http://www.herald-dispatch.com/2002/November/27/LNtop2.htm
Escapee gives information on Burns
Attorney refuses to say what Basham told police about missing MU student
By REBECCAH CANTLEY-FALK - The Herald-Dispatch
HUNTINGTON -- A suspect in the disappearance of 19-year-old Marshall University student Samantha Burns released information about her Tuesday to the FBI in Ashland, his attorney said.
L. Branden Basham, 21, authorized Robert Hughes to release the information Tuesday afternoon and requested that it be passed along to a trooper with the West Virginia State Police, Hughes said.
Hughes is Basham’s federally appointed defense attorney.
Hughes said he could not comment on what information Basham gave investigators, but said it was about Burns.
Burns has been missing since Nov. 11.
Investigators in West Virginia would not comment on whether Basham had given them information or on the ongoing investigation.
Basham and Chadrick E. Fulks, 25, escaped Nov. 4 from the Hopkins County (Ky.) Jail and are suspects in a multi-state crime spree. Basham is in the Boyd County Detention Center. Fulks is in custody in South Carolina.
The two also are suspected of abducting Alice Donovan, a S.C. woman missing since Nov. 14, and James Hawkins, a Hanson, Ky., man who was abducted Nov. 5 and tied to a tree near Evansville, Ind. He escaped after nearly 15 hours.
Basham has admitted to kidnapping Donovan, according to an affidavit presented Thursday in U.S. District Court in South Bend, Ind., during Fulks’ initial court appearance. Hughes said Basham’s release of information did not signify his involvement in Burns’ disappearance.
"It is not in any measure to be inferred as implicating him as either a primary or accessory," he said.
Troopers with the West Virginia State Police have interviewed Basham several times, Hughes said. Basham faces first-degree robbery, attempted murder and persistent felony charges in Kentucky. He is accused of having a shootout Nov. 17 with police following a failed carjacking in Ashland.
Hughes said Basham was very specific in his request that the information be passed to an FBI agent in Ashland and then to Trooper Scott Lawrence with the West Virginia State Police.
"(Lawrence) has spoken before with Mr. Basham, and I think they built a rapport," Hughes said. "Mr. Basham liked that particular trooper and trusted him."
Hughes said he could not confirm whether Lawrence had received the information, but said he would be surprised if he hadn’t received it.
Sgt. A.H. Arnold with the Huntington detachment of the West Virginia State Police and Joe Ciccarelli, the FBI’s senior resident agent in Charleston, would not comment about the information during a news conference Tuesday in Huntington.
"There have been some media reports regarding information, and we’re not in the position to comment," Ciccarelli said. "This is an ongoing investigation, and the premature release of information could compromise the prosecution on down the road if that’s where this goes."
Arnold said no new leads in the case had been confirmed.
"Obviously, if we get something concrete we can release, then we will release it," Arnold said. "The recent rumors that have come out about the attorney talking and all that, that’s nothing we can get into now."
Ciccarelli and Arnold said they would not comment on whether Basham and Fulks had even been interviewed or asked about Burns.
Also Tuesday, the FBI released a statement saying that a 16-year-old’s disappearance Nov. 12 from the Huntington Mall at Barboursville was not related to the Burns case. Sara Owens was reported missing after going to a job interview at the mall. She was located Nov. 15 in Richmond, Va.
After an investigation and consultation with other law enforcement agencies, the FBI determined that there were no federal criminal violations in connection with Owens’ disappearance, according to the release. Owens said she accepted a ride home from two men, who took her to Virginia.
She said she hid from the men in a bathroom at a mall in Virginia and borrowed a cell phone to call her father.
http://www.msnbc.com/local/wsaz/M249785.asp
Burns search moves to Guyandotte River
HUNTINGTON, WV, Nov. 27 - The search for missing Marshall University student Samantha Burns has moved to the Guyandotte River in Huntington.
Investigators from the FBI, The West Virginia State Police began searching an area near the mouth of the Ohio River around 9 am Wednesday morning.
The search, on both land and water, includes at least 3 boats and several cadaver dogs.
The search is based on possible information provided by jail escapee Branden Basham.
Basham was arrested in Ashland, Kentucky on November 17. He was taken into custody after trying to carjack a woman and her daughter, as well as shooting at an Ashland Police officer.
Investigators have not provided details about what Basham told them.
West Virginia State Police have said they believe Basham and fellow escapee Chadrick Fulks, a native of West Hamlin, were in the Huntington
area November 11th, the night Burns disappeared.
Up to this point, no concrete links had been found.
Basham and Fulks escaped from jail November Fourth. Basham was caught in Kentucky November 17th and Fulks was caught in Indiana three days later.
The men are also suspects in the abductions of a Kentucky man, who managed to escape, and a South Carolina woman, who is still missing.
This is the first major development since the Wayne County sheriff found Samantha's burned out car in a remote area between Lavalette and Kenova.