This 8-year-old Tri-Cities boy was last seen 9 months ago. Have you seen him?
Police are asking for help finding an 8-year-old Pasco boy who hasn’t been seen for nine months.
The last time police officers saw Edgar Casian, 8, was Sept. 21 after his mother asked them to check on her three children, she told the Tri-City Herald on Tuesday.
Maria Quintero said she has called police and Washington state Child Protective Services several times after her ex-boyfriend took custody of their son and two daughters, Briseida, 9, and Luna, 3,
Now all she wants to know is where her son is after learning that the girls were found in Tijuana, Mexico, in what police called “alarmingly dangerous conditions.”
“He’s a little kid. He should be with me,” she told the Herald as she was crying. “I just want my baby back.”
The father’s mother was caring for the kids in the Tri-Cities after Quintero was arrested, jailed and eventually deported to Mexico for being an undocumented immigrant.
Even after she returned to the U.S. in 2019, her children stayed with their grandmother.
Before the COVID pandemic, Quintero traveled from California to Portland to see her kids and their grandmother for visits. The last time she saw them was in February 2020.
The following month, the children’s father demanded custody of the children and the grandmother handed them over, said Quintero.
Since then, Quintero said she’s been concerned about their well-being.
She called police and Washington state Child Protective Services to have them checked on, but both agencies said they couldn’t take the kids from their father.
She felt her concerns weren’t taken seriously until she recently received a call from police asking where the children were since their father claimed the kids were with her.
Then she learned her daughters were found in Mexico and were being returned to the U.S.
Quintero still doesn’t know where they are but heard they may be in foster care.
“I know that they have been through a lot,” she said, but her other worry is for Edgar.
Pasco police said in a Facebook post they have been “dealing with parents and stepparents who should know where Edgar is, but claim they don’t.”
Authorities issued an alert for him this week hoping someone in the community knows where he is.
Edgar is 4-foot, and weighs 60 pounds, according to the Center of Missing and Exploited Children. He has black hair and brown eyes.
He may still be in the Tri-Cities area or may have traveled outside of Washington or the U.S., police said.
Anyone with information is asked to call 911, the non-emergency dispatch line at 509-628-0333 or email Detective Jon Davis at davisj@pasco-wa.gov. The case number is 21-15039.
This story was originally published June 8, 2021 at 11:37 AM.