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Tag: disappearance

  • Body Found in Virginia Could Be Hannah Graham

    Charlottesville and Albemarle County, Virginia police this week announced that a body found could be missing University of Virginia student Hannah Graham. Graham’s disappearance on September 13 prompted a month-long search for the student.

    On Saturday police provided an update on the Graham case. Charlottesville Police Chief Timothy Longo called the search for Graham “unprecedented,” stating that “thousands” of hours have been spent looking for the missing woman. That search now seems to have paid off.

    According to Longo a search team in southern Albemarle County found human remains in an abandoned property on Saturday. The body has not been identified and Charlottesville police are referring to the it as a “preliminary discovery.” Albemarle County Police have since stated that authorities will not be answering any questions about the discovery until the body has been identified. Police said they do not have a timeline for when the medical examiner’s test results will be available.

    “These are human remains and forensic tests need to be conducted to determine the identification of those remains, but nonetheless we wanted to be quick and timely to share that information with the Graham family,” said Longo.

    Hannah Graham was an 18-year-old student at the University of Virginia at the time of her disappearance. According to a USA Today report she was last seen at a downtown Charlottesville restaurant with a 32-year-old man police initially identified as a person of interest.

    One week after Graham disappeared police identified the man as Jesse Matthew, Jr. Police issued an arrest warrant for Matthew on September 21 and searched his apartment the next day. Matthew was arrested days later in Galveston County, Texas.

    Since his arrest Matthew’s has been linked to a 2005 sexual assault on an woman in Fairfax, Virginia. He has been charged with attempted murder, abduction with intent to defile, and sexual penetration with an object. Police say that Matthew’s DNA has also been linked to the murder of 20-year-old Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington in 2009.

  • Abigail Hernandez Found: Why Did She Disappear?

    Too often when a young girl vanishes from her community, the ending is tragic in nature. However, this is one of those rare stories where everyone is able to breathe a sigh of relief.

    Abigail Hernandez, who disappeared on October 9th, 2013, has returned home.

    The teenager was reunited with her family over the weekend and the Hernandez clan has also requested privacy as this time. The Hernandez family describe themselves as the “happiest people on Earth” thanks to the safe return of daughter Abigail.

    The FBI released the following statement about the case:

    We’re just happy to see her home safe and sound, but we still want to understand how this came about and learn more about the circumstance.

    The desire to know exactly what happened to Hernandez is one shared by all who struggle to understand how and why the 15-year-old vanished in the first place.

    Was she kidnapped? Did she escape from an assailant? Did Hernandez simply run away from home?

    There are numerous possible scenarios, but only ONE truth. The only person capable of shedding light on that truth is Abigail Hernandez herself.

    The investigation into the teen’s disappearance is ongoing, which certainly suggests that there is more to the story.

    Attorney General Joe Foster said that details are to be withheld for now in order avoid jeopardizing the investigation.

    The only information known at present is that in the fall of last year Hernandez disappeared suddenly from North Conway, NH.

    She was last seen leaving Kennett High School wearing a dark sweater, black leggings, and a pair of black boots.

    Hernandez had exchanged text messages with a classmate after leaving school. All contact was lost with the teen when the text messages stopped at 2:53 pm on October 9th.

    A couple of months later, her family received a letter from Hernandez.

    Now with Hernandez at home, it’s possible authorities may be looking for whoever could have been responsible for her disappearance last year.

    Image via YouTube

  • Madeleine McCann Case: Police Hunt Sexual Predator

    Madeleine McCann disappeared four days before her fourth birthday back in 2007 while vacationing with her family in Portugal. British investigators have recently reopened the case and say they’re now actively pursuing a sexual predator who broke into vacation villas in Portugal and sexually abused five little girls between 2004 and 2010. Police say there are incredible similarities between these break-ins and Madeleine McCann’s abduction.

    In most of these aforementioned cases there were no signs of forced entry into the vacation villas. The break-ins occurred between 2:00 A.M. and 5:00 A.M. Two of these break-ins took place in the resort of Praia da Luz, where Madeleine was taken.

    Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood says the suspect has “an unhealthy interest in young white female children.”

    “These offenses are very serious and no one has been charged in connection with them,” he said. “We also need to eliminate this man from our enquiries and ascertain whether these offenses are linked to Madeleine’s disappearance.”

    Redwood’s team is working in conjunction with Portuguese investigators and together they have 38 “persons of interest” in Madeleine McCann’s disappearance. They are also sifting through information about 530 known sexual offenders whose whereabouts are presently unknown. Of these 530, 59 are said to be “high priority,” and some of them are British.

    Madeleine’s parents Gerry and Kate McCann have never given up hope of finding their daughter. Initially thought to have been involved in her disappearance they have long been cleared of anything to do with the crime.

    In 2008, the Madeleine McCann case was closed. London’s Metropolitan Police subsequently spent two years reviewing evidence at the request of the British government. They opened their own investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance about a year ago.

    It would indeed be a miracle if British investigators could find out what actually happened to Madeleine McCann, and even if their findings aren’t happy ones, at the very least they could provide some closure for the little girl’s family.

    Image via Facebook

  • Missing Toddler’s Mom Speaks Out

    The worst nightmare for almost any parent to imagine involves having one’s child harmed. Trista Reynolds is living that nightmare. The following video shows Trista Reynolds being interviewed a year after her daughter’s disappearance. Ayla Reynolds, the beautiful blue-eyed blonde-haired 20-month-old, has been missing since December 16, 2011.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0TP4iF-tA8

    Trista Reynolds spoke with CNN about the scene where her daughter had disappeared. “What I thought right off my head was it was a murder scene. There was just like Ayla’s blood everywhere,” Trista said.

    As any grieving parent could relate, Trista detailed the emotional agony she felt by looking at the photographs presented to her by law enforcement officials. “I had to actually, I shut it off. I asked them to stop. And there were three or four more pictures that they wanted to show me, and I just, I..I, couldn’t,” Trista said.

    Ayla Reynold’s blood was found scattered throughout her Maine house. Some blood was found on Ayla’s personal belongings including a doll and one of her slippers. Blood was also found throughout the house and a stain noticed on a living room sofa.

    Questions are being asked of Ayla’s father, Justin DiPietro, as blood was also found near his sleeping quarters. Justin slept in the basement where blood was found on the walls, floor, his mattress and sheets, and the tongue of his sneaker. Trista Reynolds wants attention focused on Justin DiPietro’s whereabouts the night their daughter went missing. Justin was in the house with his girlfriend and sister when Ayla disappeared. Trista requests attention be given to the circumstances surrounding the disappearance.

    “All three of those people were in that house that night. All three of them know what happened to Ayla, and all three of them should be prosecuted for it,” Trista Reynolds said.

    In memory of Ayla Reynolds, and to celebrate a life that ended before it really began, Trista Reynolds released doves into the sky.

    [Image And Videos Via YouTube]

  • Dellen Millard’s Farm Being Searched for Missing Woman

    Police have completed the third day of a search of Dellen Millard, the accused murderer’s farm. Police returned to the farm to investigate further after new information pointed to Millard in the disappearance of Laura Babcock last year.

    28-year-old, Millard, is accused along with his friend, 25-year-old, Mark Smich, of the murder of Bosma, a 32-year-old Ancaster man, Tim Bosma. The pair allegedly took Bosma for a test drive of his Dodge pickup truck in May. Bosma did not return from the drive. His remains, which had been burned, were found on Millard’s farm. Millard is also a possible suspect in his father’s death. It was reported that he allegedly shot himself last year, but now police are re-examining the case.

    Now, the focus has turned back to Millard and his farm as the search continues for 24-year-old, Babcock. It is reported that Millard and Babcock were involved in a sexual relationship and that she had been in contact with him shortly before her disappearance.

    Around the same time that Babcock disappeared, an employee of Millard’s aviation company purchased a portable livestock incinerator, which was later seized by the police. Lori Ryan, Babcock’s aunt says that the timing of her nieces disappearance and the purchase of the incinerator, “too fishy.” She feared that the police returning to the farm was somehow connected with her niece. “I believe they’re looking for Laura – and I’m sorry [if] they’re looking for Laura,” she said.

    Police have been focusing their search on an old rusted barn that sits on the property. They have also been digging and sifting through the tall weeds and grass. So far, nothing has been discovered. Staff Inspector, Greg McLane, says, “We’re looking for evidence . . . to corroborate information we’ve received.”

    Image via Twitter

  • Lauren Spierer’s Family Awaits Test Results of White River Skull

    Lauren Spierer, a student at the Indiana University, mysteriously vanished from Bloomington, Indiana over a year ago. Her family has been on a nightmarish mission to locate their missing loved one ever since, though nothing concrete has turned up since she vanished. Although they’ve pleaded repeatedly with Lauren’s captor to release her, the family has heard nothing from the person or persons responsible for her disappearance.

    However, on July 9th, a fisherman discovered a skull in the White River, which is roughly 50 miles from campus. Although investigators searched the waters for more remains, nothing has turned up as of this writing. Now the family must await test results from forensic anthropologists to see if the skull belongs to their missing daughter.

    Sadly, the Spierers have been down this road once before. Back in April, skeletal remains were located just west of Bloomington. After investigating the remains, authorities determined that they belonged to an unidentified male.

    “When will you end this nightmare for our family? We will never give up,” the family posted on their Facebook page. “We are just as determined as we were on June 3, 2011. You need to know that. It’s our promise to you. For now we continue to wait.”

    Lauren Spierer was last seen on June 3rd, 2011 while walking home from fellow college student Corey Rossman’s apartment around 4:30 in the morning. Although Rossman claims he can’t clearly remember what happened due to a punch he received during an altercation that evening, Lauren’s father believes he is both a “liar and a coward”.

    The Spierers are currently offering a $250,000 reward for information leading to the discovery of their daughter. For more information, stop by findlauren.com.

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