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E-mail StoryMissing 9-year-old found dead, appears accidental
| Wednesday, Mar 19 2008 10:57 AM
Last Updated: Thursday, Mar 20 2008 7:22 AM
A peaceful south Bakersfield neighborhood was rocked Wednesday when a 9-year-old boy went missing and was eventually found buried just a few blocks from home.
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Zane Anthony Newton
Neighbors and friends Monica Weinman, left, and Julio Munoz hug after the possible kidnapping of Zane Newton. Munoz says the neighborhood is tight-knit.
The media, along neighborhood residents, gather at the corner of Saint Helens Avenue and Kaiser Peak Court to hear Bakersfield police Public Information Officer Greg Terry, center, update the news on a boy who died in a sump nearby.
Technical investigators and a Bakersfield police detective process the scene where a boy, who was originally reported kidnapped, died after dirt collapsed on him in a sump near his home.
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It was a tragic ending to a bizarre day, which began when a playmate of the dead boy concocted a wild tale of shooting and kidnapping.
Zane Anthony Newton was playing in a sump sometime before 10:30 a.m. Wednesday morning and was buried when a culvert collapsed on him, police said.
“It appears this was a tragic accident,” police Sgt. Greg Terry said.
The sump is on the north side of Saint Helens Avenue, a couple of blocks from Zane’s home on Half Dome Way.
Neighbors told police that children often play in the sump. There are several holes in the fencing where children can squeeze through, police said.
Dozens of neighbors swarmed around the police tape blocking off the sump area as officers and firemen recovered the body.
Family members congregated at the back of the crowd and many collapsed on front lawns weeping.
“It’s devastating,” neighbor Mary Lou Rodriguez said, standing across from the sump. “We’ve been in prayer all morning and when we finishing praying they found him out here.”
The body was found after police spent most of the day searching for an alleged kidnapper and a black car with one white door.
Zane’s 9-year-old playmate told police that they had been playing in the street when a masked man in black drove up and opened fire on them. The boy said Zane was shot in the shoulder and carried off by the suspect.
The boy’s story sent neighbors and family members racing across the neighborhood looking for the kidnapper’s car. Police swarmed the neighborhood and a sheriff’s helicopter surveyed from the skies.
An Amber Alert was declared around 1 p.m., mobilizing law enforcement statewide.
As the day wore on, officers followed up on a tip from earlier that morning. A neighbor had reported seeing Zane playing in the sump.
Two detectives and an officer found the body around 4:15 p.m. News of the discovery spread quickly through the neighborhood. Residents and family members literally ran to the sump.
Julio Munoz brought a shovel to help dig out the body.
“I was just trying to do my best to get him out,” Munoz said.
Police said they could not immediately determine whether Zane could have been saved if the collapse had been reported earlier.
Terry said Wednesday evening that detectives were still interviewing the unnamed 9-year-old, but it appears the kidnapping story was completely made up. Why the boy made up the story was not clear.
“I think he was scared,” resident Anna Zamora said about the boy who made up the kidnapping.
Zane was a 4th grader at Planz Elementary, but was on spring vacation this week. Neighbors said he was regularly seen playing with other children in the middle-class neighborhood of one and two-story homes.
"He is a good little boy," Rodriguez said.
Steve Swenson contributed to this story.