[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 197 (Tuesday, December 12, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H14258]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               THE NIGHTMARE OF THE TRAGEDY OF JIMMY RYCE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of May 
12, 1995, the gentleman from Florida [Mr. Deutsch] is recognized during 
morning business for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DEUTSCH. Mr. Speaker, I join my colleague, the gentleman from 
Florida [Mr. Diaz-Balart], and all the Members from south Florida to 
rise today with great sadness to share with you the news that my 
constituent, 9-year-old Jimmy Ryce, was abducted, sexually assaulted, 
shot, and finally found dead just a few short miles from his Miami 
home.
  What happened to Jimmy Ryce is really the worst imaginable thing 
anyone could possibly imagine in their wildest nightmares, and all of 
our community in south Florida, unfortunately, share the hopes and the 
fears and, to an infinitesimal degree, some of the suffering that the 
Ryce family is feeling today and will always feel.
  One of the things that has happened during this period of time is, 
unfortunately, I have educated myself a little bit about what is going 
on in child abductions in this country. On several occasions during the 
last several months I spoke with the FBI and people involved in the 
investigation, people involved in the investigation of missing 
children. Over a thousand a year in this country fall into that 
category, and, again, unfortunately, there have been strides in what we 
have done as a society and what we have done as a country to try to 
help this insufferable tragedy.
  In fact, south Florida, unfortunately, was an impetus to this several 
years ago when Adam Walsh was abducted and killed in south Florida and 
from the time that Adam Walsh was killed to today, and really through 
his family's work, there have been changes. There is now, in fact, a 
missing persons center clearinghouse the Federal Government operates 
for missing children, abused and abducted children, that has been 
helpful in solving many cases and actually having children returned to 
their families.
  But, unfortunately, what the Ryce family found is there is still a 
lot more that we can do operationally as a country and as a government 
both on the Federal level, but on State and local levels as well, but 
on the Federal level. Some of the frustration dealing with the Federal 
Government during this ordeal really is worth hearing and talking about 
and changing. As the gentleman from Florida [Mr. Diaz-Balart] pointed 
out and the Ryce family obviously knows, when they tried to spread the 
news of Jimmy's abduction, and they did an amazing job, the community 
did an amazing job, and we also on the floor of this Congress were 
talking about it and sending photos ourselves, but when they tried to 
do that through a network that exists in this country of post offices, 
Federal buildings that are everywhere in this country, they found they 
could not do it, which really makes no sense at all. And what will 
happen by the end of this week is that all of us in the south Florida 
delegation will be introducing legislation to correct that so that we 
can send out that information.
  If I have learned anything about child abductions, it is that the 
more information that is out there, the more people see a child's face, 
the more chances that something will be solved, and even in this case, 
the lead was because of that.
  There are other instances where the Ryce family actually had 
operational problems dealing with the Federal Government in terms of 
coordination. They found themselves there is no coordinated effort for 
missing children. There is for criminal fugitives, but there is not for 
missing children. The family was actually calling law enforcement 
throughout the State who had not even heard or were aware of what was 
going on.
  I am committed, and I know my colleagues from south Florida, I 
believe, my colleagues throughout this country are committed to doing 
everything that we possibly can to make sure that there is less of a 
chance that something like this will ever happen again in this great 
country.
  I think we all need to really feel and share some of the pain with 
the Ryce family because we are a community of America, and as a 
community we need to really work on ourselves as a community to make 
sure that the sickness that exists and the indescribable sickness is 
eliminated as much as we possibly can.
  To the Ryce family, I can only say to them that their strength and 
their perseverance will, I am sure, be clear that there will be 
something that will occur in this time, and we know that Jimmy Ryce's 
soul is in Heaven, and we pray for its continuation.

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