Apr 3, 2008 1:03 pm US/Eastern
Police Continue Searching For Kidnapped Teens
CATONSVILLE, Md. (WJZ) ―
Police across the region remain on the lookout for two teenage boys kidnapped at gunpoint from a house in Baltimore County. An Amber Alert remains in effect.
Sally Thorner has the latest on the search.
The teenagers and their abductors have been missing for almost two days as questions are raised about whether the Amber Alert system should have been used in the search.
The longer Sterling Blackwell and his older brother Stephon are missing, the more police fear for their safety.
"We would ask anybody who knows any information or has seen them to contact police immediately," said Cpl. Mike Hill with Baltimore County Police.
The Blackwell brothers were abducted during a brazen eight-hour home invasion Tuesday morning. Their mother and seven relatives were tied up as the boys were taken by six armed men who drove away in the family's 2004 BMW 645, followed by a gray Suburban.
A few hours later, the BMW was recovered in Southwest Baltimore, minus the boys and their abductors.
Neighbors who don't want their names and faces on camera are shocked by the kidnapping but not surprised that trouble has come to a home where suspicious activity goes on at all hours of the night.
"Fear of reprisal from confronting them or complaining or calling the police on them. I was worried about that," a neighbor said.
State police are getting a number of questions about the use of the Amber Alert system in their effort to help find both victims, but they tell
Eyewitness News that system is perfectly suited to help find children quickly.
Since the program's inception six years ago, there have been 23 Amber Alerts statewide out of 68 requests from local authorities. The Blackwell brothers qualify because they are abducted minors in a life-threatening situation.
Police are hoping the ongoing Amber Alert will help find the Blackwell brothers unharmed. Eyewitness News has learned the boys' mother and other relatives have been questioned extensively by police.
If you have any information about this case, you're asked to call police.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Great NFL Hair
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Reporting
