Posted on 02/26/2005 9:30:18 AM PST by varina davis
Search Resumes for Missing Girl in Fla.
February 26, 2005 11:11 AM EST
HOMOSASSA, Fla. - Police and volunteers scoured the community and nearby woods Saturday for a 9-year-old girl who vanished from her bedroom.
More than 250 people gathered at Faith Baptist Church on a cool, overcast morning to join the search for Jessica Marie Lunsford. Buses took groups of the volunteers to the woods and marshes of western Citrus County, about 60 miles north of Tampa. Some searched on foot while others rode horses and all-terrain vehicles.
Atlanta Braves pitcher Mike Hampton, a Homosassa native, and his wife Katia offered a $25,000 reward Saturday to help locate the girl.
Mark Lunsford said Saturday that he is convinced his daughter was abducted but he can't understand how or why. He said his mother woke up Saturday screaming for the missing girl.
"I have so many questions in my mind," he said. "How do you do that? How did someone come in and get my daughter? I just can't imagine. How did it happen? How do you do that?"
Jessica lives with her father and his parents and hasn't been seen since Wednesday night when her grandmother tucked her into bed. Her mother lives in Ohio.
Lunsford told authorities he had returned Thursday morning from a girlfriend's home and was getting ready for work when he realized his daughter's alarm clock was sounding and she wasn't there. The clothes she had laid out for school were still in place and none of her shoes were gone. However, one of her dolls was missing, Citrus County Sheriff Jeff Dawsy said Friday.
Investigators had received more than 150 tips but almost no clues.
"It amazes me we haven't uncovered anything to take us in a specific direction," Dawsy said Friday. "That's the most frustrating thing."
Jessica's mother, Angela Bryant, has remarried, has a 5-year-old son and lives in Morrow, Ohio. She was interviewed by the FBI. "I don't know where she is," Bryant, 31, said in a tearful telephone interview Friday.
I guess I'll have to change my opinion of the man I previously referred to as "mediocre Mike." Bravo Mr. Hampton!
My money is on the mom in Ohio.
Mediocre Mike?? The guy won 22 games in 1999. Pitched in the playoffs and World Series in 2000. Sure, his career got derailed by joining the Colorado Rockies but he's not the only pitcher who has made that stupid career move (Darryl Kile, Denny Neagle...).
Anyway, I hope the girl is found safe and alive but this sounds suspicious to me.
If the child isn't located by then, it's too late about 99% of the time.
He also acted like a whiny little b-tch when he played with the Mets, although it wasn't his fault that they never hit for him when he pitched. Then of course, there were his years with the Rockies.
It doesn't sound like that is the case here. It is the first place one should check, but it sounds like the FBI has already covered that base.
"Interesting" comments from "Mom" ...
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/02/26/florida.girl/
Angela Bryant, the girl's estranged mother who lives in Warren County, Ohio, said, "Every night when I close my eyes, I ask God to watch over her, keep her safe."
"She's nine years old, she's innocent. Nobody should have just come in and taken her like that, but it happens every day. You don't think it's going to happen to you."
"I hope that she's not dead, that somebody hasn't taken her and did things that they wanted to do to her," she added.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/02/25/national/main676585.shtml
"I don't know where she is," Bryant, 31, of Morrow, Ohio, told The Associated Press in a tearful telephone interview Friday.
Bryant, who has remarried and has a 5-year-old son, added that she hadn't seen her daughter for four years. "Her dad didn't let me see her," she said.
Well, in reality I was hoping she stole her so dad could get her back. :-(
Kudos to Mr Hampton - I hope they find her safe and sound.
Has anybody determined how the father got custody in the first place. Doesn't that usually imply the mother was unfit?
And if she thinks about this girl every day but the father won't allow her to see the girl, doesn't it make it more likely she would have tried to take some action? I think one parent or the other is not telling the truth.
The dad has given me negative vibes .. something there that doesn't set well with me. It is an atypical family situation, no doubt about that.
yeah,...I've heard he's a real good guy,...there are many broken hearts among the "spring training" camps,I won't mention any names but I know of quite a few on our side,lots of pitchers
Uh,, careful...mothers don't always lose custody, sometimes mothers give up custody just like fathers do, and that doesn't mean anyone is unfit on either side.....the fact this mother hasn't been in the girls' life very much sounds like the father might have been the best choice in this case....
My money is on the father or his girlfriend or one of her friends,,,interesting he was gone the night it happened....
It will be interesting to follow this case. My initial concerns lead towards the dad and mom. Poly Klaus (sp?) was not a victim of her mom and dad though. There are some very sick people out there.
I hope the girl is found safe. How tragic if not...
I realize that, and I did not say anyone was unfit, I said it was clear as mud. This particular mother says the father "didn't let me see her." That sounds very much like the mother lost custody.
Yet another odd factor is the report that the authorities found a body, but it was a young woman. Are there so many bodies lying about down there?
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