A 15-year-old Cave Junction boy who was on a trip to the Oregon Zoo with a Multnomah County-run secure residential program ran off and has been reported missing.
County officials reported William Herren missing to Portland police on Sept. 23. His family has been distributing flyers with his photo to try to spread the word.
His mother, Heather Smith, said the county “should have supervised him better,” knowing he had a history of running away. She said her son isn’t familiar with Portland.
He had spent three months in juvenile detention in Portland for an alleged burglary and vandalism in his hometown and then was moved to a residential program in Multnomah County that is part of the county Department of Community Justice’s Behavior Rehabilitative Services program. It’s intended to provide more “structure, stabilization and treatment” in a “staff-secured, out-of-home placement,” according to a county website.
The county said it could not discuss a particular case but that the Department of Community Justice follows protocols if a youth runs away from a program that includes notifying police, the child’s guardian and filing a missing persons report with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Police confirmed a report had been made. The Oregon Zoo was unaware of the matter until it saw the missing persons flyers online, said Hova Najarian, a zoo spokesperson.
The boy’s mother on Friday came to Portland, trying to track down a tip the family received from a homeless person who may have spotted her son near the airport.
— Maxine Bernstein covers federal court and criminal justice. Reach her at 503-221-8212, [email protected], follow her on X @maxoregonian, or on LinkedIn.
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