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Five-year-old Richard Wayne Landers Jr. was abducted from LaGrange County, Indiana, in 1994. He was found this week in Minnesota, now 24-years-old. (January 11, 2013) |
A spokeswoman with the U.S. Attorney's office in Minnesota, Jeanne Cooney, said charges in such a case could be related to non-custodial kidnapping, whether the child was exploited, abused, trafficked or being used to obtain benefits.
Michael Landers and his wife, who police say are expecting a child, share a plot of land with his grandparents a few miles outside of Browerville. There are two houses and two deteriorating barns on the property, and ten cars sat in the shared driveway.
Landers works at an auto parts store in Long Prairie, but wasn't at the store Friday and an employee declined an interview.
Raymond Iddings has worked since 1999 as a herdsman at Twin Eagle Dairy in nearby Clarissa, where owner Patrick Lunemann described him as a "dedicated, faithful" employee. Lunemann said he was in shock when he read a story about the case.
Lunemann said he knew Michael slightly, as Michael stopped into the dairy occasionally.
"(Landers) works at an auto parts place. That fits him perfectly, because Ray is kind of a motorhead and Michael is the same way," Lunemann said.
The town buzzed with the news, though. Rich Wall, a retired jeweler, said some residents speculated that some people knew of Landers' history but kept quiet. He said it was the most notable news since a grisly triple homicide there in 2003.
"My grandson called last night and said, 'Long Prairie made the news again,'" Wall said.
Additional information from the Associated Press