Missing Boy, Adam Herrman, Disappeared in 1999 -- Unreported Until Now

Doug and Valerie Herman Say They "Rue that They Did Not Report" Adopted Son Missing

A developing story out of Kansas is reminiscent of the Caylee Anthony case but with far more time elapsed (over a hundred times more time elapsed) between a young boy's disappearance and his being reported missing. According to CNN, Kansas authorities in Butler County are looking for Adam Hermann, who was last seen when he was 11 or 12 years old in a trailor park in Towanda, Kansas. He was living with his adoptive parents, Doug and Valerie Hermann.

Adam Herrman was last seen in 1999.

An anonymous call to the Sedgwick Country Exploited and Missing Childrens Unit a couple of weeks ago alerted police that at least someone had become "concerned" with the disappearance of the young boy.

Butler Country Sheriff Craig Murphy said the couple were cooperating with the investigation. A computer was taken from their home in Derby (outside Wichita), Kansas (where the Hermanns now live), after a search warrant was issued. The Sheriff said the couple had not been charged.

Doug and Valerie Herrman, speaking through their attorney, said that they "rue the fact that they did not report" the little boy missing. The lawyer said that young Adam had had a history of running away and the couple had simply assumed he had went to live with his biological parents or had become one of the homeless. They said they had "worried" about him.

Sheriff Murphy told CNN that Adam had been placed as a foster child in Doug and Valerie Herrman's care at the age of two. His parents soon gave up all parental rights.

Adam's sister, Tiffany Broadfoot, who also grew up in a foster home, told CNN affiliate KWCH, that she could not understand how he had been "missing as long as he's been and nobody say anything."