Posted on 11/09/2006 2:52:45 PM PST by Huntress
“We are horribly sorry,” the cop said.
The 17-year-old girl who was wrongly locked in jail for seven days might be feeling terribly lucky.
Amanda Sylvester might still be in jail, facing criminal charges that included aiding and abetting a robbery, were it not for an anonymous tip to a Crimestopper hotline.
Her arrest and arraignment stemmed from mistaken identity, according to Lieutenant Rick Ryan of the North Platte Police Department. One of the men involved in the recent robbery of a Kwik Shop identified Sylvester through a photograph, but said he didn’t know her name.
“Amanda Sylvester was not involved in the robbery,” Ryan said. “We have no information or any reason to believe that Amanda is involved in drugs or any illegal activity. We are horribly sorry about what happened.”
To make matters worse for Sylvester, she had been arraigned as a adult and County Judge Kent Turnbull set bail at $250,000; she would have had to post $2,500 to be released.
Sylvester cried in court October 24 as Turnbull read the charges to her.
"I wasn't even there," Sylvester said. "I know these guys but don't understand why they're using my name."
"That may be all true but at this point; I just don't know," Turnbull said. "Talk to your attorney."
Although she is only 17, Sylvester was arraigned as an adult.
A week later, the Crimestopper tip led to the arrest of Kayce Schildhauer, 19, of North Platte.
Ryan said the women have very similar looks, and that the mistake was easily understood because of it.
“They have the same color hair, they’re about the same size and they wear the same earrings,” Ryan said. “But they are two different people.”
Her guardian said she was concerned about the way Sylvester had been treated by the system – especially the fact that she was arraigned as an adult.
Investigators brought Schildhauer in for questioning, which resulted in her arrest, Ryan said.
Sylvester’s photograph and name had previously been used by local media, informing the community that she was a suspect.
"There have been some really nasty, ugly, things said about Amanda that never should have been allowed," Ryan said.
Police Chief Martin Sutschenritter apologized for the error, adding “There is a lesson to be learned here, that everything isn’t always what it appears.”
In addition to Schildhauer, three suspects have been arrested in the case: Nicholas T. Zierke, 19; Jesse S. Dorris, 25; Erik C. Ritter, 19.
Creepy. Even creepier that the innocent girl's expression looks guiltier than the guilty one, if anything.
I must have a generally common set of features. I have actually had people come up to me on the street and give a friendly ration of sh*t as if they know me..then when they realize they don't know me, they get embarrassed.
Yeah, me too. I play along and sign "Brad Pitt" in their autograph books just to make their day.
;^)
I hope then, that you're a guy too.
Same EARS! They both stick out! Just think; If she were dictator of Cuba she could be used to fool liberals in the United States that she was alive and well.
Lemme guess, she will have to get an attorney and spend lots of money to get this "taken care of"
That's not freaky. Freaky is seeing your doppelgänger on Rotten.com... AS THE SUBJECT OF AN AUTOPSY!!
I'm not kidding. They once posted pictures of a guy that looked almost identical to me, except that he had attained room temperature. (The guy bled out from a stab wound to the liver. It looked like the dope kept wandering around after he got stabbed instead of getting help.) I remember thinking at the time "I hope no one I know sees this".
Even down to the same pierced eyebrow. Very weird. Poor girl spent a week in jail though. She has my sympathy.
This is too coincidental, same face, same (exact) hair style, ear-rings, eye pierce, same color shirt, same angle, same tilt of head, even the color and shadows are almost exact like by the same camera, same time, same background - we are missing some of this story
They wouldn't even work out around here.
ping
We agreed to not appear together in the same place in that state ~ EVER!!!
And she happened to know the guys involved in the robbery? Huh?
WOW. I can certainly see how some picked the wrong girl.
Ok, now that is freaky!
LOL! Yep!
Oh, MAN! That explains the guy who said "I love your columns, Ms. Thomas. May I have an autograph?" to me on the bus the other day.
I'm gonna kill myself.
The misidentified girl knows the perps. So she probably knows the actual girl too.
Bet they're half-sisters or some other relation on the wrong side of the blanket.
"That girl's your sister, but your mama don't know.Oh . . . misery, shame and scandal in the family."
Freaky how they look so much alike.
Wow. OK, THAT'S a case of mistaken identity I can understand. That's almost creepy.
}:-)4
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