Adam Herrman missing, Valerie and Doug Herrman charged with theft

Right: hopefully where the Herrmans end up.

July 7, 2010

BY TIM POTTER
The Wichita Eagle

via kansas.com

Doug and Valerie Herrman walked out of the Butler County Jail on Wednesday afternoon after they were booked on charges of felony theft...

Left: Fourth-grade photo of Adam Herrman released by the Butler County Sheriff's Department 01/05/2009. Herrman was last seen in 1999 when he was 11 or 12 years old. An investigation is proceeding in the case.

EL DORADO — The adoptive parents of Adam Herrman, who disappeared from his Towanda home at age 11 more than a decade ago, were charged today with felony theft.

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The charges are related to the alleged fraudulent receipt of over $50,000 in government assistance for Adam's care, according to Butler County Attorney Jan Satterfield.

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Doug and Valerie Herrman each posted a $50,000 bond. The couple voluntarily went to the Butler County Jail in response to warrants that were issued against them.

Charges were filed today to avoid questions of whether the five year statute of limitations on the charges has expired. The Herrmans allegedly cashed the last adoption state subsidy check on July 8, 2005, according to Satterfield, six years after Adam's disappearance.

The boy disappeared in 1999, but Butler County authorities didn't learn of Adam's disappearance until late 2008.

"This is not the beginning and end. This is just the beginning for the Herrmans," said Satterfield of the charges. Adam would be 23 if he were still alive.

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Thank you Jan. Sincerely. Don't let them slip through the cracks. What about the Internal Revenue Service? If they cashed those adoption checks and claimed them as dependents, I'd bet they claimed him on their federal taxes as well.

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Read entire article here

William Moore pleas guilty to murder of Carol Mould

BY Ron Sylvester
The Wichita Eagle
via kansas.com

March 3, 2010

Click here to see the video in full screen or to e-mail to a friend.

EL DORADO - After Bill Moore calmly pleaded guilty Tuesday to killing an Andover woman five years ago, Doug Mould talked of the wife and mother he and his three children lost.

“There is no closure in these sorts of situations,” Mould said of the loss of his wife, Carol, in a violent attack in their home...


Moore, 56, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of second-degree murder.

Had he gone to trial, Moore faced first-degree murder and life in prison.

...Moore could face nearly 13 years when he returned for sentencing May 10.

Mould, 46, was found dead in her burning house, just off K-254, on Sept. 22, 2004...

Then last May 20, paramedics received a call that Moore was suicidal at his home. “I killed Carol Mould,” Moore told paramedic Dom Domebo...

During his confession, Moore said that he knew Mould because their sons served together in Boy Scouts. Moore said he went to her house hoping to have sex with her.

Under the plea agreement, Moore will not be able to appeal his sentence...
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Butler County Attorney Jan Satterfield’s decision to offer Moore the plea...
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So what will Butler County Attorney Jan Satterfield decide what to do about the disappearance of Adam Herrman? It is pretty clear that Valerie Herrman killed him, and Doug Herrman has kept his yap shut all these years.
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If Carol Mould's murderer can walk in 13 years, will Satterfield even bother to charge the Herrmans? Could it be she's scared to proceed? Valerie Herrmans own family is willing to testify against her. What's stopping the filing of charges?
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Maybe we need to just wait until Satterfield can get voted out and replaced by someone who knows the job. My own opinion.

Adam Herrman not forgotten in Butler County, Kansas

Kansas.com

Tim Potter, The Wichita Eagle

January 2, 2010

View photos from and read previous coverage of the Adam Herrman case

TOWANDA — The mystery began here. In 1999, 11-year-old Adam Herrman disappeared from his adoptive parents' mobile home on the south side of town.
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But investigators didn't discover the boy had been missing until about a year ago — after his older, adoptive sister told authorities she was concerned about him...

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A year later, the mystery remains unsolved. Authorities say they continue to work on the case.
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In a recent interview, Butler County Attorney Jan Satterfield said she expects to make a decision on charges within the next year. Nearly a year ago, she said Adam's adoptive parents were suspects in his disappearance. In some ways, Satterfield said, the case gets stronger with time. "There is no statute of limitations on murder,'' she said...

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Satterfield said that within the next year, she expects to file charges or submit the case to a grand jury so it could consider bringing indictments.

She declined to say what charges might be filed...

Warner Eisenbise, the lawyer who represents Adam's adoptive mother, Valerie Herrman...
Laura Shaneyfelt, lawyer for Adam's adoptive father, Doug Herrman...

The Herrmans continue to assert that they are innocent, their lawyers say.

In an interview with The Eagle last January, Valerie Herrman, then 52, said that in early May 1999, when Adam was 11, he ran away from their Towanda mobile home and didn't return after she spanked him with a belt. She said she didn't report him missing because she feared it would cause her and her husband to lose custody of Adam and their other children.

Relatives said that Valerie Herrman told them that Adam, who was being home-schooled, was no longer at home because he had been returned to state custody...

Adam's biological father, Irvin Groeninger...thinks authorities are doing everything they can. He said he hopes that charges will be filed. "I'm hoping that there will be justice served on this." And he said he would welcome renewed media attention on the case.

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...Court records show that the Herrmans continued to list Adam as a dependent in court documents. Valerie Herrman told The Eagle that they continued to accept $700 monthly adoption subsidy payments for Adam until his 18th birthday in 2005 — six years after he disappeared. Adam would be 22 now...

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read entire article here

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A timeline for the Adam Herrman case

Prosecutor gets Adam Herrman case

Derby/Towanda, Kansas

March 31, 2009

Tim Potter, kansas.com

The Wichita Eagle

CASE OF MISSING KANSAS BOY SENT TO PROSECUTOR

EL DORADO - For the most part during a news conference Monday, Butler County Sheriff Craig Murphy declined to reveal his thinking about the mysterious disappearance of 11-year-old Adam Herrman.

Murphy summoned reporters after promising to notify them when his detectives turned their investigative findings over to County Attorney Jan Satterfield. That happened Friday, when detectives delivered a nearly 3-foot-tall stack of papers, he announced.

Now, it's up to Satterfield to decide whether criminal charges will be brought against Adam's adoptive parents a decade after he disappeared.

Although Murphy didn't reveal much, he said this: "I feel there is enough to charge the parents -- with what, is not up to me, and I'm not going to speculate on it. But I see charges there."
Asked whether he expected murder charges, he wouldn't say.

Satterfield has told The Eagle that murder charges are possible. Murphy's latest comments were the furthest he has gone in publicly pointing a finger at Adam's adoptive parents, Doug and Valerie Herrman of Derby. "Our focus is on the Herrmans right now," he said. "And I will tell you that... our focus has not switched."

Asked whether he thinks Adam is dead, Murphy said, "From the bottom of my heart, guys, I can't make that call because I don't know," he said, stressing the words. "I wish I could make that call, but I can't."

Asked whether investigators have found any physical evidence of the boy, Murphy said, "We have not found any body parts of Adam Herrman."

He noted that, despite a nationwide alert, authorities have not heard from Adam, who would be 21 now.

Valerie Herrman has told The Eagle that Adam ran away from their Towanda mobile home in early May 1999 after she spanked him with a belt. She said the couple didn't report him missing because they feared it would lead to him and their other children being taken from their custody (thus losing their monthly check for having adopted special needs kids, in this case siblings.)
Several of Valerie Herrman's relatives have said they saw her abuse Adam over the years, but she denies it.

The relatives said she explained Adam's absence by saying he had gone back into state custody.

He had been home-schooled, so he would not have been reported absent from school (after having been reported to SRS by his last school school, Pleasant View in Derby, after a counselor noticed Adam heavily bruised.)

Authorities didn't discover his disappearance until late last year, after his adoptive sister came forward with concerns about him.

Warner Eisenbise, attorney for Valerie Herrman, declined to comment Monday.
Dan Monnat, attorney for Doug Herrman, said his client is "innocent of causing any harm to Adam Herrman. We understand the prosecutor is looking at charges, and we're confident she'll come to the same conclusion."

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Butler County District Attorney Satterfield could not be reached. Detectives have given her page after page of interviews and details about searches. "She has every piece of paper," Murphy said in an interview before the news conference. "Now, she can do her own investigation of the investigation."

He said they expect Satterfield to pose new questions for them to answer, and they will keep investigating.

Butler County detectives and search teams have looked for human remains along the Whitewater River near Towanda and in the Towanda mobile home park where Adam disappeared.

They also checked for possible evidence in the manufactured home he lived in before it was moved to rural northwest Sedgwick County.

Murphy said it's possible that investigators could conduct more searches. One remaining option is ground-penetrating radar.

Tips still trickle in. The latest came Monday in an e-mail from out of state. Murphy called the e-mail "interesting" but declined to say why.

Sheriff's Detective Sgt. Kelly Herzet, lead investigator on the case, said he wants the public and potential tipsters "to know we're not done" taking tips or investigating the disappearance.

Anyone with information can call detectives at 316-322-8817 or toll free at 866-484-5924, he said. Information can be sent by e-mail to crimetips@bucoks.com.

"We're always looking for that little piece" of information that could be crucial to the case, Herzet said.

Adam Herrman case moving 'behind closed doors,' sheriff says

February 22, 2009
BY TIM POTTER
The Wichita Eagle

View photos from and read previous coverage of the Adam Herrman case

As Butler County investigators conducted two searches Saturday for a boy who disappeared in 1999, Sheriff Craig Murphy said detectives are preparing to present their case to a prosecutor in the next few weeks.

Murphy said the investigation -- marked by several visible searches that he announced in advance -- now moves "behind closed doors." Detectives will be readying their findings for Butler County Attorney Jan Satterfield.

Neither of Saturday's searches uncovered remains of Adam Herrman, Murphy said. One of the searches Saturday came in response to a tip and took place along the Whitewater River near Santa Fe Lake and Parallel roads, about three miles northwest of Towanda.

The second search occurred later Saturday at a manufactured home in rural northwest Sedgwick County -- the same home where investigators spent hours searching last month. Much of the previous search focused on a bathroom where relatives alleged that Adam was kept for long periods. The manufactured home had been moved to its current location from a Towanda mobile home park where authorities say Adam disappeared a decade ago, at age 11, while living with his adoptive parents.

Authorities have been treating his disappearance -- discovered only late last year -- as a possible homicide.

Murphy had previously announced the location for Saturday's first search -- along the Whitewater -- and held a briefing for reporters on nearby Parallel Road on Saturday morning. But he declined to say much about Saturday's second search -- in northwest Sedgwick County -- and did not announce it in advance.

An Eagle reporter arrived as the second search was ending at the Sedgwick County home shortly after noon. That search team included at least one search dog.

The earlier search Saturday, along a northern segment of the Whitewater, marks the last planned search near Towanda unless tips prompt more searches, Murphy said.

He said the number of tips about the case has dwindled, possibly because the case is drawing less interest.

Satterfield, Butler County's chief prosecutor, will decide what charges, if any, could be filed, Murphy said.

Satterfield has told The Eagle that Adam's adoptive parents, Valerie and Doug Herrman, who now live in Derby, are suspects in an investigation that could lead to murder charges, based on an underlying crime of child abuse. Neither of the Herrmans has been arrested.

Several of Valerie Herrman's close relatives have said they saw her abuse Adam. She left a message at The Eagle last week saying her relatives are lying. The Herrmans and their attorneys say they are innocent.

Some of the investigation has occurred in public: Murphy gave news media advance notice of several searches, four along the Whitewater near Towanda and one in the Towanda mobile home park. Near each search site, he gave briefings to reporters and let news crews take photographs of search teams at a distance.

Now, Murphy said, "we'll go behind closed doors" to complete the investigation. The work will involve continued brainstorming by detectives, follow-up interviews of tipsters and paperwork to help Satterfield review the investigation, he said.

Murphy, who has been an investigator for decades, said that the Herrman case is "unique to my career."

Much of the challenge to solving the mystery is that "we started 10 years behind," he said.
"It's not even a cold case. We've literally had to start a case with no information," he said.
One of the difficulties investigators have encountered is that many of the people who lived at the mobile home park when Adam disappeared have moved since then, and detectives haven't been able to interview some of them, Murphy said.

Valerie Herrman has told The Eagle that Adam, who was being home-schooled by her, ran away after she spanked him with a belt in early May 1999 and didn't return.

She said that she and her husband searched for Adam but didn't report him missing because they feared it would cause authorities to take Adam and two younger adopted siblings from their custody.

Relatives said Valerie Herrman had told them that Adam was no longer with her because he had been returned to the state's custody. Authorities discovered his disappearance late last year after his older, adoptive sister -- who had been trying to locate him -- voiced concerns about his welfare to authorities.

Last search for evidence in Adam Herrman case concludes

February 22, 2009

KSN

BUTLER COUNTY, Kansas – Butler County authorities conducted their last planned search for clues in the disappearance of Adam Herrman, a Towanda boy who went missing nearly 10 years ago.

Authorities began searching the area around the Towanda mobile home park where Adam lived when he went missing for the third time Saturday at 10 a.m. The search only lasted a short time on Saturday. It was the fourth search of the area in the last couple months.

"We've done everything we can do out here," said Butler County Sheriff Craig Murphy.
Adam was 11 when he disappeared in 1999, but his adoptive parents never reported him missing. It was only after a family member came forward after Thanksgiving last year when officials became aware of the missing boy.

Authorities continue to slowly build a criminal case against the boy’s adoptive parents, Doug and Valerie Herrman. They're the only two suspects police have named in the investigation.
The County Attorney told KSN news last month her office would not need a body to file murder charges in the case. Sheriff Murphy said he continues to meet with prosecutors regularly about the case, including a two meeting on Monday.

Murphy said it will be up to her to decide if they have gathered enough evidence to bring the case to court. "It becomes legal maneuvering so to speak from her stand point," said Murphy. "What do I need to prove my case to a jury?"

The Herrmans maintain they are innocent, claiming Adam ran away in 1999 and they didn't report him missing out of fear they would lose their other foster children.

"Prosecutors and judges need to be very careful not to mistake a disappearance with a homicide case", said Doug Herrman's attorney Dan Monnat. "Prosecuting a homicide case without a body poses a grave risk of conviction of an innocent person." (Or conviction for the brutal murder of an 11 year-old boy.)

Doug and Valerie Herrman are now represented by separate attorneys.
Anyone with any information is still asked to call Butler County Authorities.

Search for Adam Herrman to resume Saturday

BY TIM POTTER
The Wichita Eagle
The search for Adam Herrman is expected to resume on Saturday.
Investigators plan to search again in areas near the Towanda mobile home park where Adam lived with his adoptive parents when he disappeared in 1999 at age 11. Some of that search will include woods and creeks south of the mobile home park, said Butler County Sheriff Craig Murphy.
Three previous searches have focused on the banks of the Whitewater River. Investigators also have searched at least twice -- including a full-fledged excavation -- at the mobile home lot where the Herrmans' manufactured home sat before the home was moved to rural northwest Sedgwick County.

Adam Herrman's brother-in-law regrets not acting

BY TIM POTTER
The Wichita Eagle

View photos from and read previous coverage of the Adam Herrman case

In hindsight, Adam Herrman's adoptive brother-in-law says, he feels guilty for not calling police about an incident he says he witnessed a year or so before the boy disappeared.

Back then, the brother-in-law said, he was upset and confused -- but did not call authorities -- over an incident at a Derby house where Adam lived with his adoptive parents before moving to Towanda.

Adam, who was 10 or 11 at the time, grasped his arm and asked for help, the brother-in-law said. His first name is Steven; he asked that his last name not be used to protect his children's privacy.

Late last year, Steven learned that Adam has been missing since 1999. The discovery that he has been missing for a decade has triggered an investigation in which the Butler County prosecutor has said that Adam's adoptive parents, Doug and Valerie Herrman, are suspects and that murder charges are possible, based on an underlying crime of a child abuse.

Doug and Valerie Herrman and their lawyers say they are innocent.

"Steven, help me"

Steven, now 40, said the incident occurred at a duplex in the 300 block of South Willow. He said he was visiting his in-laws' duplex and went to use a basement bathroom. But the light wouldn't turn on because the bulb had been removed.

As he was closing the bathroom door, from inside the bathroom, a small hand grasped his arm, he said.

"Steven, help me," the person said, in a flat tone, he said.

Steven said he realized it was Adam.

He said he had Adam move over to a lighted area in the basement and told him to sit in a recliner.

Steven said he saw a yellowish bruise around Adam's eye and scratches of more than an inch long on the boy's face. The scratches appeared to be healing.

He didn't visit the house very often and didn't remember seeing injuries on Adam before, he said.

Describing his feelings at the time, Steven said, "I just didn't understand. Why's he asking for help? Why's he in the bathroom -- in the dark? Maybe I should have sat down and talked to him a little longer," he said.

Steven said he told Adam to stay there and went outside to talk to Doug Herrman, who was working by the garage. Steven said he was upset. He said he told Doug Herrman something like, "You need to fix this, or I'm calling the police."

Days later, Steven said, Doug Herrman told him that he, Valerie and Adam were attending counseling sessions and that everything was OK. Steven said that at the time he felt assured that the situation was resolved. Later, when he saw Adam, "He looked fine."

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"She's very caring" (gagging as I type)

Some of Valerie Herrman's close relatives have accused her of abusing Adam over the years.
She told The Eagle that she sometimes kept Adam in a bathroom, on the advice of a psychiatrist (who is this mystery psychiatrist? Let's look him/her up), after he threatened the family.

Her attorney, Warner Eisenbise, declined to comment on Steven's account of his visit to the Derby duplex. Eisenbise defended Valerie Herrman, saying, "I've gotten to know Valerie very well. She's very emotional. She's very caring." He said he expects there could be character witnesses who would say that "she baby sat their children, and she was wonderful. She's not the evil person" that some of her relatives have described, he said.

Dan Monnat, whose law firm is representing Doug Herrman, also declined to comment on Steven's account but defended his client. "Doug Herrman is innocent of causing any harm to Adam Herrman," Monnat said.

At the storm shelter

Months after the incident at the duplex, Steven said that he and his wife, Crystal, who is the Herrmans' oldest biological child, moved to a Towanda mobile home park. The Herrmans had moved there from Derby, and Valerie Herrman managed the park. Steven and his wife lived a few lots from the Herrmans.

Steven said he remembers tornado sirens sounding twice while they lived there. The first time, he saw Adam with others gathered in the park's storm shelter. The shelter sat next to the lot where the Herrmans' manufactured home sat.

Weeks later, when the tornado siren sounded again, Steven said he didn't see Adam at the shelter. He said someone asked Valerie Herrman where Adam was. She said Adam was at home because he was "being bad," Steven said. Steven said it angered him because he thought Adam would have been at risk if a tornado hit.

In an Eagle interview, Valerie Herrman said Adam ran away in the first week of May 1999 after she spanked him with a belt. Adam was 11 at the time. The Herrmans have said they searched for Adam but couldn't find him. Valerie Herrman said they didn't report Adam missing because they feared the spanking would have caused authorities to take him and his younger siblings into state custody.

Relatives have said that the Herrmans explained Adam's absence by saying that he had gone back to state custody.

In late 2008, Steven's wife, Crystal, took her concerns about Adam's welfare to authorities in Sedgwick County. She had searched the Internet but had not been able to locate Adam. After authorities checked, they determined that Adam has been missing since 1999.

Steven said that after his wife brought her concerns to authorities, he told investigators about the incident at the Derby house.

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My heart literally aches for this little guy. At 11 boys are adolescents, at that awkward age as it is. Then to be trapped with a woman that he knew was going to kill him. And I am still very concerned about the psychological well being of the two younger siblings that made it through alive.

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It does no harm to call police as ask them to check on the welfare of a child. Or an elder. If they are ok, let the police determine that, because they won't leave the home without seeing the child.

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Search for Adam Herrman finds no evidence

It breaks my heart to see the smile on his face, despite the obvious mark on his forehead.

BY TIM POTTER
The Wichita Eagle

View photos from and read previous coverage of the Adam Herrman case

TOWANDA - Investigators didn't find any evidence today in their third search along the Whitewater River for remains of Adam Herrman, the 11-year-old boy who disappeared 10 years ago, Butler County Sheriff Craig Murphy said.

About 20 people, including investigators, anthropological experts and search dog teams, took part, Murphy said.

Adam disappeared in 1999 from a Towanda mobile home park where he lived with his adoptive parents, Doug and Valerie Herrman. They have said that he ran away and they didn't report it. Authorities discovered his disappearance late last year when his older adoptive sister brought her concerns about him to authorities.

The next planned search -- of woods south of the mobile home park -- is Feb. 21, Murphy said.

Bathroom at center of search for Adam Herrman

BY TIM POTTER
The Wichita Eagle
Larry W. Smith/Correspondent

TOWANDA, KS - JANUARY 24, 2009: A man and a search dog look through the woods along the river for the remains of missing Adam Herrman who went missing in 1999 outside of Towanda, Kansas on Saturday, January 24, 2009.

Read previous coverage of the Adam Herrman case

In a recent search of the home where 11-year-old Adam Herrman lived when he disappeared in 1999, investigators spent three hours checking a bathroom for clues and used a chemical that can detect blood traces, the current homeowner said.

Butler County Sheriff Craig Murphy said Saturday he couldn't comment on whether investigators obtained evidence but confirmed that the search focused on the bathroom.
"We looked at every inch of that bathroom," Murphy said in Towanda, where search teams Saturday scoured the east bank of the Whitewater River but found no remains of the missing boy. His decade-old disappearance was discovered late last year after a tip to authorities.

Close relatives of Adam's adoptive parents, Doug and Valerie Herrman, have said they saw him being kept for long periods in the bathroom, when the manufactured home sat in a Towanda mobile home park, before being moved to Sedgwick County.

Valerie Herrman has said that she kept her adoptive son in a bathroom at night, with plenty of bedding, on the advice of a psychiatrist after he threatened the family.

A new search along the Whitewater River at Towanda on Saturday found "nothing of any interest," Murphy said. It was the second search that investigators have conducted along the river this month, looking for Adam's remains.

When he disappeared about 10 years ago, he and his adoptive family were living in a Towanda mobile home park east of the river. In the months after he disappeared, the family moved the manufactured home to a lot in rural northwest Sedgwick County. Investigators searched the home at that site on Jan. 7. The Herrmans now live in Derby.

Dan McDaniel, the home's current owner, told The Eagle on Friday that investigators focused on a bathroom off the hallway. McDaniel said he knows the investigators used luminol -- a chemical used to detect tiny traces of blood -- because they provided directions for cleaning up powdery residue left by the forensic tool.

Investigators worked in the bathroom for about three hours but apparently didn't dismantle or remove anything in the bathroom, he said. They didn't say whether they detected any blood, he said.

The investigators apologized for the disruption, McDaniel said, but it didn't bother him. "That's a minimal disruption if it helps solve a case like this," he said. McDaniel's wife, Sheri, said of Adam, who would be 21 now, "I just hope that maybe he's still alive."

Murphy has said that investigators have not ruled out that Adam is alive, but Murphy also has consistently said that investigators are looking for Adam's remains. The McDaniels, in their 50s, have lived in the home since May 2003.

Although the couple know that the home is being investigated as part of a possible homicide, Dan McDaniel said it doesn't bother him. "As far as living in the home, no, I'm not uncomfortable," he said. "The house hasn't done anything wrong."

'Not entertainment'

On Saturday, at the search staging area in Towanda, Murphy said he agreed with a recent comment The Eagle obtained from Butler County Attorney Jan Satterfield, the county's chief prosecutor. Satterfield said publicly for the first time that Doug and Valerie Herrman are suspects in their adoptive son's disappearance.

"Yes, they are very possible suspects," Murphy said Saturday. Satterfield also told The Eagle that the investigation could result in first-degree felony murder charges, with the underlying crime being child abuse.

On Thursday, Satterfield said that investigators are "making progress" and are giving her regular briefings about the case. Satterfield said she is reviewing state child welfare records and medical records on Adam. He was the Herrmans' foster child before his adoption by them was finalized in August 1993, when he was 6.

No charges have been filed against the Herrmans, and they and their attorneys have said they are innocent. Referring to the Herrmans, Murphy said they have been the focus of the investigation because they had responsibility for Adam.

Noting that the case has drawn the attention of national talk shows, Murphy said, "It makes (for) interesting conversations." But he added, "They don't know what we know." "This is not entertainment," Murphy said. "This is about Adam Herrman, a boy who went missing. What happened to him, and who's responsible?"

River search continues

For several hours Saturday, starting about 10 a.m., about 15 people searched woods along the Whitewater River on the southwest side of Towanda.

The searchers included Butler County sheriff's investigators, Wichita police with the Wichita-Sedgwick County Exploited and Missing Child Unit, and a Wichita State University forensic anthropology expert and four students. One of the students carried a small digging tool.

In a tree line, a search dog darted through waist-deep weeds with its head down. Murphy said the search dogs are trained to detect blood, tissue and bones. Shortly after the search began, Murphy said, "We don't know what we're going to find. We don't know what to expect."

He said the search location is not the result of a tip but is based on common sense -- that it is in a secluded area along a body of water, where the boy's remains could be found.

"We feel it's our duty to at least look, even though it's 10 years later," he said. Earlier this month, investigators searched along another section of the Whitewater. The search started around K-254 on the outskirts of Towanda and has moved south. So far, the search has covered about three miles.

In a couple weeks, investigators will conduct a third search south along the river, Murphy said.
Investigators began looking for Adam late last year after learning from a tip that he has been missing since 1999, when he lived at the Towanda mobile home park with his adoptive parents.

The Herrmans said in an Eagle interview that Adam ran away after Valerie Herrman spanked him with a belt. They said they searched for him but he didn't return. Valerie Herrman said they didn't report him missing because they feared the spanking would lead authorities to take Adam and his younger siblings from them.

For years, the Herrmans explained Adam's absence to relatives by saying he had been returned to the state's custody because he had behavior problems, the relatives said. The relatives told The Eagle that Valerie Herrman had abused Adam for years -- an allegation she denies.

Kansas has the death penalty and although there are currently no women housed there (population ten men), I'm sure we could arrange something. I vote for Doug to spend his life in prison and Valerie to get the death penalty. Maybe she could be beaten ("spanked") to death with a belt. Her own blood relation are lining up to testify against her. Sounds like a real classy lady.

A timeline for the Adam Herrman case

An EXCELLENT timeline from the Wichita Eagle/Kansas.com



BY TIM POTTER

The Wichita Eagle



From records and recent interviews, The Eagle compiled this timeline for Adam Herrman:



June 8, 1987: Adam is born in Wichita with the name Irvin Groeninger III. He becomes a foster child of Doug and Valerie Herrman, and his adoption is finalized in 1993. His new name is Adam Joseph Herrman. The Herrmans also adopt two of Adam's younger siblings.



1990 or 1991: The Herrmans lose their foster care license after an investigation, which they declined to discuss in detail during a recent Eagle interview.



August 1996: Adam is enrolled in the Derby school district as a fourth-grader at Pleasantview Elementary. Records show his previous schools were St. Mary's, a Derby Catholic school, and El Paso Elementary, a Derby public school.



Nov. 26, 1996: Derby police receive and investigate a report of suspected abuse of Adam at his Derby home, in the 900 block of North Westview. The brief, public portion of the police report lists it as a child-in-need-of-care case. Derby police Lt. Tim Brant said in an e-mail about the case that "it was investigated by our detective and SRS. The matter was referred for counseling through SRS." SRS spokeswoman Michelle Ponce said SRS knows of one case of suspected abuse of Adam in 1996. "It was investigated and found to be unsubstantiated," she said.

Ponce said she could also confirm Valerie Herrman's statement in the Eagle interview that Adam spent two days at the Wichita Children's Home. Valerie Herrman said Adam spent the two days at the Children's Home, then was returned home, after she spanked him with a belt. She said a psychological counselor saw bruises and called police. Doug Herrman said in the interview that they were told that Adam could not be disciplined with a belt.

"I don't think they felt he was in any danger," Doug Herrman said.



Jan. 9, 1998: Derby police receive a report, apparently from Adam's school, Pleasantview, of suspected abuse. The report says the possible abuse occurred days earlier, on Christmas Day 1997 at Adam's home in Derby, in the 300 block of South Willow.

Derby police classified it as a miscellaneous report because an investigation found that no crime occurred, Brant said. "The investigation revealed the injuries occurred while the child was engaged in sporting activity with siblings," Brant said in the e-mail.

Asked by The Eagle whether she could recall the incident, Valerie Herrman said: "They were out playing football... and he had just some bruises on his arms."



Jan. 14, 1998: Adam runs away, according to Derby police. He "returned on his own within two hours of the report and no further action was taken," Brant said. Valerie Herrman said that Adam ran away a total of six to eight times, to get attention. Usually, it was for an hour or two, "and we always found him," she said.



February 1998: Adam withdraws from Pleasantview while in the fifth grade. The family told the district it was moving, records show.

Around the same time, the Herrmans moved to a Towanda mobile home park, Valerie Herrman said. She was the park manager.

She said she might be mistaken but thought that Adam had gone to public school for a short time in Towanda. But the Circle school district, which includes Towanda, said it has no record of him being enrolled.

For most of the family's time in Towanda, Adam was home-schooled, Valerie Herman said. She said he disliked regular school and preferred the one-on-one attention he received from her. Home-schooling also was a better fit for him because he had psychological problems, she said. His younger siblings, meanwhile, attended public school.



First week of May 1999: Adam disappears from his Towanda home. Valerie Herrman said she thinks it was on the weekend.

The 11-year-old ran away after Valerie Herrman spanked him with a belt, she said in the Eagle interview. He didn't return and her husband searched for him, they said in the interview.

They said they didn't report him as a runaway because they feared the spanking would lead to him and his two younger siblings being removed from their home.



Around Thanksgiving 2008: The Herrmans' biological daughter, Crystal, calls SRS in the hopes of learning something about Adam.

She learns from SRS that records show Adam was with the Herrmans until 2005, which contradicts what her parents had told the family for years: that Adam went back to state custody in 1999. She shares this with SRS and voices her allegations that Adam had been abused by her mother, Valerie Herrman.

Crystal's contact with SRS uncovers the fact that Adam disappeared in 1999 and triggers a law enforcement investigation, led by the Butler County Sheriff's Office, of what happened to him.



Dec. 15, 2008: Investigators search the Herrmans' current home in Derby and take a computer, pictures of Adam and medical and psychological reports about him, among other items.



Dec. 31, 2008: Investigators search the Towanda mobile home park where Adam was last seen.



Jan. 3, 2009: Adam's biological parents, now living out of state, and his biological sister tell The Eagle that investigators are seeking samples of their DNA -- to match it with any possible evidence of Adam they might find. The biological parents and sisters say they are stunned to learn that Adam has been missing for nearly 10 years.

The Herrmans' attorney, Warner Eisenbise of Wichita, tells The Eagle that the couple feel "horribly guilty" for not reporting Adam missing in 1999.



Jan. 5, 2009: Butler County Sheriff Craig Murphy holds a news conference in El Dorado, telling reporters that detectives are treating Adam's disappearance as a death, although he could still be alive. Without elaborating, Murphy says investigators are "holding tightly" to something they found and not revealing it. He welcomes national attention to the case, saying it could help locate Adam if he is alive. He asks for the public's help and releases Adam's fourth-grade picture.

In an Eagle interview, Valerie Herrman's relatives accuse her of abusing Adam, including keeping him chained to a bathroom faucet -- allegations she denies. She says Adam had been a difficult child but that she has always loved him and misses him.



Jan. 6, 2009: Investigators release an age-progressed image of what Adam might look like now.

During an interview with The Eagle lasting more than two hours, Valerie and Doug Herrman say they love Adam and miss him. Valerie Herrman denies her relatives' accusations that she abused Adam. She says she did not chain him to a bathroom faucet but did keep him locked in the bathroom on the advice of a psychiatrist after Adam threatened the family.

The Herrmans say they continued to list Adam in court documents as late as 2003, and in a follow-up telephone call, she says they continued to accept $700 monthly adoption subsidy payments for Adam until his 18th birthday, in 2005 -- six years after he disappeared.

"I feel very guilty for stealing that money," she says.

Ponce, the SRS spokeswoman, said SRS has determined the total amount of subsidies the state paid to the Herrmans for Adam over the years. Ponce said SRS won't disclose the amount because it could hinder any potential criminal prosecution. She wouldn't elaborate, but added that if anyone knowingly gives false information to the state to get benefits, "that is a crime."

"We would pursue all legal avenues," she said.

To receive an adoption subsidy, a family must complete an annual, self-reported form asking whether they continue to be legally and financially responsible for the person adopted. The form's questions include whether a child lives with them and whether there are any changes that would affect payment eligibility.

Generally, adoption payments end when the child turns 18. Payments are negotiated before the adoption based on the child's needs, Ponce said. The subsidies are common when a family adopts siblings. Ponce said she couldn't say why the Herrmans received the payments in Adam's case.

The payments are designed to help in cases where adoption placement can be difficult because of a child's medical, emotional and social needs or because the adoption involves a number of siblings, she said.



Jan. 7, 2009: Investigators search the manufactured home that the Herrmans had moved from Towanda, in Butler County, to an area between Bentley and Sedgwick, in rural Sedgwick County.



Jan. 10, 2009: Investigators use dogs to search along the Whitewater River on the west side of Towanda.



Jan. 14, 2009: Acting on an out-of-state tip, authorities spent several hours digging at the empty Towanda mobile home lot where the Herrmans used to live. Workers and investigators -- using a massive excavator and shovels -- dug, probed and sifted soil from under and around a shed that Adam's adoptive father installed around the time Adam was last seen in 1999. Investigators used a "sniffer," a device that can detect gases emitting from a body. But after nearly six hours of searching, Murphy said they found no remains of Adam.



Jan. 15, 2009: A judge in Butler County grants a temporary order prohibiting SRS from releasing records about Adam that "touch upon alleged acts of neglect or child abuse directed towards Adam Herrman." A hearing on whether the prohibition will continue will be held in March.



Jan. 16, 2009: In an interview, Butler County's chief prosecutor, County Attorney Jan Satterfield, said that the Herrmans are suspects in his disappearance and that the investigation could result in first-degree felony murder charges, with the underlying crime being child abuse. The Herrmans have not been charged with any crime, and Valerie Herrman's attorney, Warner Eisenbise, has said that Valerie Herrman denies harming Adam. Attorney Dan Monnat, whose firm is representing Doug Herrman, said, "Doug Hermann is innocent of any act resulting in the disappearance of Adam Herrman."

Also, Murphy said detectives received an interesting tip Jan 15, but he wouldn't elaborate. He described it as "an interesting tip that has created some questions for us that have got to be answered."



Jan. 20, 2009: Murphy announces that officials will look for Adam again on Jan. 24 along the Whitewater River, this time farther south, for about 2 miles. They'll again be assisted by anthropology experts and search dogs, he said. Murphy also says that his detectives are "still working through leads," including "a few leads that have sparked our interest." He wouldn't elaborate.



Jan. 24, 2009: Officials are scheduled to begin their search near the Whitewater River at 8 a.m.

Search for Adam Herrman's remains to continue today along Whitewater River

BY TIM POTTER
The Wichita Eagle

Butler County investigators this morning planned to search again along the Whitewater River near Towanda for remains of Adam Herrman.

Adam disappeared in 1999, when he was 11, while living at a Towanda mobile home park. Investigators planned to look again along the Whitewater River, on the west side of town, Butler County Sheriff Craig Murphy has said.

As with a search for Adam earlier this month, investigators will be assisted by anthropology experts and search dogs, Murphy said.
Today's search will be the second of three planned searches along the river, Murphy said.

The search was expected to begin around 8 a.m. and go farther south along the Whitewater, for about 2 miles.

Adam's adoptive mother, Valerie Herrman, has told The Eagle that Adam ran away the first week in May 1999 and never returned. She said Adam ran away after she spanked him with a belt. She said that she and her husband, Doug, didn't report Adam missing because they feared the spanking would prompt authorities to take away Adam and his two younger siblings.

For years, the Herrmans explained Adam's absence to relatives by saying he had been returned to the state's custody because he had behavior problems, the relatives said.

The relatives told The Eagle that Valerie Herrman had abused Adam for years -- an allegation she denies.

And accepted $700 per month from the State to care for him, for a total of $2,100 per month for he and his younger siblings. The State considers the adoption of siblings as a "special needs" adoption, therefor pays for their care and entitles the children to Medicaid, and the parents the income tax exemptions and allowances.

Search along river finds no clues Adam Herrman, Towanda Kansas

Monday, January 19, 2009 By Staff reporters
El Dorado Times
Mon Jan 12, 2009, 11:21 AM CST
El Dorado, Kan. -

TOWANDA (AP) — Investigators used search dogs Saturday to scour a wooded area along the banks of the Whitewater River, as they continued looking for Adam Herrman, whose disappearance went unreported for a decade. Butler County Sheriff Craig Murphy said no specific tips led investigators to the wooded area just west of Towanda on Saturday, but the area is a popular hangout for local youths. Murphy expressed doubts before Saturday's search because so much time had passed since the boy disappeared.

Saturday night, Murphy said the effort failed to turn up anything of interest regarding Adam's whereabouts.No charges have been filed against Adam's adoptive parents, Doug and Valerie Herrman. Authorities have said consideration of charges of any kind would wait so investigators can concentrate on the search.

Lawmaker seeks audit for case of missing boy.

A state senator wants to know if the Kansas social services department had any contact with an 11-year-old boy who went missing a decade ago but whose disappearance wasn't reported until this month.Adam disappeared from his home in Towanda in 1999. State Sen. Jean Schodorf, the Senate assistant majority leader, said Friday she had asked Don Jordan, secretary of the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services, to look for any signs that authorities had needed to take Adam out of the home and whether the state played a part in his disappearance by not acting on them.

"We need to ... find out if indeed the state or the system lost this child somewhere," said Schodorf. "It is just a mystery. Maybe everything was done correctly."Michelle Ponce, spokeswoman for the social services department, said it already was conducting a "very thorough review" and would cooperate with any criminal investigation.

The department and Derby police said they investigated at least two reports of suspected abuse of Adam in 1996 and 1998.Adam was in protective custody for two days following the 1996 report, but was returned to adoptive parents Valerie and Doug Herrman after authorities determined the report was unsubstantiated, Ponce said.

Schodorf said Adam's adoptive parents withdrew him from a Derby public school and began home-schooling him around the time of his disappearance. State law requires operators of home schools to provide a name and address but doesn't require records of students who are home-schooled, said Ed Libber, general counsel for the Kansas Department of Education. State records listed a Herrman School with a Derby address as a non-accredited private school in January 1998.

Case Raises Questions About Kansas Adoption Procedures

Right: Adam at about four.


Jan 7, 2009 08:26 AM CST
By Alana Rocha (TOPEKA, Kan.)

The Adam Herrman case has led many people to question the state's adoption procedures. We asked about the checks and balances that ensure a child will go to a safe home.

We also wanted to know about the role SRS plays once a child is legally adopted.

We called SRS in Topeka. While they told us they could not talk about this case specifically, we did learn about the general process.

Kansas SRS Adoption Process

Adoption is meant to give children a safe, permanent home. We learned adoptive parents go through an extensive background check. However, once an adoption is finalized, the state is out of the picture.


That all changes if money is involved. Many adoptive families in Kansas receive Medicaid to help them raise a special needs child. Those children with significant medical, emotional or developmental needs--(OR SIBLINGS.)


The state and parents come to an agreement prior to the adoption. The assistance can be a one-time payment or reccuring. If it's the latter, Medicaid requires the parents submit an annual written report to verify the money is still needed.


Their word is Medicaid's only source. They never go in person to check.


So how does this apply to Adam Herrman? According to family, his adoptive parents received state assistance, possibly thousands of dollars. Right now we don't know why.

Okay, I'm going to explain again: Adam was considered a 'special needs' kid because the Herrmans were willing to adopt siblings. In order to try to keep siblings together, the state of Kansas will issue a monthly check.

Prosecutor: parents are suspects in Adam Herrman case, Towanda, Kansas

BY TIM POTTER
The Wichita Eagle

January 17, 2008


Butler County's chief prosecutor said Friday that the adoptive parents of 11-year-old Adam Herrman are suspects in his 1999 disappearance and that the investigation could result in murder charges.

Referring to Doug and Valerie Herrman, Butler County Attorney Jan Satterfield said, "They are the suspects in this case."

In her first public comments about the case during an interview with The Eagle, Satterfield said that although searches have not found any human remains, there is potential for charges of first-degree felony murder, with the underlying crime being child abuse.

Last week -- a few days after Adam's disappearance at age 11 became publicly known -- several of Valerie Herrman's close relatives accused her of abusing Adam over the years. She denies the allegations.

Although investigators have not ruled out the possibility that Adam is alive, detectives have found "no indication that he exists out there," Satterfield said.

No charges have been filed against the Herrmans. Valerie Herrman's attorney, Warner Eisenbise of Wichita, has also said that she denies harming Adam. He declined further comment Friday.

Wichita lawyer Dan Monnat said Friday that his law firm is now representing Doug Herrman. Monnat declined further comment.

Satterfield's comments Friday came during a telephone interview about her attempt to keep the state child-protection agency from releasing to the media any records about Adam. Those records would include any allegations of him being abused.

Satterfield said that public disclosure would reveal witnesses and interfere with the investigation into Adam's disappearance.

On Thursday, a judge in Butler County granted a temporary order prohibiting the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services from releasing records about Adam that "touch upon alleged acts of neglect or child abuse directed towards Adam Herrman." A hearing on whether the prohibition will continue has been set for March 1.

History of the case

Adam, who would be 21 now, came to the Herrmans as a foster son when he was a toddler. They later adopted him.

SRS has confirmed that a few years before Adam disappeared, he spent two days at the Wichita Children's Home, then was returned home. Valerie Herrman said Adam was temporarily removed from his home after she spanked him with a belt and a counselor saw bruises.

Then, late last year, one of the relatives took her concerns about Adam to authorities, leading to the discovery that he had been missing for nearly 10 years.

The Herrmans said in an Eagle interview that he ran away in early May 1999 and didn't return after Valerie Herrman spanked him with a belt -- and that they did not report it because they feared the spanking would lead authorities to take Adam and two younger siblings from them. Valerie Herrman, now 52 and living with her 54-year-old husband in Derby, said she loved Adam and misses him.

On Wednesday, investigators excavated part of the Towanda mobile home lot where Adam had lived with the Herrmans around the time he disappeared. They did not find human remains.
On Friday, Satterfield said, "We'd like to confirm his death and identify his body."

Blocking the records

The Eagle has sought SRS records on Adam under an exception in the law that allows the information to be disclosed when a child dies or nearly dies and it is related to abuse or neglect.
SRS spokeswoman Michelle Ponce said the agency had been prepared to release information about Adam based on the Butler County Sheriff's Office treating his disappearance as a homicide investigation.

But Satterfield said: "I think it's prudent for law enforcement and my office to review the records that are proposed to be released and identify potential witnesses and take statements before they're disseminated to the general public because we are looking at potential child abuse charges" and potential felony murder charges. Such charges can come, she said, when there is evidence of a murder committed in the process of an "inherently dangerous felony" such as child abuse.

Blocking the release of SRS records is "not in an effort for the public not to know," Satterfield said.

"We just don't want that investigation compromised in any way."

In another document filed Thursday in Butler County District Court, the Wichita Clinic objected to any release of Adam's SRS file, saying it contains records with "personal health information protected by the physician-patient privilege" and federal law.

The clinic said it has "not received proof, notice, or the suggestion of death of Adam Herrman from law enforcement."

Satterfield said the purpose of the investigation is "to search for Adam and at the same time to determine if Adam is dead, or any facts that might lead us to potential homicide charges."

'An interesting tip'

Also Friday, Butler County Sheriff Craig Murphy said detectives received an interesting tip Thursday, but he wouldn't elaborate.

Murphy described it as "an interesting tip that has created some questions for us that have got to be answered."

He said detectives don't plan any searches for Adam's remains in the near future but are continuing to investigate and seek tips.

Anyone with information about Adam can call investigators at 316-322-8817 or e-mail investigators at crimetips@bucoks.com, Murphy said.


Couple of interesting facts (interesting to me, anyway). Warner Eisenbise and Dan Monnat are considered 'top' criminal lawyers in the Wichita area, and are therefore very expensive. It's interesting the Herrman's hired separate lawyers. Children's services in Kansas are much like any other place, too many needy children, not enough social workers, inadequate pay for the workers we have.


After pondering the situation for a while, I wondereded why the Herrman's wanted Adam back when he was taken to the Wichita Childrens Home. Obviously he had been beaten and had evidence of prior abuse. It seems that not only does the State pay individuals for the care of foster kids, but also for the adoption of 'special needs' kids, which includes the adoption of siblings.


The adoption of three siblings would net the Herrmans over $1,000 per month in cash, medicaid coverage, plus the tax exemptions. I also have to wonder what mental state the younger siblings are in. Big brother disappears one day never to be seen again. They probably heard and or saw the beating Adam took just before he disappeared. My heart just aches for him.

Search for Adam Herrman may resume today

The search for clues in the case of Adam Herrman could resume today, Butler County Sheriff Craig Murphy said.
On Saturday, law enforcement officers, search dogs and anthropologists spent about six hours searching along the Whitewater River for Herrman, who disappeared from a Towanda home a decade ago at age 11.

The weekend search yielded no clues.
Murphy said the sheriff's department spent Monday on other cases. He said the search along a roughly 4-mile stretch of wooded river banks could resume as early as today.

The department continues to receive leads from the public about Herrman, Murphy said.
Visit Kansas.com/adam for a photo gallery and recent coverage of the investigation

Officials Search for Adam Herrman Who Disappeared in 1999 from Towanda, Kansas

WICHITA, Kan. — No one claims to know what happened that summer in 1999 when 11-year-old Adam Herrman disappeared from the mobile home park where he lived with his adoptive parents.

But the biggest mystery may be why no one reported him missing until nearly a decade later.
The search for Adam — who would be 21 if he is still alive — has confounded authorities and left family members regretting that they did not do more when they noticed he was gone.

His disappearance finally came to light last week when authorities — acting on a tip to the Sedgwick County Exploited and Missing Children's Unit — searched the empty lot in Towanda where the family's mobile home once stood.

Butler County Sheriff Craig Murphy has refused to say much about the case except that no human remains were found during the search.

The publicity around the search has spawned a flood of tips to the sheriff's office. More tips are expected following Tuesday's release by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children of a computer-enhanced photo showing what Adam might look like today.

No charges have been brought against his adoptive parents, Valerie and Doug Herrman. Murphy said consideration of any charges would wait so officials can concentrate on the search for Adam. Investigators plan to scour the banks of the Whitewater River just west of the mobile home park on Saturday.

Doug Herrman, who lives in Derby and owns a masonry business, said Tuesday that the family would not comment.

Family attorney Warner Eisenbise said Adam had a history of running away and that the Herrmans feel "very guilty" they did not report him missing. The family assumed he had found one of his siblings or went back to his biological parents, he said.

Asked on NBC's "Today" show Wednesday if his clients had anything to do with Adam's disappearance, Eisenbise replied: "Not at all. Nothing at all."

The boy's biological father, Irvin Groeninger II, also expressed regret. The Indiana trucker was divorced when authorities took Adam and his siblings from their mother's home after alleged abuse. He says he was cleared of any wrongdoing and tried to get custody of his children, but child welfare officials terminated his parental rights.

"Basically, I have lost him twice," Groeninger said.

The boy — whom he knows only by his birth name of Irvin Groeninger III — was 18 months old when Groeninger last saw him. He had hoped his son would try to contact him when he was old enough to search for his biological family.

He says he wishes he could tell his son: "I love him and I wish I had fought harder back then to get him and keep him in my custody."

While Adam and two younger siblings were adopted by the Herrmans, Adam's older biological sister, Tiffany Broadfoot, was adopted by another Wichita family. Broadfoot has not seen her brother since a birthday party when he was 7 or 8 years old.

Broadfoot said the first time she called Adam's adoptive mother she was told everything was fine and Adam was doing well. Other times she was told not to call again because Adam and his siblings did not know they were adopted.

In August or September, she called Valerie Herrman again. "The last time I talked to her she was very in my face and very adamant: 'You have no business calling here. You have no right. That is not your family. Don't call here. Don't talk to us. Don't do anything. That is not your concern. Back off,"' Broadfoot said.

Linda Bush, a former sister-in-law of Valerie Herrman, remembered Adam as a timid little boy. She has not seen him since he was at least 6 years old.

"He wasn't boisterous, running around making a lot of noise like other children. And he stared a lot. That was strange," Bush said. "He gave me the creeps sometimes because he would stare. But it was nothing to hate him for."

Bush said she remembered Valerie Herrman telling the boy he was stupid.

"It was the tone. It was constant. She constantly berated him and put him down, a hateful tone," Bush said. "It was constant and we couldn't figure out what that boy had ever done to make her hate him like that."

The Herrmans did not treat Adam's two younger siblings the same way, she said.

Bush said she first heard Adam was missing last month, when Valerie Herrman called her and said police thought the boy was missing and may have been murdered. That was the first she heard that Adam had a history of running away.

Bush said the Herrmans told other family members that they had turned Adam back to the Department of Social and Rehabilitative Services. She said she had no reason to believe otherwise because the couple had other foster children who went back to state custody.

"They had turned other children back, whether voluntary or mandated," Bush said. "Nobody had any reason to disbelieve. Who would think of something so heinous happening? Nobody did."

Authorities searching along Whitewater river for clues in missing boy Adam Herrman case

BY BRENT D. WISTROM
The Wichita Eagle

Gallery: The Adam Herrman Case

Butler County investigators plan to search the banks of the Whitewater River west of Towanda this morning for clues that might help them find out what happened to Adam Herrman, who disappeared 10 years ago when he was 11 years old.

Detectives have said the area is a popular spot for fishermen and kids and that Herrman may have wandered there if, as his foster parents say, he ran away from home.

The search crew will use dogs to help them look for clues. They plan to start at 10 a.m.

Investigators have already searched the Herrman's current home in Derby and a manufactured home between Bentley and Sedgwick that the Herrman's lived in with Adam. That home was moved from Towanda to rural Sedgwick County years ago.

The searching comes after Herrman's non-biological sister told authorities that her younger, adopted brother was abused by her parents, Valerie and Doug Herrman.

Valerie Herrman denied the allegation in an interview with The Eagle.

She said they never reported Adam missing because they feared the spanking they gave him before he ran away would lead authorities to take Adam and his two younger siblings away.

The couple said they regret not reporting it and lying to people about what happened.
Authorities are treating the case as if Adam is dead, but they have not ruled out that he may still be alive.

Missing boy's uncle says he witnessed verbal and physical abuse

BY TIM POTTER
The Wichita Eagle
January 10, 2009

Gallery: The Adam Herrman Case

One night about four years before Adam Herrman disappeared from his adoptive parents' Towanda home at age 11, Adam's uncle did something that haunts him, he says.

Over the years, Sam Bush said, he repeatedly saw his older sister, Valerie Herrman, scream and curse in Adam's face, slap him, strike him with a belt and throw him down. Sometimes, Bush said, he tried to intervene but backed away because he thought it would bring more abuse to Adam.

Valerie Herrman, now 52 and living in Derby, and her husband, Doug, 54, maintain that she loved Adam and that she is being wrongly and unfairly accused of abuse. Doug Herrman said that Bush is lying.

Late one night in 1995, Bush said, he was living with the Herrmans and found their oldest biological daughter, Crystal, sitting on the stairs of the family's Derby home. Crystal was crying.
"I can't take it anymore, what my mom's doing to Adam," he remembers her saying. Crystal was 17 or 18 then.

"I said, 'Crystal, I know what your mom's doing, but if you turn her in, do you realize the problems you're going to cause with you and your mom? Let's hope that it's going to stop, that she'll get better,' " Bush said in an interview Friday with The Eagle.

Bush, now 46, said he partly blames the state for the abuse he says Adam suffered.
"They saw the bruises," but did not permanently remove Adam from his adoptive parents' home, Bush said.

But Bush said he also blames adults in his family -- and "myself because I witnessed so much" and didn't report it.

"We should have done more. I don't blame Crystal" or her younger biological brother, Justin. "At the time, they were kids....

"I was the adult the night I went in there and Crystal was sitting on those stairs, and I talked her out of it."

Crystal, now 31, said Friday that she remembers being upset and having such a conversation with her uncle.

"I waited up to tell him that I was going to turn her in," said Crystal, who asked that her last name not be used to protect her children's privacy.

"Sam's my favorite uncle," she said, adding that she doesn't fault him for persuading her not to report her allegations. "We kept praying it was going to get better," she said.

Finally, around this past Thanksgiving, Crystal reported her concerns to the state's child protection agency, uncovering Adam's 1999 disappearance and triggering an intense law enforcement investigation into what happened to him.

Doug Herrman said Friday that the account given by Bush and his daughter is wrong. He also said Bush didn't live with them during the period Bush said he did. "He'd do anything to ruin us," Doug Herrman said. "Everybody wants to hear dirt, and I'm sick of it," Doug Herrman said.

Deciding to speak out

Bush said he has shared his story with detectives investigating Adam's 1999 disappearance, and decided to speak out about Adam after he read what his sister said in an Eagle interview earlier this week -- that she loved Adam and that the allegations were lies.

Bush said that he lived with his sister and brother-in-law off and on since he was 17.
Doug Herrman wasn't abusive, Bush said.

"I've never seen Doug raise his hands or his voice at the kids," Bush said. "Matter of fact, he tried to stop Valerie.

"But Valerie, I've seen both mental and physical abuse" of Adam. He said he saw her "berating this child, cussing him out... screaming, 2 inches from his face, spit coming out of her mouth while she's doing this.

"You've got to understand: When Valerie did this... she would be like a totally different person. Her looks, her voice, her sound -- everything would change....

"Sometimes she'd use a belt. A lot of times, she'd use her hands. Just beat him, a lot of times for insignificant stuff. It was ridiculous."

One incident stands out, he said. It was the same house in Derby in 1995, when Adam would have been about 7.

Bush described it this way: He had come home from work and saw Adam folding laundry -- six to seven baskets full -- in the living room. Valerie Herrman was in the kitchen. Bush felt sorry for Adam and started to help him fold the laundry.

"Valerie comes in and starts screaming at me" and curses about Adam, Bush said. "So she wouldn't let me help him."

From an adjacent room, Bush watched television and looked over at Adam, still folding. Adam's younger siblings came in and knocked over the folded stacks. Adam told them to stop it, which prompted Valerie Herrman to scream at Adam, telling him that she was the parent and not to tell his younger brother and sister what to do, Bush said.

"And she turned around, and he had all these stacks of (folded) clothes... and she went over there and knocked them over."

She told Adam to fold them again and cursed at him, Bush said.
Bush said his eyes met Adam's.

"He looked helpless," Bush said. "I felt so terrible, but I knew if I went in there again, I'd make it worse on him.

"Everybody had to walk on eggshells around Valerie. 'Don't get her all upset.' That's how the whole family treated her. 'Don't get Valerie to go off. It will cause a big, huge scene.' "

The Herrmans moved a lot around the Wichita area, from Derby to Towanda to Sedgwick and eventually back to Derby.

Adam was always being abused, Bush said. "There's been so many incidents, to put a date on it is kind of hard." Valerie Herrman showed affection to Adam's younger siblings, also adopted, Bush said.

And she can be "the sweetest person," and he still loves her, he said. "She's my sister. But I didn't like what she did." The other children could eat snacks, but Adam wasn't allowed, Bush said.

"It was like Valerie had radar on that child. He could not move without her screaming at him for something.... So a lot of time he would not do anything but sit in a chair, while the other kids were playing... sit in a chair and watch."

Doug Herrman disputed Bush's description, saying, Adam "played plenty."

Bush said he saw Adam locked in the bathroom at Towanda and having to sleep in the bathtub. Other relatives have said they saw him locked in the bathroom in Derby, as well, before the move to Towanda, around 1998.

Valerie Herrman said Adam was kept in the bathroom on the advice of a psychiatrist after Adam threatened the family. She said she gave him a sleeping bag, blanket, sheet and pillow.
'Why didn't I do more?'

Bush said he last saw Adam around the spring of 1999 -- it was just starting to get warm -- at a Wichita church.

Later, Bush said his sister said Adam had been given back to the state "because we decided we couldn't handle him."

Bush said he felt "very relieved" that Adam was no longer with Valerie Herrman. He said he thought to himself: "He's going to get over the bruises, but the mental damage she was doing to him was terrible."


Bush only recently learned that Adam disappeared nearly a decade ago, and that his parents now say he ran away after Valerie Herrman spanked him. The Herrmans say they feared that the spanking and Adam's running away would prompt authorities to take their other children away.

Now, Bush said, "I pray that Adam's going to come forward. But I think all the family's prepared that something terrible probably happened to him."

Bush said he had a message to share: "If you see a family member abusing their children, turn them in. Don't sit there and be going through what our family is going through.

"I've sat here, constantly thinking: 'Why didn't I do more? Why didn't I do more?' Because I thought it would go away, it would stop. I love my sister. I can't turn her in."

Missing boy's sister was one who called officials

BY TIM POTTER
The Wichita Eagle

For years, Crystal says, she felt bad about how her mother treated her younger, adopted brother -- Adam Herrman, who would be 21 now if he is still alive. One pivotal day more than a month ago, she brought her concern to the state. Her action led to the discovery that Adam disappeared in 1999, and it triggered an ongoing law enforcement investigation into what happened to him.

Crystal, now 31, said she saw her mother, Valerie Herrman, kick and punch Adam and spank him with the metal buckle of a belt. Valerie Herrman also stepped on his bare feet with her heels, said Crystal, who asked that her last name not be used to protect her children's privacy.

Crystal said she also saw Adam being kept in a locked bathroom.

Valerie Herrman, now 52 and living in Derby, denied the abuse allegations but said she did spank Adam with a belt twice and kept him locked in a bathroom at times under the advice of a psychiatrist after he threatened the family.

Crystal said she and her younger biological brother, Justin Herrman, tried to protect Adam over the years. In 1999, she said, her mother told them that Adam had gone back into state custody.
Crystal tried to search the Internet for Adam's name in an attempt to find him or learn something about him. "And I would never get anywhere," she said. She thought maybe he had been adopted again and had a new name.

The first step

Eventually, a cousin encouraged her to seek closure about the abuse she says she saw.
So around Thanksgiving, she said, she called the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services seeking information about Adam.

"I just wanted to find him," she said.
She wanted to tell him: "I'm sorry for how you were treated."

SRS indicated that Adam had been with their parents until 2005, when he would have been 18. That didn't make sense to Crystal because she hadn't seen him since 1999, when he was about 11. After the phone conversation with SRS, Crystal said, she had to make a decision: pursue it or let it go.

She waited a few hours. "That's when I decided that in Adam's best interest, it was time for something to be done....

"It was hard because it was my parents," she said.

That same day, she called SRS back and said the agency's records are incorrect and that Adam had not been in his adoptive parents home since 1999.

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SRS told her that Adam had been "emancipated in 2005," and that his last address was in Derby, according to the records.

She asked SRS if Adam had been returned to state custody, and the agency said he had not, contradicting her parents.

"Then I told them basically that we hadn't seen him since 1999, that our parents told us he went back to the state... that he was in a boarding school or a mental hospital," she said.

Alleged abuse

The next day, she was asked to meet with an SRS caseworker in Wichita, and she told the caseworker about the abuse she says she saw.

She said she saw Adam being locked in a bathroom at the family's home in Derby -- before they moved to Towanda -- and that she and her brother Justin would sneak Adam food because they didn't know when her mother would feed him.

"Towards the end, he was pretty much mostly in the bathroom," Crystal said. Other relatives have said they saw Adam locked in the bathroom; Valerie Herrman told The Eagle that Adam was locked in the bathroom only when he slept, and that she gave him a sleeping bag, sheet, blanket and pillow.

He was locked in the bathroom after knives had been found under his pillow and he had threatened to kill the family, Valerie Herrman said. The Herrmans say Adam had psychological problems. Crystal disagreed. "I never saw any type of mental problems" with Adam, she said.

Crystal said she had left her parents' home in 1994, when she was about 17 and Adam was about 7. Although she wasn't always around Adam, she said she saw him enough to think that he was being treated badly.

Adam and her mother never seemed to bond, Crystal said.

Valerie Herrman said Adam had been a difficult child but that she loved him and missed him. She said he ran away in 1999 and never returned. She and her husband, Doug, say they didn't report Adam missing because they feared it would lead to him and his younger siblings being taken from them.

Crystal said that when her mother abused Adam, she tried to protect him. "When she would do those things, I would get in the middle of it, and I would tell Adam to run."

Crystal said the last time she saw Adam was around the spring of 1999 when the family was moving from Derby to the Towanda mobile home park where authorities say he disappeared.

Her worst fear

Crystal described her mother this way: "She can be the sweetest person in the world one second and then in the next second, she can just be a monster.

"I beat myself up every day because I wish I had turned her in. If I knew it was going to lead to a missing boy, you bet. I kept praying it would get better. I kept begging my dad to help us.
"My dad never abused Adam. He never stopped it, but he never abused him."

The SRS caseworker who talked with Crystal indicated she would contact the Wichita-Sedgwick County Exploited and Missing Child Unit, and the day after her interview with the caseworker, the unit contacted her, she said.

"All of the detectives have told me it's the most bizarre case they've ever dealt with," she said.
Crystal said she knows detectives are working hard to find Adam.

But, she said, "My worst fear is they will never find him and will never have all the answers."