FL - Sarah Lunde, 13, murdered, Ruskin, 9 April 2005

[OriginalJerseyGirl]

Tampa Bay's 10 News

As he was about to leave jail Wednesday morning after posting bond, Deputies detained Onstott on an outstanding arrest warrant from the state of Michigan.

The above statement combined with the fact that this Sheriff has received some advice from Sheriff Dawsy makes me think that they might very well have the right guy already, (like someone said earlier). One of the more recent articles stated that they've raised his bond to a fairly high amount, hoping he won't be able to get out. Is there a reason that they would do this besides what it seems like?

 

[lady-eowyn]

Sheriff Gee is still being pretty tightlipped. In a news conference this afternoon he was asked about this and he pretty much said he wouldn't comment on the investigation. He talked mainly about the search.

I'm glad they found some way to hold onto this guy...can you believe the similarities between this and the Lunsford case?! I'm hoping it doesn't follow that pattern.

Bless Mark Lunsford's heart..he was there today supporting that mother during the news conference...Sheriff Gee asked him to say a few words. He teared up talking about how everyone helped him and how he want's to help this family

 

[CinnamonGirl]

Yesterday on Bay 9 news,they had a transcript that was sent over to someone in LE and it said that Onstott is a suspect in the disappearance of Sarah.

 

[OriginalJerseyGirl]

Give me an example of what you are typing in and in what fields

I've typed in all of the information I've had - sometimes just name & county, sometimes I'm able to include the zip or the street address, or any combination of those details. It's worked for me from time to time, and I haven't been doing anything differently during the times that it doesn't work. :waitasec:

 

[cami]

Roy Brown, Amanda Brown's father has also joined the search, along with Mark Lunsford

http://news.tbo.com/news/MGBBX3Z8J7E.html

RUSKIN - Volunteers searching for 13-year-old Sarah Michelle Lunde today were joined by two familiar faces: Mark Lunsford, the father of a 9-year-old girl who was abducted and killed in Homosassa in February, and Roy Brown, father of a 7-year-old Seffner girl who disappeared in 1998 and has never been found. ``It hurts to be here, but it has to be done,'' said Lunsford, father of Jessica Lunsford. ``The family and this little girl need all the help they can get.''

Oh that was sad to see Lunsford out there searching. His heart must have been very heavy.

 

[OriginalJerseyGirl]

TheLouisvilleChannel.com - News - Beer Bottles Become Focus In Search For Florida Child

Detectives asked searchers looking for a missing 13-year-old girl Friday to look for empty bottles of Budweiser or Bud Lite -- the type of beer a sex offender allegedly snatched from a kitchen table of the girl's home about the time she disappeared...

Detectives told the searchers Friday not to disturb the beer bottles if they find them, but to point them out. David Onstott, a registered sex offender who once dated Sarah's mother, grabbed a half-empty bottle of beer off her family's kitchen table before leaving during an unexpected predawn appearance at the home Sunday, the girl's 17-year-old brother, Andrew, said...

 

[CinnamonGirl]

I think they need to get Onstott and make him talk,put his meatballs in a crusher and make him squeal and tell what he did with her.

 

[OriginalJerseyGirl]

I think they need to get Onstott and make him talk,put his meatballs in a crusher and make him squeal and tell what he did with her.

I think you're right. Too much of a coincidence that he would just happen to show up on the night this girl goes missing, and not have something to do with it. But I'm holding onto the hope that perhaps she did just manage to run away well. I'm doubtful but still praying that that's the case.

 

[OriginalJerseyGirl]

... from what the brother said he could be violent too...

Tampa Bay's 10 News

... When the ex girlfriend broke up with him she says he became enraged, got drunk and hit a man in the face with a machete...

baynews9.com - News : Search for missing Ruskin teen suspended overnight

In 2002, Onstott was arrested and charged with slicing a man's face with a machete. He was acquitted of that charge.

 

[OriginalJerseyGirl]

Search For Sarah Turns Up Nothing But Questions: From The Tampa Tribune

... prosecutors worked to ensure a man questioned in the disappearance would not gain release soon...

... Onstott's bail on a charge of failing to report as a sex offender was increased from $1,000 to $250,000 on Thursday...

... "The state wants to make sure he's available for continued questioning,'' Courtney, (Onstott's attorney), said...

...Courtney said prosecutors agreed to release Onstott on his own recognizance but, before his release, deputies found two outstanding warrants from Michigan for driving under the influence charges.

On Thursday, prosecutors asked Judge Michelle Sisco to revoke Onstott's bail on the failure to report charge. They argued that the outstanding charges in Michigan show that Onstott is a flight risk. Sisco raised his bail to $250,000...

... Courtney said it is important to point out that Onstott's past did not include crimes against juveniles.

 

[OriginalJerseyGirl]

Tampabay: Search for girl targets areas near her home

... They also retraced two areas where tracking dogs picked up a scent earlier this week.

... search dogs picked up a suspicious scent Tuesday and again on Wednesday while walking south of the mobile trailer Sarah shares with her mother and three brothers....



... Courtney, (Onstott's attorney), said Onstott, 34, gave investigators the keys to his truck so they could search it ... "He's done anything they asked him to do," Courtney said...

... Courtney said Onstott did not give authorities his new address because he did not have one. Jail records show he was living in a mobile home nine miles from Sarah's home. But Courtney said Onstott "has been bouncing around without a place to stay" after separation from his wife...



... (Sarah's brother, Andrew) Lunde told investigators he left the trailer after 9 p.m. but ended up hanging out with friends. He did not return until 4 a.m. Sunday, according to Gee. The door was wide open and Sarah was gone, but Lunde went to sleep.

Lunde told reporters Onstott came to the trailer at 5 a.m. and woke him up, asking to see Kelly May. Onstott left when he learned she was not there, taking with him a beer bottle that Andrew Lunde had seen inside the trailer earlier that night, Lunde said.

Gee and other sheriff's investigators would not say whether they believe Lunde's account....

 

[OriginalJerseyGirl]

Recent cases raise awareness of sex offenders' locations

... The wife of the pastor at Sarah Lunde's church was among those who had no idea 24 sex offenders called Ruskin home.

... While two dozen sex offenders may seem like a lot, it's actually not when compared to other areas of Tampa Bay.

... Some of the ZIP codes in Hillsborough's rural Big Bend area, where Sarah lives, have the highest totals; some there numbered in the hundreds.

... The day after Jessica (Lunsford's) body was found, more than 300,000 people logged onto the FDLE web site.

 

[fran]

I agree with others, this does not look like there's going to be a happy ending here. Each day the news gets worse.

JMHO
fran

 

[richandfamous]

Fox reporting the search teams aree being told to look for bud beer bottles!

 

[packerdog]

I agree, I don't think there will be a happy ending here. I think the moms ex boyfriend had something to do with her disappearence. The mother has to be feeling pretty terrible right now.

 

[kk's mom]

I agree, I don't think there will be a happy ending here. I think the moms ex boyfriend had something to do with her disappearence. The mother has to be feeling pretty terrible right now.

No it does not sound too good. I guess the way I read this is that he may have told them they'd find her body where he had been drinking the beer? Does that sound right?

 

[solosamtheman]

This is exactly why I posted that message "it didn't have to happen". I know that lots of you take very good care of your children but then there are those who fail to use simple common sense like in this case. And even one is too many but when you look at lots of cases where it turns out that 90% of them could have been avoided it makes it sound like you are blaming the parents and forgetting about the scum that did that to her. I am not forgetting. I salute the parents who love their children enough to embarrass them by walking them to their destinations whether it be a friends house or school or anywhere else. One day they will too. And maybe one day we'll get it all sorted out so that once again children can be safe in their own homes and beds.

 

[fran]

No it does not sound too good. I guess the way I read this is that he may have told them they'd find her body where he had been drinking the beer? Does that sound right?

From what I understand, he's denying involvement of her disappearance. I think LE is taking it upon themself from experience and the circumstances that have been worked out.

Daughter is home by herself..... Ex bf, convicted/reg sex offender, comes over unexpectedly,..opens a beer,..1/2 thru the beer takes the daughter somewhere else. After a few hours, ex bf returns to the house to pick up his 1/2 finished beer. Sounds like the ex bf had the beer with him so they're probably figuring he had a whole 6 pack or whatever and they're thinking he might have stopped to have a beer wherever he did whatever he did with Sarah.

JMHO
fran

 

[KatherineQ]

Maybe the mother didn't know he was a convicted sex offender? It doesn't sound like she really knew him all that well, for that long. Maybe she did, I don't know.

His wife kicked him out of the house in Nov. 2004. He and Sarah's mom have now been broken up "for several months".

So that leaves only about 3 months in between the time he left his wife and when they "broke up" - maybe she didn't know about his past or suspect there was anything wrong with him.

 

[OriginalJerseyGirl]

It sounds like he could have stopped by looking for Sarah's mom, and when he realized that she wasn't home, he saw the opportunity. He may have stayed and chatted with Sarah before taking her somewhere. Maybe he took her to "get something to eat", which is what her brother was supposed to do before leaving for 5-7 hours while she was sitting there hungry.

He probably realized that he had left his beer behind, and didn't want any evidence to be left so he went back to get it. Maybe LE is thinking that he had the bottle in his hand when he knocked on the door, and possibly had more in his car. If he did something to Sarah, he must have known that his appearance at the house at 5 A.M. was going to be learned by LE so perhaps they think that he threw the bottles out of the car to get rid of any evidence linking him to the scene or to the brother's story.

I don't know if the ex-boyfriend took Sarah or not but it seems entirely possible. The pieces certainly do fit together. The fact that they raised his bail from $1,000 to $250,000 is distressing to me. I know that they want to keep him around for more questioning but that's quite a leap.