Between Life and Death: A Few Missing People

James Rapp: Body found

2009-05-15T18:30:00.002-04:00

When I saw an earlier article about remains being found in Butler County, Pennsylvania, my interest piqued, because I thought of Cherrie Mahan. However, I had forgotten that I had also written about someone else missing from that county:

Bones Found In Franklin Township ID'd As Missing Man's
Updated: 7:40 am EDT
April 29, 2009
FRANKLIN TWP., Pa. -- Tests Tuesday confirmed the remains
found in a ditch in Franklin Township last week are those of a man who was
reported missing in July 2004.
A construction worker discovered the bones of
James Rapp Jr. near the offramp of Route 422 where it intersects with Highway
528 near Muddy Creek Township.
Rapp, 56, of Prospect, disappeared shortly
after submitting a will to his attorney in which he allegedly admitted to thefts
he committed against his daughter.
Rapp was charged with several crimes in
2004, including spending $26,000 on credit cards in his daughter's name and
cashing in her IRA worth $5,200.
Investigators said they could not determine
a cause of death because the bones were too decomposed.

I suppose the cause of death could be anything--a heart attack, a hit and run, a suicide, or maybe even a homicide. The ditch makes me think maybe he was hit by a car, especially since it was near a highway. Or perhaps he did not die right after his disappearance, but maybe from exposure during the winter. Another article says there was nothing covering his bones, so this makes me think it was probably not murder.

Damien Sharp is still missing

2009-04-17T10:01:00.003-04:00

Several months ago I had reported on here that there were rumors that Damien's body had been found. Since then, I have received feedback from Damien's family that contradicts this, and a story on him has appeared in the media.

From http://www.timesobserver.com/page/content.detail/id/514305.html?nav=5006&showlayout=0:

Sharp case still open
By BRIAN FERRY bferry@timesobserver.com
POSTED:
March 25, 2009
Seven years after the disappearance of Damien Sharp, Warren
City police have an active file and still receive tips and leads.
"We're
still investigating it," Investigator Anthony Chimenti said Tuesday. "We've come
up with some leads and we're following them."
Closing the case without
finding Sharp is not an option. A missing person case remains open until the
person is found, he said.
Chimenti, who was formally assigned to the case in
May, said he has been "going into and following up on all the leads, every time
a lead comes up."
The seven years since Sharp's disappearance do not phase
Chimenti.
"Sure we like to have (information) right away when the thing
happens," he said. "On any case, things don't go away. People change their
minds. Memories get jogged."
He's looking for help.
"We're hoping now that
they know we're following up leads, they'd call in and help us out - any help
that anybody can give us," Chimenti said. "We're pursuing it. We want to solve
it. We want to bring the individual home to his family."
"That's what we're
trying to get is closure," Chimenti said. "His mother has been through a lot. We
want to provide her with that closure."
The time has allowed for advancements
in the use of DNA as an investigative tool. "When this first started, I don't
believe the CODIS (Combined DNA Index System) system was fully in place,"
Chimenti said. Technology "always gets better, it helps."
The police
department is not closing any doors.
"We're working it as a missing person
and as a homicide," Chimenti said.
Information from early in the
investigation led police to believe the case to be a murder, but they can't be
sure.
He said people are more likely to come across some kind of physical
evidence now that the weather is breaking. "Maybe things will turn around" in
the case, Chimenti said.
Sharp was carrying a black backpack and using
aluminum crutches when he was last seen in Warren on May 25, 2002. He was
wearing a dark shirt and dark shorts. He is described as blond, with hazel-blue
eyes, 5-foot-7, 170 pounds, and has an Egyptian symbol - an ankh - tattooed on
his chest.
Warren County Crime Stoppers is offering a reward for information
that leads to the location of Sharp.
Chimenti asks that anyone with any
information on the case contact him at 723-2700 or 406-7389, or Crime Stoppers
at 1-800-83-CRIME.

I believe the area code for those numbers would be 814.

Guestbook for messages to Damien's family: http://htmlgear.tripod.com/guest/control.guest?u=warrennet&i=1002&a=sign (Unfortunately their website for him has been taken down.)

So, there, the rumors have been debunked. I apologize for any part I had in spreading false information; I simply did not know which was right.

I would like to also request that if in the future, if you would like to notify me that someone on this blog has been found, please send a link to confirm this information. (The exception is for family of the missing person.)

Photo from The Charley Project.

FOUND SAFE: Heather Deeter

2008-12-24T17:28:00.004-05:00

One of my astute readers posted a comment about Heather being found as of August. I also had received an email notification but had just not had time to act on it yet. (My apologies to anyone who was still on the lookout for Heather after she had already been found!)

Anyway, a copy of the recovery notice from my email:

Dear Poster Partner:
Heather Deeter missing from Oil City, PA, has been
recovered. Please discontinue dissemination of this poster. Your participation
in this program has made a valuable contribution to this recovery.
Please
remove and discard any posters on this case that you have placed in public
view.
Thank you for your support.
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
Visit our web site at http://www.missingkids.com/.

The email was dated August 27.

FOUND SAFE: Latasha Williams

2008-12-24T17:19:00.001-05:00

There is one small typo in this notice: Latasha was from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, not Georgia. Nevertheless, the important thing is that she was found!
Poster Partner program notice as received in my email:

Dear Poster Partner:
Latasha Williams missing from Pittsburgh, GA, has
been recovered. Please discontinue dissemination of this poster. Your
participation in this program has made a valuable contribution to this recovery.
Please remove and discard any posters on this case that you have placed in
public view.
Thank you for your support.
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
Visit our web site at www.missingkids.com.

The date on the email was September 12.

FOUND SAFE: Jacqueline (?) and Nevada Azen

2008-12-24T10:29:00.004-05:00

While looking over a recent post on this missing mother and daughter, I noticed that their pictures were no longer visible. When pictures are directly linked to the NCMEC website (as theirs were), this can often be a sign that people have been located. After a little digging (i.e., searching on Google), I found the following statement at
http://nvfc.us/content/view/7118/1/:

Nevada Azen missing from Pittsburgh, PA, has been recovered.

The date on the website is August 19.
There is no mention about Nevada's mother, Jacqueline, who was also missing with her (hence the question mark in the title). Perhaps it is because the site is called National Voice for Children? Another explanation is that on their NCMEC poster (as seen at http://www.missingchildrenblog.com/2008/08/22/pennsylvania-missing-child-nevada-azen/), Jacqueline is listed as Nevada's "non-custodial mother", and on some sites (such as http://lightingtheirwayhome.wordpress.com/2008/09/10/nevada-lee-azen-abducted-june-5-2008/) the case is being treated as a family abduction. So, I suppose it is--hopefully--safe to assume that since Nevada has been found, Jacqueline probably has been as well.

Tanya Kach: Lawsuit dismissed, dismissal being appealed

2008-10-17T17:19:00.002-04:00

It's been 2 1/2 years since Tanya was found, but apparently things are not over yet.
From http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/valleyindependent/teenscene/s_588336.html:

Tanya Kach's lawyer to appeal case dismissal
By Jason Cato
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, September 15, 2008
A lawyer for a former McKeesport student who
went missing for a decade and surfaced as a kidnapping victim today filed a
notice of appeal, intended to dispute a federal judge's dismissal of claims she
made against her captor's employers.
Tanya Kach went missing in February 1996
and resurfaced in March 2006, after escaping the home of Thomas Hose, who worked
as a security guard for St. Moritz Security Services at the McKeesport Area
middle school she attended. Kach, 26, of Elizabeth filed a federal lawsuit in
September 2006 against Hose for holding her captive. The lawsuit also named as
plaintiffs McKeesport city and police officials for failing to properly
investigate her disappearance; McKeesport school officials for knowing of her
relationship with Hose and failing to stop it; and St. Moritz for failing to
properly train its employee.
U.S. District Judge Gary L. Lancaster dismissed
parts of the lawsuit in April 2007. On Friday, the judge dismissed the remaining
claims, following oral arguments in which a defense lawyer asked that the case
be dismissed because too much time had elapsed.
story continues below
The
defense claimed the clock started when Hose and Kach began a romantic
relationship, not when she resurfaced in 2006.
Lancaster, although
sympathetic toward Kach's plight, granted the defendants a motion of summary
judgment.
"(Kach) was victimized not only by an adult who preyed on her, but
by the many adults who failed her," Lancaster wrote in a 23-page memorandum.
"Yet, these circumstances cannot overcome the strong legal precedent supporting
the enforcement of statutes of limitations."
The judge did not rule on other
issues for dismissal raised by the defendants.
Kach's attorney, Lawrence
Fisher, this morning filed notice that he intends to take the matter before the
3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia.
Hose, 50, was not included
in the decision. He is serving 15 years on state charges stemming from Kach's
disappearance. He has never responded to Kach's lawsuit. Kach, at age 14, ran
away Feb. 10, 1996, to live with Hose, who was then 37 and worked as a guard at
her school. She claimed Hose kept her captive until she began gaining some
freedoms and told her story to a local deli owner, who called police.
Kach
testified that Hose kept her in an upstairs bedroom for four years before
allowing her to start coming out when his elderly parents weren't home. In 2005,
he changed Kach's name to Nikki Allen and began introducing her to people as his
girlfriend.
Jason Cato can be reached at jcato@tribweb.com or 412-320-7840.

Billy Smolinski: Search over

2008-08-19T10:56:00.003-04:00

Now that the search is over, we are allowed to know what triggered it.
From http://www.nbc30.com/news/17219961/detail.html:

No Body Found In Search For Missing Man
POSTED: 9:50 am EDT August 18, 2008
UPDATED: 3:01 pm EDT August 18, 2008

SEYMOUR, Conn. -- Police said they did not find the
body of a missing man while searching a property on Bungay Road in Seymour.
State police are looking for Billy Smolinski Jr., who
has been missing for nearly four years.
Troopers said they received a tip that his body may have been buried in a metal container.
They have not said whether the search provided them any clues.

If you know anything about what happened to Billy, please call the FBI's New Haven office at (203) 777-6311 or email info@justice4billy.com. You can also send a "snail mail" tip to P.O. Box 123, Cheshire, CT 06410.

You can print a poster of Billy at http://www.theyaremissed.org/ncma/gallery/ncmaprofile_all.php?A200402022S.

Billy's website: http://www.justice4billy.com/
MySpace page for Billy: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=73488763
Billy's guestbook: http://www.justice4billy.com/guestbook.html

2008 Missing: Tiffany Siegworth, Carnegie, Pennsylvania

2008-08-13T17:22:00.002-04:00

Her photo is two years out of date (according to caption at link), but it seems to be the only one available.

From http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/breaking/s_581221.html:

Carnegie police seeking runaway teenage girl
By F.A. Krift

TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Carnegie police are searching for a teenage girl who detectives believe
ran away 16 days ago with her boyfriend.
Tiffany Marie Siegworth, 15, of
Carnegie might be in the Lawrenceville, Wilkinsburg or Bellevue area, police
said. Her unnamed boyfriend also is considered missing by police.
Siegworth
was last seen by her father July 20 wearing black sweat pants, a black T-shirt
and tennis shoes. She is 5-foot-5 and weighs 150 pounds, and has dyed her blond
hair black, police said.
Anyone with information on Siegworth or her
whereabouts is asked to call Carnegie police Detective Tom Oros at 412-279-4589
or e-mail.

Another article, from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26035160/, gives slightly more information (date last seen and by whom).

Carnegie Police Need Help Locating Teen
ThePittsburghChannel.Com
updated 11:47 a.m. ET, Tues., Aug. 5, 2008
CARNEGIE, Pa. - Carnegie police are asking for help from the public to
locate a missing teen. Police said Tiffany Marie Siegworth, 15, was last seen by
her father on July 20. She was with her boyfriend, who is also listed as
missing.
Tiffany is a white female, about 150 pounds, 5 foot 5 inches tall,
dyed black hair, blue eyes and was wearing black sweat pants and a black
t-shirt.
The teen may be in the Lawrenceville, Wilkinsburg or Bellevue
communities.
Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Tom Oros at
412-279-4589 or send an e-mail to atoros@carnegiepolice.org.

2008 Missing: Thomas Zinza, Emlenton, Pennsylvania

2008-08-13T16:58:00.002-04:00

I just discovered Thomas' case on the North American Missing Persons Network. It was just added there July 31.

From http://www.nampn.org/cases/zinza_thomas.html:

Thomas Joel Zinza
Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance
Missing Since: February 19, 2008 from Emlenton, Pennsylvania
Classification:Missing
Date Of Birth: February 5, 1966
Age: 42
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 202 lbs
Hair Color: Brown (going gray and bald)
Eye Color: Hazel
Race: White
Gender: Male
Distinguishing Characteristics: Tattoo of a small
trout on upper arm gold crowns on molars, previously fractured right ankle,
herniated disk, chronic knee pain
Medical Conditions: He is diagnosed with
paranoid schizophrenia and is currently not taking his medication.
Clothing: Usually wore wool clothing, hunting coats, preferred brand was "Filson"
expensive hunting boots or footware, "Carharts" and flannel shirts, occasionally
wore baseball style hats
AKA: Tom, Tommy, Zinz
Case Number: 08-14273
NCIC Number: M-257212634 .
Details of DisappearanceThomas left
Fairbanks, AK and flew to Cleveland, OH. On February 17, 2008 he rented a
vehicle and drove to Emlenton, PA where he checked into the motor Inn on
February 17th. The car was located at the Emlenton Motor Inn, on
Emlenton-Clintonville Road, on February 27, 2008. There was no sign of Mr. Zinza
and it is possible that he had left the motor inn before February 19th. Tom may
be heading towards Vermont to a cabin he visited as a child.
Investigating Agency
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Alaska State Police
(907) 451-5100

You can print a poster of Thomas at http://www.theyaremissed.org/ncma/gallery/ncmaprofile_all.php?A200805607S.

Thomas is also listed by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Porchlight International, and the Alaska State Troopers.

Billy Smolinski: New search!!

2008-08-13T16:04:00.003-04:00

There are several news articles on this, but I will just post three of them. Hopefully they find something helpful. If they have been at it for five days, then maybe the police/FBI think they're on to something. (A fourth article, which I have not posted, calls it "the most significant [tip] yet".)

Article from http://www.nhregister.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19903608&BRD=1281&PAG=461&dept_id=635480&rfi=6:

Authorities dig for missing man in Seymour
By: Michelle Tuccitto Sullo,
Naugatuck Valley Bureau Chief
08/11/2008
SEYMOUR - Investigators on Monday
continued excavating property on Bungay Road in the search for a Waterbury man
who has been missing for four years.
The search began at the 160 Bungay Road site over the weekend.
The missing man, William Smolinski Jr., was last seen on Aug. 24, 2004.
Smolinski had asked a neighbor in Waterbury to watch his dog, a German shepherd,
for a few days then disappeared, according to the Federal Bureau of
Investigation. Smolinski indicated that he was going to look at a car he was
interested in buying. No one heard from him in a few days, and his family
contacted Waterbury police. Smolinski left behind his vehicle, wallet and keys,
according to police, and hasn't been heard from since.
A police van blocked the driveway to the property on Monday afternoon as
the search continued. Several media outlets waited at the property for an
announcement on the outcome of the search.
The Seymour Public Works Department is helping with the effort, which
involves the use of excavation equipment.
State police said Monday that the systematic search of the private property
is being done with the full cooperation of the property owner, who police said
"has no involvement whatsoever in this investigation."
In May 2007, investigators searched properties in Shelton in connection
with the Smolinski case with the help of search dogs, but came up empty.
Smolinski was 31 years old at the time of his disappearance. He had worked
as an apprentice heating and air-conditioning technician and as a part-time tow
truck driver. Smolinski also mowed lawns and plowed driveways in his spare time,
according to the FBI.
Register reporter Patricia Villers contributed to this report.

Billy's mother's reaction, from http://www.wfsb.com/news/17173132/detail.html:

Mother Still Awaiting Son's Return
Son Has Been Missing For 4
Years
POSTED: 6:35 pm EDT August 12, 2008
UPDATED: 8:47 pm EDT August 12,
2008

SEYMOUR, Conn. -- Janice Smolinski said she’s been waiting
nearly four years for her son to come home.
"We didn't give up, and we're
not going to give up," she said. "We going to continue until we get our
answers."
William Smolinski had asked a friend to walk his dog, but never
dropped off the keys to his house. The 31-year-old construction worker from
Waterbury disappeared without telling anyone where he was going.
"'No body,
no case' is what we were told in the beginning, and that isn't so," Janice said.
"You evaluate every situation."
For the past four days, police have been
digging at a home on Bungay Road in Seymour based on leads they have obtained.
Last summer, acting on another tip, police dug up a driveway outside a home
in Shelton. Nothing was found there, they said.

The latest update, from http://www.rep-am.com/news/doc48a2cbeb661f5335625354.txt:

Wednesday, August 13, 2008 8:00 AM EDT
Search for clues in 2004 disappearance continues
The search for evidence in the 2004 disappearance of
Billy Smolinski Jr. continued on Tuesday on Bungay Road, but investigators were
unable to uncover additional clues at the site, according to state police.
State and local police began excavating property at 160 Bungay Road on
Friday. Excavators from the town's Public Works Department continued to dig
Saturday, Monday and Tuesday. According to Trooper William Tate, a state police
spokesman, digging might continue today.
Smolinski was 31 when he disappeared from his Waterbury home in 2004. City
police eventually turned over their investigation to the FBI. Authorities have
investigated leads that have led them to a driveway in Shelton and now the
21-acre farmland on Bungay Road. Police did not find evidence in Shelton that
Smolinski was buried there and, so far, haven't found any clues here.

You can print a poster of Billy at http://www.theyaremissed.org/ncma/gallery/ncmaprofile_all.php?A200402022S.

Billy's website: http://www.justice4billy.com/

MySpace page for Billy: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=73488763

Billy's guestbook: http://www.justice4billy.com/guestbook.html

Photo and candle graphic from Billy's MySpace.

Cody Haynes: New age progression!

2008-08-13T15:12:00.003-04:00

Finally something new in the case of Richard Lee Haynes, Jr., better known as "Cody". Granted, a very small something, but maybe it can still help somehow.

Cody's NCMEC poster:

Endangered Missing
RICHARD HAYNES
DOB: Apr 16, 1993
Missing: Sep 12, 2004
Age Now: 15
Sex: Male
Race: White
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Blue
Height: 5'0" (152 cm)
Weight: 90 lbs (41 kg)
Missing From:
KITTITAS
WA
United States
Age Progressed
Richard is shown age-progressed
to 15 years. He was last seen at home on September 12, 2004. Richard has a round
birthmark on his right inner thigh. He may go by the nickname Cody.
ANYONE HAVING INFORMATION SHOULD CONTACT
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
1-800-843-5678 (1-800-THE-LOST)
Kittitas Police Department (Washington) 1-509-925-8534

You can print one like it at http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PubCaseSearchServlet?act=viewPoster&caseNum=996768&orgPrefix=NCMC&searchLang=en_US.

Cody's website: http://www.codyhaynes.org/

MySpace page for Cody (run by one of his parents): http://www.myspace.com/rcodyhaynes

Arkadiy Tashman: Out of the Darkness walk team in his honor

2008-08-13T14:51:00.005-04:00

Update - 10/17/08 - The Out of the Darkness Walk raised a total of over $13,000 and had a great turnout! For more details, see http://www.ny1.com/Content/Top_Stories/86412/hundreds-walk-through-the-rain-for-suicide-prevention/Default.aspx.
Out of the Darkness Community walks are a project of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. (When Arkadiy disappeared, he left behind a possible suicide note.)
This particular Out of the Darkness walk is being held in Staten Island. Information below from http://afsp.donordrive.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.team&eventID=634&teamID=6519:

The Sheds' Fundraising Page
Staten Island Walk
September 28, 2008 at Clove Lakes Park
So there's a walk going on in
Staten Island at Clove Lakes Park on September 28th.
I registered to be part of the walk and set a fund raising goal of $750. If
we can get more money, great, if not, even being there is still nice
gesture.
If you register for the walk you don't HAVE to donate anything, but even
one dollar is helpful. All the donations go towards Ark's family and other
families out there who have lost loved ones to suicide or disapearances.
I started a team for the walk called 'The Sheds' so if you register for the
walk, sign up to be part of that team.
Please come out and walk with me on September 28th, even if you don't want
to walk, at least register for the event so that we could show his family that
we haven't forgotten about him.
To all people that didn't know Ark, he was an amazing person and extremely
generous, and if you have a heart, or even if you just have nothing to do that
day, sign up and walk anyway.
AFTER THE WALK:
i think it would be nice if everyone part of 'The Sheds' team went over to
the sheds or something. I understand the sheds have been taken down, but it's
the thought that counts. Maybe we'll just set up a picnic at clove lakes and
hang out or go over to a diner or something. It will all be figured out, the
important thing though is the walk.
Donating online is safe and easy! To make an online donation please search
for one of the participants and then click the "Support This Participant" button
on their page. Donations can only be made to individuals, but the total each
participant raises goes toward our team goal.
Thank you for visiting the The Sheds fundraising page!

So far they have raised $525. Online donations can be made at the link above.
One of the people on the team is his sister and the others apparently are his friends.

Meanwhile, if you know anything about what happened to Arkadiy, please call the New York City police at (212) 694-7781 or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678).

You can print a poster of Arkadiy at http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PubCaseSearchServlet?act=viewPoster&caseNum=1007600&orgPrefix=NCMC&searchLang=en_US. (Be sure to change your Page Set-up to "Landscape", or some information will be cut off.)

Arkadiy's sister's blog: http://arkadiytashman.blogspot.com/
MySpace page for Arkadiy: http://www.myspace.com/teens_just_dont_run_away

Found safe: Katherine Soto

2008-07-28T17:30:00.002-04:00

A few days ago I had posted a notice I had received that Katherine had been "restricted", which usually means investigators are close to finding her. Well, now here is the official recovery notice, received in my email this morning:

Dear Poster Partner:
Katherine Soto missing from Greenville, SC, has
been recovered. Please discontinue dissemination of this poster. Your
participation in this program has made a valuable contribution to this recovery.
Please remove and discard any posters on this case that you have placed in
public view.
Thank you for your support.
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
Visit our web site at www.missingkids.com.

The restriction notice had been received last Wednesday, July 23.

Found safe: Dominique Watts

2008-07-28T17:26:00.002-04:00

This came as a pleasant surprise! From my email notice:

Dear Poster Partner:
Dominique Watts missing from Pittsburgh, PA, has
been recovered. Please discontinue dissemination of this poster. Your
participation in this program has made a valuable contribution to this recovery.
Please remove and discard any posters on this case that you have placed in
public view.
Thank you for your support.
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
Visit our web site at www.missingkids.com.

I just received that today!

2008 Missing: Faime Francis, Swissvale, Pennsylvania

2008-07-26T13:02:00.003-04:00

I just found her case on the North American Missing Persons Network today, though she had been on the site for longer. Her case was recently moved from their "Hot Cases" section to the regular "Missing Persons" section.
From http://www.nampn.org/cases/francis_faime.html:

Faime Lynette Francis
Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance
Missing Since: March 28, 2008 from Swissvale, Pennsylvania
Classification: Endangered Missing
Date Of Birth: May 28, 1977
Age:
30
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 115 lbs.
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color:
Dark Brown
Race: Black-African American
Gender: Female
Distinguishing Characteristics:She may be wearing a wig or have weave added
to her hair.
Medical Conditions: She suffers from Schizophrenia/Bipolar
Disorder and does not have her medicine with her.
Clothing: Unknown, but she
prefers to dress in all black.
Jewelry: Engagement type ring on her left hand.
Details of Disappearance
Faime left her residence on March 28, 2008 and has not been heard from
since. She has a mental illness and needs her medications.
Investigating Agency
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Swissvale Police Department
Officer Costa
(412) 271-0430
Source Information
Frank & DeNita Francis - Faime's Parents

Faime is also listed on http://pennsylvaniamissingadults.com, which includes a way to leave tips online. It also says she is registered with the NCIC (National Crime Information Center).

Cynthia Day: Story featured on another blog

2008-07-26T12:06:00.003-04:00

Hopefully the writer does not mind me reposting it here. It is a very thorough and well done story, and there was much that I did not know before. They included a description of Cynthia, phone numbers for contact information, and even the address of her website. The one more thing they could have included was a picture.

The date on the page was July 8, so it is probably quite up-to-date.

Story from http://investigation.discovery.com/blogs/criminal-report/missing-person/cynthia_louise_day-02.html:

The Missing - A Weekly exposé of Lost Souls - Issue #19
In this week's
edition of "The Missing," we revisit the mysterious disappearance of Cynthia
Louise Day, a 38-year-old resident of East St. Louis, Illinois, who went missing
on Aug. 10, 1990.
"I was 18-years-old and fresh out of high school when my
mom disappeared," Cynthia's daughter, Melody, said in a telephone interview with
Investigation Discovery. "On the day she went missing my sister, Kimberly, had
just come home from the hospital with her son. My mom was excited, so my sister
and I went over to her house so she could get to know her new grandbaby. My mom
took him around and proudly introduced him to all the neighbors. We had a good
time. We did not know it when we left, but that would prove to be the last time
that we ever saw her."
Approximately one week later, Melody and Kimberly
became concerned because they had not heard from their mother. It was unlike her
to stay out of contact for such a long period of time, so the girls decided to
go check on her. To their surprise, their mother, along with her boyfriend of
seven years, had vanished. In addition, all of their possessions were also
gone.
"My mother was into beauty and fashion and everything – clothes,
makeup, perfumes – was all gone" Melody said, adding, "We did not even find a
single toothbrush."
Both girls were young at the time and neither of them had
any idea what to do, so they went to the East St. Louis Police Department and
filed a missing person report. It was their hope that the police, people they
felt were skilled and knowledgeable in missing person cases, would be able to
uncover the mystery of their mother's disappearance.
"With each year that
passed by, I just assumed that the police were investigating the case," Melody
said. "I would call them whenever I heard they had found a body and would check
to see if it was my mom, but they always said it was not her. Then, in 2004,
when I needed a police report to get the website going and all this stuff, I
discovered that they had never even opened a case. We resolved the issue but
from that day forward I decided to do everything in my power to find out what
happened to my mother."
As part of her own investigation, Melody went back to
the neighborhood where her mother had lived and discovered that many of her
mom's old neighbors suspected that Cynthia's boyfriend had something to do with
her disappearance. This was something that Cynthia's daughters had also
considered because, according to Melody, their mother had allegedly voiced her
unhappiness about the relationship the last time they spoke. In addition, there
was another incident that had occurred prior to Cynthia's disappearance, which
her daughters found troubling.
"Sometime before they went missing, my uncle
Wayne supposedly shot himself in front of my mom and her boyfriend," Melody
said. "The entire thing is strange and my family is convinced that Wayne did not
commit suicide. We think that something happened to him and that my mom
witnessed it."
The case took another unusual twist about five years ago, when Melody
discovered her mom's boyfriend was being held in a California Prison. She cannot
recall the exact charges but said she believes they had to do with an armed
robbery.
"He never once contacted us to tell us that our mom was not with
him," Melody said. "Why didn't he say, 'where's my old lady, where's your
mom?'"
According to Melody, an officer in California questioned her mom's
ex-boyfriend but he claimed to have no knowledge of what happened to
her.
"The officer in California who questioned him told me he is convinced
this guy did something to both my mom and my uncle," Melody said. "He gave my
local police department permission to come down there and question the guy but
they said they did not have the money. I offered to buy the plane tickets myself
but they would not take me up on the offer."
The boyfriend was paroled from
prison two years ago and to date Illinois investigators have yet to question
him.
"Getting the cops to do something is like pulling teeth," Melody said.
"I've been the detective on this case for a long time. Two plus two equals four
and if the police had done their job they would have had this case solved a long
time ago. To know that the cops are not doing anything is frustrating. They take
more interest in an animal stuck in a tree than a missing person. We know my
mother is not alive, we just want to put her to rest whatever way we
can."
When asked what she would like to say to her mother, Melody
responded:
"I love and miss you so much. I am still looking for you all these
years later and will continue to look for you until I find you. You have a
beautiful family that is still hopeful. We will do whatever we can to keep your
memory alive."
Yesterday, Investigation Discovery contacted East St. Louis
police Capt. Lenzie Stewart and asked him if he could provide any information on
the case. Stewart had this to say:
"At this particular time we don't have
very much going for that. We have elicited the Illinois State Police to help us
… What has happened there is we have got DNA from the family members and we are
trying to run that through our database to see if we get any pop-ups on any Jane
Does we have found … I am not actively investigating the case and cannot answer
any further questions at this time."
Stewart referred further questions to
the investigator who is handling the case for the Illinois State Police; however
that investigator was unavailable for comment.
Cynthia Louise Day, nickname
"Peaches," would be 55-years-old today. She is described as a white female, 5'2"
tall, 125 lbs., with blonde hair and blue eyes. She has a hysterectomy scar and
is missing an eye tooth on the left side. Anyone with information is asked to
call the East St. Louis Police Department (Case # ES-04-06787) at 618-482-6724
or the Illinois State Police at 618-346-3781.
For more information or to
help, please visit: http://www.findcynthia.com/.

Also, according to the latest posts on Cynthia's guestbook, her flyer will be displayed at a missing persons' rally in Waterbury, Connecticut, on August 23. She is also one of the missing persons being honored in the making of a special quilt, which will also be at the rally.

Cynthia's MySpace page: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=72102351

Cynthia's guestbook: http://www.findcynthia.com/cgi-bin/guestbook.cgi

You can print a poster of Cynthia at http://www.theyaremissed.org/ncma/gallery/ncmaprofile_all.php?A200401797S.

Jason Jolkowski: Missing persons bill pending in state legislature

2008-07-26T11:51:00.002-04:00

The article is more about the bill and missing/unidentified persons cases in general than about Jason, but it is very informative.

Article from http://www.wahoonewspaper.com/site/tab7.cfm?newsid=19823375&BRD=2712&PAG=461&dept_id=557009&rfi=6:

Missing person cases in Nebraska go unsolved
By: Jon Burleson
07/02/2008
Updated 07/12/2008 05:06:03 AM EDT
In Douglas County, law enforcement
lists 1,850 people missing. About half the cases involve children.
On June13,
2001, Jason Jolkowski, then 19, became a statistic. Since that day, his mother,
Kelly, has been striving to make him more than that to lawmakers.
"Nobody knows how big an issue this is," Jolkowski said. "Those who are
missing are more than a height, weight, hair and eye color. They are
people."
After laboring on behalf of missing persons for the last seven years,
Jolkowski has mobilized a new effort to get law enforcement the tools they need
to help families of the missing. Campaign for the Missing is a grassroots effort
to pass legislation in each state that will serve to improve the law enforcement
community's ability to locate and ensure a safe return of missing persons.
"This is so needed," she said. "Things fall through the cracks. Families
aren't told to get vital pieces of information that could help them solve the
case."
The campaign's central focus will address the national problems of missing
persons and the identification of human remains and provide the framework for
improving law enforcement's response. It will also improve the collection of
critical information about missing persons, prioritize high-risk missing persons
cases and ensure prompt dissemination of critical information to other law
enforcement agencies and the public that can improve the likelihood of a safe
return.
"Most law enforcement officers are not trained in missing persons cases,"
Jolkowski said. "Some police academies don't even teach about missing persons
investigations."
The Department of Justice, working with federal, state and local law
enforcement; coroners and medical examiners; victim advocates; forensic
scientists; key policymakers; and family members who have lived through this
tragic experience, developed the legislation to be presented in the Nebraska
Unicameral.
The bill made it mandatory for law enforcement to follow certain procedures
at the beginning of a missing persons case. Certain steps need to be taken in a
specific order and resources must be allocated to assist, Jolkowski said.
"Nobody told me to get his toothbrush or his comb," she said, "and by the
time I knew, it was too late."
On almost a daily basis, unidentified bodies are found across the country.
Over the last year, law enforcement agencies have reported from 40-50,000 bodies
with no means to identify them, Jolkowski said. These bodies are usually buried
or even cremated with no DNA saved for the possibility of a future
identification.
"The families of those missing live in a horrible limbo of not knowing,"
Jolkowski said. "These families need an answer and this legislation could help
provide an answer."
Having run into a roadblock in the last Unicameral session, Jolkowski has
been waiting patiently for the next session. Patience is something she has
developed over the last seven years.
But, she has not been idle. Jolkowski has been working with Nebraska
legislators, such as Steve Lathrop and Brad Ashford to move the bill forward
this time around.
"Last time, I was told that the $50,000 needed to run the program each year
wasn't available," she said. "I feel that if Nebraskans knew how many people go
missing each year, they would be willing to help find them."
If you are interested in helping make a difference in the lives of
thousands of missing persons and their families, send an email to campaignforthemissing@projectjason.org.

If you know anything about what happened to Jason, please call the Omaha Police Department at (402) 444-5818 or (402) 444-5690.

Jason's website: http://members.cox.net/prayersandposters/

Jason's guestbook: http://pub36.bravenet.com/guestbook/show.php?usernum=3085091876

You can print a poster of Jason at http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PubCaseSearchServlet?act=viewPoster&caseNum=992083&orgPrefix=NCMA&searchLang=en_US.

Project Jason is conducting a special fundraising campaign in honor of Jason's 27th birthday, and they are already more than 2/3 of the way to their goal! For more information, see http://www.projectjason.org/forums/index.php?topic=3021.0.

You can also "adopt" Jason through Project Jason's "Adopt a Missing Person" program. Learn more about this at http://www.projectjason.org/adopt.html.

Photo and age progression of Jason from his poster.

Audrey Herron: Riding for Audrey 2008

2008-07-26T11:27:00.003-04:00

The following article was originally published by The Daily Mail Online but seems to have been taken down. So, instead, I have copied it from a post on the Crime and Justice forum (http://www.crimeandjustice.us/forums/index.php?showtopic=62&st=20).

After six painful years, search for Audrey continues
July 20, 2008
EARLTON — It’s been more than half a decade since Audrey May Herron
disappeared without a trace, leaving family and friends desperately wondering
what happened to the mother of three. But six years later, they continue to hold
out hope, and add to the reward for information leading to a solution to the
heart-breaking mystery.
On Saturday, the sixth annual Riding for Audrey was held, an annual
fundraiser and awareness campaign designed to ensure the community does not
forget her, and with the hope that someone may remember something.
Well over 100 motorcycle riders completed a ride that started at Brennan’s
on Route 81 in Earlton on Saturday morning, headed out to The Hideaway in
Athens, then on to Blackthorne Resort in East Durham, Gardner’s Brass Rail in
Greenville, and then back to Earlton.
“It means a lot that so many people came out to raise money for my mother,
and to help find her,” said Herron’s daughter, Sonsia Rae Court. She was 10
years old when her mother disappeared. Her siblings, Katie and Quinn, were just
4 and 2 at the time.
Proceeds from the ride, and the fundraising activities that followed, were
donated to the Audrey May Herron reward fund, and to the Center for Hope, an
organization that helps families search for and find missing loved ones.
“We hope to get Audrey’s face out there so one day, someone may come
forward with information that may help find her, and at the same time, help this
organization that helps so many others,” said Michelle Turk, Herron’s
sister-in-law.
Audrey May Herron, 32, of Freehold disappeared on Aug. 29, 2002 when she
headed home from her job in a Catskill nursing home. She started making her
regular trek home — 12 miles away — but never arrived. She has not been seen
since, despite an extensive air and ground search by State Police, friends and
family. Her 1994 Jeep Cherokee has also disappeared.
Since then, there has been no credible evidence or clues to Herron’s
whereabouts, despite investigations by state police, the FBI, and even a private
investigator hired by Herron’s family. However, her friends and family continue
to search for an answer, and to maintain a tireless effort to keep her name and
face in the public eye with the hope that someone, somewhere, may have valuable
information.
Herron’s friends and family also hope to shine a light on the plight of
other families with missing loved ones, and the fears and frustrations they face
every single day.
“This is something that really needs to be supported. The missing person
problem is only getting bigger. You see stories about missing people in the news
all the time, but you never hear about the people who have been missing for a
long time,” said friend Maria Ferencz. “If someone knows something, how long are
they waiting to come forward? She has three kids who want to know what happened
to their mother. It’s just not fair.”
Anyone with information about Audrey May Herron’s disappearance should call
the New York State Police at (518) 622-8600.

You can print a poster of Audrey at http://www.theyaremissed.org/ncma/gallery/ncmaprofile_all.php?A200300201S.

Audrey's website: http://riding4audrey.com

Audrey's guestbook: http://pub26.bravenet.com/guestbook/2199754005/

Audrey's guestmap: http://pub26.bravenet.com/guestmap/view.php?usernum=2199754005

Photos from Audrey's poster.

CUE Center's 2008 On the Road to Remember Tour update

2008-07-25T18:40:00.003-04:00

Among the many missing persons (and a few homicide victims) who are being included in the tour are a few that have been posted on this blog: Audrey May Herron (from Catskill, New York), Audrey Lyn Nerenberg (from Brooklyn, New York), William "Billy" Smolinski, Jr. (Waterbury, Connecticut), Cynthia Day (East Saint Louis, Illinois), and Jason Jolkowski (Omaha, Nebraska). In total there are 110 missing people and six murder victims featured.

So far there are stops planned in the states of North Carolina, West Virginia, New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Maryland, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, and Tennessee.

For a complete list of both stops and featured people, as well as some background information on the event, see http://www.angelsthatcare.org/OTRT__List_and_Info.doc.

Note: Locations for missing people are according to those given in the document, so they may different from what is stated elsewhere on this blog.

2008 Missing: Jamal Christian, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

2008-07-23T09:39:00.002-04:00

Jamal's poster was just emailed to me within the past month through the NCMEC's Poster Partner program. His information:

Endangered Runaway

JAMAL CHRISTIAN
DOB: May 3, 1993
Missing: May 26, 2008
Height: 5'8" (173 cm)
Eyes: Brown
Race: Black
Age Now: 15
Sex: Male
Weight: 185 lbs (84 kg)
Hair: Black
Missing From:
PITTSBURGH
PA
United States
Jamal was last seen on May 26, 2008. He may still be in
the local area.
ANYONE HAVING INFORMATION SHOULD CONTACT
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
1-800-843-5678 (1-800-THE-LOST)
Pittsburgh Police Department
(Pennsylvania) 1-412-323-7800

You can print your own copy to display at http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PubCaseSearchServlet?act=viewPoster&caseNum=1096827&orgPrefix=NCMC&searchLang=en_US. (Be sure to first change your "Page Setup" to "Landscape", or some information might be cut off.)

Lachlan Duffley now missing 7 years, Potomac, Maryland

2008-06-25T17:39:00.002-04:00

Lachlan's Charley Project profile (http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/d/duffley_lachlan.html):

Lachlan Yukihiro Kishida Duffley

Vital Statistics at Time of
Disappearance
Missing Since: June 24, 2001 from Potomac, Maryland
Classification: Family Abduction
Date of Birth: January 26, 1989
Age: 12 years old
Height and Weight: 4'11, 90 pounds
Distinguishing
Characteristics: Asian male. Brown hair, brown eyes. Duffley is pictured wearing
eyeglasses in the photo above, but he may not be wearing them now. He has
birthmarks on both his temples and a scar on his back. Duffley speaks fluent
Japanese.

Details of Disappearance
Duffley was abducted by his
non-custodial mother, Yukiko Kishida. A felony warrant was issued for the
abductor on August 31, 2001. They may still be in the state of Maryland, or they
may have traveled to Pennsylvania or out of the country to Japan. Duffley's case
remains unsolved; neither he nor his mother have ever been heard from again.

Yukiko Kishida
Date of Birth: March 29, 1968
Age: 33 years old
Height and Weight: 5'5, 110 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: Asian female. Black hair, brown eyes.
Kishida speaks fluent Japanese. Her ears are pierced, and she has a birthmark
between her eyes.

Investigating Agency
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Montgomery County Police Department
301-279-8000

Lachlan is also listed on the websites of the Children's Rights Network in Japan, the Children's Rights Council of Japan, For the Lost, and CourtTV.

Japanese language website: http://ameblo.jp/nikoniko1205/entry-10030300431.html

Lachlan was one of several missing children featured on Briny Baird's golf bags during tournaments back in 2004. (For more details see http://www.csrwire.com/PressReleasePrint.php?id=2369.)

Unfortunately I cannot find a poster for Lachlan. He seems to have been listed by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at some point, but perhaps his poster has been taken down from the website.

Sabrina Kahler now missing 6 years, Springfield Township, Erie County, Pennsylvania

2008-06-25T17:23:00.002-04:00

Sabrina Kahler's disappearance seems to be a cold case. However, while Googling her name, I did find an article from just last month on the person she was last seen with.

Article from http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080517/NEWS02/805170351:

Man accused of making time
Insurance-fraud suspect charged with false accident report
BY ED PALATTELLA
ed.palattella@timesnews.com
Published: May 17. 2008 6:00AM
Police said the evidence in a fraud case against Lake City
resident David S.L. Heck is as clear as the time of day.
Heck, who has a prior record and who is connected to the disappearance of
an Erie woman, is accused of trying to defraud his insurance company by falsely
reporting the time of an auto accident.
Police allege he misreported the time to further his scheme to reinstate
his auto insurance and thus get coverage for the crash.
Heck's auto insurance with GEICO had lapsed because of nonpayment when the
crash actually occurred --sometime before 8:21 p.m. on Feb. 18 at Lake Pleasant
and Arbuckle roads in Millcreek Township, police said.
Millcreek police allege Heck, 32, called GEICO about an hour after the
accident, at 9:36 p.m., to reinstate his insurance. And the next morning, police
said, Heck called GEICO again to report the previous day's accident.
Police said Heck told GEICO the accident occurred at 10:30 p.m. on Feb. 18
-- or about two hours after police said it actually happened, and about an hour
after Heck had reinstated his insurance.
The accident involved Heck's 2000 Dodge Ram truck, a Millcreek Township
snowplow and another vehicle, police said. Police said no one was seriously
injured in the crash, but that police responded to it and recorded the time it
was reported -- 8:21 p.m. on Feb. 18. Police did not have an amount for the cost
of the damages.
Heck, of the 9000 block of Middle Road, is accused of the felony charge of
making a fraudulent statement to an insurance company. He was not charged with
driving without insurance because that charge has a 30-day statute of
limitations, Millcreek police Capt. Harry Love said.
District Judge Susan Strohmeyer arraigned Heck on Friday and jailed him on
$2,500 bond at the Erie County Prison, where Heck remained Friday night.
Heck is the same person last seen with Sabrina Kahler, the Erie woman who
has been missing since June 2002. One of Heck's lawyers has said Heck is not a
suspect in that case.
Kahler left home the morning of June 24, 2002, to go swimming. She never
returned and left few clues to her disappearance, police said. The 20-year-old
woman was last seen at the Tasty Twist ice cream stand on Old Lake Road in
Springfield Township. She had gone there with Heck after the two went swimming
at nearby Eagley Park.
Heck told police later that he then dropped off Kahler at the West Erie
Plaza and gave her money to see a movie. Police have not been able to confirm
the story.
In the case over the accident, Millcreek police Sgt. Scott Heidt
investigated as part of the department's insurance-fraud unit. According to the
criminal complaint, a GEICO investigator contacted Millcreek police to start the
investigation.
Police used Heck's conversations with GEICO representatives to build the
case against him. According to the criminal complaint, a GEICO representative
telephoned Heck on Feb. 19, after he had reported the accident.
During that interview, police said in the complaint, Heck again said the
accident had occurred at 10:30 p.m. rather than 8:21 p.m. -- the time recorded
on the police's accident report.
ED PALATTELLA can be reached at 870-1813 or by e-mail.

If you know what happened to Sabrina, please call the Erie Police Department at (814) 870-1506.

You can print a poster of Sabrina at http://www.theyaremissed.org/ncma/gallery/ncmaprofile_all.php?A200301530W.

Photo of Sabrina from her poster.

Aarys Oberlander-Hower: Poster update

2008-06-25T17:17:00.003-04:00

The possible locations have changed.

I wonder why this is listed just as "missing" and not as "family abduction". Perhaps it is not established that he is with his father?

From Aarys' poster:

Missing

AARYS OBERLANDER-HOWER
DOB: Jun 5, 1996
Missing: Nov 6, 2006
Height: 4'9" (145 cm)
Eyes: Brown
Race: White
Age Now: 12
Sex: Male
Weight: 65 lbs (29 kg)
Hair: Lt. Brown
Missing From:
TITUSVILLE
PA
United States
Aarys was last seen on November 6, 2006. He may be in the
company of his non-custodial father. They are believed to be in Cyprus or
Bahrain. Aarys has a scar under his right eye and a scar under his
chin.
ANYONE HAVING INFORMATION SHOULD CONTACT
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
1-800-843-5678 (1-800-THE-LOST)
Federal Bureau of Investigation
(Pennsylvania) 1-412-432-4000

You can print a poster to put up at http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PubCaseSearchServlet?act=viewPoster&caseNum=1074204&orgPrefix=NCMC&searchLang=en_US.

Arkadiy Tashman: DNA test results negative

2008-06-25T16:51:00.002-04:00

About a month and a half ago I had posted that Arkadiy's family's DNA was tested against that from an unidentified body.

Anyway, the following message was posted on the Yahoo! ColdCases group on May 15 (Sorry I am so late in providing this update!):

The DNA samples of Arkadiy's family that were tested against the remains
that
his sister Natalya had been contacted about are not the remains of
Arkadiy
Tashman according to te DNA results. The samples taken from Arkadiy's
family
will, as a result, be making it's way to the National Database.
Paul Thompson,
Friends of Arkadiy

Please call the New York City police at (212) 694-7781 or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678) if you have any idea what happened to Arkadiy.

Natalya's blog for Arkadiy: http://arkadiytashman.blogspot.com/

MySpace page for Arkadiy: http://www.myspace.com/teens_just_dont_run_away

You can print a poster of Arkadiy at http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PubCaseSearchServlet?act=viewPoster&caseNum=1007600&orgPrefix=NCMC&searchLang=en_US.

Photo from Arkadiy's poster

Jason Jolkowski: News article on birthday and fundraiser

2008-06-25T15:22:00.003-04:00

Article from http://www.kptm.com/Global/story.asp?S=8550418:

Remembering Jason: Helping Find Others
Posted: June 24, 2008 09:58 PM EDT
Updated: June 24, 2008 09:58 PM EDT

Julie
Hong
Omaha (KPTM) - He vanished without a trace seven years ago.
Jason
Jolkowski would be 27 years old this June 24th.
So on his birthday, his
family reflects on his life and want to share a very special gift.
"It would
be so wonderful to be able to buy you a gift and sing Happy Birthday to you,
even in our funny, off-key way," reads Kelly Jolkowski.
It's a birthday
letter with words of love, hope and reflection Kelly wrote to her son.
"We
reflect on him as a person. We miss his laughter and his kind generous
spirit."
Tuesday, June 24th is the 7th birthday the Jolkowski's celebrate
without him.
Jason Jolkowski disappeared without a trace from his Benson home
seven years ago.
He would be 27 years old.
"It's still extremely difficult
to not know anything to not know is he dead, is he alive, is he okay, did
somebody hurt him. Why?" says Kelly.
And while the Jolkowski's don't have
those answers, they do have Project Jason, a non-profit organization dedicated
to help other families like theirs.
"We need the public's help to find Jason,
to remember the missing, other families like ours and to help us accomplish our
goals."
Kelly says since she can't give her son a gift this year, she hopes
the public will give in his honor by donating at least $27 dollars to Project
Jason.
It's a gift that Kelly says she hopes will help find Jason, and help
other families.
But, more than anything it's a gift she says Jason would
want.
"That's part of the birthday campaign we know that with his generous
spirit, he would want us to do this," says Kelly.
The Carole Sund Foundation
continues to offer a five-htousand dollar reward for any information that leads
to Jason.
Money raised from Jason's Girthday Gift campaign will ehlp with the
operating costs of Project Jason pay for awareness programs, fund an upcoming
retreat and help pay for ads of missing people on area bus benches.
You can
donate by logging on to www.projectjason.org
You can donate through PayPal or
mail a check.
Jason's mom also says there are updated posters with Jason's
age progressed photo. The family would appreciate any help if people can print
out the poster and put them up in their neighborhoods or where they work.

If you know anything about what happened to Jason, please call the Omaha Police Department at (402) 444-5818 or (402) 444-5690.

Jason's website: http://members.cox.net/prayersandposters/
Jason's guestbook: http://pub36.bravenet.com/guestbook/show.php?usernum=3085091876
You can print a poster of Jason at http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PubCaseSearchServlet?act=viewPoster&caseNum=992083&orgPrefix=NCMA&searchLang=en_US.

Jason is also one of the missing people you can "adopt" through Project Jason's Adopt a Missing Person program. For more information, see http://www.projectjason.org/adopt.html.

Photo and age progression from Jason's poster.

Jason Jolkowski now missing 7 years, Omaha, Nebraska

2008-06-20T20:18:00.003-04:00

Some new developments in Jason's case include a reward and a new age progression. Project Jason, a missing person's organization founded by his mother, also is starting a new fundraising campaign to mark his birthday, which is also coming up in a few days.

First, the reward. Press release posted at http://www.crimeandjustice.us/forums/index.php?showtopic=164&st=300:

The Carole Sund/Carrington Foundation 301 Downey Ave., Modesto, CA, Ph.
209- 567-1059
Scott Webb – Executive Director
June 10, 2008
Contact: Scott Webb 209-567-1059
$5,000 REWARD
The Carole Sund/Carrington Foundation is offering a $5,000 reward for
information leading to the safe return of Jason Jolkowski. If a homicide has
occurred the reward will automatically revert to the arrest and conviction of
the person/persons responsible for the crime.
It has been our experience that reward funds have been the catalyst to
increased interest and investigative leads in cases. We hope that a reward will
assist in this case as well. The Foundation's reward money has already assisted
in the location of nine missing persons, the apprehension of 37 murder suspects,
and 3 kidnappers of young children, and one suspect charged with attempted
murder of a peace officer. We currently have 37 suspects in custody in ten
states.
To date the Foundation has paid a total of $262,600 in rewards to citizens
who did the right thing by coming forward and sharing the information they had
regarding these cases. We all have a responsibility to do our part to help make
our community a safe place.
Carole and Juli Sund and Silvina Pelosso were the three women sightseers
who were missing and later found murdered near Yosemite National Park in
February of 1999. While they were missing, Carole Sund’s parents, Francis and
Carole Carrington, at the request of the FBI, posted rewards both for their safe
return and for information leading to the whereabouts of their rental car. The
Carringtons believe that the posting of these rewards and the media attention
they received contributed to the car being located and gave them the first break
in their case. They were thankful that they had the financial means to offer
these rewards and it’s because of this that they have started The Carole
Sund/Carrington Foundation. This foundation was established to assist in cases
such as the case of Jason Jolkowski, which is a similar circumstance as the
Carrington’s in that Jason is a missing person.
We strongly urge anyone with information to contact the investigators.
Please if you know anything about this case, call Detective Jim Shields of the
Omaha Police Department at 402-444-5818.

Now the announcement from the Project Jason forum, http://www.projectjason.org/forums/index.php?topic=3021.0:

June 13, 2008 marks seven years since the mysterious and tragic
disappearance of Jason Jolkowski, the namesake of our organization. His 27th
birthday is June 24th.
In honor of Jason, his birthday and his generous spirit, we are launching a
fundraising campaign. The birthday present image at the bottom of our main site
at http://www.projectjason.org/
will be used to show our progress toward the goal of raising $2,700 by October
6th, the 5th anniversary of Project Jason.
You will find a quick reference to Project Jason’s accomplishments and
information about how we utilize donations by continuing to scroll down in this
thread.
Please feel free to forward this information.
What follows is a letter written by Jason's mother, Kelly, to mark this sad
occasion:
Dear Jason,
We love you and miss you. It’s been seven years since we last saw your face
and heard your gentle laugh. Wherever you are, you’re now a grown man. You were
just a young adult when you were last with us, working to find your place in
this life.
The month of June is such a trying time of year. You disappeared without a
trace on June 13th, 2001. Sometimes it seems as if it was just yesterday. The
great fear and pounding of our hearts when we discovered something was very
wrong is a feeling we’ll never forget. We waited and hoped that you’d walk in
the door a moment later and that the whole awful event would be over, but that
didn’t happen. Seven years later, it feels as if it never may end, and that we
may have to wait for our life after this world to see you again. Even so, we
will always have hope to find you sooner, and that you will be with us again.
Love always hopes, and we have hearts full of both.
Father’s Day and my birthday were also events of that fateful month, and
without you, those dates seemed meaningless.
June 24th is your 27th birthday. It would be so wonderful to be able to buy
you a gift and sing Happy Birthday to you, even in our funny, off-key way. There
is so much that we’ve all missed. If you are still with us, you could be married
and have children. You may have graduated from college and be pursuing a career.
So many life events which normally happen with someone of your age may have
passed by. We hope and pray that you haven’t been cheated of the life you were
meant to live.
We feel that somehow, you are aware of how life has changed for us in your
absence. Your little brother has grown up now and works with your dad. He misses
you so.
Because of you, we were called to reach out and help others who have fallen
victim to this tragic circumstance. We passed a law in your name here in
Nebraska, and then we created a nonprofit organization named after you, Project
Jason. We’ve helped find other missing people, including a son who was missing
for 14 years, and a sister missing for seven. We wish we could find you, but
rest assured son, we won’t stop trying.
We were blessed to have you with us for nineteen years. You taught us so
much, especially about generosity and kindness. You never told us these things,
but we found out from those who knew you. You took it upon yourself to help a
handicapped boy at school to get from class to class. You sang a rap in front of
the whole school to help your friend get elected to the student council, even
though you are shy and quiet. We saw for ourselves how you would literally run
to open the door for elderly people, or help someone across the street.
Because of these things and more, we know you would want us to do the work
we do to help other families of missing persons. In honor of your 27th birthday,
and we know you would approve, we are asking for donations to your name sake
organization. It’s been a struggle these past seven years without you, and also
in founding the organization and accomplishing what we know we could. With the
support of others who care, we will achieve more for these suffering families
and help to reunite them with their missing loved ones.
We’re going to ask, dear Jason, that each person reading this consider
donating $27 in your name to Project Jason. Realizing there are many who truly
can’t afford to do this, perhaps some who can, will donate an additional $27. We
have a goal to reach $2,700 by October 6th, which will be the 5th anniversary of
the founding of Project Jason.
For those who wish to help, they can mail their donation to Project Jason,
PO Box 3035, Omaha, NE 68103, OR go to our website, http://www.projectjason.org/, and
click on the PayPal button at the bottom of the page. We’ll also show the
progress towards the October goal on the “birthday present” image shown on the
bottom of the main page of our website.
It will be wonderful to be able to affect even more families in your name,
Jason. The greatest gift of all would be to have you back in our lives, but if
that is not to be, we will continue on with our work with the help and support
of the kind people of the world, people just like you.
Love Always,
Mom, Dad, and Michael

Jason's website: http://members.cox.net/prayersandposters/

Jason's guestbook: http://pub36.bravenet.com/guestbook/show.php?usernum=3085091876

You can print a poster of Jason at http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PubCaseSearchServlet?act=viewPoster&caseNum=992083&orgPrefix=NCMA&searchLang=en_US.

Photo and age progression from Jason's NCMEC poster.

CUE Center's On the Road to Remember Tour 2008

2008-06-20T19:38:00.002-04:00

Audrey Nerenberg, Cynthia Day, and Jason Jolkowski have been featured on this blog, so I am including their pictures.

I am curious to see who will be included from Pennsylvania if it is included.

The following is from a post to the Yahoo! ColdCases group. It explains all the details (which I would assume could be subject to change), including which missing persons will be featured.

MISSING PERSON'S "ON THE ROAD TO REMEBER TOUR 2008"
We are currently trying to complete the following states; North Carolina
(eastern area) - Virginia - West Virginia for press/rally stops; we have got
some addresses in so far and need to complete this run very soon, if interested
please contact us, thank you.
Who can host a stop?
* Family of a missing person
* Law officials
* Organization/ group or volunteer
Who/What should be featured at the stop?
* Missing Persons
* Unidentified Persons
* Unsolved Homicide Cases
What are some ideas for a Rally Stop?
* Candle Light Vigils
* Balloon Launches
* Guest Speaker, Prayer, Performances, etc.
* Make it an event, invite other groups, etc.
* Have a center table with information, photos of those being featured,
button, displays, etc.
* Invite other families from your area that have suffered a crime or
missing person
* Invite your law officials and community leaders
* Signage, banners, marques and more
What type of locations have been used in the past?
* Police Departments, Mayor or other agencies
* Parking Lots of any kind of business
* Home of a family - if easy route from main roads
* Parks of any kind
* Local Churches
Their are many different locations to use call for more ideas
States Traveling Through In No Particular Order
North Carolina
Virginia
West Virginia
Washington
New York
Rhode Island
Massachusetts
New Jersey
New Hampshire
Pennsylvania (possible)
Ohio
Indiana
Illinois
Missouri
Tennessee
Case to be featured so far...
NAME MISSING FROM
DATE MISSING
Jeremy Alex - Honoree Northport, Maine
4/24/2004
Anthony Allen Fort Smith Arkansas
10/1/1978
April Pitzer New Berry Springs, California
6/28/2004
April Wiss Wichita, Kansas
1/11/2000
Audrey Nerenberg Brooklyn, New York
7/15/1977
Bethany & Tina Sinclair Chesterfield, New Hampshire
2/4/2001
Bernadette Stevenson Caruso Baltimore, Maryland
9/27/1986
Branson Perry Skidmore, Missouri
4/11/2001
Cynthia Day East Saint Louis, Illinois
8/8/1990
Deborah Lowe Pompano Beach, Florida
2/29/1972
Delwin Locklear Maxton, North Carolina
7/7/2004
Floyd Price Diamondhead, Mississippi
2/4/2004
Frances `Franny" Graham Coker Creek, Illinois
9/18/2005
Gilbert Paul Caravallo Pearl City, Hawaii
10/6/2004
Heather Teague Spottsville, Kentucky
8/26/1995
Jason Scott Adkins Huntington, West Virginia
1/18/1999
Jason Jolkowski Omaha, Nebraska
6/13/2001
Jerry Tang San Francisco, California
11/29/2005
Jody Ledkins Kansas City, Missouri
5/23/1985
Joe D´Aquisto SR. Ashville, North Carolina
1/11/2002
Jon Shadden Robert Lee, Texas
6/9/2007
Justin Gaines Duluth, Georgia
11/2/2007
Kent Jacobs Hope Mills, NC
3/10/2002
Kerry Johnson Salem, Oregon
9/14/1982
Kynande Bennett Whiteville, North Carolina
9/29/2002
Leah Roberts Durham, NC
3/9/2000
Margaret Haddican McEnroe Somerset City, New Jersey
10/10/2006
Mary Badaracco Sherman, Connecticut
8/20/1984
Melanie Metheny Belle, West Virginia
7/19/2006
Michael Austin Davis Jacksonville, Florida
6/25/2007
Michael Hogan Shrewsbury, Vermont
5/16/2005
Monica Carrasco Balmorhea, Texas
10/2/2003
Patricia Viola Bogota, New Jersey
2/13/2001
Tracey Gardner - Tetso Rosedale, Maryland
3/6/2005
Troy Marks New Orleans, Louisiana 6/6/2006
Monica Caison
CUE Center for Missing Persons
PO Box 12714
Wilmington, NC 28405
(910) 343-1131
(910) 232-1687 24 Hour Line
Email: mailto:cuecenter@aol.
Website: _www.ncmissingperso ns.org_ (http://www.ncmissingpersons./)

Audrey Nerenberg's website: http://www.angelfire.com/ak/403/page10.html

Cynthia Day's website: http://www.findcynthia.com/index.htm

Jason Jolkowski's website: http://members.cox.net/prayersandposters/

Audrey's pictures from her Charley Project profile. Cynthia's pictures from her website. Jason's 2001 photo from his website and age progression from his NCMEC poster.

Arkadiy Tashman: Sister on "Missing Pieces" show; DNA test results pending

2008-05-10T10:35:00.002-04:00

Transcript of episode from http://missingpiecesshow.homestead.com/MissingPiecesEpisode91Archive.html:

TODD MATTHEWS (Missing Pieces Host): I’m Todd Matthews. This is
Missing Pieces, and tonight we have Natalya, and Natalya, I’m not even going to
attempt to say your last name. I’m going to let you pronounce it.
NATALYA
VOSKRESENSKAYA: (Guest, sister of missing Arkadiy): My last name is
Vos-kresen-skaya.
TODD: Oh, wow, with my Southern accent, I would have
butchered that, terribly, so…and I don’t want to do that, it’s a beautiful name.
You are the sister of missing, ‘Ark’ Tashman?
NATALYA: Yes.
TODD: Okay,
now what is his first name? How do you pronounce his first name?
NATALYA:
Arkadiy (Ark-ah-dee).
TODD: Arkadiy. Okay. I’ve read a lot about him, you
know you have a friend, Paul Thompson, and he’s a member of our ‘Cold Cases’
group, and he has kept us very informed of your case. I’ve watched it for quite
a while, and I read a note where you said, ‘”Every time I post a flyer, I see
your face. I still look into tall, young guys’ faces, trying to spot you when I
walk on the street. Come back, I MISS YOU SO MUCH.” - Natalya’ – and that’s what
you said about your brother.
NATALYA: Yes.
TODD: And he has been missing
since January 26, 2005, and he was 17 years old, from Staten Island, New York.
He’s nearly 6’2”, 170-180 pounds; light brown/ash blond hair, gray/blue eyes. He
had a pierced right ear and scars on both arms. What happened in this case?
NATALYA: I wish we knew what happened because, all of a sudden, he never
came home. He went to see his friends. He went to his friends’ house, and my Mum
woke up in the middle of the night realizing that he never came home.
TODD:
Uh huh.
NATALYA: Unfortunately I was not in town at that time, so I was not
aware of this, and the next morning they called the police, and the police came
in and they found a note. They found a note on his desk. It was a bit of a
disturbing note that alluded to possible suicide that he might have committed,
but to be honest with you, we don’t really believe that he committed a suicide,
and usually when people commit suicide, and believe me, by now I’m an expert at
that, they don’t hide their bodies.
TODD: Not on their own, you know, that’s
sort of a very hard thing to do.
NATALYA: Absolutely, and we still have not
heard anything or…we had some possible sightings, which I personally checked out
each one of them, but then people would be convinced, “No, it’s not him,” after
I would come to the place with lots of pictures and I would speak to people that
suspected it might be my brother, but then they would assure me that it’s not
him after seeing a couple of different pictures. Unfortunately, we have not had
anything, but we are still going on.
TODD: So, you have this note that
alludes to suicide, though, do you think that there’s a possibility that he was
forced to write it? Or, that he didn’t write it? Or, that he wrote it to cover
up the fact that maybe he was just going to take off?
NATALYA: Ah, it was
definitely his writing. It was definitely his writing, but honestly, we’ve
been…and I’ve been talking to all of his friends, all of the people that
surrounded him, beside us, the family. Um, no, we don’t believe he was forced
into writing this and, yes, it did seem that he wrote it of his own will.
TODD: You know, I have a 16-year-old son, and I like to think that I know
him. I like to think that he’s happy and well-adjusted and having no problems,
you know, and of course you don’t want to think that, and my brother is younger
than myself and my son will talk to him sometimes, and it’s only through that
that I realize that he does have problems and concerns and worries, and I think
I know him well enough that I would know it, but I think I know him so well and
love him so much, that I don’t want to know it, that I don’t want to consider
the possibility that he has problems or confusions, but it’s a hard world to
grow up in as a teen right now.
NATALYA: Yeah, actually, and especially for
a teenager right now, it’s really hard. First of all, it’s really hard for them
to know who they are and it brings a lot of problems, when they don’t know who
they are, they start trying different things…
TODD: Uh huh.
NATALYA:
…and they are afraid of the future.
TODD: And who can blame them, you know?
It is scary.
NATALYA: Yeah. No, I’ve been one. I’ve been a teenager.
TODD: We’ve been there.
NATALYA: Yeah, we’ve all been there, and I
remember, I was thinking, “Okay, so once I graduate from this school, okay, I go
to college, but who am I, what am I going to do? What’s going to happen to me?”
and all those choices that all of a sudden they have to make in their lives,
it’s scary, and I understand it but unfortunately, I think, sometimes people
close to teenagers, we might just overlook…
TODD: Uh huh.
NATALYA: …some
of their challenges.
TODD: I was lucky and unlucky all at the same time. You
know I planned on college growing up, and I thought, you know, it was scary
because you really didn’t know which direction to go in, and then the girl that
I ended up marrying, she was a year younger than me, her home burned and her
family was going to move away, so I had to hurry up and we had to move forward,
so college changed, we got married and began life. So, I think we jumped into it
so quickly, that I didn’t have time to think or worry, and then we just had to
get busy with life, and for me, it worked out really good. I’m happy, and I
wouldn’t change a thing. I wouldn’t go back and change a thing; I’ve been
married 20 years, this year, so it’s a very good thing for me, but you know, in
this world today, 20 years later, I would hate to think that my son would even
try to take that route.
NATALYA: Yes, I understand what you’re saying. I
actually can relate to the situation because I got married very early, in
college, and I have not regretted this, and we’ve been married for quite a long
time and we have two beautiful kids, but unfortunately, I think the world has
changed so much since 20 years ago…
TODD: Oh, yes.
NATALYA: …and kids
have much more options, but I think they’re afraid of this world, and I believe
that right values in life are not being taught in school.
TODD: And I get to
talk to kids Ark’s age all the time, you know, that’s the main group that I
target if I go do the high school lectures, we talk about career development,
and it’s this age, and it is such a confusing age. You know, had your brother
expressed some confusion to you guys, or was this…?
NATALYA: Yes, actually,
yeah. And I always remember that when I learned that he was missing, you know
you start going back, you start scrutinizing every moment that you had with the
person, and before he went missing, I would say three months before he went
missing, for a month, most evenings he just was sitting on the balcony, it’s a
beautiful evening, we’re talking, and all of a sudden he said, “Natalya, to be
honest with you, I don’t see myself living after I’m 18 years old.” And I looked
at him, and I think later I realized, I dismissed that saying too quickly, but I
looked at him and I said, “Arkadiy, what are you talking about?” and he said,
“Natalya, what am I going to do?” And, you know, he is an extremely bright
person, extremely bright, and very smart and very humorous, but he had been
having troubles with his school, not because he was educationally challenged,
no, just because he had been missing some classes and he was hanging out with
friends, so he was left in ninth grade for the second time, and then he just…I
don’t think he realized he knew that he can change everything in his life.
TODD: Uh huh.
NATALYA: He was afraid of his life, even though he was an
extremely brave person, and I just said that he ‘was’…and I still believe that
he ‘is.’
TODD: He was at a very scary point in his life, you know, jumping
into the adult world from school, you know jobs are so hard to find, there are
just so many challenges out there now, so I can imagine somebody being afraid.
NATALYA: Yeah, and I also think they’re afraid of not standing up to our
levels.
TODD: Uh huh.
NATALYA: I’m afraid that they think they might
disappoint us with some of the choices. Honestly, I think all I could have…if I
could do something differently…
TODD: Uh huh.
NATALYA: …I would just
have maybe half an hour conversation with him and tell him that it doesn’t
matter what he does in life; it doesn’t matter. I know who he is and I love the
guy that he is. It doesn’t matter if he might not have a career or if he would
work at McDonald’s, it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter as long as, you know, I
loved him, I love him very dearly; I don’t think, kids at that age, they know
how much we love them.
TODD: No, they really don’t, and you know there are
times when I’m harsh with my son because I’m trying to push him in a direction
and you have to keep telling him the same things over and over, and you have to
get really firm with them, and then I feel guilty, then I think, “I can’t feel
guilty because I must make him succeed. I must make sure he’s okay if I’m not
here.”
NATALYA: Yeah.
TODD: And I know that’s probably confusing to him,
you know, and (sighs) just the troubles of being a teenager.
NATALYA: Yeah.
TODD: Now, you, like me, you have a very distinct accent. I’ve got a
Southern accent and you’re Russian, I do believe, right?
NATALYA: Yes, I am
Russian.
TODD: Were you born in Russia?
NATALYA: I was born in Russia. I
went to college in Russia and I moved here 11 years ago.
TODD: Now, your
brother, was he born there, or here?
NATALYA: He was born in Russia. When we
came here, he was 8 years old, and it was very challenging for him, especially
the first year was really hard, he went to school and he never spoke English,
and you know, just the whole fitting in procedure, it was really hard.
TODD:
Do you think that created a whole set of unique challenges for him?
NATALYA:
Yes, and also he saw our parents were struggling. They dropped all their lives
in Russia and they came here and everything was just starting over again, and
it’s pretty hard to do, you know, when you certainly got used to certain
lifestyles. But, to be honest with you, I think he got assimilated into the
American world fairly quickly.
TODD: Uh huh. Well, you are in New York and
it’s quite a melting pot there.
NATALYA: Yeah, you’re absolutely right.
TODD: I went there; I was there recently in New York, earlier this month in
fact, and it was hard to find an American in some places there. Most of the
people were…because I talked to a few people and I knew by their accents, they
weren’t from here.
NATALYA: Yeah.
TODD: So, he wasn’t alone. He wasn’t
like an isolated person, like he might be here. Here, in my area, most all these
people are born, and they’ve been here for…their families have been here for
generations, so he might feel more foreign here, but New York, definitely
somebody from a foreign land can blend in rather easily.
NATALYA: Yeah,
absolutely, and especially his English…his Russian was degrading because he was
only using it at home…
TODD: Uh huh.
NATALYA: …and English pretty much
became his first language.
TODD: Hmm. So, now tell me about the parents?
NATALYA: My parents…I’m half-sister to Arkadiy…
TODD: Uh huh.
NATALYA: …so there is no confusion, but it doesn’t matter, when he was born,
I was much older than he was and he was pretty much my first child. So, our
mother, she’s in a wheelchair, and she’s been in a wheelchair since she was 2
years old, and his father, I call him father, I started calling him father when
I was 6 years old, so I consider him my father as well, even though he’s not my
biological father.
TODD: So, now obviously, this is very difficult for them,
and that would be a stupid question to ask if it’s a difficult process for them,
but you know, they’re from a foreign country as well, you know, how are they
coping with this?
NATALYA: Um…
TODD: Because you seem to be the
spokesperson, from everything I’ve read or seen, you…
NATALYA: Yes.
TODD: …seem to be the person taking the lead in what’s happening.
NATALYA: It destroyed them, to be honest with you. It completely destroyed
them because it’s not like there have been some precedents to Arkadiy’s
disappearance, no, he never ran away from home, and he didn’t have a fight with
parents, no, everything was just another regular day. It destroyed them because
they don’t know why, and how could that happen? And, of course, everyone is
blaming themselves. My Mum is blaming herself that she did not do something to
prevent it, and my Dad is blaming himself and it’s just…
TODD: Well, it’s
easy to look back and do that, you know, you have to think, “What did I do
wrong? What could I have done? How could I have loved them more? How could I
have prevented this?” You know, that’s all the normal things that somebody goes
through in this situation, obviously.
NATALYA: Yes, and other times, they’re
trying to understand; maybe they…maybe at some point they were too hard on him,
maybe…it’s all ‘maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe’…maybe there is something we
could have done differently and he would be still here with us. There’s this
part in this that, while we still believe he’s alive, we can get mad at him…all
of a sudden, in the hardest moments, all of a sudden, and my Mum does the same,
we’re like, “How could he do that do us? Doesn’t he love us?” and, you know,
this act of selfishness, those words of selfishness…
TODD: Uh huh.
NATALYA: …they kind of make us feel better, but it’s just a self-deception,
to be honest with you.
TODD: But he was an avid skateboarder, from what I’m
reading, and it seems like law enforcement are kind of looking in these
communities; maybe he’s found some refuge there.
NATALYA: I was hoping…when
he went missing, we actually, we pooled a lot of people to help us look for him,
and believe me, I’ve been used to life in New York and everything seemed normal
there, but when we started researching and walking through some of the shelters,
through some of the troublesome areas of New York, we discovered a whole
underground world…
TODD: Uh huh.
NATALYA: …and it was scary. It was
scary. And we met some people who would say, “Oh, yeah, I had a whole bunch of
teenagers and sometimes they stayed with me for a couple of days and then they
move on,” and there is a possibility, and I’m hoping that that’s what happened,
that that’s what’s happening right now.
TODD: I mean, I can see a kid that
age take off and then maybe have a change of heart in a short period of time,
but a lot can happen to somebody in a very short period of time. So, you think
it’s possible, maybe he did decide to just take an adventure and then maybe
simply get caught up in something that kept him from coming back?
NATALYA:
I’m praying that that’s what happened. I am praying, and do you know what would
make it much easier for me? If I knew that he had his green card or passport
with him.
TODD: But now, recently, you’ve done something with DNA.
NATALYA: Yes, and it happened just last week, finally, I do think, and I’m
not trying to blame anyone, but I do think that the way this process is going,
is wrong on many levels because they’ve been keeping me in suspense for months
after they requested the DNA to be formed. But, we mailed our DNA; I actually
took…performed three tests on me and my mother and my father, and we mailed it
back to the crime lab.
TODD: Uh huh.
NATALYA: I do know for sure that
they have a body that they suspect is my dear Arkadiy, even though they’re not
telling that to me, but I’m pretty much aware of how this process has been run,
so now we’re just waiting. The hardest part, of course, was to convince my
parents that this was just a routine thing, they do it after three years, and
I’m doing everything I can to shield them from all the pain because I know how
it is.
Every time you start hoping, maybe you’ll find him there and when you
realize that he’s not there, and it’s like you’re losing him all…
TODD: All
over again.
NATALYA: …all over again, and we’ve been through this ‘all over
again’ so many times, and I’m trying to shield them as much as possible from
that.
TODD: So now, you’re actually preparing yourself for the possibility
that this could be your brother?
NATALYA: Yeah, but I’ve been preparing
myself for so long so it’s…
TODD: Just usual business of the day; you’ve had
three years to be preparing yourself for this.
NATALYA: Yeah. Unfortunately,
it’s never…I’m afraid this will never be usual, but this is just one of those
many times when you cry…it’s a rollercoaster, then all of a sudden you’re on top
of your hopes, “No, there is no way something is going to happen,” and you fly
back down again.
TODD: Uh huh.
NATALYA: But, I believe…I love life…
TODD: Uh huh.
NATALYA: …and it’s hard for me to believe that my brother
did not love life the way I did, and I know he did love his life as well, but
I’m just hoping that he’s not one of those unidentified bodies.
TODD: Do you
think, like you said you have a love of life and you hope he did as well, maybe
it wasn’t a choice, is it possible maybe he had a degree of depression? Maybe he
needed to be on some type of medication, and it happens a lot, with people
having to cope with society, you know sometimes you can’t.
NATALYA:
Unfortunately, maybe because I never believed in depression…
TODD: Uh huh.
NATALYA: …that something like that exists. Once I was given an explanation
about what depression is, it’s like you wake up in the morning and you don’t
want to go to work, then I said, “Oh, aha, that I’m having.” But if he had any
type of depression, I’m afraid that if it’s true, I failed to recognize it.
TODD: I mean, we all go through depression, you know, periods of depression,
who doesn’t? You know sometimes you wake up, “This is a bad day and I don’t know
how I’m going to fix things.” You know, I worry about my son who’s getting older
and he’s going to leave home and you can get depressed real easy, but it’s when
you stay depressed.
NATALYA: Yeah. I think, yeah, unless it’s really
something like a chemical imbalance, I wish people can always do something about
something about depression, just force yourself to keep going forward…
TODD:
Yeah.
NATALYA: …and that’s the best cure, unless it’s really something,
because depression is more of a mental state, but as long as you don’t give in
to it.
TODD: In this situation that you’re in, is that what you’re doing,
forcing yourself forward? Is that how you are able to go forward? I mean, this
is, honestly, I wouldn’t want to trade places with you. I wouldn’t want to have
to go through what you guys are going through personally, and I don’t know how I
would deal with it.
NATALYA: If you…I would actually say exactly the same if
you were talking before Arkadiy disappeared, but it was extremely hard to suffer
for the first three months, it was extremely hard because all I could
concentrate on was searching for Arkadiy. I was getting probably four hours of
sleep a day, I was lucky if I was getting that, but otherwise I called that
wasting precious time.
TODD: Uh huh.
NATALYA: I thought, “If I find him,
everything is going to be…everything will be magically fixed.” Everything, even
in my life, I thought everything would be magically fixed, but then when three
months went by and he was still…he still had not been heard from, I tried
different things. I tried diving into work. I tried everything, but what helped
me a lot was that, finally, the following summer after his disappearance, my
husband and I, we bought a house and we moved my parents in…
TODD: Uh huh.
NATALYA: …and now, it kind of gives the feeling that we’re more full of a
family. We’re a very, I think, we’re a very good family, and I also gave birth
to my second son; I was pregnant when Arkadiy disappeared.
TODD: And that
helps, having a busy family when you’re actually trying to tend to others’ needs
and you’ve got a baby that’s very demanding, I’m sure, no doubt about it.
NATALYA: And it keeps my parents from falling apart, to be honest with you.
They are babysitters during the day when my husband and I are working; they are
babysitters and it really keeps their minds partially off of the tragedy, but
it’s always like a shadow in a corner…
TODD: Uh huh.
NATALYA: …that
Arkadiy huge shadow, which sometimes we try to pretend, especially when we are
together, you know, we don’t want to bring each other down, otherwise my Mum can
break down and if she breaks down, I go right after that.
TODD: Do you find
yourself trying to avoid talking about it?
NATALYA: Not avoiding, but…yeah,
you can say it, avoiding, but still, or if we talk about it then it’s joyful;
something like, “Oh Mum, can you imagine, maybe he’s somewhere? What if he has a
child by now?”
TODD: Uh huh.
NATALYA: (Sighs) Wishful thinking.
TODD: Well, do you think it’s possible that he might have gone back to
Russia?
NATALYA: His Russian was not so good. I think he would feel much
more of a stranger in Russia than here but, again, I’m not dismissing anything.
I did not even dismiss a chance that he might be in Bolivia with some global
radicals.
TODD: Yeah, well, you’ve got to hang onto anything, anything that
you have that’s a hope, you know, you’ve got to hang onto it.
NATALYA: Yeah,
even if people are scammers and all they are trying is to get money out of you.
By the way, here is one advice, do not believe and never, never, ever…God forbid
something like that happens, someone who is claiming something in exchange for
money, no. Check it out, do not dismiss it, check it out, I almost had to
believe it, but apparently it was a scam.
TODD: So, what’s next now? You’re
waiting for the DNA, and obviously you’ve got to wait that out.
NATALYA:
Yeah.
TODD: Um, where from there? If this is not him, what happens next?
NATALYA: I will do my best to get our DNA profiles into the National DNA
Database so that any other remains that were found across the country, can be
compared against ours. And, what’s next? The same, next. I will take one of
those overnight works to prevent teenage suicide and I’ll continue getting the
word out; printing more business-card-sized posters, and just giving them out.
There are many people, good people, that are willing to help, and there are many
people that are not ignorant to someone else’s tragedy, so everything is going
to go the same. We’ll be hoping, waiting, searching…it’s just never stopping,
never stopping, and it’s a part of my life now. I don’t even know how to live
any differently, to be honest with you.
TODD: It’s amazing what somebody can
get used to.
NATALYA: Yeah. Yeah, it is, but it just…it’s part of life now.
TODD: Well, for the next part of the show, we’re going to interview Paul
Thompson, and I think he’s been a good support system for you guys. He’s
certainly let a lot of people know about you. That’s where I came to know about
you. He’s a good cheerleader for you.
NATALYA: Oh, he’s much more than a
cheerleader. He contacted us, maybe two weeks after my brother’s disappearance,
because he contacted us because he saw a flyer, one of the flyers we had been
posting in our never-ending search for Arkadiy, and he got in touch with another
family that had a missing teenager, so we kind of could compare our notes.
TODD: Uh huh.
NATALYA: “Did you report the missing child there?” “Yes, I
did.” “Oh, by the way, I did it there, did you do it?” and, you know, how better
to put posters, where, how to print it, how to get the word out, and people to
connect to, local government and everything. So, he’s been…he even went to the
extreme, when we thought that Arkadiy might have committed suicide, so we were
going through local park areas, searching through woods, pretty much, he was the
one who was walking with us.
TODD: Now, what did you think about a stranger?
Now, you know he’s a nice guy now, but then, when you heard from just somebody
out of the blue, how was that?
NATALYA: Can you please repeat your question?
TODD: You know you just heard from this guy, Paul, and now you know he’s a
really great guy, but you know, you just got a phone call from him, and was that
strange?
NATALYA: No, it wasn’t strange because for those first two weeks
that I was looking for Arkadiy, I received, maybe two or three calls of support,
the rest were pranks, and all of a sudden, getting someone normal on the phone,
and my phone bill was skyrocketing…$1,000 every month because TV, newspapers,
radio stations, they were giving out my cell phone number, that’s how I was
asking them to do because I did not believe that police would not overlook
something, you know, I’m really used to relying on myself. And all of a sudden,
and I’d been getting so many prank calls and so many really nasty calls, and it
was really good for a change, to get a call from someone normal. I even had
calls, people would try to lure me into some places, it just was horrible, but I
have good, tough skin, and thank God.
TODD: Now, why do you think that
somebody would do that? Actually be so cruel as to call you and do that, why?
NATALYA: One reason I can tell you, and that’s probably the only phone call
that I answered, some of the guys gave me a call and they said, “Oh, if I was
your…” they thought he was my son because I was looking for him, but they were
saying horrible things, but one of them said, “If I was your son, I would have
killed myself,” and the only thing I could reply was, “You wish you were my son
because what you are doing right now just tells me that you’re afraid that if
you disappear, no one is going to be looking for you, that’s what you are afraid
of. And you’re jealous of Arkadiy because someone, there is a family that loves
him so much, they don’t care, they will go through everything in search for
him.”
TODD: Whatever it takes, right?
NATALYA: Whatever it takes,
seriously. And we hired private investigator, and believe me, I don’t think
there is anything we have not done.
TODD: Oh, my.
NATALYA: But Paul was
the very first honest person who is not looking to gain anything from our
tragedy, and who has a really big heart, and is doing everything he can to help
us.
TODD: That he is. That he is. I see a lot of evidence of things that you
might not even know about that he tries to do. He always takes the time to tell
somebody.
NATALYA: Yeah.
TODD: He just never told me how to pronounce
your last name.
NATALYA: I don’t think he can too.
TODD: I don’t think
he can either.
NATALYA: But it actually has a really good meaning in
Russian, it means sunny. Yeah, I know, sunny should be something short, but I
guess we never make it too easy for people.
TODD: Well, it’s been really
good talking to you. I’m going to get the second half of this from Paul, and get
some feedback from him, and we’ll say goodbye to everybody and then you and I
will talk just for a few more minutes. I’ve got a couple of things I want to ask
in private, but we’ll say goodnight to the audience and I’ll be right back with
Paul. Goodnight everybody.
NATALYA: Goodnight.
This concludes the first
part of this episode of Missing Pieces.
Please stay tuned for Part 2 -
Interview with Paul Thompson with the 'Cold Cases' group.
TODD MATTHEWS
(Missing Pieces Host): And joining us for the second half is a friend of mine,
Paul Thompson. Welcome Paul.
PAUL THOMPSON: (Guest): Hi Todd.
TODD: How
are you doing?
PAUL: I’m doing fine.
TODD: Okay. I just did the first
part for the interview; I just finished with Natalya. I can’t pronounce her last
name and I don’t think you can either, but she did for us, Arkadiy’s sister.
PAUL: From what I understand, it’s Voskresenskaya.
TODD: Oh wow, it was
a long name, but no matter, we’ll spell it out right on the show, but lovely
lady, and I love her accent. We talked about you a little bit in that episode.
You know, she said that you were one of the first normal people that contacted
her; she’s gotten a lot of rough phone calls at first when her cell phone number
was posted and she’s really happy with you. She had a lot of nice comments about
you. And I know it’s scary and I said, “Was it scary hearing from somebody?” I
said, “He’s a stranger just reaching out from the blue,” and she said that she
was very open to it because you were one of the first normal people that really
tried to care and you walked beside of them often. Now, what made you pick up
that phone and call this family?
PAUL: Well, at the time, I was involved
with searching…helping another family, who live about two blocks away from my
home, search for their 14-year-old daughter, back in the beginning of 2005, in
January, and this is when he disappeared, when Arkadiy disappeared, and after a
few weeks, about four weeks after he disappeared, the mother of the young girl
who we were searching for, came across one of Arkadiy’s flyers on a supermarket
window, about a half a mile or so from where I live. She responded, I guess, and
called her up or…I don’t remember exactly how the initial contact happened, but
she told me about the flyer, and then she asked me, since I was doing so much to
help them, could I possibly do whatever I can to help Natalya and her family by
making contact with them too. I don’t remember if I actually called her, or what
exactly happened, but I think that the contact was through the girl’s mother,
then we met up later on at her house, which is, again, two blocks from where I
live. So, the initial contact between me and Natalya, from what I remember, came
when I met her at the young girl’s house with the mother, who I was assisting at
the time. And ever since then, it’s been like almost nonstop, we try to help in
whatever way we can. It’s not only me helping Natalya, there are quite a few
other people, like on the side and in the background, that I don’t even think
that Natalya has even talked to, but she has met a good friend, Carlos, who has
been quite active over the past two years helping me, and she met a few other
people that help me also.
TODD: Well, she’s a really nice lady. I think
they’ve done a lot to try to find him and there are a few things that I think I
might be able to help her with. I’ve got a couple of resources for a couple of
things that she is trying to achieve and I think I’ll be able to help her with
it. We talked privately for a little while before we connected up with you and
hopefully I’m going to draft you to help me with that…some of those things, so
I’ll definitely be talking to you more after we get done with the interview.
They’ve got a lot of things they can do yet, you know. So, they got a lot done,
but there are still quite a few things more that they can do, and I think she
wants to move forward and try anything.
PAUL: That’s right. Exactly.
Especially since, up to this point, it’s been rough not having even the
slightest bit of answers that she’s actually looking for.
TODD: Uh huh. It
must be tough, you know, coming here from a foreign country, for her parents,
and then this happening. You know, they’ve been here for quite a while but,
still, you know, can you imagine? I just can’t imagine what they’re going
through, but we’ll keep trying. You know, Paul is a long-time member of ‘Cold
Cases,’ I’ve known you for quite a while, and that’s how I actually heard of
this case, as a matter of fact, was through you, so you definitely have done a
lot to try to help this family, and I hope you will continue to do. In fact, I
know you will, I’ve no doubt about that.
PAUL: I’ve already made it clear
with everybody who is involved with helping me help them, that I’m going to be
right by Natalya’s side in her search for her brother for as long as it takes to
find out what happened, regardless of what the results are and regardless of how
long it takes, I’m going to be here until they get their answer, for sure.
TODD: And I think she’s prepared either way for this, you know, which ever
way this DNA test goes, I think, you know, like she said, “I’ve had three years
to prepare myself.” You know, I don’t know how soon the results are going to
come back, but we’re definitely going to have her back or, worse case scenario,
we probably would ask you to come back and help update our listeners as to
what’s happened and I’m hoping that she’s going to get good news between now and
then, obviously, so all we can do is keep looking, and you know we will.
PAUL: Definitely. And of course we can’t forget about all the other people
on ‘Cold Cases,’ there are some, besides myself that get involved in the overall
searching as well, I mean, just my being a ‘Cold Cases’ member, doesn’t mean
that I’m the only one on ‘Cold Cases’ that cares.
TODD: I mean, we have a
lot of good people, we have a mix, and I’m honest, we have a lot of people
because it’s a public message board and sometimes it’s difficult with some of
the things that we encounter there because there are people there sometimes that
are negative, and it’s hard to deal with it, but it’s the reality. You know,
just like Natalya got prank phone calls at first, it happens, and if you’re
going to deal with the public, it’s going to happen, and I think we’ve dealt
with these things in stride and we’re able to still move forward and find good
people, and usually if I ask somebody to help me do something on ‘Cold Cases,’ I
usually send them private notes so that we can do it without somebody
interfering, and we’ve managed to do that quite well, I think. We often have to
do that.
PAUL: Most of the time, or just about all the time, when that
happens, it’s definitely for the better, because there are some things that you
just can’t talk about and some things you can.
TODD: But it’s a good gauge
to public reaction. You know, if we see how people are going to react in ‘Cold
Cases’ and other public boards, you’ve got some idea of what to expect when you
into a national media, what you’re going to hear from the public, so I think it
helps prepare us. I’ve certainly learned a lot. I take a lot of things in
stride. I’ve seen a lot of people get upset with ‘Cold Cases’ at times because
they’re not really expecting some of the feedback, but I guess I’ve gotten used
to it over the years and sometimes it can get quite interesting, but I’m still
encouraged and I know it’s going to work out.
PAUL: I know we’ve seen our
share of interesting ‘happenings.’
TODD: Yes, we have. We have, you know,
and I’ve got people that would like nothing better than to do away with me, I
think, at times, and I don’t even know why; I don’t bother anybody. You know, I
don’t think I bother anybody, but it seems like some people just want to take
you down, no matter what. I don’t know why, but I think we’re trying to help
people and I know you are.
PAUL: Well, it’s like that in the real world too.
TODD: Yeah. I mean, it’s a slice of reality and that’s why I always think
that if we can’t handle it in ‘Cold Cases,’ we certainly are not going to handle
it in the real world very well.
PAUL: Exactly.
TODD: So, well, Paul, it
was good to have you here. We’ll have this out to the public and I’m counting on
you to help circulate it.
PAUL: Definitely.
TODD: All right. We’ll talk
to you soon. I’ll see you in ‘Cold Cases.’
PAUL: I’ll be here to the end,
whatever that end may be, you know.
TODD: Uh huh. We will try. All right,
we’ll say goodnight to everybody and I’ll be in touch with you a little later.
PAUL: Yes, definitely. Have a good night.
TODD: All right. Goodnight
everybody.
PAUL: Thank you for having me, and of course, Natalya as well.
Arkadiy Tashman's Vitals:
Date of Birth: October 12, 1987
Date Missing: January 26, 2005
Age at Time of Disappearance: 17 years old
Missing From: Staten Island, NY
Height: 6' 0" to 6' 2"
Weight: 170 to 180 lbs.
Hair Color: Light Brown to Ash Blond
Eye Color: Light Gray/Blue
Piercings: Right ear
Scars/Marks: Scars on both arms
Clothing: Green baseball cap, light gray sweatshirt or sweat jacket, blue
jeans, black shoes.
Jewelry: Hoop earring.

If you have any information on Arkadiy's disappearance, please call the New York City Police Department at (212) 694-7781 or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678).

You can print a poster of Arkadiy at http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PubCaseSearchServlet?act=viewPoster&caseNum=1007600&orgPrefix=NCMC&searchLang=en_US.

Please also visit Natalya's blog for Arkadiy at http://arkadiytashman.blogspot.com/ and the MySpace page for Arkadiy at http://www.myspace.com/teens_just_dont_run_away.

Found safe: David L. Azicri

2008-05-10T10:11:00.002-04:00

From email notification I received April 29:

Dear Poster Partner:
David Azicri missing from Erie, PA, has been
recovered. Please discontinue dissemination of this poster. Your participation
in this program has made a valuable contribution to this recovery.
Please
remove and discard any posters on this case that you have placed in public
view.
Thank you for your support.
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
Visit our web site at www.missingkids.com.

More details from a news article from http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080502/NEWS02/805020369/0/news:

'It's a wonder he's alive'
Missing Millcreek teen found in Philly, tutoring immigrants, selling
cosmetics
BY CODY SWITZER cody.switzer@timesnews.com [more
details]
Published: May 02. 2008 6:00AM
David
Azicri, 16, of Erie has been missing since March 5th, 2008. (Contributed
photo)
The Millcreek Township teen who had been missing for almost two
months was found in a Philadelphia boarding house Monday, tutoring African
immigrants and selling Avon products to pay his rent.
Police and private investigators found 16-year-old David Azicri in a
southwestern Philadelphia neighborhood Monday evening. He returned to Millcreek
with his parents Wednesday, Millcreek police Lt. Dan Goodman said.
"We're thrilled to have him back," Nickie Azicri, David's mother, said
Thursday. "I think I'm still numb from it."
Nickie Azicri and David's father, Max Azicri, drove to Philadelphia to pick
up their son.
His family had said he disappeared after he was last seen waiting for the
bus near the family's house in the 4000 block of Ridgewood Drive, south of
McDowell High School, on March 5. He never showed up for school at Villa Maria
Academy that day.
David Azicri left town by himself, on his own, police and the family
said.
"There will be no criminal charges resulting from this investigation,"
Millcreek police said in a statement.
David Azicri was found through phone records and tips from people he had
contacted after weeks of silence, Goodman said.
"Some of the information was provided by people he called on their phones,
which they willingly gave," Goodman said.
The family would not comment specifically on David's current whereabouts
Thursday. Police and the family's private detective, Daniel L. Barber, also
declined comment.
The family is working in conjunction with a local social service agency to
help David work through issues, Max Azicri said.
A rough part of Philly
David took the jobs tutoring and selling Avon products to pay his rent in
Philadelphia, his mother said.
He lived alone in the boarding house, paying $100 a week in rent, she said.
The room contained only a bed and a dresser. He shared a kitchen and a bathroom
with the other residents in the building.
On either side of David Azicri's building were houses with boarded windows,
and the neighborhood has a rough reputation. A Philadelphia private investigator
told Nickie Azicri he hesitated to go to the neighborhood at all, she
said.
"It's a wonder he's alive, considering where he was living," she
said.
Crime statistics for the area -- in the Philadelphia Police Department's
12th Police District -- were not immediately available.
Philadelphia Police Sgt. Brad Williams, who works in the district, said
that the area has its problems.
"As with the other districts, we do have our fair share of crime here -- as
far as drugs sales, homicides, thefts and that sort of thing," he said.
'Their support and love'
While David Azicri worked and lived in Philadelphia, the public joined in
his family's search.
Churches offered prayers for his safe return; people brought food to his
parents' home; volunteers offered to pass out fliers; and print shops offered to
produce more for free.
At least one man offered the tracking services of his bloodhound, Nickie
Azicri said.
"We want to thank the community, friends, media, Villa Maria Academy and
co-workers for their support in this very difficult period," Max Azicri
said.
"We want to be allowed privately, as a family to reflect on this
experience."
Azicri was remembered in prayers at Mass and in the morning at Villa Maria
Academy, said the highs school's president, Geri Cicchetti. She said dome school
meetings opened with a prayer that he return to the school unharmed.
"The students have been praying for his safe return," Cicchetti said.
"Villa is very much a family, and I know the students were very glad to hear
he's been found safe."
Other friends, relatives and people they didn't know offered "support and
love," Nickie Azicri said.
"It made me feel good knowing that all of those people were praying for
him," she said. "The community was great."
CODY SWITZER can be reached at 870-1776 or by e-mail.

Brooke Wilberger: suspect extradited and arraigned, more information released

2008-04-23T17:20:00.003-04:00

The article below, from http://www.gazettetimes.com/articles/2008/04/22/news/community/6aaa02_courtney.txt, gives many details on the day that Brooke disappeared, including some which I know were probably new to me. If you are not already familiar with Brooke's case, it is also a good way to catch up. The April 8 at the end of this article of course refers to this year.

Last modified: Tuesday, April 22, 2008 12:13 AM PDT
Officials detail Courtney’s travels
BY MICHAEL BOOTH
GAZETTE-TIMES REPORTER
Court documents recently released by
investigators and court officials have detailed the whereabouts of murder
defendant Joel Courtney before, during and after the 2004 disappearance of
Brooke Wilberger.
Wilberger, a 19-year-old Brigham Young University student, disappeared May
24, 2004, from outside a Corvallis apartment complex near Oregon State
University that was managed by her sister and brother-in-law.
Police believe Wilberger was abducted about 10 a.m. They also believe
witness accounts place Joel Courtney near the complex — visible to passersby
from Philomath Boulevard — about the time that Wilberger went missing.
Courtney is facing trial for aggravated murder, kidnapping, rape, sodomy
and sexual abuse in connection with Wilberger’s disappearance. Her body hasn’t
been found, and she is presumed dead. Benton County District Attorney John
Haroldson is seeking the death penalty.
Investigative information, included in the recently unsealed affidavit for
a search warrant, contains the following accounts by witnesses and
investigators:
According to Courtney’s in-laws, he had been staying at their home in
Southwest Portland in May of 2004.
Early in the morning of May 24, 2004, they said Courtney packed a gray
duffel bag, donned a red baseball cap, put on his glasses and departed in a
green Dodge Caravan that had Minnesota plates. Courtney reportedly told people
that he was headed to Newport for an 8:30 a.m. arraignment in connection with
his Jan. 20, 2004, DUII arrest in Lincoln County.
The van he was driving belonged to Creative Building Maintenance, where
Courtney worked as an operations supervisor. His territory included Oregon,
Washington and Idaho. Courtney never arrived in Newport.
Lincoln County Court administrators there recorded that Courtney called the
morning of May 24, 2004, to say he wouldn’t be showing up for his court
appearance. Courtney told them he was in Corvallis.
A ‘blood-curdling’ scream
Several tenants of the Oak Park Apartments at 1235 S.W. 26th St. said they
saw Wilberger on the morning of her disappearance. A male tenant recalled seeing
Wilberger cleaning the bottom of a light fixture near the south side of the
complex at 9:30 a.m. Wilberger’s cousin later told investigators he saw Brooke
working at 9:45 a.m. at a spot not far from where her flip-flops were later
found.
At 10 a.m., another male tenant heard a scream. He described it as quick
and short, as if someone had been startled. He said the scream was
“blood-curdling.”
A female tenant who’d also seen Wilberger working later reported hearing a
scream between 9:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.
A truck driver for Corvallis Disposal said he drove into the apartment’s
parking lot between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. to collect the garbage. He said he saw
Wilberger. He waved. She waved back. He said he didn’t see anyone else in the
parking lot.
Wilberger was due at her sister’s apartment for lunch at 12:30 p.m. When
she didn’t show, her family searched for her and found her blue flip-flops
askew. One of the thongs had come loose from the sandal.
At 3 p.m., Wilberger’s family called the Corvallis police. Officers began a
search party that later would be joined by the Benton County Search and Rescue
team, dozens of volunteers and a U.S. Marshall Service bloodhound unit.
The dog reportedly tracked Wilberger’s scent to Southwest Philomath
Boulevard and east to an overpass 0.7 miles from the complex. That’s where the
dog lost the scent. The dog’s handler believed Wilberger had been abducted in a
vehicle.
A man in a green van, seeking directions
Among the 4,400 tips that police would receive from the community in the
days, weeks and months that followed, three provided information they were able
to follow up:
• A female OSU student told police she saw a newer, clean, dark green
minivan at the intersection of 30th Street and Western Boulevard at about 9:30
a.m. May 24, 2004. She described the driver as about 5-feet, six-inches tall.
She wasn’t sure because he was sitting down. She said he had short gray-blonde
hair, blue eyes, a goatee and two earrings in his left ear.
The student said the van slowed, and the driver pulled out an Idaho road
map and asked directions to a fraternity house. She directed him toward
Southwest Monroe Avenue. The man got out of the vehicle, opened the sliding door
to the van and said he had a Corvallis road map inside.
The woman reported that she became suspicious and told the van driver she
was late for class. She walked away, toward campus.
• An OSU employee told police he saw a green Dodge Caravan with Minnesota
plates approach an unknown female, ask for directions and drive away at about
9:50 a.m. The employee said he drove up next to the van, and then pulled in
front of it. The witness said he got a good look at the van’s driver, whom he
said was wearing a red baseball cap and glasses. Investigators later noted that
the witness pointed out a photo of Joel Courtney; the third photo in a six-photo
line-up.
• The woman the OSU employee saw next to the green van, also an OSU
student, would later call in a tip of her own, confirming that a man in a dark
green, boxy, older minivan had asked her for directions to the athletic
department. She described the man as having short, thinning dark hair and a
pointy nose.
The woman would see the man in the green van again a few minutes later,
parked in the lot of Gill Coliseum, within blocks of the Oak Park
Apartments.
District Attorney John Haroldson has also charged Courtney with the
attempted kidnapping, attempted rape, attempted sodomy, attempted sexual abuse
and attempted murder of both female OSU students who said they spoke to a man
fitting Courtney’s description.
Relatives recount Courtney’s travels
Courtney’s in-laws later told police that he did not return from his
scheduled Newport court appearance until about 10 p.m. May 25, 2004. He
reportedly did not offer much of an explanation. They said his van, which was
clean when he left, was caked in mud. They said he had not called his family or
his employer while he was gone.
Courtney reportedly told his in-laws that he had been off the road and had
slept in his van. But they said he offered no other explanation.
On May 26, Courtney complained that he’d been suffering from chest pains in
the past last two or three days. He went to Oregon Health & Sciences
University’s emergency room for treatment.
Courtney’s medical records, later obtained in a search warrant by
investigators, show that he mentioned a history of anxiety. The doctor’s opinion
was that Courtney had an anxiety disorder that caused his chest pains, but he
did not have heart problems or high blood pressure.
But investigators said that diagnosis was contradictory to what Courtney
told his mother, who told investigators Courtney said he had “stroke-level”
blood pressure. Other family members said Courtney claimed to have a bipolar
disorder.
Two to three weeks after his return to Portland, his in-laws said, Courtney
offered two different reasons why he had to leave town: He told them he had
become the victim of a kidnapping. He also said he had to leave Oregon because
the police were after him. Courtney did not detail why the police would be
looking for him, his in-laws said.
Courtney’s estranged wife, Rosa Courtney, told investigators that Courtney
showed up in Rio Rancho, N.M., about mid-June 2004 to stay with her. She said he
was driving his work truck — a green Dodge Caravan.
Not long after he arrived, Courtney was arrested after a physical
altercation with his wife. He never returned to his wife’s place. The police did
show up. On Dec. 21, 2004, they executed a search warrant in hopes of finding
evidence linking Courtney to the Wilberger disappearance.
Courtney was already in an Albuquerque, N.M., prison on charges related to
the kidnapping and rape of a University of New Mexico exchange student. He was
sentenced on Dec. 11, 2007, to 18 years in prison for the crimes.
On April 8, Courtney was extradited to Oregon. He remains in the Benton
County Jail, where he awaits court proceedings in relation to the Wilberger
disappearance.

Article on the arraignment from http://www.gazettetimes.com/articles/2008/04/13/news/community/4aaa01_courtney.txt:

Last modified: Thursday, April 10, 2008 11:56 PM PDT
District Attorney
John Haroldson and defense attorney Steven L. Krasik listen as Judge Locke
Williams enters a plea of not guilty for Courtney.
Joel Patrick Courtney’s arraignment: Facing justice
BY MICHAEL BOOTH
GAZETTE-TIMES REPORTER
Court enters ‘not guilty’ plea for suspect in
disappearance of Brooke Wilberger
Joel Patrick Courtney, the man charged with kidnapping and killing
19-year-old Brooke Wilberger in 2004, made his first appearance in Benton County
Circuit Court on Wednesday to face charges of aggravated murder, kidnapping,
rape, sodomy and sexual abuse.
Courtney’s attorneys did not enter a plea at Wednesday’s appearance, so
presiding Judge Locke Williams entered a plea of “not guilty” on all counts on
his behalf as a matter of procedure.
In response to a request from District Attorney John Haroldson, Locke also
ordered Courtney held without bail.
Haroldson is seeking the death penalty for Courtney.
As required by Oregon law in capital murder cases, Courtney is being
represented by two defense attorneys — Steven Krasik and Steven Gorham of Salem.
Both were appointed by the court.
Gorham sat next to Courtney, 41, who appeared in court via a video link
from inside the Benton County Jail.
Krasik, who will be the lead attorney in the case, appeared in court. A
longtime Oregon attorney, Krasik has extensive experience with capital murder
cases. His list of high-profile defendants includes Christian Longo, the man who
was convicted in 2003 for the murders of his 37-year-old wife and their three
children, ages 2, 3 and 4. Their bodies were recovered from an inlet off
Waldport in the weeks before and after Christmas in 2001. Longo is on death row
at the Oregon State Penitentiary.
Courtney faces 14 counts of aggravated murder, two counts of kidnapping and
single counts of rape, sodomy and sexual abuse in connection with Wilberger’s
disappearance in May 2004.
Wilberger was a Brigham Young University student from Veneta who was in
Corvallis for her summer vacation. She was helping her sister and brother-in-law
clean up the apartment complex they managed near Oregon State University’s
campus.
She disappeared while cleaning light fixtures outside the apartment
complex. Police found only her flip-flop sandals in the parking lot. No remains
have ever been recovered.
Haroldson explained the multiple charges of aggravated murder as having “14
factors of aggravation.”
“You have various forms of homicide under Oregon law,” Haroldson said.
“Murder is defined as intentionally causing the death of another human being.
Aggravated murder is murder plus (other factors). You could have a murder
committed in the course of a particular crime, murder committed to cover up
evidence of a crime or to conceal that evidence in a place not likely to be
found. You couldn’t just plead one count and have all these things
included.”
In a separate case, Courtney also has been charged in connection with the
unrelated kidnapping, attempted rape, attempted sodomy and attempted murder of
two Oregon State University students. Wednesday’s arraignment was for both
cases.
Haroldson said the additional charges also occurred on May 24, 2004 — the
same day Wilberger went missing — and involve women of roughly the same age as
Wilberger at the time of her disappearance.
The brief court hearing, at 11:30 a.m., was attended by five members of
Wilberger’s family.
Haroldson requested that Williams hold Courtney without bail.
“I would remind the court that Joel Courtney is here as a result of
extradition,” Haroldson said. “He is serving an 18-year sentence in New
Mexico.”
Williams granted Haroldson’s request after Krasik said he would request a
separate bail hearing at a later time.
Courtney is next scheduled to be in court on May 23 for a status check —
another brief hearing during which the court will determine progress in the
case, hear any additional motions and set the next hearing date.
Haroldson said he doesn’t expect the case to be resolved quickly.“It’s not
unusual to see a felony case take up to a year,” Haroldson said Wednesday.
“Here, we have a much more complex case. In a best-case scenario, 12 to 18
months is a good estimate.”
Courtney was extradited to Oregon from New Mexico and was booked into the
Benton County Jail on Tuesday at 3 p.m. He had been held in a state prison near
Santa Fe since his Dec. 11, 2007, sentencing to 18 years in prison for the
kidnapping, sodomy and rape of an exchange student at the University of New
Mexico.
The student testified that Courtney threatened her with a knife, forced her
into a van, tied her up with shoestrings and sexually assaulted her. The student
was able to free herself and escape.
Courtney was arrested in Albuquerque on charges related to the kidnapping
and rape of the exchange student only six months after Wilberger’s
disappearance.
“Now that the extradition is done, today was really the beginning of the
process in Benton County Circuit Court on the path to a meaningful conclusion,”
Haroldson said. “There’s still a way to go in the process, but just knowing it’s
begun is profoundly meaningful to the state and to the Wilbergers.”

For more information on the evidence against Joel Courtney, you can see also read articles at http://www.katu.com/news/local/17864734.html and 1 http://www.democratherald.com/articles/2008/04/17/news/local/3loc02_courtney.txt.

If you have any information that might be helpful to this case and to finding Brooke, please call the Corvallis Police Department at (541) 766-3522 or the Portland FBI at (503) 224-4181.

You can print a poster of Brooke at http://www.theyaremissed.org/ncma/gallery/ncmaprofile_all.php?A200401499S.

Photo of Brooke from http://www.charleyproject.org/w/wilberger_brooke.html. Many more photos at link!

Newly missing: Raymond Simeroth, Derry Township, Pennsylvania

2008-04-21T18:39:00.002-04:00

Unfortunately no photo was included with the article.
From http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_563578.html:

Torrance inmate missing
By The Tribune-Review
Monday, April 21, 2008
State police were seeking the public's help in
locating a patient, formerly from Somerset, who escaped Saturday from Torrance
State Hospital in Derry Township.
Police said Raymond M. Simeroth, 40, was
observed getting into a vehicle with a man and a woman on the grounds of the
state mental health facility about 9:45 a.m. Police said Simeroth had been
committed to the facility.
No further information on the nature of the
commitment was available from authorities.
Simeroth is 5 feet 11 inches tall
and 178 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. He also wears a goatee and was
last seen wearing white pants, a white, short-sleeved T-shirt trimmed in red, a
red and white baseball cap and white tennis shoes.
Anyone with information
about Simeroth's whereabouts is asked to telephone state police at 724-832-3288.

New to blog: Philip Greenburg, Hermitage, Pennsylvania

2008-04-21T18:06:00.002-04:00

Philip's profile from http://www.nampn.org/cases/greenburg_philip.html (additional photo at link!):

Philip Charles Greenburg
Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance
Missing Since: 2000 from Hermitage, Pennsylvania
Classification: Missing
Date Of Birth: August 3, 1962
Age: 38
Height: 5'4"
Weight: 130 lbs
Hair Color: Dirty blonde, very curly
Eye Color: Hazel
Race: White
Gender: Male
Distinguishing Characteristics: Hair was very curly and long
Details of Disappearance
Left on his own. There was occasional contact until about 2000, but none
since.
Investigating Agency If you have any information concerning this
case, please contact:NAMPN

Audrey Herron included in New York's Missing Persons Day

2008-04-21T17:49:00.003-04:00

Article from http://www.dailygazette.com/news/2008/apr/07/0407_/. (Teal text coloring added by me.)

Family members hold out hope for missing loved ones
Monday, April 7, 2008
By Cari Scribner (Contact)
Gazette Reporter
ALBANY — More than one person in the crowd of about 150 held a box
of Kleenex on their lap, dabbing at their eyes while listening to presentations
in the Huxley Theater at the New York State Museum Sunday.
Outside in the
lobby, while small children held their parents’ hands and shrieked over the
museum displays of planets, fish and birds, card tables bearing T-shirts,
buttons, brochures and wedding photos stood as silent testament to New Yorkers
gone missing.
“Our Mommy is Still Missing,” was screen- printed on one shirt,
accompanied by hand-scrawled letters from the children of Audrey May Herron of
Catskill, missing since Aug. 29, 2002. “Where is George LaForest?” was
emblazoned on dozens of posters at a nearby table, looking for any clues to the
disappearance of LaForest, who vanished April 21, 2006, in Indian Lake. Many of
the tables displayed Web site addresses for more information, most starting with
the letters www.find ... .
There was also a booth for parents to have child
identification cards made for young ones, who inked their thumbprints and smiled
for the camera without any notion of the serious nature of the photo
cards.
Kim Huskie of East Greenbush had cards made for her son, Jacob Evans,
5, and daughter Sierra Huskie, 15.
“I feel better having this information on
record,” Kim Huskie said. “It’s heartbreaking to think about. When I was little,
we went anywhere; we walked to school and to the park, we didn’t give it a
second thought. We live in different times today.”
The annual New York State
Missing Persons Day is held every year on April 6, coinciding with the birth
date of Suzanne Lyall, who disappeared 10 years ago while a student at the
University at Albany.
The daughter of Doug and Mary Lyall of Ballston Spa,
Suzanne’s parents established the Center for HOPE (Healing Our Painful Emotions)
eight years ago in their living room.
Since then, they’ve been the guiding
force behind generating more avenues for getting the names and faces of missing
people out in the public eye, pushing for tougher legislation, particularly
around school campuses, and bringing families and friends together for
comfort.
“There is tremendous strength and support we gain just from being in
the same shoes,” Doug Lyall said. “There’s a uniqueness of this ambiguous loss
we are faced with; we can describe it to others but not make them
understand.”
According to the New York Sheriff’s Association, there are 3,500
missing persons in New York state, with 1,400 over the age of 18. U.S. Rep.
Kristen Gillibrand told the audience she willl continue working to promote
safety measures for older students.
“We have many laws protecting children,
but on any given day there are thousands of adults missing, and many are
college-age women,” said Gillibrand. “People need to know it happens on college
campuses frequently. I thank the Lyalls from the bottom of my heart for working
to educate people. Most families never get beyond the kind of tragedy they’ve
seen.”

Riding for Audrey 2008 has already been scheduled! It will be held on July 19 at Brennan's School House Inn in Earlton.

If you know anything about what happened to Audrey, please call the New York State Police at (518)622-8600.

Audrey's website: http://riding4audrey.com/

Audrey's guestbook: http://pub26.bravenet.com/guestbook/2199754005/

Audrey's guestmap: http://pub26.bravenet.com/guestmap/view.php?usernum=2199754005

You can print a poster of Audrey at http://www.theyaremissed.org/ncma/gallery/ncmaprofile_all.php?A200300201S.

Photos of Audrey and her car from her poster.

**Some other missing New Yorkers covered on this blog but not mentioned in the article are Samantha Kibalo (Suffern), Arkadiy Tashman (Staten Island), Audrey Nerenberg (Brooklyn), Jeanne Marie Scrima (went missing in Pennsylvania), and Manreet Kaur (Astoria).**Update (7/23/08): Manreet Kaur has since been found alive.

Natalee Holloway: the civil case

2008-04-21T17:34:00.004-04:00

Possible correction - 4/23/08 - Now it is being reported that Joran is not in a mental institution but instead in Thailand. See http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=62906 for more info.

Article translation posted at http://scaredmonkeys.net/index.php?topic=2745.msg370675. Original at http://www.amigoe.com/artman/publish/artikel_41150.php. Apparently it was translated through a website, which would explain why the grammar sounds strange in some places and a few words are still in Dutch.

Lawyer Moszkowicz dagvaart Joran and parents
April 3, 2008, 17:56 (GMT -04:00)
ORANJESTAD / AMSTERDAM - Joran van der Sloot and his parents sued the
coming days. They must appear before the court in order to be heard under oath
about their role during and after the disappearance of Natalee Holloway. That
message De Telegraaf today.
The summonses are part of a series injunction in the civil case that the
mother of Natalee Holloway, Beth Reynolds in the Netherlands has begun. They
require a substantial compensation and satisfaction for the "shockschade" that
Joran van der Sloot it has carried out. She is convinced that he was involved in
the disappearance of her daughter.
Beth Reynolds is assisted by Bram Moszkowicz and Roger Schmidt. It has
advocatenkoppel summonses to prepare for virtually all 'stakeholders', including
Patrick van der Eem, Peter R. De Vries and the brothers Deepak and Satish
Kalpoe.
"During the questioning, the witnesses required answers to all the
questions," says Moszkowicz in the article in De Telegraaf. "There is no
absolute right to remain silent, as in criminal law. This will allow hearings
for Justice also interesting. "
According to the reporters, Joran voluntarily under treatment of the
psychiatric institution Altrecht in Den Dolder. He would stay in an open section
and therapy for people who are stuck in everyday life and suffer from
'behavioural and psychiatric problems. " It has been suggested that the possible
inclusion is a deliberate move to Jorans lawyer, Bert de Rooij, argued that his
client may not be able to answer. Van der Sloot would under his schuilnamen
again at various pokersites are identified.
The summons for Patrick van der Eem and misdaadjournalist Peter R. De Vries
wants Moszkowicz reach to see an end to the debate on the legality of the
undercover operation.

Meanwhile, the side-scan sonar search of the ocean around Aruba ended around March 3 (date of last post on http://nholloway.blogspot.com/).

If you have any additional information about what happened to Natalee, please call the FBI tipline at 1-877-628-2533.
Natalee's website: http://www.allpointsbulletin.org/Natalee_Holloway.html
Another blog about Natalee: http://blogsfornatalee.com/

Photo of Natalee from The Search for Natalee Holloway blog.

New to blog: Aarys Oberlander-Hower, Titusville, Pennsylvania

2008-04-21T17:00:00.005-04:00

From Aarys' NCMEC poster:

Missing

AARYS OBERLANDER-HOWER
DOB: Jun 5, 1996
Missing: Nov 6, 2006
Height: 4'9" (145 cm)
Eyes: Brown
Race: White
Age Now: 11
Sex: Male
Weight: 65 lbs (29 kg)
Hair: Lt. Brown
Missing From:
TITUSVILLE
PA
United States
Aarys was last seen on November 6, 2006. He may be in the
company of his non-custodial father. They are believed to be in Russia. Aarys
has a scar under his right eye and a scar under his chin.
ANYONE HAVING
INFORMATION SHOULD CONTACT
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
1-800-843-5678 (1-800-THE-LOST)
Federal Bureau of Investigation
(Pennsylvania) 1-412-432-4000

You can print your own at http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PubCaseSearchServlet?act=viewPoster&caseNum=1074204&orgPrefix=NCMC&searchLang=en_US.

FOUND SAFE: Lanae Jackson

2008-04-02T20:31:00.000-04:00

A copy of the recovery notice from my email:
Dear Poster Partner:
Lanae Jackson missing from Pittsburgh, PA, has been recovered. Please discontinue dissemination of this poster. Your participation in this program has made a valuable contribution to this recovery.
Please remove and discard any posters on this case that you have placed in public view.
Thank you for your support.
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
Visit our web site at www.missingkids.com.

Nellie Flickinger: more media coverage

2008-02-26T08:07:00.004-05:00

Since the Yuma Sun article I posted a little while ago, a few more places have printed Nellie's story: the Erie Times-News (http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080125/NEWS02/801250363/-1/NE\ and http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080219/NEWS02/802190370/0/NEWS), the Sacramento Bee(http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/705149.html), the Appeal-Democrat (http://www.appeal-democrat.com/news/flickinger_59525___article.html/woman_colusa.html) and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08056/860167-85.stm).

Because the Post-Gazette story is the most recent (just from yesterday!), I will post it below.

Family of Erie woman missing for 29 years prays for closure
Monday, February 25, 2008
By Michael A. Fuoco, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Michael Nelson
remembers the day when his mother walked out of his life and into a distressing
mystery now decades old.
On that day 29 years ago next month, Nellie Florence
Cornman Flickinger said she had to leave her Erie home for California to get her
troubled life together. The 30-year-old Apollo native promised her mother she'd
be back for Mr. Nelson, then 9, and her four other children ranging in age from
6 to 12.
Nellie Flickinger
And then she was off with the thin man with the
thin mustache whose name no one knew. She never was heard from again.
Why
happened to her? Why didn't she ever come back?
"It's always in my head, I'm
always thinking about it," said Mr. Nelson, 38, who with his siblings suffered
an unhappy childhood of being shuffled from his maternal grandmother to foster
homes to an adoptive family. "I have depression and anxiety and just a mountain
full of emotions I don't know what to do with.
"I think about it every day. I
need to know."
Mr. Nelson, of Union City, Erie County, may find out a
horrible truth about his mother's fate if DNA from his uncle and youngest sister
is matched to that of a female skeleton discovered in California in 1982. But
after a lifetime of waiting, Mr. Nelson will have to wait some more -- the
process could take up to a year because the old case is not a priority for the
California state crime laboratory.
Ms. Flickinger's family is of two minds
about the additional wait they must endure.
"She's been gone for nearly 30
years, so what's another year at this point?" said Ms. Flickinger's niece, Joni
Lapeyrouse, 35, of Pensacola, Fla. "On the other hand, we're so close we want it
to be over."
Ms. Lapeyrouse is the reason the family has gotten this close to
unraveling the enigma. Over the years, the family had tried to find out what
happened to Ms. Flickinger but never got far. At the urging of one of Ms.
Flickinger's daughters, Ms. Lapeyrouse took up the challenge again.
During
the summer, she contacted the Doe Network, an Internet-based volunteer
clearinghouse of missing persons and unidentified bodies. The next day, the Doe
Network reported a possible match with the female skeletal remains a farm
laborer discovered in a drainage ditch along an interstate exit ramp in Colusa
County, Calif., northwest of Sacramento.
The remains offered Colusa County
authorities no clues to the woman's identity or how she died, although foul play
is suspected. She became a "Jane Doe" and was buried in a local cemetery,
forgotten for years -- until Ms. Flickinger's personal data was entered on the
Doe Network.
The hair color, height and age all seemed to match that of Ms.
Flickinger. And, most importantly, the remains had a metal plate screwed into
bones of the right leg. Ms. Flickinger likewise had a plate and screws holding
together her right leg, the result of a motorcycle accident in the
1960s.
"I'm hoping that it isn't her," Mr. Nelson said. "I just hope through
all this that maybe there's enough publicity out there if it's not her and if
she is alive maybe she'll see what has been written in papers and realize she
has a family who still loves her.
"But if it is her, I need to see her. I
need to be there for her. I want to talk to her, to tell her that I love her and
I don't blame her for nothing. And if this is foul play, then I go on from
there, to get it investigated and try to bring some type of closure for
her."
Ms. Lapeyrouse's hope is that her aunt is still alive, but her "gut"
tells her the remains are those of Ms. Flickinger, her father's
sister.
"We're looking for finality, something along that line. I think the
one way I would put it is we're bracing for closure but still hoping for a
reunion," she said.
Mr. Nelson said he holds no bitterness about his mother
leaving because she had a difficult life, including marriage to his physically
abusive father.
"She was scared. He ended up going to jail, and she saw this
as her chance to get away before she was killed by him," he said.
"I
understand [why she left]. I always just figured that after she realized we were
of age and accountability that maybe she would come around knowing he was not a
part of our lives any more, that she would come to see us and be safe.
"But
blame her, I do not, not one bit."
Michael A. Fuoco can be reached at mfuoco@post-gazette.com or
412-263-1968.

There is also a message board thread on Nellie at http://forums.pcolamoms.com/viewtopic.php?t=863&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0.

Donald Smatlak: two-year anniversary news article

2008-02-26T07:46:00.002-05:00

When I was reading this article, I was also shocked to see another familiar name: the name of this blog! This seems to be the first media mention of my blog, at least as far as I know. However, I should clarify that a person does not have to be from Pennsylvania to be on this blog, although most of the people on here are.

From http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_551547.html?source=rss&feed=1:

Few clues in man's two-year disappearance
By Chris Foreman
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Two years after the disappearance of an
Allegheny County man, the police chief heading the investigation says he's
"baffled" by the lack of clues.
Donald D. Smatlak, of North Versailles, has
been missing since Jan. 28, 2006, when he told his parents in a telephone
conversation that he would join them for dinner the next day at their North
Huntingdon home. He also said he was going to visit a friend in Delmont, but
never arrived.
Two years ago today, police found his silver Mazda parked
near the intersection of Meyran Avenue and Louisa Street in Pittsburgh's Oakland
neighborhood, where Smatlak received a criminal justice degree from the
University of Pittsburgh.
While North Versailles police Chief James Comunale
hesitates to call the disappearance a cold case, he said his department hasn't
received any new leads lately.
The case was listed this week on a blog of
missing Pennsylvanians called "Between Life and Death: A Few Missing People."
"Unfortunately, it's one of those cases where it's at a standstill,"
Comunale said. "We checked every single lead and nothing ever panned out. We're
baffled."
Smatlak's parents said Friday their son was a normal 25-year-old
at the time of his disappearance who had been living on his own for nine months,
in a two-year relationship with a woman, and readying for a job interview a
friend had arranged for him in the Pittsburgh area in a couple of weeks.
He
had recently left a job at the North Versailles Giant Eagle, but his family said
there wasn't any reason for them to suspect he would leave on his own.
"He
would never do anything to hurt us," Linda Smatlak said of the eldest of her two
sons. "That's why it's so hard for us because he wouldn't leave without letting
us know."
Comunale said Smatlak's apartment was very clean and there weren't
any signs of a struggle or fight there.
Smatlak's parents speculate he
wouldn't have abandoned his car in the condition that it was found -- with the
windows down so snow could get in.
They also say their son, who commuted to
school in Pittsburgh, wasn't known to have any friends in the city.
His
parents say they're heartened by the continuing investigation, which included
following up on a failed tip late last year.
"That is our worst fear, to
have him forgotten," Linda Smatlak said. "They said they review it each month
and it'll never be forgotten."
Smatlak is white, 6 feet 1 inches tall,
weighs 230 pounds, and has short, light-brown hair and hazel eyes.
According
to the National Center for Missing Adults, he has a scar on his lower lip, a
tattoo of a Chinese symbol on the center of his back and a tattoo of his name in
Chinese on the middle of his chest in black ink.
Anyone with information may
call North Versailles police at 412-823-1111.
Chris Foreman can be reached
at cforeman@tribweb.com or
724-626-3561.

You can print a poster of Donald at http://www.theyaremissed.org/ncma/gallery/ncmaprofile_all.php?A200604104S.

Jayme Engstrom now missing 14 years, Clearwater, Florida

2008-02-20T21:28:00.003-05:00

Here is a section about Jayme from an article last year. You can read the whole thing at http://www.tbnweekly.com/pubs/clearwater_citizen/content_articles/020107_cit-04.txt?archiveview&print:

Residents go missing without a trace around Clearwater
This is the
second part of a two-part series about people who have disappeared from
Clearwater over the last three decades.
By LESTER R. DAILEY
Article published on Thursday, Feb. 1, 2007
CLEARWATER – Jayme Lynn Engstrom was
only 22 years old when she disappeared, but they were hard years.
The Pennsylvania native moved to Pinellas County with her mother when she
was 10, following the breakup of her parents, who had married at 17. She went to
Dunedin Middle and High schools, but dropped out at 16.
She got in with a bad crowd, began stealing and writing bad checks, started
using drugs and soon became a crack addict, according to interviews her mother,
Vicki Lynn Engstrom, gave to sheriff’s deputies and the press shortly after the
disappearance.
She went back to Pennsylvania in 1989, allegedly in fear for her life
because of a drug deal gone awry in Florida. There, she moved in with a man and
bore him twin sons, but the relationship was stormy, and Engstrom spent a lot of
time in abuse shelters or jail.
She returned to Pinellas County in 1991, bringing her boyfriend and sons
with her. But they later moved back to Pennsylvania and subsequently came back
to Florida.
Along the way, she was in and out of rehab and racked up an extensive
arrest record for solicitation for prostitution, soliciting for a lewd act, drug
possession and theft. She also gave birth to a daughter, whom she put up for
adoption, and split up with her boyfriend when she caught him cheating on
her.
Engstrom stayed with friends in the area around N. Fort Harrison Avenue.
She was last seen at 8:43 p.m. on Feb. 20, 1994, when Clearwater police stopped
her for walking down the middle of the road in the 1300 block of Cleveland
Street. There was speculation, but no proof, that she fell victim to James M.
Randall, an alleged serial killer of mid-Pinellas prostitutes at that
time.
Engstrom would now be 36 years old. When she disappeared, she stood
5-foot-4 and weighed 115 pounds. She is white, with blonde hair, blue eyes and a
rose tattoo on her upper right arm. Anyone with information regarding her
whereabouts should call the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office at 582-6200.

Jayme's Charley Project profile, from http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/e/engstrom_jayme.html (source of above photo):

Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance
Missing Since: February 20, 1994 from Clearwater, Florida
Classification: Endangered Missing
Date Of Birth: November 13, 1971
Age: 22 years old
Height and Weight: 5'5, 110 - 120 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian female. Blonde hair,
blue/gray eyes. Engstrom has a rose tattoo on her upper right arm. She has
surgical scars on the upper insides of both of her thighs. Engstrom has a
vertical Caesarian section scar on her abdomen. She may use the aliases Sherrie
Price, Julie Michaelyn Edwards, Jacklyn Smith and/or Sherrie Wilson.
Medical Conditions: Engstrom has a history of crack cocaine abuse.

Details of Disappearance
Engstrom was last seen at 8:43 p.m. on February 20, 1994 in the
1300 block Cleveland Street in Clearwater, Florida. Authorities stopped her
while she was walking in the middle of the street at the time. Engstrom has
never been heard from again. Her mother, who last saw her in January 1994,
reported her as a missing person in December 1995, almost two years after she
went missing. Engstrom stayed in touch with her family by telephone several
times a month, but they have not heard from her since her disappearance.
Prior to her disappearance, Engstrom had been arrested multiple times for
prostitution, theft and drug charges, but her criminal record abruptly stopped
after early 1994. She was a known prostitute in the Clearwater area, and lived
near north Fort Harrison Avenue. She had also been arrested for prostitution in
Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. Several other local prostitutes were murdered
around the same time Engstrom disappeared. Investigators believe the women,
including Engstrom, may have been victims of a serial killer, but no suspects
have been named.
Engstrom has connections to West Springfield,
Massachusetts; McKeesport, Pennsylvania; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is
the mother of twin sons. Her disappearance remains unsolved.

Investigating Agency
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Pinellas County Sheriff's Office
727-582-6200

You can print a poster of Jayme at http://www.theyaremissed.org/ncma/gallery/ncmaprofile_all.php?A200300946W.

Webpage for Jayme: http://www.angelfire.com/fl/tracehome/jaymeengstrom.html

Sandra Baker: Declared dead

2008-02-13T11:47:00.003-05:00

Wow, I had heard that her car had been found, but I did not know the circumstances. Apparently it was not originally because she was missing.

I wonder why the fiance was never charged. Nowadays people do not always seem to need a body before they can be tried for murder.

Article from http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08040/856148-85.stm:

Missing woman declared dead after 7 years
Saturday, February 09, 2008
By Milan Simonich, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
MERCER, Pa. -- The case of Sandra Kay
Baker, who vanished more than seven years ago, officially became a homicide
yesterday.
Mercer County Common Pleas Judge Thomas R. Dobson declared Ms.
Baker dead after a somber 10-minute hearing in which her son and daughter were
the only witnesses.
The children, Shawn Krebs and Shedara Binkley, testified
that they had not seen or heard from their mother since May 25, 2000. State
police said Ms. Baker's bank account and credit cards were never accessed after
that day.
In 2005, police identified Billy Crea, Ms. Baker's fiance, as the
suspect in her disappearance and presumed murder. But they have not arrested or
charged Mr. Crea, a 52-year-old electrician who now lives in Ellwood
City.
Ms. Baker's children said they believe police have pinpointed the right
man, but lack hard evidence, including a body.
Mr. Krebs, 34, of Denver, said
Mr. Crea never called police to report Ms. Baker missing, even though they were
living together when she disappeared.
For his part, Mr. Crea declines to
speak about the case.
His lawyer, James Ecker, said yesterday that Mr. Crea
has never wavered in proclaiming his innocence.
Mr. Crea agreed to be
questioned by police after Ms. Baker disappeared. But soon after, he retained
Mr. Ecker as his lawyer and stopped cooperating in the investigation, state
police said.
Police learned that Mr. Crea had been deeply suspicious of Ms.
Baker, who was 46.
He hired a private detective to investigate Ms. Baker's
background after they became engaged. The detective, Clifford Aley, lied
repeatedly to police about his involvement and now is serving up to four years
in prison for hindering the Baker homicide investigation.
Among other things,
Mr. Aley found that Ms. Baker had been married six times, and was still married
to a Florida man when she accepted Mr. Crea's proposal. Mr. Aley also learned
that Ms. Baker was struggling financially. She was behind on car payments and
other bills.
On May 25, 2000, the day she vanished, Mr. Aley called an auto
finance company to report that Ms. Baker's 1988 Honda Accord was parked at the
Shenango Valley Mall. Soon after, repossession men hauled away her car and any
evidence it contained.
Mr. Aley told authorities he was only peripherally
involved in Ms. Baker's disappearance. He claimed Mr. Crea was the killer and
acted alone.
Mr. Aley said Mr. Crea told him he had strangled Ms. Baker after
an argument, then put her body in some sort of container and hid it in Mercer
County.
Pennsylvania law says a missing person can be presumed dead after
seven years.
Milan Simonich can be reached at msimonich@post-gazette.com or
412-263-1956.

If you know where Sandra might be, or have any other helpful information in this case, please call the Pennsylvania state police at (724) 662-6162.

You can print a poster of Sandra at http://www.theyaremissed.org/ncma/gallery/ncmaprofile_all.php?A200300269W (It is apparently a little out of date because it says her car is still missing.)

Photo of Sandra from her poster.

Body found: Jack Longo

2008-02-07T16:14:00.000-05:00

At least he will not have to suffer any longer. Unfortunately, his family will still miss him greatly.
From http://www.timesonline.com/articles/2008/02/05/news/doc47a91dbe6affa713954519.txt:

Missing Ambridge man’s body found
By J.D. Prose, Times Staff
Published: Tuesday, February 5, 2008 9:53 PM EST
BADEN — The body of
a 71-year-old man who vanished from his Ambridge home nearly two weeks ago was
found floating in the Ohio River on Tuesday.
Beaver County Deputy Coroner Bill Pasquale said Jack Longo’s remains were
found around 2:25 p.m. by searchers. Longo disappeared from his home at 1117
11th St. around 3:30 a.m. Jan. 24.
At the time, relatives said Longo had lung cancer and had recently suffered
a heart attack. Family members also said that Longo had talked about committing
suicide.
A search dog picked up what was thought to be Longo’s scent along railroad
tracks near the Ohio River, but nothing was found then. When Longo left his
house, he left behind an oxygen tank that he always used.
Ambridge Fire Chief David Drewnowski said Tuesday that two boats, one from
his department and another from the Beaver County Emergency Services Center,
were conducting a standard follow-up search for Longo when the body was found
along the shoreline in Baden, across the river from the Beaver County Jail in
Hopewell Township.
Longo’s family was notified shortly after the body was found, Drewnowski
said. “There’s closure,” he said of the grim discovery. “It’s sad, but it’s
closure.”
Pasquale said Longo was fully clothed and there were no obvious signs of
injury.
Although Longo was reportedly suicidal, Pasquale said the coroner’s office
wouldn’t make a determination just yet. “We’re going to wait until we get the
autopsy findings back,” he said.
J.D. Prose can be reached online at jprose@timesonline.com.

According to http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08038/855455-57.stm, the autopsy was supposed to happen yesterday but the cause of death has not yet been determined.

Sofia Juarez now missing 5 years, Kennewick, Washington

2008-02-04T21:53:00.000-05:00

I am happy to say that the local media in Pasco, Washington did a story to mark the anniversary of Sofia's disappearance. The media in Washington state seems to be good about remembering her.

Article and photo on the left from http://www.keprtv.com/news/local/15265756.html:

The Search for Sofia
Story Published: Feb 3, 2008 at 7:41 PM PST
By Rudabeh Shahbazi
Little Sofia Juarez disappeared from her Kennewick home this
week five years ago. Her loss continues to impact the community and haunt local
law enforcement.
Juarez was last seen playing with her brother the day before her fifth
birthday. She told her mother she was going to the store with her grandmother's
boyfriend, but when he came back, he said he had gone alone.
Police called it an abduction from the beginning.
“Any time there are children are involved, it becomes a very meaningful
investigation,” said Chris Walters of the Kennewick Police. “People work really
hard to bring closure and find the child, and it's touched the community as a
whole.”
With each passing year, a few new wrinkles of information appear, but fail
to yield results. In 2003 an Amber Alert was issued as police combed houses and
neighborhoods for Juarez.
According to investigators, a child said he saw Juarez walking down the
driveway with a man dressed in all black. Kennewick police say Juarez has been
one of their most stand-out cases of the last decade. They say they still get
leads every month, but they are mostly just theories. So far, none has panned
out.
Sofia's mother, Maria Juarez, told Action News her daughter was shy, and
that she wouldn't go with a stranger without a fuss. She believes whoever took
her child probably knew her.
“It helps because my family is going to be there in the good times and the
bad times,” she said. “But for me, I still got something that's missing, and
that's her.”
Investigators have tried new and different approaches to find Juarez since
she vanished. They plastered photos of the child on semi trucks that crossed the
nation and displayed a large picture of her at the entrance of the
Benton-Franklin Fair. Juarez also appeared on America's Most Wanted, but still
nothing.
Police are still searching, and Juarez's family is still hoping.
“We want her back and we miss her,” said her teary mother.
The Center for Missing and Exploited Children says Juarez's father did not
know her and is not a suspect. Neither is her grandmother's boyfriend.
Investigators did identify a few suspects over the years, one of them a neighbor
who was convicted of a sex crime, but those leads too, were dead ends.
Every day 300 children are reported missing in this country, according to
the Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
If you have any information on the case of Sofia Juarez, please call the
Kennewick Police.

The numbers for the Kennewick Police are (509) 585-4208 or (509) 628-0333.

You can print a poster of Sofia at http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PubCaseSearchServlet?act=viewPoster&caseNum=954908&orgPrefix=NCMC&searchLang=en_US.

Age progression (right) from Sofia's poster.

Samantha Kibalo now missing 7 years, Suffern, New York

2008-02-04T21:34:00.000-05:00

Here is an account of Samantha's story from the Unsolved Mysteries website (http://www.unsolved.com/0208-Kibalo.html):

WANTED
ANN KIBALO
AGE: 39
DOB: 3/25/63
HEIGHT: 5'0"
WEIGHT: 120 pounds
HAIR: Brown
EYES: Blue
ALIASES: Ann Yermak, Ann Saul, Ann Kaplan
MISSING
SAMANTHA KIBALO
AGE: 3 1/2
DOB: 1/1/99
HEIGHT: 2'9"
WEIGHT: 22 pounds
HAIR: Light Brown
EYES: Brown
Broadcast Date: June 24, 2002
SYNOPSIS: Ann and Mike Kibalo married after dating for nine months. Only
one thing was missing to make their lives complete - a child. Two and a half
years after they were married, Ann gave birth to Samantha and the couple brought
her home to Suffern, New York. But their joy was short-lived. According to Mike,
Ann began behaving erratically almost immediately. She allegedly began yelling
at Mike saying that she didn't need him anymore. The following afternoon, Mike
returned home from work to find all the furniture missing. They baby's room was
also completely cleaned out. Mike called his mother-in-law. He claims Ann
answered the phone and told him the marriage was over and that he would never
see their daughter again. According to Mike, Ann told him that she had called
the police and reported that Mike beat her up and that he was also harming
Samantha. Police later determined that there was no evidence of abuse. Mike
Kibalo sued for divorce and sole custody of Samantha. As the divorce case weaved
through the legal system Ann was ordered by the court to share custody of
Samantha with Mike.
After a weeklong visit with Ann, Mike said Samantha was
returned to him with bruises on her face. Mike immediately took Samantha to the
family pediatrician. The doctor said that the bruise was three to five days old
- which means that it most likely occurred while Samantha was with her mother. A
court-appointed psychiatrist was assigned to evaluate Mike and Ann's fitness as
parents. While no determination was made as to how Samantha got the bruises, the
psychiatrist concluded that there was something odd in the way Ann was treating
her daughter. Over a span of 11 months Ann took Samantha to 7 doctors on 33
occasions. She also reportedly hired 23 lawyers and 11 psychiatrists - according
to some, a classic behavior of a person suffering from Munchausen's Syndrome by
Proxy. The final diagnosis was that Ann had a severe personality disorder with a
mixture of traits from several disorders. Soon Mike Kibalo was awarded full
custody of Samantha.
But the ordeal was far from over. Ann had appealed the
court ruling and she still had a right to see her child. The day before the
court made it's final decision on the appeal, Mike brought Samantha to the
police station for a scheduled overnight visit with Ann. Mike returned the
following day to pick up his daughter but Ann never showed up. All efforts to
find them have failed, leaving Mike Kibalo's life in ruins. Mike fears that his
daughter is in grave danger.
Two months later, police discovered Anne's SUV
abandoned in a Brooklyn parking garage. But a search of the vehicle provided no
clues as to Ann or Samantha's whereabouts. Both have been missing since February
of 2001. Samantha Kibalo would now be three years old. She has light brown hair
and brown eyes. Ann Kibalo is wanted for kidnapping and unlawful flight to avoid
prosecution. Authorities believe she may be traveling with her red Tibetan
terrier named Vodka. She may also be in contact with medical professionals.
If you have any information on the whereabouts of Samantha or Ann Kibalo,
please contact the Rockland County Sheriff's Department, the FBI, or call the
Unsolved Mysteries hotline, 1-800-876-5353.

The numbers for the Rockland County Sheriff's Office are (845) 638-5400 or (845) 638-5440.

Samantha and her mother may be in New York City; Palm Beach County, Florida; Boynton Beach, Florida; Illinois; or New Hampshire. There were also possible sightings of them in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 2006.

You can print a poster of Samantha of http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PubCaseSearchServlet?act=viewPoster&caseNum=904495&orgPrefix=NCMC&searchLang=en_US.

Photos on left from Unsolved Mysteries. Age progression of Samantha from her poster.

Patrick Kenney now missing 3 years, Jefferson Hills, Pennsylvania

2008-02-04T21:20:00.000-05:00

In the past year Patrick's case has seen quite a bit of development--unfortunately, into something more tragic. We have gone from a mysterious disappearance with few clues to a presumed murder, with both a suspect and eyewitnesses. Now if only this suspect would say where Patrick's body is!

From http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/k/kenney_patrick.html:

Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance
Missing Since: February 2, 2005 from Jefferson Hills, Pennsylvania
Classification: Endangered Missing
Age: 22 years old
Height and Weight: 6'1, 230 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian male. Light brown hair, blue eyes. Kenney's nickname is Pooch.
Clothing/Jewelry Description: A white t-shirt, a gray ski jacket, blue jeans and white sneakers.
Medical Conditions: Kenny has a history of cocaine abuse.

Details of Disappearance
Kenney's family last saw him
in Jefferson Hills, Pennsylvania at 6:45 p.m. on February 2, 2005. He told his
mother he was going out to "take care of something" and would return home for
dinner in an hour, but never arrived. He has never been heard from again. His
white 1999 Cadillac Escalade was found on February 15 on McCaslin Drive in the
Greenfield section of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He reportedly has friends living
in the general area where the car was located. Authorities stated that the
vehicle had evidently been parked at that location for several days; it had been
given a parking ticket.
Kenney's mother stated that something appeared to be
bothering her son when she last saw him, and he seemed confused. He took nothing
with him other than his cellular phone, without the charger, and no more than
$200 cash. There has been no activity on his cellular phone, bank accounts or
credit cards, and his tax refund has not been deposited in his bank account.
In September 2007, Bryan Sedlak was charged with Kenney's murder. A
photograph of him is posted below this case summary. Authorities believe the
motive was robbery; Kenney had received a $6,800 pension fund settlement prior
to his disappearance and may have been carrying it on the day he was last seen.
Witnesses testified before a grand jury, saying Sedlak had confessed the murder
to them, and at least one witness says he saw Kenney's body. Sedlak allegedly
shot Kenney several times with a .22 rifle, then beat him with the weapon until
it broke. In addition, phone records indicate Kenney called Sedlak several hours
after he left his parents' home, and Sedlak returned the call an hour later.
Kenney's body has not been located, but prosecutors believe they can make a case
without it. Sedlak has a prior criminal history for drug-related offenses,
assault and harassment.
Kenney had been employed as a union steamfitter, but
was fired prior to the time he went missing. He is a 2000 graduate of Thomas
Jefferson High School, where he was a state champion hockey player. He is
described as a popular, outgoing, athletic man with no enemies. Kenney's family
says it is uncharacteristic of him to leave without warning. Foul play is
suspected in his case due to the circumstances involved.

Investigating Agency
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Allegheny County Police Department
412-473-3000

I still have not found a poster of Patrick.

Gina Farren-Brown now missing 3 years, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania

2008-02-04T20:57:00.000-05:00

From http://www.nampn.org/cases/ferron-brown_gina.html:

Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance
Missing Since: January 29, 2005 from Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania
Classification: Endangered Missing
Date Of Birth: September 19, 1960
Age: 44
Height: 5'2"
Weight: 125 lbs.
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Brown
Race: White
Gender: Female
AKA: Gina Maria Brown
Details of Disappearance
Presumed to be with Ralph Skundrich. (See Below) It is believed she
left with him willingly but believed she is in danger by being with him.
Ralph Skundrich
Dates Of Birth Used: November 19, 1966;November
19, 1965
Age: 40-41
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 180 lbs.
Hair Color:
Brown
Eye Color: Green
Race: White
Gender: Male
Distinguishing
Characteristics: Skundrichhas a scar on his abdomen
AKA: Rob Matthews,Ralph
Steven Skundrich,Steven Ralph Skundrich
NCIC Number: W710146924
Details of Flight
Skundrich has ties to Florida and Aruba. He is known to abuse both
alcohol and illegal drugs. Ralph Skundrich was last seen at his residence in
Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, on or about January 29, 2005. Skundrich, who
was on pretrial supervision with electronic home monitoring at the time,
allegedly cut off his electronic monitoring ankle bracelet and fled the area. He
had been charged in a criminal complaint on August 19, 2004, with Criminal
Attempt (Burglary), Criminal Conspiracy (Robbery), Criminal use of a
Communication Facility, and Prohibited Possession of a Firearm. A warrant for
his arrest had been issued the same day by the Court of Common Pleas of
Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. These charges stem from an alleged plot by
Skundrich and two accomplices to commit a residential burglary and robbery in
Indiana County, Pennsylvania. The men attempted to carry out the alleged plot on
March 17, 2004, but were instead arrested by law enforcement authorities. A
federal warrant for the arrest of Skundrich was obtained on March 6, 2006, in
the Western District of Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and he was
charged with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. He may be traveling with his
girlfriend, Gina Farren-Brown, who is not a fugitive from the law. SHOULD BE
CONSIDERED ARMED AND DANGEROUS AND AN ESCAPE RISK. UNLAWFUL FLIGHT TO AVOID
PROSECUTION - CRIMINAL ATTEMPT (BURGLARY), CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY (ROBBERY),
CRIMINAL USE OF A COMMUNICATION FACILITY, PROHIBITED POSSESSION OF A FIREARM.
Investigating Agency
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Pittsburg FBI Field Office
Ray Murrow
(412) 432-4000

Gina has been featured after Without a Trace and on America's Most Wanted and The Early Show. (For the CBS article, visit http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/31/earlyshow/main1458699.shtml and scroll down until you see "Gina Brown".) Also see articles at http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/trib/tribnorth/s_368046.html, http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_531099.html, and http://kdka.com/topstories/CBS.Show.Without.2.391329.html.

I have not found an actual poster for Gina.

Donald Smatlak now missing 2 years, North Versailles, Pennsylvania

2008-02-04T20:31:00.000-05:00

Not much seems to have changed since I posted last year to mark the first anniversary of Donald's disappearance. Maybe he can be found before the third?
From http://www.nampn.org/cases/smatlak_donald.html:

Donald David Smatlak
Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance
Missing Since: January 28, 2006 from North Versailles, Pennsylvania
Classification: Missing
Date of Birth: July 15, 1980
Age: 25
Height: 5'11"-6'1"
Weight: 220-230 lbs.
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Hazel
Race: White
Gender: Male
Distinguishing Characteristics: Numerous tattoos: Chinese/Asiansymbols on chest, middle of back, & inside lower right leg, cross onright ankle. Goatee. Scar on lower
lip.
NCIC Number: M-645469494
Case Number: 2006-00977
Details of Disappearance
Donald hasn't been heard from since he called his parents at about
4:00 p.m. on January 28, 2006, and arranged to have dinner with them the next
day at their home in North Huntingdon Township, PA. Investigators have
determined he was inside or near his home in the 1000 block of Logan Road at the
time. He told his mother he was planning to go to a friend's house in Delmont,
but never showed up there or at another friend's house he planned to visit
afterward. Donald was reported missing three days later, on January 31. His
silver Mazda was found parked near the intersection of Meyran Avenue and Louisa
Street in Pittsburgh's Oakland neighborhood shortly before noon on February 9,
2006. Donald attended Norwin High School and then went on to attend the
University of Pittsburgh where he graduated last summer with a degree in
criminal justice.
Investigating Agency
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
North Versailles Police
(412) 823-1111
OR
Allegheny County Sheriff's Dept.
(412) 473-3000

You can print a poster of Donald at http://www.theyaremissed.org/ncma/gallery/ncmaprofile_all.php?A200604104S.

Unfortunately, Donald's website seems to have been taken down.

Natalee Holloway: Evidence on tape?

2008-02-04T16:05:00.000-05:00

And, of course, Joran is in denial, saying this time he was lying. (This from someone who has changed his story more than twenty times!)

From http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/2020/story?id=4239135&page=1 (3-page article):

Holloway Prosecutor to Seek New Arrest Warrant
Aruban
Prosecutor to Appeal a Judge's Decision Denying Him a Warrant for Joran Van der
Sloot

By CHRIS FRANCESCANI
ABC News Law & Justice Unit
Feb. 4, 2008

Police searched the home of Joran van der Sloot
Monday, one day after an undercover video was broadcast on Dutch TV in which he
bragged about having a friend dump the apparently lifeless body of Natalee
Holloway at sea.
The TV report by a Dutch journalist triggered new interest
in the frustrating two-year probe into the disappearance of the Alabama teenager
who vanished during a drunken night in Aruba.
Aruba prosecutors appealed a
judge's refusal to issue a third arrest warrant for Van der Sloot, and police
and journalists were hunting for the man Van der Sloot identified only as
"Daury" who allegedly took Holloway's body out to sea and got rid of it. Already
a Dutch newspaper claims to have spoken to Daury and reported that he denied the
allegation.
ABC News has obtained exclusive U.S. rights to this stunning new
information caught on tape and will air a 90-minute special edition of "20/20:
The Final Hours of Natalee Holloway" Monday at 9:30 p.m. ET.
Investigators
searched two homes in the Netherlands this morning where Van der Sloot lives or
has lived, Aruba's chief public prosecutor Hans Mos said today.
But Mos has
been blocked from issuing a new arrest warrant for Van der Sloot and went to
court to appeal the ruling.
Mos said today he considers undercover tapes
made by Dutch investigative reporter Peter De Vries to be "very valuable
information'' that he believes will ultimately prove to be admissible in court.
"We consider it serious information and very valuable information,'' Mos
told reporters at a press conference here today. "That's why we asked as judge
to reopen the investigation."
A judge granted that request last week, but
denied prosecutors' request for a third arrest warrant. Van der Sloot and two
other Aruban men were arrested in the summer of 2005 and rearrested again last
fall before they were released for lack of evidence in December.
An Aruban
judge "put the threshold very, very high [for an arrest warrant for Van der
Sloot] because, he said, this is the third time you have asked me for a
rearrest,'' Mos said. "This was a tough decision for the judge, and it was also
a tough decision for my office to consider a rearrest for the third time."
Van der Sloot last week insisted he had lied earlier this month when he told
Van der Eem, whom he considered a close friend and confidant, that he'd panicked
when Holloway appeared to go into convulsions during a sexual encounter and
called a friend who took her seemingly lifeless body out to sea.
Mos said he
was unimpressed by those denials.
"That's exactly what we expected him to
do,'' Mos said at a press conference Monday. "This was expected by us. Yet [Van
der Sloot] made these statements not one time, but several times. He repeated
this story."
A key question that remains unanswered is whether the
undercover tapes, 20 hours in all, will be admissible as evidence. Noting that
De Vries' investigation was "private," Mos seemed to indicate that fact would
play in prosecutors' favor.
"We did not influence in any way his gathering
of this information,'' Mos said.
Independent attorneys on Aruba have
questioned the validity of the tapes in a court of law.
"The evidence has to
be legally acceptable to a judge,'' said Aruban attorney Chris Lejuez. "If a
policeman would be involved in an investigation like [De Vries'] without the
proper instruction from a judge, it would not be legally acceptable."
Still,
Lejuez said, De Vries is "a very well known Dutch reporter who has solved many
other complex cases. He has become famous for this. He has solved cases nobody
else thought could be solved, using, of course, his own methods."
This is
the second set of prosecutors who have sought to solve the disappearance of
Natalee Holloway, who was visiting Aruba on a high school graduation class trip.
She met Van der Sloot and two other local men at a raucous nightclub called
Carlos N' Charlies. From there, she and Van der Sloot went to a beach in the
early morning hours for an amorous encounter.
Van der Sloot, who had
steadfastly insisted for more than two years that he left the young woman there
on the beach, has long been the key suspect in the case.
Last May, a fresh team of police investigators and prosecutors headed by
Mos took over the vexing case in the hope that new eyes would find new leads to
follow. That same month, Deepak and Satish Kalpoe, who were with Van der Sloot
the night he met Holloway, were briefly rearrested and a surprise search was
conducted of their home, a modest, neon-green, single-story house near the base
of Hooiberg Mountain.
During the May search of the home, investigators
allegedly planted bugs there so they could monitor the brothers' conversations,
defense attorneys claimed.
Because of information gleaned from those
wiretaps, all three men were rearrested last fall, but were all released for
lack of evidence. Late last year, Mos announced that the case would be closed,
essentially admitting defeat.
It was after that December release that De
Vries' undercover investigation began in earnest.

If you have any additional information about what happened to Natalee, please call the FBI tipline at 1-877-628-2533.

Natalee's website: http://www.allpointsbulletin.org/Natalee_Holloway.html

A couple blogs about Natalee: http://blogsfornatalee.com/, http://nholloway.blogspot.com

Arkadiy Tashman now missing three years, Staten Island, New York

2008-01-27T19:37:00.000-05:00

Arkadiy's sister has done a post on her blog to mark the third anniversary of his disappearance: http://arkadiytashman.blogspot.com/2008/01/its-been-three-years-ive-never-thought.html. Please read it, as well as her older posts!

A little background on Arkadiy from http://www.crimelibrary.com/missing_children/arkadiy_tashman.html:

Arkadiy Tashman
Seventeen-year-old Arkadiy Tashman enjoyed being called by
his nickname, "Ark". He also enjoyed skateboarding and hanging out with his
friends. Ark is a strapping youth who stood over six feet tall,
and attended Port Richmond High School.
On Tuesday, January 25th, Ark
left his Mariner's Harbor home to visit a friend who lived nearby. He was last
seen sometime around 2:45 a.m. the next morning when he left for home. Later
that morning Ark's parents, Igor and Alla, found an upsetting message he had
left beneath a TV remote control. "Sorry about this. No wake, no funeral," it
read. Disturbing messages were also found on his computer.
Authorities were
quickly notified about the missing youth. "No one has seen or heard from him,"
said Ark's 27-year-old sister, Natalya Voskresenskaya. "He had no problems with
his parents, that's the most confusing part." The missing young man also was not
on any medications. Law enforcement authorities initially believed Ark had run
away and his note implied suicide. It was revealed that the day before the
youth's disappearance, he had broken up with his girlfriend and was very upset.
Family members said Ark had never before threatened to run away, or to commit
suicide. Authorities immediately began to search for the missing youth and asked
for the public's help in locating him.
Ark's family mobilized friends and
volunteers to search for him. They did not believe he was suicidal. "It's
important for us to find him before he hurts himself," said Natalya. Fliers and
posters with his photo and description were circulated throughout Manhattan
and Staten Island. The searches mainly concentrated on Brooklyn, Greenwich
Village, Staten Island and the East Village and parks; areas where they
knew skateboarders loved to hang out. "We put posters all over the places he
might appear," said Natalya. "We can't think the other thing. We can't.
Sometimes you have those horrible images that he's lying somewhere. It's
impossible. There would be a body. People don't just disappear. Maybe if he sees
the poster he'd realize how much we need him. It's really hard to be without
him. Someone's going to see him. He's a cute boy."
His older sister has
created a web site page about Arkadiy, please visit: http://arkadiytashman.blogspot.com/.
The
New York Police Department (NYPD) continued its search throughout the city for
Ark, also focusing on known skateboard areas. Hundreds of people were
questioned, but there were no reported sightings of the missing youth.
Authorities in the NYPD Missing Persons Division have classified Ark as a
missing and endangered person. Arkadiy Tashman was last seen wearing a green
baseball cap, gray hooded sweatshirt, blue jeans and black sneakers. He has
flowing ash-blond hair and a pierced right ear. He speaks fluent Russian and
English. He is an avid skateboarder and might be located in popular places
frequented by young skateboarders, in the Manhattan or Brooklyn areas of New
York. Anyone with information on this case should immediately call the New York
Police Department's Missing Persons Squad (212-473-2042) or (800-346-3543).

You can print a poster of Arkadiy at http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PubCaseSearchServlet?act=viewPoster&caseNum=1007600&orgPrefix=NCMC&searchLang=en_US.

Once again, the blog for Arkadiy is http://arkadiytashman.blogspot.com/.
MySpace page for Arkadiy: http://www.myspace.com/teens_just_dont_run_away

Nellie Flickinger, missing from Erie, Pennsylvania

2008-01-23T18:11:00.000-05:00

I first heard about Nellie from the Doe Network, but I had not posted her on here yet (except a mention on the index). The information on there had also been provided by the family. It is nice to see she is getting some media coverage!

From http://www.yumasun.com/news/flickinger_39119___article.html/family_lapeyrouse.html:

Family seeks help finding loved one
BY DARIN FENGER, SUN STAFF WRITER
January 22, 2008 - 9:41PM
The niece of a Pennsylvania woman who disappeared almost 30 years ago says her loved one may be dead in California - or be living in Yuma.
Nellie Florence Cornman Flickinger was last seen in Erie, Pa., in 1979. She was 30 at the time of her disappearance.
Flickinger's family believes she may have fled to Yuma, where she was known to have worked at restaurant many years ago. But the family's investigation has also turned up buried remains, which will soon undergo DNA testing in California.
Joni Lapeyrouse, Flickinger's niece, said that family recently relaunched their search for the woman because the five children she abandoned are now adults who have questions.
"We just want to know if she's all right," Lapeyrouse told The Sun. "If she wants to be left alone, that's fine. We'll leave it at that. At this point the family just wants to know if she's OK or not."
The niece admitted that help from law enforcement has been scarce due to the fact that Flickinger most likely disappeared of her own free will. No foul play is suspected.
The family discovered a possible match between Flickinger and buried remains in California through The Doe Network. The organization publicizes the descriptions of unidentified bodies in hopes of connecting with families or law enforcement agencies.
Lapeyrouse said that although she still wants to reach out to Yuma, her gut reaction is that the body in Colusa County, Calif., is her aunt. The niece pointed out that both women have screws and a plate in the right leg, plus the hair color, age and height seem to be a match.
Flickinger is described as having brown hair and brown eyes, and was 5 foot 3 inches and 130 pounds when she disappeared.
People with information about Flickinger can reach Lapeyrouse at 1-850-602-2743.

You can also call the Erie police at (814) 870-1260.

According to the Doe Network (http://doenetwork.org/cases/2313dfpa.html), Nellie had said she was heading to California, and she might use the aliases Lindy Sue Henry, Nellie Henry, or Sue Henry.

Roberta Lawrence found dead back in 2002!

2008-01-23T17:06:00.000-05:00

A very big thank you to the reader who brought this to my attention!

I do not know how she managed to still be listed as missing for the past six years when in reality she was only missing for about a month and a half. However, she has been listed as found by the Yahoo! ColdCases group (posts at and http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ColdCases/message/54572). One member said she talked with the police in Coraopolis and Roberta's body had been found on February 14, 2002.

In the other message, one source listed was Roberta's information from the Social Security Death Index. That Roberta Lawrence is also from Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, and her date of birth was also November 24, 1944, so they are most likely the same person. The death date is listed by Social Security as February 9, 2002.

Roberta's name is also on a list of recent deaths from February 14, 2002, at http://www.post-gazette.com/obituaries/20020214deaths0214p6.asp:

LAWRENCE, Roberta, 57, of Coraopolis. Wharton-Herrick Funeral Home,
Imperial. (CO)

Brooke Wilberger: Suspect to be extradited to Oregon

2008-01-23T16:27:00.000-05:00

I hope that Joel Courtney does not fight the extradition and delay the case too much more. Hopefully everything else runs smoothly, too. Of course, they still have to find Brooke.
Article from http://media.barometer.orst.edu/media/storage/paper854/news/2008/01/22/News/Kulongoski.Asks.For.Extradition.Of.Joel.Courtney-3160643.shtml:

Kulongoski asks for extradition of Joel Courtney
Orders will bring Joel
Courtney, accused of raping, killing Brooke Wilberger to Oregon for charges
Issue date: 1/22/08 Section: News
Oregon Gov.
Ted Kulongoski has signed an extradition order encouraging the return of Joel
Courtney, the man accused of raping and killing 19-year-old Brooke Wilberger in
2004.
According to The Associated Press, Courtney is currently in New Mexico.
Benton County District Attorney John Haroldson said he wanted Courtney returned
to Oregon within 90 days.
Last Wednesday, a Kulongoski spokesman said the governor's office sent the
extradition order to New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson. According to a Richardson
spokeswoman, the governor will expedite the process and does not intend to
decline the extradition.
"I am strongly encouraged by the level of cooperation between both
governors' offices," Haroldson said in an interview with The Associated
Press.
Joel Patrick Courtney, 41, was previously arrested in November 2004 for
allegedly kidnapping and sexually assaulting a foreign exchange student at the
University of New Mexico. Courtney was sentenced to 18 years in prison last
month after pleading guilty to the charges against him.
Wilberger, a Brigham Young University student from Veneta, vanished while
cleaning lighting fixtures in an apartment complex parking lot near Oregon State
University in May 2004. Investigators found only her sandals and a pail of soapy
water left behind. Wilberger's body was never found despite an extensive search
effort. Little of the evidence connecting Courtney to Wilberger's presumed death
has been revealed by investigators.
Courtney was arrested more than a year after Wilberger's disappearance and
was charged with kidnapping, aggravated murder and rape. He is currently facing
14 separate counts of aggravated murder - one for each theory on how Wilberger
was actually killed, two counts of first degree kidnapping, one count of first
degree sodomy, one count of first degree rape and one count of first degree
sexual abuse.
A Benton County grand jury also indicted Courtney on charges of attempting
to kidnap and rape two other girls at around the time Wilberger vanished.
Haroldson intends to seek the death penalty and expects Courtney will
challenge the extradition.

If you know anything about Brooke's disappearance, please call the Corvallis Police Department at (541) 766-3522 or the Portland FBI at (503) 224-4181.

You can print a poster of Brooke at http://www.theyaremissed.org/ncma/gallery/ncmaprofile_all.php?A200401499S.

Photo of Brooke from the Charley Project (http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/w/wilberger_brooke.html). Visit the site for many more photos of Brooke.

Sofia Juarez: New missing persons website for Washington state

2008-01-18T16:58:00.000-05:00

**This is one of the articles that are part of the "backlog" of unposted items for this blog, some from as far back as September. Better late than never, though, right?**

The website for this state database is http://www.waspc.org/mp/missing.php.
Article from http://www.kvewtv.com/news/?sect_rank=1&section_id=1&story_id=3418:

New Website Hopes To Crack Missing Persons Cases Started by States Law
Enforcement Officials
Brian Flores /
Weekend Anchor/Reporter
Last updated: Friday, September 21st, 2007 06:53:09 PM
KENNEWICK --
Sofia Juarez was last seen walking out of her bedroom back in February of
2003.
And she hasn't been seen since.
This new website started by the
Washington State Association of Sheriff's and Police Chiefs will list all the
missing persons in the state, no matter what age.
They hope that the website
will help gather answers to many unsolved missing persons cases.
In
Kennewick, like you mentioned earlier, Sofia Juarez has been missing since 2003,
and police say any extra information will help.
"Anytime that we can get a
website or get people to look at this, somebody may have some information eve if
they think it's small. Like that they may have seen something, that infor could
be critical to solving this case," said Sgt. Scott Child.
Child says they
have assigned a full-time officer specifically for the Juarez case.
And even
posted a poster on the side of a big rig truck.
He
says it is critically important to get the information out to the public within
the first few days.
And hopefully this website helps.

Other missing people with Washington state connections that I have posted on this blog are Cody Haynes (missing from Kittitas), Christopher Kerze (missing from Minnesota but may be in Seattle), and Ashley Martinez (missing from Missouri but suspect found in Olympia). Since Cody is the only one who is actually from Washington, he is the only one of those three listed on the website.

Meanwhile, if you know anything about Sofia's disappearance, please call the Kennewick police at (509) 628-0333 or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678).
Sofia's website: http://www.geocities.com/thekarmaclub/sofia.html
You can print a poster of Sofia at http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PubCaseSearchServlet?act=viewPoster&caseNum=954908&orgPrefix=NCMC&searchLang=en_US.

Photo and age progression of Sofia from her poster.

Body found in Somerset probably NOT Joey Offutt

2008-01-18T16:25:00.002-05:00

Update 4/2/08 - article and links removed per family request. This body is believed not to belong to Joey, anyway. She is still missing, still out there somewhere.

Meanwhile, Joey is still out there. If you know what happened to her, please call the Pennsylvania state police at (814) 371-4652 or Pennsylvania CrimeStoppers at 1-800-4PA-TIPS .

Joey's website: http://www.findjoey.org/

You can print a poster of Joey at http://www.theyaremissed.org/ncma/gallery/ncmaprofile_all.php?A200705513S.

Photo of Joey from her website. The website also has a photo of Joey wearing her glasses.

FOUND SAFE: Brian Dalton

2008-01-16T18:13:00.000-05:00

Scrolling down the first page of my blog, I noticed that Brian's pictures no longer showed up. If they are from the NCMEC website, as Brian's were, this sometimes can be an indication that the child/teen has been found.
So, searching the Internet, I found his name in a list of recovery notices at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/4thekids/message/5017. The list was posted on December 23, which was 10 days after I had posted about him on here.

Jon Dabkowski and Gabriel Minarcin now missing 26 years, Tarentum, Pennsylvania

2008-01-16T17:04:00.000-05:00

Not much has changed in the past year for this case, except that a new age progression has been done of Jon Michael Dabkowski. Maybe this can be the year that will change things??

The top row of photos is of Jon; the other two on the bottom are of Gabriel. The photos on the right show how the two friends might look now if they are still alive.

From the Charley Project (http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/d/dabkowski_jon.html):

Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance
Missing Since: January 14, 1982 from Tarentum, Pennsylvania
Classification: Non-Family Abduction
Date Of Birth: November 9, 1970
Age: 11 years old
Height and Weight: 4'10, 72 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian male. Brown hair,
hazel eyes. Dabkowski has a small scar under his left eye. He has a deep cleft
in the middle of his chin. His complexion is clear and he is right-handed. There
are slight bags beneath Dabkowski's eyes. His nicknames are Dabbo and Jonny.
Clothing/Jewelry Description: A maroon jacket and boots.

Details of Disappearance
Dabkowski was last seen at approximately 5:30 p.m. on January
14, 1982, in his hometown of Tarentum, Pennsylvania. He and his friend, Gabriel
Minarcin, finished dinner at the Dabkowski home and were walking three doors
down to Minarcin's family's home. The boys never arrived at the house and have
not been seen again.
Authorities believe that Minarcin and Dabkowski may
have fallen through thin ice near their residences and drowned, as they were
last seen walking together near the Allegheny River. Footprints in the snow lead
to the riverbank, but there were no prints leading away from the river. However,
Dabkowski had been told by his parents to stay away from the river, and he
dependably obeyed this rule. An extensive search of the water turned up no
evidence that anyone had fallen in.
Neil B. Hammons stole Dabkowski's
identity in 1998. He was stopped by police while driving and showed the officer
a driver's license in Dabkowski's name. The officer realized Dabkowski was a
missing person, but as the man was a legal adult, he could not hold him. He let
the man go and notified Dabkowski's family, who thought their son had been
found. It turned out Hammons had been looking for a new identity and had chosen
Dabkowski off a missing persons' website which gave his information. He had
nothing to do with Dabkowski's disappearance which, like Minarcin's, remains
unsolved.
Dabkowki's family still resides in the house he lived in. Due to
the lack of clues in the boys' cases, their disappearances are classified as
non-family abductions.

Investigating Agency
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Tarentum Police Department
412-224-1515

Gabriel's description (from http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/m/minarcin_gabriel.html):

Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance
Missing Since: January 14, 1982 from Tarentum, Pennsylvania
Classification: Non-Family Abduction
Date Of Birth: October 5, 1971
Age: 10 years old
Height and Weight: 4'0, 60 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian male. Brown hair, hazel
eyes. Minarcin has a mole on his right wrist. One of his upper front teeth was
chipped at the time of his 1982 disappearance.
Clothing/Jewelry Description:
A maroon jacket and boots.

Unfortunately, I have not a poster that shows both boys on one paper. So you can print Jon's poster at http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PubCaseSearchServlet?act=viewPoster&caseNum=600906&orgPrefix=NCMC&searchLang=en_US and Gabriel's poster at http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PubCaseSearchServlet?act=viewPoster&caseNum=603366&orgPrefix=NCMC&searchLang=en_US.

Patrick Fitzgerald: Body found

2008-01-16T16:35:00.000-05:00

If his body was in the lake the whole time, I wonder why they did not find him right away? Sometimes I guess things can be overlooked, or the weather or the elements can change circumstances.
From http://kdka.com/local/body.found.lake.2.628842.html:

Jan 14, 2008 6:45 am US/Eastern
Officials ID Body Found In Lake As
Missing Hunter
BURRELL TOWNSHIP (KDKA) ― Officials with the Coroner's Office in Armstrong
County say they have now positively identified the body found Sunday at a lake
as a missing hunter who disappeared in November.
State police, local fire departments and the coroner were called to Crooked
Creek Lake in Burrell Township following reports of the discovery of a
body.
"There was a call into the Armstrong 911 Center that there was a possible
body in the water," said Craig Davis, of the Burrell Township Fire
Department.
Officials with the Coroner's Office say they have now identified the body
as 45-year-old Patrick Fitzgerald, from Vandergrift.
"At the time of the recovery he was in his hunting garb as described at the
time he went missing, an orange hunting vest and did have on the hip waders,"
said Bob Bower, Armstrong County Coroner.
He went missing back in November.
Fitzgerald was last heard from by his mother when officials say he called
and told her he was just about to put his canoe in the water at the lake.
An autopsy is scheduled for today.

Here is a more recent article with some of the autopsy results. From http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08015/849324-56.stm:

Autopsy reveals Vandergrift deer hunter drowned
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A deer hunter from Vandergrift whose body was
found floating in a lake on Sunday accidentally drowned, according to the
Armstrong County coroner.
A hiker spotted Patrick M. Fitzgerald, 46, in
Crooked Creek Lake in Armstrong County near the boat launch off Robb's Fording
Road at about 4:30 p.m., according to Armstrong County Coroner Robert Bower. The
body was recovered about an hour later. Mr. Fitzgerald had been missing since
Nov. 27.
Mr. Fitzgerald often took his canoe out alone to isolated hunting
spots along Crooked Creek. After his disappearance, searchers combed the area
for days, ultimately finding his canoe, some personal belongings, his car and
his boat trailer but not Mr. Fitzgerald.
The coroner said he will complete
his autopsy of Mr. Fitzgerald today.

Vernon Hayden body found

2008-01-16T16:24:00.000-05:00

This is one case that certainly provoked a lot of discussion on here. I do not think I have ever had so many comments on one case before, especially in such a relatively short time period.
From http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19189419&BRD=1282&PAG=461&dept_id=182121&rfi=6:

Examiner IDs body as that of Eliz. Twp. man
By ERIC SLAGLE, Daily News
Staff Writer
01/11/2008
The
Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office determined a 71-year-old Elizabeth
Township man died of gunshot wounds and blunt force trauma to the head. Manner
of death was ruled homicide.
An autopsy Thursday also positively identified
the body recovered in a wooded part of Bedford County as Vernon Hayden Sr., who
went missing last month.
Hayden's stepgrandson Timothy Large, 30, of Forward
Township, faces homicide, abuse of a corpse and five other charges in the case.
He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Jan. 18 at 8:30 a.m. in Pittsburgh
Municipal Court.
Allegheny County police Lt. Christopher Kearns said Large
could face the death penalty, but that will be determined later by a judge.
Large led a team of Allegheny County detectives to Hayden's body Wednesday
afternoon. It was recovered in a wooded area off Riddlemoser Road in Juniata
Township at 1:35 p.m. by county and Pennsylvania State Police.
Police began
the search for Hayden on Dec. 10, a few days after his family members discovered
he was missing from his home along Skillet Hill Road. Elizabeth Township police
were the first to investigate the disappearance. The investigation then was
turned over to county homicide detectives.
To read this and all the stories
in today's Daily News, eligible subscribers can register for our New Electronic Edition.

There are no more recent updates on the case, after the body being found. Another article (http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_546696.html) says that Timothy Large actually led police to the body.

An older article, from before Vernon's body was actually found, gives a possible motive for the murder. Is it true? I certainly would not be the person to ask.
From http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08009/847722-55.stm:

Man claims abuses led to slaying
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
By Wade
Malcolm, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Timothy Large Jr. told police he entered the
Elizabeth Township home of Vernon Hayden Sr. the night of Dec. 7 planning only
to steal his truck.
But before Mr. Large left the 3080 Skillet Hill Road
residence with the stolen pickup, he got into a deadly confrontation with Mr.
Hayden. He accused his 71-year-old step-grandfather of abusing his grandmother
and sister before shooting him in the head with a .22-caliber rifle, according
to an affidavit.
The document filed by Allegheny County police yesterday
charges Mr. Large, 30, of Forward, with killing Mr. Hayden, who was reported
missing Dec. 10.
Mr. Large was awaiting arraignment on numerous charges last
night, including criminal homicide and burglary, in connection with the
disappearance of Mr. Hayden.
He is also charged with theft, receiving stolen
property, access device fraud, weapons violations and abuse of a
corpse.
Although Mr. Hayden's body has not been found, Mr. Large told police
he tied concrete blocks to it, then waded into the Monongahela River and dumped
it near a Monongahela City recreation area, according to the affidavit.
A
suspect early in the investigation, Mr. Large, who has a previous aggravated
assault conviction, was held on a probation violation after police found him
hiding in bushes not far from where Mr. Hayden's truck was discovered Dec. 11 in
Brentwood, according to court documents. Investigators found blood in the back
of the truck.
Mr. Large was held in Allegheny County Jail and later charged
with making purchases on Mr. Hayden's bank card and stealing his pickup
truck.
Wade Malcolm can be reached at wmalcolm@post-gazette.com or
412-263-1878.

Joey Offutt: Possible remains; house to be destroyed

2007-12-29T23:02:00.000-05:00

Update - 1/18/08 - It is now believed that the remains are probably not Joey's. See http://betweenlifeanddeath.blogspot.com/2008/01/body-found-in-somerset-probably-not.html for more details.
Another article (http://www.wjactv.com/news/14931639/detail.html) says that the body has probably been there for six months, which would be the right amount of time if it is Joey. I wonder how long it will take to identify the body.

Article from http://www.tribune-democrat.com/local/local_story_362233345.html:

Published: December 28, 2007 11:33 pm
Body found may be tied to fatal fire
By KIRK SWAUGER
The Tribune-Democrat
SOMERSET — State police are investigating whether
skeletal remains found Wednesday are those of a Jefferson Township woman missing
since her infant son was killed in a house fire six months ago.
Authorities believe the remains belong to a petite, brown-haired woman
between 30 and 40 years old who died during the summer. Evidence discovered at
the scene suggests she had spent time in Raleigh, N.C., and on Interstate
80.
Meanwhile, the Somerset County coroner said foul play might not be involved
in the death.
The description of the body bears a resemblance to Joey Lynn Offutt, 33, of
Sykesville, a Jefferson County town close to Interstate 80 and Route 219, which
passes through Somerset. Offutt is 5-foot-3, weighs 110 pounds and has brown
hair.
She has been missing since July 12, after a fire destroyed her house and
killed her 6-week-old son. Her car, bearing a Virginia license plate, was
discovered shortly afterward in State College.
Sgt. Frank Wolbert, commanding officer of the DuBois state police barracks,
said investigators have been in contact with state police in Somerset.
“There are a lot of similarities. But there are a few things that look like
it’s not her, also,” Wolbert said Friday.
As the remains are being studied by a forensic anthropologist in Erie,
Somerset County Coroner Wallace Miller said early indications are that no foul
play was involved in her death.
But her body was so decomposed, Miller said authorities are unable to
conduct toxicology tests on the remains to determine if drugs or alcohol were
involved.
“The way the body was positioned, there wasn’t any indication of a
struggle,” Miller said, declining to elaborate.
State police Cpl. Jeffrey Doman of Somerset said authorities are pressing
to ID the deceased, who was discovered Wednesday afternoon near the Somerset
Industrial Park.
“We have several leads we’re following up on, but nothing concrete yet,”
Doman said.
A nearby resident found the remains Wednesday evening as he was walking on
private property about 50 yards from Industrial Park Road in Somerset Township.
The woods are near the turnpike and end of four-lane Route 219.
Police said evidence found at the scene suggests the woman may have spent
time in Raleigh, N.C., while also traveling on Interstate 80. Authorities have
not disclosed what evidence was discovered, though a source said a faded
prescription bottle provided the link to Raleigh.
The remains are being studied by Dennis Dirkmaat, director of the Applied
Forensic Sciences Department at Mercyhurst College in Erie.
Authorities said the woman was wearing a thin black jacket, white shirt,
black denim jeans and sneakers similar to deck shoes.
Anyone with information is being asked to contact the state police:
445-4104.

(The area code for the above number is 814.)
Joey also made the news a couple days earlier for a different reason. From http://www.wjactv.com/news/14926417/detail.html:

Joey Lynn Offutt's House To Be Torn Down Soon
POSTED: 3:40 pm EST December
26, 2007
UPDATED: 4:12 pm EST December 26, 2007

SYKESVILLE, Pa. -- Back in November, Channel Six News
reported that Joey Lynn Offutt's house could be torn down by the end of this
year, to make way for a church parking lot.
While it may not be razed by the
end of the year, church officials said the house will be coming down soon.
They added that a demolition company will come to tear down the house when
the weather cooperates.
In July, fire severely damaged the house and Joey
Lynn Offutt disappeared.
While investigating the fire, police found a dead
baby in a bathtub.
That baby has never been identified.
Church officials
said that very few people in Sykesville knew Offutt, but her disappearance has
affected residents.
"They have a lot of questions about what happened," said
Father John Mihalco. "But we trust the police are investigating as best as they
can."

Joey's website: http://www.findjoey.org/

Joey's poster: http://www.theyaremissed.org/ncma/gallery/ncmaprofile_all.php?A200705513S

Photo of Joey from her website.

Laura Lynn Thompson: Media coverage!

2007-12-29T22:35:00.000-05:00

I am very excited to announce that Laura has gotten some media coverage by two television stations; the article below is from a station in Youngstown, Ohio. (Laura disappeared from New Castle, Pennsylvania in January 1993.)
Before now, Laura had been part of a list of missing children from the Pittsburgh area (some of whom have since been found) about a year ago (see http://www.pittsburghlive.com/images/video//2006_pdfs/GX-Missbox-ch-10-08.pdf)

From http://www.wkbn.com/news/local/12836947.html :

Still Missing

Each year eight hundred and fifty thousand
children go missing. Luckily about ninety-eight percent of them are found, but
Laura Thompson falls into a slim one percent minority which are never heard from
again and leave no sign of what happened to them.
Thompson's case is not
unusual. Officials with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
say they have cases dated back to the 1940's. While the chances of solving them
are not great, it is still possible by keeping the public aware that children
are still missing.
It's up to the family and local law enforcement officials
to keep the case in the media spotlight. Laura's family and the New Castle
police are doing just that.
Laura would be thirty years old right now, and
this is a computer generated image of what she may look like. Any clues to her
whereabouts could help bring closure to this fifteen year old case. Please call
the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST.

You can also call New Castle police at (724) 658-4741.

To print a poster of Laura like the one above, or just to see her photos close-up, visit http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PubCaseSearchServlet?act=viewPoster&caseNum=777676&orgPrefix=NCMC&searchLang=en_US.

Robert Allison now missing 13 years, Bethel Park, Pennsylvania

2007-12-29T22:20:00.000-05:00

Sadly it seems like the only thing that has changed in Robert's case since I posted about him a year ago is the URL to his Doe Network page. His info is also featured on the Charley Project (http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/a/allison_robert.html) and Pennsylvaniamissing.com (http://www.pennsylvaniamissing.com/missingmales.html).

From http://doenetwork.org/cases/863dmpa.html:

Robert Elmer Allison
Missing since December 21, 1994 from Waynesburg, Greene County,
Pennsylvania. Classification: Endangered Missing
Vital Statistics
Date
Of Birth: November 12, 1952
Age at Time of Disappearance: 42 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'9"; 170 lbs.
Distinguishing Characteristics: White male. Brown eyes; brown hair. Fair
complexion. Wears glasses. Allison was suffering from depression at the time of
his disappearance.
Circumstances of Disappearance Allison was last seen
leaving Tri-River Fleeting in Bethel Park near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He left
work where he worked on a river boat and was headed for a bar in the west end of
Pittsburgh. All of this belongings were found on the boat and he has not been
seen since.
Investigators
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Pennsylvania State Police
Waynesburg PAPSP9200
724-627-6151
NCIC Number: M-802378254
Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information
regarding this case.

I haven't found a poster of Robert, but perhaps that profile is short enough that it could be printed out and used as a makeshift one.

Natalee Holloway: recent news

2007-12-29T22:00:00.000-05:00

Some of the new evidence is pretty interesting, but apparently it is still not enough yet. Except for the underwater search there doesn't seem to be much happening in Natalee's case right now (it has been closed, after all), so most of this is basically opinions and retrospection.

From http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/12/21/holloway.case/index.html?section=cnn_latest:

updated 10:19 a.m. EST, Fri December 21, 2007
Holloway case in 'new phase,' prosecutor
says
ORANJESTAD, Aruba (CNN) -- The investigation into the disappearance of
Natalee Holloway is not closed but has entered a new phase, as four detectives
continue to look for evidence, Aruba's chief public prosecutor says.
Charges
were dropped against Joran van der Sloot and brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe,
prosecutor Hans Mos said, not because he didn't have a case but because he
couldn't be sure of a conviction.
The decision not to prosecute doesn't mean
"there is not a file in which these three people are primary persons of
interest," Mos told CNN.
He said his office remains determined to find the
truth. "We believe justice will prevail one day, but we cannot force that right
now."
Mos on Thursday laid out the evidence authorities have in the Alabama
teenager's disappearance on May 30, 2005.
In an Internet chat shortly after
Holloway vanished, one of the three suspects said she was dead, Mos said.
The chat, retrieved from a computer hard disk, was among new evidence
prosecutors used to justify re-arresting the three in November, he said.
New
technology that was not available in 2005 was used to find that chat and more
between two of the three suspects, as well as others, he said.
Judges,
however, ruled the new evidence was not enough to keep the suspects behind
bars.
In the chat, Mos told CNN's Susan Candiotti, one of the suspects said,
"The fact that she's dead is not good," referring to Holloway.
Other chats
written before May 30 were also found, in which the suspects discussed "picking
up American girls and what they plan to do with them," Mos said. Such chats gave
authorities an idea of how the suspects operated, he said.
But, he said,
authorities did not find any further discussion of Holloway's death or how she
died. "If we had that, we would have been much further [along] than we are now,"
Mos said.
Other evidence against the three included two new witness
statements. In one, a female friend told authorities that one suspect called her
about five hours after Holloway was last seen leaving an Oranjestad, Aruba, nightclub with van der Sloot and the Kalpoes.
The female friend said that she could tell during the conversation that
something was wrong, Mos said. When she asked about it, the suspect -- whom Mos
did not name -- told her that "he didn't want to cause her any trouble, and that
what had happened couldn't be discussed over the phone," he said.
Police
wanted to ask the suspect what he meant by that statement, he said, but after
their re-arrest, all three men exercised their right to remain silent and
refused to speak to authorities. See a timeline of how the case has developed »
A second
witness statement came from a teacher who said that another one of the suspects
exhibited "very peculiar behavior" the day after Holloway's disappearance,
including making or receiving a lot of telephone calls, Mos said.
A fourth
piece of new evidence came when authorities bugged the Kalpoe home in June and
picked up a conversation about what happened that night, he said, but did not
elaborate.
Holloway, 18, disappeared while visiting Aruba with about
100 classmates celebrating their graduation from Mountain Brook High School in
suburban Birmingham, Alabama, and was last seen leaving the nightclub with the
three suspects.
All three suspects were arrested and released in the case in
2005. They were rearrested November 21, with authorities citing new and
incriminating evidence against them.
In freeing the Kalpoes from jail
November 30, judges from Aruba's Court of Appeal wrote that there was no
evidence that Holloway died as a result of a violent crime or that the suspects
were involved in such a crime. Using similar reasoning, a judge released van der
Sloot a week later.
All three have maintained their innocence. The Kalpoes
have told police they dropped Holloway and van der Sloot off near a lighthouse
on the northern tip of the island after leaving the nightclub. Van der Sloot's
mother, Anita, has said her son told her he was on the beach with Holloway but
left her there because she wanted to stay.
What authorities needed, Mos said,
was for at least one of the three to explain what happened that night. That's
why, he said, his office went to the expense of transferring van der Sloot from
the Netherlands, where he is attending college, after arresting him again in
November -- out of hopes that he might talk.
"You never know whether a person
two years later will, yes or no, open up," he said.
Mos acknowledged the new
evidence against the three was circumstantial, and arresting them again may have
been a long shot, but "we had to give it a shot."
"I would never have
forgiven myself," he said, and never would have been able to answer the question
"Why didn't you even try?" given the new evidence.
"And that's exactly what
we did. I'd rather give it a try and not succeed than not give it a try at all.
We gave it everything we got. We cannot torture these three guys and make them
tell what happened."

From http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071222/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/aruba_missing_teen_1:

Defense response to Aruban prosecutors
By MARGARET WEVER, Associated
Press Writer Fri Dec 21, 9:19 PM ET
ORANJESTAD, Aruba - A suspect in the
disappearance of Natalee Holloway never mentioned her death in an online chat,
his lawyer said Friday, contradicting Aruban prosecutors who called the comment
key new evidence in the case.
The chat log fell far short of justifying the
arrest of Deepak Kalpoe, one of three men seen with the American teen the night
of her disappearance, said attorney Ronald Wix.
A court in the Dutch
Caribbean island agreed and quickly released Kalpoe, along with brother Satish
and a third suspect, Joran van der Sloot. Now, authorities should leave the
three men alone, Wix told reporters.
"If they as much as look at our clients
too long, we'll take them to court," said Wix, who also represents Satish
Kalpoe.
The three suspects were seen leaving a bar with Holloway on the final
night of her high school graduation trip to the island.
Aruban prosecutors
detailed the chat log for the first time Thursday, saying it was a key clue that
they hoped would break open the long-stalled investigation. The men did not
speak with investigators while detained and a judge ordered their release for
lack of evidence.
Upon their release, authorities said they had reached a
dead end after two years of pursuing fruitless searches and leads, though they
could still prosecute the men if they uncover evidence.
In discussing the
online chat, prosecutor Hans Mos told reporters that one of the suspects — he
did not disclose which — wrote that Holloway, 18 at the time of disappearance,
was dead. He also said Internet messages among two suspects discussed meeting
drunk American girls in Aruba.
Wix said the prosecution misinterpreted Deepak
Kalpoe's Internet chats.
The 24-year-old native of Suriname in fact told a
friend he was upset and thought it was stupid of him to let Holloway, whom he
called a drunk stranger, get into his car, the attorney said.
Kalpoe then
commented on the death of a tennis teacher who drowned in Aruba almost three
years ago. When prosecutors translated his writing from Papiamento to Dutch,
they substituted 'the death' to 'her death,' and assumed he was talking about
Holloway, Wix said. Most Arubans speak Papiamento, a Creole language that has
absorbed words from Spanish, Dutch, English and Portuguese.
Mos was on
vacation Friday and could not be reached for a response. Another prosecutor, Dop
Kruimel, did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment.
Holloway
vanished May 30, 2005, hours before she was to return home to Mountain Brook,
Alabama. Extensive searches of the island turned up no trace of her, but the
Aruban prosecutors have said they believe she is dead — though without a body
they admit a prosecution would be difficult.
Van der Sloot has said he
dropped Holloway off at the beach and all three suspects have denied any
involvement in her disappearance.

From http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071223/ap_on_re_eu/netherlands_aruba_missing_teen_1:

Holloway case suspect regrets no trial
Sun Dec 23, 6:29 PM ET
AMSTERDAM,
Netherlands - A former suspect in the disappearance in Aruba of American
teenager Natalee Holloway told a Dutch newspaper he regretted that he was not
formally prosecuted for any crime.
Dutch teen Joran van der Sloot, 20, was
re-arrested in Aruba in November for a new interrogation about Holloway's
disappearance in 2005. But public prosecutors on the island closed their
investigation Dec. 18, saying they believed Holloway was dead but they did not
have enough evidence to prosecute van der Sloot or two other former
suspects.
"I would have liked to have seen a trial so that everything could
be out in the open," van der Sloot told newspaper DAG in his first public
remarks since being released on Dec. 7. The newspaper published excerpts from
the interview Sunday. DAG spokesman Bob Witman said the interview was conducted
via e-mail with van der Sloot in Aruba, where he is currently staying.
All
three suspects denied any involvement in Holloway's disappearance.
Van der
Sloot denied there was any new evidence to prompt his arrest again last month,
as prosecutors had asserted.
"There was no new evidence at all," he told the
paper. "Dutch detectives tried to get me to talk for 15 days. They told me that
Natalee was dead."
Prosecutors say their new evidence was a statement by one
of the suspects during a tapped Internet chat in which he said Holloway was
dead. But defense lawyers denied that.
Van der Sloot said he believed his
latest arrest was intended to please American media.
"I've been declared
guilty without any factual evidence and I'm left to prove my innocence," he told
the paper.
Prosecutors said as things stand, the case can be reactivated if
"serious" new evidence emerges. Reactivating the case would be impossible
however if they were to prosecute and fail, due to rules against double
jeopardy.
Holloway was on a high school graduation trip to the island when
she vanished May 30, 2005, hours before she was to return home to Mountain
Brook, Ala. Extensive searches of the island turned up no trace of her.
The
three former suspects, who are the last people known to have seen her, initially
said they dropped Holloway off at her hotel.
After hotel security cameras
disproved that, they were arrested and van der Sloot said he left her alone on a
beach and had no idea how she disappeared.

If you know what happened to Natalee, please call the FBI tipline at 1-877-628-2533.

For more news, don't forget to check out the Search for Natalee Holloway blog at http://nholloway.blogspot.com/. The team will soon be starting the ROV (remote operated vehicle) dives.

Natalee's website: http://www.allpointsbulletin.org/Natalee_Holloway.html
Another blog about Natalee: http://blogsfornatalee.com/

Julia Shimkus now missing 35 years, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

2007-12-20T18:13:00.000-05:00

Julia is one of the most recent additions to the index of this blog. Unfortunately there do not seem to be very good photos or descriptions of her, but hopefully that will not make too much of a difference. (No offense to the people who posted her information!)
Maybe you can help fill in the blanks??
From http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/s/shimkus_julia.html:

Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance
Missing Since: December 20, 1972 from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Classification: Endangered Missing
Age: 54 years old
Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian female.
Medical Conditions: Shimkus suffered from depression after her husband's 1965 death, but her family does not believe she was depressed at the time of her disappearance.

Details of Disappearance
Shimkus was last seen in the Esplen section of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on December 20, 1972. She left her house in the 200 block of Oregon Street at 5:00 p.m. to walk to work. Shimkus was employed as a cook at the Rockwood Lounge in the McKees Rocks Shopping Plaza at the time. She has never been heard from again. She did not take any personal belongings with her.
The new owner found bone fragments in the crawl space of Shimkus's former home in 1995, but they turned out to be from an animal. Shimkus's husband died of cancer in 1965. In 1972, Shimkus lived with her daughter. Her adult son was married and lived elsewhere in Pittsburgh. Shimkus was on good terms with both of her children at the time of her disappearance and was considering marrying her boyfriend.
There are some indications that Shimkus is remained alive for an extended period of time after she went missing, but there have been no confirmed sighting of her since 1972. Her case remains unsolved.

Investigating Agency
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Kentucky State Police
800-222-5555

Or, you can call the Pittsburgh Police Department at (412) 665-4020.

Julia did get mentioned in a 2005 news article about another missing person from Pittsburgh, Patrick Kenney. An excerpt from that (full article at http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05136/505176.stm):

Erin Bruno, a case manager at the National Center for Missing Adults, a
nonprofit organization based in Phoenix that provides support and guidance to
the families of missing people, said she creates missing persons fliers and
explains law enforcement procedures to families.
"We're kind of like an
intermediary, a middle man between law enforcement and those families," Bruno
said. "A lot of time, law enforcement has so many things going on, so we're able
to answer those questions for the families."
Joseph S. Shimkus contacted the
organization in November, desperate for a revival of his mother's case.
It
has been 32 years since Julia Shimkus left her Esplen home on a December evening
on her way to her job as a cook at the Rockwood Lounge in the McKees Rocks
Shopping Plaza.
But Joseph is still searching.
Through the years, he's
written letters to the television show, "Unsolved Mysteries," lobbying to have
her story featured on the show, and he's traveled to Atlanta, where he surmised
his mother may have traveled with a male companion, knocking on doors and
talking to local police.
In 1995, the owners of the home where Julia Shimkus
lived when she disappeared, found bone fragments in a crawl space beneath the
kitchen. The family was hopeful they would finally have some closure.
But the
coroner ruled they were animal bones.
"It's been terrible," Shimkus, 63, of
Valencia, said. "I want closure on the darn thing. I take that pic with me a lot
of places when I'm down Florida or vacationing in Canada, I'm always looking.
When I'm on a cruise. I'm always looking."

(See http://betweenlifeanddeath.blogspot.com/2006/02/my-missing-people.html for a list of the still-missing people I have posted about, as well as more cases that I am following but have yet to post. Do not let the date fool you; it is updated continually!)

Amber Carlton: FOUND SAFE!!

2007-12-20T17:05:00.000-05:00

Here is some good news that will hopefully warm your heart a bit before the Christmas season.
The local media even did a story about Amber, so we can learn a few details about her recovery.
From http://www.nbc15online.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=9a74f98a-4572-4489-ae79-e9ae4cb71aa9:

Child missing for 3 years is home for good
Reported by: James
Gordon
Email: jamesgordon@clearchannel.com
Last Update: 12/17 6:59 pm
(BAY MINETTE, Ala.) December 17
-- 7-year-old Amber Carlton was taken from her Bay Minette home by her
mother 3 and half years ago. Amber's grandfather says, "We've been
all up New York and Pennsylvania and God knows the places we've been in Texas
and all the lead investigators could come up with and she was always one or two
days ahead of us."
Tanya Reed, the girl's mother lost custody of her daughter after she
divorced Amber's father in 2004. Amber's picture has been on the Missing and
Exploited Children's website until now. It was that picture that helped bring
her home. Baldwin County investigators say the vast majority of child abductions
have ties to a relative.
Major Anthony Lowery with the Baldwin County Sheriff's office
says: "They can be tough, but there is a certain amount of grace because
most of the time the child is not in danger. That's not to say it doesn't
happen."
Fortunately, little Amber is safe, but right now the little girl is only
thinking of the toys she'll play with at Christmas. Her grandpa
says: "She's been passed from shelter to shelter, from one house to
another, and God only knows what she has seen and been through."
Amber's grandparents say the 7-year-old hasn't been to school since
kindergarten. They say she will undergo counseling and settle in with her
father.
Amber's mother Tanya Reed, was arrested in Springtown, Texas. She's
has since been released. Her family hopes she will now enter a drug rehab
program.

Natalee Holloway: The "new evidence", case closed

2007-12-20T16:49:00.000-05:00

However, the search effort is still happening! On http://nholloway.blogspot.com/ they posted this message on Tuesday (Dec. 18):

Tuesday, 18-Dec - 1500 hrs:Aruba authorities and prosecutors close the Holloway
case and investigation and said they do not have the evidence to charge anyone.
Prosecutors said they will reopen the case "if new serious evidence were to be
found." The statute of limitations is six years for involuntary manslaughter and
12 years for homicide, they said. Regardless, this announcement WILL NOT affect
the search by the Persistence. This announcement comes the day before the search
team will begin the side scan sonar survey of the newly-mapped area.

There are more recent updates on the search also posted. It talks about the first day of the side-scan sonar (and finding an old shipwreck!) and about using a magnetometer.

Anyway, article (and above photo) from http://www.kitv.com/news/14896880/detail.html :

Suspect During Chat: Holloway Is Dead
Evidence Gathered Over Last Eight
Months
POSTED: 4:35 am HST December 20, 2007

ORANJESTAD, Aruba
-- Prosecutors in Aruba were releasing evidence from the investigation into the
disappearance of an American teen.
The country's chief prosecutor said the
file includes an Internet chat session in which one of the three top suspects in
the case said Natalee Holloway is dead.
The Alabama high school student
vanished during a May 2005 vacation in Aruba with her graduating class. Her body
has never been found.
The prosecutor didn't reveal the identity of the
person who wrote the message.
But he said its discovery helped lead to the
recent decision to re-arrest the three suspects.
All three have since been
released. The Aruba Public Prosecutor's Office said this week it won't charge
them.
Prosecutors said the re-arrests had been warranted by the
circumstantial evidence.
Those include witness statements saying the
suspects had been behaving strangely in the hours after Holloway vanished.
They have said they still believe the trio was somehow involved in
Holloway's disappearance, but can't prove it because no body has turned up.

Ugh, so frustrating! Unless the unnamed suspect was just repeating what most people have been assuming, one would hope that statement alone would have made a difference!
Anyway, if you know what happened to Natalee, please call the FBI tipline at 1-877-628-2533.

Natalee's website: http://www.allpointsbulletin.org/Natalee_Holloway.html
Another blog about Natalee: http://blogsfornatalee.com/

Billy Smolinski: Ex-girlfriend sues family

2007-12-15T22:35:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure how recent of a development this is. This was posted on the columnist's blog, The Brass File, on December 9, and obviously it must have happened this year, but I am not sure exactly when. Anyway, the article is definitely worth reading, especially if you were not already familiar with Billy's story. However, I thought I was fairly familiar with Billy's story, but this included a lot of details I did not know or did not remember. At the original site there are also several photos to accompany the article.
Posted at http://waterburyobserver.blogspot.com/2007/12/punch-in-face.html:

Sunday, December 9, 2007
December 2007 - A Punch In The Face
In A Bizarre Twist, Billy Smolinski's
ex-girlfriend, Madeleine Gleason, sues the Smolinski family, and The Waterbury
Observer
Column By John Murray
How much abuse can Janice and Bill Smolinski take?
The Waterbury Police Department failed them, the political process is
messing with their heads, and now they find themselves trapped in a lawsuit
filed by their son’s ex-girlfriend that amounts to legalized extortion.
This extraordinary story began three years ago when Janice and Bill’s
31-year-old son disappeared in Waterbury. The Smolinskis were unable to get
local authorities to treat the situation seriously, and their own efforts to
find Billy have been thwarted by sloppy police work, bungled science, and a
national missing person network with holes large enough for a herd of elephants
to stampede through.
Everywhere they turned for help they crashed into a wall of incompetence.
Their faith in the system is shattered.
“ Everything that could go wrong in this case has gone wrong,” Janice
Smolinski said. “Everything.”
The Smolinskis are convinced their son was murdered three years ago. At the
time of his disappearance Billy Smolinski was involved in a love triangle with
enough haunting circumstances to launch a Stephen King novel. Billy was dating
an older woman, Madeleine Gleason, who was 16 years his senior. After dating for
more than a year, Billy discovered Madeleine was also involved with a married
Woodbridge politician named Chris Sorensen.
Billy and Madeleine argued, and broke up. Billy left a threatening message
on Sorensen’s answering machine telling him “to watch his back”, and a few hours
later Billy vanished off the face of the earth.
Janice and Bill Smolinski don’t know the details of what happened to their
son on August 24th, 2004, but they believe he was murdered and his body buried
somewhere in the lower Naugatuck Valley.
A tip called into CrimeStoppers, and subsequently released by the Freedom
of Information Commission, fingers Madeleine Gleason’s son, Shaun Karpuik, as
the murderer. The information given to CrimeStoppers was highly detailed and
alleged that Karpuik, with help from at least one friend, strangled Billy inside
Madeleine’s apartment.
Karpuik was a former grave digger in Seymour, and at the time of Billy’s
disappearance Karpuik was working for a landscaping company and had ready access
to heavy earth moving equipment.
Three months after Billy Smolinski vanished, Shaun Karpuik died of a drug
overdose in Waterbury. The FBI seized control of the investigation in August
2006, and earlier this year they excavated several sites in Shelton in an
unsuccessful effort to unearth the remains of Billy Smolinski. The federal
investigation is ongoing.
STRANGE BEHAVIOR
Several days after Billy disappeared the Smolinski family, unable to get
the attention of Waterbury police, launched their own search. They scoured the
banks of the Naugatuck River and combed through all the spots they knew Billy
loved.
The Smolinskis hung missing person posters throughout western Connecticut,
and followed up on every lead that came their way. A month later reports started
filtering in from several towns that someone was tearing down Billy’s missing
person posters. Janice and Bill drove around Ansonia, Seymour and Woodbridge,
and discovered that dozens of posters had been removed.
Eventually a witness in Amity caught a woman standing on the bumper of her
car tearing down a poster and jotted down the license plate number. The vandal
turned out to be Madeleine Gleason, Billy’s ex-girlfriend.
‘That’s when the chaos started.” Janice Smolinski said. “We brought the
information to the Waterbury police department and the Woodbridge police
department and they were both totally disinterested.”
So the Smolinskis set up a surveillance operation and videotaped Madeleine
tearing down the posters. The family would hang them up, and at night Madeleine
and one of her friends would tear them down. In addition to ripping posters off
telephone poles Gleason eventually began slashing Billy’s face on the poster and
spray painting “Who cares?”.
“We couldn’t understand why she was doing this,” Janice Smolinski said.
“Our son was missing and instead of helping us find him, she drove around
slashing his photograph. Why would anybody do that?”
Unable to get any police assistance, the Smolinskis continued the cat and
mouse game for months, convinced that Madeleine knew something about Billy’s
disappearance. The game grew so bold that Janice would hang a poster on a
telephone pole and Madeleine would walk up and rip it down right in Janice’s
face.
In a world turned upside down, the confrontation ended when Janice
Smolinski was arrested by Woodbridge police for harassment. Gleason lived in
Woodbridge and was a school bus driver in town. Sorensen, the other part of the
love triangle, was an elected official in Woodbridge, and a prominent
businessman involved in running a long distance trucking company. Janice had
dared to enter the lion’s den in search of her son, and she was bitten. The
charges against Janice were eventually dropped, but not before the soft-spoken
woman was booked and fingerprinted. She was told to stay out of
Woodbridge.
In March 2006 the Observer published a five page investigative piece on the
case entitled “Gone”, airing out explosive details of the love triangle, and
exposing the inept police investigation into Billy’s disappearance. There were
impossibly strong leads to follow in the case, yet Waterbury detectives said
their investigation had stalled. Deputy Chief Jimmy Egan had the nerve to say
that “Billy was probably having a beer somewhere in Europe.”
Three months after the story was published Madeleine Gleason and B and B
Transportation (her employer) filed a lawsuit against Janice Smolinski, Paula
Bell (Billy’s sister) and The Waterbury Observer for harassment and invasion of
privacy. One month later the FBI took over the investigation into Billy’s
disappearance and the lawsuit went silent for 14 months, until a few weeks
ago.
A judge called the lawyers together on November 15th in a move my lawyer,
Atty. Mark Lee, said was a simple procedure to see where the lawsuit stood.
Atty. Lee and the Smolinski’s lawyer both said we didn’t have to be present, and
I went out of town on a previously scheduled trip to Ohio. I missed the
unexpected fireworks.
Despite our lawyers statements that we didn’t need to be present, Bill and
Janice Smolinski, and their daughter, Paula Bell, went to Superior Court in New
Haven to see what would happen. Madeleine Gleason showed up with high powered
lawyer John Williams, who decades earlier had built a reputation by challenging
police corruption, and defending the Black Panthers in New Haven.
As the proceedings began the judge unexpectedly tried to settle the case on
the spot. Instead of dismissing an outrageous and baseless lawsuit, the judge
asked Atty. Williams what his client needed to settle the case.
The response was $115,000 from the Smolinskis, and $115,000 from the
Observer. After some wrangling Atty. Williams set his clients final demand at
$25,000 for Gleason and $5000 for B and B Transportation. The offer was quickly
refused.
The charges against Janice Smolinski and Paula Bell is a “he said - she
said” story. Gleason accuses the two women of systematic harassment that led to
emotional distress. She has no proof to back up her allegations and Janice and
Paula state the charges are “total lies”.
The charges against the Observer are more specific and easier to decipher.
The paper is accused of invasion of privacy for publishing the sordid details of
Gleason’s life - which are all true - and for publishing photographs of her
tearing down missing person flyers in public.
The charges are ludicrous. For nine months Madeleine Gleason destroyed
hundreds of missing person posters of Billy Smolinski in broad daylight - in
public - having the nerve to tear them down in the face of a grieving and
distraught mother. The Smolinskis have videotape of Gleason stopping her school
bus to tear down flyers. A Woodbridge police report names Gleason as a suspect
in the disappearance of Billy Smolinski. The report said she would remain a
suspect until she took a polygraph test. She has never taken the test, so she
remains a suspect. A document released by the FOI Commission alleges that Billy
Smolinski was murdered in Madeleine Gleason’s apartment.
And Madeleine Gleason is the one filing a lawsuit?
It
reminds me of a case a lawyer friend had back in 1992. She had just been hired
by a local firm that specialized in personal injury law and her first client was
a real slug. Her client had been intoxicated, sped through a red light and
crashed into another car. He claimed damages and wanted to file a lawsuit. My
friend was shocked, but her boss told her to file the lawsuit. The insurance
company eventually settled for $10,000 rather than pay expensive legal fees to
fight the case. It made no sense to her, or to me.
And that’s the situation the Smolinskis find themselves in now. There is no
way Madeleine Gleason could ever win her lawsuit against the Smolinskis, or the
Observer, but that doesn’t matter.
If we fight the ridiculous charges in a full blown trial we are going to
spend tens of thousands of dollars on depositions and legal fees. Several
lawyers estimate that a trial could cost the Smolinskis $50,000 to $100,000. No
lawyer I’ve spoken to believes Madeleine Gleason has a shot of winning a verdict
at trial, but who has an extra $50,000 laying around to pay for that
outcome?
And that’s why I describe this process as legalized extortion. Fighting
this absurd charge will cost you $100,000, but if you pay us $25,000 right now
we’ll settle the lawsuit. Either way you lose. It doesn’t matter about being
right or wrong, about printing the truth or publishing lies. The system forces
people to accept a punch in the face to try and get out of the court system with
their vital organs still intact.
While the lawyers were in the judge’s chamber going over the case, four
people sat quietly in a hallway; Bill Smolinski, Janice Smolinski, Paula Bell,
and not far away – Madeleine Gleason. And when their lawyer came out and told
them they could settle the case for $115,000, Bill Smolinski said he wouldn’t
give Madeleine Gleason one dollar. Their lawyer advised them that if they went
to trial they would spend tens of thousands in legal fees, and if they lost,
they could lose their house and their life savings.
“I was crushed,” Janice Smolinski said. “I always thought we could depend
on the authorities and society to help us out. But the whole system completely
failed us.”
The Smolinskis have already shelled out more than $10,000 in legal fees,
and now trapped in a legal vice, they eventually offered $2500 to settle the
case. That offer was refused by Gleason and B and B Transportation. The Observer
has shelled out $5000 in legal fees, offered $500 to settle, and that offer was
also refused.
Neither the Smolinskis or The Waterbury Observer will offer another dollar
to settle the case. Let the chips fall where they may.
“We are not going to give anyone a dime for false accusations,” Janice
Smolinski said. “We were caught off guard that day in court, but we’ll go to
trial if we have to.”
In the three years since Billy disappeared the Smolinskis belief in the
system has crumbled around them. They not only lost a son, they have lost faith
in the concept of justice in America. “If we weren’t going through this I
wouldn’t believe that all this could happen,” Janice Smolinski said. “We used to
believe that if someone got arrested it meant they had done something wrong. We
used to believe that if somebody was sued they had done something wrong. Nothing
makes sense anymore. I feel like we are in an episode of the Twilight
Zone.”
(For more informationon on the case check out
www.waterburyobserver.com)

If you have any information on the disappearance of William Smolinski, please call the New Haven FBI at (203) 777-6311. You can also email tips to info@justice4billy.com or "snail mail" them to
P.O. Box 123, Cheshire, CT 06410.

Billy's website: http://www.justice4billy.com/
You can download and print a poster of Billy at http://www.justice4billy.com/Billy_with_Harley_2006_2007.pdf, or print one from http://www.theyaremissed.org/ncma/gallery/ncmaprofile_all.php?A200402022S if you do not have PDF capabilities.

Photo of Billy from his NCMA poster.

Sandra Baker: Children want her declared dead

2007-12-15T21:18:00.000-05:00

I did not remember hearing all of these details, such as the possible burial location or the threats against the guards.

Article from http://www.sharonherald.com/local/local_story_347222022.html:

Published December 13, 2007 10:20 pm - Sandra Kay Baker has not been seen
or heard from since she went missing 7 1/2 years ago and a judge could determine
that she’s considered dead.
Children seek ruling of Sandra Baker’s death
By Monica Pryts
Herald Staff Writer
DELAWARE TOWNSHIP —
Sandra Kay Baker has not been seen or heard from
since she went missing 7 1/2 years ago and a judge could determine that she’s
considered dead.
Ms. Baker’s two children, who live in Florida, petitioned
the Mercer County Court of Common Pleas to determine their mother’s death, said
their attorney, Ted Isoldi of Mercer.
Ms. Baker’s children want her death to
be officially established so her estate can be processed, for which a death
certificate is needed, he said.
A hearing has been set for Feb. 8 in front of
Judge Thomas R. Dobson, who will look at the facts of the state police
investigation about Ms. Baker’s disappearance, Isoldi said.
The investigation
is ongoing but police have said Ms. Baker is presumed dead. A notice of the
hearing filed by the court said police and the Mercer County District Attorney’s
office believe she was murdered on May 25, 2000, the last day she was seen
alive.
Ms. Baker was 46 and lived in Delaware Township when she went missing.
Her fiancé, William T. Crea Jr., whom she used to live with in his parents’
home, has been named a suspect in her disappearance. Crea, who now lives in
Ellwood City, hasn’t been charged.
Police said Crea reported Ms. Baker
missing May 31, 2000, and that he last saw her May 25 at Sheetz in Pymatuning
Township.
In January 2006, Clifford Stephen Aley Jr., 50, a private
investigator from Ambridge who performed a background check on Ms. Baker for
Crea, was found guilty of lying to police about her disappearance.
Aley was
sentenced in March 2006 to 18 to 48 months in prison and is serving in
Frackville. Aley appealed the conviction but it was denied in February in state
Superior Court. He’s also serving a 4-to-12-months sentence for threatening
Mercer County Sheriff’s deputies and Mercer County Jail guards.
While Aley
was on trial, he testified that on May 28, 2000, Crea told him he strangled Ms.
Baker May 25 after accusing her of having an affair. Crea told Aley he buried
her body in a container where no one would trip over it, about five to eight
miles from his parents’ home at 62 Folk Road, Delaware Township. Police have
searched that area but found nothing.
Aley admitted he lied to police about
Ms. Baker’s disappearance because Crea told him he would have Aley’s children
killed if he told police Crea confessed to killing Ms. Baker.

If you know anything else about what happened to Sandra, please call the Pennsylvania State Police at (724) 662-6162.

You can print a poster of Sandra at http://www.theyaremissed.org/ncma/gallery/ncmaprofile_all.php?A200300269W.

Photo of Sandra from her poster.

Jean Marie Stewart: newspaper write-up

2007-12-13T09:24:00.000-05:00

This is the first media mention I've found about her death. It seems like the reporters were quite thorough.
From http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07347/841307-85.stm:

After 27 years, girl's cold case becomes a homicide
Thursday, December 13, 2007
By Jonathan D. Silver, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The night before she
was to leave, her friends had a going-away party for her. A friend picked her up
to bring her back to the house when she wanted to stop at the convenience store.
The friend went in to make her purchase, as she had already removed her shoes.
He was inside only minutes (there were no other customers), and when he
returned, she was gone. Her purse, shoes and money were all still in the car.
She never returned to the house to get money, ticket or other belongings. Foul
play is suspected in her disappearance.
-- The Doe Network
As a teenager
in Brookline in the 1970s, Jean Marie Stewart was a wild child -- drinking,
skipping classes at Brashear High School and dating an older boy.
"She was
out of control," recalled her father, Robert E. Stewart. "I think I was pretty
broken down, to be honest with you."
In the summer of 1978 when Jean was 15,
Mr. Stewart agreed to what he viewed as a last-ditch plan. He signed paperwork
to allow her to move in with her boyfriend's family in Miami Lakes, Fla. Jean's
mother, Mr. Stewart's ex-wife, Jean Hahalyak, said she argued with her daughter
for taking up with a boyfriend several years older but could not dissuade her
from leaving.
Jean visited home twice the next year. On March 25, 1980, the
eve of what would have been another trip home -- this time to celebrate her 17th
birthday -- she vanished.
That night, Jean attended a going-away party. She
drove home with her boyfriend. They stopped at a convenience store. He went
inside; when he returned, Jean was gone, never to be heard from again.
"She
didn't want to be here," Mr. Stewart, 75, of Mt. Lebanon said this week. "She
wanted to be there with him, all the way until her death."
Date of Death or
Discovery: 1981-04-20. Estimated Age of Decedent: 11-20. Presumed Race: White.
Gender: Female. Location Found: In a remote field at 6001 W. 28th Ave., in
Hialeah. Scars, Surgeries and Other Dental and Medical Information: Complete and
partial root canal. Decedent had an overbite.
-- Florida Unidentified
Decedents Database
Mr. Stewart and Mrs. Hahalyak telephoned police
departments in Florida. All said they had not seen Jean and that, as an apparent
runaway, there was only so much they could do.
Mr. Stewart also contacted
Therese Rocco, then a Pittsburgh police captain who oversaw the bureau's missing
persons squad.
As part of her investigation, Ms. Rocco sent Jean's dental
records to Miami Lakes, nearby Hialeah and other places in the nation that
spring. Nothing came of her efforts.
About 13 months after Jean disappeared,
human remains were discovered in a remote field in Hialeah, a city of about
250,000 adjacent to Miami Lakes. They went to the local medical examiner's
office and became Case No. 1981-01253.
They would go unidentified for 26
years.
In Miami Lakes, another type of investigation began, one much more
informal, by Lauran Halleck, a Brookline native.
It was her mother who took
in Jean. It was her brother, David Nolle, who was identified by Mr. Stewart and
Mrs. Hahalyak as Jean's boyfriend, though Ms. Halleck believed they were only
friends.
Ms. Halleck, 54, an artist who lives in South Carolina, said she was
fond of Jean, whom she recalled as a headstrong, beautiful girl with modeling
aspirations.
"She was a typical 16-year-old. The grass is always greener.
Somebody else's rules were always better. She loved her family dearly," Ms.
Halleck said. "They loved their daughter and wanted her happy. Jean was just the
typical troubled teen in that sense, even with us. We had difficulties getting
her to school. She'd walk in the front door and walk out the back door."
On
the night of the party, Ms. Halleck said her brother chauffeured Jean in their
stepfather's new Cadillac. On the way home, they stopped about a block from
their house to buy cigarettes. Jean, who often didn't wear shoes, could not go
in because she was barefoot.
"He walked in and walked out, and she was gone,"
Ms. Halleck said.
Mr. Stewart said he heard a slightly different story from
Mr. Nolle's mother, that Jean and Mr. Nolle had argued and she ran out of the
car when he stopped to buy cigarettes.
By then, the relationship between the
two had soured, Mr. Stewart said. During a phone call the day she disappeared,
Mr. Stewart said Mr. Nolle made it clear he wanted Jean to move back to
Pittsburgh for good.
Ms. Halleck said her brother called the family
immediately, and she and her siblings -- seven of them in all -- scoured the
area to no avail.
"I was all over the place trying to find her. There was no
Internet. I was calling medical centers, calling hospitals, calling juvenile
detention centers. I mean I covered everything within 100 miles religiously,"
Ms. Halleck said.
A man who answered the telephone at Mr. Nolle's home
yesterday said he was not available and hung up.
Ms. Halleck eventually
became involved with volunteer groups that search for missing persons by
trolling for information and passing it along to investigators. In March 2006,
she started Porchlight for the Missing and Unidentified, a Web site dedicated to
Jean's memory.
"I just couldn't let her go. I felt like somebody needed to be
her voice," Ms. Halleck said. "It started me on a lifelong quest."
"Jean's
parents have given DNA and we are awaiting the results of several different
possible matches. The waiting seems to get harder, not easier ... sigh. Still
searching for you, Jean. No matter what ..."
-- Posting Aug. 22, 2005 by
Lauran Halleck on websleuths.com
Dinorah Perry, a Broward County real estate
agent, has a second job. She runs Missing Children International Ministries, a
group she founded in 2004 to help raise awareness about Florida's missing
children. One of the cases she initially reviewed was Jean's.
"Jean Marie's
background really took my attention because it said a girl on her way to
Pennsylvania, and I said to myself, 'That girl never made it out of Miami Lakes
let alone Pennsylvania,'" Ms. Perry, 45, said.
"I knew in my heart that no
one was working on Jean's case so I just started yelling at every detective I
could find that would listen to me."
The case was reopened by the Miami-Dade
Police Department. Lead investigator Detective Brigitte Robert credited Ms.
Perry for her doggedness.
"Because you know what? If that didn't happen, this
possible match might have just gone into the case files," Detective Robert
said.
In late 2006, as part of a routine look at cold cases, the Florida
Department of Law Enforcement asked Miami-Dade police to track down Jean's
parents and obtain DNA samples. Detective Robert did so. In December, she was
assigned the case.
"Jean Marie Stewart has been Identified ..."
-- Posting
Dec. 5, 2007 by Ellen Leach on Porchlight.
Ellen Leach, 49, of Gulfport,
Miss., works as a night stocker at a store. Her second job -- this one unpaid --
is to find missing people. She worked first with the Doe Network, then with
Porchlight. She has known Ms. Halleck for several years and was familiar with
the story of Jean, that she disappeared from Miami Lakes and had an
overbite.
On Nov. 10, a posting on the Doe Network about unidentified remains
drew her attention.
There was more information on the Florida Unidentified
Decedents Database, a Web site with information from the state's medical
examiners' offices. That information was put online in April.
"It mentioned
the overbite and that's what caught my eye," Ms. Leach said.
She checked the
mileage between Miami Lakes and Hialeah and saw the communities were within a
few miles of each other. She faxed Miami-Dade police. Detective Robert picked up
a phone.
"She called me 45 minutes within faxing of it there. She was excited
about the possible match and was gonna get it checked into," Ms. Leach
said.
Detective Robert contacted the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner
Department and provided Jean's dental records. Police had them on file, but
Detective Robert could not say when they first obtained them.
On Nov. 28, a
positive match was made.
"I was elated," Detective Robert said.
"Thank you
all for looking for Jean Marie all these years. At least we know she is at peace
and she can come home now. She was apparently found just about five miles from
home, and just a year later. She is much loved and greatly missed. A long
journey is now over, and I am brokenhearted."
-- Posting Dec. 5, 2007, by
Lauran Halleck on websleuths.com.
Jean's case is being investigated as a
homicide, according to the medical examiner's office.
Mrs. Hahalyak, 75, of
Greenfield, said she's been told her daughter might have been shot, but she
knows little more than she did decades ago.
"I just figured something bad had
to have happened to her, that her remains were in the ocean or something,'' she
said.
One of her current husband Eddie's late brothers was a Pittsburgh
police detective and another was an Allegheny County police officer, and as the
years passed she drew comfort from their assurance: "Police keep working. They
never give up on anything."
"I've cried and prayed every day she's been
missing. She would have been a nice sister for my other kids."
Detective
Robert and Sgt. Frank Nazario, who oversees the Hialeah police homicide squad,
would not discuss the investigation, except that Sgt. Nazario said two
detectives have been assigned to investigate. He would not say if they have
identified a suspect or comment on past aspects of the case.
Mr. Stewart said
he was glad to be rid "of the great pressure of just not knowing" what had
happened to his daughter. "We want to see them get the culprit no matter who it
is."
Who killed Jean Marie Stewart? That is the biggest question of the
case.
But there is another major question. If police in Florida had Jean's
dental records, if the remains of a young woman with an overbite were discovered
only a few miles from where Jean disappeared a year later, why did it take more
than a quarter-century for a volunteer advocate to put two and two
together?
"It should have been solved in 1981," said Ms. Rocco, who went on
to become assistant chief of the Pittsburgh police and retired in 1994.
"That
was the question we had," Detective Robert said. "What happened? And we don't
have an answer."
Staff writers Bill Schackner and Cindi Lash contributed.
Jonathan D. Silver can be reached at jsilver@post-gazette.com or
412-263-1962.
First published on December 13, 2007 at 12:00 am

If you have any information on who killed Jean Marie Stewart, please call the Miami Dade Police at (305) 418-7200.

Karen Adams missing from Independence Township, Beaver County, Pennsylvania

2007-12-13T08:42:00.000-05:00

I first found out about Karen on the Porchlight International message boards. She has been on the index of this blog for a little while, but this is my first post on her. She has started making the news again!
From http://kdka.com/local/Missing.Beaver.County.2.609601.html:

Dec 12, 2007 9:48 pm US/Eastern
FBI Probes Case Of Missing Beaver Co Woman
BEAVER (KDKA) ―
The FBI i is now involved in the case of a woman from
Beaver County who disappeared without a trace nine months ago. Karen Adams was
last seen in March when she left her home in Independence Township apparently on
her way to Mountaineer Gaming Resort in West Virginia.
There has been no
activity reported on her cell phone or credit cards since she went missing.
She lived with her brother, John Adams, who fears the worst. He says she
would have never left her beloved dog Amy behind.
"When I'd take a vacation,
she'd take a vacation just so the dog wasn't left alone for a long time. I just
don't believe that she left on her own, that something, somebody got her," he
tells KDKA.
When they last spoke the night of her disappearance, Adams
pleaded with his sister to stop blowing money at the casino. He holds out hope
that he will speak to her again someday.
"You know, I just say a little prayer and say, you know, maybe, 'Hope come on home, me and Amy miss you,' and that's it," he said.
Crews from the Independence Township Police Department
and the Hancock County Sheriff's Office launched another search for the missing
woman – this time using a helicopter in their efforts.
The search centered around New Manchester, West Virginia – which is just across
the Beaver County line.
Investigators say it's still an open case.

The most recent update on the search from http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07347/841305-57.stm:

Chopper searches for missing Independence woman
Thursday, December 13,
2007
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
With the help of a state police helicopter,
authorities in Independence searched for evidence in the disappearence of a
Beaver County woman nine months ago.
Karen Adams has been missing since she
left her Independence home in March to go to the Mountaineer Race Track &
Gaming Resort in West Virginia.
Local police have found no activity on her
cell phone or credit cards since, and now they are hoping the FBI will help with
the investigation, Independence police Officer Lance Malobabich
said.
Yesterday, police traced the routes Ms. Adams could have taken on the
way to the casino to see whether her maroon car or any other evidence could be
spotted.
"They thought they'd see if maybe she went over a bank somewhere,"
Officer Malobabich said. "But they didn't find anything."
First published on
December 13, 2007 at 12:00 am

Another article with description and contact information (http://www.wtrf.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=32534):

Authorities Search West Virginia for Missing Pennsylvania Woman
Posted Wednesday, December 12, 2007 ; 09:00 PM
Updated Wednesday, December 12, 2007 ; 09:19 PM
Read description below
and call police with any information.
Story by Leigh Ann Towne
CHESTER -- Local sheriff's deputies aided Pennsylvania
authorities on Wendnesday in searching for a woman who was last spotted in
Hancock County, West Virginia, according to Hancock County 911.
911 added, a
helicopter was used in an aerial search and some deputies even searched a wooded
area on foot.
Authorities are looking for Karen Adams, 54, of Pennsylvania.
Adams was reported missing earlier this year. She was last seen at
Mountaineer Casino Racetrack and Resort, driving a four-door maroon Suzuki with
license plate number ETD5587.
Adams is described as a white female with
green eyes, brown hair. She is 5'4" and weighs 120 pounds.
The search on
Wednesday turned up nothing. If you have any information please contact
Independence police at (724)378-7774.

According to an older article from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Karen was seen leaving the casino on surveillance videos at 4:00 AM on March 12. Someone also accessed her cell phone voice mail at 4:35 AM.

Brooke Wilberger: Suspect sentenced in another case, can now be extradited

2007-12-13T08:23:00.000-05:00

Brooke's case finally seems to be moving ahead a bit; now if only she could be found!
Article from http://www.gazettetimes.com/articles/2007/12/12/news/community/5aaa02_courtney.txt:

Thursday, December 13, 2007
Last modified Tuesday, December 11, 2007 11:58 PM PST
DA works to move Wilberger
suspect to Oregon
BY MICHAEL BOOTH
Gazette-Times reporter
Sex offender sentenced to 18 years by New Mexico
judge
Joel Patrick Courtney, the man indicted in the abduction and death of
Brooke Wilberger, was sentenced to 18 years in prison on Tuesday on an unrelated
case in New Mexico.
But if Benton County District Attorney John Haroldson
has his way, Courtney, 41, will be returned to Oregon within 90 days.
“Our
focus is to bring him back to Benton County to face charges,” said Haroldson,
who was in Albuquerque on Tuesday to attend Courtney’s sentencing and to testify
if Courtney attempted to delay sentencing.
Courtney faces multiple charges here in connection with the 2004
kidnapping, rape and murder of Wilberger, a 19-year-old Brigham Young University
student from Veneta who was spending the summer after her freshman year of
college with her sister in Corvallis when she disappeared. Wilberger’s body has
never been found, but Courtney has been charged with aggravated murder,
kidnapping, rape and sodomy.
“The Wilbergers and the state of Oregon have waited a long time for
Courtney to face these charges,” Haroldson said
Courtney pleaded guilty in September to kidnapping and sexually assaulting
a University of New Mexico student in Albuquerque.
Although Haroldson said he is optimistic the extradition process will run
smoothly, it is not without potential delays.
Haroldson said he will submit a request today for a governor’s warrant to
Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski, who would forward an extradition warrant to the
governor of New Mexico. Courtney could fight the extradition in a number of
ways.
“The main challenge I’d anticipate is a challenge to the governor’s
warrant,” Haroldson said. “There are more obscure things (Courtney) can do also.
… He can be cooperative or he can decide to fight it all the way.”
Extreme attempts to stall extradition can take up to a year, Haroldson
said.
Haroldson’s expectation that Courtney will mount some challenge during the
extradition process is based on Courtney’s prior actions. While the New Mexico
case moved through the court system, Courtney at various points refused to
communicate with his attorney, refused to enter a plea and refused to respond to
a plea deal offered by the prosecutor — all apparent stalling tactics, Haroldson
said. Courtney waited until after jury selection had been completed, then agreed
to accept a plea bargain.
During sentencing on Tuesday, Courtney’s attorney filed a motion to
withdraw the guilty plea and then asked to withdraw from the case. Both motions
were denied.
The sentence handed down on Tuesday was for 18 years in prison and up to 20
years on parole.
An agreement between states, called an interstate compact, used to quickly
transfer a criminal defendant from one state to another, was one option for
Haroldson. However, he said he chose the formal extradition process for a
specific reason.
“Provisions in the statute (interstate compact) can create issues, with
regard to the prosecution, in death-penalty cases,” Haroldson said. “In this
case, I will be seeking the death penalty.”
Assuming the extradition goes through, there is no possibility that
Courtney would be allowed to serve his sentence in New Mexico before facing a
trial in Oregon, Haroldson said.
“The defendant has the right to a speedy trial,” Haroldson said. “If there
is a delay with the state, it may provide a basis for the criminal charges to be
dismissed. ... It is incumbent upon us in the D.A.’s office to have no
delays.”
Haroldson said Benton County’s investigation of Courtney is ongoing.
“In certain respects, there is the criminal investigation, as related to
the charges, then the investigation in regard to finding the body of Brooke
Wilberger,” Haroldson said. “It’s certainly an important objective to find her
body.”

If you know anything about Brooke's disappearance, please call the Corvallis Police Department at (541) 766-3522 or the Portland FBI at (503) 224-4181.
You can print a poster of Brooke at http://www.theyaremissed.org/ncma/gallery/ncmaprofile_all.php?A200401499S.

Photo of Brooke from her poster.

FOUND SAFE: Vanessa Schultz

2007-12-13T07:28:00.000-05:00

A copy of her recovery notice from http://fromwhisperstor.6.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=17396:

Dear Poster Partner:
Vanessa Schultz missing from Erie, PA, has been recovered. Please
discontinue dissemination of this poster. Your participation in this program has
made a valuable contribution to this recovery.
Please remove and discard any posters on this case that you have placed in
public view.
Thank you for your support.
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
Visit our web site at www.missingkids.com.

An update on her being found has also been posted on her MySpace page. Her mom posted a comment confirming this on December 10; however, people had heard she had been found since at least December 6. There are some rumors about how she was found, such as that she was in Florida, that she was found by the FBI, and that she was with her boyfriend and his family. However, others say her boyfriend was still back in Pennsylvania.

This also means that the unidentified young woman found dead in Kilgore, Texas, is not Vanessa, even though several people have remarked at the resemblance.

Natalee Holloway: Joran van der Sloot released; case could close

2007-12-07T19:24:00.000-05:00

Article from http://www.wsfa.com/Global/story.asp?S=7467937&nav=0RdE:

Dutch Suspect in Holloway Case Freed After Judge's Ruling
Updated: Dec 7, 2007 6:59 PM EST

A judge Friday ordered the release of the last of three suspects
re-arrested last month in the disappearance of Alabama teen Natalee Holloway. He
ruled the evidence was not strong enough to continue holding Joran van der
Sloot.
He had been in custody since November 21st along with two other
suspects, brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe, who were released from jail
December 1st following a similar ruling.
A prosecutor said the 20-year-old
Van der Sloot was ordered freed because the judge found the investigation has
not resulted in more direct evidence than before that Holloway died as a result
of a violent crime against her or that the suspect has been involved in such a
crime.
Van der Sloot walked out of jail, accompanied by one of his
attorneys.
Chief prosecutor Hans Mos said the men did not divulge any new
information under interrogation, leaving the investigation in the same place it
was before the arrests.
Prosecutors say they have evidence that Holloway,
who was 18 when she disappeared in May 2005, is dead.
No trace of the
Mountain Brook teen has ever been found despite extensive searches.

More sad news from http://www.woio.com/global/story.asp?s=7469804:

Prosecutor in Natalee Holloway Case Ready to Drop Investigation by Month's End
Posted: Dec 8, 2007 03:26 PM EST
Updated: Dec 8, 2007 03:26 PM EST
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - Aruba's chief prosecutor says officials need to
find strong evidence in Natalee Holloway's disappearance by the end of the
month, or he'll close the case.
Hans Mos tells The Associated Press that he
has promised the suspects that after December 31st, his office will not pursue
the investigation.
The probe has revolved around three suspects who were the
last people known to see Holloway before she vanished.
Mos says he and the
Holloway family feel pursuing a minor charge serves no purpose. No one has been
formally charged in the two-year-long probe.
He won't comment on the kind of
evidence his office is reviewing. But he says he doesn't anticipate finding
Holloway's remains and prosecuting a case without them would be very hard.

My hope is that the new deep-water search will turn up something that will be enough to either solve the case or at least keep it open.

If you know anything about where Natalee might be, please call the FBI tipline at 1-877-628-2533.
Natalee's website: http://www.allpointsbulletin.org/Natalee_Holloway.html
A blog covering the search: http://nholloway.blogspot.com/

Another blog about Natalee: http://blogsfornatalee.com/

Photo of Natalee from her website.

Found deceased: Jean Marie Stewart

2007-12-05T17:01:00.000-05:00

Update - 12/07/07 - Word of Jean's death has been posted on her website, http://www.freewebs.com/searchjeanstewart/index.htm.
As I was perusing Websleuths for updates, I saw that there were recent posts on Jean's thread (http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18097&page=3). Curious, I clicked on it, and I was in for a bit of a shock: The second to the last post mentioned about Jean now being "at peace" and being able to come home. At peace? That is usually used when people are dead! I scrolled up a little more and saw that yesterday someone posted that he/she had heard from Jean's foster sister that an unidentified body found in Florida in 1981 has been identified as Jean's.
So, is it true? Well, a Google news search on her name did not bring up anything, and searching just "jean stewart" only brought up other people with the same name. So I searched on regular Google. One thing I found was that she had been removed from the website of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, so that could have been significant.
Finally, I found it! I saw that she had been removed from the missing females list on pennsylvaniamissing.com, and finally I found her at the bottom of their "In Memory Page" (http://www.pennsylvaniamissing.com/homepage/inmemory.html):

Jean Marie Stewart - 16, a Pittsburgh native, disappeared from Miami Lakes, Dade
City, FL on March 25, 1980. Her remains were located in a remote field at
6001 West 28 Avenue, in Hialeah, FL on April 20, 1981 but she was not identified
until December 2007.

An update was also posted at the North American Center for Unidentified Persons & Unsolved Crimes (http://missingme.2007.angelfire.com/stewart_jean.html):

Update
On April 20th, 1981, Jean Marie Stewart's body was found in a field
off West 28th Avenue, in Hialeah, Dade County, Florida, a remote area not far
from where she disappeared. She remained unidentified until December 2007, when
a volunteer for the website Porchlight International made the match and
submitted it to law enforcement. Dade County officials have confirmed the match
through dental records.
No cause of death has yet been released, and the
investigation is ongoing.

A Porchlight thread on the identification: http://z10.invisionfree.com/usedtobedoe/ar/t26306.htm (A little more digging led me to something else I probably heard but forgot: Porchlight was actually started by Jean's foster sister!)

Natalee Holloway: Appeal denied

2007-12-05T16:49:00.000-05:00

Well, I guess for now this aspect of the case is another disappointment. However, as far as I know, Joran van der Sloot is still in jail.
Article from http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-12-05-aruba-missing-teen_N.htm:

Aruba court denies appeal in release of Holloway suspects
Posted 18m
ago
ORANJESTAD, Aruba (AP) — A judge on Wednesday refused to overrule the
release of two suspects in the 2005 disappearance of American teenager Natalee
Holloway, the prosecutors' office said.
The suspects, Surinamese brothers
Deepak and Satish Kalpoe, were released from jail on Saturday after a judge
ruled the evidence was not strong enough to continue holding them on suspicion
of involvement in Holloway's death.
Prosecutors challenged the decision at a
closed session Tuesday, but were rebuffed by the appeals court, said John Pauly,
communications consultant for Aruba's prosecutors' office.
The Kalpoe
brothers — Deepak is 24, Satish is 21 — were arrested for a third time in the
case on Nov. 21 along with a third suspect, Joran van der Sloot, who remains in
jail pending a hearing Thursday. Prosecutors said the latest arrests were
justified by new evidence.
Holloway, of Mountain Brook, Alabama, was last
seen leaving a bar with the three suspects on May 30, 2005, hours before she was
scheduled to return home with fellow high school classmates celebrating their
graduation on this Caribbean island. She was 18 at the time.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: Aruba Natalee Holloway Satish Kalpoe
All three have denied any role in the disappearance.
An attorney for Deepak Kalpoe, Hose Figaroa, said his client "is trying to get his
life back to normal" and hopes that "finally this case will stop haunting him."
No trace of Holloway has been found despite extensive searches and uncertainty hangs over the case.
"Notwithstanding expensive and lengthy investigations on her disappearance and on people who could be involved, the file against the suspect does not contain direct indications that Natalee passed away due to a violent crime," the ruling said.

I also checked the blog about the search (http://nholloway.blogspot.com/), and currently they have removed the information that they posted until it can be reviewed. They also are keeping the exact search area "classified". I suppose this is probably a good idea--maybe sometimes we are told too much about some cases. (One of the risks of being "high-profile"!)

Anyway, if you know anything about where Natalee might be, please call the FBI tipline at 1-877-628-2533.
Natalee's website: http://www.allpointsbulletin.org/Natalee_Holloway.html
Another blog about Natalee: http://blogsfornatalee.com/

Photo of Natalee from her website.

FOUND SAFE: Shane Lee

2007-12-05T15:59:00.000-05:00

A copy of the notice from http://fromwhisperstor.6.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=27237:

Dear Poster Partner:
Shane Lee missing from Lemont Furnace, PA, has been recovered. Please
discontinue dissemination of this poster. Your participation in this program has
made a valuable contribution to this recovery.
Please remove and discard any posters on this case that you have placed in
public view.
Thank you for your support.
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
Visit our web site at www.missingkids.com.

FOUND SAFE: Erika Hildenbrand

2007-12-04T16:41:00.000-05:00

I couldn't help thinking, "Wow, that was fast." But I guess not all missing persons cases drag on for months and years and decades. Sometimes they might be resolved pretty quickly.
A copy of Erika's found notice as posted at http://fromwhisperstor.6.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=27345:

Dear Poster Partner:
Erika Hildenbrand missing from Pittsburgh, PA, has been recovered. Please
discontinue dissemination of this poster. Your participation in this program has
made a valuable contribution to this recovery.
Please remove and discard any posters on this case that you have placed in
public view.
Thank you for your support.
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
Visit our web site at www.missingkids.com.

Norma Allen had been found

2007-11-30T18:36:00.000-05:00

After I posted the articles I had found on From Whispers to Roars yesterday, one of the other members was kind enough to dig this up. This means that Norma had been found about two and a half weeks before I posted her on here.
From http://news.yahoo.com/s/wtae/20071105/lo_wtae/14509201:

Police Find Missing Indiana Township Woman
Mon Nov 5, 7:33 AM ET
A woman
missing from Indiana Township since Friday, Nov. 2 has been found alive.
Norma Jean Allen, 74, was discovered at a home in Pittsburgh late Sunday
night. She went for a walk from her residence on Cove Run Road in Indiana
Township around 1 p.m. Friday and did not return.
A Pittsburgh Police
supervisor said Allen was not hurt.

Still, I think this is only about the second time that I've posted on someone after they had already been found, so I suppose that's a pretty good track record! And, well, we can also rejoice that the person has been found.

Natalee Holloway: Kalpoe brothers released

2007-11-30T18:26:00.000-05:00

This is disappointing. Hopefully Joran van der Sloot will continue to stay in prison a little while longer. Another article (http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g03xmlbMM0BjGFGrLokyvroCO6FwD8T888001) said that prosecutors have three days to appeal regarding the Kalpoe brothers' release; hopefully they will have a compelling reason to do so.
From http://www.myeyewitnessnews.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=e31d41e4-6258-4b5f-82ee-9fb26cae0a37:

Brothers Released in Holloway Probe
Reported by: Adrienne Phillips
Email: aphillips@myeyewitnessnews.com
Last Update: 5:12 pm

Joran Van Der Sloor (top) Satish and Deepak
Kalpoe were taken into custody, Aruban prosecutors say. Two brothers arrested in
connection with the disappearance of Natalee Holloway have been released. CNN is
reporting the release may be due to lack of evidence.
Holloway went missing in Aruba while on a senior trip in 2005. Deepak and
Satish Kalpoe were arrested earlier this week, along with Joran Van Der Sloot.
Prosecutors thought all three were connected to Holloway's presumed death.
Joran Van der Sloot is still behind bars.
Investigators say he and the Kalpoe brothers were the last people to
see Holloway before she disappeared. They were taken
into custody before as suspects in Holloway's disappearance. Van
Der Sloot's lawyer says his client is frustrated about his return to jail.

If you have any information on Natalee's whereabouts, please call the FBI tipline at 1-877-628-2533.

Natalee's website: http://www.allpointsbulletin.org/Natalee_Holloway.html
A new blog covering the new deep-water search: http://nholloway.blogspot.com/
Another blog about Natalee: http://blogsfornatalee.com/

Photo of Natalee from her website.