Crime & Safety

Agencies Pooling Resources in Search for Missing 12-Year-Old

Representatives from local, state and federal agencies are working around-the-clock to find Isabella Oleschuk.

Residents and emergency officials from around the state have put their lives on hold to launch a massive search for a 12-year-old girl who went missing Sunday morning.

Police dogs have scoured the woods behind Isabella Oleschuk’s home in Orange, Conn., while helicopters circled above using infrared technology to aid in the search. Members of the town’s Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) joined police officers and firefighters in what has become an all-out effort to find the girl.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Child Abduction Rapid Deployment (CARD) team arrived in town late yesterday afternoon to offer its expertise to the search. Another specialized organization, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, is also lending a hand.

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The center’s Team Adam, a network of retired law enforcement personnel who each bring highly specialized training and knowledge, have been deployed to Orange.

“We’re doing everything we can to support the effort,” says the center’s president, Ernie Allen.

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To this end, the organization is working with local, state and federal authorities and helping to disseminate the missing child poster that state police created.

And time is of the essence right now, Allen says.

“This is a key moment in the search for Isabella,” Allen says. “Time is the enemy in these kind of cases.”

That’s because 90 percent of missing children cases are resolved within the first 24 hours. It is now just beyond that mark.

Indeed, concerns about Oleschuk’s welfare increase with each passing moment. Temperatures dipped into the low 30s last night and a mixture of rain and snow is falling today. Furthermore, emergency officials also fear that she may not be able to hear them, as she is deaf in one ear and is without her hearing aid.
Oleschuk was last seen at her home at 170 Derby Ave. She was wearing a light blue jacket, brown felt hooded cape and black rain boots. She is a white female, 5-feet, 4-inches tall, about 120 pounds with blues eyes and shoulder length blonde hair.

Allen has been briefed on the case and he says there’s no history or indication of a runaway situation here.

“At this point, the focus is on looking at people who had access to her,” he says.
Allen, citing statistics from the most recent study, reports that approximately 800,000 children are reported missing in the U.S. each year. Of those, about 58,000 are taken by non-family members.

“The good news,” he says, “is that 99 percent plus come home.”
And that’s just what everyone involved is hoping for – a happy ending.

To show their support, community members are hosting a candle light vigil tonight, March 21. The vigil will take place at Orange Congregational Church, 205 Meeting House Lane, at 5:30 p.m.


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