03/03/2001 - news

Fund-raiser to aid search for missing Benton Township boy
BY MICHAEL ELIASOHN / H-P Staff Writer

BENTON TOWNSHIP -- The Hacienda Mexican Restaurant and the Michigan National Bank branch in Benton Township are cooperating to raise money for a reward fund to help find Steven Earl Kraft II.
The 12-year-old Benton Heights boy has been missing since Feb. 15.
"We're continuing our investigation," Detective Lt. Delmar Lange of the Benton Township Police Department said Friday afternoon. "We have no new information to make public at this time."
He said tips are still being received and investigated, and the FBI, which has been involved in the investigation locally, also is involved in Milwaukee.
Jim Robertson of the FBI said at a Feb. 23 news conference that the Milwaukee office got involved because of "leads that have come up," but there was no evidence Steven had been taken there. He has relatives in the Milwaukee area.
The fund-raiser will be Thursday at the Hacienda, 1599 Mall Drive, Benton Township.
The restaurant will contribute 25 percent of lunch and dinner checks to a reward fund for information to help solve Steven's disappearance, according to bank branch manager Randi Utter.
However, it will only do so for people who first get a coupon token at the bank, 1803 S. Michigan 139, or show a copy of this Herald-Palladium article to the wait staff.
Utter said people also can contribute directly to the reward fund at the bank. Checks should be made out to "Steven Kraft Jr. Reward Fund."
Lange said the only current rewards he is aware of to help find Steven are $500 posted by Citizens Against Violent Crime and $1,000 pledged by the Kraft family and friends.
Utter said if Steven is found by the day of the fund-raiser, the money will be donated to a charity of the family's choice.
Utter has been working with Hacienda manager Brenda Hough on the fund-raiser, which the restaurant is doing through the Hacienda chain's "Gives Back" program that raises money for families and organizations in need.