Bennett, where are you?

It's a different experience for everyone, looking at a forensic artist's image of what your missing child might look like today. Deborah Tinsley Blackwell has been watching her 3-year-old son, Bennett, grow up this way, ever since he was abducted by his father on May 6, 1996 from their home in the Washington, D.C. suburbs.

Now Deborah has a new age progression of what Bennett might look like, this one at age 32. He was born Reuben Bennett Blackwell on Dec. 29 but she called him by his middle name. Looking at each image, she usually focuses on Bennett’s ears, which had a cute way of sticking out when he was little. This time, however, she was struck by something else: She saw more of herself in his mature face. 

"I kind of always want to open it alone," Deborah said of the age progressions sent to her by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC). Along with the image, parents also receive a note suggesting they may want someone with them because viewing it can be a very emotional experience. "I appreciate the age progressions because they give me a sense of reality. Okay, he's not three years old anymore. You kind of get stuck in time. I still see that 3-year-old little face."

Some families steel themselves before looking at their child’s age progression, a painful reminder of what they’ve lost. Others cherish them, grouping them with other family photos, even framing them in their homes. NCMEC does a new age progression of a missing child every two years until age 18, then every five because people’s faces don’t change as much as they age.  

Because Bennett was only three when he was taken from her, he likely has no idea that he was abducted. Deborah hopes one day he may wonder: Where's my birth certificate? How come I don't have any relatives? Or, she hopes, he may hear one of the songs she taught his Sunday school class and wonder: How do I know that song?

Before he vanished, Deborah says her husband, Reuben Bennett Blackwell, Sr., began exhibiting alarming behavior. There were dramatic mood swings—nice one minute, then throwing things the next, even knocking over their son's fish tank.

She became so concerned for their safety that she called the cops, asking them to file papers that would require him to leave their home in Clinton, Maryland for 10 days and appear at a court hearing for mediation.

That seemed to enrage the special education teacher even more, she said, and after he was served, he put Bennett in his car and drove off. Initially, she said, he was in contact with relatives, implying that he would kill himself and Bennett. Then they vanished without a trace. 

Reuben Bennett Blackwell, Jr. aged progressed to 32; Reuben Bennett Blackwell, Sr. to 65.

Devastated, Deborah and her family pulled out a Maryland phone book and considered sending a missing flyer to every name in it. Then they thought: “Wait, that’s not gonna work. We have the whole country.” Overwhelmed, they turned to NCMEC for help. 

Deborah says her NCMEC case managers over the years have been her lifeline and have worked hard to help law enforcement find her son. The FBI is also still actively investigating the case, using DNA and new technologies, said Task Force Officer Tawana Hines, with the FBI’s Baltimore office.

Photos are still the most effective way of finding missing children, with some found years, even decades after they vanished. Deborah hopes the public will look closely at the new age progression and the images of his father. Have you seen anyone resembling them?

Now 70, Deborah still hopes one day her son will walk through the front door of their Clinton home, where she has remained since he was taken 28 years ago. In his nursery, she still has his picture books and the set of dinosaurs he adored. One out of the set of six is missing, and she thinks he took it with him when his dad abducted him. She strives to keep herself healthy for that day, if it ever comes.

 “I want to be able to greet this young man when he comes home,” said Deborah. “I continue to wish and hope that wherever he is that he is healthy, that he is free from all harm and danger.”

If anyone has any information about the father and son’s whereabouts, please contact 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678).