Free Republic

Navy Suspends Search For Missing Helo, Crew JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The Navy has suspended search-and-rescue efforts for three service members from a Mayport-based helicopter lost off the coast of North Carolina. The search was called off at 11 a.m. Monday after debris from the wreckage of the SH-60B Seahawk from Helicopter Anti-Submarine Light Wing 44 was located and no survivors were found. The Navy reported losing communication with the helicopter at 10:50 p.m. Saturday while it was conducting landing qualifications on two ships off Cherry Point, N.C. as part of the Nassau Expeditionary Strike Group. Navy, Marine Corps and Coast...

FRANKLIN, Ind. -- An Amber Alert has been issued for a missing boy from Franklin. Officials said the boy is in extreme danger. Police said Thomas Rivera, 11, was believed to have been taken by his father, Gabriel J. Rivera. Thomas Rivera was last seen just after 2 a.m. at 48 South Crowell Street in Franklin. Thomas Rivera is described as a male child, 4 feet 8 inches tall, with short brown hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing basketball shorts and carrying a green blanket. Police said Gabriel Rivera entered the home of the child's mother by...

Richmond Police yesterday arrested an amateur photographer - one of the last people to see Virginia Commonwealth University freshman Taylor Behl before she vanished Sept. 5 - and charged him with 16 counts of possession of child pornography. Ben Fawley, 38, was arrested about 3 p.m. just as a phalanx of armed and armored police officers converged on his doorstep in the 400 block of Hancock Street. "Open the door, Ben," ordered a detective, who was filmed making the arrest by a local TV crew. Moments later, the bespectacled Fawley exited in a black T-shirt. Police said his long, dyed...

Officials at Virginia Commonwealth University are pledging a $20,000 reward to anyone with information leading to the location and return of missing VCU freshman Taylor Marie Behl. "Please keep Taylor, her family and friends in your thoughts as we hope for her safe return," VCU President Eugene P. Trani wrote yesterday in a letter to the university and VCU Health System "communities." The announcement came a day after Behl's family posted an $11,000 reward for information about her disappearance.

Police: Charges May Be Upgraded POSTED: 10:11 am CDT September 22, 2005 CHICAGO -- A 28-year-old man was charged with sex offenses against a 14-year-old boy whose body was found naked in Lincoln Park in mid August, police said Thursday. Shawn Thigpen, of Chicago, was charged late Wednesday with three counts of felony aggravated criminal sexual abuse and was to appear for a bond hearing Thursday, according to police News Affairs Officer Laura Kubiak. Thigpen is accused of sexually abusing Michael Smith Jr., whose body was found in Lincoln Park Aug. 18, Kubiak said. Cook County state's attorney's office spokesman...

The investigation into a missing Virginia Commonwealth University freshman from Vienna took a new turn Wednesday. Police filed unrelated charges against a person questioned in the student's disappearance. Police searched the apartment of 38-year-old photographer Ben Fawley as part of a child pornography investigation, according to court documents. According to the search warrant, investigators went to Fawley's apartment looking for images and documents related to child pornography and the distribution of child pornography. Investigators said they took away at least five computers and an assortment of computer equipment. Fawley is a friend of 17-year-old Taylor Behl, who has been missing...

A 38-year-old amateur photographer -- one of the last people to see missing Virginia Commonwealth University student Taylor Behl -- filed a report with police claiming he had been abducted and robbed just hours after Behl was last seen on the night of Sept. 5. The photographer told Richmond police that he was walking in an alley near Franklin Street and Monument Avenue at 5 a.m. Sept. 6 when he was "robbed by an unknown number of people," according to a Richmond Police Department incident report obtained last night by The Times-Dispatch. The photographer told police that he was hit...

There's a new development on the Taylor Behl case. On Monday, Richmond police issued a be on the lookout message across police scanners for a tan 4 door Nissan Altima with Virginia plates JTE-6886. A Richmond police sokeswoman tells us they believe Taylor has been in the car before she disappeared and "It's just a very small part of a huge puzzle." 8 News spoke with a lawyer representing a local photographer being questioned in the case.Chris Collins, Ben Fawley's lawyer tells us he believes his client is a suspect, even if police won't confirm this.

The sun set shortly after 7 p.m. at Monroe Park. An hour later, the park was illuminated once again. A crowd of about 100 people, most of them young women, expressed their hope for the safe return of Taylor Marie Behl at a candlelight vigil last night at Monroe Park in the heart of the Virginia Commonwealth University campus. A VCU freshman, Behl has been missing since Sept. 5. The 17-year-old's disappearance has attracted national attention.

PERSIAN GULF (NNS) -- Air and surface forces of the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group ended dedicated search and rescue (SAR) operations Sept. 17 in the Persian Gulf after a five-day search for a Sailor discovered missing from the guided-missile cruiser USS Princeton (CG 59) Sept. 13. Strike group assets will continue search efforts while conducting routine operations in the area. After the Sailor did not report as scheduled for a watch that morning, the crew began an immediate and thorough search on board Princeton. Once all spaces on the ship had been searched, U.S. and coalition SAR operations began from...

One day after the car belonging to missing college student Taylor Marie Behl was located, Richmond police said yesterday that they believe the Virginia Commonwealth University freshman might have been abducted. Behl's 1997 Ford Escort was found Saturday morning in a neighborhood about 1 1/2 miles from the Richmond campus. Its license plates had been replaced with Ohio tags that were reported stolen in Richmond about two months before the Sept. 5 disappearance of Behl. ............No alert was issued when Behl was reported missing because the case did not meet the criteria, police said. Investigators executed several search warrants Friday,...

The hurricane must be over On The Record has returned tonight with wall to wall coverage of missing person's. Virginia college coed's mother was just interviewed and next up is Natalee Holloway's mother.

Harrison County Missing Persons List GCN Filed: 9/14/05 The Harrison County Coroner's Offices has released a large list of people that are unaccounted for, missing or had inquiries made about them. The list was issued by workers with the Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team. If you have information on the whereabouts of these people, please call 1-800-958-9519. If you do see someone on this list, or wish to expand the number of people looking for these people, you can use the GCN Survivor/Connector Database. The GCN Survivor/Connector Database has over 70,000 entries and is one of the largest Katrina survivor...

The possibility of theft prompted the institute to interrogate two dozen of its employees and conduct lie detector tests, The Star-Ledger of Newark reported Thursday. The FBI said it was investigating. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is also investigating, the newspaper reported. The incident came as federal authorities investigate possible corruption in the school's finances. The FBI is reviewing political donations and millions of dollars in no-bid contracts awarded to politically connected firms.

NEWARK, N.J. -- Authorities are searching for three mice infected with bubonic plague that disappeared from a research laboratory about two weeks ago.While health experts say the risk to the public is slim to none, the incident highlights ongoing security failures at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. The mice went missing from the lab of the Public Health Research Institute, which is located on the UMDNJ campus and conducts bioterrorism research for the federal government. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the FBI are investigating, The Star-Ledger of Newark reported in Thursday's newspapers. The...

Taylor Marie Behl, a 17-year-old freshman at Virginia Commonwealth University, is still missing after last being seen on Sept. 5, according to Colonel Willie B. Fuller, the VCU chief of police. The VCU student was first reported missing on Sept. 7 around 1:35 a.m. Her roommate, who was with her boyfriend at the time, saw her last on Sept. 5 around 10:20 p.m. in their dorm room. Behl had just returned from dinner at the Village Café, located on the corner of Harrison and Grace streets. She left shortly after that with just her car keys and a credit card....

Taylor Marie Behl, a 17-year-old freshman at Virginia Commonwealth University, is still missing after last being seen on Sept. 5, according to Colonel Willie B. Fuller, the VCU chief of police. The VCU student was first reported missing on Sept. 7 around 1:35 a.m. Her roommate, who was with her boyfriend at the time, saw her last on Sept. 5 around 10:20 p.m. in their dorm room. Behl had just returned from dinner at the Village Café, located on the corner of Harrison and Grace streets. She left shortly after that with just her car keys and a credit card....

Three lab mice that were exposed to the plague are missing from the Public Health research Institute in Newark. The animals could have been stolen or eaten by other animals in their cages. Officials say the risk to public safety is minimal because the infected mice would die quickly. The incident occurred more than two weeks ago. The research lab is located on the campus of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. U-M-D-N-J has responsibility for security. The F-B-I and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are investigating. State Health Commissioner Fred Jacobs tells The Star-Ledger...

PERSIAN GULF (NNS) -- Air and surface forces of the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group are conducting Search and Rescue (SAR) operations in the Persian Gulf after a Sailor from the guided-missile cruiser USS Princeton (CG 59) was discovered missing Sept. 13. An immediate and thorough search aboard Princeton began after the Sailor failed to report for watch that morning. After the search of every space aboard the ship did not locate the Sailor, SAR operations began from the point of the ship’s position when the Sailor was last seen, combing the area for any sign of the Sailor. The Sailor...

RICHMOND, Va. -- One week after she walked out of her dorm room to give her roommate privacy with a boyfriend, a 17-year-old college student remains missing--and increasingly anxious authorities have called in the FBI for help. Virginia Commonwealth University freshman Taylor Behl hasn't been heard from since she hastily departed her room last Monday night with her car keys and a credit card. Her roommate reported her missing to campus police around 1:30 a.m. Wednesday. There has been no activity on her credit cards or bank accounts since Monday, police said. Calls to her cell phone ring through, indicating...