Here they are. Really strange.
http://missing87975.yuku.com/topic/3758#.TtSdomFmNtI Abduction cases not glowing moment for local law enforcement
August 16, 2006
Idaho State Journal Editorial
Between 1978 and 1983, four girls were abducted in Pocatello in three separate incidents. It's believed they were all murdered, though the remains of one of the girls was never positively identified. No one was ever charged in the cases. Local authorities were little prepared to deal with the incidents. In the case of 14-year-old Linda Smith, who was abducted from her home in 1981, police did not initially believe her younger brother's statements that a man had entered their home and kidnapped her. Smith's body was found the following year on Pocatello's east bench.
Also troubling is that law enforcement never revealed the existence of a fifth victim, a black teen-age girl; until questioned by the Journal for a recent story on the abductions. The black girl's skeletal remains were found in 1981 along with the remains of Tina Anderson, age 12.
Anderson and Patricia Campbell, age 15, were abducted from Alameda Park in 1978. Remains authorities believe to be those of Campbell were also found in the Oneida County gorge where the skeletons of Anderson and the black girl were located. Anderson was identified via dental records.
Authorities said DNA testing was the only way they could identify the remains believed to be Campbell, but they wanted her family to foot the bill.
As for the black girl, no one seemed to care much about her identity. Making local law enforcement appear even worse is that until earlier this month, no one even knew where the remains of the black girl and those thought to be Campbell were located. They ended up being found in the evidence storage area of the Oneida County Sheriffs Office. As more time has passed in these cases, hope of them ever being solved has all but ceased.
Campbell's family has hoped that her remains could be positively identified using DNA while her mother, Jeanette, now 68 and suffering from Parkinsons disease, is still alive. The abductions occurred well before Jeff Semradâ's tenure as Oneida County sheriff. He was elected in 1998. But Semrada's decided to help the Campbells achieve closure with the help of a university lab in Texas. The facility has agreed to do the DNA testing free of charge. The lab will not only figure out if the remains found in the gorge are those of Campbell, it will also match up the black girl's DNA with a missing persons database in an effort to identify her. And, the lab's going to double-check the remains already identified as belonging to Anderson to make sure that is the case.
For the Campbells, Semradâs help will go a long way toward restoring their faith in law enforcement. The family says that faith was shattered when Pocatello police said they could not begin searching for Campbell for 72 hours after she was reported missing because, after all, the girl could have run away. Hopefully, the Pocatello area will never experience another child abduction again. If one does occur, we hope our law enforcement community has learned something from the past.
Semrada said he's going to hold a meeting with the Anderson and Campbell families to update them on the case. He's also going to organize a gathering of all the involved law enforcement agencies to share evidence and make sure everyone's on the same page. Such moves are too late for Smith, Anderson, Campbell or Cindy Bringhurst, a 14-year-old who disappeared from a baby sitting job in 1983. Her body was found about a month later in Mink Creek. But better-prepared law enforcers will certainly make a difference in the future.
Published in the Idaho State Journal
