WA RICHARD "CODY" HAYNES: Missing from Kittitas, WA - 12 Sept 2004 - Age 11 (2 Viewers)

Richard's photo is shown age-progressed to 25 years. He was last seen at home on September 12, 2004. Richard has a round birthmark on his right inner thigh. He may go by the nickname Cody.
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Cody resided with his father, Richard Lee Haynes Sr., his four sisters, and Richard's girlfriend, Marla Jaye Harding (sometimes referred to as "Maria Jane Hardin" or "Marla Harding-Haynes"), in a second-floor apartment in the 100 block of north Main Street in downtown Kittitas, Washington in 2004.

Cody disappeared from his family's home between 4:00 and 5:00 p.m. on September 12, 2004. He had refused to wash the dishes and Harding punished him by making him sit at the kitchen table for four hours before sending him to his bedroom at about midnight the previous day.

Harding told Cody's sisters not to go near his room and told Cody not to leave the room for any reason. Evidently, no one checked on him for close to eighteen hours afterwards.

Richard was at work when Cody was sent to his room, but came home later and then left the house in the early morning hours to look for car parts. He did not return until 4:00 p.m.

Cody apparently slipped out unnoticed during this time and arranged his stuffed animals on the bed to make it look like he was asleep. He took a black and green camouflage-patterned bag of clothing with him, but it was later found in a shed near his house.

Investigators believe Cody may have hidden the bag there and planned to return for it later. His bicycle was also found in the shed.

There were a few possible sightings of Cody in the local area shortly after his disappearance. A neighbor may have seen him the morning he disappeared, and someone believes they saw him eating potato chips at Johnny's Serv-U later that day. Neither sighting has been confirmed.

Richard notified the police that Cody was gone after he arrived home again that afternoon.

Authorities believed at first that Cody had run away from home because he was unhappy at the way he was disciplined, and that he might try to travel to his mother, who lives in Florida. Cody did not arrive in Florida and his mother has been eliminated as a suspect in his disappearance.

A week after Cody vanished, his sisters were removed from their father's home and placed into foster care. The removal order alleged abuse, neglect and lack of supervision in the household, and was based mainly on the fact that Cody had been made to stay in his room for eighteen hours without being allowed to eat, drink, or use the toilet and without being checked on by an adult. Harding stated that he was a rebellious and deceitful child and needed discipline.

Richard and Harding, who married sometime after September 2004, have hired lawyers and will not cooperate with investigators about Cody's disappearance. The rest of his family has cooperated fully with police. Before the Haynes children were taken from their home, Richard refused to allow police to question them.

The family has a history with Washington Child Protection Services (CPS); late in 2001 and again in 2002, Richard was reported to CPS for possibly physically and emotionally abusing and neglecting his children. Witnesses stated that the Haynes children were made to stand outside for long periods in the wintertime without coats or shoes.

Both times the allegations were found to be without merit. Cody was in the sixth grade in 2004; he and his sisters were originally public school students, but became home-schoolers after the CPS complaints were made.

In February 2005, police obtained a warrant searched the Haynes residence. They had interviewed Cody's sisters several times since their placement in foster care. Initially the girls said nothing had happened to their brother, but later Cody's oldest sister told investigators that he had been beaten severely inside his home the day he vanished.

Police searched for traces of blood in the apartment's kitchen to back up the sister's story, but the flooring there had been replaced after Cody's disappearance and without the landlord's knowledge or consent. A second search was made and police seized a computer and Richard's Chevrolet Suburban. They also searched Harding's car.

Authorities made what they termed a "significant discovery" during one of these searches, but have not elaborated on what exactly it was they found.

Cody may have left of his own accord, but after receiving the information from his sister investigators announced that he could be the victim of a homicide. They have no evidence that he was killed inside his home, but the fact that he has not been heard from in so long is indicative that he met with foul play.

Due to his age and family background, Cody is considered to be in danger. His case was turned over to the FBI in October 2005; it remains unsolved.

NCMEC -

Have you seen this child? RICHARD HAYNES

Missing From: KITTITAS, WA. Missing Date: 09/12/2004. Richard's photo is shown age-progressed to 25 years. He was last seen at home on September 12, 2004. Richard has a round birthmark on his right inner thigh. He may go by the nickname Cody.

api.missingkids.org

Charley Project -

Richard Lee Haynes Jr. – The Charley Project

NamUs -

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

edited by staff to add media link

CODY HAYNES went missing from Kittitas, #WASHINGTON on 12 Sept 2004 after being allegedly abused by his father and father's girlfriend!

Cody Haynes allegedly disappeared from his Washington state home sometime between 4 and 5 p.m. on September 12, 2004. He had refused to wash the dishes and was punished and sent to his room. His father was uncooperative with police.

www.crimewatchers.net

 

[Kimster]

I don’t even think she would be arrested with the way things are going right now. She could probably say that he killed Cody and took him out and buried him somewhere and then just tell law-enforcement where his bones are. That’s all she needs to do, because I’m sure she’ll get off scott free.

 

[Guess Who]

I don’t even think she would be arrested with the way things are going right now. She could probably say that he killed Cody and took him out and buried him somewhere and then just tell law-enforcement where his bones are. That’s all she needs to do, because I’m sure she’ll get off scott free.

Agreed.

 

[Mel70]

I don’t even think she would be arrested with the way things are going right now. She could probably say that he killed Cody and took him out and buried him somewhere and then just tell law-enforcement where his bones are. That’s all she needs to do, because I’m sure she’ll get off scott free.

I think you're right. Reminds me of the 3 missing brothers, where the father obviously killed them. But, won't divulge where their bodies are.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Nearly 22 years after Kittitas boy vanished, questions linger about father’s role in his disappearance

Cody was reported missing on Sept. 12, 2004. His father told police the boy had run away.

www.king5.com

Nearly 22 years after Kittitas boy vanished, questions linger about father’s role in his disappearance​

More than two decades after 11-year-old Cody Haynes disappeared from his home in the small Central Washington town of Kittitas, investigators and family members continue to be haunted by the lack of resolution in the case.

Cody was reported missing on Sept. 12, 2004. His father told police the boy had run away.

Former Kittitas Police Chief Steve Dunnagan, who led the original investigation, said early doubts emerged about that explanation.

“It was highly unusual for an 11-year-old to disappear without any trace,” Dunnagan said. “A couple of days into it, the story wasn’t making sense.”

Investigators eventually focused their efforts on the family’s home, where Cody lived with his father, his father’s girlfriend, Marla Harding, and his four sisters.

“At the time, nothing significant was found,” Dunnagan said. “But we tore up the house a bit.”

Cody’s older sister, Krystian Marquez, said she never believed Cody ran away.

“He was full of life,” she said. “We were very close. People thought we were twins.”

Marquez described Cody as gentle, and deeply connected to those around him. She told KING 5 that Cody was autistic.

“He always saw the world with color and vibrancy,” she said. “He had a big, big heart.”

She remembers hearing him being punished for not doing the dishes the night before he was reported missing.

Private investigator Rose Winquist, who is working on the case today, said Marquez recalled hearing what sounded like Cody being hit.

By the morning of Sept. 12, Marquez remembers a “Do Not Disturb” sign hung over the curtain that covered Cody’s room, and the other children were told not to enter.

Winquist said Marquez now believes her brother was no longer in the room at that time.

Investigators scrutinized Cody’s father, Richard Haynes, whose account of the night raised further questions.

Marquez said her father left around 2:30 a.m. to look for car parts and did not return until 4 p.m. on the day Cody was reported missing.

“The time frame is very suspicious now that we look at it,” she said. “He had that whole amount of time to do whatever.”

Dunnagan said he retraced the route Haynes claimed to have taken.

“We drove everywhere he said he drove,” he said. “Yakima, Naches, Highway 97 toward Okanogan, Othello. Nothing ever panned out.”

The couple, Haynes and Harding, stopped cooperating with investigators soon after, according to reports from the time. They did not attend a candlelight vigil or participate in community searches.

In a 2004 interview with KING 5, Haynes said he believed Cody had simply grown tired of following rules.

“Hopefully wherever he’s at, he’s safe,” Haynes said at the time during an TV interview.

Richard Haynes died in 2019. Marquez said she attempted for years to get answers from him.

“He took whatever he had to the grave,” she said.

Winquist does not believe Cody ran away or was abducted.

“I believe Cody isn’t with us anymore,” she said. “He’s out there somewhere, and I’d like to find him.”

Dunnagan shares that belief.

“Somebody knows what happened,” he said. “Whether they want to come forward or not is another thing.”

For Marquez, the search for her brother remains constant. She keeps a photo of Cody on her dresser.

“When I wake up, I see him. When I go to bed, I see him,” she said. “Any tiny clue, anything, means the world to me. Cody deserves justice.”

In a statement, the Kittitas County Sheriff’s Office said Cody remains a missing person and the case is open. A sheriff's office spokesperson told KING 5, "Marla Harding has been a person of interest since early in the investigation and nothing has changed that."

KING 5 reached out to Harding over the phone and over email. When asked if she was the last person to see Cody alive, she responded: "I was not aware he had passed away, thank you for notifying me. No comment. Do not contact me again."

The Kittitas County Sheriff's Office continues to investigate Cody's disappearance.

“We have asked and continue to ask the public for any information they have relating to the circumstances of Cody’s disappearance,” the statement read. “We don’t have new information to share at this time.”