A team of volunteers looking for little Hasanni Campbell found something that caused police to turn the end of a dirt road into a crime scene Sunday.
Sherri Miller, a virtual one-woman-crusade to find Hasanni, organized the search of the Rockridge neighborhood, Lake Temescal and Lake Merritt. She told reporters someone found a gray child's sweatshirt at the end of a dirt road late Sunday afternoon in the Oakland Hills.
The volunteer flagged down an officer in the area at the time. Police immediately put up yellow tape. There is no way to know if the find is indeed connected to the missing child's case, but Hasanni was reportedly wearing a gray sweatshirt when he disappeared.
Dogs were called to the area to see if they could find a scent, but found nothing.
Hasanni was reported missing from the parking lot of the Shuz of Rockridge shoe store in the 6000 block of College Avenue in Oakland at about 4:15 p.m. on Aug. 10.
Hasanni's aunt and foster mother, Jennifer Campbell, works at the store. Hasanni's foster father, Louis Ross, was the last person to see Hasanni alive, according to authorities.
Both have been arrested and released after the district attorney's office said it didn't have any evidence to make the charges stick.
Campbell and Ross came to the scene late Sunday and police showed them the clothing, which also included a sock. Ross told reporters that the sweatshirt did not match the one his foster son was wearing. He said it was the wrong brand.
Police called off their official searches long ago, but Miller, a San Leandro business owner, took matters into her own hands and organized searches of her own. And she may have found the biggest piece of evidence yet in the case.
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The clothing will now be tested for DNA.
Miller, who owns the All in One Stop, made T-shirts with Hasanni's face on them and handed them out to the boy's family members when the boy was first reported missing.
Miller doesn't have any children of her own and she doesn't know the family. She came into the world of missing children when she donated two dozen T-shirts from her shop to help Tracy police find Sandra Cantu earlier this year.
Miller has printed thousands of fliers at her shop. She's also helped get together a Web site dedicated to the child: www.findhasanni.com.
She said even if people suspect the parents had something to do with his disappearance, "There's still a 5-year-old child who needs to be found."
If you want to help Miller and donate to the cause of finding Hasanni, call her at 510-276-9090.
People who have information about the case can call Crime Stoppers at 510-777-8572 or 510-777-3211.
