James Rapp: Body found

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.

Body found: Jack Longo

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.

Roberta Lawrence found dead back in 2002!

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)

Patrick Fitzgerald: Body found

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

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.

Found deceased: Jean Marie Stewart

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!)

James McCarthy's body found

Hopefully this was just a horrible accident, and not something worse.
Story from http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07100/776608-85.stm:

Missing Avalon man's body found in river near Weirton
Tuesday, April 10,
2007
By Torsten Ove, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A man from Avalon who
disappeared in February was found dead last month in the Ohio River in West
Virginia and police are investigating the circumstances of how he got there.
James L. McCarthy, 79, was last seen at his Orchard Avenue home on Feb. 12.
His body was discovered March 27 in Weirton, W.Va., near the New Cumberland
Lock and Dam. The cause of death is pending, but the body showed no signs of
trauma. Allegheny County police said they do not suspect foul play, but they're
still investigating, as is the medical examiner's office in Charleston, W.Va.
Officials with that office did not return a call yesterday.
"We haven't
concluded anything yet," said Lt. Christopher Kearns, head of county homicide.
Joyce McCarthy said she last saw her husband lying on the couch when she
went to bed. He was gone the next morning. Search dogs tracked him to the
hillside along the riverbank, but no one knows if he fell into the water or
jumped.
Mr. McCarthy's son, Timothy J. McCarthy, said yesterday that his
father, who was often seen walking in Ben Avon, Bellevue and other nearby towns,
did not seem depressed and was unlikely to have committed suicide.
"If you
knew my father, that's the last thing you'd think," he said. "He was constantly
telling jokes to everyone -- bad jokes."
In addition to his wife and son,
Mr. McCarthy, an Army veteran who served in occupied Japan after World War II
and later in Korea, is survived by a daughter, Carol Miller.
A Mass will be
celebrated at 10 a.m. today at Church of the Assumption, Bellevue. Orion C.
Pinkerton Funeral Home in Avalon has handled funeral arrangements.

Similar stories available at http://www.wtov9.com/news/11591876/detail.html and http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07099/776426-54.stm.

Shelly Misinay: Body found

From http://www.wfmj.com/Global/story.asp?S=6163452&nav=menu491_2:

Missing Farrell Woman's Body Found
A Farrell woman missing more than two
weeks was found dead less than a block from her home. Hermitage police say
Shelly Misinay's brother-in-law found the body at a Farrell cemetery.
Misinay, a mother of two young children, went missing in the early morning
hours of Feb. 14 after having an argument with her husband Frank.
Police said
an autopsy will be done on Friday. They would not describe the condition of the
body or if her death is being treated as suspicious.
21 News will have more
on this developing story on 21 News at Six.

The story takes a strange twist, however.
From http://www.sharonherald.com/local/local_story_060204515.html:

Published March 01, 2007 08:45 pm - Papers filed in Mercer County Common
Pleas Court last week may hold some clues to Shelly Misinay’s disappearance more
than two weeks ago. Mrs. Misinay, 41, of 605 Park Ave., Farrell, was found dead
Thursday morning in a cemetery less than a 10-minute walk from her home.
Mrs. Misinay's husband had filed for custody of children
By Patrick W. Connelly
Herald Staff Writer
FARRELL —
Papers filed in Mercer County Common Pleas Court last week
may hold some clues to Shelly Misinay’s disappearance more than two weeks
ago.
Mrs. Misinay, 41, of 605 Park Ave., Farrell, was found dead Thursday
morning in a cemetery less than a 10-minute walk from her home. She had been
missing since Feb. 14.
Her husband, Frank, last week filed for custody of
their children, citing concerns that his missing wife might return and then
disappear again with the kids.
Misinay filed the paperwork Feb. 22; the next
day, Mercer County Common Pleas Judge John C. Reed granted him temporary custody
of Frankie, 6, and Gillian, 4.
According to Misinay’s request for
custody:
Mrs. Misinay had problems with money and spending, and the couple
had been seeing a Hermitage psychologist from September until December 2005 and had resumed their sessions in January.
On Feb. 12, her husband questioned her
about her money problems and she responded, “When I’m gone, I’ll leave you, my
mother, and your boss a letter explaining what happened.”
Two days later she
vanished.
Misinay told Southwest Mercer County Regional Police that he
believed his wife had walked away between 4:30 and 9:30 a.m. that snowy morning,
while he was asleep.
Mrs. Misinay was wearing her pajamas and a winter coat
when her brother-in-law Don Blackshear found her Thursday, he said.
“It seems
as though she took her own life,” said Becky Swartz, who accompanied Blackshear
to the Southwest police station in Farrell Thursday afternoon. She is a longtime
family friend and co-worker of Mrs. Misinay’s mother, Bernice
Stanton.
“There’s still more to this story that we don’t know,” Blackshear
said.
Herald Staff Writer Patrick Connelly contributed to this story.

So was it indeed a suicide, or just an accident? Hopefully soon we'll know.
From http://kdka.com/topstories/local_story_061111742.html:

Mar 2, 2007 3:05 pm US/Eastern
Autopsy Set For Missing Mercer County Woman
Today
(KDKA) HERMITAGE The coroner is set to perform an autopsy on the Mercer
County woman who was found dead in a cemetery on Thursday morning.Officials say Shelly Misinay, 41, was reported missing back on Valentine’s Day after an
argument with her husband.Authorities report that her body was found at the
Temple Beth Israel Cemetery in Hermitage.The investigation into her death
continues.

Rest in peace, Shelly, however your end came about.

Nyia Miangel Page found dead, father charged

Amber Alerts can save lives, but once in a while there are still unhappy endings. This is one of those times. I never posted a photo of Nyia Page before, so there is one below.
From the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

Toddler's death ruled homicide
By Mike Wereschagin
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, February 5, 2007
The death of Nyia Miangel Page, the
23-month-old girl whose body was found in Rankin following a two-day search, was
a homicide, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner's office said today.
Following an autopsy today, the office ruled that the Braddock girl died of
hypothermia and exposure.
Nyia was found about 3:30 p.m. Sunday along the
southeastern slope of the Hawkins Village public housing project. She was last
seen alive by several family members about 12:30 a.m. Saturday. Family members
reported her missing about seven hours later, said county police Superintendent
Charles Moffatt.
"Our main focus at that time was finding the child,"
Moffatt said. An "Amber Alert" was issued shortly afterward, and was
discontinued a few hours after the baby's body was discovered the next day. "We
waited for the autopsy, and got the manner of death in the last two hours. We're
now treating it as a homicide."
Police interviewed family members, but
Moffatt said they do not have a suspect.
Mike Wereschagin can be reached at mwereschagin@tribweb.com or (412)
391-0927.

They do have a suspect now, though--her own father. From http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07039/760411-56.stm:

Braddock toddler's father charged in her death
Thursday, February 08,
2007
By Moustafa Ayad, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
William Lorenzo Page of
Braddock was charged last night with criminal homicide in the death of his
23-month-old daughter, Nyia, whose body was found Sunday in a wooded area in
freezing temperatures and wearing only a sweater and a diaper.
Mr. Page, 23, was already in jail awaiting a hearing on
charges of abusing another child.
The homicide charge against Mr. Page
culminates a three-day investigation by the FBI and police from Allegheny
County, Braddock and Rankin, said Allegheny County police Supt. James Morton.
Mr. Page also is charged with kidnapping, making false reports to law
enforcement and simple assault.
The toddler was reported missing from her
Braddock home after her 6-year-old brother told his parents about 7:30 a.m.
Saturday that she wasn't in her normal sleeping area. Family members called
police when they couldn't find her, setting off an Amber Alert and a search by
70 police officers and rescue workers.
On Saturday, volunteers joined police
using dogs on a bitter cold day to search streets, railroad tracks, abandoned
buildings and trash bins for the little girl, who was about 2 feet tall and
weighed 30 pounds.
Searchers discovered her body about noon on Sunday about
four blocks from her home, in a hilly wooded area along Pattison Avenue in
Rankin. A few hours later, the Allegheny County medical examiner's office
determined the body was that of Nyia.
Mr. Page had been jailed since Sunday
on charges of simple and indecent assault of another child, endangering the
welfare of children and corruption of minors. Police said they learned about
that incident during the investigation of the missing toddler.
He was being
held on $25,000 bond, pending a hearing scheduled for Wednesday.
From the
beginning, police said the site where the body was found would have been too
difficult for the toddler to get to by herself, leading them to suspect foul
play. The medical examiner ruled she died of exposure and hypothermia and listed
the manner of death as homicide.

The full history of Nyia's case can also be read on the Crime Library at http://www.crimelibrary.com/news/original/0207/1202_nyia_page.html. It does contain a detailed, heartbreaking description of how she died, so you may have think carefully about whether you want to read it.
She wouldn't listen to her father when he told her to go back to bed, but she did not deserve to die for it! Hopefully little Nyia will get justice soon.

Heaven Ross: remains found

Update - December 30, 2006: Police now say they do not believe Heaven's death is connected to any other crimes. For more information see http://betweenlifeanddeath.blogspot.com/2006/12/heaven-ross-memorial-announcement.html.
Either I did not hear they had found remains or else I wasn't paying attention, because this came as a total shock to me.
From WSFA TV in Montgomery (sketches of possible suspect in Shannon's murder from previous story):

Girl's Body Discovered in Tuscaloosa County; Possible Connection to Shannon Paulk Murder?
Dec 19, 2006 12:12 PM EST
TUSCALOOSA, Ala., Dec. 19, 2006 -- There's a tragic ending to a missing person case that surfaced more than three years ago and one which Prattville police thought at one time might have a connection to the murder of Shannon Paulk, an 11-year-old Prattville girl who was abducted and murdered in 2001.
Authorities in Tuscaloosa County have identified a body found Monday as that of Heaven LaShae Ross of Northport. She was 11-years-old when she vanished on August 19th, 2003 apparently while walking to her school bus stop in the Willowbrook Trailer Park in Northport.
Tuscaloosa County Sheriff Ted Sexton, at a news conference Tuesday, said the skeletal remains were found at an abandoned house in the Holt community, a few miles northeast of Tuscaloosa.
Authorities said the girl's backpack was found near the body. A forensics team from the University of Alabama and FBI agents have been combing the site for evidence.
Prattville police at one time indicated they were investigating the possibility that the murder of Shannon Paulk in 2001 could have been related to the disappearance of Ross in Northport and another girl who vanished from Georgia. Police said there were striking similarities in the appearance of the three girls -- all were taken when they were 11 years old, all were white females, all were abducted in the month of August, and all were taken from trailer parks with construction going on nearby.
Prattville Mayor Jim Byard told WSFA Tuesday morning that the Shannon Paulk Task Force is still in operation and Sgt. Bob Furlong is focused exclusively on solving the case of the dead Prattville girl. Byard says Furlong talks on a regular basis with officers in Northport, Alabama and in Twigg County Georgia because of the similarity in the cases.
Byard says he can only imagine what the Ross family and law enforcement personnel are going through in Northport at this time because he remembers what the Paulk family and local officers went through as they searched for the Prattville 11-year-old whose body was eventually discovered by hunters in October 2001.
If you know anything that can help police, call the Prattville Police Department's Secret Witness line at (334)365-2220.
Alabama Associated Press contributed to this story

This would have to be murder. How else would an 11-year-old girl get from walking to her bus stop to an abandoned house in another city?
Guestbook for messages to Heaven's family: http://www.findheaven.net/cgi-bin/guestbook.cgi

Yolanda Bindics' body has been found

The remains were found a week before yesterday, but I did not know until yesterday. They were identified as Yolanda's today.
Article from http://www.9wsyr.com/news/state/story.aspx?content_id=60EC8804-D624-4D7F-881F-AF4C48D245EB:

Missing Woman's Body Found
Last Update: 9/18/2006 4:38:40 PM
This story is available on your cell phone at mobile.9wsyr.com
MAYVILLE, N.Y. (AP) - Skeletal remains found in a wooded area of Chautauqua
County have been identified as those of a 25-year-old mother of four who
disappeared two years ago, authorities said Monday.
The remains of Yolanda Bindics of Jamestown were found by hunters Sept. 10
on state land in the town of Charlotte.
A coroner did not immediately determine a cause of death, Sheriff Joseph
Gerace said, but foul play was suspected.
Bindics was last seen after leaving work at a Jamestown Family Dollar store
on Aug. 10, 2004.
A day later, her car was found in the parking lot of a nearby fast-food
restaurant and a month later, her purse, wallet and keys turned up in
storm-sewer catch basins.
The FBI has offered a reward of up to $20,000 for information leading to
the arrest and conviction of anyone responsible for her disappearance.

Message from Yolanda's website, http://www.findyolanda.com:

This is not the end for Yolanda and her Family. The person responsible for
taking Yolanda's life is still out there. This is not Closure, there will never
be Closure. Her body may have been found, but she is still missing! The
mother of 4 little ones is gone, gone forever. Taken... never to hug her little
ones again. These girls are still MISSING their mom. She has been taken away
from all who love her, never to see again. There is a murderer out there,
possibly reading this now, possibly living down the street from you or even your
best friend. One thing is for sure this person will be caught and there will be
justice! We will never give up!

The website lists Yolanda's daughters ages at the time she disappeared. So if you add two years to each one, that means Yolanda's daughters are about 10, 7, 5, and 3 1/2.
So far it seems that police have not stated if they have any suspects.

If you scroll down to the website's update for today (Sept. 18), there is a video tribute of Yolanda. It's a little slow (or at least for those of us who still have dial-up), but worth the wait.

Photo of Yolanda from her website.

Emily Rimel: Skull found, suspect indicted

After a long year and a half, there is finally proof of what police had suspected for most of that time (http://www.nbc4i.com/news/9279482/detail.html):

Remains Positively Identified As Emily Rimel's
Madison Township Girl
Last Seen In December 2004
POSTED: 10:37 am EDT May 26, 2006
UPDATED: 6:39
pm EDT May 26, 2006
Email
This Story Print This
Story
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A child's skull found Tuesday is that of a
missing Madison Township girl, sources told NBC 4.
Emily Rimel was last seen
in December 2004 inside her home. The 5-year-old girl disappeared from the home
while a family friend was visiting.
The friend, Lindsay Bruce, was
later convicted of kidnapping Rimel.
On Tuesday, a child's skull was found
by a woman who was fishing with her son along Big Walnut Creek in southern
Franklin County, NBC 4's Nancy Burton reported.
DNA was taken from three of
the five teeth in the skull. At the state's crime laboratory, the DNA was
matched with the girl's DNA, along with the DNA from her mother and father,
Burton reported.
"We were concerned about the sample due to the exposure to
the water and the length of time that it had been missing," said Lynn Bolen, BCI
lab director.
Police obtained Rimel's DNA from a winter coat, Burton
reported.
"We knew that this day was going to come," said Madison Township
Police Chief Greg Ryan. "We were hoping it was the other way around, and we
could walk her through the front door of her mom's house and give her to her."
Jane Rimel, the girl's mother, said earlier this week that she was holding
out hope that Emily would be found alive.
"I had a beautiful granddaughter,
who was very exuberant, loving and caring, and I no longer have her," said Mary
Schimpf, Emily Rimel's grandmother.
Detectives believed the girl died, but
Bruce was not charged with her murder. Bruce was accused of raping her after
Rimel's DNA was allegedly found on his genitalia, NBC 4 reported. A jury later
found Bruce not guilty on the rape charge.
Bruce was sentenced to 10 years
in prison, the maximum sentence possible for the kidnapping charge, NBC 4
reported.
Last year, detectives said they were confident that Bruce knew the
location of Rimel's body.
The judge in the rape trial agreed, saying in
court that Bruce was the only one who knew where Rimel was.
Police said they
will begin searching again for more skeletal remains. Meanwhile, the prosecutor
said he is preparing to file additional criminal charges against Bruce.
"We
now can establish beyond a reasonable doubt that Emily Rimel is, in fact, dead,"
said Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien.
That means that O'Brien will
pursue aggravated murder charges against Bruce, which is punishable by death,
Burton reported.
"(We are) considering it as aggravated murder based on
kidnapping, aggravated murder based on rape and aggravated murder based on the
age of the victim," O'Brien said.
Officials said the case is likely to be
presented to a grand jury in about two weeks.
Watch NBC 4 and refresh
nbc4i.com for continuing coverage.

Now the case against Lindsay Bruce is starting to move along (http://www.nbc4i.com/news/9358197/detail.html):

Man Indicted In Emily Rimel's Death
Bruce Could Face Death Penalty If
Convicted
UPDATED: 7:05 pm EDT June 12, 2006
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COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A Franklin County grand jury indicted a man on
Monday in connection with the death of a 5-year-old girl.
Lindsay Bruce, who
was already convicted in kidnapping Emily Rimel, was charged with her murder,
NBC 4's Holly Hollingsworth reported.
Bruce, 25, was indicted on four
counts, including two counts of aggravated murder. He was also charged with
murder and tampering with evidence, Hollingsworth reported.
Bruce could face
the death penalty if he is convicted. He is already serving a 10 year sentence,
the maximum sentence possible for the kidnapping charge, NBC 4 reported.
The
indictment came a month after Rimel's remains were found in Big Walnut Creek in
southern Franklin County. A woman who was fishing with her son found the child's
skull.
DNA was taken from three of the five teeth in the skull. At the
state's crime laboratory, the DNA was matched with the girl's DNA, along with
the DNA from her mother and father, NBC 4 reported.
Police obtained Rimel's
DNA from a winter coat, Burton reported.
Rimel was last seen inside her
Madison Township home in December 2004. The 5-year-old girl disappeared from her
home while Bruce, who was called a family friend, was visiting.
Detectives
believed the girl died, but Bruce was not charged with her murder. Bruce was
accused of raping her after Rimel's DNA was allegedly found on his genitalia,
NBC 4 reported. A jury later found Bruce not guilty on the rape charge.
Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien said he did not expect a plea
agreement from Bruce, who could face the death penalty if convicted.
"He
refused to do it then. He refused to do it thereafter," O'Brien said. "He
refused to do it before the start of the rape and kidnapping trial. I would not
expect there to be any attempt at pleas in this case."
Bruce, who is being
housed at the Warren Correctional Institution in southwest Ohio, is scheduled to
be arraigned on the murder charge later this week, Hollingsworth reported.
Watch NBC 4 and refresh nbc4i.com for continuing coverage.

Rest in peace, little Emily, and may you get justice!