2009-06-25

Missing boy found ...

By Stephanie Parker

Christian Bacak, a ninth grade student at Bandera High School, was found unharmed on Thursday, June 18, after a 90 minute search by a DPS helicopter. The 15-year-old had been missing for four days.

Bacak’s mother, Deanne Wilke, discovered her son and some of his clothes and belongings missing on Sunday, June 14. Officers with the Bandera Police Department and a host of volunteers launched a massive search for the boy, concerned about the lack of signals from his cell phone. Electronic activity could not be used to track Bacak.

He was eventually found in a tent under a tree close to Bandera High School.

Bandera Police Chief James Eigner said that he had felt all along that Bacak was a runaway. Bacak’s mother, however, did not share that view and was afraid that her son had been killed.
Eigner set the cost of the search to his department at $1,250, based on an extra 50 man hours over a five-day period.

In an interview on Friday, June 19, Eigner said that Bacak had been taken to the juvenile detention center in Kerrville and would receive counseling. “I am amazed that he stayed out there that long,” Eigner said of the youth’s four-day campout in summertime temperatures. “He seemed in fairly good health, just hot and in need of a bath. He had a tent, clothing and personal belongings.”

Eigner added that when Bacak heard the chopper, he knew it was looking for him and panicked. “He ran out from under the tree and the officers spotted him. If he had stayed where he was, he might not have been found because the tent was hidden from the air. We had searchers out looking for him close to where he was found and when he spooked, officers were in the right place at the right time.”

Eigner added, “I’m glad he’s okay. Searching for him was a big effort by everyone involved. We had volunteers and off-duty officers involved.”

In an interview on Monday, June 22, Wilke expressed relief and thankfulness that her son had been found unharmed. “The searchers did a phenomenal job,” she said. “Lt. McLean never stopped looking. Officers from the Bandera Police Department even took us out looking for him and brought us water while we were searching. The fire department also helped. A lot of people we didn’t even know showed up to look. Police officers came out to search on their days off.”

Wilke expressed regret that she and Christian had not communicated better before his disappearance. “I work and take care of my kids,” she said. “I never go out with friends or take time off to have fun. I was at my first birthday party in 20 years when I was injured. My son saw the accident, which was hard on him. Then, because my neck is broken, I can’t do a thing. He was taking care of me and being the man of the house. I think it just overwhelmed him.”

Wilke’s neck was broken on May 9 when she was floating down the Medina River and someone dropped off a tree swing and hit her. She has been unable to work since the accident.

Even with her son back, problems loom large in Wilke’s life. She said that she paid all her bills after the accident. Now she is still unable to work and is facing the possible cutoff of utilities and eviction from her rental house.

Still, Wilke refuses to allow bitterness to reign. With confidence, she said, “God has a plan in all this. I am just waiting to see what the plan is. God has always come through for us before. He will now.”