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Missouri search resumes for missing siblings

By DONALD BRADLEY
The Kansas City Star
June 18, 2004

Deputies and dogs resumed searching Thursday for two missing Independence children in a wooded area near Trenton, Mo., where articles of their clothing were found earlier this week.

Lindsey Porter, 8, and her brother, Samuel, 7, have been missing since June 6, when their father did not return the children to their mother after a weekend visit.

The father, Daniel Porter, 41, was charged with two counts of parental kidnapping and is in Jackson County jail.

The search in Grundy County was delayed because of heavy rain along Honey Creek. The area is about five miles east of Trenton. Grundy County Sheriff Greg Coon said searchers had to wait for water to recede.

Despite the time elapsed, Independence police say they are optimistic.

“We have no evidence that the children are not alive,” Independence police spokesman Tom Gentry said Thursday.

Police are worried that if the public thinks the children are dead, people would be less likely to report tips.

“We are still pursuing all leads,” Gentry said.

The search has led to four other states: Kansas, Oklahoma, Illinois and Arkansas.

The FBI has offered assistance, but contrary to some news reports, has not joined the investigation, spokesman Jeff Lanza said.

Porter grew up in Trenton and has relatives in the area. He returned there last week and was seized by Grundy County sheriff's deputies.

Initially, Porter refused to answer questions about the children's whereabouts.

“Now, his stories have run the gamut — including the worst scenario,” Gentry said.

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FBI joins search for missing kids

By Cherryh Cluckey
The Examiner
June 17, 2004

Independence police said they have reason to believe the missing Porter children are alive.

"It's not a doom-and-gloom situation yet," said Tom Gentry of the Independence Police department. "We are focusing our energy toward finding the children alive. There has been no evidence whatsoever that there has been a homicide."

Lindsay Porter, 8, and Samuel Porter, 7, have been missing since June 6 when their father, Daniel Porter of Lawson, failed to return them to their mother, Tina Porter, after his visitation ended.

Daniel Porter told his estranged wife she would never see her children again and he had taken them to "hurt her."

Police arrested Daniel Porter in Trenton last week, but he will not say where he took the children.

Don Peck, the children's uncle who lives in Texas, said he thinks federal agents should get involved in the case. And Independence Police said this morning that the FBI has now been called in.

"No one and no organization can match the feds in manpower and resources," Peck said.

Gentry said in order for the feds to get involved there had to be a link ­ that link could be evidence found across state lines.

"There is really no evidence that anything has gone further than the Independence area, except that (Porter) was arrested in Trenton," he said.

The police department has received help from agencies in Grundy County, Oklahoma and Illinois, but there is no solid evidence linking any crimes to those states, Gentry said. He cited cellular phone conversations as a link justifying FBI assistance.

A family member found a T-shirt in a wooded area south of Missouri 6, three to five miles east of Trenton in Grundy County last weekend and drove it to police in Independence.

Tina Porter said it was one she had packed for Lindsay. Police found other clothing in the wooded area but have not been able to verify whether or not they belonged to the Porter children.

Grundy County officials searched the area Monday with cadaver dogs, but the search was called off because of rising creek water. Grundy County officials were to resume Wednesday, but the rain prevented it.

"The storms they talked about on the news, well we've got those here too," Peck said. "That's just not a good enough reason to be no further along on this."

Police found a few guns Friday in the Missouri River north of LaBenite Park, east of Missouri 291. At least one of the guns is registered to Daniel Porter.

A Tuesday search of that area turned up nothing.

"Watching the news, I kind of got the idea that the Police Department think Dan Porter is going to tell them the story," Peck said. "It hasn't happened yet, it probably won't."

Peck, who is Tina Porter's brother, said he is concerned for his niece and nephew.

"Anything left undone today will surely cost us tomorrow," Peck said. "That's a big gamble when it's someone else's life."

[Admin]

Police frustrated in Porter case

By Cherryh Cluckey
The Examiner
6/25/04

Police say Daniel Porter is playing games with them.

"He's told us everything from the best-case scenario to the worst-case scenario in detail," said Tom Gentry, public information officer with the Independence Police Department. "It's like his biggest desire in life is to hurt his wife. That's so frustrating * he has no care for the children apparently."

Lindsey Porter, 8, and Samuel Porter, 7, have been missing since June 6 when Daniel Porter, their father, failed to return them to their mother, Tina Porter, after his visitation ended.

Daniel Porter told his estranged wife she would never see her children again and that he had taken them to "hurt her."

Police arrested Daniel Porter in Trenton two weeks ago, but he will not say where he took the children.

"We've spoken with police the last couple of days, and there are no new leads," said Paul Peck, the children's uncle and Tina Porter's brother. "We're hoping to get some information out of Dan; we're hoping he'll start talking."

Gentry said they've had no luck with Daniel Porter.

"He's just playing games with us," he said. "He's just out there in the ozone somewhere."

Grundy County officials have searched the wooded area south of Missouri 6, three to five miles east of Trenton where one of Lindsey Porter's T-shirts was found. The searches turned up nothing.

Independence citizens and organizations have raised nearly $15,000 for a reward fund in hopes of generating tips about the whereabouts of the children.

The Optimist Club will be making a $5,000 donation Saturday at the Blue Ridge Mall to the fund set up by the Fairmount Community Center, Northwest Community Development Corporation, Fairmount Elementary Caring Communities and the Local Investment Commission.

Those who want to add to the fund can send payments to: LINC-Porter Children Tips Fun, 3100 Broadway, No. 1100, Kansas City, Mo. 64111.

In other news, the "America's Most Wanted" program will feature the Porter case on Saturday. It airs locally at 8 p.m. on Fox-4.

[Admin]

Web site for Porter children

By Cherryh Cluckey
The Examiner
June 30, 2004

The uncles of Lindsey and Samuel Porter have set up a Web site in hopes of generating information to help find the children.

People can read articles about Lindsey, 8, and Samuel, 7, and e-mail tips or information to family members.

The children have been missing since June 6 when Daniel Porter, their father, failed to return them to their mother, Tina Porter, in Independence after his visitation ended.

Daniel Porter allegedly told his estranged wife she would never see her children again and that he had taken them to "hurt her."

Daniel Porter's family doesn't understand why he would have taken them, but they don't think he could hurt his own children.

"He loved them too much," said Sarah McGuire, Porter's sister-in-law. "We're just as lost as everybody else."

Police arrested Daniel Porter in Trenton two weeks ago, but he will not say where he took the children and keeps changing stories about the children's whereabouts.

Police said they are still following leads and proceeding like the children are alive.

"We don't have one iota of evidence to believe otherwise," said Tom Gentry, Independence public information officer.

The Web site is http://www.samandlindseyporter.org

In related news, Tina Porter went to court Tuesday to finalize the couple's divorce, but the details were sealed, said Paul Peck, Tina Porter's brother

[Admin]

Hearing yields little in abduction

By Cherryh Cluckey
The Examiner
July 15, 2004

Lindsey Porter turned 9 the day before her father pleaded not-guilty to kidnapping her and her 7-year-old brother, Samuel.

Daniel Porter stood before a judge Thursday afternoon and was told to return the children to Jackson County.

The children have been missing since June 6 when Porter failed to return them to their mother, Tina Porter, in Independence after his visitation ended.

Police arrested Daniel Porter in Trenton a few weeks ago, but he will not say where he took the children and keeps changing stories about their whereabouts.

The children's mother was not in court, but her family members came to make their presence known.

Tami Gochenour, Tina Porter's sister, wore a T-shirt picturing Lindsey and Samuel.

"How could (Daniel Porter) be so cold hearted," she asked. "How could he look at his kids' pictures...."

Gochenour said the family believes the children are alive, but desperately wants them back with their mother.

"We are so hopeful those kids are OK," she said. "We believe they are OK. No, they are not OK. They're not with their mother and their family that loves them."

Paul Peck, Tina Porter's brother, is also hopeful he will see his niece and nephew soon.

"School will be here before we know it, and we are praying that somehow the children will be in their new classroom and, more importantly, reunited with their family," he said.

Daniel Porter has been charged with two counts of parental kidnapping and a probation violation.

He will appear in court Aug. 19 on the kidnapping charges and Sept. 8 for the probation violation.

If convicted, parental kidnapping carries a punishment of up to five years in prison.

Porter was on probation after being convicted in February for unlawful use of a weapon and domestic assault.

Tina Porter's family has set up a Web site in hopes of generating new information leading to the children.

[Admin]

Father's angry secret is mother's wrenching mystery
Two months after they vanished, children's fate remains unknown

By Joe Robertson
The Kansas City Star
8/11/04

Tina Porter dreams that they just show up.
Lindsey, coy and posing. Sam, big and grinning.
Her children could just reappear at the front door of her Independence home, open to the summer sun.

For more than two months, searchers for Lindsey and Sam have walked the woods, trolled rivers, knocked on out-of-state doors.

Yet their mother believes the answers are as close as her soon-to-be ex-husband, minutes away in the Jackson County jail.

If anyone could pry his secrets from him.
Heaven knows she's tried. Just as police tried until Daniel Porter refused to talk to them anymore.

Tina Porter has not seen Lindsey and Sam since they left with him for a weekend visitation the first Saturday morning in June.

He is now being held without bond on two counts of parental kidnapping.

Three times Tina has visited him to plead for information about their children.

The first time was in mid-June, when he was at the Independence City Jail.

She remembers him slumped in the small interrogation room, dressed in a jail-issued blue jumpsuit, one wrist cuffed to a pole. She rubbed his neck and shoulders the way she used to when he hurt, begging him to tell her what happened to their children.

“And he said, ‘I hate you. I hate you. I hate you.' ”

Authorities say Daniel Porter has offered nothing but a puzzle of letters, phone messages and statements that he did something with the children to strike back at his wife for their separation and pending divorce.

In court documents and in interviews, authorities describe his wide-ranging explanations: He has said they're safe. He has said they're dead. They're with unnamed persons. They're two states away. They've been sold.

The only consistent message to Tina Porter: You'll never see them again.

Daniel Porter declined interview requests sent to the Jackson County jail. His attorney, too, declined to comment.

Independence Police Sgt. Kevin Freeman said Porter seemed bent on hurting his wife.

“He has given us no information to date that has been useful in helping us find the kids.”

Lindsey's ninth birthday passed during the empty days of July. Sam's eighth birthday is soon to come.

Tina Porter's siblings have stayed with her for stretches, answering phone calls, keeping track of her bills, always thinking of how to get at the truth.

Through it all, she has tried to stay strong for Sam and Lindsey, because she has to believe they're out there, somewhere.

Two weeks into the nightmare, the family's bulldog was hit by a school bus. The dog, Bossy, tried to crawl toward Tina Porter. She took the dying dog in her arms, the way she couldn't hold her children.

“She wanted me to protect her, but I couldn't protect her,” she said, “like I couldn't protect them.”

She cried for three hours, cocooned in a veterinarian's office.

Crumbling marriage

The Porters met 14 years ago when both worked at a packing plant. In four years they were married. In two more years they had Lindsey and Sam.

She doted on her husband, ran his bathwater, brought him drinks.

In those days, said Tina Porter's brother, Paul Peck, Daniel Porter loved his family and loved hunting and fishing. He was a great teller of stories, rich with detail.

“He was a great guy,” Peck said.

Daniel Porter's attorney, Dana McFarland, said she couldn't talk about the case.

His sister-in-law, Sarah McGuire, said, “I only know Dan loved his kids.”

Tina Porter left her husband in September, moving herself and the children to her sister's home a few blocks away. She and Porter had been growing apart for years, she said.“We left,” she said, “and he lost it.”

On Jan. 18, according to Jackson County court records, he threatened her with a gun and forced her to tie her ankles together. He pleaded guilty to domestic assault and was placed on probation with a three-year suspended sentence. He was ordered to have no contact with his wife.

Because of his felony conviction, he could not handle firearms. He could no longer hunt.

“That's when everything began to spiral out of control,” said Tina Porter's sister Tami Gouchenour.

Daniel Porter filed for divorce in early February. Tina Porter said her attorney wanted the court to keep him away from the children. But she objected.

“They loved their dad,” she said. “I was not going to keep them from him. … I never thought the kids were in danger.”

‘I love you infinity'

Saturday morning, June 5, the children bounded happily out the front door for a regular weekend with Dad. Lindsey, a “daddy's girl,” didn't even think to give her mom a goodbye hug and kiss. Sam promised to call during the weekend.

He said, “I love you infinity.”

And she said back, “I love you infinity.”

Interviews with family members and police, along with information from court documents, paint a darkening picture of that day.

Dan Porter called his wife several times and around midday asked her to meet him with their pickup so he could swap cars. He said he had bought some furniture.

She said he was alone when she met him on Cement City Road in Sugar Creek. She said he told her he'd left the children with people at an estate sale. More calls came — so many, Tina Porter said, that she gave her phone to her sister Catherine Lindsey, to be free of it. Her sister still had the phone late that Saturday, and she called Tina Porter to report a troubling message.

A text message on the cell phone said Daniel Porter had stashed a letter about the children near a gas station at Missouri 291 and Missouri 210 in Clay County. The sisters searched in the 3 a.m. darkness.

The children were with an unnamed person or family, the hand-written letter said.

Court documents say that cell phone text messages, some of them suicidal, followed. Tina Porter shows these on her cell phone:

“You get one call before I die.”

“I said one call.”

She and her sister were at the Independence police station by 5 a.m. that Sunday, only to hear that police could do little while Daniel Porter had legal custody. His visitation wasn't up until 6 p.m. that day.

Porter kept calling as his visitation time passed — ringing her even as she was sitting with detectives, court records show.

Soon, television was broadcasting pictures of the missing children. During one of Porter's calls, his wife held the phone out so he could hear a television report. It seemed to jolt him, she said.

“He said, ‘It wasn't supposed to happen this way.' ”

Grundy County lawmen spotted him that Wednesday in his truck, near his hometown of Trenton, Mo. He was transferred to Independence police, and the futile questioning began.

Heartbreaking search

For days, search teams with dogs retraced areas where Daniel Porter had been. Investigators fanned out, contacting friends and family.

Tina Porter and her brother searched woods in Sugar Creek. She went with a sister to talk with Daniel Porter's relatives in Arkansas. Her friends, searching near where Porter was arrested, found what police describe as a T-shirt resembling one she had packed for Lindsey.

But those leads ran out weeks ago.

After many marathon sessions with investigators, Porter has refused to talk, said Freeman, the Independence police sergeant.

Convictions for parental kidnapping could bring him one to five years in prison on each of the two counts, Jackson County Assistant Prosecutor Phil LeVota said. If the standoff continues, the court could invoke the three-year suspended sentence from the domestic assault conviction.

But for prosecutors to file other charges, they say they would need more evidence.

The community has rallied in support, especially in the Fairmount neighborhood of northwest Independence where Tina Porter lives. Fund-raising concerts helped boost the reward to $15,000.

Independence investigators are going back to people they already have questioned. They're contemplating dedicating detectives to the investigation full time.

Gouchenour continues urging friends and family to contact Daniel Porter, to soften him. Tina Porter's brothers maintain a Web site with pictures of Lindsey and Sam.

She keeps their room the way her children left it, with the pictures of dolphins leaping over sparkling oceans. She waits for them to bury Bossy's ashes.

And she resists any impulse to sell the house and flee once the divorce is final.

“What if someone just drops them off someday?” she said, looking at the open front door. “What if they come up and knock on the door? I have to be here.”

[Admin]

Missed opportunities cloud search for children

Judy L. Thomas
The Kansas City Star
December, 5 2004

Six months ago to this day, Dan Porter picked up his children at their northwest Independence home to take them for a weekend visit.

Sam and Lindsey, only 7 and 8 years old at the time, haven't been seen since.

Their father remains in the Jackson County Jail on kidnapping charges, refusing to say what he did with the children. Their mother, Tina Porter, is so desperate to find them that she has started consulting psychics.

Independence police, meanwhile, acknowledge they are no closer to finding Sam and Lindsey than they were when authorities arrested Dan in June.

They have simply vanished.

Police say that they have been vigilant about finding the missing children.

“We did everything we possibly could to work this case in a timely manner,” said Sgt. Dennis Green, an investigator on the case.

The Kansas City Star, however, has uncovered a series of missed opportunities that raise questions about the investigation:

• Police never issued an Amber Alert when Dan Porter didn't return the children at the end of the weekend, saying there wasn't enough evidence that the children were in danger — even though Porter was a felon, had a restraining order against him, and had pleaded guilty to domestic assault against his wife four months earlier. She also had given police a “suicidal” letter he had written to her the day he took Sam and Lindsey.

• Police declined the FBI's offer to help in the kidnapping investigation, including having a profiler view dozens of hours of interrogation videos of Dan Porter.

• Police never examined a computer at the home where Porter lived for several months before taking the children, even though among the many stories he told police was that he'd sold them to a pornography ring.

• Two days after taking the children, Porter was arrested on DUI charges in Clinton County. But authorities said they released him from jail the next morning because Independence police never asked them to hold him for questioning.

Fortunately, Grundy County sheriff's deputies arrested Porter two days after the DUI release — thanks to a tip — by shooting out his pickup's tires when he attempted to escape.

“This whole thing is messed up,” Tina Porter said of the investigation. “There was so much breakdown. They (police) thought they could crack Dan. But nobody can crack Dan if he doesn't want to be cracked.”

It's impossible to know whether a more aggressive investigation would have helped find the children. But some family members and others think it would have greatly increased the chances.

“The investigation is just a disaster,” said Helen Hall, whose family Dan Porter lived with several months before the children disappeared.

Green said the biggest problem with the investigation had been Porter. Police interrogated him extensively after his arrest, Green said, but Porter told numerous stories — some outrageous — about what happened to the children.

“He's indicated that they're still alive and that basically, he's in control of this,” Green said.

Porter, 41, did not respond to a request for an interview. His attorney, Tim Burdick, did not return phone calls.

Green said police had conducted numerous searches in Grundy County, where Porter was arrested, and around La Benite Park in Sugar Creek. He said police also had searched the woods north of the Porter house and on Amoco Oil property and former Armco Steel land north of Independence, where Porter used to hunt.

Green acknowledged that the FBI in Kansas City called and offered to help but said that police did not think they needed it.

“We pretty much just bounced everything off of them to see if there was anything else that they could offer us, and they said, ‘It sounds like you've done everything you possibly can at this point,' ” he said.

FBI spokesman Jeff Lanza said the agency had not done any work on the case.

“We never got involved in that case at all,” Lanza said. “They were made aware that we were available to help, but no form of help was ever provided or was requested.”

That angers Tina Porter.

A week after the children's disappearance, she and two brothers went to the FBI. They talked to a special agent about doing a profile of Porter based on 40 hours of police interrogations.

“He said he'd be more than happy to review the tapes,” Tina Porter said. “We asked the Independence police, and they said, sure, but nothing has ever happened.”

Lanza said that Tina and her brothers had met with an FBI agent. “But something like that would always have to go through the police department that's working the case,” Lanza said. “It's really a local case.”

Green said the reason police didn't take the FBI up on its offer was because “I don't see how a profile would have helped us in this case. We've got a pretty good idea about Dan.”

Although family members repeatedly asked police to issue an Amber Alert, Green said police had no reason to.

“Amber Alerts for the Kansas City metropolitan area have to be done generally when you believe that the children are at risk,” he said. “At the time that he took these children, there was no evidence that they were at risk.”

Even though Dan Porter had been convicted of unlawful use of a weapon and domestic assault, Green said, “he'd never shown any violence toward the children.”

“And my question has been to her (Tina) all along: If you felt that he was a threat to the children, why would you let them go?”

Although the Porters were separated and going through a divorce, Tina said that the children loved their father and that she did not want to hurt them by keeping them from him.

Green acknowledged, however, that other jurisdictions in Missouri issue alerts virtually any time a child is missing, including parental custody cases.

The founder of Code Amber, an Internet Amber Alert service, said the alerts are not uncommon in parental custody cases. “We've seen them issued in custody cases in a lot of places,” said Bryant Harper.

In the Porter case, Harper said that “if it had been my decision, I probably would have gone with that one.”

Green countered that even though Tina had a protective order against her husband, “it didn't involve the children.” And as for the letter that Dan wrote his wife, Green said, “it was more suicidal.”

Green also said that by the time of Dan's arrest several days later, an Amber Alert would have been useless. “At that point it was news all over the state of Missouri, and so there was no reason to put out an Amber Alert,” he said.

Tina's family angrily disputes that.

“I talk to police departments all the time because of the work I'm in,” said Catherine Lindsey, Tina's older sister, who sells supplies to law enforcement agencies. “There are officers who come into the store from surrounding areas who still don't know.

“I believe if they had done something faster or spread the word more, there would have been a chance to find Sam and Lindsey.”

Another missed opportunity, critics contend, was failing to examine a computer Dan Porter used.

Hall, whose family Porter lived with for months, said police came to her home several times after the children disappeared. Police asked whether there was a computer in the home, she said, but never looked at it.

Green said police did not think searching the computer in the Hall home would have been useful.

“It's not his computer. It's their computer,” he said. “And there was never any indication that he was on the computer. The porn ring thing came up during conversations with him. But he was never explicit on what type of porn ring it was.”

‘Never see them again'

The last time Tina Porter saw her children was when her husband picked them up on Saturday, June 5.

Around midnight, Tina said, she received a text message from Dan instructing her to look behind a gas station at the junction of Missouri 210 and Missouri 291.

At 2 a.m. Sunday, Tina and her sister found a note stashed between two cinder blocks. Dan said he had given the children to a family who would care for them until “all the calls and visits are over.” Tina thought it was a suicide note.

Tina said she got another text message at 4 a.m. Sunday saying the children were at the Hampton Inn near Liberty. She rushed there, but found nothing. At 5 a.m., a frantic Tina and her sister went to Independence police but were told nothing could be done, because her husband wasn't supposed to bring the children home until 6 that evening.

“They were still married,” Green explained. “He still had just as much right to those children as she did.”

Tina said she received more phone calls and text messages in which Dan threatened to harm himself. When Dan didn't bring the children home at 6 p.m., Tina went back to the police. But she left in frustration, she said, after getting no help

“I was just so mad I wasn't going to stand there any longer,” she said. “They said they had to call in an officer off the road. At midnight I called them again.”

On Monday morning, Tina said, a police detective called and told her that the initial report had been lost — an allegation police dispute — and they needed another one.

Dan also called Tina that morning, saying he was in his boyhood town of Trenton, Mo. Tina said Dan told her: “I'll put a sign on the road that says in deer season you're going to find my decayed body.”

Sometime on Monday, June 7, police issued an “attempt to locate” alert for Dan Porter and the children.

About 7 that night, Helen Hall was driving down the road leading to her home near Lawson, Mo., when she saw Dan's pickup. He parked behind the house, Hall said, and went inside.

“I grabbed him by the arm and squeezed and said, ‘Dan, what the heck's going on?' ” she said. “He was rigid. Amped. Full of energy, but creepy … it was like an evil glow … He said, ‘Everything's fine, Helen.' Then he went to his room, took a shower and left.”

Hall was aghast.

“This is somebody we've done stuff day in and day out with for 20 years,” she said. “But at that point, it sent a chill up my spine.” She said she didn't call police, however, because Dan told her the children were with friends in Kansas City.

A few hours later, Sgt. Scott Shipers of the Missouri Highway Patrol saw a pickup weaving along Interstate 35 near Cameron. He pulled the truck over at 10:11 p.m., and found that he'd stopped Porter.

Shipers called Independence police.

“They were hoping the kids were with him,” he said. “But they weren't.”

Porter was taken to the Clinton County Jail and booked for driving under the influence of drugs, including a prescription anti-psychotic medication and an anti-depressant.

Shipers said Porter “wasn't furnishing any information on the kids. … He said he left them with an acquaintance who was a parent of the children's friends.”

Tina said an Independence police detective called her around 2:30 a.m. Tuesday to tell her Dan had just been arrested.

But later that morning, Dan posted a $500 bond and walked out of jail.

“They let him bond out before we could get up and talk to him,” said Green of the Independence Police Department, which is about 50 miles from the Clinton County Jail.

But Sheriff Porter Henson said Independence police never asked deputies to detain Porter.

“I can assure you there was no hold on him,” Henson said.

Green said that was because there wasn't a warrant for Porter's arrest at that point.

“He was in the computer as a missing person, his children were in as missing, possibly endangered,” he said.

Asked why police didn't go immediately to talk to Porter, Green said the timing was bad.

“It was in the middle of the night, and to my knowledge none of the investigation supervisors were notified until the next morning that he had been arrested,” he said. “And by that time, he was already gone.”

Later Tuesday, an Independence detective was taking a statement from Tina Porter when Dan called her cell phone.

The detective said he could hear the conversation. Dan told Tina that Sam and Lindsey were no longer in Missouri and that he was going to take them two states away, then return and kill himself, using his truck as a coffin.

Independence Police Capt. Travis Forbes also was listening to the conversation.

According to court records, Forbes heard Tina ask Dan why he was doing this, and he replied that “the only way I can hurt you is to keep the children from you.'' She asked him when she would get them back, and Dan stated: “You'll never see them again.”

Early on Thursday, June 10 — five days after Porter had taken the children — Grundy County authorities acting on a tip sneaked up on his pickup in a blinding rain about three miles east of Trenton.

Coon shot out the pickup tires, and Porter was arrested for the kidnapping of his children.

When told of his arrest, Tina Porter said, “I just went to sleep. … I knew then that the kids would be coming home, and I just needed to rest.”

But the children didn't come home. For days, authorities searched an area east of Trenton.

“The first day the dogs acted suspicious, it rained that morning and the creek came up,” Coon said. “We threw a boat in there, but we went down the creek so fast that you could pull a skier.”

They conducted another fruitless search after the water receded.

Kristin Lane, a friend of Tina's, had better luck than the police. About a mile from where Dan was arrested, she found clothing in a ditch — including a black T-shirt that Tina identified as Lindsey's.

Independence police later discovered four guns in the Missouri River north of La Benite Park after Dan told someone that he had thrown them there. Since then, two more of his guns were found in the river.

Green said police could not determine whether they had been fired recently.

Dan Porter was indicted June 25 on two counts of parental kidnapping. In August, two counts of kidnapping with intent to terrorize were added. Porter also was indicted on federal charges for being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Tina has visited him twice in jail, but he won't reveal what happened to the children.

“He keeps saying, ‘The kids are right there. Why can't you find them?' ”

Missed birthdays

Lindsey turned 9 on July 13 and Sam 8 on Aug. 27. Their desks at Fairmount Elementary school sit empty, awaiting their return.

Tina Porter sounds almost robotic from repeating their descriptions so often. Lindsey has blue eyes, long brown hair, pierced ears and a scar from a dog bite on the lower right side of her back. Sam also has brown hair and blue eyes, with an old chicken pox scar on his forehead. A habit of gnashing his teeth has left the four top front ones ground down.

Though six months have passed, Independence police said leads still trickle in. The department has scaled back the number of full-time detectives on the case to one.

Like everyone else, Tina goes back and forth over what she thinks happened.

“They're out there, and they're going to come home,” she said.

She's even put up a Christmas tree, saving decorations for the children to hang.

But other times she acknowledges they may never return home. About a week after they disappeared, police asked for the children's hairbrushes and toothbrushes to collect DNA samples, in case their remains are found.

“We just don't know,” she said. “But I need to be prepared.”

On Nov. 2, the Porters' divorce was granted.

The court awarded Tina custody of both children.

If you have any information:

Call the TIPS Hotline at 474-TIPS (474-8477).

A reward of $16,350 is offered for information that leads to their return. The family also has set up a site on theInternet - http://www.samandlindsey.org - with information about the case.

[Admin]

Showdown on 'Dr. Phil'

By Stephanie Howard and David Tanner
The Examiner
3/3/2007

Tina Porter knew something wasn't right when she heard the voice in the next room.

"She was getting her hair done, and I heard her voice," Tina said. "Then I heard Dr. Phil saying 'This isn't good, they're sitting next to each other.' "

Tina appeared Wednesday afternoon on the "Dr. Phil Show," where she faced the one person she says might know where her children are.

The theme of the show was bitter child-custody battles.

Lindsey and Samuel Porter have been missing since June after they did not return to their Independence home following a weekend visitation with their father, Dan Porter. Dan, in jail now, refuses to say what he did with the children.

Going into the show, Tina had no idea what Dr. Phil had planned for her. The other guest on the Dr. Phil show was Lisa Atkins, Dan's best friend. Tina said she'd spoken to Lisa on a regular basis, but Lisa never revealed a conversation she had with Dan that Tina says could have been vital to the case.

Lisa admitted to Dr. Phil that Dan sent her a text message saying he had taken the children out of state. At the time, she said, she did not know the children had been kidnapped. Lisa also said she never told police about the conversation because she's a "very private person" and police never asked her. She said she didn't think the information was important.

Through regular letters and conversations with Dan, Lisa said she's been trying to get him to reveal what happened to the children.

"My babies are missing and she's acting like it's no big deal," Tina said. "I just want my babies home."

Later in the show Lisa agreed to take a lie-detector test although she told Dr. Phil and Tina she did not know where the children are. Tina flew out to Los Angeles again Wednesday to tape a follow-up show, in which the results will be announced.

After the taping, Tina said she walked off stage shaking because she was so upset.

"I do not care what the polygraph says," Tina said. "She did not help bring Sam and Lindsey home."

Independence Police Department detectives watched the program and discussed the case afterward.

"This is another way to get the information out there," Sgt. Dennis Green said. "It's unfortunate when you get a national case like this, it's never good."

Green flew out Wednesday night to Hollywood with Jackson County Prosecutor Mike Sanders to be part of the follow-up show.

The Independence Police Department put extra staff on Wednesday night in case the show drew more tips, which it did.

On the show, Tina said she believed Dan wanted to kill her the weekend the children disappeared. He asked Tina to take him to get some furniture. On the way, he asked her to pull off the road into a wooded area, where he said there was a bag containing $50,000.

Tina told Dr. Phil she refused to pull off.

"There was no great news we didn't already know," Green said. He said the parties, other than Dan Porter, have cooperated with police.

"They talked about the money and they talked about the kids being taken out of town," Green said. "(Lisa) did tell us about that."

Green thought Dr. Phil made a generous gesture. Dr. Phil offered a hot line for anyone who has the children to call. He said he would provide an attorney and he would drop everything and fly to get the children.

"I think he's genuine in wanting the kids back," Green said.

Dr. Phil also offered to interview and help counsel Dan Porter.

[Admin]

Test suggests Porter friend lied

By Stephanie Howard
The Examiner
March 24, 2005

Tina Porter knew losing her temper wasn't an option.

The Independence woman appeared for the second time this month on the "Dr. Phil Show" to talk about her children Lindsey and Sam who have been missing since June. They did not return from a weekend visitation with their father, who is now in jail and refuses to say where the children are.

"My babies are out there somewhere, what good would it do to lose it?" Tina said. "I'd look like a lunatic mom."

Tina asked to move off the stage after it was revealed her ex-husband Dan's best friend Lisa Atkins, Columbia, failed several questions on a lie detector test. Tina and Lisa were on the first show together when Lisa revealed Dan told her he planned to take the children out of state. Lisa was adamant she didn't know where the children were, and Dr. Phil asked her to take a polygraph.

The second episode revealed the results. Polygraph specialists asked Lisa a series of questions, like if she knew where the children were, did she know who had the children, did she lie to Dr. Phil, did she know if the children were dead, and could she lead authorities to the children.

On each of the questions, Lisa said no, but the polygraph results came back deceptive.

"I don't know where those kids are, I swear," Lisa said. "I'm shocked by the results."

After the show aired, Tina said it was broadcast exactly how it was taped, without much editing.

Tina watched the show with family out of town.

"There were a few things Lisa said I did not know," Tina said. "I hope police went with it."

Jackson County Prosecutor Mike Sanders and Detective Dennis Green were also on the show. After the taping, Sanders talked to Lisa, he said, for about two hours.

Though Sanders could not get into specifics of the case, the show did air Lisa telling Sanders that Dan had called her from Princeton, Mo., and told her the children were safe on a farm with friends Tina did not know.

"Some of the information that came out was useful to us in the investigation," Sanders said Wednesday morning. "Any inconsistency in anyone is something we're all very interested in. In a missing-person case, any detail, no matter how small, can be critical."

Lisa also gave authorities a stack of letters she's received from Dan since his arrest. She told Sanders Dan called her daughter the night before the show taping and said the children were safe.

After talking to Lisa, Sanders spoke to Tina and said Dan's relationship with Lisa seemed to weigh on her husband. He told Tina that Lisa didn't want to discuss her relationship with Dan in front of her husband.

After watching the show, Tina said Lisa and Dan's relationship didn't matter, nor did the inference of an affair.

"Dan and Lisa are best friends. They always have been," Tina said. "It doesn't have anything to do with me. I just want Lindsey and Sam home."

Since the taping, Tina said she has a renewed confidence Sam and Lindsey are alive. She's always held on to that belief.

"They're somewhere, and they're gonna be coming home," Tina said.

Tina held little hope for a future relationship with her former friend.

"Lisa withheld information from the police. It doesn't matter how you look at it. I don't want anything to do with her."

[Admin]

Porter remains mum; gets maximum term

By David Tanner
The Examiner
May 14, 2005

Daniel Porter had a chance Friday to speak in federal court about the whereabouts of his missing children. Instead of speaking, he chose to remain silent on the advice of his counsel.

Federal Judge Ortrie Smith, while handing down a 10-year sentence on a weapons charge, asked Porter, the father of missing children Lindsey and Samuel Porter of Independence, if he had anything to say to the court.

After a whispered discussion with his attorney Laine Cardarella that lasted about 30 seconds, Porter shook his head and used a tone barely audible to the court.

"No sir," he said.

Across the aisle, Tina Porter, who had testified moments earlier about drug use in the home, protection orders, and Daniel Porter's guns, wept at her ex-husband's choice for silence.

The missing-children case goes back to June 5 and 6 of last year, when Daniel Porter had the children for a weekend visit.

He did not return them to their mother by the curfew. Instead, he left her a note saying she would never see Lindsey, 9, and Samuel, 8, again.

They are still missing.

While investigating the case, Independence Police Department detectives collected enough evidence to lead to a federal weapons charge. Porter, a prior felon, was not allowed by law to possess the numerous handguns, rifles and shotguns he admitted to having.

Testimony from Independence detectives Dennis Green, Travis Forbes and Wayne Hartley helped federal prosecutors allege numerous weapons infractions, including his attempt to dump up to 14 guns at La Benite Park along the Missouri River in Sugar Creek.

Divers later recovered six weapons. Judge Smith let testimony stand that Daniel Porter possessed several other weapons, including two turned in by citizens and two more stored in a ceiling at Tina Porter's Independence home.

Even with Daniel Porter facing a 10-year sentence on the weapons charges, Jackson County Prosecutor Michael Sanders is pursuing two counts of kidnapping against him. Those charges could net him a lifetime in jail.

At every step of the way, Porter has waived his chance to speak about the children.

Tina Porter's sister, Tami Gochenour, issued a family statement about the silence.

"Daniel Porter was part of our family for a long time," she said. "We are not happy he chose to do this instead of telling where the children are."

Detectives in the multi-faceted case said the judge's decision was bittersweet.

"We are happy about the sentence, but we sure wish (Porter) would have said something," Green said.

He commended the judge for siding with Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Becker, and taking the kidnapping into account to extend the weapons sentence to 10 years.

Judge Smith said he was disappointed in Porter's silence.

"It almost brings me to tears to think of the pain those kids must be going through," the judge told Porter.

Smith said Porter's motive for silence seemed to stem from the pain it caused his ex-wife. Smith said the greater consequence was the children being without their parents.

"You didn't just take Mrs. Porter away from them, you took yourself away from them," Smith told him.

Smith's sentence begins today with 120 months in federal custody, and the probability of coming before county prosecutors on the kidnapping charges.

Following the term, Porter cannot have any contact with his ex-wife, and he must undergo counseling for substance abuse and a mental-health screening.

Cardarella, the defense attorney, cross examined Tina Porter in an effort to discredit her accusation that Daniel Porter stored two rifles in her home.

The conversation turned to drug use.

Porter said her ex-husband had brought drugs into the home, including methamphetamine.

Porter said she had used the drug, but never around the children.

When they separated, the custody battle was a drawn-out affair, going so far as a protection order Tina Porter placed against her ex. She accused him of violating the order.

A court order permitted Daniel Porter to see the children every other weekend and have contact with them by phone. That led up to the disappearance on the first weekend in June.

Tina Porter first went to the police station a 5 a.m. on Sunday, June 6 to report the children gone.

But since the weekend visitation was supposed to last until 6 p.m., police did not immediately pursue the case.

It was only after 6 p.m. that day, when Tina Porter returned to police, that the matter was classified as a missing-person case.

Porter believed those crucial hours gave her ex-husband time to take the children somewhere.

Throughout the case, investigators and family members have remained optimistic the children are alive.

That was the tone of two "Dr. Phil" shows that exposed the case to a national TV audience.

Most people close to the case have been reluctant to consider the worst-case scenario of the children being dead.

Daniel Porter holds the biggest key to the mystery, but as he showed Friday in federal court, he refuses to budge.

[Admin]

Porter kidnapping trial begins today

By Sarah Swedberg
The Examiner
February 7, 2006

Daniel Porter's kidnapping trial begins today in Jackson County Circuit Court in Independence.

Porter is accused of kidnapping his son Sam and daughter Lindsey to terrorize his then-estranged wife, Tina Porter of Independence. The children have not been seen since the weekend of June 6, 2004, when their father failed to return them after a weekend visit.

Jury selection finished Monday in Carthage, Mo. Because of extensive pre-trial publicity, Jackson County Circuit Judge Michael Manners ordered that a jury be selected in Jasper County, Mo., and then brought to Jackson County to hear the case.

Public defender Tim Burdick is representing Daniel Porter. The trial is expected to last through this week.

Porter, 42, is charged with two counts of parental kidnapping and two counts of kidnapping-terrorizing. If convicted, he could face nearly 40 years in prison.

Last May, Porter, a prior felon, was given a 10-year sentence on a federal charge of possessing firearms. Police found the weapons in the Missouri River in Sugar Creek.

Porter continues to refuse to say what happened to his children. His accounts of their whereabouts have varied greatly, including that he sold them, killed them or left them with others. Authorities have found no signs indicating whether the children are dead or alive.

[Admin]

'Horrific' abuse

The Examiner
February 8, 2006

Both the prosecution and the defense wrapped up testimony Wednesday afternoon in the Daniel Porter kidnapping trial.

The defense called just one witness, Daniel Porter's half-brother Devin McGuire.

Public defender Tim Burdick questioned McGuire about his and Porter's childhood. He described it as "horrific."

McGuire said his father, Porter's stepfather, beat him and his siblings at least once a day.

"He usually kicked me down the steps," McGuire said as he pushed back tears.

He said his stepfather's excuses for the abuse ranged from a bad day at work to the kids' failure to clean their area or do their chores, McGuire said.

"Usually, the first person he'd seen that day," got the first beating.

His father would use his fist, feet, hands and any object lying around to beat his children.

McGuire and his seven siblings left their abusive home in Ohio with their mother when Daniel was 13 and McGuire was 11 to live in Trenton, Mo.

"We went to having everything to having nothing," he said.

The nine of them lived in a "little two-bedroom shack," as McGuire described it, with "barely any electricity, no indoor bathroom and no indoor water" among other things, he said.

When questioned by assistant Jackson County Prosecutor Bronwyn Werner if he loved his brother, he said yes.

Werner also asked McGuire if he ever told Daniel that he thought his brother might have killed Lindsey and Samuel, who were 8 and 7 when they disappeared June 6, 2004.

"I said I loved him and that I didn't think he killed them," McGuire said, adding, "I said I believed him and would always be behind him."

McGuire was the last witness to testify Wednesday.

During the trial, prosecutors called 12 witnesses - mostly law enforcement officers investigating the kidnapping case or family and friends.

Richard "Rocky" Hall, best friend and co-worker of Porter, and Bill Bloss, Porter's former boss at CKS Packaging, Inc., were among them.

Both Bloss and Hall described Porter as well as the changes they saw in his behavior six months before he failed to return his children.

"Nicest guy you would ever want to meet," Hall said.

But then he described Porter's behavior the last time he saw him before he was arrested June 10, 2004, in Grundy County.

"...kind of hold back and stayed pretty much to himself," Hall said.

Hall recalled Porter saying, "you wouldn't believe the things I've done. Your mouth would hit the floor."

Bloss, who along with Hall, knew Porter for approximately 20 years. As his boss, he said he received a phone call the morning of June 4, 2004, from Porter. He said Porter called to quit his job.

"He said he found a job working at a concrete place in Arkansas making $7.50. He said he wouldn't have to pay high-dollar child support if he moved down there," Bloss said.

Bloss described Porter at one point as, "probably the best person I had." But in the six months before Porter quit, Bloss said his constant telephone calls and text messaging cut into his productivity during his night shift.

Both Bloss and Hall recalled the lunch hour discussion Porter had with them regarding his abusive childhood and how he said, "there is no way my kids are going to grow up like I did."

In three law enforcement officers' testimony, videotapes were shown of each of them interrogating Porter.

In them Porter continued to give officers the run around of what he did with his children.

"What are the chances of someone from Illinois knowing where LaBenite Park is? What are the chances?" said detective Ken Royster.

"I don't know. Not very good," said Daniel Porter in the videotape.

"...and this person happens to want to buy kids and you happen to want to sell kids?" he added.

"Slim to none," Porter replied. "Because that ain't no kid- buying park and I haven't heard of no one buying kids."

"You're digging a hole you are going to have a hard time getting out of," Royster said.

"I threw them in the river," Porter said next. "How about that."

At one point in the video Royster said, "quit playing this game... they've been gone almost a week. Can we just be done with it?"

"All you have to do is say hey this is where they're at," he added. "I don't know what you're trying to accomplish. It doesn't make any sense."

Besides saying he sold his children for $6,001, Porter also said he cut them up and put them in a hole and he strangled them and threw them in a river.

Royster testified that Porter never revealed any useful information.

To this day law enforcement officers such as Royster and his partner detective Kenneth Malone say they continue to follow leads.

Porter's trial is expected to finish today. Porter, 42, has been charged with two counts of parental kidnapping and two counts of kidnapping with the intent of terrorizing. If convicted, he could face nearly 40 years in prison.

[Admin]

Porter Convicted
But kidnapped children's fate remains a mystery

By Sarah Swedberg
The Examiner
February 10, 2006
The jury convicted Daniel Porter on two counts of parental kidnapping and two counts of kidnapping-terrorizing, after four hours of deliberation Thursday.

Jurors based their verdict on evidence presented about Porter before and after he concealed his children, Lindsey, 8, and Samuel, 7, and on his comments from videotapes of officers interrogating him, said jury foreman Rick Bailey of Joplin, Mo.

His advice to Tina Porter, "keep on keeping on whatever the scenario is, if he sold them or if they are somewhere, stay with it." The children disappeared during a weekend visit with Porter June 5, 2004.

"You've got two children and you've got Tina and what she's going through," he said. "You see her as a vibrant woman talking to her husband and then look at her today as she was on the stand."

"There's only God and Daniel that know where these kids are and that's sad," he said. "I don't know if we'll ever know where these children are. I hope the sentence will give us time."

As the jury announced their verdict, Porter expressed little emotion. He left the courtroom hiding his face behind a yellow legal pad. He will return to a cell in the Jackson County Detention Center, awaiting his sentencing in April. Tina Porter cried and hugged prosecutors. With family and friends by her side, she left the Jackson County Circuit Courthouse in Independence hopeful that her children will return eventually.

"This doesn't change anything. Sam and Lindsey are still missing," said Tina Porter tearfully. "We are going to continue to look for Sam and Lindsey with everybody's help."

"We hope every day that someone will come forward," Tina said, with information about her children.

"He did this to hurt her. That's what he said. He did it to punish her. He did it to spite her," said Assistant Jackson County Prosecutor Bronwyn Werner in closing arguments. "Tina Porter has to get up every morning... not knowing where her children are. She has no idea."

The prosecution urged jurors to "do the right thing and find him guilty on all four counts. We have proven without a doubt he is guilty. His own words and actions speak for themselves. He is guilty."

And while the defense said Daniel grew up in an abusive home, Werner said, "that may be true but the defendant denied it."

Public defender Tim Burdick tried to counter the prosecution's closing arguments by referring to what Daniel told his former boss Billy Bloss and best friend Richard, "Rocky" Hall, "there is no way my kids are going to grow up like I did."

Burdick reminded the jury of Devin McGuire's testimony Wednesday of how he and his stepbrother grew up with an abusive father. How for 11 years Daniel lived with a stepfather that beat him, his mother and his seven siblings, until his mother took them to Trenton, Mo. Because of it, he did not want his children to grow up with an abusive stepfather like he did, when he and Tina divorced.

"This shows you the reason why Daniel Porter took his kids," Burdick said, adding, "He's guilty of parental kidnapping but not guilty of kidnapping to terrorize."

Porter faces up to 38 years in prison. But Prosecutor Michael Sanders said if he came forward with information regarding his children's whereabouts his sentence could be reduced.

"He holds the keys to this case," Sanders said. "He holds the keys to his jail cell."

"I hope he reflects on the next 38 years of his life as he sits in a Jackson County jail," he added. "...hopefully he'll think strongly about coming forward and giving us some information."

Sgt. Dennis Green, with the Independence Police Department investigation team working the case, said they continue to get leads from all over the United States that are either sightings of Lindsey or Samuel or people that want to talk about them.

"...we even got one today," he said. "As always we continue to investigate them to the best of our ability."

Green couldn't give specifics about any of the leads, saying the case is still under investigation.

[Admin]

Porter Sentenced To 38 Years In Prison
Children Have Been Missing Since June 2004

KMBC TV
April 28, 2006

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. -- A man who has terrorized his ex-wife by refusing to disclose the whereabouts of their two children was given a maximum sentence Friday of 38 years in prison.

Daniel Porter, 43, has offered varied accounts on his children's fate, but authorities have not been able to find them. He also was ordered Friday to serve three years for parole violations, which combined with the kidnapping sentence and a previous 10-year federal sentence on a weapons charge, could amount to life behind bars for the defendant.

The sentences are to run consecutively.

Circuit Court Judge Michael Manners said he had overseen countless cases involving disputes between spouses, but none compared.

"One of the awful things that you see is when you see parents using their own children as weapons," he said, choking up at one point while addressing Porter. "In many ways, this is the custody case from hell."

The children -- Sam was 7 when he was last seen and Lindsey was 8 -- have been missing since June 2004, when the defendant picked them up from his estranged wife for a weekend visit.

They never returned.

Ever since, Porter has offered all manner of accounts on his children's fate: that they were sold for $6,001, that they were strangled and thrown in a river, even that they had become part of a pornography ring. Investigators have scoured the region but have come up empty-handed.

All of it, prosecutors claimed and jurors agreed, was done to terrorize Tina Porter, the children's mother.

"His love for his children was overshadowed completely by his hate for Tina," said Bronwyn Werner, an assistant Jackson County prosecutor who handled the case. "It's unfortunate he can't get a longer sentence."

Porter was convicted in February of two counts each of parental kidnapping and kidnapping with intent to terrorize. Jurors rejected the defense's argument that Porter's only goal was to protect his children from an abusive childhood like his own.

During Friday's hearing, Manners heard testimony from several people who told of the devastation the disappearances has had on the Porter family and the community.

Margaret Curry, a teacher at the children's school, read a letter from a 10-year-old former classmate. "Kids don't need to suffer for things they didn't do," the boy wrote. "The father should pay for what he did."

Curry also testified about some of Lindsey's writings.

"She wrote in the journal about an incident where she saw her father put a gun to her mother's head," Curry said. "There was a lessening of her love for her father ... I'd consider it fear."

Tina Porter testified that she struggled to get out of bed each day.

"I want Dan to get the maximum on this -- he has hurt us so bad, taken away two years of our lives, and we can't get it back," she said.

She held framed pictures of her children at one point and spoke to her former husband directly.

"I want you to look at these pictures, Dan. I want you to think of Sam and Lindsey," she said. "Just keep thinking of them."

The children's great aunt also testified on the effect on relatives and other children.

"They have nightmares about where these children are," Jane Gochenour said.

The defendant -- dressed in a bright orange prison jumpsuit and shackled at the hands, waist and ankles -- showed no visible emotion during the testimony or the sentencing. He left the courtroom shielding his face with a notebook.

Defense attorney Tim Burdick called no one to the stand Friday to testify on Porter's behalf; he urged the judge to consider prior accounts in which his client was described as a good father and a hard worker. After the hearing, Burdick refused to comment.

Jackson County prosecutor Mike Sanders conceded that while Porter received the sentence his office had sought, it did not amount to victory.

"It leaves you with a very hollow feeling," he said outside the courtroom. "There's no satisfaction in any of this."


Sanders said Manners had 30 days to amend his sentence and urged Porter to reveal his children's whereabouts in that time. Meantime, he said, prosecutors were considering the possibility of murder charges.

The judge denied requests by Burdick for acquittal or a new trial. Burdick said it was unlawful to charge his client with both kidnapping and parental kidnapping.

"There's not a whole lot that can be said at this point," the defense attorney said.

[Admin]

Searchers return to woods in investigation
No further clues on missing Porter children surfaced in dog search.

By Judy L Thomas
The Kansas City Star
12/14/06

Volunteers with search-and-rescue dogs combed a wooded area Thursday in Sugar Creek in connection with two Independence children who have been missing for more than two years.

The search ended about 11 a.m. after nothing was found.

“There really wasn’t anything specific about why we came here,” said Sugar Creek Police Chief Herb Soule. “They have searched this area before, but they weren’t real satisfied because with the heat and humidity and everything, the animals wore out.”

Sam and Lindsey Porter were 7 and 8 years old when their father picked them up June 5, 2004, for the weekend. At the time, Porter was estranged from his wife, Tina Porter, who is the children’s mother. The children haven’t been seen since.

Porter, 43, was convicted in February of parental kidnapping with the intent to terrorize his ex-wife and sentenced to 38 years in prison.

Thursday’s search along the Missouri River just off Cement City Road was conducted by members of Missouri Search and Rescue K-9, a nonprofit organization that assists law enforcement agencies in finding missing persons and locating bodies.

Porter was known to have hunted in the area and on the day he took the children, Tina Porter said he tried to lure her into the woods with him.

Irene Korotev, training officer for the rescue group, said she thought the search was thorough.

Soule said authorities would continue searching for the children until they are found.

“If it takes this and 10 or 20 more times — if that’s what it takes to bring closure to this, that’s what we’ll do,” he said. “We can all pray that the children are still alive and well, but the longer it goes on, the more unlikely it seems.”

Tina Porter said she had mixed feelings about the search.

“I’m glad they did the search again,” she said, “but I knew they wouldn’t find anything, because I believe Sam and Lindsey are alive. We just need to keep looking.”