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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.