PA PA - Toni Sharpless, 29, Gladwyne, 23 Aug 2009

[Celt1997]

Apparently they were in the water yesterday, but it did not yield any new results.

Search for missing woman yields no clues in river

 

[TexasLil]

Apparently they were in the water yesterday, but it did not yield any new results.

Search for missing woman yields no clues in river

I was so hoping this search would turn up something!

 

[AJMorgan]

This is sad, and as the clock continues to tick the chances of finding Toni are dwindling away. Why haven't they mentioned any other leads?

 

[TexasLil]

The article Celt linked stated Toni's family set up a fund for donations to help continue search efforts. This is very sad considering Toni was partying at Willie Green's house and he makes over $3 million a year with the 76ers.

 

[Missing Budweiser]

Wow, what a lack of coverage? I'm actually sitting at the river right now. Didn't read anywhere about the search being moved up.

 

[TexasLil]

Wow, what a lack of coverage? I'm actually sitting at the river right now. Didn't read anywhere about the search being moved up.

I think it took us all by surprise! So sad the search is over and no new information!

 

[AJMorgan]

Perhaps the car will turn up soon. It's amazing how easily people disappear vehicles that weigh tons!!

 

[AJMorgan]

Not so good news...

From the Delaware County Times

COPS: Missing Mom Not in River

and actually how can they make that statement?? Have they searched the entire river? I think not!!

 

[TexasLil]

Not so good news...

From the Delaware County Times

COPS: Missing Mom Not in River

and actually how can they make that statement?? Have they searched the entire river? I think not!!

You are right. They only searched the area near the boat ramp. She could have run off the road into the river farther north or south of that depending on which way she was travelling.

The article also says there may be three or four cars still in the river. So if divers saw the cars and knew they weren't Toni's why don't they know how many are there for sure????

 

[AJMorgan]

It doesn't make alot of sense and I think it reeks of laziness on the part of the police.. which tends to be a common theme in this area.

However Police continue to dig through debris and are even using "ground penetrating radar" to search the Garrido residence for clues... Why is this technology so hard to find?

 

[TexasLil]

It doesn't make alot of sense and I think it reeks of laziness on the part of the police.. which tends to be a common theme in this area.

However Police continue to dig through debris and are even using "ground penetrating radar" to search the Garrido residence for clues... Why is this technology so hard to find?

It just seems like everyone gave up so easily. The family is now having to raise money to have anymore searches done. I just don't feel that LE gave this one much priority because it's not a high profile case. I think they just chalked it up to a drunk driver had a wreck and can't be found.

 

[mid-night wonder]

response to #130
First crystal said " she waited at the under neath the over pass for I 76 East when she also made several calls to Toni to see if she was coming back to pick her up. Toni however never answred, crystal claimed to have hitchhiked home. Funny thing a friend that was with her on River Road for the Friday search and the same day Tim Miller and his team tried to coordinate an effort to idenitify and remove the marked cars from the Schukyll River, told me that Crystal called her 17 year old nephew and had him come and pick her up. So where do we go from here? The case once again has been quited.

 

[TexasLil]

response to #130
First crystal said " she waited at the under neath the over pass for I 76 East when she also made several calls to Toni to see if she was coming back to pick her up. Toni however never answred, crystal claimed to have hitchhiked home. Funny thing a friend that was with her on River Road for the Friday search and the same day Tim Miller and his team tried to coordinate an effort to idenitify and remove the marked cars from the Schukyll River, told me that Crystal called her 17 year old nephew and had him come and pick her up. So where do we go from here? The case once again has been quited.

IIRC it was reported that Crystal got out of the car at Bobarn and Hagys Ford Rd. Did she walk to the I76 overpass or has she once again mislead everyone?Too many conflicts in her story IMO.

 

[AJMorgan]

Police usually start with the last person who had contact with the missing person. So why isn't Crystal being scrutinized here? If they are taking her word for it they are making a big mistake.

 

[TexasLil]

I agree and there is just something with the story that just doesn't sit right with me. Maybe the argument wasn't about driving drunk at all. Maybe there wasn't an argument at all. Maybe Toni never left that house alive! I think the case is stuck between two police departments, Brandywine where the missing report was filed and Gladwyne where she was last seen. Neither are considering it a top priority or both assume the other is responsible for investigating perhaps.

 

[AJMorgan]

I think you may be onto something... This could easily be a cover up case... big money and high stakes abound.

 

[TexasLil]

I think you may be onto something... This could easily be a cover up case... big money and high stakes abound.

Just saying for someone who makes over $3 million a year his name sure hasn't been in the media much since all this happened. It was reported that LE questioned everyone at the party that night and their statements all matched. Now surely out of six or seven drunk people wouldn't someone have gotten a detail a little different? I still say take some cadaver dogs around that property!

 

[Celt1997]

Just saying for someone who makes over $3 million a year his name sure hasn't been in the media much since all this happened. It was reported that LE questioned everyone at the party that night and their statements all matched. Now surely out of six or seven drunk people wouldn't someone have gotten a detail a little different? I still say take some cadaver dogs around that property!

Even if all of the statements matched from people at the party, it still doesn't mean much to me. Okay so a bunch of people saw her leave with her friend. Did anyone walk out the door a few moments later? Would they even have reason to notice something like that?

This story has a lot of holes in it, and frankly I find it disheartening that the media won't even get involved and ask the tough questions to the "big" names involved. A text message sent does not automatically mean that the phone's owner sent the message. Anyone can pick up someone's phone, find the number to text a loved one (in this case her daughter) and send a text saying everything is "okay."

If she had driven off the road somewhere, I think they would've found her by now. Each day that goes by pushes me more and more into the foul play camp.

 

[gaia227]

Even if all of the statements matched from people at the party, it still doesn't mean much to me. Okay so a bunch of people saw her leave with her friend. Did anyone walk out the door a few moments later? Would they even have reason to notice something like that?

This story has a lot of holes in it, and frankly I find it disheartening that the media won't even get involved and ask the tough questions to the "big" names involved. A text message sent does not automatically mean that the phone's owner sent the message. Anyone can pick up someone's phone, find the number to text a loved one (in this case her daughter) and send a text saying everything is "okay."

If she had driven off the road somewhere, I think they would've found her by now. Each day that goes by pushes me more and more into the foul play camp.

I am inclined to believe that as well but then I am reminded of a couple missing persons cases where that was the case and it took years before they found them. Christopher Robin Coen disappeared after work and there were reported sightings of him all over the southwest sending his parents to many different towns but 2 yrs later his car was found with him inside it along the route he would have taken to get home in an area that had been searched. There is another case i can't remember his name but it was a guy who drove into a pond after a party and wasn't recovered for a few years either. So, it is possible she drove off the road and just has not been found yet. There are so many places all along the route she could be that it would be hard to do a really thorough search of the whole stretch.

 

[kemo]

This is a very interesting situation that is very similar to the Imbo/Petrone case. In both cases, I strongly suspect it was a simple "vehicle went off the road". Like the Imbo/Petrone case, there are some "hickey details" that will continue raise doubts and suspicion until/unless the car and bodies are recovered.

The "hickey detail" in this case is the statement given by Chrystal, at least as reported in the press. The "had a fight and I got out of the car" story does seem a little "pat". It conveniently established 1) Toni left the Party "safely" (nothing BAD happened to her there) 2) She was very drunk, so that "anything could have happened" after that. Just because a story is "pat" doesn't mean it is false, but it does raise suspicions.

According to news reports, Chrystal walked down Hollow Road to the 76 overpass while the was calling Toni in hopes that she would return. This is Odd. Why would she have thought Toni would go that direction? There was no Westbound entrance on 76. There was a Westbound EXIT. Is this the route they took to the party (coming from Philly)? Otherwise, why would she assume that Toni would go the "wrong" way? It seems a little like she was "steering" the investigation down to River road. I also wonder why, if she thought Toni was too drunk to drive, she would even care if Toni came back. I would expect her to start making other arrangements to get home. From what I have read, Chrystal is reported to have "hitched" a ride home. This sounds ridiculous. If she did say it, it was a lie. Later, there is some reference to the possibility that she called a 17 year old cousin. This makes more sense, but did she initially lie? If so why? I suspect that the news report just got it wrong, but you wonder.

The big suspicion, of course, is that something "BAD" happened to her at Willie Green, Jr's house and this is all a plot to cover it up. Certainly this sort of thing has happened before and it is not unreasonable to expect that a lot of people would lie to protect a "big time" star. On the other hand, all it takes is for one person to break down under questioning for it all to fall apart.

People do run off the roads into water or heavy brush and are not founds for months, if ever. If she ran off the road into brush, she will likely be found in autumn after the leaves drop. If she went into water, she may never turn up. Since no one knows the route she went home (if she really did drive home) there are too many possible spots for this to have happened to adequately search them all.

The best clue is Toni's cell record. We know she texted her daughter on or near the 76 near Green's house (and River Dr.). Assuming that Toni "texted" her daughter on a regular basis and her daughter saved some earlier messages, it would fairly easy to determine if that message was likely written by Toni or if it was sent by someone else trying to establish that Toni was somewhere she was not (text messages tend to be very unique.) The fact that that all "pings" ended soon after the Text message (if in fact they did) would suggest that either Toni crashed into water (which would "kill" the phone , rather than into brush that probably would not "kill" the phone) OR she simply turned off the phone so she wouldn't be bothered by Chrystal's calls.

Probably a big problem in this case is the fact that different jurisdictions are involved. I don't know how things work in PA. Who ultimately takes jurisdiction? A lot of times, it comes down to how much of a "fuss" the family makes.