Monday marks 20 years since 12-year-old Steven Kraft went missing in Benton Township, and it’s a case police are still working on. On February 16 of 2001, the Benton Township Police Department took a report that Steven had gone missing while walking his two dogs between 7 and 8 p.m. in the 2100 block of Holly near his home. In the following days, there was a search that included the use of dogs, helicopters, police, and volunteers. Kraft’s dogs were found days after his disappearance, and police have gotten hundreds of tips in the case. Benton Township Police Chief Brian Smit tells WSJM News they still have an active tip line for the case, and he wants anyone with any information to call it.
“If you do have some information or you’ve heard some information and you think, ‘Well, the police already know that,’ please still call in with that information,” Smit said. “It might be something that we’ve already heard, but it may also be something that we haven’t heard before, and that’s information that we follow up on. We follow up on all of the tips, and that could be the piece of information we need in this case to help put closure to it for the family and for Steven Kraft, Jr.”
The department has worked with the FBI to find Kraft, who is still listed as a missing person. The tip line can be reached through the Benton Township Police Department’s main phone number, 925-1135.
