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Kidnapping victim's father turns tragic event into teaching opportunitiy

Son’s abduction prompts man to help kids learn address, phone numbers

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By Anthony Gottschlich, Staff Writer Updated 1:08 AM Friday, April 17, 2009

He stood at the podium and spoke softly, pausing at times to keep his composure.

More than four months after his wife was murdered and 4-year-old son abducted, Eddie Nelson had an important message for 300 children gathered at Patterson Kennedy Elementary School on Thursday, April 16.

“My son was found on I-70 (the night of his abduction) and when he was found, he was able to give his name, address and phone number to the police department,” Nelson said to a restless group of 4 through 8-year-olds at the Wyoming Street school. “I want every kid in America and around the world to know their information. They need to know it as early as possible.”

That’s why Nelson has joined with Screen Works in Vandalia to form the KIDS (Kids Identity Safety) Program, which is designed to teach children from preschool to third grade their full name, full address and complete phone number. Children able to do so get a Screen Works produced KIDS T-shirt and certificate honoring their accomplishment, as around 120 Patterson-Kennedy students did on Thursday.

Nelson and Screen Works owners Jeff Cottrell and Ron Witters said the goal is to talk to as many school children as possible, both here and afar. Screen Works doesn’t make money off of the effort, Cottrell said, but it’s hoped sponsors will pick up the costs in exchange for some advertising on the shirts.

Cottrell said the program is also about “putting America back to work.” The shirts are made in America with American goods only, he said. So as demand grows, so will the need for workers and garment mills, an industry that’s lost 580 mills since 1997, leaving just two today, he said. (More details can be found at his Web site, UnitedWeStandforAmerica.org.)

Nelson, meanwhile, said he and his son are “just trying to move forward” since Jenny Nelson’s murder Jan. 2 in the couple’s Harrison Twp. home.

“He talks about it a little bit here and there,” Nelson, 32, said of his son, now 5. “I went out and got a new iPod the other day and he said, ‘Dad, did you get a new iPod? Because that man took yours.’

“It’s little things like that. He talks about his mom; it seems now he kind of understands what has happened and he’s dealing with it. His therapist is really impressed with how he’s progressing.”

As for himself, “I think about it all the time,” he said. “I just try to keep it in the back of my mind versus letting it rule my life. I mean, I’m still a young man and I got a whole life ahead of me.”

Jenny Nelson’s alleged killer, Charlie W. Myers of Columbus, remains in Montgomery County Jail on several charges. He faces the death penalty if convicted.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7408 or agottschlich@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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