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State ups Tuders reward
By Skip Cauthorn, scauthorn@nashvillecitypaper.com
September 30, 2003
The state has upped the reward for leads in the disappearance of 13-year-old Tabitha Tuders by pitching in $10,000 for information leading to the conviction of any persons involved.
The total reward, combined with local funds, has now approached the $16,000 mark.
Tuders, a Bailey Middle School student, disappeared April 29 from her East Nashville home on Lillian Street. Tuders was last seen 7 a.m. April 29 when her father, Irvin Tuders, woke her for school.
Police were called 10 hours later when the family was concerned because their daughter hadnt returned home from Bailey Middle School. It was later discovered that Tabitha failed to board the bus at 14th & Boscobel streets shortly after 8 a.m. that day.
Acting Metro Police Chief Deborah Faulkner along with District Attorney Torry Johnson made the request for state money last week of Gov. Phil Bredesen. In his capacity under state law, Bredesen announced the addition to the reward Monday.
The city through the attorney general has requested this and the mayor and I have talked about it several times and its just good to step in and Im hoping this might jog someone to say something about the case to help to break this thing open, said Bredesen Monday.
The investigation of the case, according to Metro Police spokesperson Don Aaron, has made little progress in the past few weeks. But the additional reward money helps in such cases in raising awareness among the general public, he said.
Were hoping this will re-focus [on] Tabitha Tuders disappearance and cause Nashvillians to reflect on whether they know anything about the case, said Aaron. We have pursued numerous leads in the case. Unfortunately, many of the leads weve worked on in the past couple of weeks have failed.
Tuders disappearance did not qualify for the Amber Alert system, which uses networking across the nation to raise awareness of missing children, because there were no signs of abduction and police and family didnt know the child was missing for 10 hours.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has faxed Tabithas missing child poster out to thousands of fax machines.
Police say there is no evidence that the child packed any clothes or planned to leave.
Mayor Bill Purcell expressed hope that the additional reward money could benefit the investigation.
Like any other state reward, its not done frequently but when its done its the kind of thing that can make a critical difference in encouraging people to come forward, said Purcell. Everyones focused on this and the hope is this will make the public focus even a little bit more than they have so far.
Metro has faced public scrutiny recently in its handling of the case. Purcell said everything possible is being done in the search.
Obviously these are things that law enforcement should be in charge of, said Purcell. Im satisfied that each level of government - the [Tennessee Bureau of Investigation], the [Federal Bureau of Investigation] and our local police department - have focused all the resources they believe required on this. Their collaboration, their cooperation has been seamless. Theyre putting the resources in this that are necessary.
Anyone with information that may assist in the Tuders investigation should contact Metro Police Departments Youth Services Division at 862-7417.
By Skip Cauthorn, scauthorn@nashvillecitypaper.com
September 30, 2003
The state has upped the reward for leads in the disappearance of 13-year-old Tabitha Tuders by pitching in $10,000 for information leading to the conviction of any persons involved.
The total reward, combined with local funds, has now approached the $16,000 mark.
Tuders, a Bailey Middle School student, disappeared April 29 from her East Nashville home on Lillian Street. Tuders was last seen 7 a.m. April 29 when her father, Irvin Tuders, woke her for school.
Police were called 10 hours later when the family was concerned because their daughter hadnt returned home from Bailey Middle School. It was later discovered that Tabitha failed to board the bus at 14th & Boscobel streets shortly after 8 a.m. that day.
Acting Metro Police Chief Deborah Faulkner along with District Attorney Torry Johnson made the request for state money last week of Gov. Phil Bredesen. In his capacity under state law, Bredesen announced the addition to the reward Monday.
The city through the attorney general has requested this and the mayor and I have talked about it several times and its just good to step in and Im hoping this might jog someone to say something about the case to help to break this thing open, said Bredesen Monday.
The investigation of the case, according to Metro Police spokesperson Don Aaron, has made little progress in the past few weeks. But the additional reward money helps in such cases in raising awareness among the general public, he said.
Were hoping this will re-focus [on] Tabitha Tuders disappearance and cause Nashvillians to reflect on whether they know anything about the case, said Aaron. We have pursued numerous leads in the case. Unfortunately, many of the leads weve worked on in the past couple of weeks have failed.
Tuders disappearance did not qualify for the Amber Alert system, which uses networking across the nation to raise awareness of missing children, because there were no signs of abduction and police and family didnt know the child was missing for 10 hours.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has faxed Tabithas missing child poster out to thousands of fax machines.
Police say there is no evidence that the child packed any clothes or planned to leave.
Mayor Bill Purcell expressed hope that the additional reward money could benefit the investigation.
Like any other state reward, its not done frequently but when its done its the kind of thing that can make a critical difference in encouraging people to come forward, said Purcell. Everyones focused on this and the hope is this will make the public focus even a little bit more than they have so far.
Metro has faced public scrutiny recently in its handling of the case. Purcell said everything possible is being done in the search.
Obviously these are things that law enforcement should be in charge of, said Purcell. Im satisfied that each level of government - the [Tennessee Bureau of Investigation], the [Federal Bureau of Investigation] and our local police department - have focused all the resources they believe required on this. Their collaboration, their cooperation has been seamless. Theyre putting the resources in this that are necessary.
Anyone with information that may assist in the Tuders investigation should contact Metro Police Departments Youth Services Division at 862-7417.
