Disclaimer: This blog post is for informational and entertainment purposes only, and it is not meant to cause harm to anyone connected with the case. Please do not contact, threaten, harm, malign, or otherwise intimidate those mentioned in the post. Please do not release any personal information of the people mentioned in this post, and do not join in attacks conducted by others. Per U.S. law, every person directly or indirectly connected with this case is innocent until proven guilty.

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About Garnell

Garnell Monroe Moore was born on May 18, 1995, to his parents. Not much is known about his biological parents, as his mother was in jail on drug charges, and his father lived a transient lifestyle and had sporadic contact with his son. As a result, he lived with his paternal relatives for the first several years of his life.

He often visited his great-aunt, Trina Morton, who was raising three girls, one of whom was Garnell’s half-sister, Latonya Williams. Latonya remembered Garnell as an energetic, playful child who loved to smile and carry a toy car or figurine to play with.

When he was six, his paternal aunt, Belinda Cash, took him in. She never had legal custody of him, so this arrangement was informal. Because of this, and the fact that he was never enrolled in school, there were very few records of his existence. In the eyes of law enforcement, social services, and the public, it was as though Garnell never existed. This would ultimately cause more confusion in his case.

Disappearance

The exact date and circumstances surrounding Garnell’s disappearance are unknown, but most sources state that he was last seen in August 2001 or 2002. Trina was nine months pregnant and remembered seeing him play outside Belinda’s home. That was the last time anyone remembered seeing him.

Originally, Garnell was going to go to Trina’s house to visit with his half-sister, but Trina (who was nine months pregnant at the time) went into labor. As a result, she tried to reschedule the visit for a week later, but Belinda was unable to do so, as she was in the process of moving. Since this interaction, Garnell’s location has been unknown.

Sometime later, Trina tried calling Belinda and going to her new address, only to discover that the number had been disconnected and the address was fake.

With no way to contact Belinda or Garnell, Trina began to panic. Reportedly, when his father visted Latonya, he assured Trina that Garnell was safe with Belinda. He claimed to have seen his son in 2002 or 2003, at a family reunion about 1.5 miles northeast of Belinda’s last known address.

Even after receiving a phone number from one of Belinda’s relatives, Trina still could not locate Garnell. This relative hadn’t seen the young boy in Belinda’s care for years.

Family Investigation

By the summer of 2005, Belinda still had not found Garnell, so she reported him missing to the authorities. Unfortunately, they would not begin their search until March 2006. The exact reasons for this delay are unknown, but it’s believed that this delay was a result of a lack of records confirming his existence.

Because of the police’s lack of investigation, Trina and Latonya had no choice but to search for him. Trina conducted a door-to-door search near Belinda’s last known address, but they were no closer to finding the truth.

However, a break finally came in the summer of 2005 when they got in contact with another family member of Belinda’s. Thanks to the information this family member provided, the pair located Belinda’s new address, a public housing development.

Excited that she was finally making progress, Trina went to the home and asked Belinda if she could see Garnell. For unknown reasons, Belinda told her that he was on a school field trip to Virginia at King’s Dominion. However, he was not enrolled in school at the time, and the local schools were on summer break.

Police Investigation

Even though Garnell had been reported missing in July 2005, the authorities didn’t begin to investigate the case until March 2006.

Once they finally got involved, they located Belinda and questioned her about the young boy. She claimed that she was going through hard times and couldn’t care for him. As a result, she abandoned him on the steps of a nearby social service building.

Thinking that they had a solid lead, investigators interviewed the workers at the social services building, asking them if they remembered a boy sitting on the steps around the time Belinda supposedly left him there. No one remembered seeing Garnell or a little boy on the steps.

Additionally, the authorities interviewed Belinda’s neighbors at her previous address. They recalled seeing Garnell, and they heard her refer to him as her son. However, no one remembers seeing Belinda with the young boy after 2001.

After that, the police searched her previous home, which had been abandoned. Despite thorough searches and cadaver dogs, they never found any trace of him.

The authorities also interviewed Belinda extensively, but she has no known history of child abuse or neglect, and she doesn’t have a significant criminal record.

Since then, Garnell’s family has been waiting, hoping, and longing for him to come home. They hope he is out there alive and well somewhere, and they long for closure. As of this writing, the disappearance of Garnell Moore remains unsolved.

My Thoughts

The disappearance of Garnell Moore is haunting and frustrating. A young boy goes missing under mysterious circumstances, and he isn’t officially reported missing until years later. Even once the police become involved, they still can’t find him or any evidence of his fate. Further complicating matters is the fact that Garnell was never enrolled in school, and Belinda never had formal custody of him. There are so few records of his existence that it was as though he was a ghost to law enforcement, social services, and the public. In fact, the only known photo of him was from when he was five years old, approximately two years before his disappearance.

In many ways, this case reminds me of the disappearance of Relisha Rudd, a case I covered a couple of months ago. Both children slipped through the cracks due to loopholes in the system, and to this day, neither child has been found.

Because of how little information there is in this case, it’s difficult to determine what happened to Garnell and where he is today. Unlike most cases I’ve covered, the authorities believe that he could still be alive. There are two popular theories in this case:

• Garnell wandered off and was taken in by someone who wanted a child to raise.
• Garnell’s aunt, Belinda, sold him to another family in an unofficial adoption.

Let’s take a closer look at these theories.

Our first theory is that Garnell wandered off and was taken in by someone who wanted to raise a child. This could be possible, and it would explain the absence of a crime scene. If he was being raised under an assumed name, it would explain why he dropped off the radar.

However, this theory leaves a lot of questions unanswered. For example, did Garnell have a history of running away? Assuming he ran off, why didn’t anyone report it to the authorities? You would think that a person who’s kind enough to take in an abandoned child would also call the authorities and do their due diligence.

Although it’s possible, this theory has too many holes. Therefore, I believe we can set it aside for now.

The last theory is that Belinda sold Garnell to another family in an illegal adoption. For many, this is the theory that makes the most sense. Belinda told the authorities she had been experiencing financial problems around his disappearance, and she claimed to have abandoned him outside of a social services office. However, no one recalled seeing a young boy around the time she claimed to have abandoned him. If she had sold him, it would explain why there was no crime scene and how he dropped off the radar. The problem is that we just don’t have any evidence, and we can’t confirm or rule out this theory.

That being said, the authorities believe that Belinda did not hurt or kill him. It’s possible he’s living with a different family under an assumed name. He might not even realize that he’s a missing person.  He might take an at-home DNA test and figure out his identity from there. But until that happens, our best bet is to share his photo, the age-progressed image, and his story.

Garnell Moore was a happy, energetic young boy who disappeared sometime in 2001 or 2002. Even though there were few records of him, he existed. He mattered. He was someone’s little boy. He has a family who loves him, and they’re still fighting to bring him home. Let’s help them to make it happen.

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If you’re looking for more information about the disappearance of Garnell Moore, there honestly isn’t a lot of information. Outside of The Charley Project, there are a few articles. The following sources helped me as I wrote this post:

• The Charley Project
• The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
• The Crime Wire
• WUSA9

If you have any information about the disappearance of Garnell Moore, please contact the Baltimore City Police Department at 1-410-396-2284. You can also contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-843-5678.

What do you think happened? Let me know in the comments.