Press Conference
2nd December.
Sheriff - Thanks for being here and, again, good afternoon. We appreciate the assistance of media because this is a pretty big deal for us at the Wise County Sheriff's Office, and I know that some of you all have heard a lot of the information that was was put out yesterday, which is still accurate. I'm going to go back through some of it because some of you may have not heard that. This is Craig Johnson, he's our Chief Deputy. He's going to help me because I know that you will have some some questions and when you do have the questions, we'll be prepared to answer those things, as much as we possibly can, understanding that this is an ongoing investigation.
So, on Wednesday, 30th November, at about 4:15, seven-year old, Athena Strand stepped off her school bus, arriving home like she does almost everyday at County Road 3573 in Paradise. At about 6:40 pm., that same day, Wise County Sheriff's Office dispatch received a 911 call from Athena's Stepmom reporting that Athena was missing. Within about, I think it was about 14 minutes, we had deputies, EMS, Volunteer Fire Departments there and there was a search that commenced just right away. And that search, for the most part, was that area of the house, inside the house, under the house, and then the immediate area in that six acre track where they live. But they weren't able to locate the child. So, later on in the night we had THB who came to help the EMC (Emergency Management Coordinator), as well as the Fire Marshal and multiple local PD's joined in and helped us in the investigation, and the search. And, in the night time we had DPS 101 helicopter DPS 101 and 4 PD's Air One that were there, and they had thermal imaging helping to locate heat signatures on the ground, but they didn't find anything other than wildlife, rabbits, hogs and some deer. No indication that there was any human activity out and about. Local law enforcement, as well as Search and Rescue One had their K9 teams, and those K9 teams worked throughout the night, in the darkness, until the early morning hours, trying to pick up a track, a trail. They picked up a short trail that just kind of circled around the house and then headed back over toward 21/23. Two different dog teams ran that track out, but still we didn't find Athena. So, at about 4:30 that morning, we gathered up and decided, okay, we're going to shut it down and be back at first light, just yesterday morning. So, yesterday morning we were all on scene at 7:00 am., as the sun was coming up and we started to search with, mostly, law enforcement, Highway Patrol, Sheriff's Office, Texas Rangers, DPSCID., and that search didn't prove to be effective as well. We ended up with about 200 volunteers from the citizens around here in Wise County, came forward and wanted to do something to help. So, with the help of our EMC we were able to coordinate and get those folks on tracks and on search patterns, so that we could cover that 6 acres and cover it well. We had so many volunteers and they were, I guess, mostly helped by law enforcement along the way. They were walking shoulder to shoulder through the brush, but still it was no luck.
From the very beginning this was a.. two nights ago, it was a search accompanied by an investigation, but we are now transitioning to an investigation accompanied by a search. The investigation itself is the responsibility of Wise County Sheriff's Office. We are being assisted, and thankfully so, we're being assisted by the Texas Rangers, DPSCID. We're being assisted by local PD's, the US Marshals and the FBI. The FBI is helping us with digital resources and investigative support.
And so, we're asking the citizens, if we could, we're asking the citizens that if they see anything, if they know anything, that they would either call the Sheriff's Office 940-627-5971 and report that, or the FBI office 972-559-5000, in hopes that we can get some more information that will get us to the point that we could find Athena. It's heavy on our minds, many of us have gone without sleep, so we're asking for the public's help and the media's help and we also would ask that if you would put the information out to the citizens who live in that area, and we talked to Wise County (
inaudible) about this, that when they get home, in that area, please go out and look at the outbuildings, look inside the outbuildings in your barns, look through the brush and just search your acreage that you have, so that we can have that peace of mind that she's not in another place that we have not looked. The search is continuing. It's more of a spotted search now, instead of the grand search that you saw yesterday, with all those citizens. So, with that, we'll be glad to take questions.
Reporter - Have the family been previously known to the Wise County Sheriff's Office?. Have they had previous calls to this house?.
Sheriff - To my recollection, we've had no calls to that house, Andrew, so, no.
Reporter - Why is it transitioning to investigation and not search?.
Sheriff - Well, it's been search and investigation. Now it is more so investigation and search, because we've completed most of that search. It's covered that area that we need to cover, so we're still gonna do some spot searching as information comes in. And, as normally is the case, the investigation then becomes the forefront, because we've got a lot of people to interview. We've got the digital information that we need to be going through, so that takes up the investigative time. So, we're spending more time now on the investigation than the search.
Reporter - Do you have reason to believe that foul play is involved?. An Amber Alert was issued at some point, when you didn't do that initially.
Sheriff - No, we actually did. We sent it out to DPS right away, and I think DPS must have some parameters on that, so that they wait until there's some reason for cause, or concern, and obviously, there's reason for concern when the child has not been recovered in about 24 hours. So, they put that out and it doesn't necessarily mean we expect foul play, but we do understand that could be a possibility.
Chief Deputy - To add to what the Sheriff was saying and to your question, The transition is, in part, due to the over 300, now, people, men and women and different groups that volunteered, because we were able to cover a vast amount of area, talk to tonnes of people more quickly than we would have without them. So, we were able to go through a lot of different areas and aspects of a search type incident looking for Athena, very quickly, check and recheck, and so now the mechanics of the situation, the investigation, dictate that we keep moving into this next area, but largely it's due to the good work to the women and men who volunteered their time and came out and really looked and looked hard.
Reporter - Can you please explain what the next steps are now that (
inaudible). Can you explain what's next and how it's going to be?.
Chief Deputy - Well, it's not just investigation, as the Sheriff said, it's a transitioning to an investigation with a search. Leads, still, are being followed up on as they come in, from leads that are developed via law enforcement or leads that are phoned in from different citizens or groups. But, if we checked and double checked and triple checked all of the things out in a typical grid search area, like what you largely saw yesterday, then we have to keep looking, we have to keep digging and following up on every lead, and it wouldn't be necessarily productive to have 300 people staged, waiting to go search here and here and here.
Reporter - Are you still asking volunteers to stay away from the scene and let law enforcement do it?, Or are you accepting the help from volunteers now?.
Chief Deputy - We're asking that they stand down at the moment. There are some folks that come and volunteer, that is great. However, we struggle, right now, again, thanks to the good work that was done yesterday by the 300 plus people, on where to direct them.
Reporter - Can you speak to the experience that either your office, or you as individuals have with missing children?. What that experience could play into and how maybe those instances have played out in the past?.
Sheriff - Well, our Chief Deputy is retired from Grapevine PD. I'm a retired Texas Ranger. Been working in law enforcement since 1974, I think he's got about 30 years in law enforcement. I'm coming up on 50 years in law enforcement. We have encountered those investigations on many occasions. We find that if we solicit the support of the citizens, as well as the other agencies, who bring some expertise that we don't have, we're going to rely on them to make sure that we get everything done so that we can find out what happened to Athena. Hopefully find her and bring her home, alive and well. But again, I say that it's all about the possibilities and we've got to look at everything.
Reporter - Sheriff, can you talk about the conversations with the family?. We know there's a couple of different dynamics - mum from Oklahoma, step-mother and biological father, here. Can you give us some insight into how they must be feeling, or conversations with them?.
Sheriff - Both sides, the mother and the step-mother and the father, they have been very cooperative. The investigation interviews have been conducted by our Texas Ranger, our local Texas Ranger and one of our investigators and it has gone very well. We've got information. The first information that we had was, and may still be accurate information - The information that we had at first was that the mother and daughter had a little bit of an argument, which is not unusual for a seven-year old and a stepmother, and the step-daughter got upset, Athena got upset and she walked away, as she has done in the past, but they expected she would come back, but she did not come back and we obviously have been unable to find her.
Reporter - Sheriff, where was the father during all of this?.
Sheriff - The father was on his way to a deer hunting trip in South Texas, and she called him and he turned around and came back. He was somewhere South of Fort Worth when he received that call.
Reporter - Some of the neighbours told me that she, Athena, was to be going to Oklahoma, back to her natural mother and that was to have occurred right about now. Is that so?.
Sheriff - We have been told that. I'm not sure that it is so. Our investigators on the frontline, they may have a different idea on that, but we have been told that and we do believe that probably is true, but we're not absolutely.
Reporter - Perhaps that had something to do with the dynamic of the family that was going on at that time.
Sheriff - It's very possible. That's one of the possibilities, yes, Sir.
Reporter - So, the stepmother was the only adult at home at the time of her disappearance?.
Sheriff - That's correct.
Reporter - If you're in a public place, you hear the loud ringing for the Amber Alert, and almost everybody might just silence their phone and maybe not even take a look. How important is it to just glance at it?. Maybe you see a description of a car, maybe you see a description of something that could help.
Sheriff - Well, that's why we're so judicious about putting those things out. People have got to realise that that's an important issue when they hear that coming across their phone, and I've been in a restaurant when everybody gets them at the same time, almost like tornado warnings, and so it's important that they look at that, especially if it's in your geographic area. So many times you're in South Texas and you get a little bit, I guess, it becomes mundane because it's so far away. But, in those that are close by, we would hope that everybody would look at it and if they come up with some information that would be helpful, we in law enforcement would appreciate if they give us a call.
Reporter - The fact that you guys have done such an exhaustive search in the immediate area around the home and this is a 7 year old, who was, presumably, just on foot - What does that tell you about where she could be, at this point?.
Sheriff - Well, we are deeply concerned about that because it's been a long time. That first night it was 28/29 degrees and she wasn't dressed real warm. We originally thought that she was wearing a plaid jacket, but in reality she was in a T-shirt with jeans and boots. So, we have a lot of concern. The longer it goes the more we're concerned, but even so, I'm an optimistic guy. Our chief is an optimistic guy. We're trying to do everything we can to recover this child.
Reporter - Do any of the homes in the area have any external security cameras that may have picked up a passing vehicle.?
Sheriff - We have checked on that and we don't have any, right there, in that very area. There are no ring door bells along those lines but even so we're going to keep canvassing and we sent out.. our (inaudible) troopers helped us canvas every house, probably within a five mile radius and there were some video opportunities, but those have not proven to be fruitful, at this point.
Reporter - (
Asks to summarise what they're looking for)
Sheriff - (
Shows pics. of Athena). She's 7 years old, she's a 1st. grader, I think, as I was told, 4ft tall.
Reporter - Is there particular pieces of evidence that you all might be looking for?. We saw officers walking the side of the road, some distance away from the home. (
inaudible) looking for something that might have been thrown out of a car or whatever there might be on the side of the road.
Chief Deputy - To directly answer your question. Any item of evidence is what those officers or deputies or troopers or volunteers would have been looking for. Anything that might have suggested that Athena might have been there or something associated with her might have been there. Anything we can find to help narrow down the who, what, when, where, how, and why of the investigation, is what we're looking for. It might be a foot print, it might be a shoe, it might be hair, it might be any number of things, but as physical evidence goes, sometimes you just don't know what it is until you find it, at times.
Reporter - You mentioned the outpouring of the community volunteers. What would you say to people who still want to help out in some way - What would you tell them?.
Sheriff - Those of them that want to help, they can still check in with us at the First Baptist Church in Cottondale. Our EMC is there to put their name on the list and in the event that we do need some help, we encourage them to come on back, so that we can do some more searching. But, right now, we ask that those citizens at home, they check their own property. Even if they're within 20 miles of that area. Let's just look at the property, see what's in your barn. Some of the people that may not have been in their barn in a while, look in their vehicles. So, we ask everybody to do that, especially those who are in the vicinity.
Reporter - Do you have any registered sex offenders in that vicinity?.
Sheriff - We do, and we have made contact with all of them and that's one of the reasons the US Marshals were assisting us early on.
Reporter - And, thus far, it's produced no reason to believe they might be responsible?.
Sheriff - Not at this point, no, Sir. It's on the table, there's a possibility, but we don't see that as a direct lead right now.
Thank you all so much. We appreciate y'all being here.
www.fox4news.com
