Posted on 05/03/2002 11:28:07 AM PDT by FresnoDA
|
|
|
|
|
By Mark Arner May 3, 2002 Elizabeth "Ellie" Elmore's new office is the Moose Lodge at 30th and Date streets. Spread before Elmore on a fold-up table across from the bar are two laptop computers, a video camera, a cellular phone and several stacks of documents.
This is the second time in a little more than two months that Elmore has looked for a missing child. Earlier this year, she helped in the successful search for the body of 7-year-old Danielle van Dam, who prosecutors say was kidnapped while she slept in her bedroom, murdered and dumped off the side of an East County road. Despite the odds against finding Jahi alive, Elmore, along with the more than 800 residents who have volunteered in the search effort, is not dissuaded. Elmore is putting 10 to 12 hours a day into the endeavor. "Children are my passion," said Elmore, who is earning a master's degree in elementary education. "I'm a teacher and I wanted to help." What drew her to the search center? "A little baby is missing and I felt I had the knowledge from the van Dam search to help," she said. "I have a system of how to organize searchers." Among the documents on the table are fliers with descriptions of the missing boy, volunteer registration agreements and stacks of blank "hello" name tags for volunteers. On one computer, Elmore is clicking in the names, descriptions and identification numbers for more than 100 volunteers who strolled into the lodge on a recent day to help. On the other computer screen are maps of several areas in and around Balboa Park and downtown San Diego. Volunteers have been concentrating on those areas since Jahi's stepfather told police the boy was missing from a Balboa Park playground after he left the child for about 15 minutes to get a soda from a nearby vending machine. Police have now discounted that story, saying on Wednesday there is no evidence Jahi was in the park last Thursday, sources said. But Elmore and volunteers say that has not deterred them. "Nothing had changed for us. We're still searching for Jahi." By noon yesterday, more than 45 volunteers had shown up. "The community is so wonderful for coming together for Jahi," Elmore said. |
By Chet Barfield
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
May 3, 2002
In one of his earlier careers, before becoming a private investigator, Bill Garcia would size up a forest fire from a helicopter and direct ground teams on the best approaches for attack.
That's kind of what he's doing now, running the volunteer search center for missing 2-year-old Jahi Turner.
"A big part of my background was logistics," said Garcia, 45, a former U.S. Forest Service/Bureau of Land Management firefighter. He's been putting in 18-hour days since Saturday, coordinating seven staffers and more than 900 volunteers. "I'm pretty much doing the mapping and getting the teams started."
Garcia seems to know what he's doing. He played a key role in mapping the search that led to the discovery of 7-year-old Danielle van Dam's body in February.
A private investigator since 1992, Garcia came home from work April 25 to police choppers circling above his South Park home. Just a few blocks away, the boy's stepfather had told police that he left the toddler at a Balboa Park playground while he went to get a soda, and that when he returned 15 minutes later, Jahi was gone.
Garcia volunteered and quickly put together a plan. By Saturday morning, he was directing dozens of volunteers who came to the police command center by the playground, offering to help. Organizing searchers into teams, he gave each a file folder with an instruction sheet, maps, fliers and a log for any find of interest.
A bartender at the nearby Moose Lodge saw him on TV and offered the use of the group's meeting hall, which since Sunday has been a hectic hub from early morning until after sunset.
Dozens of volunteers fanned out again yesterday, but no breakthroughs were reported by them or police.
While volunteers searched the streets, scores of detectives yesterday continued a third day of raking methodically through a mountain of trash at the Miramar landfill, looking for evidence they will not discuss. About 80 Marines from the nearby air station assisted in the effort. More Marine volunteers were expected today.
At the volunteer center, Garcia yesterday sent teams to Chollas View and City Heights, continuing to expand the search parameters beyond the site from which the boy was reported missing.
Despite doubts about how or when the boy might have disappeared – sources close to the investigation say police are convinced Jahi was not at the playground where his stepfather reported him missing – Garcia said he still believes Jahi is alive.
"The fact that we haven't found him is actually a good indication that he may be somewhere with someone," he said. "Until I hear differently from police, we're going to continue our search for the child."
Garcia's first big search for a missing child was in 1991, when he was working as volunteer firefighter for the San Bernardino County Fire Agency. The victim was a 12-year-old Boy Scout lost on a wilderness peak.
He wound up coordinating much of the search. The boy, Jared Negrete, was never found.
"This is my driving force," Garcia says. "It's not over for me."
During that first search, relatives of a man missing in Mexico saw Garcia on TV and asked him to look for their loved one.
It launched an investigative career of more than 3,000 cases involving everything from insurance fraud to suicides. He started his own firm when he got his state license two years ago.
His concern for and experience with missing children led him to the search for Danielle van Dam. He supervised teams of volunteers covering East County areas he targeted, based on his deductions on possible routes taken by the man police say kidnapped Danielle.
After 31/2 weeks, one of Garcia's teams found the girl's body in Dehesa.
Garcia's motivation is simple: "I'm a father. I have sons (age) 2 and 5. My child was playing at the park the day before."
San Diego police spokesman David Cohen praised Garcia and the volunteers.
"We've been absolutely thrilled with Bill Garcia's efforts and that of the volunteers," he said. "To my knowledge, it hasn't turned up anything critical to the case, but it does provide us with extra eyes and ears out there, and you never know when they're going to come across something. Obviously that was borne out during the van Dam investigation."
(05-03-2002) - There's still no sign of Little Jahi Turner this morning. The 2-year-old has been missing for more than a week. Police investigators and U.S. Marines searched non-stop through the night at the Miramar landfill for any clue that might help them find the toddler.
Officials say they'll remain at the landfill for "as long as it takes" to sift through tons of debris picked up from the area where the boy was alleged to have disappeared. Jahi's stepfather says he left the toddler at a Balboa Park playground for about 15 minutes on Thursday, April 25. Tieray Jones says the boy was gone when he returned.
However, some reports have said authorities now believe the boy was never in the park. But police have declined to confirm or deny it.
In the past eight days of investigating the abduction, police have found inconsistencies in 23-year-old Jones' story, and results from a lie-detector test indicated deception.
He told police he left the boy alone in a playground for about 15 minutes while he went to get a soda from a vending machine about 150 yards away. When he returned, he said, the boy was gone.
But the Union-Tribune reported that evidence technicians found no fingerprints from Jahi on the playground equipment, such as the swings or the slide, indicating the boy likely had not played there recently.
Homicide detectives questioned Jones extensively on Wednesday, and for the first time confronted him about inconsistencies in his story.
Apparently, Tieray Jones is no stranger to police investigations and has a relatively extensive criminal history. Investigators in Maryland have also confirmed that Jones has been questioned about a murder that happened in August of 2000. At this point the case is still unsolved, but Jones is still one of many possible suspects.
Police are also still trying to locate the woman in the composite sketch that Tieray Jones described as being at the playground with two children, just before Jahi disappeared.
They say the woman they spoke with last Tuesday, was not the right person.
Police are asking the woman and any other witnesses who were in or around the park to come forward and contact them at (619) 744-9521.
There are currently no suspects in Jahi's disappearance.
At the time of his disappearance, Jahi had been living in San Diego for less than a week in off-base Navy housing near the park. Before April 21, he was living with his grandmother in Maryland.
Hundreds of volunteers have been trying to help any way they can in the search for Jahi, from searching the canyons of South Park and Golden Hill to passing out flyers with Jahi's picture in the streets of downtown.
If you would like to help in the search for Jahi Turner, call (619) 570-1070. Volunteers are meeting at 8 a.m. at the San Diego Moose Lodge, located at 1648 30th Street in Golden Hill.
Jahi Turner is described as:
Light-skinned African-American
Approximately 30 inches tall
Approximately 30 pounds
Black hair
Turner was wearing a blue, long-sleeve Winnie the Pooh t-shirt, blue nylon pants with an orange drawstring and gray tennis shoes at the time of his disappearance.
Anyone with information on the case is urged to call the San Diego County CrimeStoppers' anonymous tip line at (619) 235-8477 or the SDPD at (619) 531-2000.
Police Department spokesperson Dave Cohen said that informants could be eligible for a cash reward of up to $1,000.
And local resident, David Curry, is offering a $10,000 reward for the person who safely returns Jahi to his family.
Curry also gave $1,000 to Jahi's mother to help with expenses.
Most excellent of points, Jaded. It either matters or it doesn't. I guess poor Tie-Ray has no friends at SDPD or doesn't socialize with its retirees.
the "infamous" Dianne Halfmann....I just caught the local midday San Diego News (12:40 pm PST) and they featured a reporter who was at one of the landfill (Jahi) searches today.
As she was explaining the thoroughness of the combing, she mentioned that they had unearthed some paperwork from attorney Feldman's office in the trash and turned it over to authorities.
Gosh, maybe they can get two for the price of one and somehow connect Westerfield to Jahi's disappearance. Nevermind that he's in prison; SDPD seems to not necessarily follow logic.
You have got to be kidding...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
