Guilty Plea in Girls’ Disappearance
A man arrested in the disappearance of two girls abandoned without food or water in the searing Mojave Desert pleaded guilty to child endangerment Wednesday.
Alan Erickson, 36, of Pioneertown, entered his plea to two counts of child endangerment before Municipal Judge Bert Swift. Erickson was charged in connection with the disappearance of Silver Putman, 6, and her half-sister Kristina Johnson, 3. Erickson was a family friend.
The children vanished June 15 from Pioneertown, a remote community 75 miles east of San Bernardino, after leaving on an errand with Erickson.
The girls turned up June 21 after Silver walked into a desert mining camp. Rescuers discovered Kristina in a mine pit. The sisters, wearing only underwear, were left June 19 in a desert where temperatures soar over 100 degrees.
The bearded, heavyset Erickson was arrested in late June in Las Vegas.
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