AURORA — For the second time in as many weeks, investigators looking for an autistic child wearing an electronic device designed to send a signal if its wearer goes missing say the beacon failed.
Aurora police said Brandon Wells, 11, was wearing a Life Trak device on his ankle when he left his home near East Hampden Avenue and South Picadilly Street about 9:30 p.m. Sunday through a second-story window.
But the device was not sending a signal, investigators said.
On May 30, police activated the system designed to locate a Life Trak beacon that Kristina Vlassenko, 10, was wearing on her wrist, but they were unable to receive a signal. Her body was found the next day in murky water at an Arvada construction site.
Brandon was luckier. An Aurora park ranger spotted the silhouette of a boy inside the fence at the Plains Conservation Center, about a mile from his home, around 4 a.m. Monday. It was Brandon.
“It’s always a happy ending when you can reunite a child with his family,” said park ranger Mike Bonham, the first to see the boy, who was described by police as autistic and nonverbal.
At a news conference Monday afternoon, Aurora fire and police officials said Brandon’s Life Trak device, made by Care Trak Systems, was not transmitting a proper signal.
A babysitter was at Brandon’s house when he got out.
“It was just really good to see him again and know he was all right,” Brandon’s father, Mark Wells, told 9News. “We had a babysitter. Me and my wife had just gone to work. Then we got a call that my son had just jumped out of the second story.”
Authorities think the battery in the tracking device may have failed. The incident is being investigated.
“We’re looking into all of that right now,” said Capt. Matt Chapman, Aurora Fire’s Emergency Services manager.
Police did not receive a signal in the Arvada case, either. Care Trak Systems officials said their own test of the device Kristina wore showed it was working properly but the water where police found the girl’s body blocked the transmission.
Sunday marked the second time police had to respond to Brandon’s leaving his house. On May 28, he left his home while wearing the tracking device, and it appeared to have had a battery problem then too, Aurora police spokeswoman Cassidee Carlson said.
The boy was found quickly, and the battery in his Life Trak device was changed.
After that incident, his mother, Mariana Wells, was charged in Adams County District Court with child neglect, Carlson said.
Aurora fire officials recommend that parents test the batteries in the tracking device at least once daily.
The Colorado Life Trak program was implemented in Aurora a year ago. Police said 14 people use the device, and Brandon’s is the first reported failure.
Officials aren’t overly concerned that two tracking devices recently failed to send a signal. They urge parents, especially those with children who have special needs, to be vigilant.
“Not any one tool should provide you with that sense of security,” Chapman said.
Carlos Illescas: 303-954-1175 or cillescas@denverpost.com
