No Answers For Sad Fate Of Teenager For Adam Crane, Whose Bones Were Found In Latah Creek, It Seems Life Never Came Easy

Adam Crane was a troubled 16-year-old trying to find order in his life when he disappeared Feb. 3, said a parent advocate who has known the boy’s mother since his disappearance.

But the order he sought has ended in disorder for friends and family; Crane’s near-skeletal remains were found Saturday in Latah Creek.

How he died is a mystery. Where he died is a mystery. All that’s left are his bones, boxer shorts, two socks and a shoe, said Brigitte Benson, a friend of his mother, Peggy Crane.

How does a boy go from walking off the grounds of Ferris High School in the middle of winter to being nothing more than a skeleton in a creek miles away?

“It would be nice if we could come to a logical conclusion about Adam,” Benson said, “but there are no answers.”

For Benson, that comment is not just about Crane’s death, but about his life.

He had been in trouble with the law beginning in 1994. Spokane District Court records show third-degree theft, second-degree trespass and fourth-degree assault convictions.

He was accused of stealing a Schwinn bike last May. He got caught with a double-edged knife and was charged with a dangerous weapon violation last March.

His crimes brought time in juvenile detention, hours of community service, an order to go to school and drug and alcohol counseling.

Court records show he was in and out of school. Last October he refused to go to drug and alcohol treatment.

Then, on Feb. 7, his probation officer requested court action giving Adam more time in juvenile detention.

The request said: “Adam has not completed his community service hours. He just started a new school, but has not been in school this last week. His mother said Adam’s whereabouts are unknown.”

The request went on to state that Adam’s mom had heard rumors he was on his way to California to kill someone.

While the records show a 16-year-old boy missing court dates and slacking off on his community service, Benson said good things were going on in Crane’s life.

He was going to the gym, trying to get in shape to play hockey. He was making headway in his battle with drugs, he was seeing a therapist and he was attending church again, said Benson, president of Parent’s Coalition, an organization dedicated to supporting parents.

“Adam was feeling a lot of grief and remorse around his behavior and he wondered how God could forgive him for the things he had done,” Benson said.

“He was working to change his behaviors,” Benson said. “It is hard to turn around from all that.”

On Sunday, Feb. 2, Crane went to church and had some kind of “incident” there, Benson said. The next day he was confronted by a Ferris High School administrator and staff from Community Mental Health, she said.

Benson doesn’t know what happened at the church. Crane’s mother declined to be interviewed Thursday.

Frustrated, Crane left the school. When he stepped off the edge of the school grounds, it was like he stepped off the edge of the earth.

Over the next months, his mother put up fliers trying to find her son. She got phone calls, and one caller told her Crane had been beaten and thrown in the river, Benson said.

Someone looking at Crane’s criminal record could conclude, bad kid, bad end, said Benson.

But that would be wrong, she said.

“He was a child of this community and he was a son, he wasn’t just a bad kid.”

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MEMO: Anyone with information about Crane should call Crime Check at 456-2233.