repeat offenses and that efforts of law enforcement agencies to protect their communities, conduct investigations, and quickly apprehend sex offenders are impaired by the lack of available information about individuals who have pleaded guilty to or have been found guilty of sex offenses and who live in their jurisdiction. Because of that, the legislature determined that state policy should assist efforts of local law enforcement agencies to protect their communities by requiring sex offenders to register with local law enforcement agencies as provided by the Sex Offender Registration Act.

NEBRASKA SEX OFFENDER REGISTRY PUBLIC NOTIFICATION

2006 Child Abduction Murder Study

“…In late 1993, the Criminal Division of the Washington State Attorney General's Office undertook a 3-1/2 year research project, partially funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, to study the investigation of child abduction murder cases.

In this first research project, published in 1997, researchers reviewed more than 600 child abduction murder cases across the United States, then interviewed the investigating detectives. This data provided law enforcement valuable insight into what investigative techniques tend to be most productive….”

The follow up study involved an additional 175 solved cases.

Here are some of the interesting findings:

With more killers identified, researchers found threat that the killer will be a friend or acquaintance is nearly equal to that of a stranger.

The probability that the killer’s name will come up during the first week of the investigation has decreased.

The use of pornography by killers as a trigger to murder has increased.

To view a summary or entire study visit 2006 Child Abduction Murder Study

Accurate Reporting?

A quick search of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) will provide the following information for the period 07-01-06 thru 07-15-06.

Endangered missing 2
Endangered Runaway 10
Family abductions 0
Hague cases 0
Lost, Injured, missing 0
Missing 0
Non Family abductions 1
Unidentified 0
Unknown 0

There according to Department of Justice statistics, over 800,000 reported missing children every year. That would be @67,000 per month.

If the cases reported to NCMEC have been resolved, may be they should add a category. There is a major discrepancy between @67,000 per month historically reported missing and so far this month, 13 missing children, all between the ages of 14-18 years old?

Read related Blog Topic

Swiss Cheese and loopholes

A new law went into effect on July 1st in Tennessee. One of the law change advocates was Senator Diane Black. She felt there were to many loopholes to the previous law on the books.



When an authority figure, such as a teacher, is convicted of statutory rape when the victim is at least 13 years old, but less than 18, and the offender is at least four years older than the victim, he or she will receive a minimum three year jail sentence with a maximum of 15 years.

When, Pamela Rogers, a teacher from McMinnville, received only a six-month sentence for having sexual relations with one of her students.

Why do the laws vary so much by state? Is a teacher molesting a child in one state less of a crime then one in another state?

Read more in this article

View from the hill

According to NCMEC, in FY 2005 there were 7,000 reports of endangered runaways and 774 reports of children involved in or suspected of being involved in child prostitution.

Currently between Jan 1, 2005 and Dec 31,2005 there are 240 endangered runaways listed on the NCMEC site.

Were the other 6,760 endangered runaways found, de-listed, or move to some other category?

Congressional testimony

Statement of Chris Swecker, Acting Executive Assistant Director, Law Enforcement Services. Federal Bureau of Investigation Before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations April 6, 2006.

Mountain or molehill

We have all heard the saying about making mountains out of molehills. When you view the missing children statistics, they claim approximately 800k children are reported missing each year, while another 500k are missing that are never reported. In fact there are over 2,100 missing children per day!


A search of the NCMEC site for Missing children from 01-01-06 thru 07-05-06 revealed there were 514 missing children. If you view the period 06-01-06 thru 07-05-06 it revealed:

Total missing children 106

Endangered missing 0
Endangered Runaway 86
Family abductions 0
Hague cases 0
Lost, Injured, missing 4
Missing 14
Non Family abductions 2
Unidentified 0
Unknown 0

I realize they may not post those cases “resolved” regardless of the outcome, but it seems a far cry from 800k. Are they resolved before being sent to the NCMEC? Are they deleted once resolved. Or is it making a mountain out of a molehill as to the number of actual occurrences involving missing children? Depends on your view.

State of confusion?

There are approximately 116 Amber Alert Systems currently in place. Some are Statewide, some are Regional and yet others are local. The activation criteria can vary, including the age of the child. The plan may be run by the Public sector or in conjunction with a Private sector company. The following is a random look at a few plans. You can view your state at Amber Alert

In Indiana, The Allen County/Fort Wayne/New Haven AMBER Plan will be set in motion for all of Allen County by one of the cooperating police agencies.

1) The child is 14 years of age or younger, or 15 through 17 years given consideration to the conduct of the victim perhaps contributing to their disappearance, and;

2) The law enforcement agency believes the missing child has been abducted and is in danger of serious bodily harm or death, and;

3) The abductor and/or child are likely to still be in the Allen County broadcast area, and;

4) There is a likelihood someone who is provided with a description of the abductor, the child, or the vehicle involved may observe and report the whereabouts of this person(s) to the police, then

The Alabama AMBER plan will be set in motion for the state by one of the cooperating law enforcement agencies when a child abduction is reported and investigation reveals that:

1. A child has been abducted as defined by 13A-6-40 Alabama Criminal Code, AND;

2. The child is less than 18 years old, AND;

3. The child is at risk of serious bodily harm or death, AND;

4. There is enough descriptive information about the child, abductor, and/or suspect’s vehicle to believe an immediate broadcast alert will help investigators locate the child.

The Tuscaloosa AMBER plan will be set in motion for the Tuscaloosa area by one of the cooperating police agencies when a child abduction is reported and investigation reveals that:

1.A child has been abducted as defined by 13A-6-40 Alabama Criminal Code, AND;

2. The child is less than 16 years old, (16 or 17 year old children will be considered on a case by case basis, given weight to their physical and/or mental capacity, or their own criminal conduct contributing to the disappearance.), AND;

3. The child is at risk of serious bodily harm or death, AND;

4. There is enough descriptive information about the child, abductor, and/or suspect’s vehicle to believe an immediate broadcast alert will help investigators locate the child.

To activate the Florida AMBER alert the following five (5) criteria must be met.

1. The child must be under 18 years of age.

2. There must be a clear indication of an abduction.

3. The law enforcement agency's investigation must conclude that the child's life is in danger.

4. There must be a detailed description of child and/or abductor/vehicle to broadcast to the public (photo when available).

5. The activation must be recommended by the local law enforcement agency of jurisdiction.

In order for Georgia to activate, the following criteria must be met:

1. There must be a confirmed child abduction

2. The circumstances surrounding the abduction must indicate that the child is in imminent danger of harm or death

3. The child must be 18 years of age or younger

4. There must be enough descriptive information to believe that an immediate broadcast alert will help recover the child

5. Request for activation of alert must be made as soon as possible after abduction reported (within four hours of abduction ideal)

6. The case must be entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database

Is there any wonder why there is confusion as to when to activate an alert?