NBC News published a story today that reads like every parent’s nightmare. In fact, the parents in this case appear to be good people who did their best to protect their 13-year-old son but who weren’t really aware how much sway a stranger could have over him through online grooming by a pedophile twice his age.

And then there were the mistakes. The NBC story by Ben Goggin seems to be leaning in for some clicks by blaming the outcome on Twitter, but if you read the story carefully it’s clear the real problem was the local police who made several mistakes including one that cost investigators weeks.

The story starts with a 26-year-old furry named Aaron Zeman who was right out of central casting.

In tweets reviewed by NBC News, the accused adult identified as a “map” — a common online abbreviation for “minor-attracted person.” @HunterFloofyFox excitedly referred to the teen as “my lamb.” Both the teen and the Hunter Fox account made frequent references to the online furry community — a group of people who roleplay as anthropomorphized animal characters. Hunter Fox repeatedly talked about a trip he said the two would go on together.

Zeman, who legally changed his name to Kojima, targeted 13-year-old son of Heather and Ken McConney using several platforms including Twitter, Discord and Roblox:

When her son started gravitating toward online games, she tried to watch his behavior as much as she could. When he started to use the computer more and became isolated, she chalked it up to teenage moodiness.

What Heather didn’t know was that her teenage son was apparently being groomed on apps she thought were safe for children.

She said, based on conversations with her son, their interactions began on Discord and Roblox.

Kojima eventually began to interact with the teen on other platforms like Twitter, according to Heather and prosecutors, and on more under-the-radar messaging apps including Telegram, where the conversations turned more personal…

“This guy had him make several accounts through several different things so that he always had a way to communicate with him if he were to get in trouble and get something taken away,” Heather said.

Heather McConney eventually took her son’s iPhone when she heard him talking on it past his bedtime. Then she noticed all the messages that were coming in and opened it to find Zeman/Kojima saying he’d taken a new job and would be moving to Utah where the boy lived. They grounded their son and took away his phone but he found another phone in the house and used that. And when that was taken away he found another way to continue the conversation.

Meanwhile, Ken McConney contacted the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and the local police department. Police got a warrant to get @HunterFloofyFox’s real life information from Twitter on December 2. But somehow, someone made a mistake. The warrant sent to Twitter used the name @HunterFluffyFox, an account that never existed. Twitter responded, saying there was no such account but wouldn’t say when they responded. The police also would not reveal when they learned of their mistake, not to the McConney’s and not to NBC News.

What is clear is that the police got another warrant 20 days later, this time with the correct username. That warrant was sent to Twitter on Dec. 22nd, the Thursday before Christmas weekend. The boy was abducted from his home five days later. Police then submitted and emergency request for the same information. Twitter says the police didn’t notify the company that the request involved a missing child but that they responded within 2 hours.

The long delay with the warrant wasn’t the only mistake made by police. When Ken McConney discovered his son missing and his window left open his wife Heather immediately called police but it took them 45 minutes to arrive. Police issued an Amber Alert and the next morning their son was found with Zeman/Kojima in Nebraska. And even here it sounds like police still had their wires crossed:

The teen and suspect, 26-year-old Arizona resident Aaron Zeman, were located in Grand Island, Nebraska.

Layton police said a gas station attendant recognized that something was “off” between the victim and suspect and called police who arrested Zeman, who also goes by the names Hunter Fox and Tadashi Kojima.

Police initially believed the teen was abducted by a man who was initially “suspected” to be named Hunter Fox. However, officials later gave an update that the man’s real name is Aaron Zeman.

Hunter Fox was the guy’s Twitter username. What are the odds that Zeman/Kojima was going to volunteer that information in the real world? Luckily, the teen’s name was in a national database for missing and exploited children and that, not the Amber Alert, is ultimately how he was found.

The story ends with a long section about Heather wanting to sue Twitter. Reading the story it seems she out to sue the local police first. Not only did they waste time with the first search warrant, it’s also not clear if they were monitoring the Twitter account of Zeman/Kojima prior to the abduction:

On Dec. 17, the user posted a photo of marijuana products, writing, “Did I mention we’re going on a ‘trip~’? Hehehe Can’t wait, my Lamb! Lesgooo! x/3 I guess we’re going on two kinds of trips, nyehe! I love you, baby boi! x/3”…

The McConneys said police did not notify them of the continued interactions. Layton Police Department declined to comment on whether it was actively monitoring the interactions as they were occuring and if it notified the McConneys about them.

His plans were right out in the open:

Were the police even paying attention? If so, why didn’t they warn the family of the imminent danger based on tweets about taking a trip with the teen on Dec. 17 and a Dec. 19 tweet saying they were going to get married? The police really don’t seem to have covered themselves in glory here but, again, I think NBC knows you get more clicks blaming Elon Musk’s Twitter these days so they ran with that.

Zeman/Kojima is being charged with several counts of sexual assault and kidnapping. The 13-year-old is back in school but still hasn’t really spoken to his family about the incident. Social media does play a role near the end of the story. The usual suspects online have accused the parents of being homophobic and blamed them for their son running away (rather than blaming the pedophile groomer). The McConney’s say this isn’t true at all and they don’t have a problem with their son being gay.

The story ends with Ken McConney falling into depression because he’s still so angry about what happened to his son. I don’t blame him.