New tip comes forward in case of missing boy

(4/20/06 - KTRK/HOUSTON) (KTRK) -- Kendrick Jackson, the three-year-old boy who has been missing for nearly two weeks, may have been spotted. The family of young Kendrick says they were told the boy may have been seen on a bus a week ago.

Police say the boy's father, Roderick Fountain, is a suspect in the disappearance, but he has not been charged in the case. Fountain has been charged with injury to a child for an alleged incident before Kendrick vanished.

The attorney for Fountain says he got a phone call around 8:15am Thursday from a woman who says she saw a child who looked like Kendrick Jackson. The alleged sighting was about a week ago on a bus from Houston to Dallas. The woman says the child and an adult got on the bus around Huntsville.

The attorney turned over the information to the district attorney's office. It's unclear what could become of that information.

Meanwhile, family members are still defending Fountain.

It's been two weeks since Kendrick went missing and his father is still the prime suspect. Thursday, with Fountain still behind bars, family members held a news conference with their attorney and new spokesperson.

"Kendrick, I know that you're alive," said his mother, Keyanna Jackson. "I feel that you're alive. I love you. If you're watching this, I love you, I miss you and I want you home."

Keyanna was accompanied by local activist Quanell X, who made it clear neither Jackson nor the mother of some of Fountain's other children, believe he's guilty.

"He is very good to his children, all of his children," said mother Kim Carter. "We do a lot of family things together."

Fountain's attorney, Rick Detoto, sat with Quanell X and the women, but admitted he wasn't completely comfortable with the activist's involvement.

Detoto said, "I don't always agree with what he has to say, OK? By no means do I agree with everything he said today. But I respect him, OK? And the family has agreed to use him and I respect that."

Detoto did reveal he got a phone call early Thursday morning from a woman who claims to have seen Kendrick on a bus bound for Dallas last week. It's a tip Detoto hopes the police will now follow up on.

"We don't know the credibility of this woman," he said. "Hopefully the district attorney's office and the police department are looking into this and talking to her. She said she was willing to cooperate."

The investigation is ongoing. Police say they are following up on that tip, as well as a tip about a dumpster smell in the Baytown area. But so far nothing has turned up.

Fountain remains in the Harris County jail on a charge of injury to a child. There is a $100,000 bond. So far the family has been unable to raise the money.
(Copyright © 2006, KTRK-TV)

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