Oakland Acting Police Chief Howard Jordan said that the foster parents of missing 5-year-old boy Hasanni Campbell are still the main suspects in the case even though prosecutors say there's not enough evidence to charge them at this time.
In a one-minute statement to reporters, Jordan said, "We're asking for the public's help to solve this case and potentially re-arrest Mr. Louis Ross and Jennifer Campbell."
Ross, 38, and Campbell, 30, who lived with Hasanni and another child, a 1-year-old girl, in Fremont, were arrested last Friday, but the Alameda County District Attorney's Office has declined to file charges against them, stating that there's insufficient evidence.
Ross told police he took Hasanni, who has cerebral palsy, to the Rockridge area of Oakland to see Campbell at her workplace, a shoe store, on the night of Aug. 10. But police are disputing that story.
Ross insists that someone took the boy because his physical condition prevents him from running. But police are saying that the boy was gone before.
"We know for a fact that Hasanni Campbell never made it to Oakland Aug. 10th as was previously reported." Oakland Poilce spokesman Jeff Thomason said.
Police on Tuesday also released a surveillance video from a Fremont Wal-Mart four days before Hasanni disappeared that they say shows the boy and his baby sister shopping with Ross and Campbell.
Officers say it's the last time they have evidence that Hasanni was alive and they say Ross is lying about when the boy disappeared.
But both parents say they've cooperated with investigators from the beginning, insisting the video proves nothing.
"I gave them receipts, cards, bank statements. I gave them times I was there." Ross said. "I gave them everything."
The couple believes they are the targets of a witch hunt.
"I don't know what type of evidence they plan to come up with or what they plan to do." Campbell said. "I will leave their investigation alone. I know I'm innocent and I know Louis is innocent."
Social services records show Ross and Campbell were very caring and attentive foster parents. Both were run through criminal background checks and child abuse instance searches and came up clean, The Chronicle's Matier and Ross report.
The couple paid close attention to Hasanni's medical needs, took him to UCSF to be fitted for special pediatric leg braces and regularly took him to Oakland's Children's Hospital for treatment, according to a social services official.
Another search for Hasanni is planned Saturday at Lake Elizabeth in Fremont. Expoerienced divers are being asked to volunteer for the search.
Bay City News contributed to this report.
