On February 4, 1987, Tallahassee police arrested two men traveling with six malnourished children in a park. The children were filthy, unable to identify their parents, and described living in a communal arrangement in Washington, D.C. US Customs opened an investigation into The Finders—a mysterious group led by a former Air Force officer with intelligence connections. Agents documented evidence of potential child abuse and international travel. Then the CIA contacted the FBI. Within weeks, the case was closed. Declassified documents released in 2019 confirm the CIA's role in shutting down the investigation, but the full story remains partially sealed.
On the afternoon of February 4, 1987, Tallahassee police officers responded to a call about six unsupervised children at Myers Park. What they found launched one of the most mysterious federal investigations of the decade—one that would be shut down by the CIA within weeks.
Officers arrested two men, Matthew Medlock and Michael Houlihan, who were traveling with six children aged two to seven. According to the police report, the children were "poorly dressed, bruised, insect-bitten, and behaving like wild animals." They appeared malnourished. When officers asked the children basic questions, they could not identify their parents or explain where they were going.
The two men provided minimal information. They claimed they were taking the children from Washington, D.C. to Mexico "for schooling" but refused to elaborate. They carried no identification. The children told officers they had been living in a communal house where they slept on the floor and were being taken to "a school for smart kids."
Tallahassee police detective Ramon Martinez documented the arrest. His report noted that both men appeared evasive and uncooperative. The children were placed in protective custody. Florida's Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services began an evaluation. Within days, other members of what the men described as their "community" arrived in Tallahassee with documents claiming to prove they had parental authorization to transport the children.
Local authorities released the children to these adults and dropped charges against Medlock and Houlihan. But the case did not end. Martinez's report triggered a federal investigation that would document disturbing evidence—and then disappear into classification.
The trail led to Washington, D.C., and an organization called The Finders. Founded in the 1960s by Marion David Pettie, a former Air Force master sergeant, The Finders operated as a communal group living in multiple properties in the District. Pettie maintained strict hierarchical control. Members described the organization variously as an alternative lifestyle commune, a social experiment, and an intelligence training program.
The Finders practiced communal child-rearing. Children received minimal formal education. According to members interviewed by investigators, Pettie designed elaborate "operations"—exercises that involved surveillance, counter-surveillance, international travel, and information gathering. The group funded itself through flea market sales and computer consulting work. The source of additional funding remained unclear.
Pettie had connections to the intelligence community. His wife, Isabelle, worked for a CIA officer in an unspecified capacity. Multiple members of The Finders had backgrounds in military intelligence or federal agencies. Pettie himself gave few interviews but described The Finders as engaged in "international networking" and maintaining contacts in countries of strategic interest.
"We were an alternative community interested in understanding ourselves and the world. We conducted operations to develop skills in observation, analysis, and information gathering."
Marion Pettie — Interview Footage, 1998The organization's precise nature—whether it was a cult, an intelligence front, or simply an eccentric commune—would become the subject of speculation after the 1987 investigation was terminated. What is documented is that federal agents found evidence troubling enough to recommend prosecution, and the CIA found the investigation threatening enough to shut it down.
On February 7, 1987, three days after the Tallahassee arrests, US Customs agents and DC Metropolitan Police executed search warrants on two properties associated with The Finders. The primary target was a warehouse at 3918 and 3920 W Street NW in Washington.
What agents documented formed the evidentiary basis for the case. Special Agent Ramon Martinez, who had transferred from Tallahassee PD to US Customs, wrote the most detailed report. His February 7, 1987 memorandum described finding:
Martinez's memo recommended immediate federal intervention to protect the children and investigate potential trafficking. Customs agents photographed materials, cataloged evidence, and prepared to refer the case for prosecution. The investigation appeared to be moving forward on a standard law enforcement track.
Then the CIA intervened.
In April 1987, approximately two months after the warehouse search, the Central Intelligence Agency contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation regarding The Finders investigation. The contact is documented in a declassified FBI memorandum dated April 13, 1987.
According to the memo, the CIA informed the FBI that The Finders case involved "an internal CIA matter" and that continued investigation "would threaten the internal security of the United States." The CIA requested the investigation be terminated.
The FBI complied. All case files were classified. The US Customs investigation ended. The Department of Justice declined prosecution without public explanation. No charges were filed. The children were not removed from The Finders' custody. No Congressional oversight occurred.
The decision set a precedent: the CIA could terminate a domestic criminal investigation by invoking national security. No court reviewed the decision. No independent authority verified the CIA's claim. The mechanism by which an intelligence agency could override law enforcement in a child abuse case was never explained.
Internal FBI memos from 1987, released in 2019, show that some agents questioned the decision but did not challenge it. The Bureau deferred to the CIA without demanding documentation of the intelligence equities at stake.
The Finders case resurfaced briefly in 1993 after media reports brought renewed attention. The FBI conducted an internal review. A January 1993 CIA memo—declassified in 2019—addressed the agency's connection to The Finders.
The memo acknowledged that Marion Pettie "had been in contact with CIA personnel" and that some members of The Finders had "intelligence community backgrounds." However, it denied that the CIA had sponsored, funded, or operationally directed the organization. The memo stated that an internal review found "no evidence of CIA involvement" beyond these incidental contacts.
The memo also noted that The Finders had traveled to countries of intelligence interest and maintained international contacts. It provided no explanation for why these facts constituted grounds to terminate a child abuse investigation. The memo offered no detail on what the "internal CIA matter" referenced in 1987 involved.
The FBI's 1993 review reaffirmed the decision to keep files sealed. The Bureau told media outlets that "insufficient evidence" existed to pursue federal charges—a claim contradicted by the extensive documentation produced by Customs in 1987. No explanation was provided for the discrepancy.
In December 2019, following years of Freedom of Information Act litigation, the FBI released over 300 pages of previously classified documents related to The Finders. The release confirmed key elements of the case that had been the subject of speculation for decades:
The CIA's role was documented. The April 1987 FBI memo confirmed the CIA had requested termination of the investigation citing national security. The nature of the CIA's interest—whether The Finders was an intelligence asset, a compromised operation, or simply a group with members who had intelligence backgrounds—remains unclear.
Isabelle Pettie's CIA connection was confirmed. FBI memos noted she "was employed by a CIA officer" and that this raised questions about agency knowledge of The Finders. No details about her work or the identity of the CIA officer were provided.
Evidence of international operations was documented. Customs reports described materials detailing travel to Mexico, North Korea, China, and Russia. The purpose of these trips and whether they were connected to intelligence activities was never investigated after the case was closed.
Photographs and procurement documents were confirmed. Martinez's memo describing photographs of children and "instructions for obtaining children" was included in the release. The photographs themselves were not released. Their current location is unknown.
Multiple pages in the 2019 release remain heavily redacted. Exemptions cited include protection of intelligence sources and methods, ongoing intelligence activities, and national security. The redactions make it impossible to determine the full scope of what investigators found or why the CIA considered the case a threat.
The declassified documents confirm the architecture of what happened but leave fundamental questions unresolved.
Was The Finders a CIA operation? The CIA denies it. The agency's 1993 memo states no sponsorship or operational control existed. But the memo acknowledges contact with CIA personnel, intelligence community backgrounds among members, and travel to countries of strategic interest. Whether The Finders served any intelligence function—wittingly or unwittingly—remains unknown.
What was the "internal CIA matter"? The phrase appears in the April 1987 FBI memo but is never defined. Possible explanations include: The Finders was an active intelligence asset; former intelligence personnel in the group possessed classified knowledge; the investigation threatened to expose unrelated CIA activities; or the CIA was protecting sources or methods unconnected to The Finders itself. No evidence supports any single theory conclusively.
What happened to the children? After being released to Finders members in Tallahassee, the six children disappeared from the public record. Child protective services closed its case. No follow-up investigation occurred. The children's identities have never been publicly disclosed. Whether they remained with The Finders or were returned to biological parents is unknown.
Why did Congress not investigate? Despite the extraordinary nature of the case—a child abuse investigation shut down by an intelligence agency—no Congressional oversight occurred. The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, created in 1976 precisely to oversee CIA domestic activities, took no action. No hearings were held. No members demanded explanation.
"I was ordered to cease investigation and told my reports would be classified. This was the most disturbing case of my career, and it was shut down without explanation."
Ramon Martinez — Former US Customs Special Agent, 1993 InterviewThe Finders case established a mechanism that has never been formally reviewed: the CIA's authority to terminate domestic criminal investigations by asserting national security interests. The decision was not litigated. No court examined whether the CIA's invocation of "internal matters" was legitimate or whether intelligence equities outweighed child protection.
The precedent is troubling not because of what it confirms about The Finders—the declassified evidence is ambiguous—but because of what it demonstrates about oversight. A federal law enforcement investigation documenting potential child abuse was closed based on a request from an intelligence agency. No independent authority verified the request's legitimacy. No mechanism existed to challenge it.
The structure allowed an intelligence agency to override criminal investigation without transparency, judicial review, or Congressional oversight. That structure remains in place.
The documented facts are these: In February 1987, six malnourished children were found with members of a communal organization led by a former Air Force officer with intelligence connections. Federal agents documented evidence of potential abuse and international operations. The CIA requested the investigation be closed. It was.
What remains unknown is whether The Finders was an intelligence operation, what the children experienced, why the CIA intervened, and whether any of the evidence documented by Customs agents was accurate or exaggerated. The declassified documents provide a partial record of what investigators found and what agencies decided. They do not provide answers.
The Finders continued operating after 1987, though with lower visibility. Marion Pettie died in 2004. The organization's current status is unknown. No member has publicly disclosed the full story. The children, now adults, have never come forward. The case remains one of the most opaque intersections of child protection, intelligence operations, and government secrecy in the public record.
The 2019 document release confirmed that the case happened as described by investigators and journalists who had pursued it for decades. It also confirmed that key evidence remains classified, that the CIA's role has not been fully explained, and that mechanisms to override domestic law enforcement in the name of intelligence operations exist without meaningful oversight.
The Finders case is not evidence of a vast conspiracy. It is evidence of a structural problem: intelligence agencies can terminate criminal investigations, classify evidence, and avoid accountability by invoking national security. Oversight mechanisms designed to prevent this failed. No reforms followed. The architecture remains.