Chapter 19
Isla de Vieques, Puerto Rico
When Melissa arrived at the Vieques police department on Tuesday morning, Lieutenant Ramos was already fully engaged in the search for Joey. After she had left the night before, Ramos had filed the information about Joseph's disappearance with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, who would likely put out posters and coordinate tips and leads that were called in. Additionally, he entered all of the information into the NCIC, which is the FBI's criminal database. With these administrative details out of the way, he finally called the FBI so they could open a file and assign agents to head up the investigation.
“Mrs. Grady. I believe you would like an update,” Ramos said.
“Yes, please.”
“Where is your husband? And your son?”
“My husband is getting a boat to go search along the Puerto Rico coast and some of the islands around ‘the crease’. The boys are with him.”
“Oh. I see. He did not want to wait until the police and the FBI could look?”
“Well, we thought we could get a head start.”
“Okay. I understand. Now, four of my officers went to search the clubs, bars and restaurants around the marina where the dive boats landed. They questioned all of the owners and many other people. Unfortunately none of them remembers seeing Joseph.”
“Then what are you doing now?”
“Señora, we are waiting for the FBI. They will want to take command of the search. They should be here soon. May I get you some coffee?”
“Coffee? No. I have already had coffee. We need to be out there looking for Joseph.”
“Ma’am, we will. The FBI are due any minute now, and they will certainly have a good plan for finding your son. In the meantime, would you help me go over some details? What was the name of the dive tour company that Joseph was with?”
“I think it was called something like ‘Isla Bonita SCUBA’.”
“Isla Bonita. Yes, we know of this one. We will interview the owner today.”
“And there were some Australian girls on the boat who Eli and Mark were talking to. Maybe you should talk to them?”
“We will ask for the entire list of who was on the tour and talk to each one we can locate. Now, I know we talked about this before, but again can you tell me, how certain are you that Joseph did not perhaps go off on his own? Is there any chance he knows someone here? Or has he talked about seeing or doing anything that maybe you and your husband had not yet allowed?”
“No, absolutely not. Listen, this is a complete waste of—”
Just then, another officer opened the door and burst into the office. “Lieutenant Ramos, agentes del FBI están aquí.”
“The FBI are here,” Ramos said to Melissa as he rose from his chair. The interview was over, for now.
Melissa followed Lieutenant Ramos out of his office and found a man and woman each dressed in gray suits striding purposefully down the short hallway. “Ray Ortiz, Assistant Special Agent in Charge,” the man said as he extended for a handshake, “and this is Special Agent Allison Morales.” Morales shook the hand of the Lieutenant.
“I am Lieutenant Miguel Ramos, and this is Melissa Grady, mother of the missing child,” Ramos said. More handshakes were shared.
“Do you have an office or conference room where we can get set up?” Ortiz asked.
“Yes, of course. This way,” Ramos said as he directed them back down the hallway past his office to a shabby conference room where the FBI agents set down their bags.
“Lieutenant Ramos, where is the rest of the family?” Morales asked.
“The boy’s father and brothers have rented a boat and they are looking along Fajardo and the islands.”
“Did you send them on this search, perhaps with one of your officers?”
“No, they are on their own.”
“They have their cell phones with them,” Melissa added. “I can call them if you need to speak with them.”
“Thank you,” Morales said.
“Lieutenant, I would like to go over your notes with you and get a look at the file you have on this case. While I am doing that, Special Agent Morales will get a complete statement from Mrs. Grady,” ASAC Ortiz directed.
“My files are in my office. This way,” Ramos said, leading Ortiz out of the conference room back towards his office.
Special Agent Morales indicated for Melissa to take a seat while she closed the door to the conference room and continued by opening her bag and removing a notebook. She laid the notebook on the table alongside her phone, and sat down. “Mrs. Grady—” she began.
“Melissa.”
“Melissa. I know you have already told this story to the Lieutenant, but I would like for you to tell it again, from the beginning, when you arrived here at Vieques up until right now. I will be making a recording using my phone and taking notes.”
“Okay,” Melissa said with impatience. “But shouldn’t we get started looking for Joey? I have already told all of this to Lieutenant Ramos. Joey has been missing all—”
“We need to get you to tell it again. Maybe you will think of something this time that you didn’t mention before, or maybe I will notice things that the Lieutenant didn’t think to write down in his notes. And this time we will have a recording so nothing will get missed. This won’t take long, and it will help ASAC Ortiz and I to do our best finding your son.” Allison Morales gave what she hoped was a disarming smile. She needed Melissa to cooperate; to feel like they were doing the right thing.
When they had gotten the call last night from Ramos, Ortiz and Morales were put to work researching the Gradys. They verified when they arrived in Puerto Rico and where they were staying with passport control and credit card records. They found the payment to Isla Bonita SCUBA and miscellaneous purchases in town, which they had yet to match up with their story, but it was assumed it would match. These looked, on the surface, like ordinary people. But they had just started to look.
In cases of missing American teenagers in vacation spots, the most likely cause was a runaway, and temporary. The teen gets his first taste away from his folks and makes a break for it, soon discovers life is better with money and returns of their own volition. Next most likely is new friends or vices. The boy has met a girl who is showing him a good time, or has met up with other new friends and been introduced to drugs or alcohol. Sometimes the teen already was into drugs or alcohol and makes a beeline for local supply. The Grady kid didn’t seem like the type, but again, they had only just begun looking. And lastly, you always have to keep criminal contact in mind. The boy may have been robbed, beaten up, or kidnapped. If Joseph Grady were not big and strong, then human trafficking might be more likely. Ordinarily kidnapping moves to near the top of the list when the teen is the child of a known wealthy family. So far, they had no reason to suspect kidnapping because it didn’t appear that the Gradys were rich.
Melissa told the story from the beginning in detail while Morales recorded it and made notes. Morales collected photographs and a detailed description of Joseph Grady. When Morales ran out of questions for Melissa, she announced, “Now I need to get the same statement from your husband and each of your sons.”
“They are out on a boat looking near the coast where Joseph may have swam or ridden back on another boat.”
“Well, we need to call them back here. Your sons, especially, since they were the last ones to see Joseph. We need to get their statement.”
“Okay, I will call them and tell them to come back.”