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Missing Persons

Re: Odd Case of Missing Student

Dark Detective said:
MADISON, Wisconsin (AP) -- A university student who was the victim of a baffling attack in February now has disappeared, and police and volunteers were searching for clues Tuesday.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/Midwest/03/30/missing.student.ap/index.html

Student says she was abducted at knifepoint

No suspect seen in area where woman was found

Thursday, April 1, 2004 Posted: 0653 GMT (1453 HKT)



Audrey Seiler



(CNN) -- A college student who was found alive Wednesday in Madison, Wisconsin, four days after she disappeared told police she was abducted at knifepoint, authorities said.

"We have searched the area concerned extensively, and the suspect was not found," Shannon Blackamore, a spokesman for the Madison Police Department, said late Wednesday.

Asked if authorities were still searching for a possible abductor, Blackamore would only say, "We are actively investigating this case."

Audrey Seiler, a 20-year-old honor student at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, disappeared early Saturday.

She was found Wednesday about two miles from campus in a marshy area of Madison shortly after someone spotted her and called police, authorities said. Seiler was treated at a hospital and released about five hours later.

Blackamore said Seiler told police she was taken at knifepoint and held in captivity, but not harmed. She said she did not know the man.

"Preliminary information indicates that a gun was implied but not seen," Blackamore told reporters. "Audrey reports that she was not free to leave and was not injured."

Seiler described the suspect as a white male in his late 20s or early 30s and about 6 feet tall, police said. He was last seen wearing a black sweatshirt, black hat and jeans, police said.

Seiler's parents expressed relief that the ordeal was over.

"Audrey was overjoyed to return back to us, just relieved, glad to be warm, to see her friends and family [and] a bit surprised at the big hullabaloo," Keith Seiler told reporters after being reunited with his daughter. "Other than that, she's just content right now."

"Right now we're just focusing on being together and holding each other," said her mother, Stephanie Seiler.

Dr. Philip Shultz, who treated Seiler at St. Mary's Hospital, said the young woman was "remarkably well," considering everything.

"She's really gotten through her ordeal remarkably well, physically," Shultz said. "She has lots of muscle aches from being confined during this period of time and she's relatively dehydrated."

Madison police spokesman Pat Malloy said authorities received a call from a citizen who "spotted her in a marsh area and thought it was unusual or suspicious and called the police."

Police quickly sealed off the area two miles east of the university and began combing streets, parking lots and nearby woods with their guns drawn.

Police in a helicopter used a thermal imaging device to try to spot the man, and at least one canine team tried to find a trail on the ground. SWAT team members employed an armored vehicle.

"The area is currently being secured until crime scene processing can occur," Blackamore said.

Seiler was last seen Saturday on a surveillance camera leaving her apartment without a purse or coat.

Her disappearance puzzled investigators because there was no sign of foul play.

Hundreds of volunteers, including many from Seiler's hometown of Rockford, Minnesota, took part in searches earlier in the week.

Seiler told police last month she was attacked from behind and knocked unconscious while walking outside after midnight.

She said she woke up behind a nearby building but was not robbed or otherwise hurt, police said. No one was arrested in the incident.

The university provost said the apparent kidnapping was unusual for Madison, a quiet college town that had its lowest crime rate in 30 years last year.

"This is quite unique for us," Spear said. "In fact, our crime rate here is well below average for universities of our size."

Last November, University of North Dakota student Dru Sjodin, 22, disappeared after leaving her job at a Grand Forks shopping mall. She is believed to be dead, although no remains have been found.

Alfonso Rodriguez Jr., 50, who was released from prison six months earlier after serving 23 years for the rapes of two women and attempted rape of another woman, was charged with her kidnapping.

http://edition.cnn.com/2004/US/Midwest/03/31/missing.student/index.html
 
I don wonde rif some people have been up to naughtiness and have devised some tale to cover up for their activities - I went missing for 4 days once and caused quite a bit of concern (I went to Leeds for a party one weekend and arrived back on Thursday instead of Sunday - oops).

WALNUT CREEK

Sleeper blissfully unaware of havoc she caused

'Missing' woman safe in dreamland during 16-hour hunt


Demian Bulwa, Chronicle Staff Writer

Wednesday, March 31, 2004



Lorna Adams' disappearance caused a great deal of commotion, and she might have been aware of it had she not been sleeping so peacefully.

"Apparently, I caused some trouble," Adams, 89, said Tuesday. She was well-rested after 16 hours of sleep, while her would-be rescuers were sleeping after nearly 16 hours of would-be rescuing.

The retired dental hygienist from Santa Rosa vanished at about 1 p.m. Monday during a conference at the Embassy Suites hotel just outside Walnut Creek after telling her roommate that she had a chill and a runny nose and needed a short nap.

All was well until her roommate checked the room an hour later and found it empty.

She summoned the manager. He summoned Adams' family. They summoned sheriff's deputies, who summoned a search-and-rescue team.

They searched the hotel high and low. They put her picture on the TV news. Her kids combed the neighborhood. Dogs tried to track her scent. A California Highway Patrol helicopter buzzed overhead.

Turns out, Adams was sawing logs in room 416, enjoying what turned out to be a very refreshing 16-hour nap.

There was just one problem -- Adams was registered in room 516, exactly one floor above.

According to hotel general manager David Cano, Adams asked a newly hired maid to let her into the room. That maid Tuesday was firmly told that guests without keys should be sent to the front desk, he said.

Once in the room, Adams climbed into bed and faded into far more than a nap. She awoke at about 6 a.m. Unaware that there was a rescue afoot, she hopped into the shower.

When she got out, she noticed something amiss.

"Finally, I realized my bag wasn't there -- no clothes, no toothbrush," she said. She tracked down her roommate, who brought her up to speed on her missing-person's status.

"That's when I realized all the trouble I created," Adams said.

Next came a tearful reunion in room 416, and an early trip back to Santa Rosa to see her terrified husband, Barnard.

"I'm so glad you're home," Barnard told her.

Adams said she found some lessons in her in dreamy disappearance. First, she said, sleeping for 16 hours isn't normal, and so she will get a check-up. Second, she wants her rescuers -- there were more than three dozen -- to know she appreciates their hard work.

And third, Adams said she felt very much loved.

"Aren't I fortunate?" she said. "I have so many people to thank."

She planned to thank them after they woke up.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/03/31/BAG7E5U28J1.DTL
 
And Yet

Imagine the mystery had she died in her sleep.
 
Strange Abductions

This case is fairly recent, but the weird thing is that before she was abducted, she had been knocked out and moved a block while unconcious!

Here is the story, with bold for emphasis...

Police Search for Wis. Student's Abductor
By TODD RICHMOND, Associated Press Writer

MADISON, Wis. - A man police believed abducted a University of Wisconsin-Madison student at knifepoint was still at large Thursday, a day after the college sophomore was found alive and healthy.

Audrey Seiler told police she thought her abductor was still in the marshy area where she was found Wednesday afternoon, four days after she disappeared from her apartment, police spokesman Larry Kamholz said Thursday. An intense search of the area did not turn up the suspect.

Kamholz said police were looking for tips to give them a better idea of where to search, and they hoped to have a more in-depth interview with Seiler later Thursday.

Before she was found Wednesday afternoon, Seiler was last spotted on a surveillance camera taken from her apartment building early Saturday. Police would not say Thursday morning how Seiler was abducted or how she was freed and found in a marsh less than two miles from her apartment. Officer Shannon Blackamore said Seiler did not know the abductor.

Blackamore said there was an indication or threat of a gun, though Seiler never saw the weapon. "Audrey reports she was not free to leave and was not injured," Blackamore said. Seiler was cold, dehydrated and had muscle aches from being confined but was otherwise fine when she was checked at a hospital Wednesday, said Dr. Philip Shultz.

"Audrey is doing well. She's happy to be back," said her father, Keith Seiler. "Needless to say, she's thrilled to be home again with her family and friends."

The discovery capped an intense search in which dozens of volunteers from Seiler's hometown of Rockford, Minn., slogged through marshes and woods around campus looking for evidence. Investigators scoured her phone records and apartments in her private dorm for any clue to the disappearance. Police also used dogs, planes and boats in the search.

The surveillance tape from her apartment building shows Seiler leaving without any personal belongings about 2:30 a.m. Saturday. Her apartment door was left open, even though her roommate was not home at the time, and Seiler's car was left behind. Police would not say Wednesday what prompted her to leave the building in just sweats.

Seiler was also the victim of a mysterious attack Feb. 1, when she was struck from behind by an unknown assailant and knocked unconscious, police said. Someone moved her about a block from where she was attacked, but she was not sexually assaulted or robbed, authorities said.

Police are unsure if there was any connection between the attack and Seiler's disappearance. Blackamore dismissed the idea that Seiler's disappearance, coming as it did weeks after another unexplained incident, was a hoax. Authorities said police were investigating it seriously.

Seiler's uncle Scott Charlesworth-Seiler said Audrey was smiling and happy at the hospital. He said she hadn't talked about why she left her apartment and no one had asked her about it. "We all believed we were going to find her and she was coming back. She's a strong girl," he said.

The marshy area where Seiler was found is near a hotel where many of her family and friends were staying as they helped with the search. After receiving word Seiler was OK and back with her parents, they began checking out to go home.

Her boyfriend's family celebrated in the hotel lobby over beers as guests walked by and shouted congratulations. "Everything tastes better. Everything looks better. Everything feels better," said Bill Fisher, whose son Ryan is Seiler's boyfriend. He came down from Rockford, Minn., to join the search party.

Karin Sivula, 18, a UW-Whitewater freshman who went to high school with Seiler, said she can't understand why anyone would attack her friend from behind or abduct her, and both incidents have left her angry. "Just crazy," she said. "There's so many unanswered questions."

Taylor Brown, a friend of Seiler's boyfriend, said students were glued to their TVs Wednesday as they awaited updates on her condition and the search for the suspect. "Yesterday it would've been pretty hard to create a scenario where she came out of this so well," Brown said. "I think it's great that everything worked out so well."

In La Crosse, about 110 miles northwest of Madison, police said another college student reported missing also was found Wednesday. Gretchen Lee, 22, a student at Viterbo University in La Crosse, was last seen Monday morning as she left her father's home in Red Wing, Minn., to drive to La Crosse.

She called her family late Wednesday from South Dakota after hearing news reports about her disappearance, Sgt. Troy Nedegaard said. "She went out for a joy ride and decided to travel for a couple of days without telling anybody," he said.
 
People here in Madison have become somewhat skeptical and are eagerly awaiting the police press conference at 10 AM today (it's 9:15 right now) because it promises to reveal a 'significant change' in the investigation. On the other hand, yesterday the police held a tight-lipped press conference during which they gave out a composite of the "alleged" abductor. I've read that there's at least one other unsolved missing persons case in the area, BTW - but it's not a nice looking college student. :confused:
 
Munchausen's?

Yes, her story just doesn't add up and it seems if she'd been abducted at knife point, as she claims, then her abductor would have been seen on the video of her leaving the dorm. Instead it looks as if she's scanning to spot a ride; one wonders if she's not confabulating in order to get attention or to cover up some stupid stunt.
 
Something similar happened in my hometown and when they found her and realized it was a hoax they took her to court and made her pay all cost of the search.
 
Here ya go - mystery solved! :rolleyes:
http://www.wkowtv.com/$spindb.!query.listnews.storeview.12315.news


Here's one link to the other local missing persons story: http://www.nbc15.com/Global/story.asp?S=1756591&nav=G6opLzUu

(Madison) Sun Prairie police are investigating a report of a missing 18 year old.

Daniel Rogers was last seen in front of the Sun Prairie Library on Monday, March 22nd. He had just gotten out of school and apparently was having an argument with two other teens.

His mother says everything was going well for Daniel in his personal life and she fears the worse. If you have any information about Daniel's whereabouts, contact the Sun Prairie Police Department at 837–7336.


Actually, I have to confess that I have no idea what this guy looks like.
 
Sorry, here's the story:

Seiler's Original Claim of Abduction False.
Fri 04-02-2004 , 10:05 am

Madison Police held a news conference shortly after 10:30 Friday morning. During the conference Acting Chief Noble Wray said Audrey Seiler just wanted to be alone and that she wasn't abducted. However, the Acting Chief went on to say that Seiler said she was taken from a different location in Madison. Police originally believed Seiler was taken from her apartment. Police now say that Seiler told them that she was abducted at knife-point from a different location. 27 News will continue to investigate this new information. Tune into 27 News at 5, 6 and 10 for further information.
 
Along similar lines:

Seiler Wasn't Initially Abducted


Madison police are calling another news conference Friday at 12:30 p.m., their second planned news conference in two hours. Action 2 News will carry that news conference LIVE on WBAY-TV 2.

There is a change in Audrey Seiler's account of her abduction, but Madison police say they are still investigating her disappearance as a kidnapping.

Seiler originally told police she was abducted at knifepoint after stepping outside her off-campus apartment early Saturday morning. At a news conference Friday morning, Assistant Police Chief Noble Wray talked about problems with the case "when we talked to Audrey inconsistencies appeared in her statements, witness statements, and evidence collected by this department."

Now Seiler tells police she initially left because she needed to be alone, but then was taken against her will later by a man with a knife. "Audrey says the man in the sketch took her from a different part of the city at knifepoint."

Police are still investigating her case as an abduction. They released a composite sketch Wednesday of a white man in his late 20s or early 30s who is 5'10" to six feet tall with a stocky build. When last seen he was clean shaven wearing a black sweatshirt, blue jeans, and black stocking cap.

Wray still urged people in Madison to take normal safety precautions.

Police would not take any questions from reporters.

When Seiler was found in a marsh Wednesday, police say she told them her abductor was still in the area, setting off a massive manhunt. With guns drawn, dozens of officers combed the area, including nearby buildings and parking lots. They even brought in a helicopter and dogs, and continued searching the area Thursday.

http://www.wbay.com/Global/story.asp?S=1757652
 
From http://www.wkowtv.com/$spindb.!query.listnews.storeview.12315.news

27 News Headlines

Madison Police: No Suspect
Fri 04-02-2004 , 10:05 am

Police say the inconsistencies in the investigation led them to the conclusion that a suspect in the Audrey Seiler case doesn't exist.

In a press conference early this afternoon, Madison Police say they do not believe there is a suspect at large in the Audrey Seiler case.
"We do not believe there is a suspect at large, period," Assistant Police Chief Noble Wray said.

Surveillance video showed Audrey Seiler, a University of Wisconsin-Madison sophomore, walking out of her apartment about 2:30 a.m. Saturday in just sweats. She was found in the marsh about two miles away Wednesday, unharmed.

Seiler told police her abductor used duct tape, rope and a knife against her.

Police said they obtained videotape of Seiler buying some of those items at a local store, Wray said.

27 News will continue to investigate this new information. Tune into 27 News at 5, 6 and 10 for more.

:rolleyes:
 
Re: Already Done

FraterLibre said:
Ever seen The Majestic, with Jim Carrey? Excellent film with just that plot.

nope, never seen it ...
 
False Claims of Kidnapping Are Common, Experts Say

BY DRU SEFTON
c.2004 Newhouse News Service



Benjamin Radford was not surprised that the kidnapping of University of Wisconsin student Audrey Seiler turned out to be a hoax.

Radford, a journalist and author, spent three years researching false crime reports and says fake abduction claims are far more common than the public realizes. In just the first three months of this year, in addition to the Seiler case:

-- A mother in Oak Park, Mich., was charged with filing a false police report after admitting that she and her son had not been abducted at gunpoint, as she had claimed.

-- Two young women in Fort Worth, Texas, confessed they had staged their own abduction after being found duct-taped in the trunk of a car.

-- A 16-year-old girl in Clarkstown, N.Y., admitted making up the story that a man with a swastika tattoo had tried to kidnap her.

Radford, managing editor of Skeptical Inquirer magazine, which examines hoaxes and fringe-science claims, fills a chapter with false crime reports in his new book, "Media Mythmakers: How Journalists, Activists and Advertisers Mislead Us."

Sean McWeeney, a former FBI agent who now heads a corporate security firm in Fairfax, Va., said that while he doesn't see false kidnappings as a serious problem, "they certainly happen and it is an issue for law enforcement to deal with."

Statistics are hard to come by. Stu Smith, spokesman for the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics, said compiling such reports would be expensive and complicated given the many police jurisdictions involved nationwide.

For his book, Radford conducted news database and Internet searches for reports of faked abductions throughout North America.

"From what I've been able to find out, false abductions happen a few times a month," he said from his office in Buffalo, N.Y. "Most are under the radar and don't make national news."

Fake kidnappings drain valuable resources and traumatize communities, Radford said. The Seiler case, in which the young woman went missing for four days in March but later admitted she just wanted to be alone, so far has cost the city of Madison ,000 -- about ,000 in overtime and police benefits alone, said Laura Walker, police department public information officer.

Walker added that charges have not yet been filed against Seiler. She said the case is "still under review" in the prosecutor's office.

Radford, however, finds that "consistently, almost invariably, they are not prosecuted. Probably 95 percent of the time they're let go with a warning or fined 0 and asked to do community service."

Part of the problem, he said, is the reluctance of prosecutors to go after persons reporting false crimes -- they don't want to make real crime victims reluctant to come forward, fearing they will be interrogated or doubted.

Doug Sebastian is concerned about that. He's the founder and head of the KinderVision Foundation, a national education program based in Peru, Ind., dedicated to preventing the abduction of children.

"In the case of protecting innocents, it's always better safe than sorry," Sebastian said. "Unfortunately those things are happening just as real incidents are happening."

In most false kidnapping cases, "I've found the people who do this are typically looking for attention, sometimes sympathy," Radford said.

Or, he said, the alleged victim hears a news report of a real abduction and there's a "copycat effect."

"They see how much attention the victim received and may think, `Hey, I can go home and tell Mom that a teacher tried to abduct me,"' he said.

Adults sometimes fake abductions to cover up other acts.

Radford cites Darlene Heatherington, a Canadian woman who disappeared in May 2003 on a business trip to Montana. She turned up three days later in Las Vegas, reporting she'd been drugged, raped and abducted. Later she admitted she was on a rendezvous with a married man.

"The sad thing is, the public is scared enough as it is," Radford said. "These cases distort the public view of just how dangerous the world is."

http://www.newhousenews.com/archive/sefton041304.html

[edit: The book mentioned is:

Media Mythmakers: How Journalists,Activists and Advertisers Mislead Us
Benjamin Radford
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1591020727/
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1591020727/

Promoetheus Books page for it:
http://www.prometheusbooks.com/site/catalog/book_1358.html ]
 
Re: Tainted Source

FraterLibre said:

:confused:

Fancy discussing things with more than one word statements? Are you refering to the article I posted, the Jim carey film or something else?

Emps
 
Seiler charged in disappearance
Associated Press
April 14, 2004SEILER0415



MADISON, Wis. -- Audrey Seiler, the University of Wisconsin-Madison student accused of staging her own disappearance last month, was charged Wednesday with two misdemeanor counts of obstructing officers.

Each charge carries a jail sentence up to nine months and a maximum fine of $10,000.

Dane County District Attorney Brian Blanchard said Seiler ``intentionally and repeatedly provided false information'' to police about the circumstances of her disappearance. Her first court appearance was scheduled for Thursday morning, but Blanchard said her attorney would appear on her behalf.

Blanchard filed the 16-page criminal complaint two weeks after Seiler was discovered in a marsh area within a mile of her campus apartment. She was reported missing March 27.
Audrey Seiler
Associated Press

When officers attempted to assist Seiler to her feet she said ``I can't leave the woods - a bad man will kill me,'' according to the complaint. She told officers the man had a knife and a gun.

Her claim touched off a major manhunt, which authorities said accounted for most of the money they spent on the case. The Madison police department last week estimated its costs at $96,000.

The charges stem from statements Seiler made to police during interviews March 31 and April 1, in which she told police the man entered her room at 2:15 a.m. March 27 while she was doing homework and forced her from her room at knifepoint, telling her to leave the building.

Seiler told police that once she left her apartment building, the same man grabbed her and put her into a car with threats that he had a gun. She also said the man used duct tape over her mouth and would sometimes give her NyQuil pills, according to the complaint.

Police concluded Seiler's story was fake after obtaining a videotape showing Seiler buying the knife, duct tape, rope and cold medicine she claimed her abductor used to restrain her. And even after investigators showed Seiler the surveillance photos of her buying the items during the April 1 interview, she said she purchased gum, Chapstick, flu medicine and tape for her bedroom lights.

Hundreds of people from Madison and Seiler's hometown participated in searches for her after her disappearance.

Seiler's roommate, Heather Thue, told officers that Seiler had no history of mental illness but had seemed depressed and was ``confused'' about her relationship with her boyfriend, Ryan Fisher. Thue said Fisher did not pay as much attention to Seiler as she wanted.

During her April 1 interview, Seiler broke down crying when investigators told her they believed she was under a lot of stress.

``I know you think I can't handle Ryan, or my grades, but I can,'' Seiler said and started crying, according to the complaint.

As investigators attempted to console her, she added, ``It just got so out of hand. I did not mean for it to ... everybody did so much for me,'' the complaint said.

Seiler had also reported an unexplained attack in February, saying she was struck from behind and left unconscious. The complaint does not accuse Seiler of lying about that attack, Blanchard said.

Blanchard said he could not have charged Seiler with a felony unless her actions had led to the arrest and conviction of an innocent person.

A message left at Seiler's home in Rockford, Minn., wasn't immediately returned.

The family's attorney, Randy Hopper, was traveling and didn't immediately return messages left at his office and on his cell phone.
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© Copyright 2004 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.
 
5th Anniversary passes, no word from Minnesota man

Curiously, this is from the same paper where I got the previous story I posted (http://www.startribune.com). It seems as if it *must* be foul play, but I'd imagine the ratio af young women who disappear to young men is on the order of 10:1, at least.-lopaka


Vadnais Heights woman is looking for answers

Herón Márquez Estrada, Star Tribune
April 14, 2004

Every September, and again at Christmas, Jackie Edberg writes a letter to her son Nathan. She expresses how she feels, writes about family events, and tells him just how much she misses him.

"I will either give them to Nathan when I see him, or I will bury them with him," Edberg, of Vadnais Heights, said Tuesday on the eve of the five-year anniversary of her son's disappearance.

The uncertainty of what she'll do with the letters is caused by the mystery surrounding Nathan Edberg's disappearance. He was last seen on April 14, 1999, at Decoy's Bar and Grill in White Bear Lake. He was 21 years old.

On his way home, his truck went into a ditch at the intersection of Interstate Hwy. 694 and I-35E, near the Vadnais Heights-Little Canada border. The vehicle was seen, coincidently, hours later by his friends as they were driving by the area. The State Patrol towed it that night.

But no one saw Nathan Edberg.

No one saw him walking on the freeway. No one reported picking him up. In the past five years, no one has found him or heard from him. Also, no one has accessed his credit card or bank accounts. It is as if he simply vanished, or was taken against his will.

"We haven't been able to eliminate either possibility," said Deputy Tom Paget of the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office, which has been investigating the disappearance since the start.

Paget said the office is treating Edberg's disappearance as a missing-person case because there is no indication of foul play and because he was going through a rough patch at the time he vanished. Edberg's parents were divorcing, he had lost his job and had just broken up with his girlfriend.

"Things were going on in his life," said Paget, who estimates that he has interviewed more than 100 people in connection with the disappearance. "Looking back on it, he did have some pressures."

Complicating matters is that authorities were not told about the disappearance until almost five days after Edberg's truck was found.

Jackie Edberg said her son was living with a cousin in St. Paul. When she didn't hear from him for several days, she and the rest of the family figured he was sad over the pending divorce and simply wanted to be alone.

She admits she panicked when she learned that his truck had been in the county impound lot for several days. Over the years, and to this day, she has vacillated between believing he is dead and believing he is alive.

"I want to be realistic," Edberg, a teacher's assistant at Lakeaires Elementary School in White Bear Lake, said Tuesday morning.

"I want to remain optimistic, for the family," said Paget, who has taken the precaution of collecting Nathan Edberg's DNA and dental records and filing them in national crime databases to make any future identification easier.

Hopeful mother

Jackie Edberg says she realizes that the odds are only 50-50 that Nathan is alive, but she remains hopeful because no one has ever found his body despite air and land searches.

After he took over the case three years ago, Paget and hundreds of deputies, volunteers and trained dogs looked for Edberg in ditches, sewer pipes and ravines for miles around the freeway intersection.

"We literally rewalked the interstate," he said Tuesday. "We were left with more questions than answers."


Heron Marquez is at [email protected]
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© Copyright 2004 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.
 
This was on the news tonight - its a bit of an odd and dsitrubing one (there is always the possibility that he took some mystery drug at the concert or it is some weird prank but.......):

I HEARD MY SON SCREAM - THEN SILENCE


A DEVASTATED mother has told of the chilling moment she heard her son scream over his mobile phone - then silence.

Student David Plunkett has not been seen since the traumatic call in the early hours of Sunday.

A massive police search is now under way in Manchester where he had been at a concert.

His parents, Anne and Mike, today spoke of their shock and were clinging to the hope that their 21-year-old son - an only child - was still alive.

"No matter what the outcome, when David was in pain in whatever shape or form it was, it's comforting to know we were on the phone even though he might not have known we were there," said his 55-year-old mum.

David, a student at Leeds Metropolitan University who lives at home with his parents at Wade House Road, Shelf, had gone on a mystery coach trip with friend Michael Vittis on Saturday night.

They arrived at the Budweiser Music Event at Daytona Racetrack, Trafford Park, Manchester, together but became separated later that night. At 1.30 am on Sunday his parents received a call from Michael. Although the call was garbled she managed to gather the pair had lost each other and she reassured Michael she would call David.

"We rang and when David answered he was incoherent, there was no noise in the background and it struck me he was on his own."

She said she had tried talking to him but all she could hear was him giving himself directions.

"Ten minutes into the phone call he started screaming. He was howling and yelling, it was horrendous."

She handed the phone to her husband and dialled the emergency services but little could be done because they did not know where he was.

They managed to keep the phone line open with David until 4.30 am but there was no further contact.

Mr Plunkett, 62, rushed over to Leeds to find out where his son had been. He went to meet the coaches from the event as they returned to Leeds, Michael was there but David wasn't.

"Michael can't remember anything. He managed to get home but doesn't know how. We are confident that David and his friends don't take drugs but our fear is he was spiked."

Mrs Plunkett said it was a possibility he had amnesia and had maybe got on the wrong coach.

"His driving licence was found in the venue, it would mean he has no identification on him."

She said her worst fear is David had fallen in the Manchester Ship Canal close to the venue. Underwater search teams began searching again today.

David's family and friends have spent every day helping the police in Manchester.

David was last seen wearing black trousers with a pale pink pinstripe and a red shirt. Anyone with information should call the police on 01422 337059.


21 April 2004

http://www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=700&ArticleID=777691

A scream, then my son vanished

Martin Dillon


THE last distraught mum Anne Plunkett heard of her son was his chilling scream down the phone.

For three hours she kept the line open - but heard nothing more.

Her boy David, 21, has now been missing for four days since a night out in Trafford on Saturday, and today his devastated family pleaded with him to get in touch.

Anne, a head teacher, has not seen or heard from him since the call.

There have been no sightings and his family say there are increasingly worried about his safety.

"It was chilling to hear those screams," said his mother today. "It has been an absolute nightmare, because this is so out of character."

David, of Shelf in Halifax, was last seen when he travelled from Leeds by coach on an organised trip to the Budweiser Music Event at the Daytona Racetrack in Trafford Park, attended by several thousand people.

He arrived at the King of Clubs event with his friend Michael Bittis, but they were split up and there have been no confirmed sightings of him since about 11.30 that night.

His mother, who is originally from Salford, has been joined by her husband and six of her brothers, who still live locally, in trying to find David.

Police underwater search teams have also been working in the nearby Manchester Ship Canal.

David is studying Events Management at Leeds Metropolitan University and his family say that the disappearance is totally out of character.

Anne, 55, head of a primary school in Bradford, said: "His friend Michael called us in the early hours saying that David was not with him and so we decided to call David.

"It was about 1.30 in the morning and David was talking quietly, he sounded disorientated and seemed to be lost.

"I was asking him if he could see any landmarks and the next thing, he started screaming and the phone went silent - although I kept the line open until it went dead at about 4.30am. His uncles and cousins have all joined in the search and we just hope he turns up.

"I appeal to anyone who may have any idea what has happened to David to contact police."

David was last seen wearing oblong, small-frame silver glasses, black trousers with a pale pink pinstripe in them and a red shirt. He also has a silver ring on his right hand and a silver bracelet.

Anyone with any information about David is asked to get in touch with Calderdale Police in West Yorkshire on 01422-337059.

http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/news/stories/Detail_LinkStory=87850.html

In some ways I'm hoping it has a more mundane answer because the screaming down the phone to the parents well.......

Emps
 
Seems they've found a body in the above case:

PHONE BOY BODY FOUND

May 2 2004




THE body of missing student David Plunkett has been found in the Manchester Ship Canal. David's distraught mother had heard him scream as she talked to him on his mobile two weeks ago.

An hour earlier he had been escorted out of a music festival in Manchester because he felt unwell Friends suspect his drinks had been spiked. Greater Manchester Police last night confirmed the body of a man in his 20s was pulled out of the nearby Manchester Ship Canal on Friday.

Leeds University student David, 21, of Halifax, West Yorks, had travelled to Manchester by coach for the King Of Clubs event at Manchester's Daytona Racetrack.

His primary school teacher mother Anne received a garbled call at 1.30am on April 18 from his friend Michael Vittis who said they had become separated.

Anne phoned her son's mobile. "He sounded disorientated and lost," she said.

"I was asking if he could see any landmarks and the next thing he started screaming and the phone went silent." David's father Mike, a probation officer, said last night: "We have been informed and we are waiting for further information.

"We do not want to say anything more at the moment."

A police spokesman said: "We are certain the body found in the canal is David, but we can't say yet how he died."

http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/...&headline=phone-boy-body-found-name_page.html

Mystery still surrounds death of student David




Mystery: David Plunkett


MYSTERY surrounds the death of student David Plunkett who had been missing for two weeks.


Police have said the body pulled out of Manchester Ship Canal on Friday is the 21-year-old but formal identification procedures have still to be carried out.

A post mortem examination was made on Saturday but it proved inconclusive. Forensic examinations are now being carried out in an attempt to find out how he died.

David's devastated parents Mike and Anne are are now coming to terms with the loss of their only son. They are too upset to talk.

The Shelf man vanished after a music event at Daytona Racetrack, Trafford Park, Manchester, two weeks ago.

A harrowing phone call to his mother, in which David was heard screaming just hours after he had been ejected from the music event, sparked a massive police hunt for the Leeds Metropolitan University student.

His disappearance was so out of character that police began looking for him within hours.

His parents, who he lived with at Wade House Road, Shelf, began a massive media campaign to highlight their plight in a desperate attempt to find their son.

Until now they had clung to the hope he was still alive. They feared he could have been spiked with drugs and been suffering from amnesia.

Their worst nightmare was realised on Friday afternoon after a passer-by spotted a body in the Manchester Ship Canal, close to the Imperial War Museum.

Days after his disappearance Mrs Plunkett told the Courier: "No matter what the outcome when David was in pain in whatever shape or form it was, it's comforting to know we were on the phone even though he might not have known we were there."


03 May 2004

http://www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=700&ArticleID=784380
 
This is an odd story:

'Linda must still be alive'

In November last year, Glyn Razzell was convicted of killing his wife, Linda. Yet her body was never found - and several witnesses said they had seen her after her disappearance. So was she murdered, or did she simply decide to leave? Bob Woffinden unravels the evidence

Tuesday May 4, 2004
The Guardian

Glyn Razzell may well be the first person in this country to be convicted of murdering someone who isn't dead. A former insurance investment manager in Swindon, he was found guilty last November of the murder of his wife. Yet there are many who believe she is still alive.

Linda Razzell, then 41, officially went missing on Tuesday March 19 2002. A learning support assistant, she left home at 8.40am, parked her car, but never arrived at work.

In such cases, the police have an initial investigative strategy: they check the money. If a woman has disappeared and her savings are untouched, then murder may be suspected. Linda, however, had seemingly withdrawn cash from three banks or building societies the day before she went missing. Moreover, her 14-year-old daughter remarked that on the morning of her disappearance her mother had been "in a good mood, more cheerful than usual. Normally, she'd say, 'See you at six', but that day she didn't, which I thought was a bit odd."

However, police found bloodstains that were DNA-matched to Linda in a car that Razzell had used, and he was arrested in May 2002. Prosecution lawyers believed he had abducted and murdered her as she arrived for work. Her mobile phone was found in the small roadway she normally walked through. At the trial in Bristol, they described him as "a methodical man who planned everything in advance and was a good chess player". Despite the fact that no body was found and, indeed, there was no information about what had happened to his wife, he was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Razzell, now 44, met Linda Davies on a train in 1979. He was 20, she was a 19-year-old student reading French. They married in 1984 but the marriage was not a happy one. Linda had mental health problems and never embarked on a career. As Razzell's life became more successful, hers may have seemed more empty.

With four growing children to accommodate, Razzell designed an extension to their home and builders started work. Linda began a relationship with one of them. Belatedly she learned that he had a reputation for bedding other women, but by then the marriage was over. In August 2000 Razzell moved out.

While Linda started a relationship with Greg Worrall, the husband of one of her friends, Razzell found a new partner in Rachel Smith, a work colleague who was 20 years younger than him. The custody battles became increasingly acrimonious. Linda twice alleged that Razzell had assaulted her; both times he was charged and acquitted.

In 2000, Linda started work part-time at Swindon college. Then, at the end of 2001, Razzell was made redundant by his company, Zurich Financial Services. His maintenance payments to Linda stopped and, on Friday March 15, she got a court order freezing his bank accounts. On Monday he phoned his solicitor, who advised him to get back into court as soon as possible. Accordingly, he pulled out of a day-trip to France he had planned with friends for the following day. They were going to stock up on wine and cheese, and since Razzell's Ford Galaxy was the largest of their vehicles he agreed to swap it for a friend's silver Renault Laguna. (As these were company cars, there were no insurance problems.) This was to become an immensely significant factor in the case.

At 6.24pm that Tuesday, the Razzells' oldest child telephoned Worrall to say that the two younger children had not been picked up from school. He rang the police and reported Linda as missing, while the daughter arranged for someone to collect the others. When they were all at home, the children began texting their mother. One message read: "All we want is for you to come home but if you feel you can't that's fine."

That evening, Razzell met his friends on their return from France. They shared out the wine and took back their own vehicles. Razzell had only had the Renault from Monday afternoon until Tuesday evening.

The next day, police officers spent about 40 minutes searching it. Nothing of significance was found. At midday on the Thursday, March 21, the car was taken in for a thorough examination, and retained for four days. Again, nothing was found, nor were there any signs of recent cleaning.

But a week later, the police took the vehicle in again. This time they found the incriminating bloodspots on the underside of the parcel shelf and on the sides of the boot, and faint stains on the top of the rear seats and on the front passenger footmat.

This appeared to be compelling evidence, but how had the spots been missed in previous examinations? The police said they had used a different technique this time, although this does not satisfactorily explain why the standard techniques had not worked. Certainly, there was no other evidence - no hairs or fibres, for example, nor were there bloodspots on Razzell's clothing or in his house, nor any signs that he might have washed blood away. (The police removed the waste-traps from his bath and sinks.)

Razzell says that on the morning of Linda's disappearance he had gone for a walk. This became the subject of bitter disagreement with the police. He told them that he had walked past Westlea police station and "there are CCTV cameras outside, so you will be able to verify what I am saying". However, the police said the cameras were not working. Razzell, of course, could not possibly have known that. "At trial, I produced photographs showing those cameras outside the police station," says Robbie Ross, Razzell's solicitor. "They were pointing straight at where Razzell would have walked past. I don't think anyone in their right mind would have claimed they'd walked past if they hadn't."

What is not disputed is that at 8.24 that morning, Razzell took a call at home on his landline; it was Smith telling him that she had arrived at work. Linda usually parked her car at about 8.50am in order to reach work at nine. It would have taken Razzell at least 15 minutes to reach Alvescot Road (where Linda parked her car) so, had he been planning an abduction, he would scarcely have had time to be in position for her arrival. Nor was there any evidence that Razzell had travelled from his home across town that morning. The tapes of traffic cameras from 25 sites were analysed and Razzell's borrowed car was on none of them.

Nor was there evidence of an abduction in the small roadway. Linda's abandoned mobile phone may have seemed to suggest otherwise but, had there been a struggle, other items would probably have been dropped. Also, the phone was not broken or damaged and was under a piece of wood. The first impressions of police who found it were that it had been "placed" there.

At that time in the morning, the area is reasonably busy as commuters park their cars, and no one saw anything suspicious. One witness saw a woman whom she thought was Linda, and described her as "walking fast and looking flustered - I got the impression she was nervous". If this witness was correct, then Linda had by then walked safely through the roadway.

As an insurance manager, Razzell would have understood perfectly that he would not benefit financially from his wife's death. Moreover, if he had been as scheming and methodical as the prosecution asserted, and if he had planned an abduction and murder, he would have abandoned the idea as soon as he had to swap vehicles. After all, any of Linda's DNA in his own car would have been evidentially valueless, she had been in it so often. Nor did Razzell have the opportunity to dispose of a body. "We accounted for every mile that the Laguna was driven," says Ross. "He was also constrained by time - we know exactly where he was at certain times."

But could Linda have arranged her own disappearance to escape besetting problems? There were certainly signs that something strange may have been going on. She actually had two mobiles. The second was only used to contact the children. That Tuesday, she left it at home. She also left behind her college identity badge. On the calendar at home, there was a question mark against the 19th, the day of the disappearance. The previous day in Swindon town centre, when she visited the three banks, she had a list of things she needed to do. One item on the list was "collect travel tickets". This issue was not pursued at trial.

In this astonishing case, it may not even be true to assert that Linda did disappear on the 19th. She was seen the following day by a woman who knew her well. "I saw her most days", explained the witness, "usually to just say hello but sometimes we had a longer chat." She says that on Wednesday, at 11.15am (she could be certain of the time because of her work schedule), she saw a silver Ford Fiesta. "I thought, 'Oh, it's Linda, good for her, she's got a new car'. I made eye contact, she didn't need to turn her head to see me. I thought that she looked cross and wasn't happy to see me. Even knowing what I know now, I am sure it was Linda."

The prosecution maintained that the witness was mistaken.

Five other sightings of Linda either at Weston-super-Mare or Pendine Sands in south Wales are particularly important. "There were six eyewitnesses, all of whom thought they had seen her and contacted police as a result," says Ross. "The Crown couldn't knock them. None had an axe to grind, they were all very, very credible." Wiltshire police says: "The judicial process ran its full course and the jury reached its verdict."

It might seem almost impossible to believe that a mother would abandon her four children. However, Vicky George, Razzell's sister, believes Linda was finding it hard to cope and could have walked out. "Linda lost her own mother when she was just eight, and was brought up by relatives," she says, "and I know from conversations she had with my mother that she didn't believe it unusual for children to be brought up by other relatives. It may seem a bit odd, but that's the way she thought."

Despite the Big Brother aspects of daily life, disappearing is much easier than it seems. (There were about a million people unaccounted for in the last census.) A fluent French speaker, Linda could have ordered a new passport in her maiden name and slipped out of the country. Amazingly, the police couldn't check whether she had flown out of the country: getting such information out of the major airlines was, apparently, "not a viable proposition".

Moreover, the checks that were made were for Linda Razzell, but her maiden name was Davies - a name so common that standard checks are futile. For example, when police did try to check her maiden name with the utility companies, NPower responded that it had 1,200 LJ Davies's on its database.

It is, of course, even easier to disappear if no one is looking for you because there is a presumption that you have been murdered. "I believe my 'sightings' witnesses," says Ross, "therefore Linda must still be alive. It's easy to disappear, and I think she is still in this country. She may well have had a breakdown. I think an injustice has been done."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,1208750,00.html
 
That is truly staggering!

One anomalous piece of evidence being used to sideline a host of reliable, pattern fitting pieces is unbelievable.

LD
 
Cyber

She went to meet and live with her cyber lover, it sounds like. Changed lives. Happens all the time, alas.
 
Friday, May 21, 2004

Charges against Canadian dropped

By KIM SKORNOGOSKI
Tribune Staff Writer

--------------------------------------------------------------

Charges that Alderwoman Darlene Heatherington of Lethbridge, Alberta, lied to Great Falls police that she had been abducted were wiped clean Thursday, a year after she appeared in a Great Falls court.

The 40-year-old had signed a plea agreement that the misdemeanor charge would be dropped if she stayed out of trouble for a year and saw a psychiatrist.

Assistant City Attorney Kory Larsen said Thursday that she complied with both conditions and the filing false reports charge was dropped as a formality.

A bizarre odyssey, Heatherington's disappearance cost Great Falls police ,000 to search for her.

Heatherington was in Great Falls as part of a sister-city information exchange. Her car was discovered in the Civic Center parking lot with the keys under a tire.

The mother of three eventually was found four days later in a Las Vegas hotel.

At first she told police that she was drugged, raped and kidnapped, but later admitted she went willingly with a married man from Alberta whom she met on the River's Edge Trail.

The misdemeanor carries a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a 5. Heatherington paid 0 in court costs.

The last year has been a bumpy ride for the Alderwoman, as Canadian media have doggedly followed more charges filed against her in Lethbridge.

On paid leave from the council, Heatherington is on trial for public mischief charges as Lethbridge law enforcement believes she sent herself sexual explicit e-mails and letters and then claiming that she was being stalked.

Judge Peter Caffaro of Edmonton is to hand down his verdict June 30 in Lethbridge provincial court. He presided over her trial which made Canadian headlines and newscasts for several weeks in February and March.

Since her bizarre story first made headlines in May 2003, Lethbridge Mayor Bob Tarleck and her fellow aldermen have repeatedly urged her to step down from the city council but she has refused.

The Lethbridge Herald contributed to this report.

Originally published Friday, May 21, 2004

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/news/stories/20040521/localnews/470873.html
 
Follow up on that one:

Councillor wrote sex stalker letters to herself, judge rules

Dar Heatherington convicted of public mischief

Maria Canton
Calgary Herald; CanWest News Service with files from The Canadian Press

Wednesday, June 30, 2004


LETHBRIDGE - Dar Heatherington will spend part of her summer undergoing psychiatric and psychological assessments after a judge found her guilty of misleading police when she invented a sex-craved stalker and sent lurid letters to herself.

Provincial court Judge Peter Caffaro said the Lethbridge alderwoman cannot be trusted to tell the truth and dismissed a defence strategy that pointed the finger at Heatherington's husband, who was painted as a jealous spouse.

"The defence raising the possibility that it could be David Heatherington is merely idle speculation," Caffaro read in his 45-minute judgment.

"(David Heatherington) led the court to believe he loves his wife and would not harm or frighten her in any way."

Heatherington, 41, a former image consultant and Mary Kay cosmetics saleswoman, faces up to five years in jail. However, because she has no previous criminal record and three children, her lawyer Tracy Hembroff said the possibility of jail time is highly unlikely.

"It would be a travesty if you were to physically put her in jail," Hembroff said outside the courthouse.

Hembroff said they are extremely disappointed with the ruling and added her client has been seeing a counsellor for the last year.

Heatherington will be sentenced on Sept. 10.

Her conviction on a single public mischief charge means she will have to resign her seat on city council, according to provincial law.

She had not resigned as of Tuesday evening.

Lethbridge Mayor Bob Tarleck said he believes the conviction renders Heatherington ineligible to hold public office and appealed to her to step down voluntarily.

"I think the judge's comments and his order that she receive psychiatric assessment indicates he sees that as a step in ... putting her life back together," said Tarleck. "That's where the emphasis needs to be: healing on city council, healing for the community and healing for Dar Heatherington."

If she doesn't resign, council could ask a Court of Queen's Bench judge to remove her from office. But with municipal elections slated for October, it may not be worth the legal expense.

Tarleck said the city solicitor is investigating whether Heatherington may be barred from council meetings prior to her sentencing.

"I think it would be an awkward situation, and I would hope that she wouldn't attend council this summer," he said. The next council meeting is July 12.

Heatherington's bizarre story started in October 2002 when she called police to report she was receiving sexually explicit phone messages at her City Hall office.

A police warrant said one of the messages said it was nice to see a "sexy alderman who is in shape."

She later told investigators she received several harassing letters. The first arrived Nov. 8 and stated: "I would caress every part of your sexy body and have you begging for more!"

Heatherington wept silently throughout the morning proceeding, her frequent sniffles caught by the microphone on the defence table.

Her mother, Louise Harper, collapsed into a friend's arms when the verdict was read.

-------------
Harper has been a staunch supporter of her daughter throughout, attending every day of her three-week trial that started in January and yielded 958 pages of transcripts, 38 exhibits and evidence of some of her marriage's most intimate moments, including her lingerie-buying habits, a life with few friends, steep credit card bills and a spitfire demeanour.

A teary-eyed Heatherington said she had no comment Tuesday as she made her way through a throng of photographers, reporters and camera operators, clutching her husband's hand.

Police suspicions were raised five days before Christmas 2002, when Dar Heatherington was observed by police surveillance at Lethbridge Public Library studying seven books related to the themes of stalking and rape.

http://www.canada.com/edmonton/edmo....html?id=cf8a3c9d-baba-4d0d-9a4b-5bf347ce60df

Emps
 
The Vanishing Dr Stevens

Just to update a case earlier in this thread, the UK doctor who walked out of his hospital and "disappeared" was found early this year in an abandoned slate quarry in the Lake District by some walkers - as I recall he had walked quite a way into the tunnel, where his body was found behind a pile of rocks. The implication at the time was that he had committed suicide quite soon after leaving his place of work.

http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/news/s/78/78818_peace_at_last_for_tragic_doctor.html
 
How Odd

So he suicided after being careful to hide himself as thoroughly as possible.

Doesn't seem quite right, does it?
 
July 7, 2004

Bizarre Missing Person Case



July 7, 2004

By: Tom Powell

Ripley, TN -- The family of a missing Ripley man says their loved one may be the victim of foul play. The Lauderdale County Sheriff's Department has been searching for Gary Anthony Kirkpatrick, better known as Tony Kirkpatrick, since Saturday. Family members say a witness told authorities she saw Kirkpatrick stuff his pockets with rocks, then walk into the river and drown. The Sheriff's department says the information received from the subjects on scene has changed several times.

Rescue workers dragged the river near Fullen's Boat Ramp several times but turned up nothing. Kirkpatrick's daughter fears her dad may be the victim of a crime. "It's hard to concentrate when you don't know where your father is," says Kristen Kirkpatrick. She says authorities believe two other men saw what happened Saturday night. She says they called police but then disappeared. She hopes they'll come forward with information.

Kristen Kirkpatrick says her father is an easy going dad with no known enemies. She doesn't think he would commit suicide, but also doesn't know why anyone would try to hurt him.

If you have any information, call your local police department.

http://www.wreg.com/Global/story.asp?S=2011355
 
Abducted Child Located 9 Years Later

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/Midwest/07/15/missing.girl.ap/index.html

Police: Missing girl found after nine years

Thursday, July 15, 2004 Posted: 8:41 AM EDT (1241 GMT)



NEWARK, Ohio (AP) -- A girl reported missing in California nine years ago has been found in central Ohio, living under an assumed name with her mother, authorities said.

Licking County prosecutors said a woman recognized the girl's picture from the Web site of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and called sheriff's deputies.

She was found Friday in nearby Johnstown, about 20 miles northeast of Columbus, authorities said.

The girl, Vanesa Brancheau, and her mother, Sheri Lyn Taylor, were reported missing in 1995 from the Los Angeles community of Woodland Hills, the Licking County sheriff's office said in a news release.

The girl, 5 years old when she was reported missing, is now 13 and attending Southwest Licking Schools under the name Ariel Rose Wiggins, the sheriff's office said.

Sheriff's Capt. Rod Mitchell said Taylor indicated that she and her husband had been fighting for custody of the girl at the time of the disappearance.

"The mom claims that she couldn't, at the time of the custody battle, couldn't afford attorney fees and simply was running from him," Mitchell told Columbus television station WCMH.

No one was available to answer questions at the sheriff's office on Wednesday night. A Los Angeles police spokesman said he had no immediate information on the case.

Taylor could not be reached for comment. There was no listing for her in Johnstown.

The girl was placed in foster care Tuesday after a hearing in Licking County Juvenile Court.

No charges have been filed against the mother, but authorities are investigating.
 
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