Erik Buran, 4 year old boy, kidnapped by his mother, Karen O’Grady (Amber Alert?)

Father asks for help in finding kidnapped son, Erik Buran, as warrants issued for kidnapping.

A Reno father is asking for the public’s help in finding his 4-year-old son believed abducted by his mother in April. Lyon County issued a warrant June 27 charging Karen O’Grady, 49, with felony kidnapping in the abduction of her son, Erik Buran, on April 25. According to father, Robert Buran, he and his ex-wife have shared joint custody of Erik since their divorce in 2001. Buran had Erik three days a week, and O’Grady had him four days. Just before the abduction, Buran had filed for sole custody of his son and had lodged a complaint with Child Protective Services alleging O’Grady’s boyfriend physically abused Erik. Since then, a Reno judge awarded Buran sole custody.

Erik is listed as missing by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Nevada Child Seekers, Child Find of America and the Vanished Children’s Alliance.

Texas Missing Persons Clearinghouse Online Bulletin -Poster

• Erik Buran is 4 years old, 3 feet, 6 inches tall, with bluish-grey eyes and sandy blonde hair.

• Karen O’Grady is 49 years old, 5 feet 4 inches tall, with blue eyes and brown hair. She also uses the last names of Akers, Buran and Ligon.

• Anyone with information about their whereabouts or about a motor home O’Grady or her companion purchased just before they disappeared is asked to call the Lyon County Sheriff’s Department at 577-5096.

(Full story)

Project Jason: Voice for the Missing has an amazing piece on Erik Buran and has been following the story since the beginning. They bring up a rather perplexing issue when it comes to Amber Alerts, although it seems that rules were bent when it came to missing teen, VCU freshman, Taylor Behl. It would seem to me that when it came to the safety of a child no rule is beyond breaking. Why no Amber Alert issued is sad. This program was set up to alert people and help find children, not create frustrating road blocks.

I want to remind you of the post I made on September 16th, entitled “Rules Meant to be Broken?”. This post outlined the State of Virgina’s Amber Alert criteria, admittedly broken for Taylor Behl. As of news stories today, police still state they have no evidence of foul play in her case. The State never responded to my letter, which asked how they were able to do this for Taylor. In Nevada, Robert Buran has been told that Erik does not meet their criteria because it is a case that involves parental abduction. Robert tells me that his research shows that since the Amber Alert began in Nevada in July of 2003, 15 Amber Alerts have been issued. 9 of those 15 were cases of parental abductions, with one being issued by the jurisdiction that tells Robert “no”.

Written plea from Erik’s dad.

Erik Buran Discussion Forum

Hat Tip: KellyJ.
Who provided us this story is our missing persons forum the other day. Thank you for bringing this missing persons case to light as the disappearance occured on 4/25/05 and there has been little to no news reporting on it since the original We will do all we can to help bring attention to this tragic story.