| 3/27/2007 3:00:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article |
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| MOLLY’S BILL PASSES SENATE: State Sen. R. Michael Young, R-Indianapolis, is a co-sponsor of Molly’s Bill, which would require more aggressive investigation of missing-adult reports. The bill was named after Madison’s Molly Dattilo, who has been missing since July 6, 2004. (Staff photo by Donovan Estridge) |
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Molly's Bill gets unanimous Senate approval
Donovan Estridge
Courier Staff Writer
INDIANAPOLIS - Molly's Bill, which would require police to investigate missing-adult reports more aggressively, was unanimously passed by the Indiana Senate on Monday, nearly completing the bill's passage into adoption.
The bill, H.B. 1306, was named after missing Madison native Molly Dattilo, who vanished from an Indianapolis neighborhood in 2004. Though her name is on the bill, other families of missing adults throughout the state have banded together with hopes of seeing the bill become a law.
"This (Molly's Bill) stands for everything Molly is," her cousin, Keri Dattilo, said. "Through the tragedy, Molly is helping other people."
The bill has been met with wide acceptance throughout its progression in the Statehouse. During a committee hearing earlier this month, all 11 senators in attendance were so moved by the testimony of the Dattilo family and relatives of other missing people that they all signed on to sponsor the bill.
That trend followed through Monday, when the entire Senate heard the bill for its third and final reading. When it came time for a vote, every senator cast a "yes" vote.
Before the Senate passed the bill, its senate sponsors told their colleagues that passage of the bill was important. Senate co-sponsor R. Michael Young, R-Indianapolis, and fellow sponsor Sen. Connie Sipes, D-New Albany, urged senators to do the right thing.
"It is bills like this that reminds us why we are all here," Sipes said.
To drum up support, Young asked senators to imagine losing an adult child who disappeared, leaving behind valuable objects such as money, clothes and a car. He then asked senators to think of a world where police were bound by law to expedite the search for the loved one. To hammer in his point, Young stood before lawmakers holding a giant placard bearing Dattilo's picture.
"Police can gather information and start making a case faster," Young said.
As Young was wrapping up, senators, both Republicans and Democrats, stood up and asked for the bill's safe passage through the Senate. Lawmakers such as Sen. Timothy Skinner, D-Terre Haute, joined the fight to get the bill passed. Skinner talked about the case of a missing Indiana State University student who might have been found if the bill had been in place when the student disappeared.
"This gives people authority to search for a missing person," Skinner said.
Despite the abundance of lawmakers who supported the bill, one senator had questions about its logistics. Sen. Glen H. Howard, D-Indianapolis, questioned the need for police to have a law to search for missing people.
He interpreted the bill as adding a standard operating procedure that is already in place.
"It is hard for me to vote on this bill," Howard said.
Howard, though, voted for the bill, sending it to the next step.
The bill's original sponsor in the House, Rep. Dave Cheatham, D-North Vernon, agreed with Howard's concerns but he believes it is important to err on the side of caution. Cheatham said he understands that some cases might not be true missing-adult circumstances.
"There is always a possibility," Cheatham said about police investigating what turn out to be bogus cases. "But I see a lot of benefit for this model."
Though Molly's Bill isn't law yet, Patti Bishop, founder of In Hope for the Missing, a grassroots movement to find missing people, is already witnessing police across the state change their tactics when investigating cases of missing adults.
Bishop talked about a recent case where a Carmel housewife vanished after a family argument in February. During the investigation, the lead detective in charge told Bishop that all signs indicated that the woman, Valerie Lynn Vickery-West, left town of her own accord. But because Molly's Bill was being discussed in the Statehouse, police were more aggressive in their search, she said.
And after nearly of a month of searching, authorities found the body of Vickery-West, who appeared to have died because of cold temperatures. Bishop said she believes that police found the body mainly because of a sense of urgency in the police department.
"He (detective) told me he would never look at a missing person case the same way again," Bishop said. "Molly's Bill is a great instrument for police and families to use."
Molly's Bill will be heard one more time in the House of Representatives. If the House passes the bill as expected, it will be sent to Gov. Mitch Daniels to sign it into law.
"I am so thankful for everyone helping the Indiana missing," Keri Dattilo said.
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Reader Comments
Posted: Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Article comment by:
william brandum
Most people do not realize it BUT just because a child is missing doesn't mean the police can invistigat it as a missing person case. If a child is being kept from his mother against his will by a father who is not married to his mother does Not mean the police can take him to his mother. They canot interfere or stop the father from taking the child across state lines. All this HAS to take place in the courts. I learned this the hard way. My grandson was withheld from his mother who is the court appointed primary custodian of my grandson and had to go to court to get him back. The police need to be given the power to do more in these cases to help the parents of these children. BILL of Hanover
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