FBI joins investigation of missing Alaska family

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ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The FBI has joined the
investigation into the disappearance two weeks ago of a family of four
from a city on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula.
The Kenai Police
Department requested the assistance of federal investigators in the
disappearance of Brandon Jividen, 37, Rebecca Adams, 22, and Adams’ two
daughters, Michelle Hundley, 5, and Jaracca Hundley, 3.
The family
was last seen May 27, the day after Memorial Day. Their two vehicles
remained at their apartment in Kenai, 65 miles southwest of Anchorage,
and they apparently left without packing, relatives have said.
The
family’s apartment building is on a quiet street near a wooded area in
the city of 7,100 at the mouth of the Kenai River, Alaska’s most popular
sport fishing venue. The blue-collar town is home to workers employed
by the oil and natural gas industry in Cook Inlet.
The age of the
missing children, defined as "children of tender years," gives the FBI
jurisdiction to provide assistance in the case, agency spokesman Steve
Forrest said.
"There’s a presumption in the law that allows the
FBI to be involved if you have a child under the age of 12 missing," he
said. "It can be viewed as a stranger abduction until it’s proved
otherwise. I’m not saying that’s what we have here, but that’s what
allows us to get involved early on."
He would not say how many
agents are in Kenai but noted they will focus on what might have
happened rather than the ongoing search.
"The search and rescue —
that’s not where our expertise is," Forrest said. "It would be in the
investigative portions of the case."
Jividen is Rebecca Adams’ boyfriend. The father of her two girls, Jaramiah Hundley, died in a motorcycle
crash on May 30, 2012.
Rebecca
Adams’ sister, Lanell Adams of Washington state, told the Peninsula
Clarion that she last spoke to Rebecca Adams on Memorial Day weekend.
Rebecca Adams sounded as if she were in distress but would not say what
was wrong, the sister said.
Relatives later requested that police check on the family. When they could not be found, Lanell Adams
flew to Kenai.
The
four people and their dog were gone. Besides the vehicles, camping gear
and the children’s car seats were still at the home. The rent was not
paid on the first of the month.
Kenai Police Chief Gus Sandahl
said at a news conference Monday the search is the department’s highest
priority, the Peninsula Clarion reported. He said he remains optimistic
that the family will be found.

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