Posted on 02/24/2005 7:04:57 PM PST by varina davis
All-out search for missing girl By Amy Shannon
Sheriff's officials combed the streets of a Homosassa community Thursday as neighbors clung to hope that the search for a 9-year-old girl who mysteriously disappeared from her home would end on a positive note.
Authorities issued a missing person's alert for Jessica "Jessie" Marie Lunsford after her father reported her missing from her bed around 6:30 a.m.
However, sheriff's officials weren't ready Thursday to issue an Amber Alert, because they didn't know for sure whether an abduction had occurred at the Sonata Avenue home.
"We're working something above a missing person's (case)," Citrus County Sheriff Jeff Dawsy said. "I'm not ready to say it's an abduction, though."
Dawsy called the incident "truly suspicious," based on the fact that there were no signs of forced entry into the home and the unlikelihood of the girl running away.
"The makeup of the young girl just leads us to believe she's not the run-of-the-mill young girl to run away," Dawsy said.
Detectives have no evidence to believe Jessica has any medical conditions that would cause her to wake up in the middle of the night and wander off.
Dawsy said the Homosassa Elementary School third-grader lives with her father and grandparents in a pale yellow doublewide mobile home with gray shutters on Sonata Avenue just off
Cardinal Street. Sheriff's officials refused to identify the girl's father or grandparents.
FBI officials were unable to track down the girl's mother, who lives in Ohio, Dawsy said.
He said there was nothing particularly suspicious about the girl's family, other than the fact that her mother could not be located .
"They seem to be a very good family," Dawsy said.
Jessica is described as a white girl, 4-feete-10, 70 pounds, with light brown hair and brown eyes. She was last seen in her bed at 10 p.m., wearing a pink silk nightgown and white silk
shorts.
Sheriff's officials responded with 45 to 50 units, including aviation, K-9, posse, bloodhounds and deputies. They desperately searched for the girl and clues that might lead them to a
suspect through Thursday and into the night.
"We're systematically investigating, trying to get any possible lead," Dawsy said.
In addition to the Citrus County Sheriff's Office and the FBI, officials from the Department of Corrections and the Center for Missing and Exploited Children are working the
investigation.
Dispatchers issued a Code Red or reverse 911, to nearby homes, notifying resident about the missing girl.
Dawsy said officials are exploring all avenues in the investigation, though no major leads turned up by Thursday night.
"Today, we've been getting negative results," Dawsy said in a news conference outside Jessica's home. "I'll be here until I can assure you the girl isn't here."
Neighbor Scott Powalish said his 9-year-old daughter, Tiffany, is one of Jessica's best friends. He said Tiffany saw Jessica Wednesday night, when the two went to Faith Baptist Church
for several hours.
"I'm concerned," Powalish said. "My daughter is always roaming around."
Tiffany said she and Jessica do cartwheels together and play other cheerleading activities. The duo recently thought of forming a band with Jessica's cousin and Tiffany's brother,
Ricky, 10.
Neighbor and close family friend Sharon Armstrong stood hysterically crying outside the family's home Thursday morning.
"We're very close," Armstrong said. "She's the kind of girl you immediately like."
Armstrong, who considers herself Jessica's "second mother," said she picked up Jessica at her home at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday to take her and Tiffany to the church for math tutoring. She
said she dropped Jessica off at her house just after 8 p.m.
"She would not just have left," Armstrong said. "Her grandparents are wonderful people, very protective of her. She loves them."
Armstrong said she's known the family five or six years and has never heard anything unusual.
Dawsy said detectives did not find anything out of place or missing from Jessica's home. The girl's grandparents told detectives the house was secured when they went to bed
Wednesday night, Dawsy said.
The girl's father said he had been out with a friend during the night. Dawsy said the friend confirmed the father's story.
The father said the front door was unlocked when he came home at 5:45 a.m. However, the back doors were all secured when Jessica's dad came home. The family has at least one dog.
Detectives interviewed Jessica's father and grandfather Thursday afternoon at the sheriff's office in Inverness, Dawsy said.
Detectives did not find any footprints at the scene due to Wednesday night rain and the terrain's makeup.
Anyone who may have seen the girl or has information about her whereabouts should call the sheriff's office at 726-1121 or the sheriff's office tips line at (888) 269-8477.
This is on Greta's show now.
Prayers on the way.
"I'm concerned," Powalish said. "My daughter is always roaming around."
What does he mean to be saying?
We place Jessie in your loving arms and pray for You to reveal her whereabouts to the authorities. Confound and confuse anyone who has taken her and release her from their control. Father, we ask You to defend this young girl and bring her home safely to the arms of her parents. Nothing is too difficult for You, Lord. We place our trust in You, and thank You for all You are doing. In the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Amen.
Joe, Florida ping request, please.
I am praying for Jessica and her family.
I hope she is found soon and returned safely to her family.
Something is weird about this case. I suspect someone in the family, maybe even the mother, or a close family friend as the dog didn't rouse the grandparents and the front door was open, probably from within. She might have been awaken with window-tappings and then gone to the door and opened it herself for someone to get in.
Amen.
bttt
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1350114/posts
along with the website for the Amber Alert group, and a recent picture of Jessica:
AMBER ALERT TeamAmberAlert.net ^ | Feb. 24, 2005
Thanks, Joe! Prayers for her safe return.
Thanks for posting that photo.
A cousin was on Greta's On The Record last night, well spoken in the face of obvious distress. She said the family (grdprts, father, Jessica) live in a double wide trailer in retirement community though there are some kids, no probs or specific concerns about neighbors, family friends, or anyone else, that the grandparents are ordinary -- strict but loving, people you can go to if you have a problem. Jessica's mother has never been involved in her life from shortly after her birth and is not in the area.
She said Jessica is a good kid, did not have an "internet habit" (they'd only recently gotten a computer), good student, had just gotten a "perfect attendance" commendation at her school, involved at her church.
Prayers for her safe return.
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