San Antonio's Blacksun

Search and Rescue Canine Team

2075 Hwy 97 E •Nixon, Texas 78140• (830)582-2117 • grandmadawg@yahoo.com

SABSAR Searches

Kenneth Cummings Jr.

June 15 and 16, 2007

June 15, 2007, Roni Braendle got a call from Texas EquuSearch requesting San Antonio’s Blacksun Search and Rescue Canine Team’s assisantance to help locate Kenneth Cummings Jr.  I activated a stand - by for my Team, and proceeded to meet Mr. Tim Millar at loop 1604 near Hwy 16  in Bexar County to check out possible locations to put the searchers out the next day. I went with a Bexar County Detective John. [Sorry John I don’t remember your last name] We spent several hours checking out  possible locations including walking down dirt roads and going under bridges checking for signs of the victim. Nothing was found.

 June 16, 2007. Searchers included the following:

 Members from SABSAR’s San Antonio Team included Roni Braendle Team Captain, Karen Dye Communions Officer, Chris Cashman with his K9 Gator, Sherry Burkhalter with her K9 Leben, and Clarence Smith;

 Members from SABSAR’s Gonzales County Chapter, Jim Wilson, Communication Officer, Gunny Macias, Field Captain, Tom Clark, Equine Team Captain, with his horse;

 Members of Kenneth Cumming Jr Family and friends;

 Members from Airline in which Kenneth worked and

 Members from Texas EquuSearch.

 9:00 A.M. SABSAR Members and family members and friends cleared a field on Hwy 16 beside a church and cemetery where "buzzard activity" had been reported. Nothing was located.

 10:20 We were called back to base, because by this time the Detectives working this case had located a relative [grandfather] of Terry Mangum, the suspect in the case, who owned a 50-acre farm in Atascosa County down Hwy 16 toward Poteet TX.

 Returned to base where Mr. Tim Miller asked Roni Braendle to hold back all volunteers for approximily 10 to 15 minuets so he would have time to meet with Atascosa County Sheriff to talk to Mr. Mangum and get permission to search his farm.

 Roni Braendle retained all volunteers at base the exact time Mr. Miller had requested her too, except Tom Clark and Gunny Macias who was at a service station getting gas. Tom Clark was pulling a horse trailer and would be driving slower then all other volunteers so Roni requested Tom to start about 5 minutes early so he would arrive at the same time with everyone else.

 Roni Braendle and Jim Wilson, leading the caravan of volunteers, arrived at destination that Mr.Tim Miller had specified. Tim Miller confronted  Tom Clark and Roni Braendle for not following instructions as to time delay, even though  the instructions were followed TO THE LETTER! His language was extremely inappropriate!  Within a matter of minutes Mr. Tim Miller received a call informing him that he was at the wrong location.  Mr.  Miller did not even bother to acknowledge to Tom Clark or Roni Braendle, the family members and friends and his own team members that had witnessed his  tirade, that he had brought us to the wrong location. It was Mr. Tim Miller mistake since the Sheriff of Atascosa County  was already at Mr. Mangum’s farm waiting for us to arrive.

 11:30 A.M. SABSAR Members, with K9s and Tom Clark on horseback, along with Texas EquuSearch members on 4 wheelers were in the East end of the fields. The field was full of thick cactus and sunflowers at least 4-5 feet tall. It was very hard to walk through. There was no sign of any one being in this field. SABSAR re located to a field directly behind Mr. Mangun’s home.

 Around Noon  someone located bones in a stock tank and described them as cow bones. I think it was Texas EQUUSEARCH members on 4 wheelers that made this call.

 1:12 P.M. Roni Braendle requested SABSAR Team to return to base, because of the high temperature and thick vegetation the K9s needed a break. The K9s were totally exhausted.

 1:15 P.M. a cell phone call came to base that reported bones were located in a stock tank. I am not sure who located the bones as it was someone in the grid line of ground ponders walking the area.  Our radio logs only have the name David.

 2:15 P.M. call came into base that a single piece of new charcoal had been located in same area as the bones, also according to our radio log as 'David' making the find.

 2:20 P.M. Roni Braendle took SABSAR team and K9s to the stock tank to the location of charcoal. Neither K9 gave it's trained alert over the site where the bones and charcoal were located, but both K9s gave subtle alerts on top of the tank in tall thick vegetation. Since this this was not their trained alert  neither K9 Handler was willing to call an official alert. Roni Braendle then called one of the Atascosa Deputy’s back to the location to check the ground around where the bone was located. He determined that in his opinion  the ground did not look like it had been disturbed in the time frame that we were looking at [10 –11 days.] SABSAR, Texas EQUUSEARCH volunteers, family members and friends continued to finish clearing the remaining area.

 3:12 P.M. with all of the area cleared to no avail, Roni Braendle called Mr. Tim Miller and requested he send an Atascosa Deputy and someone to help dig in the area where the supposed cow bones were located.

 3:35 P.M. what appeared to be human remains were dug up and the area was taped off as a crime scene.

Footnote:

 I, Roni Braendle, am so tired of only hearing and reading about the I’s and Me’s that claim the finds in our Search and Rescue world. This location of Mr. Kenneth Cummings Jr was a combination of MANY PEOPLE ,including:

 1.  The Detectives that worked the case, putting together the time line and locations of Terry Mangum whereabouts after the disappearance of Kenneth;

2.  Bexar County Detectives working the case;

3.  Sheriff of Atascosa County and His Deputies;

4. Tim Miller that moved the Search to the Bexar County and Atascosa County area;

 5. Texas Equusearch Volunteers;

 6. Family members and personal friends of Kenneth and the people from the airline where he worked that pushed their way thru cactus and weeds where most people would not even attempt to go;

7. SABSAR Members and K9 partners;

 8. And last but certainly not least, the sharp eye of the man that located that one piece of charcoal in the weeds.

 I personally want to make sure everyone, including the K9 Handlers, receive credit for job well done, even if Mr. Tim Miller thinks our "SABSAR K9s are worthless and should never be put out on a search again." Those were the last words Mr. Miller spoke to me. Talk about being grateful!

When I post a search to our web site, I normally do not go into so much detail. But when I read a news release in a Houston newspaper given by Mr. Tim Miller and he does not give credit where credit is due, "the part which is highlighted in yellow," I felt I needed to give my version of the actions that occurred. There were plenty of people  present who were witness to  the occurrences  and the above time line was recorded from actual Radio and cell phone conversations recorded by our Base Communications Officers and communication.  .

Please Note:

Other than the afore mentioned outbursts from Mr. Tim Miller, it was a pleasure working with him and his team.

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