Andrew Tran
Staff Writer
If anyone should investigate any federal institution in the U.S., it should be the FBI. A lot of what the FBI has done has been shrouded in mystery since most of its investigations are not available to the public. It has attempted to change that stance by operating a website called The FBI Records: The Vault where it houses an entire library of information on about 6,700 digitally scanned documents from previous investigations, cases, and evidence collected over the years.
Even though the FBI tends to not share their secrets and conclusions to the public, it has gotten a lot of scrutiny by investigating several key political figures, such as Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
When conducting these types of highly sensitive investigations, the FBI keeps a file on record with all the evidence collected and the documentations reported. The types of investigations the FBI conducts include, but aren’t limited to, domestic terrorism, hate crimes, kidnappings, and political corruption. The FBI has a full picture of what goes on in the United States. With that information, several people want to know what the FBI hides in their vaults. One case that would surprise most is the investigation into a group called the “Finders”, that allegedly had ties to the U.S. government.
The FBI has surprised people by releasing key documents from its investigation into a child abuse case in Tallahassee, Florida from February of 1987. It described the arrest of two men who were found with 6 children who were malnourished. The strangest part about this case was the way these men were caught. The two men wore suits and drove a white van where the police officers discovered the 6 children. These two men were identified as Douglas Ammerman and James Michael Holwell and they were held in custody as the police investigated the situation. The children were held in state custody until their mothers could be located. With these key events occurring, the FBI was prompted to investigate these possible kidnappings. It took about 6 weeks for the FBI and the Tallahassee police to investigate the charges of these men even having the pressure of two congressmen overlooking their investigations. However, there was no evidence of child abuse concluded from the men held by the state police. The two men were released from their custody after the investigation and their charges were dropped in March.
As for the children, no one had any idea who their mothers were. During children’s time in state custody, over 500 calls came in from mothers inquiring about the children who came in. After sifting through the calls, the FBI was able to determine the actual mothers and they traveled to Tallahassee to pick up their children. The case should have ended right there; however, a resident from Stuart, Florida named Skip Clemens called out the investigation as a cover-up for the “Finders” group. He convinced two congressmen to call for an investigation into the case and to look into the elusive “Finders” group he mentioned. This is where information becomes very interesting.
The document released by the FBI regarding the Finders cited a connection between the CIA and the Finders through various investigations that the FBI conducted such as an investigation into a Virginian farm where a strange ritual was discovered. There were also pictures of a slaughtered goat found on the Virginia farm. It was suspected that the group also brain-washed children on the farm; however, no evidence was found to confirm this claim. This leaves a very interesting situation regarding the van and the two men who were involved. How and where did they acquire these children? And why were these men not charged with kidnapping?
As someone who just read about the story, it sounds strangely bizarre that two well-dressed men were driving a van with 6 children and their charges were dropped a mere 6 weeks later. I found this very hard to believe because of the why aspect. If someone was caught transporting children without their parents in today’s time, they would be stopped and interrogated thoroughly. In my opinion, the whole situation feels weird and I am very suspicious of what the FBI was investigating at the time. Were these two men associated with the cult, we will never be sure, but I am wondering what else the FBI has kept in its vault of documents and why they chose now to release their documents about the “Finders”.
If you want to read what the document says, it can be found here.
The Candor 
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