MISSING BUSHKILL, PENN., CHILDREN
RECOVERED IN EUROPE AS A RESULT OF ADVOS "HAVE YOU SEEN ME?"®
MISSING CHILD CARD
Latest
Recoveries Represent Children Found
Farthest From Their Home in Programs History
March 27, 2002
Windsor,
Connecticut ADVO, Inc. announced today that an anonymous lead resulting from the
nationwide distribution of its "Have You Seen Me?"® direct mail
cards led to the recovery of two missing Bushkill, Pennsylvania siblings, Berenger and
Emilie Grecula, ages 10 and 3 respectively. The cards were distributed in December 2001 to
77 million households nationwide and featured pictures of Berenger and his father, Ronald
Grecula, the alleged abductor. The Grecula recoveries the 115th and 116th
for the program represent the children found farthest from home in the almost
17-year history of the ADVO effort. Berenger and Emilie returned to the U.S. with their
mother, Monique Grecula, on March 1.
The children
were allegedly abducted by their father Ronald during a Thanksgiving vacation in November
2000. When he did not return with the children, Monique alerted law enforcement officials
who searched Ronalds apartment and found letters indicating he had been considering
moving to Estonia, Costa Rica and Malta. In December 2001, a Maltese private investigator
hired by Monique spotted Ronald on a public bus in Malta. However, the private
investigator later lost Ronald in a crowd and was unable to relocate him. In January 2002,
the ADVO card reached the home of an individual who knew of the Greculas whereabouts
but had been unaware that the children were abducted. After receiving an anonymous lead
from this individual, FBI officials were able to work with the Maltese government to
locate and arrest Ronald. He is currently in Malta awaiting trial prior to extradition.
"I am so
happy to have my children back and to be able to watch them grow up," said Monique
Grecula. "This sounds almost strange, but throughout the abduction, the ADVO cards
provided me with a sense of normalcy. I felt so alone in the world and the cards helped
remind me that there are other people out there going through the same thing. I have
friends throughout the United States that get these cards and look at them, so it made me
feel good to know that other people were looking for my children, too."
"Every
recovery is due to the efforts of many individuals, often including local, national and
international law enforcement officials, National Center caseworkers, private
investigators, lawyers and conscientious individuals who actively look at pictures of
missing children in their mailboxes each week," said Vince Giuliano, ADVOs
Senior Vice President of Government Relations. "Through the joint efforts of all
these individuals working together, we can tackle the most challenging cases, including
international abductions, and bring hope to searching families."
ADVOs
"Have You Seen Me?"® cards have led to the safe recovery of six
Pennsylvania children, including Berenger and Emilie. There are still 57 Pennsylvania
children listed as missing on the National Center for Missing & Exploited Childrens
(NCMEC) Web site. For more information about children missing from around the country, log
on to www.missingkids.com. Every day, approximately 2,000 children in the United States
are reported as missing.
May 23rd
marks National Missing Childrens Day, a day when the nation recognizes the plight of
the hundreds of thousands of children reported missing each year. In commemoration of the
day, ADVO requests that Americans take an extra minute to look at the faces featured on
the cards they receive in the mail.
In partnership
with the NCMEC and the United States Postal Service, ADVO launched the Americas
Looking For Its Missing Children® program in 1985. Since then, ADVO has
coordinated with the NCMEC to distribute over 40 billion pictures of missing children on
its direct mail cards.
ADVO is the
nation's largest full-service targeted direct mail marketing services company with annual
revenues of over $1.1 billion. The Company's shared mail advertising programs are
distributed nationally to over 100 million households. This includes its core ShopWise
branded programs distributed on a weekly and monthly basis as well as the reach of its
ADVO National Network Extension (A.N.N.E.) programs. Additionally, the Company's
consumer web site, ShopWise.com, provides targeted Internet access to consumers. ADVO's
subsidiary, MailCoups, Inc., produces SuperCoups®, an advertising solution for local
neighborhood businesses. ADVO has 22 mail processing facilities and 60 sales offices
nationwide. ADVO's corporate headquarters are located at One Univac Lane, Windsor,
Connecticut 06095. |