200 Missing Children Found in Operation We Will Find You 2, a National Campaign by Federal and Other Law Enforcement Agencies

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — The U.S. Marshals Service announced it has located 200 missing children as part of a nationwide investigation called Operation We Will Find You 2.

For six weeks in May and June, federal and local authorities worked together in seven districts, including the Eastern District of North Carolina. Their efforts in North Carolina focused on 12 counties (New Hanover, Brunswick, Harnett, Onslow, Pitt, Wake, Johnston, Robeson, Cumberland, Sampson, Nash and Pender), according to a Justice Department press release.

“Prior to the operation, we had approximately 50 open cases involving missing or endangered children,” Glenn M. McNeill, Jr., U.S. Marshal for the Eastern District of North Carolina, said in a pre-produced video included in the press release.

Of the 200 children recovered nationwide, 123 were involved in dangerous situations, 173 were runaways in danger, and 57 percent were recovered within seven days of the U.S. Marshal's intervention.

“We’re not a government organization. We’re not law enforcement. This allows people to call us and report information, and we certainly get information from people who aren’t as comfortable coming to law enforcement,” said Angela Aufmuth, executive director of the analytical services division at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

NCMEC assisted law enforcement in recovering more than 30 children as part of this operation.

“All of the things that we have available to us as far as the different analytical tools that we have access to, like public records and also open sources like social media, and we can really dig in and try to identify where this child might be, where these people might be that the child might be with as well,” Aufmuth said.

Last year, NCMEC worked on nearly 29,000 missing children cases.

“We're then able to be that conduit and that clearinghouse. We take that information and make sure it gets to the ground, to the appropriate law enforcement agencies so they can investigate,” Aufmuth explained.

One case highlighted by the Justice Department involves the disappearance of a 1-year-old child in Raleigh. According to the release, on April 29, the child was reported missing to Raleigh police after her mother failed to turn her over to the Department of Human Services (DSS). RPD requested assistance from the USMS in locating the missing child. The child's mother had previous convictions for strangling, assaulting and killing one of her children, a 4-year-old boy. Additionally, she was wanted for felony probation violation for cruelty to a child.

On May 15, USMS and RPD personnel arrested the child's mother without incident in Raleigh. The missing one-year-old was located safely in Raleigh by a USMS investigator and released into DSS custody.

A Raleigh police spokesperson said this is an “ongoing investigation” and that the arrest warrant in the case against Kimberly Boykin, 33, was issued by the U.S. Marshals Service. ABC 11 reached out to the Justice Department for comment but has not received a response.

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