• Missing Pa. mom easy to find now -- in jail

    Lititz Borough Police via AP

    Brenda Heist 11 years ago (left) and in April upon resurfacing after 11 years missing.

    By Sophia Rosenbaum, Staff Writer, NBC News

    The Pennsylvania woman who disappeared in 2002 and was declared legally dead in 2010 only to resurface in Florida in April is now facing a year in jail.

    Brenda Heist left behind a husband and two young children in Lititz, Pa., leaving dinner on the table and a load of laundry in the wash when she bolted.

    After 11 years missing -- and presumed dead -- Heist, 54, turned herself into the Monroe County Sherriff’s office on April 26. She said she thought she was wanted in a county nearby.

    “I don’t know if she was wanted in another county or not,” said Becky Herrin, spokeswoman for the Monroe County, Fla., Sheriff’s office. “She turned herself into us because she said she was tired and didn’t want to be missing anymore.”

    It was at the Monroe County Sherriff’s Office that she revealed she was a missing person, which police authorities later confirmed.

    She had been arrested on Feb. 15 for stealing an ID of a person she worked for and using it at a traffic stop. In April, she pleaded no contest to the charges and was placed on probation for three years.

    In May, she was arrested for violating that probation by failing to check in with authorities.

    Circuit Judge David Rimmer sentenced her Wednesday to 364 days in county jail, according to Joan Malley, deputy clerk for Santa Rosa County. She was accredited with serving 100 days toward that sentence.

    When Heist resurfaced, her family back in Pennsylvania said they did not plan to see or talk to her.

    “It’s not that I hate her,” Morgan Heist, Brenda Heist’s 19-year-old daughter, told NBCPhiladelphia.com. “I just don’t think she deserves to be in my life at this point.”

    Related content:

     

     

  • Body of Missouri mom of triplets found two years after she vanished

    In July 2011, Jacque Sue Waller's sister, Cheryl Brenneke, told TODAY's Amy Robach about the search for her sister.

    By M. Alex Johnson, staff writer, NBC News

    The remains of Jacque Sue Waller, a Missouri mother of triplets whose disappearance set off a statewide search, have been discovered almost two years to the day since she vanished, authorities said Thursday.

    Waller, then 39, of Ste. Genevieve, south of St. Louis, was last seen June 1, 2011, after meeting with her husband, Clay, as they were planning their divorce, NBC station KSDK of St. Louis reported.

    Her body was found Wednesday, the Cape Girardeau County prosecutor's office said in a statement.

    Authorities wouldn't say where the body was found. 


    Clay Waller is facing trial on first-degree murder charges in September after he told his father that he had killed his wife and dumped her body in a hole, federal prosecutors alleged.

    He is already serving five years in prison after having pleaded guilty in October 2011 to threatening Jacque Sue Waller's sister, who has custody of their three 7-year-old children.

    An attorney for Clay Waller wouldn't comment.

    On a Facebook page devoted to Waller's case, her family said:

    "God has planned everything well to place us in this very moment. God guided the law enforcement officials, searchers, K9s and most of all the prayers being sent to the prison to weigh heavily on Clay's mind. We thank everyone of you who has supported us and assisted us in this terrible nightmare. ... God Bless you all!"

  • Search for Susan Powell's remains under way in Oregon

    Over a year after Josh Powell killed himself and his two sons in a house explosion, police continue to search for the remains of missing mother Susan Powell who vanished in 2009. KING's Elisa Hahn reports.

    By Patrick Garrity, NBC News

    The latest turn in the 2009 disappearance of a Utah mother has led investigators to a farm in Oregon.

    Authorities investigating Susan Powell's vanishing will spend a third day at a remote property east of Salem, Ore., that has ties to the Powell family, the Associated Press reported.

    Chuck Cox, Susan Powell's father, confirmed to local NBC affiliate KSL that he told police the farm was a place Susan's husband Josh Powell spent a lot of time. Police searched the area, but found no evidence of remains, according to Cox.

    Josh Powell had long been a person of interest in the case of Susan Powell, who vanished in December 2009. Josh Powell blew up his Washington residence on Feb. 5, 2012, killing himself and the couple's two young children. 

    Josh Powell was never charged in his wife's disappearance, but unsealed police documents say authorities found Susan Powell's blood in the couple's Utah home. Investigators also found life insurance policies on Susan Powell and determined that Josh Powell had filed paperwork to withdraw her retirement account money about 10 days after her disappearance.

    The Associated Press contributed to this story.

  • Cops find body presumed to be missing Kansas baby girl Lana Leigh Bailey

    Mike_Yoder / AP

    Riders on horseback search culverts and drainage ditches along Kansas Highway 68 for 18-month-old Lana-Leigh Bailey, Friday.

    By The Associated Press

    Franklin County Sheriff Jeff Richards said early Sunday that remains believed to be those of Lana Leigh Bailey — who had been presumed dead — were found Saturday in Osage County in eastern Kansas.

    "It is with great sadness that I report a body found in Osage County, Kansas, is believed to be the remains of 18-month-old Lana Bailey," Richards said in a statement he emailed to The Associated Press.

    He said the body was found by an Osage County sheriff's deputy who was scouring an area for items that could be connected to the deaths reported at the farmhouse May 6 in nearby Franklin County. The evidence collected Saturday when the body was found led investigators to believe it was the infant's body, his statement said.

    "We hope that a forensic examination will make a final identification," Richards added.

    Richards told The AP by telephone that he would not have additional information beyond his statement early Sunday.

    The search crews had been using boats and sonar equipment but Richards did not say in his statement exactly where the body was found. Earlier authorities had said investigators were scouring ponds and other waterways in the area looking for the body of Lana Leigh Bailey.

    Kyle Flack was charged Friday with capital murder in the deaths of Lana Bailey, her 21-year-old mother, Kaylie Bailey, and 30-year-old Andrew Stout. The 27-year-old convicted felon was also charged with multiple counts of first-degree murder in their deaths as well as the death of 31-year-old Steven White.

    The investigation has included searching the farm and other rural areas in the 50-mile stretch between Ottawa and Emporia, where Kaylie Bailey's car was found Tuesday.

    Franklin County Attorney Stephen Hunting said Friday that a firearm was used against the victims recovered at the farm, but didn't elaborate on whether that meant they were fatally shot. Authorities have not commented on a motive.

    Richards said previously that the extensive investigation has taken a toll and that members of the investigative team have required medical attention after searching in difficult areas. Others have sought counsel from a chaplain.

    Related: Kansas man arrested, suspected of murdering three or four people

    This story was originally published on Sun May 12, 2013 3:59 AM EDT

    © 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

  • 'Person of interest' in Minnesota woman's disappearance dies after self-inflicted gun shot

    Eden Prairie Police

    Mandy Marie Matula ha s been missing since Thursday, April 2. The main suspect in the case has killed himself.

    By Craig Giammona, NBCNews.com

    Eden Prairie Police

    David Marshall Roe, was a person of interest in the disappearance of Mandy Marie Matula. He fatally shot himself in a police parking lot.

    A man who police hoped to question in the disappearance of a 24-year-old Minnesota woman died Saturday night — two days after shooting himself in a parking lot outside the Eden Prairie police station.

     David Marshall Roe, 24, was considered a person of interest in the disappearance of Mandy Matula, local police said in a statement. Roe was confirmed dead Saturday night by the Hennepin County medical examiner.

    Police in Eden Prairie, a city located about 20 miles southwest of Minneapolis, said Roe and Matula were together at Miller Park around 1:30 a.m. Thursday morning and were traveling in a black Ford Escape when they were last seen. Matula was reported missing Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m.

    As police investigated Matula's disappearance Thursday they identified Roe as a person of interest and asked him to visit the police station for questioning. When he arrived, Roe shot himself in his vehicle, police said.

    Wayne Matula told KARE his daughter Mandy was still friends with ex-boyfriend Roe after they had broken up last fall.

    Meanwhile, the search for Matula is ongoing and has focused on an area around Eden Prairie Road, near Miller Park, where searchers found what police called "an unfired piece of ammunition" Saturday. Wayne Matula told KARE that neighbors in the area heard gunshots Wednesday night.

    Police have not confirmed if the bullet has any connection to Matula's disappearance.

    Wayne Matula said Roe came to their home Wednesday night to speak with his daughter. She sat in his parked car outside the family's house, leaving her purse, cell phone and keys inside. A short time later when Wayne Matula looked out to check on the two and the car was gone.

    The next morning the family contacted Roe to check where she was, and Roe told them they had argued and she got out of the car at Miller Park, her father told KARE.

    About 300 volunteers searchers have been looking for Matula since Thursday.

    "We're not going to give up hope, we're not going to stop," Natalia Becker, a friend of Matula's, told KARE.

     

     

     

     
     

  • Second teen hiker found alive after three days in California forest

    By Melissa Pamer, Samantha Tata, Beverly White and Robert Kovacik, NBCLosAngeles.com

    Searchers on Thursday rescued an 18-year-old woman who had gotten lost with a friend on an Easter Sunday hike in an Orange County forest.

    Orange County Sheriff via AP

    Hiker Nicholas Cendoya was found alive late Wednesday. Kyndall Jack, right, was found on Thursday.

    A sound of a female voice led Orange County Sheriff's search and rescue teams to locate Kyndall Jack in the Holy Jim Canyon area of the Cleveland National Forest, said Orange County Sheriff's Lt. Jason Park.

    Crews used a helicopter about noon Thursday to hoist Jack out of a dense ravine and take her to a hospital.

    The rescue came hours after authorities found Jack's hiking companion Nicholas Cendoya.

    He was found "dehydrated and disoriented" in a ravine near where Jack and Cendoya had parked their car.

    Searchers had to cut through thick brush to rescue Cendoya. Visibility was less than 10 feet, Park said.

    Authorities and volunteer searchers on foot and using dogs and helicopters had combed since Monday a network of trails in the rugged forest, trying to find the two teens.

    After Cendoya was found Wednesday night, searchers were optimistic that they would find Jack.

    They located her near where they found Cendoya.

    Cendoya and Jack, both Costa Mesa residents, called authorities at 8:25 p.m. Sunday to say they had gotten lost, said Gail Krause, an Orange County sheriff's spokeswoman.

    The cellphone battery wore down and authorities could not get an accurate GPS "ping" from the phone to pinpoint their location, prompting a massive search, said Sheriff's Lt. Erin Giudice.

  • FBI aiding in 5-state search for missing Brown University student

    NBC Connecticut

    Brown University student Sunil Tripathi has been missing for more than a week.

    A student from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island has been missing for more than a week and the Federal Bureau of Investigation is helping in a five-state search, according to the Providence Journal.  


    Sunil Tripathi, 22, of Pennsylvania, was last seen on Friday, March 15 on the campus of the Ivy League university, according to the Journal, and the search has expanded to Connecticut, Boston, New York and Philadelphia.

    His family said Sunil’s wallet, ID cards, credit cards and cell phone were found in his room.

    “Our concerns are first and foremost with Sunil and his family,” Margaret Klawunn, vice president for student life and campus services at Brown, said in a statement posted on the university’s Web site.

    “We are hopeful that by encouraging the Brown community to help spread the word that Sunil will be located.”

    Tripathi grew up in Bryn Mawr, Pa., and has been living in Providence since 2008, according to Brown University, where he is a philosophy major and a talented saxophonist.

    Tripathi’s sister, Sangeeta Tripathi, has offered her contact information for further information:sangtrip@gmail.com, 917-774-9208.

    A Twitter account, @findingsunny, and a Facebook page have been set up to help with the search. 

    If you have any information or think you've seen him, call police.

    By NBCConnecticut.com

  • Police find missing Fox executive's Mercedes, launch homicide probe

    LA County Sheriff's Department

    Gavin Smith, 57, a 20th Century Fox distribution executive is shown in this undated photograph released by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Smith has been missing since May 1, 2012.

    By Olsen Ebright, NBCLosAngeles.com

    The discovery of a Mercedes driven by a missing Fox executive when he disappeared 10 months ago has led police to reclassify the case as a homicide and link it to a drug dealer previously identified as a person of interest.

    A black Mercedes Benz 420E registered to Gavin Smith was recovered at a storage facility in Simi Valley on Feb. 21, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department announced Thursday. Smith, 57, was last seen driving the car from a friend's home in the Oak Park area at the western end of Los Angeles on May 1 between 9 and 10 p.m.

    Read more on NBCLosAngeles.com

    His body has not been recovered, according to the department.

    "Based on the vehicle's condition and information developed from persons cooperating in the investigation, homicide detectives are now investigating this case as a homicide," detectives said Thursday in a statement.

    The storage facility has been linked to John Creech, who is currently in custody at Men's Central Jail on an unrelated narcotics conviction, detectives said.

    Creech was previously named a person of interest in the case and his home was searched on June 8, 2012. Creech has not been charged in Smith's disappearance.

    Anyone with information about the case was asked to call homicide detectives.

    "They specifically want to know if anybody saw this Mercedes Benz go from Porter Ranch to Simi Valley around May 8, May 9," department spokesman Steve Whitmore said.

  • 7 missing children found 'unharmed' and 'in good spirits' with estranged dad

    By John Newland, Staff Writer, NBC News

    Seven children who were reported missing Saturday from their Fresno, Calif., home were found with their estranged father Thursday, police said.

    "The children were unharmed and were all in good spirits," a Fresno Police Department spokesman said early Friday.

    Police said they had left the kids in the custody of their father, Xa Yang, in Sacramento, while an investigation is conducted. Sacramento is about 170 miles north of Fresno.

    On Thursday, police said Yang had previously not had contact with the children for more than three years.

    They lived with their mother and stepfather, who left them alone Saturday evening and went grocery shopping, police said. When the couple returned to their apartment complex, all seven children were gone, as were their belongings.

    Police said then that there were no serious concerns about the children's safety.

    The FBI Task Force for Violent Crimes Against Children was called in to assist, however, and its agents found Yang and the four boys and three girls, ages 12, 11, 10, 8, 7, 6 and 5.

    The children were thought all along to have been with their father, police said, but they did not know where he lived. 

    The Fresno police spokesman said he did not have information about the parents' custodial rights or why the children were left with their father instead of being returned to their mother.

    "Fresno and Sacramento PD will investigate further to determine if a crime was committed," he added.

    Related:

    Cops believe estranged father took 7 missing California kids

  • Relative: California couple check in after being reported missing in South America

    View more videos at: http://nbcbayarea.com.

    By Kyle Bonagura and Jodi Hernandez, NBCBayArea.com

    An adventurous Oakland couple who had been out of contact with family members for a month -  and believed to be missing - were heard from on Tuesday in Peru, much to the relief of their families and global social media community rallying for their safe return.


    Garrett Hand and Jamie Neal, both 25, were aboard a small vessel on the Napo River on their way to Ecuador, according to Neal’s sister, Jennifer. The U.S. Embassy told Jennifer that Hand reached out to Peruvian officials after being informed the couple was the subject of a search.

    "They said the police reported to them Garrett called them over the phone and gave his passport number and confirmed he and my sister are in good health and that they're fine,” Neal said. "Someone from a town they were passing through had seen them and had been watching the news and told them they need to call the local authorities.”

    Neal told NBC Bay Area she was happy to get the news, but won’t be completely at peace until either Hand or her sister makes contact with a family member.

    “I still have not talked to my sister," she said. "If it's true, I feel great I'm so glad. I want my sister to be having a blast over there and having fun. I don't want to worry about her and think anything bad happened to her.”

    Neal is hoping to hear her sister’s voice tomorrow.

    "Supposedly they were going to be hitting the border in Ecuador tomorrow and the authorities were going to make them call their family members when they get there,” Neal said.

    Read more from NBCBayArea.com

    The avid cyclists left for South America at the end of November and regularly chronicled their journey through Facebook, but the updates stopped on Jan. 25, along with any financial activity on the couple’s bank accounts and credit cards.

    The couple was unaware of the search effort, which picked up steam over late last week when family members took to social media to generate awareness and help. The family set up a Facebook page called Missing in Peru Garrett Hand and Jamie Neal.

    On Feb. 13, the U.S. Embassy in Lima warned Americans of a potential kidnapping threat by an unnamed criminal organization in the Cusco area. The embassy reported the threat to be "credible at least through the end of February."

    Francine Fitzgerald, the mother of Garrett Hand released the following statement:

    "We have received phone calls from the U.S. Embassy and Peruvian government that my son Garrett Hand and his girlfriend Jamie Neal have been spotted in a remote village in Peru.  The information told to me is that they are on a boat on the river and that they are sending a plane to find them.  I am told to expect information by tomorrow sometime.

    While I appreciate the extraordinary efforts of the media, the U.S. and Peruvian governments, until I hear from and see my son directly, we will not stop.  This young couple is someone’s son and brother, someone’s daughter and sister and United States citizens.  We have not heard from them since January 25, nor have they accessed bank accounts since that time.  We have only the worst to consider as to why.

    Thank you those of you who are helping – friends, family, reporters, officials – and our task is done when Garrett and Jamie are home and safe."

  • Canadian tourist, 21, goes missing in Los Angeles

    LAPD via AP

    Police search for Elisa Lam of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She was visiting Los Angeles and last seen at a downtown hotel.

    By Sharon Bernstein, NBCLosAngeles.com

    Homicide detectives are investigating the disappearance of Elisa Lam, a Canadian tourist who was last seen in downtown Los Angeles on Jan. 31.

    Lam, 21, had been staying at the Cecil Hotel on Main Street. Surveillance video released by the Los Angeles Police Department showed her entering the hotel’s elevator and attempting to use it.


    Police said Lam, who is from Vancouver, British Columbia, had been planning to go to Santa Cruz on her trip to the U.S. Police said they did not know why she had come to California, however.

    Read original story on NBCLosAngeles.com

    An LAPD release described Lam as 5 feet 4 inches tall, weighing about 115 pounds. She is of Chinese descent, and speaks Cantonese as well as English.

    Police said she tends to use public transportation, including buses and trains.

    The LAPD has asked that anyone with information about the case call homicide detectives at (213) 486-6890.

  • FBI joins investigation into death of New York City woman in Istanbul

    John Minchillo / AP

    Betzaida Jimenez, mother of 33-year-old Sarai Sierra who was found dead on Saturday in Turkey, pauses before a news conference at a friend's home in Staten Island, on Monday.

    By Eileen AJ Connelly, The Associated Press

    The FBI is playing a significant role in the investigation into the death of a New York City woman in Istanbul while on a solo vacation, a U.S. congressman said Monday.

    Rep. Michael Grimm, a former FBI agent, said U.S. investigators were invited by Turkish authorities to assist as they try to find out what happened to Sarai Sierra, a 33-year-old mother of two who disappeared Jan. 21. Her body was found 12 days later, near the remnants of the city's ancient walls. Police said she had suffered a fatal blow to the head.

    Prosecutors in Istanbul got a court order Monday for authorities to take blood and DNA samples from 21 people already questioned in the death, according to Turkish state media.

    Meanwhile, her family was working out how to return her body to the U.S.

    "Our No. 1 priority right now is bringing Sarai home," said Grimm, who accompanied Sierra's parents, Betzaida and Dennis Jimenez, as they spoke to the media at the home of a family friend on New York's Staten Island.

    Sierra's husband, Steven, is in Istanbul, where he traveled last week to help in the search. He intends to accompany her body back to New York, but the family is still determining how to fund the transport. Their church and friends are working to raise money to help defray the costs.

    Turkish authorities finished an autopsy Monday on Sierra and gave DNA samples from it to a crime lab, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. After that, Istanbul prosecutors got the court order but did not identify the possible suspects, the agency reported.

    On Monday, police with sniffer dogs were scouring the area where the body was found for clues, it said. The Milliyet newspaper said the forensic lab will examine samples from Sierra's fingernails as well as hair and other samples from a blanket found near her body. It said some nail scrapings suggest she may have tried to fight off at least one attacker.

    Sarai Sierra made her first trip overseas alone after her childhood friend, Magdalena Rodriguez, backed out. At Monday's news conference in New York, Rodriguez fought back tears as she said she wished she had not changed her plans.

    "I wasn't working at the time and I didn't have the money to go," she explained.

    Family and friends described Sierra as a devoted mother to her 9- and 11-year-old sons who volunteered at their school and worked part time so she would be available for them after school. "Every time I saw her, she was always with her family," said another longtime friend, Dulce Arroyo.

    Arroyo ran across Sierra on a shopping trip two days before she left the U.S. and said traveling alone didn't appear to be a frightening prospect. Her friend was looking forward to an exciting adventure and spent most of their conversation talking about the murals and architecture she planned to photograph.

    "She was perfectly OK with taking this trip on her own," Arroyo added. "She was thrilled."

    Dennis Jimenez said Sierra tried to calm any fears by emphasizing that she'd be in regular contact via video calls and text messages.

    "I didn't want her to go, but she wanted to go," he said. "Turkey was a land rich in architecture and ancient history, and she was very fascinated by that."

    He added that she shared her photos online and checked in frequently. "You could tell that she was happy," he said.

    Grimm said Turkish police still have hours of video footage to review as they piece together Sierra's last movements. A special unit of Turkish police set up to find Sierra have an image of her at Galata Bridge, which spans Istanbul's Golden Horn waterway and where she went on her last day to take photos.

    The trip also included preplanned excursions to Amsterdam and Munich.

    Betzaida Jimenez said her two grandsons do not know what had happened to their mother. They only know their father went to get her after her vacation.

    "We're going to talk about that when he gets back," she said.

    She recalled hugging her daughter before she departed and praying together for a safe journey.

    "Just the thought that I'll never be able to hug her again," she said, pausing to compose herself. "We just didn't think a tragedy like this was going to happen."

    Related: Mom of woman slain in Turkey: Her sons don't know

    © 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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