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Both cases have similar factors.
By Sarah Gangraw — Written on Mar 10, 2018
A Kansas boy has been missing for 20 days now and his disappearance is similar to that of a Florida toddler who went missing years ago.
Lucas Hernandez, 5, was reported missing Feb. 18 while in the care of his stepmother, Emily Glass. She told authorities she took a nap with the boy, and he was gone when she woke up.
Glass, 26, was arrested Feb. 21 and charged with child endangerment.
Relatives told the Wichita Eagle they had previously been concerned with the boy’s welfare.
Lucas’ great aunt, Sally Rasmussen, told the outlet she had contacted the Kansas Department for Children and Families last spring. His great-grandmother said the DCF was investigating his well-being.
Texas EquuSearch founder Thomas Miller is assisting the Wichita Police in the search for the boy, which is being treated as a criminal case. He said it reminds him of the death of Caylee Anthony in Florida.
Caylee, 3, disappeared in 2008 and her skeletal remains were found months later in a plastic bag near her Orlando home.
Her mother, Casey Anthony, gave authorities multiple stories regarding the disappearance of her 3-year-old, including a fabricated nanny who she said the child was left with.
She was charged with murder but acquitted, although new evidence revealed on "The First 48" may prove she is guilty.
"After we went to Caylee's funeral I said I never want to do one of these cases again, and right now it appears as though we are here,” Miller told KWCH.
Miller believes there is someone who could help them find Lucas.
"This feels way too familiar and unfortunately I think there's one person who knows, and they just aren't saying anything. So everyone is working as hard as they can,” says Miller.
Authorities believe someone out there knows something about the Lucas’ disappearance but hasn’t come forward with the information yet.
"Lucas just didn't walk out of the house,” Capt. Brent Allred said. “There's somebody or somebodies that knows something about Lucas and maybe someone will hear something and give us that information that will lead us to Lucas.”
Though the search for the 5-year-old boy is ongoing, the longer Lucas is missing, the less likely the outcome will be positive, authorities said.
"We don't sugarcoat anything, if Lucas is found he certainly is not going to be found the way we want him to be found, and I think the most we can hope for right now is to one day very soon go to a funeral," Miller said.
Miller spoke of his own daughter, Laura, who went missing and was murdered in 2000. He told KTEN that he wants to find Lucas just so the family can know what happened to him, even if the outcome is their worst fear.
“I truly remember the day Laura was found and I remember taking that small sigh of relief,” Miller said. “At least now I know and I realized then there is one thing worse than having a murdered child. That’s probably knowing they’re deceased out there somewhere and never being able to say goodbye.”
Hundreds of people have assisted in the search for the boy.
"A case like this, we are extremely concerned, we want to find the child, we want to do everything in our possible power to locate any missing child," Lt. Travis Rakestraw, supervisor for the Exploited and Missing Child Unit, told KWCH.
Allred said the case bothers him every day.
“We want to find Lucas very badly and it eats at you every day," Allred said. "It's just on your mind 24-7 and I know it's on a lot of people's minds."