Fact Check

Nicholas Farber

Nicholas Farber: Missing child or Internet hoax?

Published Aug. 30, 2002

Claim:

Claim:   A nine-year-old boy named Nicholas Farber was abducted by gunmen from his California home and is still missing.


Status:   Not any more.

Example:   [Collected on the Internet, 2000]




9-year-old Nicholas Farber was abducted from his home earlier today! Authorities quickly issued an Amber Alert to find him. We need your help. In an Amber Alert, authorities find missing kids by using every means available to quickly spread the word about the loss. Newspapers, television, and even street signs are all mobilized to recover the missing child.

This Alert Works! 27 children have already been found thanks to the Amber Alert. With your help, we can find Nicholas Farber.

Please pass this page to as many people as possible right now. Do it now. As you know, speed is very important in these cases. If you have any information please contact your local authorities.



Origins:   At

Nicholas Farber

about 2:00 AM on 28 August 2002, nine-year-old Nicholas Farber was abducted at gunpoint from his Palm Desert, California, home by two men who beat his father and fled in an SUV Police suspected that Nicholas' mother, Debra Rose, was involved in the kidnapping, as she had been engaged in a bitter custody dispute with her ex-husband, who had recently granted temporary custody of Nicholas by an Orange County Superior Court judge.

Police suspicions proved correct, as Nicholas was found, unharmed, with his mother and another man in a campground near San Diego on 30 August 2002. Debra Rose was arrested and charged with one count of felony child abduction, and two other men, Rodrique Edgar Van Blake and Elias Gutierrez, were booked on charges of kidnapping, burglary and assault with a deadly weapon.

Last updated:   27 March 2005





  Sources Sources:

    CNN.com   "Abducted Boy's Parents in Custody Fight."

    29 August 2002

    CNN.com   "Mother Named As Suspect in Missing Boy Case."

    29 August 2002

    CNN.com   "Missing California Boy Found Safe."

    31 August 2002

    CNN.com   "More Arrests in California Boy's Kidnap."

    3 September 2002


David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994.

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