Posted on 07/13/2007 3:43:37 PM PDT by sionnsar
[link only for subject article]
Police chief: Man to be charged in Tacoma girl's kidnapping, death
TACOMA, Wash. -- A man currently being held for failing to register as a sex offender will likely be charged in connection with the death of 12-year-old Zina Linnik, who was kidnapped from behind her family's home on July 4.
"It is anticipated that he will eventually be charged for Zina's abduction and death," Tacoma Police Chief Don Ramsdell said at a news conference Friday afternoon. "The Linnik family is currently in our thoughts and prayers as they begin healing from this horrific event."
Terapon Adhahn, 42, had been taken into custody as a person of interest in the case and is currently being held by immigration authorities.
Information he provided to detectives led them to Zina's body in a rural area near Eatonville, Wash. on Thursday. A cause of death has not yet been determined.
Ramsdell said police and FBI agents are looking into whether Adhahn may be connected to other crimes locally and around the country.
Asked if Adhahn could be involved in the death of Adre'anna Jackson, Ramsdell said, "that is a possibility."
Jackson's body was found in a Pierce County field April 4, 2006. The 10-year-old Tillicum girl disappeared on her way to school in December, 2005.
"We are looking at cold cases from the past, and old cases that may be of similar nature," Ramsdell said.
Adhahn, a level-one sex offender, was detained after police raided a Parkland home on Monday, where they found girl's undergarments.
Police also seized a grey van that matched the general description given to police by Zina's father, Mikhail Linnik, who heard his daughter scream and saw the van drive off the night she disappeared.
He initially denied any involvement in Zina's disappearance and said he was not in Tacoma's Hilltop neighborhood July 4, Detective L.J. Wade wrote in an affidavit filed in Pierce County Superior Court in support of the search warrant application.
Adhahn, who is originally from Thailand, was accused of rape in 1990 in Pierce County and pleaded guilty to incest.
David Gomez, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI's Seattle division, said that the bureau will continue to assist with the investigation into Adhahn and whether he may be connected to other crimes.
"The similarities in the manner in which Zina was abducted would be compared with other cases nationwide," he said.
Some of the other local cases being reviewed include:
- Michella Welch, 12, of Tacoma, whose body was found hours after the girl disappeared from Puget Park on March 26, 1986.
- Jennifer Bastian, 13, of Tacoma, who was found dead Aug. 28, 1986, in Point Defiance Park, where she'd been last seen riding her bicycle two weeks earlier.
- Lenoria Jones, 4, of Tacoma, who disappeared July 20, 1995.
"We'll have to go back and review those cases," Ramsdell said. "Obviously some of those cases are very old."
Detectives also are looking into Adhahn's military background to see where he served and whether he might be connected to other cases of missing or murdered children.
Gomez said the FBI is helping Tacoma police detectives search the scene where Zina's body was found, and will provide assistance with forensic analysis.
"It's always tough when you have the death of a child," Gomez said. "They're never easy."
Neither do I. In this case, the mut’s lawyer probably advised mim that incest “counseling” was far better than doing jail time. It’s so disgusting that the “nicey-nice” court in Tacoma gave him that option, demonstrating, yet again, that “counseling” is NOT an effective deterrent.
Only agreed with previous poster that the police comments, made in an official capacity, were extremely insensitive because they are extremely hurtful regardless of his intentions. And made in public to boot.
He was essentially saying that now that their daughter’s body was discovered, they could start to “move on” (another euphemism “helpful” people advise grieving people to do, thereby inflicting another wound on a broken heart)
Most of us when we lose a loved one, only endure stupid hurtful comments from well-meaning people, in private.
That police chief and probably the rest of his department needs better training in how to publicly address families in mourning. That’s my reaction to how the police publicly addressed this tragedy and I’m sticking to it!
I hope they are better trained on investigation and arrest. When the chief says something SO stupid, though, I’ve got to wonder.
BTW- the ONLY appropriate thing to say unless you’ve been in those shoes- “I AM SORRY FOR YOUR LOSS”. Then shut up and let the family do the talking about their child, if they want to.
I lost a child too, That’s why this stupid public police statement about the family starting to “heal”- hit me so hard. If I get angry enough I may have to send the police department my thoughts.
That family faces a hard road. Hate to see them being further battered by insensitivity, even by those who are well meaning.
God Bless.
I have lost too. I just see it as so petty. This cop may be a convenient, easy target for anger, but it doesn’t make him the right target.
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