Case Number: 07-33278
Subject: Police Locate 3 Year-Old Boy Reported Missing at Local Hotel
At about 2:51 AM on Friday morning – July 6th 2007 – Anchorage Police Mid-Shift patrol
officers responded to a report of a missing 3 year-old boy from the Howard Johnson Hotel. The
hotel is located at the 200 block of West 4th Avenue.
According to the mother, a 17 year-old niece was babysitting the child while the mother
and her adult sister were away from the hotel. The niece fell asleep, and the young boy was
apparently able to open the door by himself. The hotel doors usually close by themselves
requiring a key to re-open for entry.
Responding officers were told by the hysterical mother that her son had been fascinated by
"the ocean" – likely the nearby Anchorage Port and Ship Creek areas. After some rooms on the
3rd floor were contacted, it was learned that the boy had been "heard" by other hotel guests
going up and down the hallways "crying out for his mommy and daddy."
Some guests of the hotel told police that there were very sure they heard the same boy outside
of the hotel, possibly heading east. The Patrol commander and supervisors on duty began calling
for additional resources including the Auxiliary Search Team, the Alaska State Troopers Helo-1
and the Anchorage Fire Department. Additionally, Crimes Against Children Unit Detectives were
requested to assist in this incident in the event of a possible abduction or other criminal act.
As the additional resources were deployed, officers began a door-by-door search of each room
beginning on the top floor of the hotel. The boy – 3 year-old Homer "Ronnie" Mills was found
asleep in a bed in an unoccupied room on the third floor. According to the hotel – the room was
registered to a foreign airline crew – though there were no persons, luggage or other signs of
anyone but the child inside of the room.
The Anchorage Police joins with the mother and family of Homer "Ronnie" Mills in thanking all
persons involved in the search for this young child. This includes the local media who were very
quick to make radio and television announcements.
NOTE – The APD Auxiliary Search Team is a group of professionally trained volunteers who serve
the APD and the Anchorage community by assisting in the search for missing persons and evidence
items. APDST is a member of a larger pool of other professional searchers known as ASARA – or the
Alaska Search and Rescue Association. Another member of ASARA – the Alaska Search and Rescue Dogs
(ASARD) assisted the APDST in this search. (special note – ASARD trained dogs differ from police
K-9's in a variety of techniques. ASARD uses scent detection while the APD K-9 dogs use ground
disturbance training for their dogs.) For more information about these teams – you may refer to
www.aksar.org and access the various links to many professional
volunteer search teams in Alaska.
