Aurora – The grandparents of a missing 6-year-old girl are outraged at Aurora police, who they say are ignoring Aaroné Thompson’s disappearance and instead focusing only on her possible death and their son as a “person of interest.”
“If you got evidence, well, bring it forth,” said Earia Cloman, who, along with her husband, Jessie Cloman, were interviewed Saturday. “But don’t stop looking for the baby.”
Earia Cloman said she last talked with her granddaughter in the summer, contradicting police claims that Aaroné may have been killed more than a year ago.
She recalls the simple conversation as: “How you doing? What are you doing? Be good. I love you.”
Police asked, “‘Are you sure it was her?”‘ she said. “Well, I can’t look through the telephone.”
“But she sure does know her voice,” added Jessie Cloman, who flew with his wife to Colorado from their Flint, Mich., home Wednesday.
Police haven’t found a body and haven’t made an arrest. The seven other children in the home have been placed in foster homes. Besides Aaroné’s father, Aaron Thompson, police consider his girlfriend, Shelley Lowe, a person of interest.
Meanwhile, investigators carried sacks of material from the home to crime scene lab trucks Saturday. Two vehicles were towed from the garage.
“We still have the attic to do and the garage to do,” said Capt. Dick Cimms of the Aurora Police Department.
A next-door neighbor reportedly told a detective about seeing a large hole in the ground on the home’s east side one to three years ago.
“The hole was right around the window well and air conditioner. It was there a day or two,” said Harlan Schmidt.
“Do the investigation,” said Earia Cloman. “Dig up the yard. Do whatever you got to do. But keep the alert open to look for my grandbaby.
“My son is a good daddy,” she said. “And he wouldn’t do nothing to hurt his kids or let anyone else hurt those babies.”
The Clomans are staying at a hotel with Thompson and Lowe, “praying together, all day and all night,” said Jessie Cloman.
The Clomans were planning to visit the family in the spring. On Monday, Earia Cloman was packaging Aaroné’s Christmas present – a dress-up doll – before her son called about the disappearance. The Clomans caught the next available flight Wednesday evening.
“As many arms and legs can be here to help find her, the more the better,” said Jessie Cloman, who said police ignored his offers to help in the search.
He said he was surprised to see no fliers in local businesses and was angered by authorities saying the family was being uncooperative.
Police searched the home three times, he said. Detectives interviewed the kids nine times away from their parents, and everyone provided fingerprints and DNA samples, he said.
“The focus is on one thing,” said Jessie Cloman, “that (Thompson) did something to his child, which is not the case.”
The Clomans believe their son’s account, that Aaroné walked out of the house Monday afternoon. Thompson told them he looked for his daughter, driving around the neighborhood before calling police.
The Clomans also disputed a recent report that the home didn’t have a bed for Aaroné. They said she gave up her mattress to Lowe’s brother when he moved in to the house and that Aaroné shared a bed with Lowe’s daughter, Kaila, 8.
Family spokesman Sam Riddle said Aaroné’s father tried to enroll her in nearby Tollgate Elementary this fall but was told she didn’t have proper medical records. Aurora Public Schools officials couldn’t be reached.
Staff writer Jeremy Meyer can be reached at 303-820-1175 or jpmeyer@denverpost.com.
