TN TN - Tabitha Tuders, 13, Nashville, 29 Apr 2003

[johnny]

These people as well as others are still being investigated and have not been taken off the persons of interest list. Also we continue to receive sightings in different areas as well as tips about Tabitha's where abouts. Yet we still have nothing to essentially get us off the block of where Tabitha came up missing. New evidence was recently gathered and the next week hopefully will bring something to light.

Thanks to everyone who continues to search, study these cases, provide prayer and hope to all the friends and families of these VICTIMS. I believe that with combined efforts we can find the missing piece to the puzzle to prevent these types of crimes.

Thank You All!

 

[johnny]

Police doubt 'person of interest' is linked to Tuders case















By SHEILA BURKE
Staff Writer

A man previously named by Metro police as a ''person of interest'' in the case of missing 13-year-old Tabitha Tuders apparently is not linked to the teen's April 29 disappearance after all, Metro police said yesterday.

Meanwhile, police have asked the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to enter the case of the vanished girl.

Police last week had called Martin Tim Boyd, 32, of Jones Avenue, a ''person of interest.'' He was arrested after police accused him of repeatedly trying to lure an 11-year-old girl in his car at a school bus stop.

''Essentially, after interviewing Boyd last week and (yesterday), we have no reason to believe at this point that he is involved in the Tabitha Tuders matter,'' Metro police spokesman Don Aaron said.

Boyd was cooperative and answered all questions police asked regarding Tuders, Aaron said.

''But with that said, no one has been totally eliminated from this investigation, and I doubt that anyone will be totally eliminated until we find out what happened to her on April 29,'' Aaron said.

Tabitha was reported missing when her parents returned home from work that day and discovered she was not home.

The last time her family saw her was that morning before they left for work. Her parents, Bo and Debra Tuders, expected her to board a bus for Bailey Middle School and go to class.

They learned that evening that Tabitha never rode the bus or made it to school.

Boyd was charged with attempted especially aggravated kidnapping last week after police said he tried to lure the 11-year-old girl into his car while she was waiting for a school bus less than five miles from Tabitha's Lillian Street home.

He was being held in the Metro Jail last night in lieu of $300,000 bail.

The police request for TBI aid in the probe was disclosed yesterday.

''The TBI assigned an agent to assist in the Tuders investigation last week,'' Aaron said.

That agent will be working with our investigators to help run down and check out leads and ''will also be naturally providing another perspective on the case,'' Aaron said.

The department requested TBI help to have another entity involved in the case, Aaron said.

The state law enforcement agency also has provided assistance with the forensics investigation, TBI spokesman Mark Gwyn said.

Gwyn declined to specify what had been sent to the state crime lab.

Sheila Burke covers crime for The Tennessean. Contact her at 664-2144 or

 

[Rocky]

Teens Turn To Technology To Communicate

"Teens Turn To Technology To Communicate
Teens Spend 16 Hours Per Week Chatting Online

POSTED: 12:30 p.m. PDT August 12, 2003
UPDATED: 12:41 p.m. PDT August 12, 2003
SAN DIEGO -- Many kids and teenagers are using the Internet more and more these days to communicate with their friends.

Teens everywhere are giving their hands a workout -- talking by typing. Welcome to the world of instant messaging.

"We talk about friends. We talk about boys, We gossip a lot," said instant-message user Alessandra Cuteri.

Instant messaging or IM is like e-mail but much faster. When you type a message and hit return, your message appears instantly on your friend's computer screen or wireless device. Studies show that teens prefer IM to the telephone. They are spending an average of 16 hours per week chatting with their friends online.

Teenager Matt Maistros said, "I do feel like I can be more comfortable talking to people online."

"You can be funnier," Maureen Lovett added.

There is no shortage of words -- IM allows you to have more than one conversation at a time and have group discussions in invitation-only chat rooms.

In fact, IM has even spawned a language on all its own. Words or phrases are abbreviated. "Laughing out loud" becomes "LOL."

Teens are colorful in the way they write. They customize their instant messages and e-mail with wallpaper, icons and sounds.

"Teenagers are definitely early adopters of technology for style. IM has become a lifestyle," said Malcom Bird from AOL.

But just like the telephone it is good to set some ground rules, especially if you think your chatter bug is getting distracted from their homework. Make sure you know who they are chatting with -- IM's with friends are fun but IM's with strangers can be dangerous."

 

[johnny]

http://www.nashvillescene.com/cgi-b..._Issues:2003:August_21-27_2003:News:Editorial

 

[johnny]

Not Faulkner's Best Moment

It's one thing for the Metro Police Department to be utterly stumped by the disappearance of 13-year-old Tabitha tuders, who vanished April 29 from her East Nashville neighborhood. And it's one thing for the department to defend itself against criticism--including from the Scene--that it's been slow and unaggressive in its search for her. (It spent the crucial first 10 weeks theorizing that the girl ran away, only to finally concede that abduction is the more likely scenario.)


But now there are hints that the department--and, more specifically, interim police Chief Deb Faulkner--are turning on the family, blaming them for the department's unsuccessful police work to date. Comments Faulkner made in an Associated Press story about the case last week elicited a visceral reaction from some. Asked to explain the PD's flat-footedness, Faulkner seemed to go on the offensive: "It took three days to nail down with the family what she had on when she was missing," she told the reporter.

Whoa.

She makes it sound like investigatory shortcomings are to be blamed on the family. She went on to tell the AP that police weren't notified about Tabitha's disappearance until about 11 hours after the family last saw her.

Another cheap shot.

It should be noted that Tabitha's mother, Debra, left for her job at a public school cafeteria that morning, long before Tabitha got up. As was usually the case, Bo, Tabitha's father, woke his daughter up that morning for school, then went on to his trucking job as normal. He was dressed and out the door before Tabitha was. That is why the family couldn't immediately say what the girl was wearing. As for the 11 hours, there was no reason for the family to suspect that Tabitha didn't board her bus and make it to school (how many parents call to talk to their kids at school during the day?), so they didn't report her missing until shortly after she didn't come home at her usual time.

The excuses at the expense of the family continued in the AP story. Faulkner went on to contend, rather unnecessarily, that the photos the family first supplied to the police were too old, not sufficient for searching for a maturing 13-year-old.

Even if these comments are factually correct, it's classless for the Metro Police Department to exploit them in its own defense. It appears desperate, inconsiderate and just plain cruel. As far as we're concerned, Faulkner's remarks reflect poorly on her judgment and leadership. They certainly offer reason enough to consider others for the crucial position of this city's permanent police chief.

If Faulkner and the police department want to divert attention from their shortcomings, then they should feel free to criticize the media and the numerous low-lifes who seem to populate the East Nashville neighborhood where the girl disappeared. But they should spare the family, who've been through quite enough

 

[johnny]

Support pours in for family of missing girl
Mother expresses frustration at lack of AMBER alert

By Stephanie Taylor
Staff Writer
August 22, 2003

Email this story.


Vickey Smalley holds Beth Lowery as she prays for the return of Lowery’s daughter, Heaven LaShae Ross. Ross is the 11 year-old girl who turned up missing after leaving her house for the bus stop on Tuesday morning.
Staff Photo | Robert Sutton

• Discuss this story


NORTHPORT | Day three of the search for a missing 11-year-old girl has turned up no clues about where she could be, police said Thursday. When the bus to Collins-Riverside Middle School stopped in front of Willowbrook Trailer Park Thursday morning, Heaven LaShae Ross had been missing for 48 hours.

She was last seen Tuesday morning leaving the trailer park for her bus stop about 50 yards away on Hunter Creek Road.

Police set up roadblocks between 6:30 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. Thursday on Hunter Creek Road, asking drivers if they had seen Shae and handing out fliers.

As news about the sixth-grader’s mysterious disappearance has spread across the country, people in the Northport and Tuscaloosa communities have reached out to the family that is desperately waiting for good news.

“My baby’s been gone for nearly 72 hours. I just don’t think it’s fair that they won’t give her an AMBER alert," said Shae’s mother, Beth Lowery.

Police maintained on Thursday that their investigation has not turned up evidence that Shae is in danger, one of the requirements necessary for an AMBER alert.

“At this time, we cannot confirm that an abduction has occurred," said Northport Police Sgt. Kerry Card. “Until that happens, if that should happen, an AMBER alert cannot be issued."

Card said that the lead investigator in a case would be the person authorized to issue an alert through the statewide AMBER Alert system, which enables law enforcement and the media to quickly notify the public about an abducted child.

The lead investigator in the case is Terry Carroll, a Northport officer in the joint Northport-Tuscaloosa juvenile division.

Even without the AMBER alert, word of Shae’s disappearance spread quickly in the community. Volunteers posted fliers donated by local printing companies at businesses all over the area. Some businesses are collecting donations to be used for reward money for information.

The teachers at Collins-Riverside Middle School posted fliers and banners in Northport and had students write notes to Shae on some of them. Counselors were in classrooms Thursday, talking with students about their classmate’s disappearance.

“We’re all just hoping for the best outcome here," said Principal Glenn Taylor. “We’ve all been very, very concerned. Our thoughts and prayers are very much with her family. One of the students made the comment that it’s just not fair that we’re able to be here at school, and she’s not, wherever she might be."

Winn-Dixie in Northport donated yellow ribbons that searchers and family members wore for Shae. The family was sitting outside their home at Willowbrook Trailer Park Thursday, inside two screen tents that a church had provided to shield them from the sun.

Buddy’s Food Mart has offered a $5,000 reward to anyone responsible for Shae’s safe return to her parents, Tuscaloosa Police Chief Ken Swindle said Thursday.

Olive Garden employees brought by food, K-mart brought snacks, Kinko’s, Office Max and Kwik Kopy ran off fliers and Home Depot donated ink jets for printing. Many other neighbors and concerned people brought by food, drinks and words of encouragement.

Inside one of the tents, the family watched news updates on a television that had been brought outside and talked with the constant stream of friends and neighbors who were stopping by.

A videographer working for Dateline NBC followed Lowery’s boyfriend, Kevin Thompson, as he passed out fliers in Northport.

Shae’s photo and information was added to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children list Tuesday. Card said that the organization has distributed 33,000 fliers across the country.

Investigators were working through lunch Thursday at a command center set up at the Northport Police Department.

“We’ve received sightings of children who fit this description from quite a number of states," Card said.

FBI agents were still working to enhance a videotape obtained from Steve’s Grill & Billiards Wednesday, Card said. The camera was facing the bus stop and could reveal clues about traffic on Hunter Creek Road Tuesday morning.

Shae is one of the 18 missing kids from Alabama in the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s Web site. Most of those are runaways or are known to have been abducted by family members.

At least two abductions from bus stops have been reported in the South in the last few months.

Johnny White of Nashville, Tenn., is the head of a task force formed to find 13-year-old Tabitha Tuder, who disappeared there on April 29.

Their disappearances are strikingly similar, White said, adding that his group is considering traveling to Northport to assist in the search for Shae.

Both girls were last seen on a Tuesday at 7 a.m. at their bus stops. They have the same hair color and style, freckles and were even wearing the same color shirt in their school photos.

White said that Tabitha’s family and friends were frustrated when an AMBER alert was not issued and that police were treating the case as if Tabitha had run away. It was only recently that the FBI and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation became involved, he said.

“We believe that she was stalked," he said. “It may be someone that she would have recognized, but didn’t know, someone who was familiar with the area. They groom’ their victims, watch them, maybe say even, for months before they actually strike."

Maria Isabel Solis, 16, disappeared in Houston on March 3 at a bus stop. Since then, police have found a woman’s boot but no sign of the girl.

Reach Stephanie Taylor at 722-0210

 

[johnny]

It looks like a group of Volunteers from our Team Tabitha (Tuders)will be going down to help assist in the search for Shea tomorrow 8-23-03 I don't know what all we can do but at least we'll show our support.

Wish us luck and Pray for Shea, Tabitha, and the other missing children.



Tabitha's parents hope to aid family of missing girl



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By SHEILA BURKE
Staff Writer

Possible link between Nashville, Alabama cases

Bo and Debra Tuders might not be able to do anything to bring their 13-year-old daughter, Tabitha, home, but they are determined to help an Alabama family find a missing 11-year-old who disappeared this week under similar circumstances.

The couple was preparing last night to go to Northport, Ala., where a manhunt was under way for Heaven LaShae Ross, a girl with a physical likeness to Tabitha who disappeared Tuesday on her way to a bus stop.

The two cases are similar enough that Northport and Metro Police are talking about a possible link, officials said last night.

For the Tuders family and a group of friends and volunteers who have been searching for Tabitha since she disappeared April 29, it's help they are glad to give.

''We just want to go down there and try to give the mother some comfort, because I know how it is because I've been through it,'' Debra Tuders said.

She and the missing Alabama girl's mother spoke last night. ''I called and she cried, and I cried. But if I could comfort her, that's what I'm going to do.''

The couple plans to go to Alabama with a group of family and friends.

''We're going down there to do whatever is necessary,'' said Johnny White, a friend and Tuders family spokesman. ''We want to get this girl back so this family is not going through the hell we went through in the last four months.''

White noted the similarities between the two cases: Both girls look similar and vanished while walking to a school bus, he said. In both cases, family members criticized police for a slow response and failure to issue a public alert.

The Alabama girl, known as Shae, was last seen about 7 a.m. Tuesday when she was walking to catch a school bus, said Northport Police Department spokesman Kerry Card.

Her 13-year-old sister was waiting for her to arrive at the bus stop, but she never showed up, he said. Police were called about 20 minutes later. As in Tabitha's case, there was no sign of an abduc- tion.

''We're handling this case at this time as a missing person case,'' Card said. ''We don't have the components to go any further with it. There are no witnesses, nothing like that.''

As with the Tabitha case, no Amber Alert — a nationwide notice for children feared to have been abducted — was issued. ''We would have to confirm that she had been abducted,'' Card said.

''Everybody's really upset because you have to meet so many criteria,'' said Frances Taylor, aunt of the missing 11-year-old.

''My sister's really upset because the Amber Alert didn't go out immediately,'' she said. ''They're handling it as a missing person's case instead of an abduction because they don't have any physical evidence of an abduction.''

Nonetheless, Northport, a town of 30,000 with 60 sworn officers, is getting some help.

A command center with agents from the FBI, Alabama Bureau of Investigation, Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Department and the Tuscaloosa Police Department is working the investigation around the cloc

 

[Babcat]

I couldn't find a photo of Tabitha in any links on this thread so I went to the NCMEC site.

In order to find her I did a search option by typing in female children from the state of Tenessee missing within the last year.

When the page came up I found something very interesting. Get a load of these stats... (My comments in italics)

BRITNEY CAMPBELL
DOB: Aug 4, 1987
Missing: Jul 26, 2003
Height: 5'2"
Eyes: Blue
Race: White
Age Now: 16
Sex: Female
Weight: 105 lbs
Hair: Blonde
Missing From:
KNOXVILLE
TN
United States


ELIZABETH MARTIN
DOB: Jan 27, 1986
Missing: Jun 21, 2003
Height: 5'3"
Eyes: Green
Race: White
Age Now: 17
Sex: Female
Weight: 115 lbs
Hair: Brown light sandy brown
Missing From:
MORRISTOWN
TN
United States



ANNA MULHOLLEN
DOB: Apr 10, 1987
Missing: Jul 22, 2003
Height: 5'5"
Eyes: Green
Race: White
Age Now: 16
Sex: Female
Weight: 115 lbs
Hair: Blonde
Missing From:
BUENA VISTA
TN
United States


KYLA SANDERS
DOB: Jun 16, 1986
Missing: Jul 23, 2003
Height: 5'1"
Eyes: Blue
Race: White
Age Now: 17
Sex: Female
Weight: 105 lbs
Hair: Blonde
Missing From:
LOUDON
TN
United States


TABITHA TUDERS
DOB: Feb 15, 1990
Missing: Apr 29, 2003
Age Now: 13
Sex: Female
Race: White
Hair: Sandy/blonde
Eyes: Blue
Height: 5'1"
Weight: 100 lbs
Missing From:
NASHVILLE
TN
United States


KENZI WISE
DOB: Aug 13, 1987
Missing: May 23, 2003
Height: 5'2"
Eyes: Blue
Race: White
Age Now: 16
Sex: Female
Weight: 125 lbs
Hair: blonde
Missing From:
KNOXVILLE
TN
United States

There are only ten listings... total. This is SIX out of the ten.

Location

All the girls are missing from the state of Tenessee


Chronology of dates missing:

Tabitha - April 29, 2003 one in April
Kenzi - May 23, 2003 one in May
Elizabeth - June 21, 2003 one in June
and then...!!
Anna - July 22, 2003
Kyla - July 23, 2003
Britney - July 26, 2003

Age

Three girls are 16
Two girls are 17
One is 13

Height


Two girls are 5'1"
Two girls are 5'2"
One is 5'3"
Only one is within "normal" height at 5'5"

Weight


One girl is 100lbs
Two are 105lbs
Two are 115 lbs
Only one girl is within "average" weight of women at 125

Hair color

FIVE out of the six girls are blonde
Only one has brown hair and her hair is light brown

Eye color

Four girls are blue eyed
Two are green eyed

Are the police looking into this oddity? Is there a serial killer... or at the least a serial abductor... in the state of Tennesee?

 

[Doyle]

very interesting...I agree.. I think you are onto something.

TABITHA TUDERS Apr 29, 2003 NASHVILLE
KENZI WISE May 23, 2003 KNOXVILLE
ELIZABETH MARTIN Jun 21, 2003 MORRISTOWN
ANNA MULHOLLEN Jul 22, 2003 BUENA VISTA
KYLA SANDERS Jul 23, 2003 LOUDON
BRITNEY CAMPBELL Jul 26, 2003 KNOXVILLE

Nashville, and Buene Vista are on the western side of the state, but the rest are close to Knoxville. All these cities are near I-40 expressway.

 

[Babcat]

Many of these girls are being categorized as "runaways"... (wasn't Heaven in Alabama originally thought to be?)... but I believe that police are basing this assumption on past behavior of these kids or "class distinction". And while it may be true that these girls are at risk to be runaways, so were Ashley Ponds and Miranda Gaddis, and both girls met with foul play. As a matter of fact runaways run a higher risk of being victims than children who are snatched and show no tendency toward running away. Unfortunately, though the statistical risks for these kids are higher, police are LESS likely to take their disappearance seriously or issue any kind of alerts for the safety factor. That is a serious flaw in the criminal justice system as a whole... especially with the popularity of the internet as a tool for child manipulation in the last decade. It is time to rewrite the book that is used to train law enforcement.

 

[Up2theminute]

Very interesting, Babcat. I certainly hope they are checking the similarities between them. Maybe you can forward this 'tip' to an authority there.

 

[johnny]

search for missing girl
Reward money surpasses $60,000

By Scott Parrott
Staff Writer
August 24, 2003

Email this story.


Members of the Tuders family gather Saturday morning at the search headquarters for 11-year-old Heaven LaShae Ross, who disappeared from Northport last Tuesday on her way to her school bus stop. In the center is Debra Tuders of Nashville, whose daughter, 13-year-old Tabitha, disappeared in a similar case April 29. The Tuders family said they wanted to join the search for Ross because so many people came to help them search for Tabitha after her disappearance.
Photo | Carmen Sisson

• Discuss this story


Members of the Texas-based Laura Recovery Center joined the search Saturday for Heaven LaShae Ross, dispatching more than 60 people to comb areas in Northport and Tuscaloosa for any signs of the missing 11-year-old.

But as evening came, and the final teams returned from the field, there was still no clue about what happened to Shae, who disappeared Tuesday while walking to her school bus stop.

A neighbor last saw Shae on Hunter Creek Road at about 7 a.m. Tuesday. The bus stop is on that road, not far from her home in Willowbrook Trailer Park in Northport. She is the daughter of Beth Lowery.

Police investigators also had not uncovered any leads in the case, authorities said Saturday.

Meanwhile, a $50,000 reward was offered Saturday by a private donor for the girl’s safe return ó bringing the total reward to more than $60,000 ó and search organizers said they still need more volunteers.

“We’re trying to cover as much ground as possible," said Gay Smither, co-founder of Laura Recovery Center, a national organization that helps families find missing children. “Even if someone comes and does one search, that would allow us to cover one more area that we wouldn’t have."

Smither and Bob Walcutt, the executive director of LRC, flew to Alabama early Saturday morning at the request of Shae’s family. During the next few days, they will train and dispatch searchers, then step away, Smither said.

“We hope to leave the search in the capable hands of this community, where it belongs," she said.

While some volunteers searched from early morning until night, others made fliers inside the makeshift search headquarters at 1439 McFarland Blvd., the former Gateway computer building. More than 40,000 missing-person posters, with a photo of the missing brown-eyed, red-haired girl, have been distributed. Anyone who wants to help in the search, or has any information about Shae, should call (205) 752-0383.

“We rely on the community and the volunteers, and we’ve never been let down," Walcutt said.

Laura Recovery Center trains volunteers and helps organize searches. The foundation has helped with several national cases, including that of Elizabeth Smart in Utah.

The group debriefs searchers upon their return and passes any information it gets to law enforcement, Walcutt said.

“We are searchers," he said. “We’re not police, we’re not detectives. Our job is to simply come in and help find this missing child."

Police investigators are attempting to check every lead. Many calls have come in from Alabama and other states from people who think they might have information about Shae.

A K-9 team from the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office in Florida aided the investigation Saturday, as did a police helicopter that surveyed the area surrounding where the disappearance occurred, said Sgt. Kerry Card of the Northport Police Department.

Investigators have turned up very little that could guide the case in one direction or the other, Card said.

“We’re still at ground zero," he said.

The parents of a Nashville, Tenn., girl who disappeared April 29 visited Shae’s family Saturday to offer their support.

Investigators are talking about possible links between the cases of Shae and the missing Nashville girl, 13-year-old Tabitha Tuders. Although both girls look similar and vanished while walking to a school bus, no connection has been made between the cases.

Reach Scott Parrott at [email protected] or 722-0200.

 

[johnny]

Tuderses provide comfort to family



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By HOLLY EDWARDS
Staff Writer

The mother of a missing 11-year-old girl in Northport, Ala., said yesterday that it was both comforting and painful to meet with the family of Tabitha Tuders, the 13-year-old east Nashville girl missing since April 29.

Tabitha's parents, Bo and Debra Tuders, went to Alabama yesterday to meet with the mother of Heaven LaShea Ross, who disappeared Tuesday between her home and a school bus stop about 50 yards away.

The Tuders family was not available yesterday to discuss the journey.

Investigators in Nashville and Alabama have been discussing similarities between the cases, and exploring the possibility that the cases are linked, said Sgt. Kerry Card of the Northport Police Department.

Both girls have fair skin and light hair, they are similar in age, and both disappeared on the way to a school bus stop, Card said in a telephone interview.

Heaven's mother, Beth Lowery, said the similarities between the cases were striking but said the distance between the disappearances — about 250 miles — had led her to doubt any connection.

''Part of me wants to say yes, there's a connection, and part of me wants to say no,'' Lowery said. ''But it was a comfort to see the family and talk about what they've been through. I let them do my TV interviews for me, because people down here don't know what happened to their daughter.''

The other similarity between the cases is that both have been classified as missing persons, not abductions. Because there are no suspects or witnesses in either case, police in both states have said they cannot issue an Amber Alert, a program that signals the state's law enforcement agencies, media outlets and the public with specific details about a child thought to be endangered and missing.

''We have to have some evidence that the child is in imminent danger of serious injury or death and we have to provide a description of the person or vehicle seen near the abduction,'' Card said.

Canine units and dozens of Northport and Tuscaloosa police officers joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Alabama Bureau of Investigation in searching for Heaven yesterday, but no trace of the child had been found by late afternoon. More than 100 community members also joined the search, Card said.


http://207.36.4.219/forums/newreply.php?s=&action=newreply&threadid=25

 

[johnny]

Police look for man who tries to lure girls into car



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By SUE McCLURE
Staff Writer

COLUMBIA — Maury County law officers are asking for the public's help in finding a man who has been trying to lure young girls into his vehicle, according to the Columbia Police Department.

''We have received three separate reports, all giving similar descriptions of the suspect and all three occurred on the east side of Columbia,'' a press release issued yesterday stated.

''We are looking for a silver four-door car, medium to large in size,'' the release read.

''The car has a blue interior and had a black cover on the steering wheel. It was described as (a) very clean, square-type car.

''The driver was described as a black male in his early 30s, with a dark complexion, a bald or shaven head and soft-spoken,'' the release stated.

''He was wearing a white T-shirt and blue shorts.''

The suspect may be near bus stops or other areas where children might gather, it added.

Police do not suspect the man is tied to the disappearance of Tabitha Tuders, 13, who went missing from her east Nashville neighborhood April 29, detective Roy Sellers said.

Witnesses have said they last saw Tabitha on her way to her school bus stop, Nashville police have said.

 

[johnny]

Patience and read this article to the end......


http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/03/08/38055138.shtml?Element_ID=38055138



Federal authorities have arrested a Georgia-licensed lawyer whom they have charged with laundering money for drug dealers by using banks in the Nashville area and throughout the Southeast.

William L. Ginsburg, thought to have been living most recently in Pueblo, Colo., was captured on videotape and audio recordings describing how he could arrange to convert drug-generated cash proceeds into legitimate checks, according to a criminal complaint filed by the FBI and signed yesterday by U.S. Magistrate Clifton Knowles.

Agents also are investigating whether he could have been involved in a planned kidnapping of a child that was never carried out.

The complaint shows that government investigators have long suspected Ginsburg of laundering activities, based on interviews that agents had conducted with a series of convicted drug dealers.

But the FBI was especially close to Ginsburg on Monday as agents monitored a meeting between him and ''a cooperating witness,'' who was wearing a microphone and within range of FBI video cameras, court records show.

At a Shoney's restaurant in Brentwood, the witness asked Ginsburg if he could convert $15,000 in cash drug proceeds into cashier's checks. Ginsburg agreed, for a 10% fee, according to the criminal complaint. From there, it says, the FBI followed Ginsburg to the Green Hills branch of Regions Bank, where agents later learned that Ginsburg had purchased a $2,500 cashier's check and deposited $2,500 in cash.

The witness and Ginsburg met again at a Courtyard by Marriott hotel in Brentwood, court records say, and Ginsburg handed over the cashier's check. The pattern was repeated again Wednesday from a Red Roof Inn to the Greens Hills branch of Regions Bank and back to the Brentwood Shoney's, as the cash was incrementally being changed into cashier's checks in amounts that Ginsburg hoped would not raise bankers' suspicions, the complaint says.

Ginsburg also allegedly told the cooperating witness that ''he was in town to arrange a kidnapping of a child who was going to be taken to California and placed with an older man,'' something that the FBI is investigating.

After the Wednesday meeting at Shoney's, agents arrested Ginsburg at the Brentwood Red Roof Inn.

He is in custody and charged with two counts of money laundering and is awaiting a preliminary hearing early next week before a U.S. magistrate in Nashville.


As any law enforcement person will tell you "no one gets caught the first time"

 

[johnny]

Close to a dozen attempted abductions in the last month in the Nashville area.

http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/03/08/37888531.shtml?Element_ID=37888531

http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/03/08/38337005.shtml?Element_ID=38337005

http://www.tennessean.com/williamsonam/archives/03/08/38311749.shtml?Element_ID=38311749


http://www.tennessean.com/williamsonam/archives/03/08/38367212.shtml?Element_ID=38367212


http://www.tennessean.com/williamsonam/archives/03/08/38425952.shtml?Element_ID=38425952

http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/03/08/38499375.shtml?Element_ID=38499375

 

[johnny]

The Nashville Scene letters to the Editor



Some turnover, please


Your Aug. 21 editorial on interim Police Chief Deborah Faulkner and the Tabitha Tuders case was dead on. The police department desperately needs new leadership from the outside. The Turner years were full of embarrassments, and Faulkner was part and parcel of that. When is the last time Metro police solved a tough case? A reasonably intelligent murderer or abductor should ply his trade in Nashville. His or her chances of being caught are low.

Bill Sizer



Cheap shots


In your editorial about the police department and the Tabitha Tudors case (Aug. 21), you make several remarks about interim Police Chief Deborah Faulkner taking "cheap shots" at the Tudors family during an AP interview. I would like to submit to the people of Nashville that the editors, and most of the reporters of the Scene, should certainly know a "cheap shot" when they see one. They merely need to look in the mirror each day to find the experts at creating them.

The people of Nashville should also know that there is not a more dedicated police department in the United States. Every officer in the department, including our leaders, cares about each citizen of our city and those who pass through it. Although every officer in our department cannot work on Tabitha's case 24 hours a day, I'm confident that all is being done to find her. I'm confident as well that Tabitha and her family are in the prayers of every one of Nashville's finest.

Calvin E. Hullett, president

Fraternal Order of Police, Andrew Jackson Lodge # 5

[email protected] (Nashville

 

[Ghostwheel]

Wow, that Fraternal Order of Police president sure slams on the offensive in a 6 year old fashion.

"You think we take cheap shots, well double on you!"

No wonder they are having trouble finding anything if that is the mentality that runs the department, too.

There ARE ways of explaining why things take so long without wagging a finger blaming someone else.

Compare
"It took three days to nail down with the family what she had on when she was missing.'
to
"There was some confusion as to the exact outfit she was wearing that day, since she left after her parents went to work, and the family had to consider carefully for three days before confirming what was missing from her closet."

 

[johnny]

I guess one that bothers me the most is that they were'nt notified by the family that she was missing until 11 hours later! and her bus didn't drop off until 4:30pm and her mother started looking right away...(her mom gets home around 1:30pm and she always waited on the bus to drop Tabitha off at the corner)..The parents went to the school called all her friends family checked the neighbors and called the police bfore 6:00pm and the police said she had not been missing long enough??????? So how can it be both...we were'nt notified or it hasn't been long enough???

 

[Anniegirl]

Could you inbox me an address to send a card to the Tuders family? Thanks.