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Post by Admin on Sept 28, 2021 4:08:57 GMT
The family of a missing woman is renewing its plea for more information four years after she disappeared.
Kristina Ward was reported missing in late September 2017.
Langley RCMP released a video at the time that showed Ward walking with a man with a bike.
In the video, Ward can be seen crossing the street at 104 Avenue and 142 Street in Surrey between 7:50 p.m. and 8:45 p.m. on Sept. 27.
On Monday, members of Ward’s family gathered at the site where she was last seen in an effort to generate tips on her whereabouts.
“She’s been missing for over four years now,” mother Lee Ann Ward said. “The struggle gets harder every year with no tips, no information, no whereabouts or sightings of my daughter.”
RCMP say their serious crime unit has conduct of the investigation.
Ward, who would now be 24 years old, is described as Indigenous, five-foot-five, 130 pounds with curly brown hair and brown eyes.
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Post by Admin on Oct 8, 2021 21:15:50 GMT
A bizarre saga in Missouri involving a missing woman who was seen being held captive in a cage has taken a baffling turn as the house where she was apparently kept burned to the ground—immediately after authorities discovered it had been boobytrapped. The Dallas County Sheriff’s Office said the fire at the home in Windyville, an unincorporated Ozarks community about 160 miles from Kansas City, occurred Monday night, according to the Springfield News-Leader. That’s more than two months after 33-year-old Cassidy Rainwater was last seen on July 25. Police officially opened a case into her disappearance in late August, when a family member called to report she had vanished. The case then took a very dark turn in mid-September, when the FBI was anonymously sent photographs showing Rainwater semi-nude and in a cage. The feds alerted local police to the tip and officers found seven similar photos on the phone of James D. Phelps, who is thought to be the last person to see Rainwater, the Kansas City Star reports. Phelps initially wound up on police radar two weeks before the alarming photo surfaced, when an investigator following a lead in Rainwater’s missing-persons case questioned him at his cabin. At that time, according to court records, Phelps claimed Rainwater had been staying with him “until she could get back on her feet.” Both Phelps and Timothy Norton, a trucker who had been living on his property, are now in custody. They are charged with kidnapping Rainwater and inflicting injury and terrorizing, court records show. Police said Norton admitted during questioning that he had helped restrain Rainwater, but his lawyer, Brandon Twibell, on Wednesday told local media that his client denies all the allegations. Phelps’ public defender has yet to comment on the charges. The two suspects appeared via webcam on Tuesday before a Dallas County judge, who set a preliminary hearing in the case for Nov. 5. Meanwhile, Rainwater’s fate—and her whereabouts—remain unknown. Police have largely kept whatever information they have about the case to themselves, citing the “extreme nature of the crime” in a Sept. 18 update.
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Post by Admin on Oct 16, 2021 21:41:48 GMT
AURORA, Ind. (AP) — Search crews pulled from the Ohio River in Indiana an SUV that belonged to an Ohio mother missing since 2002 along with her two young children, authorities said Friday.
Side sonar scan technology led divers to the 1997 Nissan Pathfinder Thursday near Aurora in southeastern Indiana, Indiana State Police said Friday in a news release. The vehicle was registered to Stephanie Van Nguyen, who in 2002 disappeared with her 4-year-old daughter, Kristina, and 3-year-old son, John.
Van Nguyen, then 26, left a note that she was going to drive into the Ohio River, but her vehicle was not located at the time, police said.
Delhi Township, Ohio, police Lt. Joe Macaluso told reporters Thursday that it was too early to tell if any bodies were in the SUV.
Searchers found the vehicle more than 50 feet (15 meters) below the river’s surface and about 300 feet (90 meters) from the riverbank
The search was part of an investigation into the family's disappearance that police in Delhi Township reopened about six months ago.
Macaluso said sonar scans of the river last week found three submerged vehicles.
“This has been a case we’ve actively pursued for many years. We did a cold case on it because of the anniversary. I’m happy for the family that we’ll be able to, hopefully, give some closure,” Macaluso said.
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Post by Admin on Nov 6, 2021 22:46:41 GMT
A 16-year-old girl who had been missing for several days was rescued Thursday when she caught the attention of a driver by using hand gestures to signal she was in distress, a Kentucky sheriff's office said.
The Laurel County, Kentucky Sheriff's Department said 61-year-old James Herbert Brick of Cherokee, North Carolina, was arrested Thursday afternoon for "unlawful imprisonment" after he was pulled over off an interstate with the missing teen in the back seat. The sheriff's office also said he was found to have sexual images of a teenager on his phone.
The hand gestures used by the teen have been popularized on TikTok and "represent violence at home – I need help – domestic violence," the sheriff's office said. A witness in a car driving behind Brick's Toyota called 911 upon recognizing the hand signals and told dispatchers the teen appeared to be in "distress."
Deputies waited at an exit to the interstate and pulled Brick over for a traffic stop, where they found out the teenage passenger had been reported missing on Tuesday by her parents in Asheville, North Carolina.
Investigation: 2 Kentucky sheriff's officers were once KKK members
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According to the teenager, she had traveled with Brick through North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio, the sheriff's department release says.
The department did not share what sign the teen used, but advocates have previously advised people in distress to use hand signals to discreetly ask for help.
The Canadian Women's Foundation says an international, universal signal for help in a case of domestic violence or other distress can be made with one hand. Face your palm forward and with your thumb tucked in, then close your other fingers over your thumb to "trap" it.
The sign does not necessarily mean you must call authorities immediately, the foundation notes, but rather it indicates, "reach out to me safely."
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Post by Admin on Nov 7, 2021 22:34:31 GMT
A missing North Carolina teen was reportedly rescued after she used a viral TikTok hand gesture to indicate she was in danger and needed help. The 16-year-old was found in Kentucky on Thursday after a 911 caller reported that a female passenger riding in the car ahead of them was using the signals, Fox 8 Cleveland reported. According to the Laurel County Sheriff's Office, investigators on the scene found the driver, 61-year-old Herbert Brick, in possession of a photo of the teen engaged in sexual acts. The teen was first reported missing by her parents in Asheville, North Carolina, on Tuesday, according to the report. Investigators discovered that Brick had driven with the girl to Ohio, though promptly left when relatives of Brick expressed concern about her age and discovered she had been reported missing. Brick is currently at the Laurel County Correctional Center, where he was arrested for unlawful imprisonment and posession of content showing sexual activity by a minor, Fox8 reported. The signals - a mix of three hand gestures that convey "violence at home," "I need help," and "domestic violence" - have spread on TikTok as a means to help victims of abuse. In one popular video, which has more than 3.5 million views and 130,000 shares, a woman demonstrates how to subtly use the signals while on a video call with a friend. @forsure7 Violence against women is a crime #canadianwomensfoundation #gethelp #womensrights #itstime #domesticabuse #domesticviolence ♬ original sound - @forsure7 Such posts first began to circulate in June 2020 in tandem with reports that found rates of domestic violence increased globally due to coronavirus lockdowns that left many victims trapped inside with their abusers. According to the United Nations, cases of domestic abuse increased by upwards of 20% during lockdowns, part of a disturbing trend the organization called a "shadow pandemic."
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