Mata-Martinez Children - Endangered Missing Alert - Nevada and California to Mexico

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____Tyson 4_______Megan 7_______Jakelyne 8_______Ivan 9___

AMBER Alert Issued for 4 Nevada Children
Posted: Saturday July 11, 2009 7:07 AM CT

The State of Nevada issued the Amber Alert Saturday morning (07-11) after the children were reportedly abducted on Friday (07-10) in Washoe county. They were last seen with the suspect in the Sun Valley area. Sun Valley is approximately 10 miles north of Reno.

Tyson Mata-Martinez 4 - white male, 2' 6", weighing 40 pounds.

Megan Mata-Martinez 7 - white female, 2'10" weighing 55 pounds.

Jakelyne Mata-Martinez 8 - white female, 3' weighing 60 pounds.

Ivan Mata-Martinez 9 - white male, 4' weighing 80 pounds.

The suspect is Claire Tourand, a white female, 34 Years old, 5' 8" and 220 pounbds with brown hair and hazel eyes.

The suspect vehicle is a 1998 white Mercury Sable with Nevada tag number 369-SDH.

Anyone with information is asked to call 911.

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Amber Alert in Sun Valley case expands to Arizona, California

RGJ.COM
STAFF AND AP REPORT JULY 11, 2009

An Amber Alert targeting a Sun Valley mother accused of taking her four children and fleeing has expanded to include Arizona and California in addition to Nevada.
Claire Tourand, 34, is charged with detention, concealment or removal a child from its lawful custodian, the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office said Saturday. Bail is $50,000 cash only.
The sheriff's office says Tourand may be heading to Mexico.
The Amber Alert was issued Friday for four children believed taken by Tourand Thursday or Friday from Washoe County. In issuing the alert, the sheriff’s office explained that an order had been issued for return of the children by family court stating “an immediate risk of harm to the children.”
Tourand, is described as white, about 5 feet, 8 inches tall, about 220 pounds with brown hair and hazel eyes. She was last seen driving a white 1998 Mercury Sable with Nevada license plates 369-SDH.
The children are Ivan Mata-Martinez, 9, 4 feet tall, about 80 pounds; Jakelyne Mata-Martinez, 8, 3 feet, about 60 pounds; Megan Mata-Martinez, 7, 2-feet, 10-inches tall, about 55 pounds; and Tyson Mata-Martinez, 4, about 2 feet, 6 inches tall and about 48 pounds.
The updated ages differ from the ages originally released by the sheriff’s office. All of the children have brown hair and brown eyes, the sheriff’s office said.
Tourand was scheduled to meet with social service workers on Friday about the custody of the children and failed to show for meeting. Investigators determined she left her home sometime since Thursday and fled with the children. A court issued an order requiring the immediate return of the children.
People who see Tourand or the children are asked to immediately call 911.

http://www.rgj.com/article/20090711/NEWS/90711004

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3-state Amber Alert issued for mother and 4 kids
The Associated Press
Posted: 07/11/2009 09:57:58 PM PDT


LAS VEGAS—Authorities have issued an Amber Alert in California, Arizona and Nevada for a mother suspected of abducting her four children after she failed to show up for a custody meeting with social service officials.
Brooke Keast, spokeswoman for Washoe County, Nevada, Sheriff's Department, says an arrest warrant was issued Saturday for 34-year-old Claire Tourand. A family court judge has also issued an order for the return of the children, stating there is immediate risk of harm to them.

Keast says Tourand may be heading to Mexico in a white 1998 Mercury Sable, license plate 369 SDH.

The children—Ivan, Jakelyne, Megan and Tyson Mata-Martinez— are aged 9 to 4.

http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_12819378

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Nevada Amber Alert Suspect Spotted in Mono County

Posted: July 14, 2009 01:53 PM EDT
Updated: July 14, 2009 03:36 PM EDT
Kellene Stockwell
Channel 2 News

Deputies in Mono County, California say the woman involved in a Nevada Amber Alert was spotted in the Lee Vining area late Monday.

Deputies say a subsequent search of the area for Claire Tourand and her car turned up nothing.

Authorities canceled Nevada's Amber Alert on Monday since they received numerous leads from Southern California and believed she was no longer in the Silver State. They say the 34-year-old may be headed to Mexico with her four non-custodial children: Ivan, Jakelyne, Megan and Tyson Mata-Martinez-- aged 9 to 4.

They say Tourand may be driving a white 1998 Mercury Sable with Nevada plate 369 SDH.

Washoe County Social Service became concerned when Tourand didn't show up to a scheduled meeting last Thursday. After visiting the home she shared with her mom, authorities issued the Amber Alert for the children Friday afternoon.

Local court records show Tourand just finished a term in Washoe County Jail after she pleaded guilty to allowing her children to live in a home where feces and urine of nine cats and eight dogs saturated her children's beds and clothing.

Mono County Deputies say Tourand previously lived in Mammoth Lakes and also spent time in the towns of Bishop, Benton and Chalfant. They say she may have been in the Twin Lakes area over the weekend.

Anyone who sees Tourand, her children or suspect car is asked to call 911 immediately. Tourand is described to be 5'7", 180 pounds and has red hair and hazel eyes.

The children's father is currently being held at the Washoe County Jail where he's waiting to be deported to Mexico.


http://www.ktvn.com/Global/story.asp?S=10724498

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Authorities 'did everything' to find missing Sun Valley kids
By Steve Timko • [e-mail] • August 23, 2009

"Looking back from our perspective, we did everything," Washoe County Sheriff's Office Lt. Darin Balaam said. "We alerted Amber Alert in all the states where we thought they were going."
Law enforcement in three states were on the lookout for the children, but the Amber Alert system can only work so well.
The children, ages 4 to 9, are presumed to be with Tourand in Mexico where she might seek help from their paternal grandparents.
Balaam said it hasn't been confirmed that's where she fled. But they have a court order that allows a social services agency to pick up the children, and authorities in Mexico have agreed to enforce it, Balaam said.
"If they're stopped anywhere, there's an emergency pickup order to place them in the care of child protective services, wherever that is," Balaam said.
Tourand is believed to have fled July 9, two days after she refused to take a court-ordered drug test and a day before she was to meet with county social workers.
Her mother, who has custody of Tourand's two oldest children, last saw her about noon July 9, and said she loaded the children, their backpacks and a television into her car, records show.
Tourand was supposed to meet social workers on July 10 to determine the "further care and welfare of the children," according to court documents.
What kind of dangers do the children face?
"I don't know if they are significant. Probably not," Balaam said. "They're probably not in the best place if they're in the care of the their mother."
Tourand has ties to people in Mammoth Lakes and Bishop, Calif., and someone wrote a note at a gas station in the area that recorded the license plate of the car she was driving, Mono County Undersheriff Ralph Obenberger said.
That led to an alert of all law enforcement in the area and every patrol unit was looking for Tourand and her car, Obenberger said. They also searched campgrounds and other places she might be, but found nothing.


"There's not that many places to go to and from -- there's only a few roads in and out," Obenberger said. "Although, there's a lot of places to hide up here. Just like Nevada."


The fact that someone recorded her license plate is solid evidence she was in the area, he said, but he doesn't know when she might have left the area.
"It's always frustrating when someone's close, but we don't know how close," Obenberger said. "We just can't find her."
Nevada is one of the few states to review every Amber Alert warning to see if it was handled properly.
Adrienne Abbott, a member of the Governor's Amber Review Committee, said the Tourand case will be reviewed as well, although summer vacations likely will delay the meeting.
Each case involves the same questions about how the activation was done and if there were any problems getting the word out to the media and others who monitor Amber Alerts, Abbott said.
Similar reviews in the past have led to changes in Amber Alert policies, Abbott said.
Before, there were differing methods that out-of-state agencies used to trigger an Amber Alert in Nevada. Now, all out-of-state agencies go through the Nevada Highway Patrol, she said.

http://www.rgj.com/article/20090823/NEWS/908230334/1321/news/Authorities--did-everything--to-find-missing-Sun-Valley-kids

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“AMBER Alert Deactivated for 4 Nevada Children
Posted: Saturday July 11, 2009 7:07 AM CT
Updated: Saturday September 29, 2009 1:39 PM CT

Although the Amber Alert remains in effect in California it has been deactivated in the Code Amber system. Information from Nevada indicates that the children and their mother are believed to be with relatives in Mexico at this time.”

http://www.codeamber.com/martineznv/