Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 14, 1992 TAG: 9203140285
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: RON BROWN, SANDRA BROWN KELLY, and STEPHEN FOSTER STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Nearly 24 hours after her 5-year-old son disappeared, she continued to hope.
"Scottie knows the phone number," she said, seeking reassurance. "He's never wandered off like this or nothing."
Thursday afternoon, Scottie Wimmer vanished after leaving Virginia Heights Elementary School.
On Friday, his disappearance touched Roanoke. Throughout the day, police, firefighters, teachers, school security officers, relatives, friends and even strangers searched Scottie's neighborhood in hopes of finding him.
They didn't succeed.
His mother is convinced that he wants to come home.
"I don't know where to look," she said, breaking into tears. "I'm tired of sitting by the phone. If he heard my voice, I know he'd come.
"All I want is for him to return home safely. He is very much missed."
Witnesses are telling police differing stories on whether he boarded a school bus bound for home. Some children said he was dropped off at Wasena Avenue and Maiden Lane, near the Ghent Grace Brethren Church. Others said he was never on the bus.
The regular bus driver was not on duty Thursday, and the substitute driver was unable to remember if Scottie was on the bus, police said.
A child matching Scottie's description was seen playing at a wall near the bus stop shortly after the school bus unloaded its passengers. Police say they aren't sure that youngster was Scottie.
But his mother is sure that she sent his teacher a note instructing her to let him walk with other children to a baby sitter's house about a block from the school.
That was a new routine for Scottie, who until last week would meet his brother, Shannon, at the bus stop, several blocks from his Winona Avenue home.
"He never left the house," his mother said. "He never went to the park without the other children with him. He was a mama's boy."
Standing 3 feet tall and weighing 38 pounds, Scottie would ride his bicycle on the sidewalk near his house. His parents had taken away his skateboard because they didn't want him to get hurt in the street.
"He was just like my own," said Joe Gibson, who married Scottie's mother just a month ago. "It tears your nerves to pieces. You see this in the newspapers. When it happens to you, its hard to deal with."
Daniel Wimmer, Scottie's father, was at Dee and Doug's Rendezvous, a Roanoke bar and restaurant, Thursday night when he got the word from police his son was missing.
He immediately called Annette Gibson.
Their relationship has become increasingly bitter in the past several months as they wrangled in court over child-support payments. "I talked to her on the phone, but we just couldn't talk, so I hung up," Wimmer said.
His girlfriend is now keeping in touch with Gibson.
"I'm looking at the happy side," Wimmer said. "Scottie hasn't been found, so he could still be alive. But I just don't know if I'll ever be able to see him again."
The last time he saw the boy was "maybe two months ago," despite Gibson's objections. "She didn't want him to talk to me or have me talk to him," Wimmer said.
Police said their investigation has not centered on any domestic dispute, and as of late Friday evening, they had not developed a theory in the case.
Wimmer, 32, said police found him early in the evening and told him about Scottie. "They made me feel like I didn't give a damn about my son. I didn't know my son was going to come up missing," he said.
Wimmer said he stayed at the bar and drank until police came back to talk to him a second time. They ended up charging him with being drunk in public and taking him to jail for the night.
Friday morning, youth bureau detectives were going door-to-door, hoping to turn up a lead.
About mid-morning, they thought they had one when a small pair of shorts and a small shirt were found along the banks of the Roanoke River at Wasena Park. Joe Gibson assured the officers that the clothes were not Scottie's.
Before sunrise, dozens of other police officers were scouring the woods, railroad tracks, and river banks near the bus stop where some witnesses said Scottie was last seen.
Some of the police officers were working overtime, driving their own cars, and trying to figure where they may have fallen short.
"If anybody else has any new ideas on what we can do, let me know," Lt. Doug Allen asked.
Concerned people, some who don't even know the boy, continued searching as the blustery wind cut into them and the sky started spitting snow about 2 a.m.
Mike and Jeannie Kane were there. "We heard a little boy was missing and we decided to come out and help," Mike Kane said.
"We just couldn't sit home and watch TV," Jeannie Kane added. "It touches your heart. How could you just stay home?"
A young man with a woman beside him in his car stopped in the middle of the road to talk to a relative of Scottie's. He said he'd been driving around for about eight hours, hoping to spot the boy, whose birthday is in six days.
Another surly driver in a dingy red car pulled up to where some of Scottie's relatives are standing. "What's happening?" he asked, gunning the motor before they could answer.
"He must not really want to know," said Alice Holdren, Scottie's aunt.
But as others learned of the boy's disappearance, they called the police department asking how they could help.
Holdren and Scottie's 12-year-old sister, Chasity, walked along the streets with a flashlight well past midnight. "A 5-year-old can't play hide and seek at 1:30 in the morning," Holdren said.
Chasity vowed to start knocking on doors the first thing Friday morning. Holdren agreed.
"The police may give up, but I'm not giving up," she said.
And as she stood beneath the red neon "Jesus Saves" sign at the Ghent church, she reaffirmed her faith.
"Pray to the good Lord to bring Scottie back," she said. "Pray he is safe."
by CNB