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

[Celt1997]

5 AM is correct. The text the was sent to her daughter around 3 AM was sent by Toni after she left the Philly club enroute to Willie Green's home. Assuming it takes around 20 minutes from Center City to Gladwyne, she spent about 1 and a half hours at Willie's until she was asked to leave which would have been roughly 5 AM.

It is my understanding that Toni's friends have coordinated searches and will be in the future. Does anyone close to her post here?

Can you link the source for this info? I didn't believe it was possible to be leaving a club in Philly at 3am, because they close at a certain time (G Lounge, I believe at 2am), and I thought the text was delivered to her daughter at 3am and referred to her being on her way home.

Did I miss something somewhere?

 

[NetworkingStar]

WEST BRANDYWINE, Pa. - August 26, 2009 (WPVI) -- The West Brandywine Police are requesting the public's assistance in finding Toni Lee Sharpless, of North Field Drive.
Ms. Sharpless was last seen in the area of Gladwyn, Montgomery County on August 23rd, 2009 around 3:00 a.m.
Police say that the night that she went missing she was at a night club then went to a house party. She and a friend left the house party and they spilt up.
That was the last that they have seen of her.

 

[luthersmama]

The argument was at about the same time as the text, i.e. 3:00 a.m.

http://cbs3.com/topstories/Toni.Sharpless.West.2.1146092.html

 

[Missing Budweiser]

Those articles are incorrect. I will try to find the 5 AM articles. There are a few correct articles that didn't take the lazy route and just reprint what was already out there. I stood right beside Crystal and what appeared to be the nurse that was "in
charge" of the search effort. Crystal said that the text to her daughter was sent on the way to Willie's house. The two 4:50 something calls to Toni's phone came from Crystal after see got out of the car. BTW last call for alcohol in PA in a regular club or bar is 1:50, drinks served by 2:00, out the door by 2:30 AM.

Also, I would disregard the low on gas reports. Crystal didn't seem to understand how long gas lasted or was misunderstood. According to Crystal, Toni had about a 1/4 tank and was concerned that she couldn't make it to Coatsville based on a car with a V8 engine like Toni's had. It has since been determined that 1/4 tank would be more than enough to get home.

 

[luthersmama]

Those articles are incorrect. I will try to find the 5 AM articles. There are a few correct articles that didn't take the lazy route and just reprint what was already out there. I stood right beside Crystal and what appeared to be the nurse that was "in
charge" of the search effort. Crystal said that the text to her daughter was sent on the way to Willie's house. The two 4:50 something calls to Toni's phone came from Crystal after see got out of the car. BTW last call for alcohol in PA in a regular club or bar is 1:50, drinks served by 2:00, out the door by 2:30 AM.

Also, I would disregard the low on gas reports. Crystal didn't seem to understand how long gas lasted or was misunderstood. According to Crystal, Toni had about a 1/4 tank and was concerned that she couldn't make it to Coatsville based on a car with a V8 engine like Toni's had. It has since been determined that 1/4 tank would be more than enough to get home.

OK, "Miss Bud". You seem to have info that is inconsistent with the news reports and what Toni's mom has said. If you are close to the case, how about telling us what your relationship is. I believe that the last text and last sighting both took place at about 3:00 am.

BTW, I have driven the Expressway a couple of times since she vanished. I don't see anyplace along there where she could have gone off the road. I also looked around the interchanges of the Turnpike and 202 where she could have been. Nothing.

I will be totally shocked if she is found along the routes to her home. Either she is in the river, or she was abducted.

 

[Missing Budweiser]

I'd be interested to see what you mean when you say " Toni's mom said". Did you speak with her? I am not going to argue about it. She left the house around 5 am according to Crystal. I heard that come from her mouth. Assuming she is telling the truth, I'll go with that for the timeline. It has also been written numerous times by different sources. The confusion with 3 am comes from the text she wrote about coming home to her daughter. Three am was also in the original AP article that is picked up and reprinted.

 

[Missing Budweiser]

I am not claiming to be "close" to the case. I don't have a connection to Toni and her family or her friends. I have a loose association with Tim Miller and Equusearch. I was at the river for the first night and following day. I spoke with many people there including, Crystal, two of Toni's co-workers, media, and a member of LE.

 

[kemo]

There has been some misinformation. Apparently it was just before 5:00 a.m. that Chrystal got out of the car and Toni took off, never to be sreen again. The 3:00 a.m. text to here daughter doesn't tell us much. The 4:53 a.m and 4:59 a.m call "went to voice mail" We don't know whether the phone went dead or if Toni just refused to answer. I haven't found any reference to "Pings". LE and Tim Miller appear to be operating on the assumption that what ever happened, happened soon after Toni took off. This isn't unreasonable but it seems to me that the "ping" record should be checked. It is possible that Toni wasn't answering her phone and she could have drive for miles before the "event" happened. The "ping" record would settle the matter.

 

[luthersmama]

I am not claiming to be "close" to the case. I don't have a connection to Toni and her family or her friends. I have a loose association with Tim Miller and Equusearch. I was at the river for the first night and following day. I spoke with many people there including, Crystal, two of Toni's co-workers, media, and a member of LE.

Fair enough. Please understand that we have had incidents over the years here at WS where people have falsely claimed to have "inside information".

 

[TexasLil]

I am not claiming to be "close" to the case. I don't have a connection to Toni and her family or her friends. I have a loose association with Tim Miller and Equusearch. I was at the river for the first night and following day. I spoke with many people there including, Crystal, two of Toni's co-workers, media, and a member of LE.

Thanks for sharing your information. While conversing at the river were phone pings ever discussed? If so do you have any details as to the times and locations of the pings? It would greatly help track and/or validate her movements throughout the evening.

Also is there a reason Crystal and/or LE think Toni took the Hollow Road route vs. Conshohocken? Do you know how familiar Toni was with that area?

 

[NetworkingStar]

Eileen Law is a private Investigator who has been hired by the Sharpless family. She told "Good Day Philadelphia" she believes the missing woman is still alive.

Law said she has received information that Sharpless was spotted in Camden, N.J., after she disappeared, although Law is not sure she is still there.

 

[AJMorgan]

Here's the latest... apparently the family has hired a PI

Investigator: Missing Mom May Still Be Alive

 

[Missing Budweiser]

Thanks kemo.

TexasLil- While at the river, I would call many of the conversations and thoughts as "confused". I was very suprised of how little some peole knew about the case. Even a few of the nurses that were part of the organized search weren't sure of Toni's timeline of that evening and following morning. I personally talked to and listened to Crystal go over the activities of the night for 20+ minutes. Most of it consisted of her, I feel, unfairly defending herself.

To answer your questions, the last ping came from a nearby tower. I don't think it they could determine her direction from that. I am not sure about Crystal's second call which would have been made after Toni left the area if she did. I believe that the phone was either off or dead by then. Crystal actually claims to have watched Crystal turn left on Hollow road leaving the development. This would make sense since that is the way she came to the house.

 

[Missing Budweiser]

Whoah....NBC10 has a new article also(sorry, I would link it but I type from iPhone). The PI is basically saying she is alive. Ran out of gas in Camden and continued partying and now is in a weakened state. Also may be too embarassed to go home. Sorry, don't buy it. Unless she is being held against her will she would have contacted someone by now. I mean, I do not know Toni, but no one would put there family through this. Even with a history of drug use, too much time has gone by just to be off getting high and partying.

 

[TexasLil]

Whoah....NBC10 has a new article also(sorry, I would link it but I type from iPhone). The PI is basically saying she is alive. Ran out of gas in Camden and continued partying and now is in a weakened state. Also may be too embarassed to go home. Sorry, don't buy it. Unless she is being held against her will she would have contacted someone by now. I mean, I do not know Toni, but no one would put there family through this. Even with a history of drug use, too much time has gone by just to be off getting high and partying.

Thanks for the info MB! NBC 10 also still saying Crystal got out of the car at 3:00 which I think we now know is false. Apparently reports of someone seeing her car by the river around 5:00 am. If she truly had a quarter tank of gas she should have made it farther than the river. I wonder if she stopped to gather her senses better and may fell asleep with the car running? Of course this is assuming the PI's hunches are true.

 

[kemo]

Missing Bud,
This is good information. Apparently the Cell Co will retain a record of which Cell tower picked up the strongest signal for each "ping" a phone makes. If the last tower that picked up a "ping" was in the Gladwyne area, obviously she did not get far (less than five miles) before the "event" occured. Still five miles represents a lot of potential places for something to happen. While there is still the chance Toni turned her phone off, it would seem less likely. Chrystal only called twice and those calls were 7 minutes apart. Most likely the "event" occured before the first call but we may never know.

The logical route from Philadelphia to Gladwyne would be via the 76 to the Hollow road exit. That is probably how the women got to the party. It would be "logical" that Toni would plan to return to 76 on Hollow road with the expectation of picking up 76 West from there. There was no West entrance and someone who wanted to go west would almost certainly continue west on River Rd hoping to find and entrance eventually.

Just past the 76 is a wicked 90 degree turn and would certainly be worth checking out. for the next 1/2 mile or so to the boat ramp, River Rd paralles the river which is 100'-200' from the road with what looks like heavy vegitation. A car could easily reach the river if the driver lost control. From what I can gather, this was Tim Miller's primary search area. Past the boat ramp, the road runs very close to the river (less than 50') for over a mile. This would also be a treacherous streatch of road. I can not tell from Google Earth if there are any guard rails along the road. If she made it past there, to Waverly road, she would realize that there was no entrance to 76 and she would have to blunder her way through back-roads in undeveloped heavily vegitated land. She would, however, be away from the river and not near other bodies of water.

The local PD has stated that the car was definitly not in the river. Did Tim check all the way up to Waverly rd and all the way down to the dam? It sounds like this operation was potentially quite expensive and I can see why they might be relucant to commit themselves to a search that might end up requiring that they start pulling a lot of old cars out of the river.

If she isn't in the river, the next most likely search area is in the vegitation off any of the roads she might have taken in an effort to get on the 76 or back to Gladwyne. This is potentially a very large area. Cars can travell hundreds of feet of the road and drivers are sometimes never found. If a "thorough search turns up nothing, I'd try it again after the leaves fall.

I think it is unlikely that she just "took off" or this is all a coverup for something "bad" happening at the Party but anything is possible and as long as the mystery goes unsolved, the family will be left to worry and wonder and will never get "closure" and a chance to move on. A missing body situation just compounds the loss of a loved one.

 

[AJMorgan]

I don't know if I trust this PI's assumptions.

This "weakened state" in Camden scenario doesn't make much sense to me. If she was truly that hardcore into drugs you surely don't have to go all the way to Camden to get them. I'm at a complete loss. I can only imagine her family's hearts breaking as they are told she is alive, yet, not coming home.

 

[TexasLil]

I don't know if I trust this PI's assumptions.

This "weakened state" in Camden scenario doesn't make much sense to me. If she was truly that hardcore into drugs you surely don't have to go all the way to Camden to get them. I'm at a complete loss. I can only imagine her family's hearts breaking as they are told she is alive, yet, not coming home.

I just hope they don't rely on this and give up any further ground searches. I believe all posibilities still need to be considered as they have no solid information yet. We don't know how reliable the sighting info is either at this point.

 

[luthersmama]

SNIP If she made it past there, to Waverly road, she would realize that there was no entrance to 76 and she would have to blunder her way through back-roads in undeveloped heavily vegitated land. She would, however, be away from the river and not near other bodies of water.

SNIP

If she isn't in the river, the next most likely search area is in the vegitation off any of the roads she might have taken in an effort to get on the 76 or back to Gladwyne. This is potentially a very large area. Cars can travell hundreds of feet of the road and drivers are sometimes never found. If a "thorough search turns up nothing, I'd try it again after the leaves fall.
.

Kemo -

I agree with most of what you said. However, the land in Gladwyne is not undeveloped. The aerial photos appear to show unbroken woodlands. In reality, under those trees are intensely manicured lawns and gardens. There is very little ground in Gladwyne that does not receive tender loving care from a platoon of mowers and other caretakers on a weekly basis. There are a few spots where there are steep embankments where a car might be hidden, but not so much as you might think from looking at the photos.

The opposite is true of the area where Toni lives. There are so many possible places to go off the road that it would be hard to pick where to start.

 

[Missing Budweiser]

I first visited the area a few days before the search of the river. From what I knew at that point, which was very little and based on a couple newspaper articles, I assumed that it was a case of drunk/reckless driving that led to an accident that had yet to be discovered. There is four ways out of Willie Green's development. I went each way at least once and can honestly say that there are very few places that a car could dissapear after an accident. The further from Willie's the greater the possibility. I asssume these roads have all been searched by Toni's friends search group or the police.
If Toni did indeed drive toward 76 as believed, she either got on 76 east towards Philly/Jersey or went down river road. The first 90 turn really is nasty. If she wrecked there, she would have been found immediately. The river runs about 30-40 yds. from the road and there is a guardrail there along with many trees along with picnic tables and benches. If Toni went into the river, it was at one of the two boat dock entrances. This means she would have had to turn right into the park area and then down a slight incline into the water. Tim searched the area between the two entrances and passed on that info to the police. They do not feel that her car is there.
I feel that Toni drove onto 76 east. Being unfamiliar with the area and not knowing that 76 west was unreachable going that way, she probably continued on 76 possibly looking for a 76 west sign. She may not have even noticed she was going the wrong way
in her impaired state. I just don't know.....