Claim: A 5-year-old boy named Christopher John Mineo is missing from his New York home.
Status: False.
Example: [Collected on the Internet, 2001]
Subj: MISSING CHILD IN BKLYN, PLEASE FWD TO ALL YOU KNOW. PLEASE ![]() I am asking you all, begging you to please forward this email on to anyone and everyone you know, PLEASE. I have a 5 year old son named Christopher John Mineo jr, Knick name C.J. I am from brooklyn N.Y. He has been missing since november of 98. If anyone anywhere knows anything, sees anything, please contact the origanial screen name that sent this. Which is CMINEO0295@aol.com. I am including a picture of him. All prayers are appreciated!! It only takes |
Origins: This appeal to help find a missing child began circulating on the Internet in February 2001. In June 2001, someone altered the text of the appeal to indicate Christopher John Mineo had gone missing on
Christopher John Mineo, Jr., is not missing now, nor is there any evidence he was ever really missing in the first place. In short:
- The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) never had a listing for a missing child named Christopher John Mineo, Jr.
- The New York Police Department (NYPD) never took a report for a missing person named Christopher John Mineo in Brooklyn (or any other borough), nor was anyone by that name ever listed in its
long-term cases file. - By the time the message quoted above started circulating, the
e-mail address connected with it was no longer accepting mail, and the web site connected with the account displayed some rather unusual information but absolutely nothing about a missing child.
Readers who managed to make contact through the e-mail address given were told that C.J. had since been "found," and a
Another clue that something fishy was up was the fact that the original message bore a strong resemblance (right down to the inclusion of a photograph) to the 1999 Internet appeal to help find Kelsey Brooke Jones, another child who wasn't really missing :
I have a 5 year old son named Christopher John Mineo jr, Knick name C.J. I am from brooklyn N.Y. He has been missing since november of 98. If anyone anywhere knows anything, sees anything, please contact the origanial screen name that sent this. Which is CMINEO0295@aol.com. I am including a picture of him. All prayers are appreciated!! It only takes I am asking you all, begging you to please forward this email on to anyone and everyone. As most all of you know, I have a 5 year old daughter named Kelsey Brooke Jones. We are from Southern Minnesota. She has been missing since All prayers are appreciated!!
I am asking you all, begging you to please forward this email on to anyone and everyone you know, PLEASE.
Please.
Christopher John Mineo Sr
The best we can make out of a mass of contradictory evidence is that little Christopher John was not abducted and was never truly missing; either the message was an outright prank or John was a pawn in a dispute between his mother (who is his custodial parent) and his birth father, and a phony "missing child" message was sent out by an unknown party to discredit or make life difficult for one of the parents.
In 2002 we began seeing a Spanish version of the appeal, this one for an unnamed 5-year-old boy who had supposedly been abducted on
February 2004 saw the hoax take the form of another plea in Spanish to help find yet another a missing 5-year-old boy, this one named Carlos Coronel, who was supposedly missing since
Gracias, Hola soy Carlos Coronel. Les solicito por favor, que envíen este mail a todos los que conocen, por favor!!! Tengo un hijo de Estoy incluyendo una foto de él. Todas las oraciones serán agradecidas!!! Solo les tomara Gracias,
MIRAR Y RE-ENVIAR POR FAVOR
Carlos Coronel
Last updated: 27 March 2005