The skeletal remains of a 3-year-old boy were found in Tucson on Tuesday and now his mother has been charged with starving him to death and stashing him in a trunk while his father did nothing to stop her. Raquel Barreras, 39, and her husband Martin Barreras, 45, had been evicted from their triplex unit and the landlords were there cleaning up the squalid mess they left behind. When they came across a 3×3 plastic toy box, they made the chilling discovery and court documents revealed Thursday that little Roman Barreras’ final weeks may have been agonizing.

DUNDALK, Md.- Caitlyn Virts is 11 years old, and police believe she is currently in the custody of her biological father, Timothy Virts. He is 6 feet 3 inches tall and 280 pounds. They are reportedly in a 1999 black Dodge Durango with Maryland tags: 5AJ4458. According to police, finding them may be a matter of life and death. “We know he is not supposed to have this child, so we have good reason to be concerned about her safety,” says Elise Armacost, spokesperson for the Baltimore County Police. Custody issues may be the least of their concerns, however, as police found Caitlyn’s mother, 36-year-old Bobbie Joe Cortez dead in the family home in Dundalk at about 9 a.m. on Thursday morning. , She was murdered, but officers won’t confirm exactly how.

In 2008, several scared and hesitant young Cambodian girls stood before U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer to tell her what Michael Joseph Pepe had done to them. “Please don’t allow this to happen again,” one pleaded in a barely audible voice. “Thank you that you helped me find justice,” another told her. Six years and a lengthy legal battle later, Fischer finally handed down a sentence Friday for the onetime U.S. Marine captain, convicted of sex acts with young girls in Cambodia: 210 years in prison, the statutory maximum, effectively a life sentence. Fischer said she was sending a message to any American who would consider traveling abroad to have sex with children.

Authorities are searching for a teenage beauty queen who vanished at at 8:37 p.m. Sunday (03/02/2014) without a trace after she took out the trash at her Bellevue, Nebraska home. Michaela Wells, 16, had just spent the day shopping with her mother for the gown she’d wear in the upcoming USA National Pageant in Florida. “She couldn’t be happier,” Theresa Norris, her mother, told FoxNews.com. “Shecouldn’t get a smile off her face because she was also asked out [on a date].”

MICHIGAN – A 51-year-old man was sentenced Monday in connection to the operation of a sex trafficking ring in Southfield and surrounding areas. James Coleman of Detroit was sentenced to serve 14 to 40 years in prison. He was convicted after an investigation conducted by the Southfield Police Department, Michigan State Police and the FBI through the Southeast Michigan Crimes Against Children Task Force (SEMCAC).

ALLEGAN COUNTY, Michigan – A decorated Army veteran who’s been fighting an attempted murder charge for the last year is now charged with first degree child abuse. Anthony McFarlane is free on bond, but stands accused of injuring his newborn daughter so severely that police say she will be permanently disabled. McFarlane has documented post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury from his time as a soldier in Afghanistan.

As unpleasant and frightening as it may be for parents to think about the possibility of their child being hurt by a predator, it’s crucial that parents talk with their kids about personal safety. Teaching your child how to protect himself against child predators is as important as other measures you use every day to keep him safe, such as making sure he uses a seat belt. By teaching your child how to avoid possible dangers and what to do if he finds himself in a potentially threatening situation, you will empower your child to know what to do in the event you are not there to protect him. Here are some important tips every parent should know about how to keep your child safe.

Holly Bobo’s family has been desperate searching for her since she was taken from her home in 2011 and now investigators may finally have a break in the case, having made an arrest that may be related to the case and searching property that is just 15 miles from the home from which she disappeared. The blonde nursing student was last seen in 2011 by her brother walking away from her Tennessee home into the woods with a man wearing camouflage, whom he mistakenly thought was her boyfriend at the time.

It’s every parent’s worst nightmare: A child is snatched from the playground in broad daylight never to be seen or heard from again. And it feels like it’s happening all the time. But while it may seem like we are in the midst of a kidnapping epidemic, the truth is much less scary. According to data from the U.S. Justice Department and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), kidnappings are on the decline. Each year, between 200 and 300 kids are taken in “stereotypical” kidnappings (i.e. grabbed from their homes or playgrounds and then murdered or held for ransom), and 50 to 150 are murdered. Officials expect this year’s total number to dip to near 100, hopefully dragging down the murder rate accordingly. And despite what you might reasonably think after hearing the terrible stories of Elizabeth Smart (who was returned safely home more than nine months after her abduction) and Samantha Runnion, the specter of kidnapping by strangers should not be parents’ primary concern; parents themselves perpetrate more than 98 percent of all kidnappings, according to the DOJ. While about 700,000 missing children reports were filed in 2001, only a tiny percentage of those cases were non-family abductions. And here’s one piece of positive news: 94 percent of kidnapped children are returned to their parents.

Saginaw, Michigan — Aki Dillard, 39, and his wife, Mio Dillard, 30, were arraigned today in the 70th District Court in Saginaw in connection with a child abuse investigation. Their 6-year-old son, Elijah Dillard, died of his injuries on Saturday. Dillard was charged with assault with intent to commit murder, torture and first degree child abuse and Mio Dillard was charged with first degree child abuse.

A mother who sexually abused her own young daughter, burning her with a lightbulb, forcing her to drink salt water and hitting her fingers with a hammer was jailed today. The girl was just five-years-old when her mother’s campaign of abuse started, and was only able to escape the torment when she ran away from home at 12. She broke down in tears at Liverpool Crown Court today, sobbing uncontrollably as a judge told her mother that she ‘robbed her of her childhood’ by her persistent abuse, and sentenced the older woman to six years and eight months in prison.

‘Scared to death’: Woman who was raped and abused by her police chief father died from asthma attack as he was about to be freed from prison A woman who was raped as a child by her police chief father died from fear that he was about to be released from prison, it has been […]

A British man who was caught by an undercover agent posing as the father of an underage girl has been sentenced to 10 years in prison. Shuhel Mahboob Ali told the ‘father’ online that he wanted to have sex with her and raise a ‘daughters-only’ family so that he could carry out a sick incest fantasy. Ali believed that the agent was arranging for him to be set up with his daughter, and Ali told how he wanted to ‘settle down with a girl and raise a couple of daughters for “the lifestyle,”‘ according to the criminal complaint.

BELLEFONTE, CENTRE COUNTY – 33 year-old Eric Crader, from Pleasant Gap, is charged with 1,278 crimes, including rape of a child, statutory sexual assault and aggravated indecent assault of a child. The criminal complaint details a disturbing scenario in which two children were repeatedly raped by Crader. According to court documents, the sexual abuse began in 2011 and continued through May 2013. Police say the abuse was discovered after one of the victims told a school guidance counselor about the alleged incidents. According to the criminal complaint, the child “did not want to be hurt anymore.”