MO MO - Amanda Jones, 26, pregnant, Hillsboro, 14 Aug 2005

[CrimeHater]

I don't think he is claiming that he ever left. Earler post say that he was working around the civic center wrapping up some summer stuff getting ready for the fall. Still it makes no sence that she would be on the phone for three hours. Don't you think he would have found it odd that she was still there.... yet in a different parking area. Why wouldn't he have walked over to her. Maybe even to check and see if she had car trouble. hhmm..... I'm curious as to what was shown on the phone records. I wonder if she ever made a call after there so called meeting. DOUBT IT! :snooty:

 

[Bobbisangel]

I don't think he is claiming that he ever left. Earler post say that he was working around the civic center wrapping up some summer stuff getting ready for the fall. Still it makes no sence that she would be on the phone for three hours. Don't you think he would have found it odd that she was still there.... yet in a different parking area. Why wouldn't he have walked over to her. Maybe even to check and see if she had car trouble. hhmm..... I'm curious as to what was shown on the phone records. I wonder if she ever made a call after there so called meeting. DOUBT IT! :snooty:

Her family said that the cell records showed a call around 1:00 to a relative...lasted a couple minutes. That was the last call on her cell phone.

From what I've read the creep says that he left the Civic Center after they had talked for an hour or less and Amanda was on her cell phone. He says he came back at 5:00 and she was still there talking on her cell phone. I think he is full of it. I don't think the police fell for that one...especially when it is so easy for them to check cell phone records.

 

[lisafremont]

I at this point could not imagine Westfall getting a dead body into one. While Im not saying that he couldnt, the doors on the small planes are some what ackward to get into. Im trying to visualize opening the door and lifting the body up into the plane. He would have to be quite strong, and she quite small. Or he had help. And a very preg. woman would be even more ackward to pickup and get into the plane.

While its true that he could have put her into the luggage area of the plane, he would have to have auto pilot on his small plane, and then he would have to be able to crawl and climb all the way to the back of the plane and push the body out...

I am probably not the only one to mention this, but the crime was committed a few blocks from my home in an apartment building that I have visited hundreds of times.

Dr. Robert Bierenbaum strangled his wife Gail Katz Bierenbaum one Sunday in the 1980s. Late that night he called her parents and claimed she was missing.

What he didn't tell the police in his little story of their arguing, her storming out of the house saying she was going to Central Park to cool off, and then her not returning, his going to New Jersey to visit with friends/family, was that he rented a Cessna that afternoon for a two-hour flight from a NJ private airport!

Gail's body was never found. But years after her disappearance, in 1999, her killer was CONVICTED! Without a body, without a crime scene, without forensic evidence or witness or confession.

But what the prosecution had was enough circumstantial evidence to show that he took her body out to NJ, probably in a duffel bag, and then loaded it into the plane.

The prosecution was prepared to counter the defense argument that one man could not have dumped a body out of a small plane while flying it.

So they produced a video to prove he could. They used an identical plane and a bag containing sand to equal Gail's weight. They video'd how the pilot could have unlatched the passenger door with the duffel in that seat, then banked to the right, causing door to open and bag to fall out. Easy as pie.

I believe they demo'd several different variations, all with the same results: Gail's body vanished.

Dr. Robert Bierenbaum was convicted and currently languishes in a cell courtesy of New York State.

 

[Gozgals]

Gail's body was never found. But years after her disappearance, in 1999, her killer was CONVICTED! Without a body, without a crime scene, without forensic evidence or witness or confession.

But what the prosecution had was enough circumstantial evidence to show that he took her body out to NJ, probably in a duffel bag, and then loaded it into the plane.

The prosecution was prepared to counter the defense argument that one man could not have dumped a body out of a small plane while flying it.

So they produced a video to prove he could. They used an identical plane and a bag containing sand to equal Gail's weight. They video'd how the pilot could have unlatched the passenger door with the duffel in that seat, then banked to the right, causing door to open and bag to fall out. Easy as pie.

I believe they demo'd several different variations, all with the same results: Gail's body vanished.

Dr. Robert Bierenbaum was convicted and currently languishes in a cell courtesy of New York State.

Lisa: I do agree. I do not buy that one cannot put a body in a small plane and dump it. If one wants to dispose of a body, they can master this PROJECT with planning. He could have packed Amanda up in any type of container, and threw her off the plane. (sad to think of this scenario) Better yet, why not on his farm or the surrounding area. There must be plenty of places to get rid of a body that the police have not uncovered yet.

--I'm not saying that Westfall is the guilty party, but he quacks.

Thanks to our legal system, its nice to know the good Dr. Bierenbaum was convicted and is enjoying his stay in his new home:boohoo:

 

[fourboys]

Benefit will aid family of missing woman

09/01/2005
By Tim Rowden
Of the Post-Dispatch

Friends of Amanda Jones, the pregnant woman who has been missing for nearly three weeks, are planning a benefit at the Hillsboro Civic Center, the last place she was seen.

The dinner and silent auction will be at 7 p.m. Sept. 15, just over a month from the day the Pevely woman disappeared.

Karen Fink, a longtime friend, says proceeds will benefit Jones' parents, Hubert and Bertha Propst of Festus, who are paying both their own and their daughter's bills while they wait for some word about what happened to her.

Bertha Propst remains hopeful that her daughter and new grandson will be found but worries that their story will fade from the spotlight.

"Right now, we're not only looking for Amanda, but also the baby," Propst said, adding that she believes her daughter is being held somewhere against her will.

"Amanda and her baby could be out there somewhere, waiting for somebody to find her," Propst said.

Lt. Tommy Wright, chief of detectives for the Jefferson County sheriff's office, says investigators are hoping for the best but preparing for the worst.

Wright says police have received nearly 250 tips about Jones' disappearance but still do not know what happened to her.

"We have no physical evidence to lead us to believe that she is dead," Wright said. "We don't have anything to indicate that she walked away. We just don't have anything substantial to put our fingers on."

Jones, 26, was nine months pregnant when she was last seen Aug. 14 at the Civic Center. She was due to deliver a baby boy last week.

A loan administrator at Eagle Bank in Festus and a divorced mother of a 4-year-old daughter, Jones had gone to Hillsboro to meet with Bryan Lee Westfall, the man her family says is the father of her baby.

Police have described Westfall, 36, a farmer and former instructor at Jefferson College in Hillsboro, as a "person of interest" but say they have neither identified nor eliminated anyone as a suspect.

A Philadelphia businessman and philanthropist who saw a news story about the case has posted a $100,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in Jones' disappearance.

For information on the benefit dinner and auction, call Fink at 314-605-9410.

A fund also has been set up for Jones at Eagle Bank. Contributions to the Amanda Jones Benefit Account can be made at any Eagle Bank location.

Anyone with information about Jones' disappearance is asked to call police at 636-797-5515.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/13ADEE133748F3CF86257070001041C5?OpenDocument

 

[Bobbisangel]

I wish someone who knows something would decide they would rather have the reward then cover for the killer. Someone like that girlfriend. Of course she won't say a word if she was also involved.

I can understand Amanda's parents holding on to hope. A person would have to inorder to survive this nightmare. I just hope and pray that Amanda comes home one way or the other. Not knowing has to be pure hell.

 

[motokidz101]

I completely agree. Maybe it will happen soon. The pressure will begin to be too much I'm sure.

 

[Norma]

Why is Amada's plight not in the news more? Seems the only news stories come direct from her area.

Is she ever discussed by Nancy Grace or Suspender Boy on CNN?

 

[MrsMush99]

I haven't heard anything about Amanda for quite some time. Nancy was covering it, but hasn't in awhile. I think the Hurricane coverage is taking precedence over everything.

 

[Beyond Belief]

I really dislike cases like this. It makes me feel how vulnerable we really are. I hope they are able to shed some light on her disappearance soon.

 

[MrsMush99]

I really dislike cases like this. It makes me feel how vulnerable we really are. I hope they are able to shed some light on her disappearance soon.

I hope so too.

 

[ambyuk]

Even around here locally I'm not seeing much of anything in the news about her.

 

[CrimeHater]

I feel that way about most of the cases going on. I bet alot of these perps feel relief with all the Katrina coverage. I just hope they don't get pushed to the back burner. I live in Houston and thats all they have on the news now so I have been looking on here as much as possible hoping for some updates.

 

[ketel0ne]

Last article I saw had the investigators on stand by waiting for more leads.

 

[Bobbisangel]

I wish there was some way that they could get the truth out of the baby's father. I know he did something to Amanda and that she is probably on that farm somewhere. LE could put a tail on the guy and let him see them. I wonder how he would take being followed everywhere he goes. Look out your window and there sits a cop....being followed to work...sitting outside the girlfriends house when visiting, etc. Might just frizzle his nerves a bit. I suppose they only do things like that on TV though.

Did LE ever get a search warrent for that farm and take dogs out there?
I can't imagine being Amanda's parents and family. It would be nightmare enough to have your daughter missing but it is their grandchild too. I just wish LE would find Amanda.

 

[CrimeHater]

Since he doesn't mind one nighters why doens't someone go seduce him, and pour some truth serioum in his drink.

Oh yea, thats another thing only in the movies! :banghead: This guy needs to be caught!!!!

 

[Jodibug]

just checking for more info.....

 

[Beyond Belief]

Just checking in.........wish we had some answers.

 

[munky]

I wish there was some way that they could get the truth out of the baby's father. I know he did something to Amanda and that she is probably on that farm somewhere. LE could put a tail on the guy and let him see them. I wonder how he would take being followed everywhere he goes. Look out your window and there sits a cop....being followed to work...sitting outside the girlfriends house when visiting, etc. Might just frizzle his nerves a bit. I suppose they only do things like that on TV though.

Did LE ever get a search warrent for that farm and take dogs out there?
I can't imagine being Amanda's parents and family. It would be nightmare enough to have your daughter missing but it is their grandchild too. I just wish LE would find Amanda.

Ok, I have been looking at the posts on Amanda's case for a while. I pray she is found soon. I used to be a friend of Bryan's several years back. I am no longer in touch with him at all. Considering the guy I knew, I can't imagine he did something to her. BUT.... I am not a stupid person. I know you can't know everything about a person. Heck, I know there's a whole churchful of people still shellshocked that their friend Dennis is BTK. But I think we all need to realize that there is still a possibility that Bryan did not have anything to do with it, since we just don't know everything about this. Please know that my first concern is for Amanda, Hayden, and their loved ones, and that whoever is responsible is brought to justice.

 

[Beyond Belief]

thanks for coming in MUNKY. This is so strange. I always believe in innocent until proven guilty. I wonder if any transients had been hanging around in the area prior to the day she went there. The only way I can imagine removing a body from an area like that would be by horse trailer, if not by car. There has to be more to this, than we know, the events of the day just seem to cut and dry.