Posted on 03/01/2005 6:28:07 AM PST by MisterRepublican
HOMOSASSA, Fla. — The full-scale search for a missing 9-year-old girl ended its final day as law enforcement officers turned to child abduction experts for help.
Investigators and hundreds of volunteer searchers have uncovered little evidence during five days of scouring the rural area where Jessica Lunsford disappeared, and the full-scale search was suspended Monday afternoon.
"To continue this, we would be spinning our wheels," said Citrus County Sheriff Jeff Dawsy.
Instead, law enforcement officers were turning to 20 experts from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to help crack the case. They planned to focus on a three-quarter mile radius area around Jessica's home.
Jessica's father described the change as a second phase of the investigation. After making a plea for her safe return while choking back tears, he expressed confidence that his daughter would come home.
"Just drop her off. I'll come get her," Mark Lunsford answered when asked what he would say to whoever had Jessica. "I know whoever has got Jessie, they have to have a heart."
He also expressed gratitude for the outpouring of support. "It's been overwhelming, the people that have shown up," he said. "It makes me feel real good to know everyone's trying to help me out."
Lunsford said he remains convinced that his daughter did not leave home voluntarily even though authorities have uncovered no evidence she was abducted. He said it's unlikely Jessica was lured away.
"She just didn't go with strangers," Lunsford said. He said authorities also are looking for a stuffed purple dolphin missing from his daughter's room.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Did you say that you live in that area? Any way to find out the make or model of that mobile home? Floor plan? Mobile homes are notorius for having paper thin walls. I wonder how many bedrooms it had and where they were located.
Thanks
"he is wearing a very telltale haircut.. "
HUH?
Innocent people fail lie detector tests and guilty people can pass them.I would look into the father and get answers to the following questions.Does he mind living with his parents?Would he be living with his girlfriend if his daughter wasn't with him?How does the girlfriend feel about the daughter?What were his future living arrangements going to be for him his daughter and the girlfriend? If the police have solid answers to these questions they would know if the father should be a suspect.
I realize that and said that, but most of the results are accurate.
Not once did I advocate that anyone be eliminated as a suspect and I'm sure no one has been.
Lunsford, Herman C. February 26, 2005 Herman Charles Lunsford 84, Martinsville, passed away Feb. 25, 2005. He was born on August 17, 1920 in Paint Lake, KY and was the son of Charles and Mary (Johnson) Lunsford. He was a retired bus driver for Greyhound and a veteran of the US Army during WW II. He was a member of the American Legion. Private family services and interment will be held. He is survived by his wife, Jo (Angot) Lunsford; four children, Faye Phelps, Annette Wheeler, Dan Lunsford and Tom Lunsford. Also surviving are three sisters, Jean Abbott, Irene Gabbard, Alma Combs; two brothers, Archie and Ray Lunsford; seven grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. Arrangements by Whitaker Funeral Home.
I do not know if this has been posted yet, but at:
http://www.news14charlotte.com/content/local_news/gaston/?ArID=87838&SecID=7
is an article regarding Jessica's ties to Gaston County, NC.
Apparently they still have family there. It is getting quite amount of coverage in that area because she lived there. More "human interest" type of stories.
What does it take for something to be classified as an abduction? She's missing... unless she just walked out that door in her nightgown, and left town - how could it be anything *but* an abduction?
I don't live in the neighborhood , but live several miles away ..around 8 ? I heard from someone in the neighborhood today that around 5:00 P.M many cop cars went racing wildly down the street that Jessica lives on and were at the woods that if you walked through ,you'd end up in an area called Sugarmill woods ..But have not heard anything further so?
As far as the make and model of the home ,I don't know ,but I think it's a 3 bedroom ..do not have any idea of the layout though ..I myself have not been in the neighbor hood itself ,it is a not a paved road ,well it wasn't last time I was down it and well its a dead end road so if you don't live there ,there is no reason to go down it....and I am told there are constantly news crew , as well as police ..so I have not been there myself in about 2 years or so....
Something I don't understand, though... usually if it's a father or grandfather abusing - they just abuse them right there in the home, and frighten them into silence. They don't usually have to abduct them. Unless maybe this was going on and she was threatening to tell or something? I don't know, it's puzzling.
Being a manufactured home doesn't mean much. Even the real home my in laws have in Flordia have relatively thin interior walls.
The foundation might be stronger and better roofing but don't count on the interior walls being significantly thicker.
Manufactured homes or modules, shoot even full sized two story manufactured homes have thinner interior walls than normally constructed walls.
I've seen the photos of the home. It's a module or double wide mobile home. One of my best friends of 30 years lives in one. I am well aware of what they are like.
The father mentioned he has a daughter that lives in NC.
Yeah ,if it were someone in the immediate house were to have been abusive and threateneing to talk, there wouldn't have been a need to intercept in such a manner ......I wonder what kind of financial situation was going on currently in the home ? Recent indebtness ....Drug problems...gambling debt's ....even online gambling debts should be looked into ...They did confescate the recently bought computer ??? Again nothing is TOO much to question here..... if there was anything to gain by her disapearence .....Insurance policy or other ....one can only specualate ,which is all any of us are doing .
Exactly.
I don't think he *could* keep her Mom from her, unless the courts had ordered it. No guy would keep me from MY kids unless he had a court order! So, there is apparently more to this issue than him just being a mean guy. Maybe keeping her from her Mom WAS in her best interest. I don't usually take that stance, but there are occasional instances.
Evidence that someone else had been there would be nice. ANYTHING to indicate that she didn't leave on her own. Foot prints, finger prints, clothes fibers, dirt, hair, anything to indicate that someone else had been in that room.
If she willingly left with someone then she wasn't abducted.
They need some evidence of an abduction. LE says there isn't any.
Thanks for the other info. It's not a very big building, the bedrooms are probably at one end.
I agree that there are lots of unanswered questions and yes it would be nice to know how his girlfriend felt about Jessica. Serious girlfriend or not. If not then we could expect her to care much. If they are serious then what she thought could matter.
Wasn't that the reason Susan Smith murdered her two kids, because the guy she liked didn't want them around?
The daddy was just on Greta. That poor guy. My heart breaks for him. To me, he is in a lot of pain. He looks like he's been crying nonstop this entire week. I would be the same way.
Does anyone know why Jessie's biological mother was not located for over a day when Jessie first went missing? Where was she?
Who knew that the father was not going to be at home? To whom did he casually mention this? Could he have mentioned this and someone next to him overheard?
Also...this town has something like less than 3k people living there? Who wasn't where they were supposed to be late that night? Who was absent from the Bible study meeting? Anyone? Could it be that someone possibly got into the home when the grandparents went to pick up Jessie from her meeting at the Church? Could it be that someone entered, and hid inside the home, and waited until everyone went to sleep? A dog would have had plenty of time to familiarize with an intruder, and then not be bothered with that person later in the evening. If an intruder knew that daddy would be out all night, then no one would be in the father's room...except the hiding intruder.
I heard the father mention that the family kept a key hidden outside somewhere, but that the key was accounted for. I wonder if anyone thought to check for fingerprints/footprints to and from the key location. The intruder could have unlocked the house, and had time to return the key to it's hiding spot before entering the house for the evening.
Did the police check the dad's room for the possibility someone might have hidden in the house?
Lord, I know You are protective of Your children, but I implore Thee to please, hold her Lord, and hug her for her daddy here on earth. Comfort him and Jessie while they are apart.
A friend had both taken Jessica Lunsford and Tiffany Powalish to and back from church that evening ,I beleive the lasie's name was Armstrong ..she said she waited till she saw Jessica safely in her home ,before pulling away..
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