Nat'l Amber Alert Issued for Girl Who May Be With Killer

ABCNEWS LA ^ | March 5, 2003 | ABC news

[hotpotato]

NAT'L Amber Alert Issued for Girl Who May Be With Killer

LOS ANGELES — Authorities are searching for 14-year-old Lindsey Ryan. The teen ran away with a convicted murderer she met at church.

As the nationwide search for 14-year-old Lindsey continues, investigators say they believe she is headed to California with 56-year-old convicted killer Terry Drake.

Authorities say Ryan and Drake, who is 42 years her senior, were sighted Tuesday near the Utah-Nevada state line. The FBI and the Nevada and California Highway Patrols have joined the search.

A nationwide AMBER alert was issued Saturday after the girl disappeared from her bedroom in Jones, Mich. Although Ryan had been corresponding with the convicted murderer online, police and her family say they believe she was brainwashed and coerced into running away with him.

Lindsey's parents say they had no idea their daughter was communicating with Drake.

"Apparently, they became acquainted at a church that we attend, but it was a very innocuous meeting," Patrick Ryan said.

Cass County Sheriff Joseph Underwood says his department hasn't received any significant leads about Drake's whereabouts and authoriities say they're concerned Drake may have guns that are said to be missing from the Ryan household. Authorities say Lindsey apparently took ammunition and $4,000 from her parents' house when she left.

"He's manipulative, he's been manipulating the family, Lindsey, over a period of time," Underwood said. "He's been working on her for the past two and a half months and finally got her to leave with him. We're doing everything that we possibly can to find him," he said.

Drake was imprisoned for a murder in Knox County, Indiana, in 1978, and was released in 1994 as part of a plea bargain. The Middlebury, Ind., man has been charged with child endangerment in a felony arrest warrant, the sheriff's department said.

Lindsey's mother discovered her teenage daughter was missing when her husband broke open Lindsey's locked bedroom door. The bedroom window was left open and she realized that Lindsey was gone

"Initially, I thought she was kidnapped because it was uncharacteristic with her," Carol Ryan said. "We didn't have any acting-out behavior. The only way we thought she went by consent is when the police came and saw only one set of footprints," she said.

Drake is reported to be driving a 1995 White Dodge Dakota pickup, with Indiana license plate 406211A. He has tattoos on his forearms and neck including a dragon.

Police described Lindsey as white, 5 feet tall and 105 pounds. They say she has reportedly dyed her strawberry-blond hair black. She has blue eyes and wears braces.

Source: ABCNEWS.com

Last Updated: Mar 5, 2003

[Maedhros]

yawn

[RoughDobermann]

yawn

I take it you're not a parent...?

[Maedhros]

Nope. Many posters on the fora have called me a sociopath, which I dispute.

[gcruse]

If Amber is going to be activated for runaways, it will die of overload.

[hotpotato]

I think what makes this different is a 14 year old girl with a 56 year old man; a man who has done something like this before and killed his "runaway."

[gcruse]

Why did you put runaway in quotes? The article says she ran away.

[mombonn]

STAY OFF THE AMBER ALERT THREADS.

[Maedhros]

Stop SHOUTING.

[hotpotato]

He's done this before and though the story states runaway, the parents and others are stating strongly that she was not a runaway and was abducted similarly to the woman he abducted once before and killed (was let out of prison early for that murder because he said he became religious). This is a late reply so you may have heard the details already.