Three missing Gresham children found safe

Three Gresham children who were last seen with their grandmother in Portland on their way to church were found safe Monday morning. They have been reunited with their mother, said Officer Adam Baker, Gresham police spokesman.

The children were last seen with Barbara Cameron, 58, at her house near Northeast 77th Avenue and Halsey Street at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, March 3.

The news that the children were missing with their grandmother, who’d recently shown signs of mental illness, was reported on TV, radio and newspaper websites. At 6:34 a.m. Monday, a citizen spotted Cameron’s 2000 Toyota Corolla. The citizen called 9-1-1 to say he had seen the car on the news and was following it from the area of Northeast 141st Avenue and Sandy Boulevard.

The citizen stayed on the phone with the 9-1-1 call taker until Portland police were able to catch up to the citizen and the car with the grandmother and the children inside near Northeast 162nd Avenue and Glisan Street. Police were able to confirm the identities of the people in the car and that everyone was safe.

The children are Amaya Cameron, 11; Riley Melia, 6; and Gage Melia, 2. They had not returned to their mother’s home in Gresham by early Sunday evening when Barbara Cameron had agreed to bring them home. The children’s mother called from her home at 9:52 p.m. to report them missing.

Early Monday morning, police through the media, asked for help finding the grandmother and children.

Police did not issue an Amber Alert, which is a media-wide bulletin for the public to look for an abducted child, because the child’s mother gave the grandmother permission to take the children, the missing child’s mother told KOIN 6’s Brent Weisberg during an early morning interview.

The grandmother’s lack of technological know-how also made it more challenging for police to track her. She does not have a cell phone, doesn’t use bank cards or credit cards, and her car does not have a global positioning system.

When asked if she could get a message to the grandmother or the children, the crying mother pleaded for the grandmother to bring the children home, and urged the oldest child to get away and find help.

The youngest, at just 2 years old, would be unable to escape. And the older children would not leave the baby behind to get away if they were in danger, the mother said.