Tip In Haleigh Case Prompts River Search
Girl Missing 14 Months Would Now Be 6-Years-Old
UPDATED: 3:18 pm EDT April 13, 2010
NEWS4JAX.COM
SATSUMA, Fla. -- Deputies from four counties and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement were searching the St. Johns River south of Satsuma Tuesday, and authorities confirmed the search is connected to the Haleigh Cummings investigation.
Putnam County Sheriff's Office Lt. Johnny Greenwood said the search was prompted by one of over 5,000 leads received by the Putnam County Sheriff's Office since the then-5-year-old girl disappeared from her bed in her father's mobile home 14 months ago.
Video: New Search For Haleigh
The sheriff's office was not releasing the exact location of the search effort in an attempt to prevent congestion from onlookers. Channel 4's Tarik Minor said the search of an area less than 5 miles south of where Haleigh disappeared in February 2008 was prompted by a "credible tip."
"Although various resources are being utilized to conduct this search, it is just one of many operations conducted during this investigation," Greenwood said in a media release Tuesday morning. "Due to the sensitivity of this investigation, the name of the person providing the tip and the physical evidence alleged to be in this area, will not be released."
WILL HALEIGH CUMMINGS BE FOUND IN THE RIVER?
http://www.news4jax.com/news/23135405/detail.html
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
BRITTANEE DREXEL: CELL SIGNAL STOPS NEAR S. SANTEE RIVER
GPS tracking aids investigators in Drexel case
Apr 12, 2010
By Kyle Grainger / WMBF News.com
GEORGETOWN COUNTY, SC (WMBF) - Investigators in Georgetown County say that for months, they've been interviewing persons of interest regarding the disappearance of a missing teen from New York.
Lt. Neil Johnson, spokesman for the Georgetown County Sheriff's Office, says a cell phone signal is what originally led the search for 18-year-old Brittanee Drexel out of Myrtle Beach and into the Santee area of Georgetown County.
Myrtle Beach Police say the Rochester, NY, teen disappeared after she was last seen in the area of 11th Avenue South and 20th Avenue South in Myrtle Beach. Drexel, who was 17 at the time of her disappearance, was in the area against the will of her mother.
Contact was lost between Drexel and her family in New York on April 25, 2009, the same night authorities say she disappeared. The last signal from her cell phone came the next night near the South Santee River.
Johnson says because Drexel was a heavy user of her cell phone, and in the hours after her disappearance, her cell phone signal stopped in Georgetown County. That's the exact reason why investigators believe whatever happened to Drexel occurred within Georgetown County.
READ INVESTIGATION LEADS FOR BRITTANEE DREXEL...
http://www.wmbfnews.com/Global/story.asp?S=12298443
Apr 12, 2010
By Kyle Grainger / WMBF News.com
GEORGETOWN COUNTY, SC (WMBF) - Investigators in Georgetown County say that for months, they've been interviewing persons of interest regarding the disappearance of a missing teen from New York.
Lt. Neil Johnson, spokesman for the Georgetown County Sheriff's Office, says a cell phone signal is what originally led the search for 18-year-old Brittanee Drexel out of Myrtle Beach and into the Santee area of Georgetown County.
Myrtle Beach Police say the Rochester, NY, teen disappeared after she was last seen in the area of 11th Avenue South and 20th Avenue South in Myrtle Beach. Drexel, who was 17 at the time of her disappearance, was in the area against the will of her mother.
Contact was lost between Drexel and her family in New York on April 25, 2009, the same night authorities say she disappeared. The last signal from her cell phone came the next night near the South Santee River.
Johnson says because Drexel was a heavy user of her cell phone, and in the hours after her disappearance, her cell phone signal stopped in Georgetown County. That's the exact reason why investigators believe whatever happened to Drexel occurred within Georgetown County.
READ INVESTIGATION LEADS FOR BRITTANEE DREXEL...
http://www.wmbfnews.com/Global/story.asp?S=12298443
Sunday, April 11, 2010
RODNEY ALCALA: HELP POLICE IDENTIFY ALCALA'S MURDER VICTIMS
Detectives identify some who posed for Alcala
By LARRY WELBORN / The Orange County Register
Published: April 9,2010 Updated: April 10, 2010
The photos show long-haired girls with flowers in their hair. Some are posing seductively in bikinis, bellbottoms or with bare midriffs. Others are dancing, drinking, smoking or listening to music.
The young women have one thing in common: they had their pictures taken in the 1970s by a photographer who dealt death.
The photos were recovered by Huntington Beach homicide detectives in July of 1979 from a storage locker in Seattle rented by Rodney James Alcala, a freelance cameraman who turned out to be a serial killer.
He was sentenced to death last month after he was convicted of five counts of first-degree murder for the sexual torture and strangulation murders of four women in Los Angeles County, and the kidnap and murder of a 12-year-old girl from Huntington Beach, during a 20-month killing spree in the late 1970s.
Huntington Beach Police released the photos to The Orange County Register one month ago after a jury voted to give Alcala the death penalty.
Detectives wanted to know: are the mostly smiling models in Alcala's photo gallery still alive? Or did they become murder victims?
They have been able to identify 21 young women in the photo catalogue after they were inundated with phone calls, e-mails and other contacts, but none matched up to a missing persons case or an unsolved homicide from the 1970s.
By LARRY WELBORN / The Orange County Register
Published: April 9,2010 Updated: April 10, 2010
The photos show long-haired girls with flowers in their hair. Some are posing seductively in bikinis, bellbottoms or with bare midriffs. Others are dancing, drinking, smoking or listening to music.
The young women have one thing in common: they had their pictures taken in the 1970s by a photographer who dealt death.
The photos were recovered by Huntington Beach homicide detectives in July of 1979 from a storage locker in Seattle rented by Rodney James Alcala, a freelance cameraman who turned out to be a serial killer.
He was sentenced to death last month after he was convicted of five counts of first-degree murder for the sexual torture and strangulation murders of four women in Los Angeles County, and the kidnap and murder of a 12-year-old girl from Huntington Beach, during a 20-month killing spree in the late 1970s.
Huntington Beach Police released the photos to The Orange County Register one month ago after a jury voted to give Alcala the death penalty.
Detectives wanted to know: are the mostly smiling models in Alcala's photo gallery still alive? Or did they become murder victims?
They have been able to identify 21 young women in the photo catalogue after they were inundated with phone calls, e-mails and other contacts, but none matched up to a missing persons case or an unsolved homicide from the 1970s.
If you know any of the people in Alcala's photos,
contact Huntington Beach Police Detective Patrick Ellis,
at 714-375-5066, or email him at pellis@hbpd.org
BRITTANEE DREXEL: POLICE SUSPECT KILLERS, NO ARRESTS...YET!
NEW LEADS IN MISSING TEEN CASE
Detectives have leads, persons of interest in Drexel disappearance
Detectives have leads, persons of interest in Drexel disappearance
WCSC TV/DT CHARLESTON, SC / Apr 10, 2010
MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WCSC) - Myrtle Beach Detective Vincent Dorio said Friday investigators have developed multiple persons of interest in the case of missing teen Brittanee Drexel.
MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WCSC) - Myrtle Beach Detective Vincent Dorio said Friday investigators have developed multiple persons of interest in the case of missing teen Brittanee Drexel.
He said this information developed from a tip and is confident this tip is leading them in a direction of finding who might be responsible. The search team is not releasing any information on the tips they received because they fear it might jeopardize the recently revitalized investigation.
According to Lt. Neil Johnson with the Georgetown County Sheriff's Office, the break in the case is the result of months of lead-tracking.
"At this time, there is no reason to believe these people, [the persons of interest], knew Drexel directly," said Johnson.
No arrest warrants have been served yet, he said, but lie detector tests have been conducted on two of the persons of interest.
While the new leads are positive news for the search for the missing Drexel, Johnson said the information they have compiled in recent months indicate she is no longer alive.
According to Lt. Neil Johnson with the Georgetown County Sheriff's Office, the break in the case is the result of months of lead-tracking.
"At this time, there is no reason to believe these people, [the persons of interest], knew Drexel directly," said Johnson.
No arrest warrants have been served yet, he said, but lie detector tests have been conducted on two of the persons of interest.
While the new leads are positive news for the search for the missing Drexel, Johnson said the information they have compiled in recent months indicate she is no longer alive.
"The police seem really confident, so there's a lot going through my head right now," said Brittanee's mother, Dawn Drexel. "You go through a lot of emotions. Where is she? Is she OK? Is she not OK?"
(snip)
(snip)
CrimeStoppers of the Lowcountry
continues to offer a reward for any information on Drexel's whereabouts.
Anyone with information regarding the disappearance of Drexel is urged to contact the agency at 1-888-CRIME-SC.
WHAT CLUES DO POLICE HAVE ABOUT BRITTANEE DREXEL...
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