Teen's mom pleads for tips on son's case
By John Joyce
Published in News on September 18, 2012 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/BOBBY WILLIAMS
Kimberly Best, center, the mother of missing 16-year-old Kennedy McLaurin Jr.,makes an emotional plea for the community's help in locating her son at a press conference Monday at the Goldsboro Police Department. The Goldsboro High School student was last seen about 11 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 9. He was allegedly abducted by several men.
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Kennedy Fitzgerald McLaurin Jr.
Kimberly Best stood in front of a crowd of reporters Monday afternoon and asked her community to help find her 16-year-old son.
Goldsboro police say Kennedy Fitzgerald McLaurin Jr. was abducted at about 1 p.m. Sept. 9, from the 700 block of Bain Street in the Woodcrest Housing community, by three to four black men driving a faded-blue 1990 four-door Oldsmobile.
The car was last seen fleeing along Royall Avenue.
And as the investigation continues, Ms. Best said all she can do is wait -- and worry.
Surrounded by family and ranking officials from the department, she described Monday how hard it was going to bed each night and waking each morning not knowing "where he's laying his head at."
Her only goal, she said, was to bring her son home.
"It's been eight days. I just need him back home. It is hard, it's just hard," she said.
Goldsboro police have been working around the clock on the case, hoping to find the lead that will help bring the missing teen home, said Sgt. Dwayne Dean, who supervises the GPD criminal investigations division.
"Kennedy McLaurin is still in fact missing. ... The statewide Amber Alert is still currently in effect," Dean said.
Fliers were recently distributed in the area where McLaurin was last seen, he added, recounting again the description of the 16-year-old and the circumstances surrounding his disappearance.
McLaurin is 5 foot, 9 inches tall and weighs 135 pounds. Both of his ears are pierced and he has a tattoo of the letter "K" on his left hand. He has black hair and brown eyes and also answers to the nickname, "Little Ken."
Ms. Best added that she hopes there might be someone out there who could give the police the information they need to bring her son home.
She pleaded with the community, asking anyone who knows anything to call the tip line -- 919-580-4243. Crime Stoppers is also accepting tips on the case at 919-735-2255.
After the press conference, Dean spoke about the tipline and how active it has been.
"We've received numerous calls. Some with stuff we already knew," he said.
The task for investigators receiving the tips, Dean said, is to take what they already know, couple it with the new information coming in, and to go through the process of eliminating what is not pertinent.
Rumors and non-credible accounts of McLaurin's abduction have already been discredited and discarded, he added.
He refused to comment on possible suspects in the case.
No outside agencies are involved in the investigation at this time. If any of the tips coming into the tip line or to Crime Stoppers prove fruitful, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which has an office in Fayetteville, is standing by to assist.