Hassani Campbell (5) 8/10/09 Oakland, Cali.

OAKLAND — The FBI and police on Tuesday searched the Fremont home of a 5-year-old disabled boy who vanished from behind a Rockridge district shoe store Monday afternoon, and authorities took the boy's younger sister into protective custody Tuesday.

Louis Ross, the child's foster father, said he left the boy, Hassani Campbell, outside his newer-model BMW in the back parking lot of Shuz, a shoe store in the 6000 block of College Avenue, about 4:15 p.m. He was there to drop the boy's 1-year-old sister off with his fiance, Jennifer Campbell, the boy's aunt and foster mother, police said. Campbell manages the store.

When Ross returned, the boy was gone, police said. Authorities confiscated the BMW for evidence.

John Riker, owner of Shuz, called Campbell a "wonderful foster mother."

"I can tell when she talks about her kids, she's a very devoted mother," he said. "She's hysterical right now."

Some Rockridge residents and store employees said they have doubts about Ross' story.

"There are just too many questions," said Paullet Barnes, who works at a Rockridge art gallery. Barnes said the parking lot is too out of the way for a random kidnapper looking to snatch a child.

The boy has lived with Ross, 38, and Campbell, 30, in Fremont since December because his 25-year-old biological mother, who lives in San Francisco, has drug and health problems, authorities said. Police have not spoken to the boy's father, who

also lives in San Francisco.

FBI agents searched the couple's home in the 5900 block of Roxie Terrace and shooed away a reporter who knocked at the door. "We are working something (here)," an agent said.

Authorities said the couple, who reportedly are taking legal steps to adopt the boy, hired a lawyer Tuesday. The boy's 1-year-old sister was taken into protective custody Tuesday, authorities said.

Hassani, who will be a first-grader at Leitch Elementary School in Fremont, has cerebral palsy, wears braces on his legs and has trouble walking. Cerebral palsy is a neurological disorder that affects body movement and muscle coordination, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Police and police dogs canvassed the Rockridge area Monday night, and several dozen police — in cars, on bicycles and on foot — continued the search Tuesday. Investigators also interviewed registered sex offenders living in the area, a routine procedure when a child disappears.

Sherri Miller, who was distributing 1,000 fliers she printed at her San Leandro print shop Tuesday, said she does not think the boy could have gone far on foot. "If the boy did wander off, he would have had a hard

time, and (someone) would have seen him," she said. Miller said her mother has cerebral palsy.

Sean Fahey, who lives in an apartment in the same building as the Shuz store, said he saw Campbell sobbing after the boy went missing. "She was really scared," he said.

Sgt. Raymond Backman, a spokesman for the Oakland Police Department, said Ross and Campbell have been cooperative but could be brought in for additional questioning. Backman declined to comment on whether the couple had been given or had been asked to take a polygraph test.

The boy is described as a light-skinned African-American, with short black hair and brown eyes. He is 3 feet tall and weighs about 40 pounds. He was wearing a gray sweatshirt and gray sweatpants the last time he was seen. Anyone with information can call police at 510-238-3641.

HASSANI CAMPBELL
Case Type: Lost, Injured, Missing
DOB: Sep 24, 2003 Sex: Male
Missing Date: Aug 10, 2009 Race: Black
Age Now: 5 Height: 3'0" (91 cm)
Missing City: OAKLAND Weight: 40 lbs (18 kg)
Missing State : CA Hair Color: Brown
Missing Country: United States Eye Color: Brown

Circumstances: He was last seen on August 10, 2009 at approximately 4:15p.m. Hassani was last seen wearing a gray sweatshirt and gray pants. He wears braces on his legs

Oakland Police Department (California) 1-510-777-3333

HAYWARD -- The foster father of a missing 5-year-old boy was interviewed for about an hour Friday by Oakland police homicide investigators who brought him to a Hayward auto wrecking yard where he took the boy before the child vanished, authorities said.

Louis Ross agreed to accompany Sgt. Gus Galindo to the Pick Your Part wrecking yard on Winton Avenue, where Ross took Hasanni Campbell and the boy's 1-year-old sister Monday afternoon, hours before the boy disappeared, said John Burris, a lawyer Ross is consulting.

On Monday night, Ross reported the boy had vanished from outside a shoe store on College Avenue in Oakland where Ross' fiancee, Jennifer Campbell, was working. Ross said he had briefly left the boy outside while he went around to the front of the store.

Police have searched in and around the auto-parts yard and the store in recent days, along with a park near the family's home in Fremont. They say they still consider the case a missing person investigation.

Ross, 38, has said he is cooperating with officials "100 percent." He took a polygraph examination Wednesday, but federal authorities who administered the test will not discuss the findings.

Burris said police took Ross to the wrecking yard and spoke with him for about an hour Friday before returning him to his home on Roxie Terrace.

"They wanted to find out what he knows," Burris said. "He was very cooperative."

Ross told Burris that he had gone to the yard looking for a car part. He was taking care of the children before dropping them off at the shoe store so he could go to a job orientation at Stanford Hospital Medical Center and then a medical assistant's class in Union City, Burris said.

Alameda County sheriff's deputies will be searching Coyote Hills Regional Park in Fremont today and undisclosed locations in Hayward, authorities with knowledge of the case said. It is not clear why those areas were being targeted for more intensive searches.

Police have received only 50 tips about missing Fremont 5-year-old


There also is a lack of community support in the search for the missing boy with cerebral palsy. There were just a handful of people at a vigil this afternoon.

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingn...nclick_check=1

Reward offered in Missing boy case



http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/news/natio...818747_2776596

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - Oakland authorities are offering a reward for information they hope will help them find a missing 5-year-old boy.

Police and Crime Stoppers of Oakland announced a reward of up to $10,000 Monday for information leading to the whereabouts of 5-year-old Hasanni Campbell.

The boy has been missing since Aug. 10, when his foster father, Louis Ross, left him in a car parked outside a shoe store where his foster mother works.

Ross told authorities that he left the car to unlock the store door to give Hasanni, who wears braces on his legs, easier access. Hasanni was gone when he returned.

Oakland police say they have received fewer than 50 tips in the case.

The foster father of a missing 5-year-old boy with cerebral palsy sent an angry text message threatening to leave the child alone at a BART platform just 10 days before Hasanni Campbell vanished, according to court documents released today.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In addition, Louis Ross "voiced some misgivings" about caring for a disabled child when he talked to officers investigating the child's Aug. 10 disappearance, according to a statement that Oakland police submitted to justify obtaining a search warrant of Ross' Fremont home.

According to the police account, Ross sent an expletive-laden text message July 31 to Jennifer Campbell, his fiancee and the aunt and foster mother of Hasanni.

"This is f- over, I will watch her but he will be out on the BART and its your responsibility to hey (sic) him so f - you," Ross texted at 9:50 a.m., police said. The references appear to be to Hasanni and his 1-year-old sister.

Ross reported Aug. 10 that the boy had vanished from outside a shoe store on College Avenue in Oakland's Rockridge neighborhood where Campbell was working. Ross said he had briefly left the boy outside when he went around to the front of the store.

Police have searched the neighborhood, Ross' home, a Hayward scrap yard that he visited earlier in the day and local parks, but have not found the boy.

A neighbor in Fremont told police that Hasanni had not been seen for about two weeks before Ross reported him missing.

Oakland police Officer Ross Tisdell wrote in the court papers that the relationship between Ross, 38, and Campbell, 33, "appeared to have some instances of domestic violence."

Police said they had heard reports of a "sword being brandished by Ross at Campbell," but did not elaborate.

A "sword or cutting instrument" were among the items that police sought in a search of his 2002 BMW and the home on Roxie Terrace in Fremont where Ross lives with Campbell and the two children.

Nothing was seized from the home, but Ross voluntarily gave his cell phone to police, court records show.

In addition to the text message, police described an instance in which Ross apparently left the two children alone in the home "while he went to the bank to conduct a transaction."

"He had also voiced some misgivings about caring for a developmentally disabled child during the interview," Tisdell wrote.

Ross, reached by phone today, downplayed any domestic disputes with Campbell.

He said he had sent the text message in frustration at a time when he planned to break up with Campbell.

"It was me venting about a situation in our past that had come back up," he said. "I was ending the relationship at that point."

He said he had not left Hasanni alone at BART. He said he had wanted Campbell to pick up the children, but that she had been unable to do so. The dispute quickly cooled, Ross said.

As for the sword, Ross said he had told police about it and that officers had later returned and picked it up. He said he kept it under a mattress.

"It wasn't a big deal," he said.

Ross has said he is cooperating with officials "100 percent" and that he told the truth when he took a polygraph examination last week.

John Burris, an attorney who has consulted with the couple, emphasized today that Ross has always cooperated with the investigation.

"He's very responsive," Burris said.

The case has been puzzling to authorities in part because bloodhounds could not detect Hasanni's scent outside the Rockridge shoe store where Ross says he left the boy.

In the search warrant affidavit, police said it was a mystery that Hasanni could disappear from "a crowded business district with no witnesses."

There is a $10,000 reward for information leading to the boy's whereabouts. Officer Jeff Thomason, an Oakland police spokesman, said the department still considers the case a missing person investigation. However, a homicide investigator has been put in charge of the case.

E-mail the writers at hlee@sfchronicle.com and jvanderbeken@sfchronicle.com.



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/08/20/BA9419BA1A.DTL#ixzz0OlHm3AJJ

The father of five-year-old Hassani Campbell, the boy who went missing from a parking lot in Oakland’s Rockridge district last week, failed a FBI lie detector test. KTVU has word that "[l]aw enforcement sources have confirmed...that [Louis] Ross failed a polygraph test given by the FBI last week," even though he told KTVU, during an interview, that he answered all questions honestly. KTVU goes on to say that police have searched Campbell's Fremont home, looking for "biological evidence belonging to Hasanni, and a sword or cutting instrument." Evidence also suggests that it's "unlikely Hasanni wandered off." Anyway, people with information on the case are urged to call the Oakland Police Department or Crime Stoppers at 510-777-8572 or 510-777-3211

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Court documents are providing new insights into the investigation of a missing Fremont boy.
Hasanni Campbell disappeared Aug. 10th after his foster father, Louis Ross, says he left him in a car near an Oakland shoe store.
In a search warrant affidavit released Thursday, investigators said they were mystified that Hasanni could disappear from "a crowded business district with no witnesses."
Also, bloodhounds were unable to detect Hasanni's scent outside the store where Ross says he left the boy.
The affidavit was part of a statement that Oakland police submitted to obtain a warrant to search the family home.
Oakland police spokesman Jeff Thomason says Hasanni's disappearance is still a missing person investigation, but says a homicide investigator is in charge of the case.

OAKLAND — Louis Ross says he's failed his foster son in the past few days because he has been focused on defending himself rather than searching for the missing 5-year-old.
"I failed Hasanni the last couple of days," said Ross, 38, in a telephone interview Thursday. "Every single day I am having to defend myself, but that is wrong. By defending myself, I am making it about me. "... Think about it. "... It's not about Hasanni anymore."
The most recent example, Ross said, came Thursday when an angry text message he sent to his fiancee and Hasanni's aunt, Jennifer Campbell, was exposed. The text message, sent the morning of July 31, 10 days before Hasanni was reported missing, was sent after a fight between the two, he said.

The text message read: "This is (expletive) over, I will watch her (the boy's 1-year-old sister) but he (Hasanni) will be out on the BART and its your responsibility to hey (sic) him so (expletive) you," sources confirmed Thursday.
Ross said the message was not meant to imply that he planned to leave the boy, who has cerebral palsy, alone at BART but rather that he wanted to meet Campbell at a Union City BART station to give her the boy.

Ross said he sent the angry text message because the two had an argument, and he was going to end the relationship.
He said he eventually calmed down, apologized and decided not to break off the relationship. "I should not have let the situation escalate," he said.
Campbell, 30, is six months pregnant with the couple's first biological child.

Ross also has been on the defensive after information about items seized from his home and car came to light on Wednesday through search warrant documents. A warrant issued Aug. 11, the day after Hasanni was reported missing, shows that police were looking for a "sword or cutting instrument" and biological evidence, such as hair, blood or skin cells, at the couple's Fremont home.
Ross said police took his small decorative sword that he kept under his bed for protection, at least one of Campbell's poems, a camera and his cell phone.
From his 2002 BMW, the FBI took swabs, the rear seat of the vehicle, carpet from the car, two car seats, molding and latches, according to a receipt of property from the FBI. An Alameda County Superior Court document also shows that four fingerprint lifts, eight DNA swabs and one pair of latex gloves were taken from the car.
Ross said that over the past year, he got to know Hasanni, who loved music, books and SpongeBob SquarePants. "His interest was books and people reading to him "... and even his little sister was picking up that habit from him,'" Ross said.
Hasanni also seemed to enjoy music and had a small guitar that he played, Ross said, adding that he was thinking about buying the boy a piano and had taken him to a violin teacher. Ross said that Hasanni had done "OK" in school and that the couple wanted him to understand that his cerebral palsy should not be a deterrent to success.
In fact, Ross, who is unemployed, said Hasanni "put the fire under me to be a neurologist."
"Medicine was my ultimate goal," he said, adding that he was heading to an orientation at Stanford Medical Center the day the boy went missing.
Authorities said Wednesday that Ross failed a polygraph test given by the FBI a few days after the boy was reported missing. Campbell did not take the test because she told authorities she was worried the test could harm her unborn baby.
Meanwhile, Oakland police said Thursday they had no new leads and had received no new viable tips about the missing boy. About 50 tips have come in to police to date. Police have become increasingly concerned because the longer a child is missing, the slimmer the chances are for a positive outcome, Oakland police spokesman Officer Jeff Thomason said.
He said the department still considers the disappearance a missing-persons case. A homicide detective was assigned to the case last week because that detective is experienced in dealing with such cases, police said. Police have not said they have any suspects in the case.
Ross said he hopes the focus can be taken off him and put back on finding Hasanni. "My priority is finding my son," he said.
The boy is described as light-skinned African-American, 3 feet tall, weighing 40 pounds. He last was seen wearing a gray sweatshirt and gray pants. He has cerebral palsy and wears braces on his feet. There is a $10,000 reward for information leading to his whereabouts.
Investigators ask anyone with information on Hasanni to call Crime Stoppers at 510-777-8572 or 510-777-3211. If those numbers are not working, call investigator Sgt. Gus Galindo at 510-238-7934.

On Monday, 5-year-old Hassani Campbell disappeared from an unlocked car belonging to his aunt’s boyfriend.

Hassani was last seen with his aunt, Jennifer Campbell’s fiancé, Louis Ross, 38, who is the boy's caretaker. Ross said he left Hassani sitting in his unlocked BMW, parked outside a shoe store, Shuz of Rockridge, where the boy’s aunt works. The couple aslo care for Hassani’s 1-year-old sister.

Ross told police he went to unlock the shoe store to allow Hassani to enter the store more easily. He said the boy was gone when he returned to the car.

On Wednesday, police, the FBI and search and rescue dogs searched the Oakland shoe store and Hassani’s Roxie Terrace home in Fremont, Calif., where they collected bags of evidence.

The boy’s godmother told the media she knew of no problems in the family and does not believe Hassani’s foster parents—his aunt and her fiancé—had anything to do with his disappearance.

Hassani’s sister has been taken into the custody of Child Protective Services while the investigation is underway.

Hassani suffers from cerebral palsy and wears braces; therefore, authorities believe he could not have walked away from the vehicle on his own.

Hassani is African American with brown hair and brown eyes and was wearing a gray sweatshirt and gray pants when he was last seen. His leg braces are decorated with a Spiderman design.

Couple Discusses Troubling Investigation Details."

http://www.ktvu.com/news/20486996/detail.html

"The foster parents of Hassani Campbell discussed Thursday some of the disturbing details that have surfaced into the five year olds disappearance, while calling for a renewed focus on the search for the little boy."

Police Dogs Find No Sign of Missing 5-Year-Old Disabled Boy Outside Store
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,541344,00.html


Fundraiser for missing 5-year-old
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?sec...bay&id=6977402

Missing Fremont boy known for dancing and asking questions, mother says



http://www.insidebayarea.com/news/ci_13189893

Five-year-old Hasanni Campbell, the 40-pound Fremont boy reported missing by his foster father two weeks ago, is known to most adults who meet him for his playful laugh and chatty company, his mother said Sunday.

"He's very talkative," Shemika Campbell said near her home in San Francisco. "He asks a lot of questions to everybody, just always so curious."

"He likes SpongeBob and all kinds of cartoons," she added. "And he loves to dance. Not even to just one kind of music. He loves it all."

Campbell said she has not recently spoken with her sister, Jennifer Campbell, who has been Hasanni's foster mother since December and lives in Fremont with Louis Ross, her fiance who reported Hasanni missing in the Rockridge District on Aug. 10.

Hasanni's 1-year-old sister also lived with the couple but was taken into protective custody after Ross reported Hasanni missing.

"I think we should really pray, and I just want to thank everybody for helping me in this search for my child," Shemika Campbell said.

The Search for Hasanni
http://www.kron4.com/News/SpecialCoverage/TheSearchforHasanni/tabid/506/Default.aspx
The foster father of a missing 5-year-old with cerebral palsy is defending himself, saying the focus of the investigation should not be on him, but on his missing boy. Hasanni Campbell disappeared August 10th after the foster father, Louis…


Clock is Ticking for Missing Disabled Boy Hasanni Campbell
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/08/18/crimesider/entry5250324.shtml
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…

Editorial: Keep up the investigation until Fremont boy is…
http://www.insidebayarea.com/livermore/ci_13177839
DISTURBING NEW information has come to light in the disappearance of 5-year-old Hasanni Campbell. Most shocking is an expletive-filled text message sent by the child's foster father, Louis Ross, just 10 days before Ross reported Hasanni…

Foster Father: Hasanni Not Just a Paycheck
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32511408/
Loius Ross says he wants to set the record straight about questions surrounding his actions in the case of his missing son, Hassani Campbell. Police have served multiple search warrants as part of the investigation into the disappearance of…


Concern Growns Over Missing Fremont Boy
http://cbs5.com/crime/fremont.missing.boy.2.1135832.html
Oakland police spokesman Jeff Thomason said Wednesday that police are "very concerned" about a 5-year-old boy with cerebral palsy who has now been missing for nine days. Hassani Campbell, who lives in Fremont with his foster parents, Louis…

Foster Father Pleads for Return of Boy, 5, With Cerebral Palsy
http://www.afro.com/tabId/551/itemId/4441/Foster-Father-Pleads-for-Return-of-Boy-5-With-Ce.aspx
5-year-old Oakland boy Hassani Campbell has been missing since Monday. (Courtesy Photo) (August 16, 2009) - The search continued this weekend for a five-year-old Oakland boy with cerebral palsy who has been missing since Monday. Hassani…


Missing Fremont boy known for dancing and asking questions,…
http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_13189893?nclick_check=1
OAKLAND — Five-year-old Hasanni Campbell, the 40-pound Fremont boy reported missing by his foster father two weeks ago now, is known to most adults who meet him for his playful laugh and chatty company, his mother said Sunday. "He's very…

Report: Boy's Foster Father Sent Text Threat
http://cbs5.com/crime/fremont.missing.boy.2.1137432.html
The foster father of a missing 5-year-old with cerebral palsy reportedly sent an expletive-laden text threatening to leave the child alone on a BART platform just 10 days before the boy disappeared. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that…

One Woman's Crusade to Find HasanniPosted by Peas In Their Pods on August 26, 2009 at 7:39am




NBCBayArea.com A San Leandro business owner is taking matters into her own hands in the attempt to find Hasanni Campbell, the 5-year-old Fremont boy who disappeared more than two weeks ago.

And while she won't say it, she is one of the very few is not only people who are still actively keeping this missing child's case alive.

Sherri Miller, owner of the All in One Stop, made t-shirts with Hasanni's face on them and handed them out to the boy's family members. Miller doesn't have any children of her own, but came into the world of missing children when she donated two dozen t-shirts from her shop to help Tracy police find Sandra Cantu earlier this year.

Oakland police have stopped giving interviews regarding the Hasanni disappearance, other than to say that they have no more searches planned and have followed up on the very few tips they've received.

Even Hasanni's foster father refused to talk to reporters over the weekend as he attended a car wash that was raising money to help find the little boy.

But there is Miller. Picking up her phone and talking to anyone who will listen. She also does her fair share of calling. Miller says she hopes businesses will step up and donate money to help increase the $10,000 reward. Miller says she wants to raise another $5,000.

"I'm just a one person business. We need business to step up," Miller said Tuesday.

Miller has printed about 2,000 missing-persons fliers at her shop. She's also helped get together a Web site dedicated to the child that she says will be on line by Wednesday morning. The url will be www.findhassani.com.

When asked why she's putting out all the effort, she quickly brings the conversation back to Hasanni.

She said even if people suspect the parents had something to do with his disappearance, "There's still a five year old child who needs to be found."

Hasanni was reported missing from the parking lot of the Shuz of Rockridge shoe store in the 6000 block of College Avenue in Oakland at about 4:15 p.m. on Aug. 10.

Hasanni's aunt and foster mother, Jennifer Campbell, works at the store. Hasanni's foster father, Louis Ross, was the last person to see Hasanni alive, according to authorities.

This one woman crusade is making headway. Miller said Highline Custom Jewelry in Hayward has donated a watch worth $1,900 and Tone's Auto Detail in Oakland raised $650 at a car wash on Saturday..

If you want to help Miller and donate, call her at 510-276-9090.

People who have information about the case can call Crime Stoppers at 510-777-8572 or 510-777-3211.

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local-beat/One-Womans-Crusade-to-Find-Hasanni-54861897.html

On Friday, the foster parents of missing 5-year-old Hassani Campbell have been arrested on suspicion of murder.

Louis Ross, 38, the foster father of Hassani, and Jennifer Campbell, 33, the boy’s aunt were taken into custody by authorities, according to CBS 5.

Earlier this month, Ross spoke to HLN's Nancy Grace and gave her his version of what occurred on Aug. 10, the day the little boy disappeared. He claimed to have left Hassani standing outside his BMW for two to five minutes, as he went to open the front door of the shoe store where the boy’s aunt works. This was to ask her to open the back door so Hassani, who suffers from cerebral palsy, could enter with ease.

Ross explained, "By the time I got there [to the car], Jennifer is already out of the store, walking toward me, asking, 'Where is Hasanni?' And I say, 'What do you mean, where is Hasanni?' And I look around to the side, and he is no longer there."

To see Ross’ interview with Grace, click here.

Last week, court documents revealed that Ross had sent angry text messages regarding the boy to Jennifer Campbell, threatening to leave Hassani at the train station. Authorities also revealed Ross had failed a polygraph test on Aug. 13.

Authorities would not elaborate further on the arrests.

http://www.startribune.com/nation/55919297.html

Foster parents of missing disabled boy arrested in California on suspicion of murder
By TERRY COLLINS , Associated Press


AP NewsAlert
OAKLAND, Calif. - The foster parents of a missing 5-year-old disabled boy have been arrested on suspicion of murder, police said Friday.

Louis Ross and Jennifer Campbell were being questioned by investigators in the case of Hassani Campbell, who has cerebral palsy, Oakland police spokesman Jeff Thomason said.

The couple were arrested separately within an hour of each other, Thomason added. He said police have not recovered the boy's body.

"This is not a missing persons case anymore. This is a homicide investigation," Thomason said late Friday outside police headquarters in downtown Oakland. "We are talking to the people responsible. We do believe Hasanni Campbell is dead."

Thomason would not say what led to the couple's arrests or what had led police to conclude that the boy was dead.

A team of investigators searched the couple's Bay Area home again Friday for clues in Fremont, Calif.

Thomason said it's an ongoing investigation discuss further what led to the arrest after the boy disappeared on Aug. 10. Ross, the last known person to see Hasanni, said the boy disappeared after he briefly left the boy outside his car in the rear parking lot of an upscale Oakland neighborhood shoe store where his fiancee, Campbell, works.

Ross said he went to the store's front entrance to ask Campbell to open the back door, but when he returned to the parking lot, Hasanni was gone.

Hasanni is black, 3 feet tall, weighs 30 pounds and was last seen wearing a gray sweat shirt and gray pants. He also wears arches on his legs to help him walk.

After the boy's disappearance, his foster parents made tearful public pleas for his safe return that included vigils outside the shoe store and dozens of volunteers handing out fliers with Hasanni's face and holding a car wash to add to a $10,000 reward.

There's even a Web site — findhasanni.com — where his foster family tries to explain their role.

"We understand that there is a lot of speculation out there due to misconceptions about our family and the environment Hasanni was living in but to us he is a son, a brother, a family member and so much more and not just a foster child," a message from the site reads.

But, with police receiving a lack of strong tips and bloodhounds unable to detect the scent of where Hasanni allegedly disappeared, many wondered if his family had anything to do with it. Both Ross and police had said his family was cooperating with authorities, although Ross felt police believed he and Campbell, who is six months pregnant, did something wrong.

They both have denied any involvement with his disappearance.

During a second vigil for Hasanni outside the shoe store on Monday, the soft-spoken Ross told The Associated Press that "in the court of public opinion I've been charged, tried and convicted," regarding the boy's disappearance.

According to the affidavit, 10 days before the boy vanished, police said they were mystified about how Hasanni could have vanished from a crowded business district with no witnesses.

Police searched the area around the shoe store and the Ross home and neighborhood, as well as a scrap yard in nearby Hayward.

The document also said Ross sent an expletive-filled text message to Campbell, threatening to leave the boy alone on a train station platform. Ross said he would look after the boy's 1-year-old sister, but not the boy.

"I will watch her but he will be out on the (station) and its your responsibility," said the July 31 text message quoted by police.

In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle earlier this month, Ross said he sent the text message in frustration at a time when he planned to break up with Campbell.

Nothing was taken from Ross' home, and he voluntarily offered his cell phone to police, court records show.

Ross later told a television station that he failed a lie detector test but had cooperated with police "100 percent."

Prominent San Francisco Bay-area civil rights attorney John Burris, who has been advising the couple shortly after Hasanni's disappearance, said Friday that he was surprised by the couple's arrest.

"I'm not aware of any hard physical evidence that ties either one into a missing child," said Burris, adding that authorities have 72 hours to file charges.

Sherri-Lyn Miller, a volunteer whose company has created T-shirts and fliers during the search for Hasanni, said Friday she, too is "stunned" by the couple's arrests.

She said if Ross and Campbell, who met online two years ago, know where Hasanni is, to say something.

"I feel that we need to look for Hasanni even harder for him now," Miller said. "I'm not going to stop looking for him.

"We need to find Hasanni."

Continued: Foster parents of missing disabled boy arrested in California on suspicion of murder

AP NewsAlert
OAKLAND, Calif. - The foster parents of a missing 5-year-old disabled boy have been arrested on suspicion of murder, police said Friday.

Louis Ross and Jennifer Campbell were being questioned by investigators in the case of Hassani Campbell, who has cerebral palsy, Oakland police spokesman Jeff Thomason said.

The couple were arrested separately within an hour of each other, Thomason added. He said police have not recovered the boy's body.

"This is not a missing persons case anymore. This is a homicide investigation," Thomason said late Friday outside police headquarters in downtown Oakland. "We are talking to the people responsible. We do believe Hasanni Campbell is dead."

Thomason would not say what led to the couple's arrests or what had led police to conclude that the boy was dead.

A team of investigators searched the couple's Bay Area home again Friday for clues in Fremont, Calif.

Thomason said it's an ongoing investigation discuss further what led to the arrest after the boy disappeared on Aug. 10. Ross, the last known person to see Hasanni, said the boy disappeared after he briefly left the boy outside his car in the rear parking lot of an upscale Oakland neighborhood shoe store where his fiancee, Campbell, works.

Ross said he went to the store's front entrance to ask Campbell to open the back door, but when he returned to the parking lot, Hasanni was gone.

Hasanni is black, 3 feet tall, weighs 30 pounds and was last seen wearing a gray sweat shirt and gray pants. He also wears arches on his legs to help him walk.

After the boy's disappearance, his foster parents made tearful public pleas for his safe return that included vigils outside the shoe store and dozens of volunteers handing out fliers with Hasanni's face and holding a car wash to add to a $10,000 reward.

There's even a Web site — findhasanni.com — where his foster family tries to explain their role.

"We understand that there is a lot of speculation out there due to misconceptions about our family and the environment Hasanni was living in but to us he is a son, a brother, a family member and so much more and not just a foster child," a message from the site reads.

But, with police receiving a lack of strong tips and bloodhounds unable to detect the scent of where Hasanni allegedly disappeared, many wondered if his family had anything to do with it. Both Ross and police had said his family was cooperating with authorities, although Ross felt police believed he and Campbell, who is six months pregnant, did something wrong.

They both have denied any involvement with his disappearance.

During a second vigil for Hasanni outside the shoe store on Monday, the soft-spoken Ross told The Associated Press that "in the court of public opinion I've been charged, tried and convicted," regarding the boy's disappearance.

According to the affidavit, 10 days before the boy vanished, police said they were mystified about how Hasanni could have vanished from a crowded business district with no witnesses.

Police searched the area around the shoe store and the Ross home and neighborhood, as well as a scrap yard in nearby Hayward.

The document also said Ross sent an expletive-filled text message to Campbell, threatening to leave the boy alone on a train station platform. Ross said he would look after the boy's 1-year-old sister, but not the boy.

"I will watch her but he will be out on the (station) and its your responsibility," said the July 31 text message quoted by police.

In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle earlier this month, Ross said he sent the text message in frustration at a time when he planned to break up with Campbell.

Nothing was taken from Ross' home, and he voluntarily offered his cell phone to police, court records show.

Ross later told a television station that he failed a lie detector test but had cooperated with police "100 percent."

Prominent San Francisco Bay-area civil rights attorney John Burris, who has been advising the couple shortly after Hasanni's disappearance, said Friday that he was surprised by the couple's arrest.

"I'm not aware of any hard physical evidence that ties either one into a missing child," said Burris, adding that authorities have 72 hours to file charges.

Sherri-Lyn Miller, a volunteer whose company has created T-shirts and fliers during the search for Hasanni, said Friday she, too is "stunned" by the couple's arrests.

She said if Ross and Campbell, who met online two years ago, know where Hasanni is, to say something.

"I feel that we need to look for Hasanni even harder for him now," Miller said. "I'm not going to stop looking for him.

"We need to find Hasanni."

News Updates:
Hassani Campbell’s Foster Mother Will Not Face Charges
Bay City News
Friday August 28, 2009


An attorney who has consulted with the foster parents of 5-year-old Hasanni Campbell, who was reported missing three weeks ago and is now believed to have been murdered, said today that he’s “glad” that no charges are being filed against the foster mother.

Oakland attorney John Burris said he’s not surprised that the Alameda County District Attorney’s office isn’t filing any charges against 30-year-old Jennifer Campbell, the boy’s foster mother and aunt, because he believes “there was no factual basis for her to be arrested.”

Burris said being arrested was traumatic for Campbell, who is six months pregnant, and caused her “a great deal of emotional harm.”

Campbell, who is the sister of Hasanni’s mother, was arrested about 1:50 p.m. Friday at the Union City BART station. She had tentatively been scheduled to be arraigned at 2 p.m. today in Alameda County Superior Court.

But Assistant District Attorney Tom Rogers said Campbell will be released from custody later today because there’s insufficient evidence at this time to charge her as an accessory in the murder of Hasanni, whose body hasn’t been found. However, the investigation into the boy’s disappearance is continuing, Rogers said.

The boy, who has cerebral palsy, was reported missing from the parking lot of the Shuz of Rockridge shoe store in the 6000 block of College Avenue in Oakland at about 4:15 p.m. on Aug. 10.

Rogers said he’s still reviewing police reports to see if there’s enough evidence to file murder charges against the boy’s foster father, 38-year-old Louis Ross.

If charges are filed, Ross will likely be arraigned in Alameda County Superior Court at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Rogers said.

Ross was arrested at about 2:45 p.m. Friday at the home at 5997 Roxie Terrace in Fremont where he and Campbell lived with Hasanni and another child.

Oakland police spokesman Jeff Thomason said Friday that police are no longer considering the case to be a missing-persons case and instead are investigating it as a homicide.

Thomason couldn’t immediately be reached for comment today.

Burris said he thinks that that the Oakland Police Department arrested Campbell as “a tactic to intimidate her to talk” and disclose incriminating evidence against Ross.

He said, “She hadn’t done anything wrong but the police didn’t accept that.”

Burris said he was in the process of finding a lawyer to represent Campbell in case she appeared in court, but that he won’t have to do so now that she is being released.

However, he said he has found a lawyer to represent Ross in the event charges are filed against him. Support The Planet:
Give to The Fund for Local Reporting

Hasanni Campbell s foster mother released from jail

By Sean Maher and Kristin Bender
Oakland Tribune\
Posted: 08/31/2009 07:14:47 AM PDT
Updated: 08/31/2009 05:07:51 PM PDT

OAKLAND — The foster mother of Hasanni Campbell, the 5-year-old disabled Fremont boy who police now consider a homicide victim, was not charged with a crime today and was released from jail, prosecutors said.

Jennifer Campbell, who is six months pregnant, and her fiance, Louis Ross, were arrested Friday in what investigators are calling a homicide case.

Alameda County Assistant District Attorney Tom Rogers said no charges will be filed against Campbell, 30, who was released from Santa Rita Jail in Dublin late this afternoon.

"There is insufficient evidence at this time, and the investigation is continuing," Rogers said.

Campbell has refused to talk to police about the case after the arrest, investigators said.

Prosecutors will decide Tuesday if Ross, 38, will be charged with a crime, possibly homicide. If he is charged, he will be arraigned in court Tuesday.

The couple claims Hasanni disappeared from the rear parking lot of Shuz of Rockridge, a shoe store where Campbell works. Ross said he left the boy there briefly to go to the front of the store on College Avenue to alert Campbell that he had arrived with the boy's 1-year-old sister.

The couple was in the process of adopting the children. Campbell is Hasanni's biological aunt.

Oakland attorney John Burris, who has advised the couple since the Aug. 10 disappearance, said Oakland police arrested Campbell as "a tactic to intimidate her to talk" and disclose incriminating evidence against Ross.

"She hadn't done anything wrong, but the police didn't accept that," he said.

Burris said he has found a lawyer to represent Ross if charges are filed against him.

Police arrested the couple because investigations have "shown Hasanni Campbell was never in the rear of the Rockridge shoe store as reported by Louis Ross," Sgt. Gus Galindo said Friday. The last confirmed sighting of the boy was at a Fremont Wal-Mart on Aug. 6, four days before Ross reported him missing.

Ernie Allen, president and CEO of the Virginia-based National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which has included Hasanni in its online database of missing children, expressed disappointment at the latest developments in the case.

"The response of the city of Oakland and the surrounding area was extraordinary, and our greatest concern in these cases ... is that the next time a child disappears, people will stay home or will fail to get involved because they'll assume that a family member, that a foster parent is involved," Allen said. "It's important that the people of Oakland understand how grateful we are for the way they responded, for the way they cared about Hasanni.

"We are as disappointed as anybody that we've not found Hasanni, ... but our hope is that this does not deter people from wanting to help in the future."

There is a $10,000 reward for information leading to Hasanni's whereabouts. Anyone with information may call Crime Stoppers at 510-777-8572 or 510-777-3211. If those numbers are not working, call Oakland police Sgt. Gus Galindo at 510-238-7934.

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingn...nclick_check=1

Jennifer Campbell says she's innocent

DUBLIN, CA (KGO) -- Hasanni Campbell was reported missing by his foster father three weeks ago. Police are now calling it a homicide investigation. His foster mother was released from jail on Monday and will not face charges in Hasanni's disappearance, but foster dad Louis Ross remains in custody.

Video @ Link

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?sec...bay&id=6991584

Murder case to be built even though boy missing

Sunday, August 30, 2009

When a Fremont man and his fiancee are called to court this week in connection with the apparent slaying of their disabled 5-year-old foster son, prosecutors will be moving forward even though his body hasn't been found.

Louis Ross, 38, and his fiancee, Jennifer Campbell, 33, who have not been charged in the case, are the latest in a string of East Bay homicide suspects against whom police have built a case without a body.

Ross is being held without bail at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin on suspicion of murdering Hasanni Campbell, while Jennifer Campbell is being held in lieu of $15,000 bail on suspicion of being an accessory in the case.

Hasanni, who has cerebral palsy, was reported missing Aug. 10 after Ross said he vanished at a Rockridge neighborhood shoe store in Oakland where Campbell, the boy's aunt, worked.

Circumstantial evidence helped convict Hans Reiser of first-degree murder in the 2006 slaying of his estranged wife, Nina, in the Oakland hills. His sentence was later reduced for leading police to her body.

Eric Mora, 53, was charged with murdering Cynthia Alonzo, 48, who failed to show up at a Thanksgiving dinner with her family in San Francisco in 2004. He remains in jail.

Hasanni's case presents its own unique challenges.

Adult victims who go missing presumably leave a trail. Prosecutors often tell juries that the evidence points to death when an adult fails to show up to work, visits friends, or use a credit card.

In Hasanni's case, prosecutors plan to prove the boy was murdered in part because no one has seen him since he disappeared Aug. 10, and Ross allegedly sent an expletive-laden text message to Campbell threatening to leave the boy alone on a BART platform.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...BANQ19FT4B.DTL

Last image of Hassani?

Hasanni's foster mom says couple are innocent
Kevin Fagan,Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writers





Louis Ross, foster father of missing 5-year-old Hasanni Campbell, holds a photograph of Hasanni while addressing the media during a vigil in back of the store where he was supposedly last seen, Shuz of Rockridge, in Oakland on Monday, Aug. 17, 2009.


(08-31) 19:11 PDT OAKLAND -- Hours after being freed from jail, the foster mother of 5-year-old Hasanni Campbell said tearfully Monday that she had nothing to do with the boy's disappearance and was confident her fiancee was also innocent.


Jennifer Campbell, 33, standing near a collection of photos and Hasanni's favorite toys at a vigil Monday evening in Oakland's Rockridge neighborhood, said she and Louis Ross "are both accused of a crime we didn't do."



"He's our little boy," said Campbell, who is also Hasanni's aunt. "We want him home."


Campbell was arrested Friday on suspicion of being an accessory after the fact to what Oakland police believe was the boy's murder. But Alameda County prosecutors let her go Monday, saying they had no evidence to make a case.



Ross, 38, Hasanni's foster father, is still being held without bail on suspicion of murder. Prosecutors said they would decide Tuesday whether to file charges against him.



Ross reported Hasanni missing Aug. 10. He said the boy, who has cerebral palsy, had vanished from outside a back entrance to the Shuz shoe store on College Avenue in Rockridge, where Campbell works.


Campbell was arrested Friday at the Union City BART station after she had been interviewed in Oakland by police investigators. She described her reaction as one of "utter shock."


Campbell was held over the weekend, during which, she said, police tried to raise doubts in her mind about Ross. The Fremont couple are expecting a child in about two months.


She said she had no such doubts. "I told them that they were lying to me," Campbell said.


"Anybody who knows me knows what I'm capable of," Campbell said.


Hurting the boy, she added, is "not in my character."


"You live your life to be a good person," Campbell said, "and all that disappears, and you're interrogated and treated like s-."


Although police have reclassified the case from a missing person investigation to a homicide probe, Campbell said she believes Hasanni is "alive and out there."


"There are no leads. Nothing," she said. "He's yet to be found. Find him."


John Burris, an attorney who has been consulting with the couple, said of Campbell, "I'm not surprised that the D.A. chose not to file charges. There was never evidence connecting her to a crime.


"At best, it was just her association with Louis, but that was not in any way reflective of criminal behavior or knowledge on her part," Burris said.


"I totally thought it was a wrong-headed approach by the police department."


As for Ross, Burris said police probably arrested him simply because they didn't believe his story that Hasanni had been outside the shoe store.


"From there, they inferred that if he's lying about that, then he must know something about it," Burris said. "But there's no real evidence. There's no independent evidence of any kind, no corroborative evidence and no admissions by him. In that sense, it's pretty weak."


Investigators have said they were suspicious of Ross because scent-detecting dogs didn't register a hit on Hasanni outside the shoe store.


Police also said they had no witnesses who reported seeing the boy in Oakland that day and were getting few tips from the public, which they said was unusual for a high-profile missing person case.


In addition, they have cited an angry text message Ross sent to Campbell 10 days before he said Hasanni disappeared, in which he threatened to abandon the boy on BART.


Ross said he had sent the message in a fit of anger at Campbell and that he wouldn't have left Hasanni.


A police spokesman, Officer Jeff Thomason, issued a statement Monday saying, "This is a very complex investigation, and if the Oakland Police Department talks about the details surrounding the case it may jeopardize the integrity of the investigation."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...ed=rss.bayarea