Parents fury after police 'blunder' led to them losing the chance to locate their missing daughter, 12
Khloe Dunbar went missing on July 16 near Columbus, leaving her mother Megan Dunn terrified for her safety and desperately launching an effort to find her.
But in the week before Khloe was found safely, a bystander filmed a suspicious traffic stop in which police found the child but allowed her to stay with a group of adults.
Dunn said that discovering the cops had come face-to-face with her missing daughter but let her go left her 'disgusted.'
'I'm sick to my stomach,' she told 11Alive. 'I have video footage of these officers, and they let that little 12-year-old that was reported missing go. It's not OK. None of this is OK.'
Police admitted that not only did they allow Khloe to leave the traffic stop as a missing person, but they were not even aware she was in the footage until it was sent to them by the outlet.
'It wasn't until you sent us that cell phone video that we even knew about the traffic stop,' conceded Sgt. Joe Albert with Columbus police.
'We wish we had handled the traffic stop differently. We wish she had been returned to her parents.'
In bodycam footage of the traffic stop, police were seen pulling three people from a Chevy Malibu, sitting a male driver and two women by the side of the road.
They then asked Khloe her name and she gave a fake alias and claimed she was 15, but the cops instantly questioned this and she eventually gave her real name.
But they did not recognize the name despite a missing persons alert being issued days before, and allowed her to leave with one of the adult women after arresting the male driver.
Khloe was eventually found the next day thanks to the cell phone footage, which was circulated online after witness Daeja Rutland said she realized the girl was in the clip.
Rutland said she filmed the traffic stop after police pulled over two women and a man from a black SUV.
When she got home and went on social media, she said she saw a missing poster of Dunbar and her heart sank.
'I looked at that video one time and I knew it was her... I got on Facebook and the first thing I saw was that little girl's face. My heart stopped,' she said.
Dunn said her daughter's safe return was not satisfying given the way the police handled the case, saying that she wants an apology from officials
Dunn said she was infuriated by how close police were to her daughter, who she claimed had been 'close to a fentanyl overdose' at the time.
'(She was) this close to being trafficked,' she said. 'And the police had her, no regard for any of it. It's negligence.'
Khloe was eventually found the next day, six days after the initial missing person report was made.
But Dunn said her daughter's safe return was not satisfying given the way the police handled the case, saying that she wants an apology from officials.
'I want to hear, "We failed you and your family,"' Dunn said.
'There was only a 24-hour window before she was found again but that doesn't matter. What matters is that it happened.'
Columbus Police told 11Alive that they have launched an internal investigation into the incident.
It is unclear if any arrests were made after Khloe was found, and Daily Mail has contacted Columbus Police for more information.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
43 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Teen learns his fate after accidentally shooting 10-year-old cousin while playing with a gun
A Wisconsin teenager has been sentenced to a decade behind bars after recklessly firing a gun that killed his 10-year-old cousin while she slept. Javier Rodriguez, now 19, was handed a 10-year prison stretch on Thursday, with credit for just under 14 months already served in custody, after admitting to killing his cousin last year. He pleaded guilty in June to second-degree reckless homicide in the May 2024 death of Isdennyeliz Ortiz, a 'bright and bubbly' fourth-grader who had just celebrated her 10th birthday weeks earlier. Following his release, Rodriguez will spend an additional eight years under supervised release, a Milwaukee County judge ruled. The tragedy unfolded shortly after 12:40am on May 31, 2024, inside a three-story home in Milwaukee where several generations of the same family lived. Isdennyeliz, affectionately known as 'Issey' to family and friends, was asleep in her mother's bed with her baby brother by her side when the bullet struck her in the chest. The round had pierced through the floor and ceiling above, where police say Rodriguez had been recklessly handling a firearm on the upper level. According to a criminal complaint, Rodriguez ran down the stairs in a panic telling the girl's mother, 'It's my fault. I'm sorry. Please forgive me.' Her 14-year-old sister later told investigators that Rodriguez repeated the same words in a panic, 'I'm sorry. It's my fault. I did it.' Her mother turned on the light, only to see her daughter bleeding and unresponsive, and a fresh bullet hole in the ceiling above her. The child died before paramedics could arrive on the scene. Rodriguez, who was 18 at the time, fled the home before police arrived but was identified on home surveillance footage and arrested days later. Security footage showed him carrying what police described as a 'tan firearm' while wearing a blue rubber glove, just before a loud bang was captured by the camera's audio. Court documents also revealed Rodriguez had fired a gun in the home once before, a month prior, although no one was injured on that occasion. Investigators recovered a small arsenal of firearms from a closet, including three loaded pistols, a drum magazine, and several boxes of ammunition. 'Now we have a family whose 10-year-old daughter is not here,' said Marty Calderon to TMJ4. Calderon is a local activist with Milwaukee's Promise Keepers, a group that responded to the family after the shooting. 'How much more do we have to keep telling people - leave guns alone,' Calderon added. The emotional weight of the sentencing was felt throughout the courtroom. Although prosecutors did not allege Rodriguez intended to kill his cousin, they argued that his reckless behavior proved fatal. Isdennyeliz Ortiz was described by loved ones as a joyful girl who loved making YouTube videos and playing volleyball. She was looking forward to an upcoming family trip to Wisconsin Dells, her mother said. 'There is no other way to describe this horrific incident other than to say it is utterly unacceptable,' said Milwaukee Alderwoman JoCasta Zamarripa in a statement. 'Far too many young people continue to be impacted by gun violence across our city. These gun-related incidents are wholly preventable, and we must do better to stop them.' According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Homicide Database, youth homicide victims are tragically common in the city: 12% of homicide victims in 2024 were between between 10 and 17 years old. 'We have to give people the knowledge of how to safely handle a gun, how to safely protect yourself,' said Teneen Rucker with the nonprofit Safe and Sound, which plans to host a gun violence awareness event later this summer. 'This can't keep happening.' Rodriguez had faced a potential 25-year sentence before agreeing to a plea deal in June. In court, he showed remorse and accepted responsibility for his actions but the sentence, family members say can never bring back the child they lost. As part of the judge's ruling, Rodriguez is prohibited from owning or possessing firearms for the rest of his life.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Shock images capture aftermath after roof collapses on unsuspecting dollar store shoppers - leaving one dead and multiple injured
Shocking images have captured the aftermath of a horror roof collapse collapsed roof at a dollar store which left one dead and another with debilitating lifelong injuries. Tammy Martin filed a lawsuit against Family Dollar in Missouri after she was crushed by the caving roof at the Kansas City store on July 27. Horrific pictures of the aftermath revealed an enormous hole in the corner of the dollar store, with debris strewn across the road and parking lot. Martin has accused the store owners of negligence leading to the accident, which tragically left a 68-year-old man dead. 'The heavy debris which fell onto Plaintiff caused severe and permanent injuries to Plaintiff's entire body, including but not limited to her head, face, neck, back, spine, pelvis, arms, hands, and legs,' the lawsuit stated. She is seeking more than $25,000 in damages. Officers descended on the scene soon after the collapse and taped off the area as bricks and wooden beams piled up on the footpath. The lawsuit claims the main cause of the roof collapse was a 2016 car crash which knocked down one of the main support pillars in front of the building. The pillar was never repaired, the lawsuit states. According to the lawsuit, store operators had been repeatedly told that the roof 'looked as it it was going to fall.' 'Defendants knew or should have known The Store, including the roof, was not reasonably safe,' the lawsuit stated. Martin was in the store and shopping at the time of the tragedy, and was caught off guard when the roof collapsed on top of her. 'As a direct and proximate result of Defendants' failures, Plaintiff suffered the above referenced injuries which resulted in substantial healthcare expense, loss of enjoyment of life, permanent disability, pain and suffering, future healthcare treatment and expense,' the lawsuit stated. According to the lawsuit, store operators had been repeatedly told that the roof 'looked as it it was going to fall.' It also noted a 'loss of earning capacity and lost wages, all in the past and is reasonably likely to incur same in the future.' She is seeking a jury trial. According to KCTV, a property violation report had been filed by code enforcement officers just two days before the tragedy. The report said the building appeared to be slowly 'tilting.' Kansas City police and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are investigating the incident.
Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Telegraph
We don't want ‘disgusting' sex traffickers in our prison, say Ghislaine Maxwell's fellow inmates
Ghislaine's Maxwell's arrival at a minimum-security prison in Texas has provoked anger among her fellow inmates. A prisoner at Federal Prison Camp (FPC) Bryan told The Telegraph she was 'disgusted' by Maxwell's transfer and that her feelings were widely shared by other inmates at the facility. Maxwell, the British socialite and former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein, was quietly moved to the prison camp 100 miles outside Houston, Texas, this week from a stricter low-security prison in Tallahassee, Florida. Her new prison mostly houses inmates convicted of 'white-collar' crimes and low-level offences, and they are said to be angry that Maxwell is being held among them. Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence for procuring underage girls for the late financier and convicted paedophile, who took his own life in prison in 2019. Julie Howell, 44, who is serving a one-year sentence for theft, told The Telegraph that 'every inmate I've heard from is upset she's here'. 'This facility is supposed to house non-violent offenders,' she added. 'Human trafficking is a violent crime.' Inmates at minimum-security institutions, also known as FPCs, benefit from low prison guard-to-inmate ratio and limited-to-no perimeter fencing. It is the same prison facility where Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of Theranos, a fraudulent blood-testing company, is serving an 11-year sentence. It also allows inmates to play with puppies as part of a scheme to train dogs to become service animals. Upon Maxwell's arrival at the facility, prisoners were allegedly locked down and had the blinds shut in an apparent effort to shield her from view. The transfer comes a week after she was interviewed by Todd Blanche, Donald Trump 's deputy attorney general, leading to intense speculation that some sort of deal has been cut. Mr Trump has come under pressure in recent weeks to release all information related to Epstein, after the Department of Justice and FBI concluded that he died by suicide and did not possess a 'client list'. During a nine-hour interrogation with Mr Blanche, Maxwell was allegedly grilled about Epstein's connections to Bill Clinton, the Duke of York and Bill Gates, as well several other billionaires, according to the Daily Mail. Maxwell's legal team have said she is willing to testify before Congress in exchange for a presidential pardon or having her sentence commuted – a possibility Mr Trump has not ruled out. Inmates at FPC Bryan are worried about their own safety, given the widespread threats against Maxwell and lack of tight security on the prison grounds. Howell said: 'We have heard there are threats against her life and many of us are worried about our own safety because she's here.' Her comments will only fuel concern that could be targeted at the facility, preventing her testimony about Epstein from ever seeing the light of day. Maxwell was allegedly moved under the cover of darkness because she had been 'bombarded' with death threats from rapists who accused her of being a 'snitch', according to the Mail on Sunday. A source told the newspaper: 'As soon as Ghislaine spoke to the government she was considered a snitch by other inmates at Tallahassee. There were very real and very credible threats on her life. 'There were real fears inside Tallahassee that they could not guarantee her safety, which is why she was moved.' Maxwell 'could be a flight risk' Howell, who self-surrendered in July to serve her sentence at FPC Bryan, has a daughter who was trafficked as a teenager. In an email sent from prison about Maxwell's transfer, she wrote: 'I am honestly shocked she was moved to a federal prison camp with her history and charges.' The married mother-of-four said that her daughter was repeatedly trafficked from the age of 17, leading to her being 'beaten, choked and eventually shot'. Her daughter also allegedly became pregnant as a result and Howell said she has since adopted the child. The former professor, who worked in children's education for 22 years, said she helped the FBI and local law enforcement agencies track down the perpetrators, who are now serving federal prison sentences of more than 20 years. 'That incident changed the trajectory of my daughter's life, as well as mine,' she said. Howell said that the circumstances surrounding her daughter being shot provoked her mental health spiral and addiction to gambling, which she funded by resorting to theft. In January, she pleaded guilty to stealing almost $1m from Tarleton State University, her former employer, between 2022 and 2024. She was sentenced to one year in prison in June. Howell said: 'I don't blame anyone else for the actions that brought me to FPC Bryan, but I can definitely say that the circumstances that surrounded my daughter being shot were what sparked my spiral and addiction to gambling to escape my reality. 'Having Ms Maxwell here triggered all of those feelings.' Howell also warned that Maxwell could be a flight risk, given her previous efforts to avoid detection prior to her arrest. She said: 'This is a camp you can literally walk out of. I don't care how many people she turns in, it doesn't take away from her actions. 'As a mother of a sex-trafficking victim, I'm absolutely disgusted she's in this facility. Regardless of her reasoning, I don't think she belongs here.'
