Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Truck linked to abducted boy is found in Primm

The FBI and Nevada authorities are on the lookout for missing 9-year-old Nicholas Farber after a Metro Police officer discovered in the parking lot of a Primm casino a pickup truck thought to have been driven by his mother.

Authorities are now searching for a motor home that could be carrying Farber, who was kidnapped at gunpoint from his Palm Desert, Calif., home Wednesday morning.

The motor home is a tan 1997 Bounder with images of kangaroos on each side and an orange stripe. It carries Florida license plates HS7 02J.

Riverside County (Calif.) Sheriff-elect Bob Doyle said today that the vehicle was last seen in Southern California but could now be anywhere in the United States.

On Thursday a Metro officer spotted a gray GMC pickup that was suspected to be linked to the crime at a casino in Primm, about 40 miles southwest of Las Vegas, said Lt. Vincent Cannito, a Metro spokesman.

The FBI did not immediately impound the pickup in case the suspects and the boy came back for it, FBI Special Agent Daron Borst said.

"All the agencies participating in the investigation were immediately notified when the pickup was found," Borst said.

The pickup was hauled to Las Vegas late Thursday night, and is currently at the FBI's East Charleston Boulevard office. Investigators were expected to obtain a search warrant today and then process the vehicle, Borst said.

Authorities found no sign of Farber's mother, Debra Rose, or her Colorado Springs, Colo., roommate Carla Bender. Both have been upgraded to suspects in the case, Doyle said.

"We do believe that they are intimately involved in the kidnapping of Nicholas at this time," Doyle said. "We believe that he could still be in danger.

"We believe these people are armed. They are dangerous. They've shown a propensity toward violence. ... Our focus is to bring him home safely."

About 2 a.m. Wednesday, Michael Farber, the boy's father, made a desperate 911 call telling authorities that Nicholas, 9, had been taken at gunpoint from their Palm Desert home in Riverside County.

Nicholas was caught in a bitter custody dispute between Michael Farber and Rose, his ex-wife.

Farber, 47, got custody of Nicholas after Rose, 38, was arrested two weeks ago in Colorado for allegedly violating a restraining order involving an ex-husband. An Orange County, Calif., court granted him temporary custody on Aug. 23 and had set a Sept. 5 hearing on his request for permanent custody.

Farber reported that two men who broke into his house attacked him before taking Nicholas.

One suspect is described as possibly Hispanic, 5-foot-2, 175 pounds, in his early 30s with a medium build and a goatee, dressed in a dark sweatsuit and carrying a dark-colored bag, according to a composite sketch released in California.

There was no composite sketch for the other gunman because he wore a nylon stocking or mask over his face. He was described only as 6-foot-3 and 240 pounds.

A $46,000 reward has been posted for information leading to Nicholas' whereabouts.

Authorities are still looking for a white sport utility vehicle Farber told them the kidnappers fled in.

Earlier, Michael Farber made a plea for the boy's return.

"If my ex-wife is out there somewhere and she just hasn't come forward, please come forward now and save us this," he said.

Another of Rose's ex-husbands, Stanley Rose, appeared in a Colorado Springs court Thursday and was granted a permanent restraining order against her.

Stanley Rose said he had mixed feelings about Rose's possible involvement in her son's abduction. On one hand, she might be looking out for him, he said.

"But her drug addiction had gotten so intense, especially over the past few months she's gotten so delusional," Rose said. "I'm concerned she might not be in the right state of mind."

Sun reporter

Keith Paul and the Associated Press contributed to this story.

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