Real Crime/Paranormal/Conspiracy Theories Book III

Missing: Jaliek Rainwalker

Twelve-year-old Jaliek Rainwalkerwas last seen at a home belonging to his adoptive father's parents inthe 10 block of Hill Street in Greenwich, New York on November 1,2007. His adoptive father, Stephen Burrell Kerr, spent the nightalone in the house with him. Jaliek disappeared during the night andhas never been heard from again.

Kerr says he woke up the next morningand, at 7:30 a.m., found a note Jaliek left behind. It read: "Deareverybody, I'm sorry for everything. I won't be a bother anymore.Goodbye, Jaliek." Kerr reported his son missing at 8:57a.m. He is not believed to have been carrying any cash or creditcards when he went missing.

Jaliek had been living with hisadoptive parents, Kerr and his wife, Jocelyn A. McDonald for fiveyears by 2007. He was born addicted to crack cocaine and spent hisearly childhood in six different foster homes. His parents statedthat Jaliek had violent temper tantrums and his four siblings wereafraid of him. His former foster parents, Jodi and Larry Schoen (whocared for him for four years) confirmed this, stating that hisoutbursts could last up to an hour.

The Schoens described Jaliek as a veryintelligent, but very troubled child. The Schoens had originallyplanned to adopt him, but after he attacked their daughter when hewas seven years old, they decided that he could no longer stay intheir home and he went to live with Kerr and McDonald (who have threebiological sons and one adopted daughter). The children ranged in agefrom 8 to 14 years old at the time of Jaliek's disappearance.

Jaliek's adoptive family lead anon-traditional lifestyle at the time of his disappearance. Theirhome in rural Washington County, New York had no running water, thetoilets are outhouses, its only electricity comes from a generatorthat runs for several hours during the day and everyone slept in oneroom. The family stated they lived this way because it was better forthe environment. His family still owns the home, but in 2008, theymoved to West Rupert, Vermont.

Kerr and McDonald stated that Jaliekwas both suicidal and homicidal at the time of his disappearance, buthe was not taking any psychiatric drugs for his mental conditions andhe hadn't been receiving psychotherapy either. On October 23, 2007, alittle over a week prior to Jaliek's disappearance, Kerr called acrisis hotline and said that Jaliek was unmanageable and he hadthreatened a small child in his homeschool group. McDonald was afraidof Jaliek and no longer wanted him in her home, and his parentswanted to reverse the adoption.

The crisis worker said it was notpossible to reverse the adoption and suggested that respite care betried instead. Jaliek was sent to the home of Elaine and Tom Person,licensed foster parents who had provided respite care for him in thepast. They kept Jaliek until November 1st, then returned him to Kerr,who planned to send him to another respite home the next day; thatwas the day Jaliek was reported missing.

An extensive search of the area turnedup no indication of Jaliek's whereabouts. Within a few days policeannounced they thought he could have met with foul play since it isunlikely that a child of that age could survive on his own; however,the possibilities that Jaliek ran away or committed suicide have notbeen ruled out. McDonald took a polygraph in his case, but Kerrrefused to take one.

Both parents maintain their innocencein his case and stated they believed Jaliek simply ran away. Theysuggested he might be living with an African-American family or gangas he had always considered himself African-American rather thanbiracial and had wanted to live with other African-Americans.

The Persons said that the farewell noteJaliek supposedly left on the night he vanished was not a goodbyenote, but rather a letter he was assigned to write by his father forhomework. Kerr allegedly told his son to write a note apologizing tothe people he had harmed, and Tom saw him writing it, although hedidn't actually read it.

Elaine and Tom believe this was thenote found after Jaliek vanished. Elaine, several of Jaliek's formerfoster parents and his adoptive maternal grandparents have started awebsite publicizing Jaliek's disappearance. Elaine wrote she believedKerr harmed Jaliek on the day he went missing and caused hisdisappearance.

In January 2008, police named Kerr as aperson of interest in Jaliek's disappearance. They stated they hadvideo surveillance camera footage of Kerr driving his van aroundGreenwich after midnight on the night of his disappearance (at a timethat) Kerr says he was asleep.

Cell phone records also indicate Kerrtook a different route to the house than he had said. Investigatorsappealed for information on Kerr's whereabouts on November 1 andNovember 2nd. Later in January, an anonymous letter about the casewas sent to several local media outlets.

The letter read: "Jaliek stillalive. Needed a foot soldier for this war on drugs. Picked himup Rt 40 Post 30. He's ok. No fake. He says asks his Mama and Papa.Who are the macaronni [sic] family? My cat name diamond? Why doesFranti yell fire? Don't try to look we are not there."

Jaliek did own a cat named Diamond, butthe significance of the other statements are unclear. Authoritiesappealed to the letter writer to give more information, but theperson was never heard from again and was never identified. Policeconducted a search warrant on Kerr's father's home (where Jaliekstayed when he disappeared) in February 2008. Days later, Kerr andMcDonald filed a lawsuit against the police department, alleging thatthey had been illegally detained and that the search was improper.

Jaliek's adoptive maternal grandmother,Barbara Reeley has been active in the search for him and filed forcustody of him after his disappearance, but was denied. In July of2008, she was charged with burglarizing Kerr and McDonald's home.Reeley has pleaded not guilty. Shortly after the burglary, policewent to the home and removed a piece of clothing for testing. Theystated Reeley had seen the clothing while she was inside.

In a media interview, Reeley statedthat Kerr had anger management issues and had been going tocounseling for them, and that McDonald had made him move out of thefamily home for brief periods twice in 2007 because of his angrybehavior towards the children. Reeley said she witnessed an incidentwhere Kerr became angry with Jaliek, dragged him outside andrepeatedly dunked him in a nearby creek. She said McDonald made Kerrwrite a letter of apology to Jaliek for this and made him do thechild's chores for a month.

Jaliek may be in the New York cities ofAlbany or Altamont. Authorities stated they have little evidence asto his fate and no one has been charged in connection with his case,but foul play is suspected in his disappearance.

Description

Jaliek is biracial (ofAfrican-American\Caucasian descent), has brown hair & green eyes.He has a slight speech impediment which causes him to pronounce theletter "r" like a "w." His nicknameis Jay. At the time of his disappearance, his hair had blondhighlights and was styled in a two-inch afro.

He was last seen wearing a brightyellow fleece pullover, a gray t-shirt with the image of a dragon onthe front, blue jeans and black canvas high-top sneakers.

Jaliek suffers from severe emotionalproblems and has violent outbursts as a result. He was exposed toalcohol & cocaine in utero and has been diagnosed with reactiveattachment disorder which makes it hard for him to formrelationships.