By Sean Maher, Harry Harris and Kristin Bender
Oakland Tribune

OAKLAND — The FBI and police on Tuesday searched the Fremont home of a 5-year-old disabled boy who vanished from behind a Rockridge district shoe store Monday afternoon, and authorities took the boy's younger sister into protective custody Tuesday.

Louis Ross, the child's foster father, said he left the boy, Hassani Campbell, outside his newer-model BMW in the back parking lot of Shuz, a shoe store in the 6000 block of College Avenue, about 4:15 p.m. He was there to drop the boy's 1-year-old sister off with his fiance, Jennifer Campbell, the boy's aunt and foster mother, police said. Campbell manages the store.

When Ross returned, the boy was gone, police said. Authorities confiscated the BMW for evidence.

John Riker, owner of Shuz, called Campbell a "wonderful foster mother."

"I can tell when she talks about her kids, she's a very devoted mother," he said. "She's hysterical right now."

Some Rockridge residents and store employees said they have doubts about Ross' story.

"There are just too many questions," said Paullet Barnes, who works at a Rockridge art gallery. Barnes said the parking lot is too out of the way for a random kidnapper looking to snatch a child.

The boy has lived with Ross, 38, and Campbell, 30, in Fremont since December because his 25-year-old biological mother, who lives in San Francisco, has drug and health problems, authorities said. Police have not spoken to the boy's father, who

also lives in San Francisco.

FBI agents searched the couple's home in the 5900 block of Roxie Terrace and shooed away a reporter who knocked at the door. "We are working something (here)," an agent said.

Authorities said the couple, who reportedly are taking legal steps to adopt the boy, hired a lawyer Tuesday. The boy's 1-year-old sister was taken into protective custody Tuesday, authorities said.

Hassani, who will be a first-grader at Leitch Elementary School in Fremont, has cerebral palsy, wears braces on his legs and has trouble walking. Cerebral palsy is a neurological disorder that affects body movement and muscle coordination, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Police and police dogs canvassed the Rockridge area Monday night, and several dozen police — in cars, on bicycles and on foot — continued the search Tuesday. Investigators also interviewed registered sex offenders living in the area, a routine procedure when a child disappears.

Sherri Miller, who was distributing 1,000 fliers she printed at her San Leandro print shop Tuesday, said she does not think the boy could have gone far on foot. "If the boy did wander off, he would have had a hard

time, and (someone) would have seen him," she said. Miller said her mother has cerebral palsy.

Sean Fahey, who lives in an apartment in the same building as the Shuz store, said he saw Campbell sobbing after the boy went missing. "She was really scared," he said.

Sgt. Raymond Backman, a spokesman for the Oakland Police Department, said Ross and Campbell have been cooperative but could be brought in for additional questioning. Backman declined to comment on whether the couple had been given or had been asked to take a polygraph test.

The boy is described as a light-skinned African-American, with short black hair and brown eyes. He is 3 feet tall and weighs about 40 pounds. He was wearing a gray sweatshirt and gray sweatpants the last time he was seen. Anyone with information can call police at 510-238-3641.

Ben Aguirre Jr. and Linh Tat contributed to this story.

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