Search for 7-Year-Old Yields No Solid Leads

The mother of a 7-year-old Northern California boy who disappeared from a casino at the California-Nevada border a week ago said she remains “pretty hopeful . . . he’s still out there somewhere.”

“I hope he was taken by someone who always wanted a little boy and is taking good care of him,” said Roxanne Harris.

Police reported no solid leads in their search for Alexander Harris, who was last seen last Friday with an unidentified man leaving Whiskey Pete’s Best Western Hotel-Casino at the California-Nevada border.

Lack of Good Leads

“We’ve had sightings from different places, but so far none of them have been the right one,” said Las Vegas Police Sgt. Carl Cassell. “We just don’t have any good leads right now, although we’re pursuing everything that comes in.”

Family members and authorities have speculated that the boy might have been taken to Southern California.

Alexander, who wears thick eyeglasses and whose right eye wanders noticeably, has light brown hair, brown eyes, stands about 4-foot-5 and weighs 60 pounds.

When last seen, he was wearing a red jacket with black stripes, a turquoise polo shirt, jeans and white high-top tennis shoes.

Playing Video Games

Harris said Thursday that she left her son playing video games for no longer than 20 minutes while she and her parents gambled in the casino area.

“There were a lot of other kids in the arcade and I didn’t think anything of it,” she said. “It just didn’t seem like a dangerous place to leave your son.”

Harris said the only reason the family stopped at the casino was because Alexander had wanted to play video games. The family, which lives in Mountain View, Calif., was en route from Las Vegas to a relative’s home in San Bernardino.

“It was just a spur-of-the-moment thing,” she said. “We stopped and I gave him some money, then went back about five minutes later to give him some more. When I went back 20 minutes later, he was gone.”