TN TN - Tabitha Tuders, 13, Nashville, 29 April 2003 *merged* [Archive]

Rocky

08-13-2003, 08:49 AM

Johnny,

I found several possible links for you to follow up on, now I really feel she has been kidnapped and being pimped out.

this is what I was talking with you about before,

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/Midwest/01/15/prostitution.ring/index.html

"Man accused of forcing girls into prostitution"

"DETROIT, Michigan (CNN) -- Detroit police have arrested a 32-year-old man, accusing him of kidnapping girls and forcing them to be part of a prostitution ring, authorities told CNN Wednesday. "

this is an older case, but along the same lines of what I suspected from the start with Tabitha

I've done some websearches and came up with some scary sites with users with the same nicks...

here's one of them.

http://www.mds.mdh.se/~ent94hlm/musik/chatt/lesthugschatt.htm

and another

"Marihuana Guestbook
... GHETTOGIRL <GHETTOgirl5@sms.at> ... love-tyler Tyler Webb <tyler__webb@hotmail.com> Union City, TN, US - Monday ... 207.150.217.79/gbook/volume57.htm "

one of the chatrooms in Georgia had a tabitha and Ghettogirl that had been members this year...

another site of interest that was recently closed...

http://www.virgin.net/chat/chatredirect.html

"Craig David guestbook entries
... Name: GHETTO GIRL E-mail: GHETTOGIRL@HOTMAIL.COM Submission-comments: LOVE YA CRAIG AND ... If never come memphis tn one day just holla that are town drop email to ..."

another thing they should be watching for is if she used her middle name on her posts...

and her writing will stand out, she is just a child trying to act big and tough... like this, anger showing in her writings.

"you idiots,what's wrong with you? you are too stupid to be alive. you should be dead, aahleiah should be alive. you idiodts probably planned the terrosists attacks. you should be exicuted for killing her! retards!!!!
danielle <smilinpunkin@hotmail.com>
Kingsport, TN USA"

many people don't realize that yahoo has chatrooms available to children like this one...

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ATeeNsGroup-Megs-Pics/messages

it has both sexygirl and ghettogirl from Tennessee listed as registered users on one of my searches.

Ghostwheel

08-13-2003, 10:05 AM

I'd be interested to know if the cards were computer generated, or printed. There are cards avilable that you can just print (professionally or by computer) whatever you want on a background. Anything Winnie the Pooh that is licensed should have a TM or copyright on it, and that would tell them something, too.

If the whole card is computer generated, anyone could have done it. You can even print "Call me" and make it look like handwriting. I am also assuming here name and address is printed as opposed to written.

After four months, it's going to be hard for the kids to remember that particular day. I will be amazed if some of the parents do not get angry. I know they would here. I had to caution my daughter not to mention everything she knew about a missing girl here (she wanted to help search, so we "searched") to her friends, because some of the mother's don't want their children to "know about these things" (if you can believe that).

At least some new information is coming out, which may help.

Rocky

08-13-2003, 10:28 AM

they didn't have a home computer to create her own cards, and if it was something printed out at the library, the librarian would have remembered printing out these types of cards, so now the real question is, which of Tabitha's friends did she spend time with that had a computer?

why hasn't this friend come forward to admit she had used their computer?

now some serious flags are coming up on this case, one of her friends knows more than they are saying.

Ghostwheel

08-13-2003, 10:55 AM

There are some other possibilities. She could have created the cards on a library computer, then saved it to a disk, and taken the disk to a Kinkos type of place (copy shop with computers). I don't think she made it herself, though.

Someone might have created the card(s) as a joke, and would be embarrassed to admit it. (it could be a pretty cruel joke, depending on how the card is made, but it's a 12-14 year old kind of thing to do)

Rocky

08-13-2003, 11:04 AM

why did the police hold back this information for 4 months?

have they been going to the different printers in the area, trying to find out where the card came from?

If they are preprinted stock, there can't be that many places that offers winny the pooh business cards, and if someone at Kinkos printed off these cards for her, don't you think they would have questioned why a young girl would be printing the cards with her contact info and the nick sexygirl, with a note, "call me" on it?

seems to me, that wouldn't slip by without being noticed.

Elle Kaye

08-13-2003, 11:24 AM

You can mock up anything you want and as long as it is in a format they can use any printer will print those cards for you. I create business cards for people all the time and then they just take the file to a printer. The bigger question would be how did the kids get the $40 bucks each to print the cards? I would guess they didn't. These cards are probably the type you print at home.

Ghetto girl is quite a common name. Sort of like Surfer boy. You probably will find it used a lot.

Rocky

08-13-2003, 11:39 AM

but if she calls herself Ghettogirl, it sure paints a different picture than the sweet and innocent picture we had been led to believe.

no wonder Johnny didn't get upset with me when I first started asking all of the hard questions when he first joined us.

Ghostwheel

08-13-2003, 12:09 PM

Originally posted by Rocky
if someone at Kinkos printed off these cards for her, don't you think they would have questioned why a young girl would be printing the cards with her contact info and the nick sexygirl, with a note, "call me" on it?

seems to me, that wouldn't slip by without being noticed. [/B]
As you should know, at the Kinkos near SDSU, nobody notices anything!:D I'm sure there are similar places in Tennessee.

One page of color copy on card stock runs less than $2.00. You design it in word, then cut them apart after printing. I made business cards that way waaaaayyyy back when I only needed a few, and couldn't afford printing costs. That's why it matters if the edges are perforated, uneven, exact as any other business card, professionally printed, computer printed, etc.

We haven't confirmed she calls herselfGhettogirl. As I said, it could have been somebody's idea of a joke (which I tend toward because I remember how catty 12-14 year old girls can be). I'm not too clear on why that would make her no longer sweet and innocent, though. If she did call herself Ghettogirl, it could indicate a depression about home circumstances, too.

Rocky

08-13-2003, 01:04 PM

I guess what I meant was, she went to the trouble of printing cards so she could hand them out to people with her contact info on it that didn't know her.

she originally called herself sexygirl and after thinking about it, wanted to be bad, so she crossed it off saying next time she printed them she'd be ghetto girl.

If they only found one card, where are the other 7 she printed out? If it was a normal size business card, it would have 8 per page wouldn't it?

where could she have been going to meet boys where she would want a card to hand out so they knew where to reach her at?

The library?
a fast food restaurant?
the boys hanging out in the alley smoking cigs she saw each day on her way to the bus stop?

she gave the card to someone, she had it printed somewhere...

at least one person knows about those cards other than her and her mother, the police have had 4 months and weren't able to track that person down.

which of her friends are hiding the truth afraid they might get in trouble for telling what they know?

mindys

08-14-2003, 12:47 AM

Tabitha is still a child. She could NOT have known the full implication of "sexy girl" or what it would mean to older men to have a title like that associated with her. Let us also remember she is growing up in a world of Britney Spears, etc. The "ghetto girl" title could also have something to do with this hip-hop music scene a lot of the young teenagers are into.

She should not be held responsible in any way for what has happened to her.

Ghostwheel

08-14-2003, 01:47 PM

I don't believe she printed them, or had someone print them. I think someone else did it, as a cruel joke. But it would still be important to know how they were printed. That knowlege might lead somewhere.

Rocky

08-15-2003, 05:26 AM

well according to what we've heard, she has never used a computer other than the one at the library, and they would have remembered printing cards like this for a child.

Is she partly responsible if she had been speaking to someone online, and had planned a meeting, unknowing she was going to be carried away and not brought home afterwards?

Is she partly reponsible if in her flirting teens, she had printed up these cards to hand out to strangers unknowing that one of the people she gave her address to kidnapped her?

if she had printed the cards down at kinkos, who has access to the file she printed it from, any questionable perps that might have seen her come in and followed her to her neighborhood?

lot's of questions, but the main one is, where is she, and where did the cards come from...

I keep hoping for Johnny to show up so we can get some answers.

johnny

08-15-2003, 10:28 AM

Ok, people NEW INFO IS AVAILABLE.......Sorry its taken so long for me to get back in here....I try all the time ...things are slower now and hard to get in.

johnny

08-15-2003, 10:46 AM

http://www.wkrn.com/Global/story.asp?S=1403151&nav=1ugBHTc6

johnny

08-15-2003, 11:31 AM

Ok, The card appears to have been printed by a cheap printer on a card stock that had the pastel borders on two sides (the right and bottom) also the card stock was perforated and also low quality. A girl who at school printed them up for Tabitha at school we believe, the name sexy girl was put on them by the girl and Tabitha scratched it out with an ink pen and wrot ein ghetto girl. several of these were found and they had her Teachers name on them as well.

Personally, I don't believe the personal cards have much to offer, other than what Rocky has pointed out about the possible chat names etc.

johnny

08-15-2003, 11:38 AM

http://www.nashvillescene.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?story=Back_Issues:2003:August_7-13_2003:News:City_Limits

johnny

08-15-2003, 11:45 AM

http://www.nashvillescene.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?story=Back_Issues:2003:July_10-16_2003:News:City_Limits

johnny

08-15-2003, 11:48 AM

Love/Hate Mail

Disappointed in the PD

Many thanks to the Nashville Scene for keeping the Tabitha Tuders story alive. I continue to be shocked at the disgusting treatment the police department has given her disappearance. This week's story ("Criminals Down the Street," Aug. 7) once again illustrates scenarios that police should have red-flagged from the beginning, and that should have convinced them early on that they weren't dealing with a runaway case. I credit the Scene's coverage with the resurgence of attention given by police and the media, and the refocusing of the case. This situation, along with other crime issues affecting our neighborhood, has made me lose confidence in interim police Chief Deb Faulkner. I encourage Mayor Purcell to aggressively continue his nationwide search for a new chief of police.

Cindy Acuff

816 Woodland St. (Nashville)

johnny

08-15-2003, 11:54 AM

Tuders case leaves parents, police frustrated
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National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
Tabitha Tuders tip site

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Man charged with attempted kidnapping of 11-year-old

August 14, 2003

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- For three days this summer, the neighborhood surrounding 1312 Lillian St. resembled a war zone -- dozens of camouflaged men trekked through yards, alleys and homes while a helicopter whirled above.

It wasn't combat but instead a search for any sign of Tabitha Tuders, a missing 13-year-old girl. Tabitha's parents, Bo and Debra appreciated the July effort by Nashville police -- but they wished it had come when their daughter vanished April 29 instead of 11 weeks later.

"They should've done it when she come up missing," said Bo Tuders, sitting in an easy chair at home as the search concluded July 18.

The Tuders don't deny that the police responded when they reported the seventh-grader was missing the afternoon she failed to show up for classes at Bailey Middle School.

In Bo's estimation, about 50 or so officers searched their working class neighborhood that night. But the nearly four months without their daughter has given the couple much time to wonder what might have happened had police approached the case differently.

The Tuders, whom police have cleared as suspects, always suspected someone snatched Tabitha and that she wasn't -- as police first thought -- a runaway.

The department didn't issue an Amber Alert -- a plan to galvanize the community to look for an endangered child -- because they said Tabitha's disappearance did not fit the criteria.

A police statement preceding the July operation marked the department's shift in thinking, "The focus of the investigation is leaning more toward the potential involvement of foul play."

Debra Tuders said police were told by family and friends that Tabitha showed none of the signs of a troubled teen, like personality changes.

"She was the same person up until the day she left," the mother said.

The parents tick off the things their daughter was excited about: participating in an event with her friends to raise money for arthritis research, new bedroom furniture and the A's on her last report card. Authorities also have found no indication Tabitha ran away.

"All we know for sure is we have a missing child," said Deborah Faulkner, Nashville's acting police chief.

Faulkner defends her department's actions and early skepticism about foul play, saying authorities had little to go on at first.

"It took about three days to nail down with the family what she had on when she was missing," Faulkner said.

The photos of Tabitha first supplied to police were a year old, not good enough when searching for a maturing 13-year-old, Faulkner said.

A family friend found more recent photos on film developed about two months after Tabitha went missing, she said. Police also weren't notified about Tabitha's disappearance until about 11 hours after Bo Tuders last saw her.

The Tuders family routine was normal April 29. Debra went to work at the Tom Joy Elementary School cafeteria, and Bo awakened Tabitha shortly before leaving for his job as a short-haul truck driver.

As always, his daughter told him she was awake and to turn the television to her favorite program, he recalled. She was supposed to get dressed and catch the bus for school.

"I went out the door to go to work and that's the last time I saw her," he said.

When Tabitha didn't come home that night, her concerned parents drove to the school, where a teacher said their daughter was absent that day. The Tuders called police.

The July police operation was a methodical grid search with officers and police dogs of the Tuders' neighborhood, including nearby Shelby Park and the Cumberland River. Police established their command post in the parking lot of the nearby Tennessee Titans stadium.

Police have questioned all sex offenders living in the area and reviewed every field report from the days leading up to Tabitha's disappearance, Faulkner said. When Tabitha's classmates returned to school last week, they got a letter from police asking for any help in solving the case.

"Every resource I can garner I've put on this," Faulkner said.

Yet some look at history and wonder if police would have responded differently had Tabitha lived in a more affluent part of Nashville.

When 9-year-old girl Marcia Trimble disappeared in 1975 while selling Girl Scout cookies in her well-to-do neighborhood, police immediately suspected an accident or a crime.

After 33 days of searching, authorities found her body in a neighbor's garage. The murder remains unsolved on the minds of many Nashvillians. Marcia's mother, Virginia, and Debra Tuders recently met, two women bonded by missing daughters despite differences in class.

Faulkner says the department wasn't influenced by where the Tuders live or work.

"People see her as one of our children," she said. Gary Gardiner, who is Tabitha's case manager at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Alexandria, Va., said the Nashville police response is not unusual for a missing child.

Publicity about Tabitha's case has come from Gardiner's organization, the national television show "America's Most Wanted" and most recently a billboard with the girl's photo along busy Interstate 24 near her home. Still there are no helpful tips, Faulkner said.

"This is the damnedest thing I've ever seen. It's like every day we get up and hit a wall," the chief said.

johnny

08-15-2003, 12:03 PM

http://www.police.nashville.org/news/media/2003/august/08142003a.htm

johnny

08-15-2003, 12:05 PM

I'll try to respond to all the questions as soon as possible.

johnny

08-15-2003, 12:27 PM

Rocky, as far as the question about why is this information just getting out about the business card????? Thats a good question ...........Letter asks families to help find Tabitha

This is a picture of the business-type card found in Tabitha Tuders' room the night of her disappearance. Metro police want to know if anyone has seen similar cards or knows the source of the cards.

_____Today's Top Stories_____

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By DORREN KLAUSNITZER
and CHRISTIAN BOTTORFF
Staff Writers

Metro police sent letters home yesterday to families of students at the school that missing Tabitha Tuders had been attending, asking for help in finding the 13-year-old.

The one-page letter, which also contains information about a mysterious business card with the teenager's name and telephone number on it, is signed by Acting Police Chief Deborah Faulkner. It asks students and parents at Bailey Middle School to report anything, ''no matter how small or insignificant,'' to the police.

Tabitha left her home at 1312 Lillian St. on the morning of April 29 to go to Bailey, but she apparently never boarded the bus and never arrived at school.

Yesterday was the first time that Metro police had sent a letter home with schoolchildren appealing directly to families to help find a missing child.

''We thought that students and their parents needed to know that the Police Department needs and wants their assistance,'' Metro police spokesman Don Aaron said. ''This business card is also something we would like to know more about.'' The card has several pastel colors with heart-shaped balloons in the background. On the right side of the cards is a picture of Winnie the Pooh holding a pink heart-shaped pillow. The card has Tabitha's name, address and phone number on it and has the words ''call me'' written below.

The card also contains the words ''sexy girl'' marked out and replaced with the words ''ghetto girl,'' a person familiar with the investigation said. That information was blacked out in the copy that was sent home to parents.

Police found the card the night Tabitha disappeared. It was with several others in a bowl on her dresser, Aaron said. Police do not know who created them, why they were made or what use they might have been to Tabitha. Police want to know if the cards hold any clues to her whereabouts.

In a telephone interview last night, Debra Tuders said she had no idea why her daughter had the card. ''I remember seeing one in her room, and they took it,'' Debra Tuders said of police. ''She just had it in her desk. She never used it or nothing like that.''

Asked specifically about the nicknames written on the card, she said she did not remember any information the card contained.

Debra Tuders also said yesterday that she was unaware that police were sending letters home with Bailey Middle School children. However, she hopes the information might somehow bring Tabitha home.

''If anybody knows anything, it will help, because it's going on four months,'' she said. ''We still haven't heard nothing. It's like she's just vanished.''

Teachers at Bailey said the letter, which some students will get today, had a chilling effect on their usually bubbly students. ''They were very, very quiet and stunned at first, then they started asking questions,'' eighth-grade resource teacher Charlotte Ray said.

''They were asking each other about it. And one girl expressed deep sadness that they hadn't found Tabitha. She said she prayed a lot they would find her and bring her back.''

Jeannie Sharp, a fifth-grade teacher, read the letter to her class and got much the same reaction.

''They were very concerned. They wanted to know, 'Have they found her?' and 'Where is she?' ''

A few students said they saw Tabitha get on the school bus, a tip Sharp told the students to report to the police. Police have said since early in the investigation that they believe she did not board the bus.

Ruth Murray, Bailey's principal, said the letter is intended to get students thinking about Tabitha and anything they may remember that may help police.

Parent Linda Carr said the letter was a good idea to get children and parents thinking about the missing child. But it made her daughter Jennifer Carr, 13, sad. ''It worries me,'' Jennifer Carr said, and it makes her mother wonder what Tabitha's mother must be going through.

''I lost Jennifer for an hour and a half, and I was worried to death,'' Linda Carr said. ''I don't know how her mama's going through this.''

Police are asking anyone with information about Tuders to call Metro Police Youth Services Division at 862-7417 or CrimeStoppers at 74-CRIME.

Staff Writer Sheila Burke contributed to this article.
stion.....

johnny

08-15-2003, 12:30 PM

I only wish these letter had been sent out in the three weeks before school ended last May, three and a half months ago.

philamena

08-15-2003, 04:10 PM

Originally posted by mindys
Tabitha is still a child. She could NOT have known the full implication of "sexy girl" or what it would mean to older men to have a title like that associated with her. Let us also remember she is growing up in a world of Britney Spears, etc. The "ghetto girl" title could also have something to do with this hip-hop music scene a lot of the young teenagers are into.

She should not be held responsible in any way for what has happened to her.

Mindys,
I agree 100%! My youngest daughter has friends who wear t shirts that have GHETTO GIRL written on them and these are good kids. This title refers to their music.

Rocky

08-15-2003, 05:01 PM

welcome back Johnny, I've been looking forward to hearing from you again.

sounds like quite a scary neighborhood, but I can say that the person I saw her with didn't look like the suspect that tried to pick up the 11 year old.

mindys and tylin...

you both speak like a couple of moms that could never imagine their sweet lil innocent daughters ever doing anything that was wrong.

well let me tell you from personal experience, you'd be surprised how children speak when they think adults aren't watching.

If you don't believe me, take a look at the computer they chat to their friends on, find in preference where you turn on logging and click the box.

Give it a week and then go back and look at a log.

I did this to bust the beasts that were stalking children, but I had kids open windows to me and write things that were very shocking. Remember the internet is a place where people can be someone else, anonymously hiding behind a fake name.

what kids don't understadn is they aren't annonymous and if someone wants to track a child down, they can.

most of the time they don't have to be that tricky, kids don't think twice of telling what school they go to, what grade they are in and they are growing up and want to feel like an adult, so feel they can't be hurt so they will give out their telephone numbers and addresses the first time they are asked.

If you have two computers in your house give it a try, find out what chatroom they go to meet with their friends, and log in annonymously on the other computer, pick a cute name and start talking with them like a peer would.

what I am saying is, while the parents are thinking their kids are innocently talking to friends from the computer in their bedroom, they are out walking through the dark woods completely ignorant to the fact they are being stalked by wolves...

If you want to understand the wolves, you have to enter their playground and learn their game.

They are out there where you least expect them, waiting for your child to stumble so they can make their move.

I feel even though Tabitha was a straight A student with wonderful parents, she somehow opened herself up for the perp to track her down and take her.

I still feel Tabitha is alive, and at this point protecting her kidnapper because she loves him, if she makes the call, he goes to jail, and she doesn't want that.

So how do you draw her out of hiding?

I can tell you if she has friends she has been talking with online, she is still there, talking to them from where she is now.

Johnny, you said someone printed up the cards for her at school.

If there were 8 cards to start with, how many were on her nightstand in the basket when they were found?

where at school would she have access to a color printer?

which of her friends have computers that let her use it to talk to others?

We may be 4 months behind where we should be with this information, but it isn't too late.

One of these days, he's going to piss her off, and she's going to call home.

Keep the faith,

Rocky

Ghostwheel

08-15-2003, 05:04 PM

Boy, how out of touch I am!

Where I grew up, GhettoGirl would have been a horrible insult! No one would ever ID themselves as such.

Rocky

08-15-2003, 05:34 PM

I guess out of all the articles, the one thing that stands out to me was his comment about her not being as innocent as she seems.

It does sound like he might be friends with someone that knows Tabitha. Would this friend be male or female?

What did Tabitha's friend say to him that gave him the feeling she wasn't innocent?

Let the police know to handle him with respect and not grill him like he is guilty. From what I see so far, he is the closest link to an answer of what happened to Tabitha...

Do you have any more information other than what is in the article on the two that are sitting in Jail?

How old are they, and where are they from?

Did Tabitha ever visit or babysit for them?

Up2theminute

08-15-2003, 05:35 PM

I tend to agree with Ghostwheel about the "calling cards" possibly being a prank by another student from her junior high school. Sounds very much like 12-14 yr old girl "prank" material to me. And if Tabitha had made them herself to hand out to "boys", why would she have put her teacher's name on them? It doesn't make any sense that if she personally made them for social purposes that she'd put her teacher's name on the card too.

Unless she made them for a class in school, but if that were the case wouldn't they have been able to figure out by now where and why she made them? When I was in 7th grade I took graphic arts as an elective with some of my other friends who were interested in advertising (which has absolutely nothing to do w/ what I eventually studied in college). I remember we made "calling cards". But this was in 1987/1988 before computers were common in schools and we made them on some sort of printing press machine. I can even remember what mine said "Like call me ok" (LMAO :p ok it was the 80's and it was a pun on valley girls). Anyway, they were pink with hearts on it w/ my phone number but I don't think I put my address. That is the only way the teachers name on the cards would make sense to me if Tabitha made them for her own personal purposes and did so during a class - but like I said previously it seems like if they had been made for a class-related project they would have been able to figure that out by now.

The other scenario, and more likely since they can't seem to find out where the cards came from, is what I said before about someone making them in a way to make fun of Tabitha. This was probably a girl or girls who were in a specific class with Tabitha
or only knew her from a specific class - that class being the one taught by the teacher whose name is on the card. It sounds to me like they put everything that they knew about her on the card, that being her address, phone number, and the teacher/class that they associated with Tabitha. They probably picked "sexygirl" first because they were trying to make her sound slutty but then crossed it out realizing that sexy is really not such a bad thing afterall and sounded like they thought she's pretty or something so they crossed it out and put in ghettogirl. (JMO)

Rocky

08-15-2003, 05:50 PM

Johnny said : Ok, The card appears to have been printed by a cheap printer on a card stock that had the pastel borders on two sides (the right and bottom) also the card stock was perforated and also low quality. A girl who at school printed them up for Tabitha at school we believe, the name sexy girl was put on them by the girl and Tabitha scratched it out with an ink pen and wrote in ghetto girl. several of these were found and they had her Teachers name on them as well.

Johnny, did all the cards that were found have the teachers name "printed" on the card by the computer, or was it in her handwriting?

maybe she was handing them out like valentines and had a few set aside to hand out in that teacher's class to her friends.

Up2theminute

08-15-2003, 06:11 PM

Has anything come of this story about Tabitha's initials with someone elses?
Initials found on paper could help find Tabitha, police say

A piece of paper found in the school belongings of missing 13-year-old Tabitha Tuders includes initials that investigators are hoping will lead to her recovery, Metro police said today.

The paper has writing in Tuders' hand that reads ''T.D.T. - N - M.T.L.''

Tabitha's name is Tabitha Danielle Tuders. The other initials are unknown

The paper has writing in Tuders' hand that reads ''T.D.T. - N - M.T.L.''

Detectives have interviewed Tabitha's family, friends and staff at her school about the M.T.L. initials, but no associations were developed from those talks, police said. Since Tuders went missing April 29, police have not classified her disappearance as either a runaway or abduction.

Police are asking anyone with information about the missing teen or any connection she may have to the initials M.T.L. to contact Metro Youth Services detectives at 862-7417.

from the Tennessean

Up2theminute

08-15-2003, 06:35 PM

Police look for link between abduction attempt, Tabitha

Metro police are calling Martin Tim Boyd as a "person of interest" in the investigation of the disappearance of Tabitha Tuders.

By CHRISTIAN BOTTORFF
and SHEILA BURKE
Staff Writers

Man accused of trying to lure a young girl into car last week

For almost four months, family and friends of missing 13-year-old Tabitha Tuders have publicly said they believed the teen was abducted on her way to the school bus stop.
Now Metro police are looking closely at a man arrested Wednesday after he was accused of trying to lure an 11-year-old girl into his car at a school bus stop less than five miles from Tabitha's stop.

More here (http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/03/08/37712308.shtml?Element_ID=37712308)

edited to say I didn't check to see that this was the same guy as the one from the police website cited by Johnny. But anyway, this is the Tennessean newspaper article about it.

philamena

08-15-2003, 06:42 PM

Rocky,

I do think my child is sweet and innocent -sometimes.

My oldest is 21 and since she was 12 or so she and her friends have hung out at our home. It's the same with my youngest.

I know what clothes they like to wear, what cuss words they use and the slang they use.

I know what music they listen to, the tv shows they watch and what movies they rent and attend.

I know who sneaks and smokes cigs, and yes I tell the parents.

The kids I know that wear the shirts you mentioned are good kids.

You cannot make certain assumptions due to what her shirt had printed on it.

If parents took more time out of their busy life and spent a little quality time with their kids -maybe there would not be so many unsolved mysteries.

After all, if the parents commuicated with their kids more and knew what they were doing ,IMO, there would be less disappearances.

I am not putting blame on the parents, but it's kind of hard for kids to disappear if you know where there are. Telling your kids to keep in touch with you and having phone numbers where they can be reached and even cell phones makes it easier as a parent to make sure your kids are safe.

mindys

08-15-2003, 10:50 PM

I don't think there is any way that wherever Tabitha is she is able to contact home. She is being completely controlled possibly physically and most especially mentally. I don't see her having internet access and I don't see her having had the opportunity to come back once she was gone, in that perps vehicle. She needs HELP in a very big way. All of her thoughts now and early on must have just been on survival from one hour to the next, waiting for LE and/or her family to find her and bring justice for all that has happened to her.

Rocky, believe me, I don't live in fantasy land where my kids are concerned. Actually they can really blow my mind with the stuff they come up with. But, they have a clean slate and being so young have NO chance against an older person who can manipulate them and easily make them believe almost anything. They need only make one big mistake. I know that is a reality! I also most fully know what's out there, that's why I'm here.

Rocky

08-16-2003, 03:15 AM

thank you for being so kind with your replies and understanding what I am trying to say even if the words didn't come out quite right.

I'm sure you're both wonderful mothers and have been around these cases long enough to watch for the warning signs around your children. I guess I just picked on you because you're friends and knew you'd forgive me...

I was shocked when I was in the chat rooms seeing what some kids were writing, and I guess I talk about it to everyone hoping it might make a difference to protect a child some day. The internet is a wonderful tool, but parents are starting to use it for a babysitter to keep thier kids busy, and there are a lot of scary things out there for kids to run across.

I'm afraid mindys is right on track with her feeling, that she is being used by whoever kidnapped her. I guess since my dream keeps showing her with a young man, that I haven't started to think about the terrible circumstances she might be going through, even the thought that the boyfriend might be pimping her out for them to have money is bad enough.

I think the police should get as many of their pretty young female officers out on the corners in the area to sweep away the image that neighborhood has.

so how do we track her down?

Rocky

08-16-2003, 03:27 AM

what's really sad about the over 50 monsters I brought down, was they had a coninuous flow of new victims for them to choose from, they would get them all hooked on heavy drugs, so eventually they didn't want to run away because it scared them not knowing where they would get their daily habbit from. They would be tossed out when they were too used up, and the pimps would just reach out and take a few new ones to replace her.

Out of the 50+ cases they each had between 5 and 30 girls...

I felt good for a while thinking about the number of children I helped and the countless number I saved from the same living hell until I realized busting each one just meant someone else would step in to take their place.

to stop the cycle, do you need to go after the sick puppy willing to spend a few hundred bucks to spend time with a child? As long as they are willing to spend money on it, Pimps will be around to cover their needs.

So what's the answer?

mindys

08-16-2003, 03:42 AM

Rocky, we are friends, don't sweat a thing, I have the highest respect for your opinions and where you are coming from.

One answer is a one-strike law for child sexual offenders. One conviction and you are out, life in prison, without parole, pending of course the appeals process. We have to have the guts to do it, the intelligence to realize a person who wants to have sex with children and acts on it, including the desire to be with young teenagers sexually, when they are much older, can NOT be rehabilitated! We have to Empower our children and tell them what to do in the worst case scenario.

Rocky

08-16-2003, 04:13 AM

where would we put them all?

the government feels it's more important to lock up those evil pot heads and keep them in prison to protect our streets than to worry about a couple sick puppies that are roaming our streets stalking our children.

I wanted the one strike rule to go even further, I want what is done on the internet to be concidered for felony offenses. Take the animals out before they have a chance to go from cyber fantasies to real life.

Ghostwheel

08-16-2003, 11:27 AM

I'm with you, Rocky. Where would we put them all? I wonder how many volunteers and donations we'd get if somebody said "We want to build a jail to hold ALL child molesters, so none will go free." Then tell people how many are roaming in society.

We could make the people guilty of tax evasion have to clean the highways and maintain rest stops and get them out of the jails, that would make room. ;)

I wish everyone could be computer saavy when in comes to their family. I have this weird knack for finding things on computer (that's why I'm a good QA person), and blow people's minds when I show they where their kids (and spouses) have been on the internet, what they have downloaded, what they have deleted, what they have copied to disk. Caught one person having viewed porn ON THEIR KIDS COMPUTER! And left the garbage behind in the temp directory. The story that they were searching for a Harry Potter site was true (I could tell by where they'd been, and the search), but they didn't have to go INTO the site when they got there. (Don't let anyone tell you you can't tell the difference between getting there and going in)

johnny

08-16-2003, 11:33 AM

For obvious reasons I have to be careful what I release.

Rocky, as far as me not getting offended with some of the comments about Tabitha? Its not my intention to be offended but rather to present as many facts as posssible, and anyways you're not close enough to punch in the nose. But I checked Southwest airlines round trip from San Diego and they only run 154.00 if you would like to fly out to assist in the investigation.

Currently we are all worn out and frustrated with everything about Tabitha coming up missing, not unlike the majority of missing children cases.

johnny

08-16-2003, 11:53 AM

http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/03/08/37712308.shtml?Element_ID=37712308

johnny

08-16-2003, 12:21 PM

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A new approach in the search for missing teen Tabitha Tuders comes in the form of a billboard overlooking one of Nashville's busiest stretches of interstate. The 13-year-old disappeared from her home mysteriously on April 29th and has not been seen since. In that time her face has been on TV and in the paper. Now it's also on a billboard over I-24 for everyone to see.

Monday morning, workers put the finishing touches on the brand new Tabitha Tuders billboard. Her family was there to watch it unveiled.

Tabitha's father Bo Tuders said, "I got teary eyed...she looks so pretty up there looking down on you. Just want her to come back home."

Lamar Outdoor Signs donated the the space to the family after a member of the Tuders family inquired about billboard space. The company said that it did this for the community, in hopes this effort will be the one that brings Tabitha home.

"I'm grateful to Lamar Outdoor Advertisment for doing this. Very nice of them. Now poeple can pass by and see we miss her, love her, want her home," said Bo Tuders.

Bo Tuders said that Tabitha's billboard will remain until Tabitha comes home. He hopes that's very soon.

Andy Cordan for News 2 at 4 pm

Rocky

08-17-2003, 02:32 AM

I wish I could just hop on a plane and show up at many of these cases.

maybe after I finish writing this book and it gets published and makes the best seller list I'll have enough money to start working on these cases the right way, until then I'm afraid I'm stuck chained to my desk for a little while longer...

johnny

08-17-2003, 04:09 AM

http://www.tennessean.com/education/archives/03/08/37773434.shtml?Element_ID=37773434

johnny

08-17-2003, 04:39 AM

http://www.tennessean.com/education/archives/03/08/37773432.shtml?Element_ID=37773432

Rocky

08-17-2003, 04:46 AM

all I can say is the family better pray that Boyd wasn't her kidnapper. If he is out looking for another young girl, that means Tabitha would have been dead for a while and he is already feeling he got away with the first killing and is looking for his next victim.

has any more come out on the neighbor that was forcing a teenage girl to have sex with her husband that lived just a few doors away from Tabitha?

Did the girl that printed the cards for Tabitha say if she had ever visited and used her computer? Did she say how many cards she had made for Tabitha?

does the number found on her desk at home match the number she printed?

did Tabitha ever say what she wanted the cards for, and why her teacher's name was on the card?

johnny

08-18-2003, 03:49 AM

The answers about the card should be confirmed with the latest article in the tennessean . Also the local news reported that they believe the cards were innocent, possibly they used this tactic of releasing this to the news as a way to get the children involved hoping that other information and persons who know about Tabitha might come forward with additional tips etc.

Up2theminute

08-18-2003, 06:21 AM

So basically they've concluded that the calling cards are just incidental and have nothing to do with anything? Is that what you're saying?

angelmom

08-18-2003, 09:11 AM

I just noticed you're from Georgia, would you mind popping over to the missing forum and sharing info on what you're hearing on Tabitha, I'm curious how much air time the media is giving to her case in your area...

Rocky, I'm sorry to say that until your post I had never even heard of this case. I read the paper almost every day, although I don't usually watch the news on TV (don't like my kids to see it). To be sure, I searched the stacks at Atlanta Journal Constitution (http://www.ajc.com) for "tabitha tuders" from April 29 to the present and there were no matches found. Apparently we have enough horrible things happening to the children here that tragedies from other cities don't make the cut. (To be fair, there has been almost no news about Laci either - not even in the beginning.) It makes me so sad to think of all the cases that no one ever hears about.

I will keep Tabitha and her family in my prayers.

Rocky

08-18-2003, 11:40 AM

I was pretty sure that's what I would hear from someone in Georgia, it is really a shame, the parents even after hearing she might have been in Georgia couldn't get the media to give the story a few minutes of air time...

johnny

08-20-2003, 06:07 AM

http://www.police.nashville.org/news/media/2003/august/08182003.htm

Rocky

08-20-2003, 06:20 AM

"FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 18, 2003

After detailed questioning of Martin Tim Boyd last week and today, Youth Services detectives have no indication that Boyd is involved in the disappearance of Tabitha Tuders.

Boyd, 32, of Jones Avenue, was arrested Wednesday evening on a charge of attempted especially aggravated kidnapping for trying to lure an eleven-year-old girl into his car outside her school bus stop on August 5.

While no individual has been totally cleared or eliminated from the Tuders investigation, detectives have no reason to believe that Boyd is involved. He was fully cooperative with investigators working the Tuders case and answered all questions asked of him regarding the Tuders matter."

that really is good news, at least to me, because I still say she is with a young man and they are traveling together, not that far from home...

keep the faith,

Rocky

mindys

08-20-2003, 06:26 AM

I am keeping the faith she is going to come back to her family alive and be able to move on with a good life.

Rocky

08-20-2003, 06:39 AM

that can put a small curse on Tabitha's relationship, it is her first love, so a little help is needed....

whistles innocently :sneaky:

johnny

08-20-2003, 09:21 AM

Someone putting a curse on Tabitha? Maybe she's in New Orleans? Rocky I hope that you're right about the boyfriend but until we have any clues that point us in that direction we'll have to think more on the lines of some sort of foul play.

Hey whats that little guy doing in the smiles box with his finger??:nono:

Rocky

08-20-2003, 03:39 PM

can you tell us if there is any more going on with these other suspects?

Criminals Down the Street (http://www.nashvillescene.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?story=Back_Issues:2003:August_7-13_2003:News:City_Limits)

"Tabitha Tuders' neighborhood is full of troubling characters

By Matt Pulle and John Spragens

While Metro Police have yet to reveal a suspect in Tabitha Tuders' disappearance, detectives are said to be interested in a few individuals who frequented or lived on or around Lillian Street, the beleaguered East Nashville block where the 13-year-old girl lived.

All neighborhoods have their skeletons and questionable characters, but on Lillian Street, shady figures and sad, shocking stories seem to define the block, which in the span of 18 months has endured a murder, an alleged rape and now a missing child. In the shadow of East Nashville's epic revitalization, Tabitha's corner of the world remains a poor outpost, with no shortage of dirt yards and old, one-level homes with pit bulls chained to fences and barefoot kids wandering unattended in the middle of the road. Good, hardworking parents like Bo and Debra Tuders, Tabitha's dad and mom, live on Lillian, and they watch out for each other and their children when they can. But on that same street are a number of people who would be any parents' worst nightmare.

All of this could help explain why the Metro Police Department didn't pull out all the stops in this case sooner--before criticism from family, friends and child advocates mounted. Basically, police expect dysfunction from Lillian Street.

Take, for instance, Tim and Kimberly Oldham, who lived on 1232 Lillian St., just five houses from where the Tuders live. On May 16, more than two weeks after Tabitha disappeared, the police arrested the Oldhams on a rape charge. According to the arrest warrants, on Dec. 21, 2002, the wife pressured a young girl into removing her clothing, telling the victim that her husband "did not take 'no' for an answer." Timothy Oldham began to rape the victim, until his son walked in and caught him in the act. Oldham got off the victim, the wife pretended that she was startled by what had just occurred and the victim fled the residence. It's not clear where the Oldhams were living at the time of the alleged rape, but at the time Tabitha went missing, the couple lived in a tiny rental home just a few doors from the Tuders.

This is not the Oldhams' first brush with the law. Tim Oldham has been arrested at least 20 times, with offenses ranging from aggravated assault and drunkenness to vehicle theft. Meanwhile, his wife was arrested five years ago for child abuse. According to his former neighbors, Tim, 37, stayed at home most days, receiving disability payments for an accident. He apparently used a walker to get around. Scene interviews with Tabitha's friends and neighbors didn't turn up any evidence that the Oldhams ever spent time with Tabitha. One mother on Lillian Street, however, says that she forbade her 17-year-old daughter from ever talking to Tim Oldham after he made an inappropriate comment to her. The mother declined to specify what he said.

Neither Kimberly nor Tim Oldham's lawyers knew if police had questioned the pair in connection with the Tuders case. In fact, somewhat shockingly, Tim Oldham's lawyer, an assistant public defender, said he'd never even heard about the Tabitha Tuders case. Meanwhile, people close to the police investigation say that detectives are looking into the husband-and-wife pair. Still, emblematic of the police department's flat-footedness in the Tuders case, no one has confiscated the couple's abandoned minivan, which remains open and parked across the street, just a stone's throw from the Tuders' home. It's not even clear that the police have checked it for clues. Currently, both Tim and Kimberly Oldham remain in jail, where they have been since they were arrested, as a grand jury considers their case. Authorities set bail at $200,000 for the husband and $100,000 for the wife.

Before Tabitha's disappearance and the Oldhams' arrest, there was a murder on the street. In December 2001, Stacy Lynn Gann, 17, was found dead at 1517 Lillian. Tim Pirtle, Gann's 26-year-old guardian and family friend, admitted to killing her after an argument. He hid her body in a detached garage and fled. That Pirtle, a 26-year-old factory worker, had been entrusted with raising a teenage girl provoked outrage in the community.

"Right now, we're just following up continuous leads," says Sgt. Robert Moore of the police intelligence division. "Everyone's a suspect but me."

Another person of interest whom police have interviewed lives nearly a mile away from the Tuders family. Because he has no criminal charges pending and might actually be able to help police crack the case, the Scene is not identifying him by name. But even he acknowledges that he's a natural suspect for two reasons: One, he claims to have seen Tabitha on April 29, the Tuesday morning she disappeared, on the corner of Lillian and 14th. Second, he has befriended several young boys and girls on both his street and Tabitha's. One of the girls, whose mother is his friend, lives just two houses away from Tabitha and used to be one of her closest friends. Finally, at press time, the Scene learned that the man and his wife are under investigation by the state Department of Children Services for child abuse. According to spokeswoman Carla Aaron, the agency currently has custody of one of the couple's children and is working with law enforcement to complete the investigation.

In an interview with the Scene, this person says that he had been around Tabitha and "might wave" to her when he saw her. Still, he says, he had never spoken with her and didn't take her fishing, fix her bike or do any of the things he has done for other children in the neighborhood. Throughout the course of the interview, he seemed helpful and friendly. He may well have nothing to hide. But a part of his story seems relevant to the investigation. He says that before he saw Tabitha at around 7:45 on the morning she disappeared, he picked up a boy at 19th and Shelby who had missed his bus to Stratford High School. He didn't know the name of the boy, only that he was black and that he was in ninth grade at the time. He says, though, that the boy knew who he was and called him by name. The problem with his story is that if he took the student to Stratford from 19th and Shelby, he was far afield from Tabitha's route to the bus that morning. How, then, could he have seen her?

Even if he could answer that question, this man has elicited the attention of Team Tabitha, the citizen-led volunteer group that's working with the family and police on the case. Johnny White, the family friend who has interviewed dozens of neighbors as a part of the group's search efforts, says that this mysterious eyewitness might hold some important clues. If his story of spotting Tabitha at 7:45 that morning on her normal route to the bus is correct, then it dispels once and for all the theory that Tabitha ran away. But White has concerns about him, because White has picked up reports that the man has disparaged the 13-year-old girl in conversations with others. In fact, talking with Scene reporters, the man noted crudely--complete with hand gestures--that Tabitha was beginning to develop physically, and he speculated that she may not have been as innocent as everyone assumes.

"There are variances in his story in how he approached the family and how he approached the police department," White says. "Plus, he has spoken ill of Tabitha, and no one else has. And when he talks about Tabitha, it's as if he knows her very well, but when you talk to Tabitha's family, they don't believe she knew him."

Roni Villescaz--one of Tabitha's two best friends--says one thing's for sure: Tabitha didn't run away. Roni and her mother, Denise, say the missing 13-year-old could at times smart off to adults or express resentment at having to baby-sit her older sister's children. Typical behavior, says Denise, for an adolescent girl. Nonetheless, Roni and her mom describe Tabitha as a homebody who loved spending time with her family, reading to her elderly neighbor and watching scary movies with friends.

Tabitha never mentioned to her that she wanted to run away, Roni says. In fact, she asked Roni the Monday before her Tuesday disappearance if she would come over and help her baby-sit the following afternoon. A sure sign, the Villescazes say, that Tabitha intended to go to school that day like any other weekday.

By all accounts, she wasn't leading a secret double life. Chelsea Crague, Tabitha's other best friend, has known her for 11 years. She says Tabitha was proud of her newly released report card and was looking forward to an upcoming school trip to Kentucky Kingdom. Tabitha spent the evening before her disappearance with the Cragues at Chelsea's softball game and gave no sign that she was unhappy or planning anything out of the ordinary.

Nor do close friends suspect Tabitha had a troubled home life. Chelsea's parents, Tim and Tammy, have known the Tuders family since before both their daughters' births. They describe Bo and Debra as good parents who rarely let Tabitha out of their sight: She wasn't allowed to stray far from the family home or even to walk outside after dark. "Bo and Debra don't have a lot of money, and they don't live in a fine home, but they are fine people," Tim Crague says. "Really, really great people. I would trust my children with them like my brother. I don't feel that she ran away. Not for one minute."

Rocky

08-20-2003, 03:41 PM

If Tabitha didn't leave her home voluntarily, was she forced or coerced into getting in a car with a stranger? Both the Villescazes and the Cragues say it's highly unlikely that Tabitha would get into a stranger's car, but they acknowledge that she might have gotten into a car with someone she knew if the abductor told her the right story. Perhaps this person would play upon a recent argument that took place between Tabitha and her mother over spending money. Or perhaps Tabitha would be told that someone in her family had been hurt, and this person would give her a ride to the hospital.

Speculative scenarios aside, those who know Tabitha best don't think she ran away. They also don't think the police took her disappearance seriously enough at first. "It was a month before police contacted me [for a formal interview]," Tim Crague says. "And she was with me the night before she disappeared."

Denise Villescaz is more blunt. She says the police knew that they were supposed to ask her permission before interviewing her daughter. Once, she says, a male detective wanted to interview Roni about papers found in the girls' shared locker at Bailey Middle School. Denise gave her permission, only to find out from her daughter that the detective veered from the topic and said things like, "I know you know something; you're just not going to tell." In an interview with the Scene, Denise's daughter, Roni, confirms the detective said this to her.

Denise says the youth services officers who were first assigned to the case are trained to deal with troubled teens, not abduction cases. "You're not talking to a child who's running nickel bags down the street; you're dealing with a child whose best friend is missing," Denise Villescaz says. "I think the police blew it--big time."

She says Metro assumed Tabitha was a runaway both because officers have preconceptions about East Nashville residents and because their statistics say 13-year-old girls who disappear tend to be runaways. "If she were so-and-so, daughter of so-and-so from Green Hills, would those statistics be as concrete?" Denise says."

Anniegirl

08-20-2003, 04:43 PM

is that too much time has passed- and IF Tabitha were with a 'boyfriend ' that she wouldve gotten homesick long ago and either called home or came home before now:confused:

My heart sinks that we may never know what happened to this beautiful child.

johnny

08-21-2003, 01:46 AM

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

08-21-2003, 01:55 AM

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

08-21-2003, 02:50 AM

Teens Turn To Technology To Communicate (http://www.thesandiegochannel.com/technology/2400355/detail.html)

"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

08-21-2003, 08:40 AM

http://www.nashvillescene.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?story=Back_Issues:2003:August_21-27_2003:News:Editorial

johnny

08-21-2003, 08:42 AM

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

08-23-2003, 12:52 AM

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

08-23-2003, 06:28 AM

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

08-23-2003, 07:41 PM

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

08-23-2003, 09:27 PM

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

08-24-2003, 07:57 AM

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

08-24-2003, 08:21 AM

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

johnny

08-25-2003, 04:59 AM

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 scott.parrott@tuscaloosanews.com or 722-0200.

johnny

08-25-2003, 05:22 AM

Tuderses provide comfort to family

_____Today's Top Stories_____

• Concert drug use brings few arrests
• UT president made more than those at higher-ranked schools
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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

08-28-2003, 08:58 AM

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

08-31-2003, 02:17 PM

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

08-31-2003, 02:50 PM

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

08-31-2003, 02:58 PM

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

CEHullett@aol.com (Nashville

Ghostwheel

08-31-2003, 05:35 PM

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

08-31-2003, 05:56 PM

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

09-02-2003, 06:58 AM

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

Anniegirl

09-08-2003, 12:44 PM

Tabitha- still waiting for you to come home..

johnny

09-11-2003, 08:42 AM

I did received permission from Matt Pulley and the Nashville Scene to re-print this article.

Missing

Mayor, council, city fail to help with Tabitha Tuders reward money

By Matt Pulle

Just what kind of job have Metro Government and the people of Nashville done in helping to solve the Tabitha Tuders case? Neither the Metro Council nor Mayor Bill Purcell can figure out how--or even if--they want to contribute to the reward leading to her safe return, which now stands at a paltry $10,000, all from private donations.

"The mayor talked to the police chief, who did not think that that additional reward money is necessary," says Deputy Mayor Bill Phillips.

Other cities find a way to generate more reward funds. For instance, when Heaven Lashae Ross, from Northport, Ala., turned up missing last month, over $50,000 poured into the reward total. And nearly $300,000 was raised for anyone with information leading to the return of Elizabeth Smart.

On April 29, Tabitha Tuders, a sweet 13-year-old girl with sandy blond hair and blue eyes, disappeared from her East Nashville neighborhood without a trace. In one of its last acts before the August elections, the Metro Council unanimously approved a resolution requesting that Metro Government contribute $10,000 to the reward total, which would effectively double the current amount. When the legislation arrived on the mayor's desk, Purcell did not take out his pen and sign it. Instead, he shuffled it to his legal director, Karl Dean, for an opinion. Dean replied that the mayor does not have the authority to pay the reward. Instead, the council has to submit an ordinance--not a resolution--authorizing the payment.

The mayor, however, has no plans to ask the new council to submit new legislation for the reward fund. For its part, the family has been trying to figure out the fate of the resolution for weeks. Purcell's office has not called Tabitha's family to explain why the mayor did not sign the reward money resolution.

"It was unanimously approved by the Metro Council and then we haven't heard another word about it," says Johnny White, a spokesperson for the family who has been aiding in the search. "We'd call and ask questions and nobody seems to know what's going on."

Replied Phillips, "That's the first we heard that the family called Metro." As far as why the Tuders family has not been communicated with, Phillips says, "The police department is in constant contact with the family."

Meanwhile, many members of the Metro Council assumed that once they approved the resolution, the reward total would be increased. "There was nothing in our deliberations that gave us the indication that the mayor's office had a problem with it," says now former at-large Council member Leo Waters. "We felt like this was in the public's good and once it was approved Metro government would add to the reward."

The miscommunication over the reward ordinance is symptomatic of Metro's efforts to crack the case. After Tabitha turned up missing, the Metro Police Department held on to the theory that she might have run away, which effectively dampened public concern over her plight. Police officials might have had evidence that suggested she left home voluntarily, but her family and friends insisted from the first night that she would never have done that.

A recent straight-A student, Tabitha hardly fit the profile of a runaway. After two months, acting Police Chief Deborah Faulkner switched gears, announcing that the investigation would focus on the likelihood of foul play.

Even then the police department struggled to make up for lost time as it belatedly launched an exhaustive search. As it did so, officials seemed to cast doubt on the family. Again and again, they told reporters how the police department did not know she was missing until 10 or so hours after she was last seen. In fact, the father woke his daughter up on the morning in question, but then he left before his daughter did for his job as a short haul trucker. Earlier that morning, Tabitha's mother had already departed for Tom Joy Elementary School, where she works as a cook in the school cafeteria. Neither parent had any reason to suspect that their youngest daughter never made it to school that morning until she did not come home on the bus later that afternoon.

On the plus side, police detectives have worked exhaustively to try to crack the case, scouring local housing projects, interviewing pimps and sex offenders, and making sure that fresh eyes continually examine old evidence. They've also tracked a flurry of leads, some of which have placed her in a Memphis prostitution ring, another at a Red Roof Inn in Williamson County. None of them have proved fruitful--some of them have been little more than urban legends--but the department has carefully checked out each one.

When Tabitha first turned up missing, various child search agencies were startled at how few volunteers gave money to the reward fund or turned up to look for the missing girl. Few members of the city's business and donor classes, who can whip out a five-figure check over dinner to their favorite charity or political fundraiser, have contributed any significant dollars to the reward total. Contrast that to how Northport Alabama, on the outskirts of Tuscaloosa, bound together to help search for their missing girl.

According to the Birmingham Post Herald, more than 100 businesses gave all sorts of helpful items to the family, including ice and tents that nearly surround the girl's home. In addition, a local businessman, Stan Pate, is offering a $50,000 reward for the missing girl's return, which is more than five times the reward money offered for Tabitha.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- By Matt Pulle

Doyle

09-11-2003, 07:57 PM

Police review tape for sign of Tabitha
http://tennessean.com/local/archives/03/09/39051117.shtml?Element_ID=39051117

mindys

09-12-2003, 12:55 AM

Well, there's hope, thanks for the link Doyle.

johnny

09-12-2003, 01:31 AM

The tape was given to the police on friday June 06 and the video tape was taped on the Saturday prior. We have viewed the tape and blown the pictures up and the family has also viewed the tape.
In an earlier posting you will see where a man was staying at the same hotel who was planning a kidnapping of a young girl.

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

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

Doyle

09-12-2003, 02:04 AM

that is incredible...

but does offer some hope she might be found.

if this pans out, and she can be traced.

johnny

09-12-2003, 01:04 PM

Serial rapist's victims tell their stories on television

http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny--captivewomen0908sep08.story

johnny

09-12-2003, 01:15 PM

Tennessee's AMBER ALERT is a statewide program that partners the State's law enforcement community, media broadcasting agencies and the public in locating abducted children. It provides the public with immediate and up-to-date information about a child abduction via widespread media broadcasts and solicits the public's help in the safe and swift return of the child. The State's AMBER ALERT is modeled after the nationwide AMBER Plan, which was developed in 1996 after nine-year-old Amber Hagerman was abducted and brutally murdered near her home in Arlington, Texas. Under the AMBER ALERT concept, the State's law enforcement community employs the assistance of local radio and television stations to interrupt normal programming and request public assistance in locating children who have just been abducted. Emergency bulletins and photographs of the missing child are relayed from law enforcement agencies to the media through the Emergency Alert System and Locater Poster E-mail system.

TBI's Missing Children

Center for Missing and Exploited Children

The Tennessee Clearinghouse for Missing and Exploited Children considers the disappearance of a minor child to be an investigative priority whether it is a result of unknown circumstances, a runaway incident, or a non-family abduction. In each of these incidents, based upon the specific case circumstances, department heads and supervisors must make decisions about the proper level of manpower and resources needed in order to bring the situation to a successful conclusion. While each of these incidents has the potential for harm to the child, the non-family abduction is the one situation that experience has shown will most likely result in the injury, sexual assault and/or death of the child.
In those situations in which a child is known or thought to have been abducted by a non-family member, it is the sheriff or police department's policy to respond in a manner that holds the greatest chance for the safe return of the child and the apprehension of the suspect. This policy includes an aggressive investigation that is conducted in a timely manner, that is adequately staffed with manpower and resources, and that follows a comprehensive investigative plan. This investigative plan will be known as the AMBER ALERT Protocol.

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The purpose of this plan is to establish procedures to be followed in a child's abduction. This plan will outline the department's response in a manner that holds the greatest chance for the safe return of the child and the apprehension of the suspect. The first few hours of the investigation of child abduction may determine whether the eventual outcome is successful or not. Experience has shown that in cases where children have been victims of stranger abductions, there exists a "window of opportunity" lasting only a few hours in which police are likely to successfully recover the child unharmed. To capitalize on this opportunity, it is imperative that the investigation be "front loaded" with as much intense investigative efforts and resources as possible.
The reason for stranger abductions are many and varied. The motivation involved may be related to sexual gratification, narcotics, revenge, money or any other provocation the mind can imagine. It is therefore crucial that all investigative units in the department research their respective activities and files to determine if any connection or motive can be established related to the child's disappearance.

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An AMBER ALERT must be submitted by a law enforcement agency where the following conditions are met:
To activate an AMBER ALERT, there must be accurate information on at least one of the following:
1) description of child
2) description of suspect
3) description of vehicle
Child must be 17 years of age or younger
There must be a belief that the child is in imminent danger of bodily injury or death. The following factors may be considered as placing the child in imminent danger:
The missing child is believed to be out of the zone of safety for his or her age and development stage.

The missing child is drug dependent, on prescribed medication and/or illegal substances, and the dependency is potentially life threatening.

The missing child has been absent from the home for more than 24 hours before the incident was reported to the police.

Based on available information, it is believed that the missing child is in a life-threatening situation.

Based on available information, it is believed that the missing child is in the company of adults who could endanger his or her welfare.

Now someone tell me how Tabitha didn't qualify?????

johnny

09-12-2003, 01:16 PM

I'll give you the answer ...because she wasn't submitted by Law Enforcement!

johnny

09-18-2003, 09:19 PM

7 Secrets from the Pros on Keeping Your Children Safe from Abduction & Seduction

Secrets 1-3

1. Child molesters do their homework.

It is common knowledge among law enforcement that child molesters often carefully target their victims. Something as innocent as children's bicycles in the yard is information that will help a child molester find out how many children you have, their sexes, and their ages, according to oe 911 operator.

Other "homework" that molesters do include: targeting children in the morning on their way to school and then stalking them in the afternoon after school. "They will notice," says Major Calvin Jackson, "if a child is alone, if the parents walk them to the bus stop, and they'll look for ways to get in and out of the area quickly and for secluded places into which they can attract the child."

In the words of one child molester, who has since been put to death for abducting and killing many small boys: "On Saturday morning I headed into Portland to find a boy I could spend the day and night molesting, and to experiment on, on Sunday."

One item, which many parents have used, ironically, to keep their children safe has been used as a tool by child molesters and abductors -- the "tot finder" window stickers parents stick on their children's bedroom windows so that firemen could quickly locate the children in case of a fire. " Paret who now know better are not using these "tot finder" stickers any longer," notes Major Jackson.

What's more, molesters know that all kinds of toys, including bikes and video games are excellent ways to "lure" children into their homes. In fact, says Major Jackson, "Their yards often look like playgrounds. They have all of the latest toys, games, and videos like Barney, the Lion King, and Donkey Kong. That's what children want and they want children."

Former child sexual abuse investigator and current Executive Director of the Child Abuse Forensic Institute and a counselor of law, Seth Goldstein, Esq., agrees. He says that many molesters have been apprehended with the tools of their trade on them, in their cars and in their homes. These "tools" include decks of cards, coins, dolls, and candy -- anything they can use to get a child's attention and get them to do what they want.

When one child molester in Austin, Texas, was arrested the police found bikes and other toys in the yard and house. The parents in the neighborhood said they noticed that the single man had these items, but they never thought anything about it.

2. Molesters and abductors plan their lives around attracting children, from where they live to the type of car they drive.

One convicted child molester, now serving a 20-year sentence, admits that when he decided to move from one town to another he picked a house that was near an elementary school and a go-cart amusement park. He was often spotten talking to young boys at the go-cart park and taking them for rides on his motorcycle.

During one investigation of a string of child murders in a Michigan community, law enforcement officers uncovered 782 unreported incidents of attempted or actual molestation from other children. During that investigation, police learned that the type of car most commmonly used by child abductors and molesters in their own cases was a two-door sedan and the most common color was blue. Forthy percent of the molesters/abductors used a two door sedan, because it is the most difficult to escape from. Twenty-sex percent of them felt that blue cars most closely resemble police cars and thereby were the most effective in helping to convince young children that they were law officers and that the child must come with them. What's more, according to Goldstein, is that abductors frequently modified their cars to prevent escape by removing door handles and locks.

Further, it is common knowledge among law enforcement that most child molesters have used "authority lures" at one time or another, by which they falsely represent themselves as figures of authority such as policemen or security guards. Using this lure they convince the child that they must come with them. Along with a blue car, they often own uniforms or at the very minimum a blue shirt and pants, and almost all abductors/molesters carry a fake badge.

3. Child molesters justify their action in their minds and, often, in the children's minds.

This point is brought to stark light from a passage in an investigators' text book written by Goldstein, called The Sexual Exploitation of Children. The book quotes a spokesman for a national pedophile (child molester) association: "The majority of the people who are arrested for molesting children have only given in to the child's constant pleadings for sex. The molester can no longer resist the child's advances. He complains that the problem is the law, that the child is prevented from being sexually satisfied, and that the law should be changed."

Further in a report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, one molester reported that a child, who he fondled while holding in his lap did not say anything, so the man took this to mean the five-year-old was consenting to his actions.

In a television special investigation recently, a habitual molester, in jail for the past six years, explains that he told the boys what he was goig to do before they entered his home and they still came inside, so he feels that they made the choice to participate.

However, child psychologists point out strongly that young children's minds have not developed to the point that they can participate in this type of logic. Just as they are not old enough to drive or to vote, children are not old enough to make decisions on whether to begin a sexual relationship or not. "More likely, they child molesters have 'groomed' the children prior to making a sexual advance," explains Major Jackson. "In other words they have given that child affection in the form of attention and things, all the while ever so slowly making that child feel secure with them. By the time they make a sexual advance the child is in so deep emotionally that they feel they cannot back out and say 'no' to this person."

"It's very much an emotional issue for the child involved," notes Jackson. "Children don't want to lose a friendship. Kids that age simply cannot make those kinds of adult decisions.

What's more, to feel justified in their actions child molesters often use psychology to convince the children that they, in fact, brought on the activity. They do this by making the children feel like "sexual partners" rather than sexual victims. The following are some actual statements made by molesters to children in order to accomplish this goal:

"Do you have any idea what your mother would do if she knew the kinds of touching we've been doing?"

"If your breasts hadn't grown, I would never have allowed you to touch me like this."

"Because I love you so much, I won't tell your mother what you've been doing with me."

When a child feels like a partner rather than a victim, the abuser can encase the child in guilt and secrecy, and continue the sexual involvement

johnny

09-18-2003, 09:27 PM

7 Secrets from the Pros on Keeping Your Children Safe from Abduction & Seduction

Secrets 4-7

4. Boys do not report sexual molestation as often as girls do.

In fact, boys report molestation four times less often than girls. There are two main reasons: one is that boys are afraid that their parents will restrict their freedom and more closely supervise their lives in their efforts to keep their sons safe. In one real life situation, a boy had been approached by a man a couple of times on his way to school. The boy told his younger brother that a strange man was bothering him, but instructed his brother not to tell his parents. One day soon afterward, the boy was missing and never seen again.

The second reason that boys do not tell that they have been approached and/or molested is the stigma attached to such a degrading assault by a man. Boys do not want to be called "homosexual" or be ridiculed by their peers.

5. Child molesters are rarely convicted.

What's more, when they are convicted they often serve very short sentences. In the words of one habitual child abductor/molester, Wesley Allen Dodd: "In a 16 year period, I was reported to police 12 times, made full confessions the last 11 times, was arrested only 6 times, and prosecuted only 3 times, spending no more than 4 months in jail twice, and only 19 days the other time."

Molesters are rarely convicted largely due to four issues:

a. Children make poor witnesses. It goes without saying that children are too young to participate competently in the very adult world of the courts and of sexual abuse.

b. Family members back down as witnesses. "Due to internal family pressures, often family members will not follow through with child molestation charges," noted Major Jackson, who has successfully prosecuted hundreds of cases over the years. "Often the wives are afraid to break up the family and be left having to financially support her children on her own."

c. The judicial system does not understand the problem. "Most family law attorneys are untrained and unprepared to evaluate or present the evidence of child abuse," says Goldstein. "They simply do not recognize the complex issues involved in child abuse cases." Further, most judges don't understand the dynamics of sexual abuse, because most judges never see cases like this.

d. Societal perceptions. As Special Agent Ken Lanning, FBI Behavioral Science Unit, has said: "The final frustration for the police officer comes in the sentencing of a convicted child molester. If a man lured 20 children into his home, tied them down, and smashed their knees with a hammer so that they were physically cripples for the rest of their lives, society would demand that such an offender be locked up forever or even executed. But if a man lured 20 children into his home seduced them, lowered their inhibitions, and had sex with them so that they were emotional cripples for the rest of their lives, it's a different story. Particularly when character witnesses testify that the defendant is a nice man who goes to church every Sunday, is kind to his neighbors, and works hard. The children have no physical injuries for the jury to see. The result is that such offenders are sentenced to little or no jail time."

6. Parents have unknowingly sent their children into potentially dangerous situations.

We like to think of our world as mostly safe, with only a few potentially dangerous situations from which to steer clear. But today's world is not like the world when we were children. We cannot let our children walk home from school alone or play in the nearby woods without fear. We can't even let them play unsupervised in a video game arcade or allow the teenager down the street to baby-sit without carefully following up on personal references.

From baby-sitters to public bathrooms, parents have unwittingly helped their children to be victimized. One devastated grandmother told us a story of how a trusted male family friend, who often baby-sat her grandson, was found to have been abusing the child at every opportunity.

Public restrooms are among the most dangerous places you can send a child alone. It gives child molesters easy access to their victims, the privacy to commit their act, and the ability to get out and get lost in a crowd. (One side note about public restrooms: In a report from a Dallas policeman, one of the local gang initiation rites involved waiting in a mall bathroom for the next young boy to walk in alone and then cut off his penis; the next boy to walk in was eight years old.)

The bottom line: parents today have to take every precaution to ensure that their children's safety and innocence is not compromised in a world that can be less than kind.

7. Children who are given the wisdom to think on their feet are the safest children of all.

Every morning for years, one mother told her daughter before she walked out the door to school: "If anyone ever tries to grab you, hit, kick, scream, run. Do anything you have to, but get away." Her concern for her daughter's personal safety paid off - possibly saving her daughter's life from the hands of a habitual child abductor and murderer. One morning while walking to school a man approached the 12-year old. After talking to her for a few minutes he reached out to grab her, she moved quickly and he got a hold of her backpack. She quickly wiggled out of her backpack and ran, screaming down the street. A man helped her and got the license plate number of the would-be abductor's van.

Other children have also thought fast on their feet, and stayed safe, in dangerous situations:

In one news report, a ten-year-old boy saved his five-year-old brother from being abducted when an old man pulled up in a car, grabbed the five-year-old, and threw him in the back of the car. The 10-year-old sprung to action and "kicked him where it hurts."

Police say that once a child, who was being abducted, kicked off one of his shoes. Thanks to the boy's quick thinking the police were able to identify where the child was last seen and get more details from people in that area on the type of car the abductor was driving. Then the police were able to locate the child and apprehend the abductor

Juliana

09-18-2003, 10:39 PM

This is scary, scary stuff. As a normal person, my mind just kind of shuts down as I read it, thinking I don't want to know this. As a parent, I know if have to read it, I have to know this so I can help protect my kids, and the kids around me. God help us...

Juliana

09-18-2003, 11:03 PM

Another thought... has anyone started a "child identification program" at their school or other organization? I have been thinking for months, ever since I started reading this forum, that I really need to initiate one of the child identification programs at my son's school, with fingerprints, phtotographs, etc. Does anyone have any advice?

johnny

09-19-2003, 12:18 PM

Past sex offender charged with indecent exposure

GALLATIN — A man convicted of molesting an 11-year-old girl in Texas in 1997 has been arrested in Goodlettsville's Moss-Wright Park and charged with indecent exposure, police said.

Kevin Alan Cole, 41, was being held in the Sumner County Jail yesterday. He faces a hearing Oct. 6 in Sumner County General Sessions Court.

Police said Cole's identification showed that his address was in Demotte, Ind. His listing on Texas' online sex offender registry says he was convicted in 1997 of one count of indecency with a child. The listing also says that he lives in Indiana.

Meanwhile, Indiana's online sex offender registry also says Cole lives in Demotte and that he had been sentenced to six years in prison for the Texas conviction.

Cole was alone at the park Tuesday, near the football field, when police say a woman saw him and called police.

''We're not sure what he's doing here. He may be just passing through. If that's the case, he would not have to register as a sex offender in Tennessee,'' Goodlettsville police Capt. Ken Jenkins said.

Cole could not be reached for comment as Sumner County Jail rules prohibit inmate interviews

http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/03/09/39564149.shtml?Element_ID=39564149

Doyle

09-20-2003, 08:24 AM

Johnny,

I have just read thru all the posts finally...

I may have missed it, but do you know if the Oldhams or Martin Boyd ever went thru a lie detector test?

johnny

09-20-2003, 12:17 PM

New information should be coming out soon...Thursday a person of high interest was served with a search warrant and the vehicle, aboat and a shed was searched, also luminol was used to try and find blood stains....also the person has been subjected to two lie detector tests......the person came forward with a tip about where they said they thought they saw Tabitha.........this man has been written about in a previous article but his name has not been used.

Doyle

09-21-2003, 08:59 AM

from the 8/20 article...This has to be the guy of current interest..

Another person of interest whom police have interviewed lives nearly a mile away from the Tuders family. Because he has no criminal charges pending and might actually be able to help police crack the case, the Scene is not identifying him by name. But even he acknowledges that he's a natural suspect for two reasons: One, he claims to have seen Tabitha on April 29, the Tuesday morning she disappeared, on the corner of Lillian and 14th. Second, he has befriended several young boys and girls on both his street and Tabitha's. One of the girls, whose mother is his friend, lives just two houses away from Tabitha and used to be one of her closest friends. Finally, at press time, the Scene learned that the man and his wife are under investigation by the state Department of Children Services for child abuse. According to spokeswoman Carla Aaron, the agency currently has custody of one of the couple's children and is working with law enforcement to complete the investigation.

In an interview with the Scene, this person says that he had been around Tabitha and "might wave" to her when he saw her. Still, he says, he had never spoken with her and didn't take her fishing, fix her bike or do any of the things he has done for other children in the neighborhood. Throughout the course of the interview, he seemed helpful and friendly. He may well have nothing to hide. But a part of his story seems relevant to the investigation. He says that before he saw Tabitha at around 7:45 on the morning she disappeared, he picked up a boy at 19th and Shelby who had missed his bus to Stratford High School. He didn't know the name of the boy, only that he was black and that he was in ninth grade at the time. He says, though, that the boy knew who he was and called him by name. The problem with his story is that if he took the student to Stratford from 19th and Shelby, he was far afield from Tabitha's route to the bus that morning. How, then, could he have seen her?

Even if he could answer that question, this man has elicited the attention of Team Tabitha, the citizen-led volunteer group that's working with the family and police on the case. Johnny White, the family friend who has interviewed dozens of neighbors as a part of the group's search efforts, says that this mysterious eyewitness might hold some important clues. If his story of spotting Tabitha at 7:45 that morning on her normal route to the bus is correct, then it dispels once and for all the theory that Tabitha ran away. But White has concerns about him, because White has picked up reports that the man has disparaged the 13-year-old girl in conversations with others. In fact, talking with Scene reporters, the man noted crudely--complete with hand gestures--that Tabitha was beginning to develop physically, and he speculated that she may not have been as innocent as everyone assumes.

"There are variances in his story in how he approached the family and how he approached the police department," White says. "Plus, he has spoken ill of Tabitha, and no one else has. And when he talks about Tabitha, it's as if he knows her very well, but when you talk to Tabitha's family, they don't believe she knew him."

johnny

09-21-2003, 12:40 PM

On target Doyle!

johnny

09-24-2003, 02:52 PM

Suspects Questioned

Police track neighbors and a Memphis prostitution ring in missing girl case

Last Thursday, on a pleasant, late summer evening, Metro police vans and cars pulled up outside a tiny all-brick duplex overlooking East Nashville's Shelby Bottoms Park, a few hundred yards up a hill from the Cumberland River. Police detectives had an appointment with a maintenance worker whom they had labeled an "active person of interest" in the disappearance of Tabitha Tuders. Because there are no criminal charges pending against him and because he might actually be able to help police crack the case, the Scene is not identifying him by name. But even he has admitted that he's a natural suspect.

Nearly six months after the 13-year-old A student vanished on the way to her East Nashville bus stop, police investigators are no closer to figuring out what happened than they were the night they arrived at her family home. But police continue to track so-called "people of interest," a category that, among others, includes the maintenance worker, a husband and wife accused of raping a minor, and a notorious gang of ringleaders in a Memphis-to-Nashville prostitution outfit. Even while the police department's efforts have yet to yield a breakthrough in the case--and at times, have appeared impotent--investigators still haven't forgotten about the sweet blond teenager who loved scary movies, Vince Gill and, perhaps most of all, her parents Bo and Debra.

Criminal investigations are all about figuring out who the suspects are and who they aren't. After last Thursday's search, the police might be easing up on the maintenance worker, who, through his previous words and actions, had elicited the attention of investigators, his neighbors, even Tabitha's family. Last Thursday, when the police arrived at the maintenance worker's home, they told his neighbors to turn off their lights. According to a pair of sources, investigators needed a dark setting because they were using a substance called Luminol that can detect traces of blood not visible to the naked eye. It can also detect how the blood splattered, often providing clues as to the exact nature of the crime. According to two neighborhood sources, police used Luminol on the man's car, his fishing boat and his shed. It's not clear if they used it in his house.

Police spokesman Don Aaron wouldn't comment on what the officers were doing at the man's house, except to say that the man was "very cooperative." In fact, Aaron says that the police didn't even need to obtain a search warrant. The man allowed the police to conduct their search. According to a source, he also volunteered to take a lie detector test the following day and, while Aaron wouldn't confirm that, the man told the Scene a month earlier that "he had nothing to hide." Aaron does say, though, that "the level of interest in him has lessened to some extent."

Why all the suspicion to start? Well, for one, the man, who lives only a mile or so away from Tabitha's Lillian Street home, claims to have seen Tabitha on the corner of Lillian and 14th Street on the morning she disappeared. But by his own account, he was driving a teenage boy to Stratford High School that morning after picking him up at a bus stop at 19th and Shelby. The problem with that story is that if he took the student to Stratford from 19th and Shelby, he was far afield from Tabitha's route to the bus. How then did he see her?

Second, he has befriended several young girls and boys on both his street and Tabitha's, buying them bicycles and taking them fishing. One of those girls, whose mother is the man's friend, lives just two houses away from Tabitha and used to be one of her closest friends before the two had a falling out. Meanwhile, the man has disparaged the missing 13-year-old girl in conversations with others. In fact, talking with Scene reporters last month, he crudely noted, complete with hand gestures, that Tabitha was beginning to develop physically, and he speculated that she might not be as sweet and innocent as she's been portrayed.

"He has spoken ill of Tabitha and no one else has," Johnny White, a spokesman for the Tuders family, said in an interview with the Scene last month. "And when he talks about Tabitha, it's as if he knows her very well, but when you talk with Tabitha's family, they don't believe she knew him."

Finally, the man and his wife are currently under investigation by the state Department of Children's Services for an incident involving one of the couple's children. DCS is still working with law enforcement to complete the investigation. The man didn't return phone calls for comment, and his wife told the Scene that he had no interest in talking any more about the case.

Amazingly, this man knew another person of interest in the Tabitha Tuders case, Timothy Oldham, who is now in jail on a rape charge. Oldham lived just five houses from Tabitha and was arrested on May 16 (after her disappearance) for raping a minor at his home. His own son walked in on him and caught him in the act, according to the arrest warrant. Police also arrested Oldham's wife Kim for playing a role in the crime, allegedly pressuring the young girl to remove her clothing, telling her that the husband "did not take 'no' for an answer." The two remain in custody awaiting trial.

Both Timothy Oldham, who has been arrested at least 20 times, and his wife Kim are considered people of interest in the Tuders case, although none of the neighbors the Scene has interviewed ever remembers seeing Tabitha with them. Still, the very nature of the charges against the couple, their close proximity to Tabitha and the fact that they were not yet in jail the morning Tabitha disappeared make them a likely target of any police investigation.

The police also have their sights set on the "Memphis Boys," a believed prostitution outfit with criminal activities in Nashville. People familiar with the investigation relay stories about the Memphis Boys that seem like the stuff of urban legend: One of the ring leaders supposedly drives a Gold Lexus, while another makes decisions from state prison. Meanwhile, the prostitutes are all branded with snake tattoos. But while the group's existence seems wrapped in bad movie imagery, police detectives acknowledge that they've responded to dozens of leads about the group. "We've received tips that people who run prostitutes both here and in Memphis have had something to do with Tabitha's disappearance," says youth services Capt. Karl Roller. "We have followed up on those leads." Detectives have interviewed several men believed to be associated with the group, while the Shelby County Sheriff's Office tracked down another. But none of those leads turned up anything. Just last week, a crack addict approached a member of Tabitha's family, talking again about the Memphis Boys and how they kidnapped the young girl. He has claimed to have seen her at a Dickerson Road hotel. The Scene also has received tips about the Memphis Boys.

"We actually were responding to a tip about Tabitha being at a hotel, and we ended up finding a missing 19-year-old-girl from Oklahoma," says White, the Tuder family friend, who has looked for Tabitha in local housing projects and seedy hotels. "The girl was working as a prostitute, and there she was in a vehicle with one of the Memphis Boys."

Police say there is no hard evidence linking the Memphis Boys to Tabitha's disappearance or even to people in her neighborhood. But it appears that the sheer volume of leads about the group has made it impossible for investigators to dismiss their involvement altogether. They even briefed Tabitha's family about the group. In fact, last July, Bo Tuders, Tabitha's brother Kevin, along with two family friends, went to Memphis to look for the missing girl.

"We passed out flyers of Tabitha to prostitutes, but nobody had seen her," Bo Tuders says.

His friend, Tim Crague, whose daughter Chelsea was one of Tabitha's best friends, also went on that trip to Memphis. "We were going on information we received from the police department that there were tips that she was with these guys and she was being run back and forth to Memphis," he says. "The police didn't suggest we go or suggest we don't go, so we went."

Together, the group combed through the inner-city streets of Memphis, talking to prostitutes and other area inhabitants to see if there were any signs of Tabitha. "There were four of us, so we just watched each other's back. We had a child missing. We didn't worry about the rest," Crague says. "We knew it was a long shot, but we figured we'd beat the bushes as best we could."

Police detectives acknowledge that they've chased some futile leads, but that happens in any investigation. Sometimes, though, the most ordinary tip can yield the most dramatic breakthrough. Right now, they continue to pour over a list of questionable figures--with no end in sight.

http://www.nashvillescene.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?story=Back_Issues:2003:September_25-October_1_2003:News:City_Limits
just added the link for reference...

johnny

09-30-2003, 01:20 PM

http://tennessean.com/local/archives/03/09/40160565.shtml?Element_ID=40160565

GOVERNOR INCREASES REWARD!!!!

johnny

10-10-2003, 03:25 PM

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 hadn’t 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 it’s just good to step in and I’m 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.

“We’re 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 we’ve 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 didn’t know the child was missing for 10 hours.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has faxed Tabitha’s 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, it’s not done frequently but when it’s done it’s the kind of thing that can make a critical difference in encouraging people to come forward,” said Purcell. “Everyone’s 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. “I’m 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. … They’re putting the resources in this that are necessary.”

Anyone with information that may assist in the Tuders investigation should contact Metro Police Department’s Youth Services Division at 862-7417.

johnny

10-10-2003, 04:40 PM

A 42-year-old man faces burglary charges after being accused of sneaking into a church and stealing pictures of children who attend its day-care center.

Police said the motive for the theft wasn't clear yesterday.

Metro Burglary detectives arrested Mark S. Bedwell on Tuesday night, accusing him of stealing from the Westminster Presbyterian Church, 3900 West End Ave.

Police said Bedwell sneaked into the church about 4 a.m. Oct. 3 and stole pictures of children that were inside classrooms in the church's day-care area. The photos were of children in a day-care program at the church.

Police said the suspect was identified from a videotape from a church security camera.

Bedwell was charged with one count of burglary and was being held in Metro Jail last night in lieu of $10,000 bail.

Detectives were asking the public to contact them if anyone recognized Bedwell in connection with other crimes, especially in the West End area. They also are asking anyone who has had pictures of young children stolen in a break-in to call the Burglary Division at 862-7572 or Crime Stoppers at 74-CRIME

http://www.police.nashville.org/news/media/2003/october/10082003.htm

johnny

10-10-2003, 07:42 PM

Father of murdered child comes to Nashville to help others

http://www.wkrn.com/Global/story.asp?S=1477989&nav=1ugBITHu

johnny

10-10-2003, 08:14 PM

Metro police say more charges may be on the way for a homeless man arrested earlier this week.

Mark Bedwell was charged with the burglary of a church on West End Avenue. Detectives found pictures of small children taken from the church in his tent near the church.

Friday, police said Bedwell, who's a registered sex offender in other states, could face additional charges for burglarizing other churches.

The arrest highlighted a growing trend in that part of town. Homeless people have migrated from downtown to the West End area.

Officials blame the re-location to increased crack-downs by police on the homeless downtown

johnny

10-22-2003, 06:40 PM

News Briefly

Bredesen helps in Tuders case

On behalf of the state, the governor has anted up $10,000 in reward money to assist in the case of Tabitha Tuders, the East Nashville youngster who mysteriously disappeared five months ago. Only weeks earlier, Mayor Bill Purcell had been cool to the idea of boosting the paltry reward sum of $10,000 already being offered by public and private means. "The mayor talked to the police chief, who did not think that the additional reward money is necessary," Purcell's deputy mayor, Bill Phillips, told the Scene then. The state's contribution brings the total reward money for information about Tuders' whereabouts to $20,000.

johnny

10-24-2003, 02:24 PM

Fund for dropped dogs swells to $10,000

_____Today's Top Stories_____

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• Equalizing teacher pay won't pinch rich districts
• Dickson residents scold officials over fouled wells
• Subpoenaed education records turned in
• Plateau is height of Midstate leaf display this year
• Allegation of Titans favoritism may be dividing police officers

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By HOLLY EDWARDS
Staff Writer

As community donations to a reward fund to catch the person who tossed four dogs off an interstate overpass Monday grew to almost $10,000, the Berry Hill police chief said yesterday he has never seen this much interest in a violent act against a human being.

Chief Robert *******, a dog lover, called the incident ''a terrible thing'' but said people should remember that terrible things are happening to people, as well.

''We had a gentleman murdered three or four nights ago, and no one called in wanting to donate to a reward fund,'' ******* said. ''If someone had thrown four people off the bridge, I'm not sure we would have gotten this much of a response.''

Meanwhile, Berry Hill police followed several leads — some unsuccessfully — in their search for the perpetrator.

Police said someone threw the animals one by one off the 53-foot-tall bridge at the Interstate 440/65 interchange Monday morning. Two dogs, a male chow and a pregnant Labrador retriever, were dead at the scene.

The other two dogs survived the fall. The most seriously injured dog, a Belgian shepherd that suffered cuts and broken bones, was taken to a veterinarian for treatment yesterday and then returned to the Metro animal shelter. That dog had been labeled a German shepherd the day before in an apparent mix-up. The other dog, a hound mix, was not seriously injured.

A Lebanon woman who said the Belgian shepherd was stolen from her home more than a year ago is expected to take the dog's litter mate to the shelter today for a DNA test to determine whether she is in fact the owner, said Judy Ladebauche, Metro Animal Services Director.

The department is using donations that have come in for the dogs' veterinarian bills to pay the $45 cost of the test, she said, adding that the results should be available in a few days.

The dog needs bone fusion surgery on its injured leg, which will cost about $1,000, but Metro Animal Services cannot cover that expense, Ladebauche said.

Calls continued to pour into the Berry Hill police station and the Metro animal shelter yesterday from concerned residents who wanted to help the dogs and contribute to a reward fund to help catch the perpetrator.

The Billy Breeze and Marco in the Morning radio show on 102.5 The Party spearheaded the raising of almost $10,000 from various sources for the reward fund as of late yesterday afternoon. The disc jockeys chipped in $1,500 of their own money, and the Humane Society of the United States announced it had contributed $2,500 to the fund. The radio station also received a $2,500 donation from Loews Vanderbilt Hotel.

Last night Berry Hill Police questioned the owner of a Lincoln automobile seen near the overpass Monday morning after a Metro police sergeant spotted the vehicle last night in west Nashville.

Metro Sgt. James Hamlet said he saw the woman near her west Nashville home and followed her into her driveway. He summoned Berry Hill police immediately.

Hamlet said a Berry Hill officer questioned the woman but did not arrest her. He also said the officer told him that she was only a person of interest, not a suspect.

******* had said earlier that the car's owner was ''the only lead we've got, so if this doesn't pan out, that's it.''

The person who pushed the dogs could face up to four years in prison if convicted of four counts of aggravated animal cruelty, which is a misdemeanor in Tennessee unless the person has a prior conviction for the offense, said David Raybin, a local attorney who has worked with animal rights groups.

If a person has a prior conviction for aggravated animal cruelty, the charges are classified as Class E felonies, which carry sentences ranging anywhere from not less than one year to up to six years in prison

Doyle

10-28-2003, 05:48 AM

A candlelight vigil will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Bailey Middle School to commemorate the six-month disappearance of Tabitha Tuders.
http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/index.cfm?section=9&screen=news&news_id=27795

johnny

10-28-2003, 12:26 PM

http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/03/10/41504003.shtml?Element_ID=41504003

johnny

10-28-2003, 12:45 PM

Case of girl missing four months leaves parents, police frustrated FEATURED ADVERTISER:

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By: Russ Oates
Associated Press

NASHVILLE - For three days this summer, the neighborhood surrounding 1312 Lillian St. resembled a war zone - dozens of camouflaged men trekked through yards, alleys and homes while a helicopter whirled above.
It wasn't combat but instead a search for any sign of Tabitha Tuders, a missing 13-year-old girl.

Tabitha's parents, Bo and Debra appreciated the July effort by Nashville police - but they wished it had come when their daughter vanished April 29 instead of 11 weeks later.

"They should've done it when she come up missing," said Bo Tuders, sitting in an easy chair at home as the search concluded July 18.

The Tuders don't deny that the police responded when they reported the seventh-grader was missing the afternoon she failed to show up for classes at Bailey Middle School.

In Bo's estimation, about 50 or so officers searched their working class neighborhood that night.

But the nearly four months without their daughter has given the couple much time to wonder what might have happened had police approached the case differently.

The Tuders, whom police have cleared as suspects, always suspected someone snatched Tabitha and that she wasn't - as police first thought - a runaway. The department didn't issue an Amber Alert - a plan to galvanize the community to look for an endangered child - because they said Tabitha's disappearance did not fit the criteria.

A police statement preceding the July operation marked the department's shift in thinking, "The focus of the investigation is leaning more toward the potential involvement of foul play." Last week, authorities labeled a man arrested on charges of trying to abduct an 11-year-old Nashville girl as a "person of interest" in Tabitha's disappearance. But police also said they had uncovered no evidence linking the man, Martin Tim Boyd, 32, and the missing girl.

Debra Tuders said police were told by family and friends that Tabitha showed none of the signs of a troubled teen, like personality changes. "She was the same person up until the day she left," the mother said.

The parents tick off the things their daughter was excited about: participating in an event with her friends to raise money for arthritis research, new bedroom furniture and the A's on her last report card.

Authorities also have found no indication Tabitha ran away.

"All we know for sure is we have a missing child," said Deborah Faulkner, Nashville's acting police chief.

Faulkner defends her department's actions and early skepticism about foul play, saying authorities had little to go on at first.

"It took about three days to nail down with the family what she had on when she was missing," Faulkner said.

The photos of Tabitha first supplied to police were a year old, not good enough when searching for a maturing 13-year-old, Faulkner said. A family friend found more recent photos on film developed about two months after Tabitha went missing, she said.

Police also weren't notified about Tabitha's disappearance until about 11 hours after Bo Tuders last saw her.

The Tuders family routine was normal April 29. Debra went to work at the Tom Joy Elementary School cafeteria, and Bo awakened Tabitha shortly before leaving for his job as a short-haul truck driver.

As always, his daughter told him she was awake and to turn the television to her favorite program, he recalled. She was supposed to get dressed and catch the bus for school.

"I went out the door to go to work and that's the last time I saw her," he said.

When Tabitha didn't come home that night, her concerned parents drove to the school, where a teacher said their daughter was absent that day. The Tuders called police.

The July police operation was a methodical grid search with officers and police dogs of the Tuders' neighborhood, including nearby Shelby Park and the Cumberland River. Police established their command post in the parking lot of the nearby Tennessee Titans stadium.

Police have questioned all sex offenders living in the area and reviewed every field report from the days leading up to Tabitha's disappearance, Faulkner said. When Tabitha's classmates returned to school last week, they got a letter from police asking for any help in solving the case.

"Every resource I can garner I've put on this," Faulkner said.

Yet some look at history and wonder if police would have responded differently had Tabitha lived in a more affluent part of Nashville.

When 9-year-old girl Marcia Trimble disappeared in 1975 while selling Girl Scout cookies in her well-to-do neighborhood, police immediately suspected an accident or a crime. After 33 days of searching, authorities found her body in a neighbor's garage. The murder remains unsolved on the minds of many Nashvillians.

Marcia's mother, Virginia, and Debra Tuders recently met, two women bonded by missing daughters despite differences in class.

Faulkner says the department wasn't influenced by where the Tuders live or work.

"People see her as one of our children," she said.

Gary Gardiner, who is Tabitha's case manager at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Alexandria, Va., said the Nashville police response is not unusual for a missing child.

Publicity about Tabitha's case has come from Gardiner's organization, the national television show "America's Most Wanted" and most recently a billboard with the girl's photo along busy Interstate 24 near her home. Still there are no helpful tips, Faulkner said.

"This is the damnedest thing I've ever seen. It's like every day we get up and hit a wall," the chief said

johnny

10-29-2003, 04:00 PM

http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/03/10/41541910.shtml?Element_ID=41541910

Song, prayers mark vigil for Tabitha

johnny

10-29-2003, 06:39 PM

http://www.wkrn.com/global/video/popup/pop_index.asp?ClipID=160190&LiveURI=&ShowCC=0&TargetAdsTag=News&CurrentPosition=0

Tabitha's classmates write a song for Tabitha

Anniegirl

10-29-2003, 06:48 PM

Johnny... I saw Newschannel 5's coverage of the candlelight vigil last night..

Today is the 6 month anniversey of her abuction ( I believe she was abucted) I wish if any one that watches the news ,and knows anything about Tabitha, and what happened to her, or where she may be.,would just come forward..

Six months.. the family needs some closure ,and I pray Tabitha is still alive ,and comes home alive!

Johnny let the family know Annie from Ky. , still have them in her prayers!!!!

CaliKid

10-30-2003, 01:15 AM

I've read all the posts in this forum, and there are some glaring errors on the part of the school and the police department.
1. All schools throughout the USA should be calling parents within the first hour of school when a child doesn't show up. Money is tight for most districts, but what about using volunteers? If volunteer parents came into the school on a rotating basis they could call a parent for every absent student. If a parent had sent a child to school that morning, and the boy or girl wasn't there, many precious hours would be saved on notifying the authorities.
2. Police departments must stop treating the disappearances of adolescents as runaways, especially when parents and friends describe the child as one who wouldn't go off on his or her own. Look at the time wasted when the police should've been out looking for Tabitha. The best trail is a warm one, not trying to recreate an abduction two months later. The same goes for filing an Amber Alert- why wait when a child's life might possibly be in danger?
3. Have any of the suspects been given lie detector tests? I know they aren't admissible in court, but it seems to me that someone is being overlooked.

johnny

10-30-2003, 12:25 PM

Gilmore puts kids in proper priority
TO THE EDITOR:

In his article "Gilmore proposes program" (Oct. 16, p. 4) Craig Boerner wrote about Metro Councilmember Brenda Gilmore's proposed initiative to send police officers to Nashville neighborhoods to protect school children as they walk to and from schools and bus stops.

This seems a logical request given the increase in the number of heinous crimes against children that have been reported by news outlets all over the country recently. Since the disappearance of Tabitha Tuders in April, Nashville parents have been anxious about preventing crimes against our children.

All praises are due to Gilmore. I hope she continues to keep representing us as if we're in a war, because this is indeed a battleground. The enemies are those who want to defile, degrade and cripple our children. I'd like to thank Gilmore for fighting to give Nashville's children the protection they need to survive and thrive. I appreciate her foresight and concern. I hope she enjoys a long career in politics. We desperately need people like her to speak for us.
ALICIA BENJAMIN-SAMUELS
37208

Anniegirl

10-30-2003, 09:19 PM

Johnny, do you know if the Tuders have gotten my cards? Thanks.

No bother to ask them.. they have enough to think on.. just want them to know I CARE ,and Im not giving up faith that Tabitha will come home.. she looks so much like my niece it breaks my heart!

My heart aches for them ...Please God help Tabitha find her way back to her family!

johnny

10-30-2003, 09:28 PM

I spoke with Debra just moments ago and she has received your cards and wants to thank you for your words of encouragement and prayers.

Anniegirl

10-31-2003, 02:09 AM

Give her a hug from me !

johnny

11-01-2003, 12:29 AM

October 31, 2003

People who live in the Hillsboro neighborhood are keeping a watchful eye on their kids.

Around 8am Wednesday, a ten-year-old girl was waiting at the corner of Rosewood and Hawthorne for her school bus. She saw a truck come down a hill and noticed the driver was staring at her. She didn't think much about it until she saw him turn around.

“I was feeling weird so I was thinking maybe I should go home, but he was getting closer. I didn't want to run out in the middle of the car so I stayed there,” said the 10-year-old girl.

Then the car reached this stop sign and the driver said something to her.

“He said ‘Hey Honey, wanna slide something, something’ and I didn't hear the rest and then he went back up the hill he came down the first time,” she said.

Then the child ran home because she was frightened the driver would come back again.

Her mother didn't hesitate. She and other relatives immediately started circling the neighborhood in search of the man.

“I started walking around the block, and I was just thinking she could have been gone just like that,” said Mechelle Titi, Girl's Mother.

Titi is just glad her daughter followed her instincts and got away quickly. She doesn't doubt how badly her child was scared. She says the little girl arrived home looking like she'd seen a ghost.

“I felt like he would have done something. I really do. I'm not just guessing. I just have this feeling that he would have grabbed her,” said Titi.

That's just what Metro police intend to find out. They say they get eight to ten similar reports every year and take each one seriously.

“We like to be very scrupulous and look at these reports and try to compare them to other reports. And as I said, develop and see if there are any trends. If we have somebody who is doing this over and over again, we're gonna put every effort into those folks and finding out what their motives are,” said Det. Eddie Moran, Metro Police.

Detective Moran says the report on this case should be processed by Monday and given to an investigator who tracks these types of incidents. He will check to see if any reports have come in with similar descriptions.

The girl described the vehicle as a newer model shiny dark blue truck. The man inside the truck had a mustache, black or brown hair and looked to be in his 40's or 50's.

(This vehicle and man fits the description of a person of interest in the Tabitha Case)

johnny

11-03-2003, 09:58 AM

Cancer-fighting detective a bright spot in Tabitha case

http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/03/10/41808647.shtml?Element_ID=41808647

johnny

11-12-2003, 02:03 PM

A New Suspect Emerges

Detectives investigate a convicted rapist who lived near Tabitha Tuders

http://www.nashvillescene.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?story=This_Week:News:A_New_Suspect_Eme rges

mindys

11-13-2003, 09:37 AM

Wow Johnny. That article left me speechless.

Our children just aren't safe, period.

I still hold out Hope For Tabitha.

johnny

12-02-2003, 05:40 PM

http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/03/12/43495889.shtml?Element_ID=43495889

I pray this is not Tabitha.....

Examiner analyzing bones found at lake

Several bones of an unknown origin found along a trail at Percy Priest Lake are being analyzed by the Metro medical examiner's office, Metro police said.

It is too early to tell whether the bones are from a human or an animal, Metro police Sgt. Danny Collins said.

A man called police yesterday to say that he found the bones as he was walking on the trail, Collins said. The man, whose name was not released, was handing them over to officials later yesterday, Collins said. The state and Metro medical examiner's office confirmed yesterday that it is investigating.

Details were not released yesterday about where the bones were found. The analysis could take until next week, Collins said

johnny

12-02-2003, 09:19 PM

just heard that they are most likely deer bones...whew!

johnny

12-05-2003, 11:26 AM

http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/03/12/43653656.shtml?Element_ID=43653656

johnny

12-10-2003, 01:54 PM

Message 1 of 1 in Discussion

From: laffytaffy1221 (Original Message) Sent: 10/21/2003 10:08 PM
Boo I just wanted to put a liitle something in here so that you would know how much i missed you while you were gone. I know that one day you will come home and be able to read this. It has been almost six months since you have been gone and we know nothing, I just dont understand. How could somebody take you away from us. We miss you soooo much. I wish I could wake up in the morning and you be home. Dont worry Tabitha we will get the people that have you. They try to say that you ran away but we know that you didnt. I know that we may have fought somethimes but I love you very much. I would do anything just to see you roll your eyes at me again. You never know how much love you have for someone until there gone. Mom told me that I would regret fighting with you if something ever happend, guess what I do. I never thought I would be here having to write you a letter like this. I just want this to all end. One day I will be able to give you a big hug and tell you that I love you (I really do!). The words have not come out of my mouth a lot but I really do. I know you know that I do, even if I never told you a lot. Im going to go but I will stop in and write every couple of days. I just now got access to this web site but I promise it wont take this long anymore to write. You will be home soon Boo. I love you always. Your only sister JAMIE

p.s. I think about you every day. Preston and Brianna still loves you also.

johnny

12-12-2003, 01:34 PM

Ex-teacher charged with fondling girl

By IAN DEMSKY
Staff Writer

A former teacher at a state residential psychiatric facility for children in Nashville was arrested yesterday afternoon and charged with fondling a 14-year-old girl, Metro police said.

John William Downton, 58, of Quail Meadow Drive in Lebanon, was a teacher and counselor at the Belmont Boulevard campus of the Middle Tennessee Mental Health Institute — formerly known as Crockett Academy — which serves teens and youth in ''severe mental distress,'' said Tony Troiano, spokesman for the state Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities. The facility generally houses 17-19 patients ranging in age from 6 to 17.

Downton was named in a 36-count indictment charging seven counts of sexual battery by an authority figure, one count of attempted sexual battery by an authority figure, 11 counts of official oppression, 11 counts of official misconduct, three counts of public indecency and three counts of assault through offensive or provocative contact, police said.

He was first employed with MTMHI in 1982. He left to work at the Department of Correction and returned to the institute in October 1988, Troiano said.

An investigation into Downton began April 28 when he was absent from work, Troiano said. It was then that two other girls said he had inappropriately touched them in class, police said.

Complaints were filed against him that day to officials at the school and the state. Downton was immediately placed on leave pending an investigation. He never returned to work.

Starting two days later, mental health and state Department of Children's Services investigators began interviewing girls from the facility.

During the interviews, which lasted through most of May, the 14-year-old revealed the fondling, police said. It was reported to have occurred over a several-month period in 2002 and 2003 in numerous locations across campus.

Downton, on the advice of counsel, declined to be interviewed, Troiano said. He submitted a letter of resignation July 10, effective immediately, but it was not accepted pending the outcome of the investigation.

On July 23, his resignation was accepted in lieu of termination for gross misconduct based on the substantiated complaint, Troiano said.

He said he thought all the girls who may have been affected by Downton had already come forward. Downton's personnel file was not available yesterday afternoon, and it was unknown if it contained any similar allegations or previous disciplinary actions.

Downton remained in Metro Jail yesterday in lieu of $100,000 bond.

johnny

12-12-2003, 01:38 PM

April 28th was Monday before Tabitha turned up missing and a friend of Tabitha's had stayed overnight with her and walked to school with her, so what if he was planning to abduct her that day and then couldn't because of the other girl and came back on Tuesday.

johnny

12-12-2003, 01:40 PM

The Tuders are flying up to New York to be on the Montel show , this coming Tuesday and Wednesday. Sylvia Brown is going to do a "psychic reading".

Anyone have any input on the show and Sylvia???????

johnny

12-12-2003, 04:02 PM

http://www.wsmv.com/Global/story.asp?s=%20%201559484

picture of the above^

Juliana

12-13-2003, 09:30 AM

Johnny,
I understand the parents wanting to hear what Sylvia has to say and get media attention for their daughter. I'm sure I would have to do the same thing if I were in their shoes.

Just tell them not to expect any support from Montel, Sylvia or the production people. Maybe they can bring their own support group. From what I understand, when Leanna Warner's parents did the show with Sylvia, Sylvia basically gave them very bad news and then the devastated parents were shuffled out the door like yesterday's trash. IMO, when doing this kind of show with devastated parents, the producers need to provide some kind of counselling or assistance after the show.

JMO.

johnny

12-13-2003, 11:06 AM

NASA lab to scrutinize tapes possibly showing Tabitha

Two surveillance videotapes that show girls who might be Tabitha Tuders will be enhanced and analyzed by NASA using state-of-the-art computer equipment, Metro police said yesterday morning.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration will analyze a video from a Brentwood Red Roof Inn taken about a month after Tabitha, 13, disappeared from her east Nashville neighborhood on April 29. The other video, taken after the Red Roof Inn video, was shot several months ago at a Wal-Mart store in Columbia, Tenn., police said. Additional details about that tape were not available.

The videos will be enhanced free by technicians at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, said Detective Faye Okert with the police Youth Services division. The tapes probably will be shipped to NASA early next week, police spokesman Don Aaron said.

''In assessing images on the tapes, we don't believe they depict Tabitha,'' Aaron said. ''But if the enhancement will definitely rule something in or out, we're all for it.''

The Tuders family has said the girl on the Wal-Mart video is not Tabitha. They couldn't say one way or the other about the video from the motel.

''I've seen the tape, but you definitely can't tell if it was her,'' Tabitha's mother, Debra Tuders, told The Tennessean in a previous interview. ''You can't make out the face, but the girl's body is built the same way'' Tabitha's is.

After no luck enhancing the video shot at Red Roof Inn, Metro police officials accepted an offer of NASA's assistance arranged through Project Safe Child, a Franklin-based firm that looks for missing children.

''The quality of the (motel) video is poor,'' Okert said. She said NASA officials said they might not be able to do much with it. ''But it's worth a try,'' she said.

The analysis of the videos will be completed as quickly as the NASA technicians' schedules allow, Aaron said. Attempts to reach NASA for comment were not successful this week.

Tuders family spokesman Johnny White said police also have home videos of early search efforts for Tabitha, in hopes of identifying anyone suspicious.

''At this point we're going back to anything and everything, to things that didn't seem to make a difference in the past,'' he said.

Tabitha's mother and father, Bo, are scheduled to travel to New York early next week to tell their story on the Montel Williams show to psychic Sylvia Brown, White said.

johnny

12-15-2003, 11:26 PM

Family Hopes Psychic Will Lead Them To Tabitha
Posted: 12/15/2003 8:49:00 PM
Updated: 12/15/2003 8:57:02 PM
By: Joe Fryer

The parents of Tabitha Tuders are flying to New York Tuesday morning. They hope a famous psychic will help them find their missing daughter.

Debra Tuders and her husband will appear on the Montel Williams Show.

They'll get the chance to talk to psychic Sylvia Browne. The Tuders hope the psychic will provide some clues about Tabitha's disappearance.

The 13-year-old girl disappeared from her East Nashville neighborhood in April.

Despite numerous searches, there has been no sign of Tabitha during the past eight months.

"I mean I want to know, if she can tell me where she's at or who has her. If she is gone, tell me where her body's at so I can go get her," Debra Tuders said.

The Montel Williams Show will be taped Wednesday. It should air sometime next week.

johnny

12-15-2003, 11:28 PM

http://www.wsmv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1565430&nav=1TcRJgqc

Tuders family asks psychic for help

December 15, 2003

The parents of Tabitha Tuders, the missing East Nashville girl, are taking their story to the Montel Williams show. Bo and Debra Tuders will also be talking with a well-known psychic.

13-year-old Tabitha Tuders was supposed to catch a ride to school last April while waiting at a bus stop. Instead she disappeared and now her parents are hoping that talk show host Montel Williams and psychic Sylvia Browne can bring them answers.

The small, blonde teenager has been the subject of massive searches by Metro police and local volunteers for the past 8 months. But there have been no concrete clues to tell her parents why she disappeared.

On Monday, a nervous Debra Tuders went shopping for an outfit for Montel Williams' national TV show. The Tuders family and friends have been asking psychic Sylvia Browne to give them guidance. They'll finally talk with her in New York Wednesday.

"I'm hoping Sylvia can tell us something, where she is, a name, something,” said Debra Tuders Tabitha's mother.

The Tuders fly to New York Tuesday for the show taping. They are hoping to get some clues to help them get through the Christmas season

johnny

12-15-2003, 11:35 PM

Debra and Bo are having some of most awful times in the past few weeks, as no new information has come in and the holiday season without "Boo" has come. She told me the other night that we don't understand what its been like.................Johnny you and Renee (my wife) get to kiss your kids goodnight every night .....I haven't kissed "Boo" since the morning I left to go to work .......she was my heart and someone has ripped her away from me..............why can't they give her back!

Anniegirl

12-16-2003, 12:05 AM

Johnny.. Tears in my eyes..:( Please let them know I still think and pray for Tabitha daily.

I hope that Sylvia Browne can give a "positive" message for the Tuders..., I know the one she left with the Leanna Warner "beaners" family broke their hearts.

Keep Praying , as I will!

johnny

12-16-2003, 01:06 PM

Annie, thanks for your continued support and Debra really appreciates the cards!!!! CBS and 48 hours are talking with Bo and Debra while they are in New York, I'll let you know how that turns out.

Anniegirl

12-16-2003, 09:05 PM

Im sending her another one tomorrow..! I tear up everytime i see them on news, holding her picture and crying, has broke my heart since the first day I heard of Tabithas dissapperance.

Hard to believe has been 8 months and still no word on where Tabitha is .. :( Just heartbreaking.

cjones08

12-18-2003, 08:38 PM

Johnny
Just to let you know that Shawn Hornbeck's Family went to see Montel also. They did not tell them very much on the show but Sylvia said she would do a reading for them after the show for a small fee of 600.00 dollars. I would appreciate that anyone having experience with Sylvia please post them on in our forum at http://www.projectsafechild.org/forum. We are contact several news agencies to investigate this issue.

Charles Jones
Project Safe Child

Juliana

12-19-2003, 01:34 PM

My heart really goes out to the Tuders family. They taped a Montel show with Sylvia Browne. Sylvia gave the Tuders family bad news. I understand why the Tuders family felt they had to meet with Sylvia - they are desperate to find their daughter. I hope they will be able to take what Sylvia said with some skepticism. Didn't Sylvia also say that Elizabeth Smart had died?

Here's a link:

http://www.newschannel5.com/content/news/3156.asp

mindys

12-19-2003, 02:49 PM

Sylvia also told Audrey Herron's two best friends she was dead.

cjones08

12-19-2003, 06:50 PM

I think what Sylvia Brown is wrong. She should at least set the expectation that there is a possibility that she is never 100%. Which she is not. Please join me and send an email to oreilly@foxnews.com. If there is any wrong doing I believe Bill Oreilly will expose it.

WasBlind

12-19-2003, 09:51 PM

mindys, Aud's father and step-mother were there, too. I ate dinner with Ray and Jeanne at their home in New York when I flew in to attend Missing Persons Day. I think Ray has always believed harm came to Aud that first night, but a psychic is not doing anybody any favors by promoting despair.

cjones08, you are correct, someone needs to get to the bottom of this deal. The statistics are pretty clear, and anyone who presumes to state what happened to someone, when only that person and God knows it, well that just isn't right. Maybe you can start a petition and I can help you promote it, with a mass mailing. With the search angels and prayer warriors, we can get it to over 2000 the first mailing. What do ya think, cjones08 ?

Let me know, you have my addy, Lanie

cjones08

12-20-2003, 05:00 AM

I think a couple thousand emails to FOX would get their attention:) If we could get even more that would be great!! Let me know what I can do to help.

cj

johnny

12-20-2003, 06:16 PM

Ok, someone anyone show me where Sylvia has solved one case, even of someones missing hamster named jo-jo.

Then show me two cases, period that have been solved by any sickic.

johnny

12-20-2003, 06:29 PM

The "reading went something like this" The vehicle hovered in the area where she came up missing and the person who abducted her was an alien "possibly illegal" they were either green or purple and were missing the antenna (not sure if that was on the vehicle or there head) the vehicle was either metallic chrome or silver and she got part of the tag number which could've been hieroglyphics. The vehicle stopped while making crop circles and she is near a wooded area by a body of water where there is a road leading to this area.

Sorry I can't elaborate on the "Area 51'' ..............maybe since NASA is involved we can get them to de-classify that information for a search.

http://www.ufomind.com/area51/

johnny

12-20-2003, 07:03 PM

http://www.quackwatch.org/11Ind/browne.html

Sylvia Browne: Psychic Guru or Quack?

Ghostwheel

12-20-2003, 10:18 PM

http://www.oneshots.com/false/false2000.html

You might also note, Sylvia doesn't post her "predictions" anymore. You have to buy her newsletter to get them. There's someone trying to help people, alright.

If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck...

cjones08

12-20-2003, 11:45 PM

Johnny That is too funny:) Ghostwheel ditto on the duck theory...

cjones08

12-21-2003, 12:16 AM

Below is an email that I sent to Bryan Farha.

Dear Bryan,

I read your article regarding Sylvia Brown. I found it very interesting. I would like to assist you in arranging this challenge with Larry or any other host that would be willing to sponsor this challenge. Regardless, if Sylvia is true in her abilities the fact of the matter is that she uses this talent to prey on the suffering of her victims. I have worked with other psychics and one they do not charge for their services. They do not seek any recognition and they do not every ask for money when it involves a missing child or adult. They also do not profess to be 100% accurate. They only tell the person what they receive in their vision and for them to take it for what its worth. It has been my experience that most proclaimed psychics want to help so much that they put themselves in a self induced vision. I don’t believe one way or the other. I take it with a grain of salt. If someone has the ability to help locate a person especially a child then I will listen. I can tell you that most of my experience in the past 3 years of locating missing persons. There has not been anyone that has surprised me with their talent. It would be a great tool if there was someone with this ability. I know of several families looking for closure. Any assistance I can be to help you please let me know. You can reach me at 615-377-3984 or via email at cjones@projectsafechild.org.

Best Regards,
Charles Jones
Project Safe Child

Anniegirl

12-21-2003, 01:28 AM

My heart aches for Bo and Debra.. I send my hugs and love to them and the family of Tabitha.. I pray God will help the family get some tangible answers on where Tabitha is soon.

johnny

12-23-2003, 03:00 PM

Tabitha's family holds out hope for Christmas miracle

http://www.wkrn.com/Global/story.asp?S=1575519&nav=1ugBJpdg

The holiday season has been tormenting for the family of Tabitha Tuders. The East Nashville girl has been missing since April. Now her family is holding out hope they will receive the best Christmas gift ever - that she will be found.

Beautifully decorated and adorned with just the right ornaments, the Tuders family Christmas tree is almost perfect. Except this year, 13-year-old Tabitha isn't here to help in the holiday tradition.

Tabitha's father Bo Tuders said, "Me and Tabitha we usually put it up. I actually didn't want to put one up, 'cause she wasn't here, but then we had to put it up because of the grandkids and stuff."

Ceramic angels hang from the limbs. They were the decorations that Tabitha loved most.

"She just liked them - I guess because they're pretty and stuff, and because they're angels, she really liked them," said Bo.

At the top of the tree, the family has placed missing posters as a reminder this Christmas will be unlike any that the Tuders have ever had before.

Bo said, "It's actually hard to describe - it's heartbreaking. We don't know if she's going to be here for Christmas, but we're still prepared either way. We still got gifts for her that we're going to stick up under the tree and stuff."

Metro Police tell News 2 their search for Tabitha is neverending.

Metro Police Det. Faye Okert said, "Something happened that morning. What it is we don't know, but we're developing people of interest, and we're interviewing, and we're actively searching for her."

One frustrating aspect of this investigation for detectives is they still run into people who think Tabitha's come home already or that she's been found. But they say people need to remember that she is still missing and she needs to come home. A $21,000 reward is being offered for information that can help find Tabitha. If you have any information, you're asked to call Metro Police at 862-8600.

Dorinda Carter for News 2 at 10 pm
12.22.03

johnny

12-23-2003, 07:50 PM

Family Keeps Hope That Tabitha Is Still Alive

http://www.newschannel5.com/content/news/3196.asp?q=tabitha+tuders

Despite bad news from a nationally known psychic, relatives of a missing 13-year-old girl from Nashville aren't giving up.

Tabitha Tuders parents said they're still holding out hope their daughter will be found alive.

The Tuders said their grandchildren are the only thing that keeps them going.

Tabitha disappeared in April somewhere between her house in east Nashville and her school bus stop.

A psychic on the Montel Williams show spent about 15 minutes with the Tuders before telling them their daughter is dead.

“Once she told us she was deceased, it hurt…Until (the police) bring me her body and tell me she's gone, I'm going to believe she's still out there somewhere,” said Debra Tuders, Tabitha’s mother.

The Tuders said they turned the psychic's information over to Metro detectives.

The Tuders said other psychics have given them hope Tabitha is still alive, maybe in Louisiana, Mississippi or Texas, so they’re not giving up on their daughter.

They urged anyone with information in the case to call police.

johnny

12-24-2003, 01:16 PM

Psychic tells parents Tabitha is deceased

The parents of missing east Nashville teen Tabitha Tuders were told their daughter was dead last week by a popular psychic at a taping of the Montel Williams talk show in New York.

Psychic Sylvia Browne gave them some specific information about locations and possible names related to the case, which neither the family nor the police would talk about in detail.

Detective Faye Okert said police are looking into the information but are continuing to knock on doors, conduct interviews and track down people of interest.

''A psychic is a psychic, but we're following up with anything we get,'' Okert said. ''I guess she could be right.''

The 13-year-old girl disappeared on her way to the bus stop April 29, seemingly without a trace.

Debra and Bo Tuders were one of six families on the daytime television talk show who received Browne's insight into their personal tragedies.

Tabitha's parents sat on a couch facing the psychic. Browne told them at the beginning of the reading, ''Your daughter is no longer with you,'' Debra Tuders said yesterday.

''When she told me, my heart just fell, but I'm not going to really believe her until they bring me Tabitha's body. I'm not going to believe it.''

The appearance, scheduled to air at the end of January or in early February, was the second national TV appearance the Tuderses have made. They were on The John Walsh Show in June. The Tuderses said this was another opportunity to show Tabitha's name and face to a national audience.

johnny

12-28-2003, 07:37 PM

So-called psychics prey on desperate people

To the Editor:

One cannot blame Tabitha Tuders' parents for going on the Montel Williams show and trying to find a glimmer of hope concerning her disappearance. (''Psychics tell parents Tabitha is deceased,'' Dec. 24)

The sad thing is, too many people who suffer a great loss like that rely on the words of so-called ''psychic mediums'' like Sylvia Browne. She and others like her (John Edward, James Van Praagh, et al) no more know the fate of a disappeared or deceased love one than any person off the street. They use a method of questioning called ''cold reading,'' which means they ask a person a lot of questions using names, letters and numbers at random. Once a person identifies with anyone of those, the ''psychic'' will build on this with more of the same until they have a general story about the missing or deceased.

The person in question's family, distressed and wanting to help as much as possible, usually gives all the answers about a person that the ''psychic'' would not know otherwise. These people prey on the emotions of others who have suffered a great loss and many get rich doing it.

Tabitha's parents should give no weight whatsoever to anything Sylvia Browne or those like her say concerning their daughter. Until Tabitha is found, hopefully alive, do not give up hope.

Ronnie Crutcher

Clarksville 37043

robinronnie@aol.com

My wishes for happier, cost-effective new year - Sunday, 12/28/03
...• Someone finds out what happened to young Tabitha Tuders.

johnny

12-28-2003, 07:52 PM

http://www.tennessean.com/government/archives/03/12/44328215.shtml?Element_ID=44328215

Deb Faulkner

Position: Acting Metro Nashville police chief (2003 to present)

Years in law enforcement: 30

Age: 52

Race: White

Education: Doctorate, human development counseling, Vanderbilt University

Master's, criminal justice administration, Middle Tennessee State University

Bachelor's, broadcast journalism, University of Memphis.

Other notable experience: Faulkner, who had planned to start a career in journalism, worked briefly for WSM-Radio at the Grand Ole Opry as a college student. She was recruited to the Metro Police Department from the University of Memphis and has been there since.

Major recent accomplishments: Faulkner values service and volunteerism and serves on 16 community boards, including the YWCA, Girl Scout Council of Cumberland Valley, Catholic Charities, Goodwill Industries and You Have the Power.

Past positions: Faulkner is the highest-ranking woman to serve in the department. Before being appointed acting chief after former Metro Police Chief Emmett Turner retired in March, she served as a deputy chief over Field Operations, assistant police chief over Uniform Services and Administrative Services. She also has been an internal affairs investigator and headed the professional standards division.

The dish: Faulkner is a native Nashvillian who has garnered a great deal of support for police chief, but her leadership as acting chief also has been questioned, including by some black Nashvillians and some citizens concerned about the department's investigation of the Tabitha Tuders disappearance. A lot of her spare time is spent working on community boards, and she reaches out to neighborhood groups and citizens groups.

What others say: ''She's just an incredible force, and we in Nashville are very lucky to have her,'' said Verna Wyatt, a victims-rights advocate with You Have the Power.

What she says: ''I've worked very hard. I've been a very dedicated law enforcement professional. I care deeply about the city and the people that we serve, and I also care very much for the officers that wear our badge. I see it as a tremendous challenge, an honorable opportunity to represent the men and women in this department and to do all I can to make Nashville a safe place to live and work and raise our children.''

johnny

01-08-2004, 11:56 PM

Meet the Chief

Ronal Serpas--reformer, Cajun cook--comes to town

http://www.nashvillescene.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?story=Back_Issues:2004:January_8-14_2004:News:City_Limits

Ghostwheel

01-09-2004, 12:20 AM

Tabitha's parents sat on a couch facing the psychic. Browne told them at the beginning of the reading, ''Your daughter is no longer with you,'' Debra Tuders said yesterday.
You know, their daughter IS no longer with them. She MISSING! Hello...? How cheesy can you get?

johnny

01-10-2004, 11:23 AM

New Metro police chief ready to get started

http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/04/01/45342678.shtml?Element_ID=45342678

In April 2003, Tabitha Tuders, a 13-year-old from east Nashville, disappeared on way to the school bus. Her case remains unsolved. How, as chief, will you proceed with this investigation?

I suspect that there is a lot of information about this case that I don't know, because I haven't had a chance to be brought up to speed on it.

I believe it is a tragedy to the family and the community. I believe it's the business that we're in to try to give some type of resolution for those tragedies. Anytime you have a child who has been taken from their family, I mean, that is really as (central) as it gets in our business, protecting children.

I'm going to want to know everything there is to know about that case as I would any case involving a child or a tragic loss of life. My style of management is I like to be up to speed on every case as they occur in Nashville. I have a BlackBerry (wireless communications device and organizer) I like to use. I like to get beeped by the communications section and say, ''Yeah, we had a shooting here tonight'' or ''We had an armed robbery.''

I want to know those things, because I believe they are important to my job to serve the community. So, in the case of the tragedy involving Tabitha, just as with any other child, I am going to want to know all about that case and want to know where we've been, and where can we go. Anything that comes to us. What more is a government's duty than to protect children? That's as fundamental as it gets.

Why did you become a police officer?

It was the family business. Before I became a police officer, I had been working in the respiratory care field. I really believe — and this sounds Pollyannaish — but I really believe it is a calling to want to help people. Over time, I realized being a police officer was where I thought I could do most of that, and I haven't turned my back on that since.

johnny

01-17-2004, 11:47 AM

Top cop says Tabitha top case, doesn't believe teen ran away

The search for missing east Nashville teen Tabitha Tuders is the Metro Police Department's No. 1 case, Police Chief Ronal Serpas said yesterday afternoon.

Also, for the first time since the 13-year-old disappeared April 29, Serpas publicly said the department does not consider her to be a runaway.

''I've been here for a week,'' he said. ''And in my mind she's not a runaway.''

Tabitha's father mouthed a silent ''Thank you'' when he heard those words spoken by the chief.

''She's not a runaway and everyone should know that,'' Bo Tuders said.

From the day Tabitha disappeared to the day Serpas took over the department, Acting Chief Deborah Faulkner never met with the Tuders couple, family spokesman Johnny White said. Yesterday was Faulkner's last day on the force.

Faulkner had been criticized for her handling of the case, including the department's initial stance that the girl who sometimes slept at the foot of her parents' bed might have left on her own. From the beginning, the Tuders family was vehement that Tabitha did not run away.

Faulkner talked to Bo Tuders twice on the phone and once drove by the house, where the Team Tabitha headquarters is based, waving but not stopping, White said.

Faulkner, who has resigned and taken her pension, could not be reached for comment last night.

Serpas met about 4 p.m. at the Criminal Justice Center with Bo and Debra Tuders ''to get brought up to speed, to put a family with a face and a mother and father with a child.''

The chief said he had been briefed about the case by detectives E.J. Bernard and Faye Okert, who also were present at the meeting.

''Effort is the wrong word'' for actions being taken by the two detectives, whose primary duty is the Tuders case, Serpas said. ''It's dedication.''

Okert said tips from the public have dropped off to a trickle but that she and Bernard were still following up on leads and rechecking facts.

''We welcomed him here,'' Bo Tuders said after speaking with Serpas. ''We want him to find our baby.''

Debra Tuders said she did not have any criticisms about the way the department has handled the case.

Serpas said keeping the case before the public was one of his primary strategies in the new year.

''The public should never forget any little piece of information, no matter how insignificant, may be important,'' he said. ''Give us the benefit of that information. We're not going to stop.''

johnny

01-17-2004, 12:07 PM

New Police Chief Meets with Tuders
Posted: 01/16/2004 8:26:49 PM

Metro's top cop says the search for Tabitha is the department's "number one" case.

The leadership at the Metro Police Department may have changed, but at least one of the department's priorities has not. New Metro Police Chief Ronal Serpas met Friday with Bo and Debra Tuders. The Tuders' 13-year-old daughter, Tabitha, disappeared from their East Nashville neighborhood on April 29. Chief Serpas said he had been briefed on the case, but wanted to meet the Tuders personally. "I wanted to put a family with the face and I wanted to put a mother and father with the child," Chief Serpas said. The chief said he does not think Tabitha ran away. He urged anyone with information to call police.

johnny

01-21-2004, 01:08 PM

http://www.nashvillescene.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?story=This_Week:News:City_Limits

Can Serpas Make Up for Lost Time?

The new police chief gives the Tabitha Tuders case top priority--nine months after her disappearance

By Matt Pulle

When new Police Chief Ronal Serpas declared publicly that he believes missing teen Tabitha Tuders didn't run away, he didn't just comfort her parents--he made it clear to both his force and all of Nashville that he's a new kind of boss. Unlike both acting Police Chief Deborah Faulkner, who resigned last week, and former Chief Emmett Turner, Serpas is more visible, outspoken and involved in day-to-day cases. He's the police chief Tabitha Tuders needed the day she disappeared from her East Nashville neighborhood.

Last Friday, Serpas held a press conference during which he announced that not only does he believe that the missing girl was abducted, but that the case will be the department's top priority. "I've been here for a week," he said. "And in my mind she's not a runaway."

It took the police department and then-acting Chief Deborah Faulkner months to come to the same conclusion. After Tuders disappeared from her East Nashville home on April 29, the police department insisted that she might have fled on her own, effectively dampening public interest in the case. In fact, Tuders, 13, earned straight As in her latest report card, left all her money behind in her room and had made plans with her friends later that week. A's Serpas quickly realized within days of being sworn in, Tuders hardly fit the profile of a runaway.

"After talking to the detectives, I don't believe she ran away," the chief tells the Scene. "I believe that given her background with her family, what happened that week, I just don't believe she ran away."

Under Faulkner, the police department lagged at keeping Tabitha's parents, Bo and Debra, updated about the case. Sometimes, the Tuders first learned about new developments by turning on the local news. And police were often slow to follow up on leads. In fact, it may have been the department's handling of the Tuders case that partly undermined Faulkner's candidacy for the job. (She failed to make the short list from which Mayor Bill Purcell chose Serpas.)

Meeting last week with the chief let the Tuders know that the investigation into their missing daughter wouldn't stall.

"It made us feel good to meet Chief Serpas," says Debra Tuders. "Chief Faulkner never came out and visited us face to face. I don't know why."

Serpas says that he met with the Tuders "to put a family with a face." He says, "I just wanted to know who they were."

To some more cynical observers, the chief's press conference might have seemed to be more about him than Tabitha. After all, he could have met with the family privately rather than invite local news crews. But the chief says that he wants to keep Tabitha's name and face in the press. In any case, part of his modus operandi clearly involves being a take-charge chief, a sharp departure from the laid-back, office-management approach that his predecessors took. Serpas, who wears his uniform every day to work, says that he wants people to see him and other command officers on the street. Being visible is an asset, he says. And many say that's one reason why he got the job.

"This is pure guesswork on my part, but I think that this is what Mayor Purcell wanted in a new police chief," says Metro Council member Mike *******, whose East Nashville district includes Tuders' neighborhood.

Johnny White, a family friend of the Tuders, is glad the chief is taking a more hands-on approach than his predecessor. "I think Chief Faulkner just got too callused," he says. "I had high hopes for her, but I kept waiting for her to come by and show us some effort was being done on the case." He adds, "If we could go back eight months with this chief I don't know what the outcome would be, but there would have been some major differences in how the investigation went. Especially early on."

dannyodie

01-23-2004, 06:14 AM

I just heard on the morning news on channel 2 that a small human foot was discovered in lavergne tn. not far from nashville, police are going to search the area today with more day light at hand. they believe that it is a foot of either a small petite woman or a child. at this time there is no link on the news 2 webpage since the page has not been updated. for those websleuthers that would like a link to the news site you can find it at www.wkrn.com

johnny

01-23-2004, 02:16 PM

At first they thought the foot was that of a person, then this morning they thought that it was that of an elderly person with arthritis.....turns out they found the foot to be that of a Black Bear that possibly a taxidermist disposed of the carcass.

http://www.wkrn.com/Global/story.asp?S=1613829&nav=1ugBKNSl

johnny

01-23-2004, 02:20 PM

Overhaul sex crime registry, group says

http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/04/01/45878938.shtml?Element_ID=45878938

johnny

01-26-2004, 01:05 PM

Let public report on sex offenders, DAs say

_____Today's Top Stories_____

• 'Final mission': 101st heads home
• Let public report on sex offenders, DAs say
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By IAN DEMSKY
Staff Writer

Proposed legislation would allow anyone with knowledge to disclose whereabouts

Proposed legislation to toughen state sex offender laws would allow any ''credible source'' to forward information to law enforcement about an offender's whereabouts, a draft of the legislation obtained Friday by The Tennessean says.

Under the state's existing laws, only the offender can update his or her information in the state's registry.

Last year, an examination of the state's sex offender registry by the newspaper found that 37% of the offenders in the state were not in compliance with registration laws or their whereabouts were unknown — even though some of the offenders were under probation or parole supervision or had been incarcerated. Others listed as in jail or prison had been out for some time.

District Attorney General John Carney, who was instrumental in researching and proposing changes to the law, gave an example of how the new law would work:

A sex offender moves from Knox County to Montgomery County and does not appear in person to notify law enforcement within the required 48-hour period. If a neighbor, his mother or another member of the public — what Carney called ''good citizen informants'' — phones in a tip that the offender has moved, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation would notify the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, which would try to verify the tip by going to Knox County.

Tips now are noted in an offender's file, but no one is charged with verifying them and the TBI cannot update an offender's information, even if the new information came from a district attorney or other official source.

In the example, if the sex offender were found to be living in Montgomery County, he could be arrested on a charge of violating the registration law, which under the new law would be a felony instead of a misdemeanor.

Or, if the offender was not living at the address at which he previously registered and had not notified law enforcement, a felony warrant could be sworn out for his arrest. The warrant would be entered into a national database, and if the offender was found anywhere in the country, he could be extradited to Tennessee for prosecution. The local district attorney decides whether to extradite.

''We designed the new law to utilize every bit of law enforcement function and ability,'' Carney said.

Under existing laws, convicted sex offenders must mail back registration cards every 90 days. If one comes back ''return to sender,'' another is sent 90 days later. If that comes back, too, the offender's address is updated in the state's computer system to ''unknown.''

''That's 180 wasted days,'' Carney said.

Then the local district attorney, after sending for an affidavit from the TBI on the violating offender, decides whether to prosecute.

District attorneys must be ''100% on prosecuting statewide,'' Carney said. ''We've got to, and we will.''

The proposed laws do away with the mailed cards, instead requiring violent offenders to register in person with local law enforcement once every 90 days and nonviolent offenders once per year, within the two-week period before and after the offender's birthday.

This will save the state $80,000 in mailing costs per year, Carney said. There will be a yearly fee the offenders will pay to help with the costs of administering the new laws.

Also, Carney said, if a missing offender from Knox County is found living in Montgomery County, he can be prosecuted there under the new law.

Another change to the law would require sex offenders who live in another state but work in Tennessee to register.

Proposed sex-offender laws

Here are some of the details of the proposed sex-offender laws, including some items that would be unique to sex-offender laws nationwide:

• There would be a distinction between violent and nonviolent sex offenders. Violent offenders would be required to register four times per year; nonviolent offenders would register once. All would have to register in person with their local law-enforcement agency.

• Once convicted and sent to prison or jail, sex offenders would have to register 48 hours before they were released. (Currently, they have 10 days to register after they get out.) When they change addresses, they would have 48 hours to re-register.

If they went back to jail for another offense or for violating their parole or probation, they would have to immediately update their information with the appropriate law enforcement agency. They would have to re-register within 48 hours of release.

Offenders living in nursing homes wouldn't have to register in person; however, a guardian or the facility's administrator would have to notify the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation of any address changes.

• Law enforcement would notify another state when a sex offender said he or she was moving there; they would ask the other state to verify the offender's address. If not, a felony arrest warrant could be issued for the offender.

• The agency that the offender registers with would have 12 hours to enter the information into the state's online database.

• Offenders would have to sign a registration form signifying they understand the laws and registration requirements. That way, they couldn't argue later that they didn't understand.

• A system is being developed also to track sex offenders who are considered ''homeless'' — defined as someone without a primary or secondary residence.

A primary residence is where a person stays for at least 14 consecutive days. A secondary residence is a place a person stays for 14 days out of a year, a place of employment or school where the person is for at least 14 days out of the year; or a place where a person stays four days in a row or four days out of any single month.

Offenders who move a lot, staying with relatives or friends, would still be required to register within 48 hours if they meet the secondary residence requirements, which also apply to out-of-state residences.

If they are truly homeless, they would still be required to register but could do so in person with any law enforcement agency. That agency, or any police officer who checked on them, could enter notes into the state database, updating the offender's most recent location and stated destination.

The details of the system to track ''homeless'' offenders are being developed.

• Each time an offender registered, he or she would be fingerprinted and photographed.

• After 10 years of good behavior, nonviolent offenders would be eligible to be excused from the registration requirements. However, failing to register or committing another offense would set that 10-year count back to zero

dannyodie

01-27-2004, 06:21 AM

sure would have been nice for this to have been inforced from the beginning. its about time that the state takes a look at a broken system, it would also be good that a offender not be allowed to live within 1 mile of any school system, but then that would probably be another issue all together. :twocents:

johnny

01-30-2004, 02:30 PM

As far as sex offenders not living within a mile thats not quite stiff enough... maybe just drop everything except the not living!

Looks like there is a movement to make it mandatory for schools to call the parents if there kid is not in school by the second period. Possibly Senator Haynes is sponsoring the Bill and naming the Bill the Tabitha Law.

johnny

02-05-2004, 07:50 PM

Doyle

02-06-2004, 06:31 AM

Johnny,

You have done great efforts in your efforts to help...What can we do to help? Anyone live near Nashville?

Are there any search activities going on right now?

mindys

02-06-2004, 07:41 AM

SHE IS STILL MISSING!

We have taken up space here for over nine months and soon Tabitha will have a birthday Feb. 15 2004 and she'll turn 14. Doyle if you read this its ok to move her over to the missing but not forgotten.

She never was given our cities support that she deserves.No, not yet, don't give up hope, remember Elizabeth, just over 9 months later she came back, other's too. It can happen! Please don't move especially in the next few days as the Missing Forum is getting more traffic than usual.

http://www.rinokids.com/Children/Tuders/

johnny

02-06-2004, 04:37 PM

This guy reminds me of Calie Brucia's murderer (Joseph Peter Smith)

A New Suspect Emerges

Detectives investigate a convicted rapist who lived near Tabitha Tuders

By Matt Pulle

Metro Police detectives looking into the disappearance of Tabitha Tuders are investigating a prime suspect: Millard Earl Smith, a 52-year-old convicted rapist.

Smith is currently in jail, charged with attempted sexual battery and solicitation of a 13-year-old boy who went to school with Tuders at Bailey Middle School in East Nashville. He was arrested just in June, one day after a teenage girl claimed that he raped and kidnapped her in yet another case.

"They're putting a lot of emphasis on him having something to do with this little girl," says Smith's sister, who didn't want to be identified by name. "My brother has problems, but as far as him physically hurting a child, he's never done that." Smith was convicted of raping a woman in Rutherford County in the 1980s and was charged with rape in the 1970s.

While Metro police detectives have investigated several men with questionable backgrounds whom they thought might have had something to do with the 13-year-old girl's sudden disappearance last April, Smith's rape conviction and alleged involvement in two more recent sex crimes makes him, in the eyes of police, a strong suspect.

On May 23, less than a month after Tuders went missing, Smith allegedly lured a young boy onto his motorcycle after leading the boy to believe that he knew his mother. He picked up the boy outside his East Nashville home, just a few blocks from where Tuders was seen walking to the bus the morning she disappeared. According to Stephanie Machado, the boy's mother, Smith told him that he knew his mother, mentioning that she played pool at Harold's, a bar on Gallatin Road, and that she didn't drink. While Machado says that's an accurate description of her, she says she never met Smith and doesn't recognize him from his picture.

Still, Machado says that she took her son to the bar to watch her play pool a few times and wonders whether that's where he spotted him. If so, Smith must have studied her closely, and followed her home to figure out where she and her son live. "He had to have been plotting this for a long time for him to have known what he knew," Machado says.

According to the warrant, Smith took the boy to an abandoned trailer on Heathcoat Avenue off Fessler's Lane. Smith went into the trailer, at the top of a steep, secluded hill with a cemetery behind it. He tried to get the boy to follow him inside, promising a CD player, a radio, new clothes or $20 as a reward. The boy refused and, according to the 13-year-old, Smith said, "I'm going to break it down for you. I want you to come in here so I can masturbate you."

The boy ran to the trailer of a local groundskeeper, who promptly called the police.

"He was so terrified," Machado says. "When I got there, he just held me and cried." Machado, who notes that her son wouldn't even go outside to play until Smith was arrested, says that she hopes increased public attention on the case will make it more difficult for Smith to get out on bail. In the event that happens, she says her family will move.

Exactly a month after Smith picked up the boy, he allegedly lured a teenage girl from the Greyhound bus station by telling her that her boyfriend said it was alright for him to give her a ride. He took her on his motorcycle to the same abandoned trailer off Fessler's Lane, where he allegedly raped her at knifepoint. According to sources close to the investigation, the girl noted the license plate number of Smith's motorcycle. Police arrested him the next day at his sister's house in East Nashville. Shortly after that, the boy identified Smith from a photo lineup. The girl did the same. In addition, a medical exam found Smith's DNA on the girl. He remains in a Metro jail on $270,000 bond.

Accused of two sex crimes and now the focus of an investigation into a missing person case, Smith has a long criminal history that includes several rape charges, trespassing, disturbing the peace, arson and grand larceny. His sister says that he has served the better part of his adult life in prison. Smith was released from Riverbend Maximum Security Institution last November, and while his sister claims that he registered as a sexual offender, a search for him on the TBI's Sexual Offender Registry didn't turn up his name.

Sgt. Keith Elliott, who has monitored the investigations into Smith, says only, "I will let his criminal history speak for itself."

Astonishingly, Smith is hardly the bad seed of his family. His brother, Oscar Franklin Smith, was sentenced to die for shooting and stabbing to death his estranged wife and her two sons. Evidence presented at the trial included a 911 tape that recorded one of the boys saying, "Frank, no. God help me."

Police detectives confirm that they have talked to Smith and that he continues to be a "person of interest." Complicating the investigation into Tabitha's disappearance is that there is no shortage of shady characters who have frequented the young girl's neighborhood. One couple, who lived five houses down from Tabitha, were arrested for raping a minor. Another man who lived nearby frequented Tabitha's block, handing out bicycles as gifts to area children. He also spoke suggestively about the missing 13-year-old girl to several people, including Scene reporters.

Smith is different from the others in that there's no evidence he knew Tabitha or her family. Members of the Tuders family who were shown a mug shot say that Smith doesn't look familiar. But what makes him a prime suspect--in addition to his sordid criminal background--is that Smith was hardly a stranger to Tabitha's neighborhood. He picked up the young boy just a few blocks from where Tabitha waited for the bus each morning. He lived only a few miles away. And according to a source close to the investigation, Smith also apparently tried to entice girls onto his motorcycle at Shelby Park, less than a mile from the Tuders' house.

Smith's sister, who let her brother stay with her family shortly after he was released from prison, claims that he's innocent in both of the recent cases against him. "I guess the kid wanted to take a ride," she says, denying that her brother tried to molest the boy. As far as the rape charge, she says that there are no witnesses.

The sister seems torn by her obvious feelings of loyalty and the fact that her brother has lived a very troubled life. "He's never gotten any kind of rehabilitation," she says. "We've tried to get him some help, but you put someone in an animal atmosphere like that; what do you expect?"

The sister says that she can't vouch for her brother's whereabouts at 8 a.m. April 29, when Tabitha Tuders disappeared. He had been working as a mechanic at a small garage her brother and husband operated. He didn't have to sign in, so there's no record of when he arrived that day. She says that he normally arrived at work after 9 a.m. Asked further about what her brother might have been doing that morning, she says that "the detectives are aware of our routine, and he was part of our routine."

While continuing to concede that her brother did pick up a 13-year-old boy on his motorcycle, she insists he didn't try to molest the child. "He gave rides to kids in my neighborhood," she says. "He's not a mean, violent person; he's not a vicious person. He may have a bad side." According to police sources, there is an "open investigation" into whether Smith might have molested other children as well.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Search for more articles By Matt Pulle

johnny

02-07-2004, 12:42 AM

http://www.wsmv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1634138&nav=1TcRKg7M

February 6, 2004

Do Metro detectives have the clue they need to solve the Tabitha Tuders disappearance case? It's possible, and it was found in the most unusual place.

Investigators have been super quiet about a glass window removed from a Metro Jail Cell. Scratched on the inside of the window was some writing that police believe could be connected to the disappearance and probable murder of the 13-year-old East Nashville girl.

Tabitha has been missing for more than nine months and up until now investigators have failed to turn up a single clue.

Metro Detective E.J. Bernard, recently assigned to the case, confirms the glass was removed from the cell door and has now been turned over to a handwriting expert. Handwriting samples have also been taken from a number of the jail inmates.

But the veteran detective refused to reveal details about the writing that was first discovered by sheriff's personnel. It was found after Bernard and others questioned five prisoners in the cell. One prisoner who reportedly had access to the cell is described by Bernard as a person of interest.

The officer says, "The writing on the glass window could be very helpful if the person we think wrote it actually did."

Metro authorities have also been in contact with Memphis police and the Shelby County Sheriff's office, but declined to say why.

Police here are now convinced Tabitha is not a runaway, as initially believed, but has been murdered.

More than a dozen polygraph tests have been conducted, including all of the family members twice, without any results.

Some on the city's sexual offenders list, neighbors, and numerous school children have been interviewed and re-interviewed without developing any evidence.

Bernard says Police Chief Ronal Serpas has put a high priority on the case.

If you think you can help with the Tabitha Tuders case please contact the Metro Police.

johnny

02-07-2004, 12:48 AM

From being treated like a runaway for nine months to reading the writing on the wall (or window) now they think its a possible homicide without any clues?

ps. They didn't have the compassion to call Debra and Bo (the parents) and let them know this story was going to air and for them to here for the first time that the police now are treating the case as a homicide?!?! The two detectives closest to the case whom Debra and Bo trust completely................. Somewhere there's a person that took there daughter and now the police have taken away ther hope.

cjones08

02-07-2004, 01:06 AM

I think that the TBI should allow parents to subscribe to the sex offender registry. That way a parent could be notified if a sex offender moves into their neighborhood. We need to be more proactive verses reactive.

dannyodie

02-07-2004, 03:15 PM

I think the idea that cjones has about people that register for email updates of sexual offenders which are about to be released from the system should be notified, the information is public info any way. in the most recent event of carlies abduction it really brings the reality of child abduction into the nations face, to actually get to witness the whole abduction on tape and to sadly learn of the outcome later., should be a wake up call to the law makers of this country that something has to be done to help protect our children,and in some cases old and young adults that turn up missing. the law should realize that not every sexual offender released is rehabilitated, it is a mental sickness and some of them are never cured of it.. and our children pay the ultimate price for there over sitesightness.

close_enough

02-10-2004, 10:30 AM

updated info on tabitha.....
http://www.newschannel5.com/content/news/3769.asp

close_enough

02-10-2004, 10:49 AM

updated info on tabitha.....
http://www.newschannel5.com/content/news/3769.asp

wanted to add...don't give up on the metro police here in nashville, yet....they will not stop investigating this, imo

johnny

02-10-2004, 12:41 PM

Police in Tabitha case analyze cell writing

By CHRISTIAN BOTTORFF
Staff Writer

Metro police are examining handwriting on a window at Metro's Hill Detention Center as part of an investigation into the disappearance of 13-year-old Tabitha Tuders.

Police on Jan. 9 removed the window from a jail cell that had held a 20-year-old ''person of interest'' in Tabitha's disappearance. Police did not identify the person by name, but say he is from east Nashville, where the teenage girl's home is located.

Police declined to say what is written on the glass but said it did not specifically mention Tabitha by name.

Only a handful of inmates had been in the cell. Police have been conducting handwriting analyses on inmates who occupied the cell to see if any of their writing matches the scrawl. For now, however, police say it's possible that another inmate wrote the message to ''spite'' the inmate who is being questioned.

''It would not be accurate to say that this analysis of this window has any greater weight in the totality of the investigation than other pieces of evidence that we reviewed over the past several months,'' said Metro police spokesman Don Aaron.

Aaron said the man who was questioned has cooperated with investigators. He was incarcerated at the time for property crimes, Aaron said.

Metro detectives discovered the writing while they were conducting interviews at the facility, which houses mostly medium-security inmates, said Kevin Carroll, investigator for the Davidson County Sheriff's Office. Metro detectives asked Metro maintenance crews to remove the window at the Second Avenue jail. The cell has since reopened, Carroll said.

Tabitha disappeared from her east Nashville neighborhood on her way to her school bus stop last April 29. She never boarded the bus that day and never arrived at Bailey Middle School.

For pictures and more information about the missing girl, a Web site has been established at www.tabithatuders.com.

johnny

02-12-2004, 12:59 PM

List of ages of consent.

http://www.ageofconsent.com/ageofconsent.htm

johnny

02-12-2004, 04:21 PM

Subj: Tabitha Tuders 14th Birthday *A Day of Celebration Prayer & Hope*
Date: 2/12/2004 1:41:50 PM Central Standard Time
From: Kenny27DC
BCC: AMERITRANCO
Right-click picture(s) to display picture options

For Immediate Release "Team Tabitha"
February 12, 2004 Ken Bernstein 615-400-5620

Tabitha Tuders 14th Birthday
A Day of Celebration Prayer & Hope

On Sunday, February 15 at 2:00 PM the family & friends of Tabitha Tuders, members of Team Tabitha, students from Bailey Middle School & concerned neighbors & local citizens will congregate at Bailey Middle School in honor of Tabitha Tuder’s 14th birthday. There will be a short prayer service, a launching of 14 Balloons, and a special planting of a Flowering Pink Cherry Tree In celebration of Tabitha Tuders at her middle school.

This event will take place at 2:00 PM at Bailey Middle School
2000 Greenwood Avenue Nashville, TN.

Tabitha has been missing since April 29th, 2003. She never made it to her bus stop or to school that Tuesday morning. Sunday will be 293 days that she has been missing.
*Any information about the disappearance of Tabitha Tuders please call: Metro Police Department at 615-862-8600
*Donations to the Tabitha Reward Fund can be made at this event or by contacting Contact Johnny White at 615-566-0943.

For more information about this event please contact
Ken Bernstein: 615-400-5620
Johnny White: 615-566-0943

close_enough

02-14-2004, 09:22 AM

Lead in Tabitha Tudors Case Goes Nowhere
Posted: 02/12/2004 6:15:08 PM

They thought it might be a new lead in the disappearance of Tabitha Tuders, but detectives now say it didn't pan out.

Investigators had removed a window from a cell in the Davidson County jail. Deputies there had noticed some writing left by an inmate that may have related to the Tuders case.

But, after analysis investigators say there's no connection, and they're moving on to other leads.

newschannel5.com

dannyodie

02-14-2004, 09:48 AM

I had heard on larry brinton segment " word on the street" that the pane of glass was broken while in police hands. if that is true I guess that would be why the lead went nowhere.

johnny

02-14-2004, 09:32 PM

I believe he was speaking to the glass as being shattered to mean that they (being the police) have shattered (as being eliminated) the possibilty of this lead having any credibilty.

johnny

02-16-2004, 11:06 AM

Tabitha's family marks birthday with party, cake

http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/04/02/47020187.shtml?Element_ID=47020187

Tabitha Tuders usually celebrated her birthday with a party either at Hendersonville Skating Rink in Hendersonville or at her Lillian Street home in east Nashville.

The tradition hasn't changed since her disappearance last April. Family and friends celebrated her 14th birthday yesterday with a party at her home, with grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, and a white and pink cake adorned with three pink roses.

''We're having one just like she's here 'cause as far as I'm concerned, she's just missing. She's not gone yet,'' said Irvin ''Bo'' Tuders, Tabitha's father. ''We're fixing to cut the cake. She's somewhere; we just don't know where she's at.''

They also planted a flowering cherry tree in the front yard of Bailey Middle School, Tabitha's school. The tree's flowers are purple, Tabitha's favorite color.

Tabitha disappeared about 7 a.m. April 30 as she headed to her school bus stop. Her parents reported her missing shortly after 6 p.m. that day after learning she didn't get on the bus or attend classes. There have been reportings of possible sightings in places as far away as Indiana.

''It's been the same ol' stuff being reported,'' Irvin Tuders said. ''But she's not where she's supposed to be, and that's with her family.''

At Bailey, several family members and friends helped plant the tree, each dropping a shovel full of dirt onto the tiny mound. Shivering in the brisk cold air, people held balloons with pictures of Tabitha and personal notes as they softly sang Happy Birthday.

They released balloons and stood quietly as they floated into the gray skies. Tabitha's brother, Kevin Tuders, cried. Family and friends comforted him.

''It's hard and heartbreaking,'' he said. ''I can't describe it.''

Family members asked Bailey Middle Principal Ruth Murray about planting a tree last week as a reminder to her classmates, Murray said.

''It's important that children remember their friends,'' Murray said. ''This is a huge concern for the community because most of our students walk. We have eight buses, and that's all. Many of them drop their little brothers and sisters off at the (Cora Howe) elementary school'' located across the street from Bailey Middle School

johnny

02-20-2004, 03:42 PM

Federal grand jury indicts 13 on child pornography charges

_____Today's Top Stories_____

• Almost 60 state schools appeal 'failure' label
• TennCare plan stirs drug lobby
• Police, Hispanic groups to attack language barrier
• Ex-chairwoman helps panel's search
• Woman with 19 cats pleads guilty to animal cruelty
• House OKs letting agency set fishing fees

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Associated Press

MEMPHIS — A federal grand jury indicted 13 people on child pornography charges yesterday, with four accused of enticing minors to take part in sex acts.

The charges allege that children between 3 and 13 years old were abused.

The accused range in age from 19 to 68, with the charges against them in multicount indictments each carrying penalties of five years to 30 years in prison.

Though the indictments were released at the same time, the accused aren't charged with being part of a pornography ring. Many of the charges are unrelated.

Authorities refused to discuss the investigation or describe the allegations.

The indictments charge Thomas Nelson Seaton, 59, of Memphis with enticing a girl younger than 7 to engage in ''sexually explicit conduct'' for the production of pornography.

Michael Ray Cline, 54, of Millington, Tenn., was charged with enticing a 3-year-old girl to have sexual intercourse and with producing child pornography.

Billy Thomas Phillips, 37, and Jamie Dawn Forrester, 34, both of Martin, Tenn., were accused of producing child pornography.

Their indictment accuses Forrester of engaging in ''sexually explicit conduct'' with a girl from the time the child was 11 years old until she was 13.

Also charged were Steven F. Baker, 51, of Cordova, Tenn.; Jerry Hazlerig Blair, 54, of Millington; Jimmie Kessner, 56, of Germantown, Tenn.; Jerra Lykins, 32, of West Liberty, Ky.;

Harold Mapstone, 68, of Bartlett, Tenn.; Wayne E. Ridenhour Jr., 37, of Memphis; Mark Frederick Straight, 41, of Chicago; Donald Ray Williams, 58, of Memphis; and Ryan Foster Woodruff, 19, of Germantown.

johnny

02-20-2004, 05:01 PM

Spring Hill teen fends off would-be abductor

_____Today's Top Stories_____

• Almost 60 state schools appeal 'failure' label
• TennCare plan stirs drug lobby
• Police, Hispanic groups to attack language barrier
• Ex-chairwoman helps panel's search
• Woman with 19 cats pleads guilty to animal cruelty
• House OKs letting agency set fishing fees

_____Today in Williamson A.M._____

• Cost cools interest in fire department
• Roll back tradition with a Wal-Mart wedding
• Spring Hill teen fends off would-be abductor

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By BONNIE BURCH
Staff Writer

SPRING HILL — A local girl and her dog foiled their attempted abduction while the two were walking on Buckner Road Monday afternoon.

The Spring Hill teen was taking her Pitbull Terrier mix for a walk on a leash around 1 p.m. between Buckner Place subdivision and Crowne Pointe when a white van pulled alongside her and a man tried to yank her inside the van's open door.

''She said she was punching, jerking and trying to get away from the man. When she was doing this, he kind of partially fell out of the van. He was able to reach over and grab her ankle,'' said Katie Felton, a detective with the Spring Hill Police Department.

At that point, the normally docile canine leapt into action by biting the man. The girl and her dog were then able to wiggle free and the man sped off in the van.

''I was playing with her dog later and he seemed very friendly. But with this breed — if he feels his owner is in danger, he'll attack. He certainly did his job,'' Felton said.

The victim said she had previously noticed the man in Crowne Pointe subdivision about a year earlier. On that occasion, she had been walking and the man's eyes had followed her so intensely that she had remembered his face. At that time, his head was shaved. The man who tried to abduct her on Monday had black bushy hair. But the attempted kidnap victim was sure this was the same man, the Spring Hill detective said.

The suspect is described as a while male between the ages of 20 and 25, with a slender build, wearing blue jeans, denim jacket and work boots.

''She wasn't sure how tall he was, but from what she was able to describe, we'd say around 5-foot, 8-inches. And he had a five o'clock shadow,'' Felton said.

The older-model white van had tinted windows on the driver's, passenger and rear doors. The vehicle also had a lot of rust, a black rear bumper and may have had an out-of-state license plate. The girl could not discern any signage, writing or stickers on the van.

A white van was also involved in two similar abduction attempts last August in Franklin. Felton said a connection between the Spring Hill and Franklin incidents has been mentioned as a possibility ''just because the description of the van is similar in the attacks last year.''

Last summer, a Franklin woman said a man tried to abduct her in broad daylight from the Mapco Express gas station on Hillsboro Road near Mack Hatcher Parkway. The two men involved in that incident are described as a heavyset Hispanic man and a slender white man, both in their 50s, who left in a white commercial van.

A few days later, a Hispanic man of the same description also tried to abduct a teen-age girl as she was walking on Concord Pass. The vehicle he was driving was a mid-1980s hatchback car in need of a paint job.

Spring Hill police are on the lookout for the man involved in Monday's kidnapping. Residents are advised to do the same.

johnny

02-22-2004, 11:19 AM

New leads in Tabitha Tuders case

http://www.wkrn.com/Global/story.asp?S=1657081

johnny

02-22-2004, 11:41 AM

http://www.newschannel5.com/content/news/3930.asp?q=remains

Skull Found On Construction Site
Posted: 2/20/2004 4:34:03 PM
Updated: 2/20/2004 4:34:03 PM

Construction workers discovered a human skull near a new development in Bordeaux Friday.

The skull was located in a wooded area next to land where a developer is building homes.

Metro Police took the remains to the medical examiner's office for further study.

The man who found it says he was just taking a walk when he found it.

“We noticed, I noticed a rock laid wall back there. I went back in there to see what was back in the woods, happened to look down and I noticed a skull laying down there,” said Kevin Gentry, a foreman.

Police have not determined the age of the remains or whether the skull came from a man, woman or child.

Police said it's even possible the skull came from an old grave yard in the area, but it’s too early to tell

johnny

02-23-2004, 02:25 PM

Child abduction-murders: Why?
Prime motivation is sexual assault, 44-state study finds

An interesting article found while surfing.

http://www.post-gazette.com/headlines/20001001killings3.asp

johnny

03-12-2004, 04:29 PM

FBI sources say that a child abductor/murderer often develops nervousness, sleeplessness, irritability and an unnatural interest in news reports about the case. About 10 percent volunteer to help police search for the missing child. Police worry that abductors who kidnap children they don't know, such as the still-unknown man who abducted a 10-year-old Somerset County girl last year, become increasingly brazen, motivated to strike again and again until they slay their victims.

The typical abductors were white males, about 27 years old and unmarried. Half of them -- 51 percent -- lived either alone (17 percent) or with their parents (34 percent.) Half of them also were unemployed, and those who were employed worked in unskilled or semiskilled jobs.

"Therefore, the killers can generally be characterized as 'social marginals,' " the study said.

Commonly, the killers had a legitimate reason to be at the site where they first contacted their child victims. Twenty-nine percent lived near the site, 19 percent were there for some normal social activity, and 18 percent either worked in the area or were there for some other business.

Most of the children abducted and murdered by strangers -- 57 percent -- were "victims of opportunity," the study added. In nearly two-thirds of the cases, the abductions were "snatch and grab" confrontations where a killer saw an available victim and quickly assaulted and subdued her.

In only 14 percent of cases did the killer choose his victim because of some physical characteristic.

In the majority of cases -- 53 percent -- the initial contact between the victim and the killer took place within a quarter-mile of the victim's home. And in 33 percent of the cases, the first contact occurred less than 200 feet from the victim's home

close_enough

03-12-2004, 06:15 PM

hi johnny...i've been meaning to ask...are you in nashville?...west nashville here.......born & raised in nashville....just curious...i read newschannel5 every morning :)
...just thought i would say hi, from the state of tennessee...

dannyodie

03-13-2004, 08:29 AM

thanks for the articles that you have posted. sure does give a insite of what a lot of these perps are like and there habits and such.. some of this brings a few people to mind that we have discussed in the past. one of which moved to another state 2 weeks after tabitha turned up missing. sure hope the law enforcement can track that fellow down. again thanks for posting the articles you found...

johnny

03-13-2004, 10:42 AM

CLOSE ENOUGH: yes I am from Nashville also born and raised. My family is mostly from West Nashville and I'm sure we probably know some of the same people. Also Danny is from Nashville as well.

dannyodie: Thanks for the thanks! Good to hear from you again. I will forward some new information to you.

johnny

03-16-2004, 11:05 AM

Grand jury declines to indict teacher on sex charges

SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. — A veteran agriculture teacher who had been accused of sexual improprieties by a female student will be able to return to the classroom soon, Bedford County education officials said.

Yesterday, the March session of the county grand jury issued a ''no true bill,'' declining to indict Millard Johnson, a teacher at the county vocational center. He had been charged Jan. 13 with assault, sexual battery by an authority figure and attempted sexual battery by an authority figure.

''Now this is finally behind him and he can reclaim his life,'' said Raymond Fraley, an attorney from Fayetteville who represented Johnson. ''Considering how quiet and being the unassuming man he is, this was rough on him.''

According to county records, Johnson has taught for 33 years, 16 of them in Bedford County schools. He did not have any blemishes on his work record until the 17-year-old student filed charges against him.

Bedford County School Superintendent Mike Bone placed Johnson on paid leave from teaching until the legal case ran its course. The teacher was temporarily assigned to the county bus garage and was prohibited from having contact with children.

''Now that it appears he has been exonerated, we will get our lawyers involved. We'll get something from the courts that identifies what has been done, and if he's been exonerated, then he'll be placed back into the same position,'' Bone said.

Johnson could not be reached for comment, but his lawyer said Johnson was elated with the news.

''This community has really rallied around him. I've never seen support like that from students, from teachers and others who came to his aid,'' Fraley said.

At the teacher's preliminary hearing, the courtroom was nearly filled with students and former students, many of them wearing their Future Farmers of America jackets. Johnson was the sponsor for the local chapter.

Prosecutors could not be reached for comment on the grand jury's decision.

Fraley said he believed the public ''just didn't buy what they were hearing.''

''I think the people on the grand jury and the people in the community had a feel for it — that something didn't seem right,'' the defense attorney said.

Rocky

03-18-2004, 05:44 PM

Johnny,

this sounds promising, do you have new info for us?

http://www.wkrn.com/Global/story.asp?S=1657081

""There's been a flurry of activity in the Tabitha Tuders case. Johnny White of the search group "Team Tabitha" tells News 2 that there are new leads in the case, renewing hope they'll find the missing 14-year-old.

Recently a young came forward, claiming she was a friend of Tabitha's. White says he's not sure if she can help, but says it's this kind of information police and the family need. "

johnny

03-18-2004, 07:41 PM

Actually we don't have anything solid. Seems like all that we have is theories of what might have happened. At the moment we don't even know which direction to look, so we just try to eliminate areas a little at a time.

Here are some things that bother me that someone may have a better answer for:

1) Tabitha would never use the school bathroom, although she would use the bathroom anywhere else.

2) Tabitha's mother goes to work at 6:00 am and father at 7:00 am she is seen two houses down around 7:45 am and then twice more two blocks away heading towards her bus stop. Her mother is home in the evenings when Tabitha gets off the bus at a stop closer and facing her house. I believe the only time she was vulnerable was in route to her bus stop in the am.

3) She was originally classified a runaway.

4) Not one thing has been found, no clothing, shoes, etc.

5) If she was not taken by force or coercion, etc. What happened?

6) From the outside looking in what does this look like to you folks?

Tell me your opinions of lie detectors. The Green River killer passed, who else passed who turned out to be guilty?

dannyodie

03-19-2004, 06:35 AM

johnny, I think by keeping this thread active is the best thing that we all can do for tabitha. I as you know have always believed that tabitha got in a car with a person she knew or felt safe with, someone who has had some contact with her before. I hate to ask again, but has the boyfriend of her sister ever been talked to by the police and any of his friends that knew tabitha? and the other potential person is the person that moved to new york two weeks after she went missing. I think you know the man I am talking about. I can't help but believe that the person that took her probably had been around tabitha and her home. how about the birthday party she was at days or so before she went missing, were there anybody there that is really questionable.. I think someone around her home knows what happened maybe someone as close as the market just up the street. lets keep this going on websleuths, there is lots of minds out there that can give out some good ideas. too those websleuthers reading we really need all the input you can give...

johnny

03-19-2004, 10:04 AM

Her now ex boyfriend has been questioned and passed a lie detecor. The man who moved to New York? I am not aware he has ever been questioned. The birthday party, was a two year olds party and not at Tabitha's home. We have a list of everyone who attended that party.

Somewhere someone knows.

johnny

03-26-2004, 09:40 AM

http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/04/03/48864506.shtml?Element_ID=48864506

Middle Tennessee briefs: Scholarship to honor missing Tuders teen

In honor of missing east Nashville teenager Tabitha Tuders' love of reading, a scholarship is being established to the Vanderbilt Kennedy School of Reading clinic.

The clinic provides tutoring for students who have trouble reading.

A kickoff event will be held at 11 a.m. tomorrow at P.F. Chang's Bistro, 2525 West End Ave.

Reservations can be made by calling the restaurant at 329-8901.

Contributions to the scholarship can be sent to: Vanderbilt University, Vanderbilt Kennedy Center Development Office, 2525 West End Ave., Suite 450, Nashville, Tenn., 37203.

johnny

03-28-2004, 10:50 PM

Since I'm not blind I'll move this up!

johnny

03-29-2004, 10:19 PM

Tabitha has been missing for 11 months today!

johnny

04-01-2004, 12:03 PM

http://www.highlandrim.com/events.htm

They are now running Four Tabitha race cars and are planning a big event on April 24th. With hope the Shawn Hornbeck Foundation will be on hand as well!

************************************************** **********
Bring Home Tabitha

Racing is like one big family. I've always said that. At the Rim it is especially true. The Tuders family has been coming to the track for several years now. Their son drove a Rim Runner a couple of years ago. Their 13 year old daughter, Tabitha loved to come to the track with her parents to watch the races each week. Tabitha has been missing since April 29th. Her father woke her up to go to school and that was the last time he has seen her. A couple of people saw her on the way to her bus stop that day, but she never made it to the bus. There have been several searches done in and around the East Nashville Neighborhood where she lives - but still nothing has turned up. Her family and friend have worked tirelessly to keep her name in the news so that no one forgets and nothing is over looked - anything to bring their daughter home.

On Saturday September 6th, the latest in the attempts to keep Tabitha's name and picture on peoples minds was rolled out. Family and Friends of the Tuders built a Rim Runner Car. The car #29 has her picture emblazoned on the hood. And is lettered with phone numbers for anyone that has seen her or knows anything. The car will run each week for the rest of the season at the Rim. Each time that you see the #29 Tabitha car, say a little prayer that she will soon be back home with her family... And back at the track with her extended family at the Rim! If you or anyone you know has seen or knows anything about her disappearance, please contact the Metro Police at 615.862.5353. For more information about Tabitha and the case, log onto her website www.tabithatuders.com another family member has created an MSN Community for her check it out at http://groups.msn.com/TabithaTuders/

Doyle

04-01-2004, 12:47 PM

thanks Johnny,

it is heartwarming to hear people pitching in.

never give up hope...

dannyodie

04-02-2004, 07:21 AM

like doyle said, it is really heartwarming that people care to help and wish to continue to help. thanks for the posting.

ziggy

04-03-2004, 06:17 PM

Thank you Johnny for keeping me informed. I live in Nashville but don't hear much anymore and don't get the Tennessean.

Anything else we can do? I passed out pictures a while back and attended a few of the events.

Most of the pics I got people to post are now gone.

It's very frustrating and unfortunately, I don't think we have the best and the brightest in law enforcement here. I hope I'm wrong... but Marcia Trimble, Janet Marsh...

I keep hoping we'll have positive news about Tabitha.

johnny

04-09-2004, 08:34 PM

Thank you to the person who sent the letter to the Tuders we are following up on the information that you provided. Please, if you know any other details please don't hesitate to send an additional letter. Again thank you.

dannyodie

04-10-2004, 10:46 AM

hey johnny, good to hear that at least there could still be people out there that wish to help. I was just reading an article which can be found under maura murry case, a nationally known physchic carla baron has given the family some info that could be accurate. I know that sylvia tried to help, I believe what she told the tuders awhile back is mostly hog wash. but I have watched on court tv channel 53 of some cases that carla helped with, wonder if she could give some insight on tabithas case? what do you think? thanks for the update.

johnny

04-21-2004, 02:43 PM

Middle Tennessee briefs: 'Race for Tabitha' aids missing kids' families

http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/04/04/50190243.shtml?Element_ID=50190243

East Nashville teen Tabitha Tuders disappeared on her way to the bus stop April 29, 2003

The first ''Race for Tabitha'' at Highland Rim Speedway in Robertson County will raise money to benefit an organization that helps the families of missing children. The event is set for Saturday.

The event is named for missing east Nashville teen Tabitha Tuders, who disappeared on her way to the bus stop April 29, 2003.

Members of the Tuders family are big fans of the racetrack. This season, Tabitha's picture will be featured on four cars, up from two last year, including the car driven by her brother, Kevin, organizers said.

The raceway is in Ridgetop, Tenn., 20 minutes north of downtown off Interstate 65.

The grandstands will open at 3 p.m., and the first race is at 6 p.m.

Adult admission is $10; seniors, $8; kids 6-12, $3.

For more information, visit www.highlandrim.com.

johnny

04-22-2004, 10:54 AM

Body found in trunk of car at Tommy's Wrecker Service. So far they have not released much information. In Nashville Tn. about 8 miles from where Tabitha came up missing.

The car has been at the wrecker company for close to a year and they have identified that the body is that of a woman. The car was a black cadillac and they belive the body was placed in the car at the wrecker company.

close_enough

04-22-2004, 03:53 PM

http://www.newschannel5.com/content/news/4763.asp

here's some info on this....i had originally thought the wrecker service was on old lebanon DIRT rd, but i was mistaken....someone will finally have some closure regarding a missing loved one... :o

johnny

04-22-2004, 05:05 PM

Thanks for finding the post. The year date is coming up and we're looking into anything at all.

This woman has obviously been missing but it seems no one reported her missing.

The car has been at the wrecker company for a year and the body was placed in the trunk three weeks ago?

Also the car was a consensual tow.

johnny

04-23-2004, 09:53 AM

Body of strangled woman discovered in abandoned car

http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/04/04/50309836.shtml?Element_ID=50309836

Prayers to those who loved her.

johnny

04-23-2004, 06:25 PM

This was copied from the Tabitha Tuders Forum.

Topic
cjones1612
Starting Member

USA
18 Posts
Posted - 03/06/2004 : 6:47:06 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is for psychic feedback only. If you have a tip regarding this case please call Metro police at 862-8600 or if you want to leave an anonymous tip visit www.tabithatuders.com.

spiritofstlouis
Starting Member

1 Posts
Posted - 04/22/2004 : 10:10:23 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

First let me say I dont consider myself a psychic.Secondly I've kept these things to myself so as not to cause Tabitha's family any more stress and pain.In a case like this I 'd rather be wrong and crazy than right! But I've followed this case for a while (since it happened)and it rather bothers me the police cant find her as of this date 4/21/04.

I believe that I have made contact with the spirit of Tabitha these last couple of months.One day she describe an area to look in from a map.She said look for a parking lot next to water!
I dont live in Nashville did'nt grow up there and dont know the area she was pointing out/describing.But my curiousity got the best of me and so I drove to Nashville, picked the wrong day to go though.I'm driving down the road that she pointed to on the map I can see the end of the road dead ending ahead of me (I'm thinking I should have stayed at home in bed-I was just recovering from a really bad cold.This was a waste of time and gas!)that's when I look to the left and see a PARKING LOT.That was hidden from my view.The parking lot was right next to water\river.(My thoughts, this is the kind of out of the way place you went in high school to do things you had no business doing and did'nt have to worry about getting caught!)That thought proved to be right cause shortly after two different cars drove up and parked both contained what appeared to be underaged teenagers.Till then I was there by myself.That's about the time it started to rain.I decided to brave the rain at that point and got out and took a look at the area.That's when it started to rain really really hard.So I gave up at that point and I havent been back.(There's more but this is getting long so to keep it short I'm leaving out some).

johnny

04-24-2004, 11:54 PM

Race Honors Tabitha Tuders
Posted: 4/24/2004 10:09:26 PM
Updated: 4/24/2004 10:09:26 PM
By: Joe Fryer

Next Thursday marks the one-year anniversary of Tabitha Tuders' disappearance.

Tuders was 13 years old when she disappeared last April. She was last seen walking to her school bus stop in East Nashville.

In the past year, investigators and searchers have not turned up any good leads. But the family continues to search.

Tuders was honored at Highland Rim Speedway in Ridgetop Saturday night. The track held the first-annual "Race For Tabitha."

Tabitha and her family spent many Saturday nights at the race track. After she disappeared, friends and relatives formed a race team called Team Tabitha. The team includes four cars with Tuders' picture on them.

"We started a race team to have fun and keep her picture out in the public," said Tim Crauge, a family friend and Team Tabitha driver.

Two of those cars raced Saturday night.

Money raised during the race will benefit the Shawn Hornbeck Foundation. Shawn Hornbeck is a boy from Saint Louis, Mo., who disappeared seven months before Tuders. His family started a foundation to help search for missing children, including Tuders.

On Thursday the Tuders family will walk from their home to Tabitha's bus stop, to commemorate the anniversary.

"Starting another year without your daughter, sometimes it's hard to say how you feel," said Bo Tuders, Tabitha's father. "You feel numb all over."

"It's hard to believe it's a year, but it still hurts because we want to find our daughter and bring her back home," said Debra Tuders, Tabitha's mother.

johnny

04-28-2004, 05:16 PM

http://www.nashvillescene.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?story=This_Week:News:Editorial

Failing Tabitha Tuders

Since Tabitha Tuders vanished from her East Nashville home one year ago this week, Metro police have bungled nearly all aspects of her case and, worse, show no signs that they learned any lessons from the tragic ordeal.

It's difficult to identify any aspect of the investigation that the department has handled well. Detectives have been slow to interview suspects, track leads, keep the family informed and interview people who best knew the missing girl, whose 14th birthday came and went in February. There's no clear sense among the family and media about who's in charge of the case. It's almost as if the department wishes that people would stop caring about the fate of the young teen who woke up on a Tuesday morning, walked toward her bus stop and vanished.

Initially, police lost critical time and even available resources in the case when they persisted in treating Tabitha as a possible runaway, despite the absence of any evidence to support the idea. When the media finally kicked up enough dust to render such a working theory outrageous on its face, the police began to focus more on the less optimistic, more plausible scenario.

But throughout it all, it's frankly been disturbing just how many rocks the police failed to turn over, either in a timely fashion or at all. For example, within days after Tabitha disappeared, people close to her family told police about a suspicious neighborhood character who they thought might have been involved. This man talked badly about her to other children in the neighborhood. He told the Scene that she wasn't as innocent as people believed, as he crudely cupped his hands over his chest to indicate her developing body. He befriended other neighborhood children, including some of Tabitha's neighbors. And, finally, he claimed to have seen her the morning she disappeared, placing himself at the scene. His family was the subject of a Department of Children's Services investigation. There's even more damning information about this guy. But the police didn't get around to seriously questioning him until several months after she disappeared.

Then there's the case of Millard Earl Smith, a 52-year-old convicted rapist, who landed in jail again last June in a separate case after he was arrested for raping and kidnapping a 17-year-old girl. A month before that, he allegedly lured a young boy onto his motorcycle, took him to an abandoned trailer and told him, "I want you to come in here so I can masturbate you." Fortunately, the boy escaped. Before the kidnapping, he'd apparently stalked the boy and his mother for weeks. Incidentally, Smith kidnapped the teenager just two blocks from Tabitha's bus stop. And according to one source, he also tried to entice girls onto his motorcycle at Shelby Park, less than a mile from Tabitha's East Nashville home. He also lived just a few miles away. It would seem that Metro detectives would want to know everything they possibly could about this guy, right? Wrong.

There's still more. A few weeks after Tabitha disappeared, a prostitute trying to clean up her life confessed to a volunteer in the case that she and a client of hers from Kingsport, Tenn., drove through East Nashville, including Lillian Street, where Tabitha lived. She says the john had a computer in his car and told her he was looking to pick up a young girl named Tabby. The prostitute says this occurred around the time Tabitha went missing. The volunteer gave this tip to the police immediately and even told them where the prostitute was staying, but to the best of his knowledge, no detective has ever contacted her.

Shortly before she disappeared, Tabitha spent the evening with one of her best friends. The friend's father later took Tabitha home and was the last adult, not including her parents, to have seen her. When did the police interview him to check on Tabitha's state of mind or any other possible clues? Months later.

Tabitha's father, Bo, is a truck driver and her mother, Debra, works in a school cafeteria. A few months before their daughter disappeared, they impressed upon her the importance of an education, as both of them were high school dropouts. At the time an average student, Tabitha took their lecture to heart. Shortly before she disappeared, she brought home a report card with all A's. If the city were grading the police officers who worked on her case, none of them would receive anything close to Tabitha's marks.

We don't blame the police for not finding Tabitha. Her case is particularly tricky, as its left investigators with no credible eyewitnesses or forensic evidence. But Tabitha's family and friends and all of Nashville should have the comfort of knowing that their police department did everything it could to find the young teen.

Unfortunately, there is no such comfort.

johnny

04-29-2004, 06:59 AM

Walk planned to honor Tabitha Tuders

Thursday marks the one-year anniversary of Tabitha Tuders' disappearance. The East Nashville girl was on her way to the bus stop on April 29, 2003 when she vanished without a trace.

Friends and family will gather for a special walk in Tabitha's honor on Tuesday. The procession starts at 7:45 am at the Tuders home, and ends at the bus stop where Tabitha was last seen.

News 2 at 5 pm

johnny

04-29-2004, 07:16 AM

Missing Girl’s Parents To Make Disappearance Anniversary
Posted: 4/28/2004 4:57:00 PM
Updated: 4/28/2004 5:09:38 PM

Thursday, the parents of an East Nashville girl will mark the one year anniversary of her disappearance.

Tabitha Tuders, 13, disappeared on April 29, 2003 on her way to school.

Her parents will start Thursday with a walk at 7:45 a.m. to follow the route she took to her bus stop.

The family called it a "Continue the Search" march.

The two block walk starts at 1312 Lillian Street. The family said the public is welcome to join them at the walk.

johnny

04-29-2004, 07:18 AM

http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/04/04/50569083.shtml?Element_ID=50569083

Tabitha's room is as she left it, a year after her disappearance

By IAN DEMSKY
Staff Writer

Debra Tuders leaves the door to Tabitha's room open.

Little has changed inside since April 28, 2003, the night her then-13-year-old daughter went to cheer her brother's baseball team.

After a bath, Tabitha started the night in her own bed and later moved to the floor in her parents' bedroom, as she sometimes did for comfort.

The next morning — one year ago today — Tabitha disappeared on the way to her bus stop.

Police are no closer to knowing what happened to her today than they were then.

''It feels empty,'' Debra said earlier this week. The space holds her daughter's possessions but not her daughter.

Still, each item hints of her. Each thing Tabitha chose to place there reveals a part of her by its very presence.

On the left, a gauzy blue scarf is draped behind a mirror. Once the mirror displayed the image of her youth. Now it reflects her empty bed with the purple canopy, the Microsoft Xbox where she played the ''racing tapes'' her mom could never master, and the closet where she couldn't be bothered to hang up her outfits.

Below the mirror, drawers of the small, white dresser are stuffed with shirts, socks and pants.

In front of the mirror, three porcelain dolphins chase one another around a clock stopped at 4:47. Next to it sits an almost empty bottle of Pretty in Pink ''body splash'' and a ceramic teddy bear wearing a Santa hat with a present in its water-filled belly.

Nothing in the room suggests that a teenager lived there, much less a rebellious one who left without so much as a goodbye. There are no posters on the walls, just a framed triptych of a boy and girl shyly holding hands and playing on a farm.

Below that are two cherubic figurines, a boy astraddle a pumpkin and a brown-haired, blue-eyed girl, whose head is broken off.

Tabitha picked out furniture about six months before she went missing.

When Tabitha and her older sister, Jamie, shared the room, Tabitha used to fuss at Jamie for not picking up after herself, Debra said. Tabitha wanted the room kept immaculate.

Above her desk, the stuffed animals are posed just as she left them. More figurines wait below them — a ceramic bear squeezes an accordion, a clown bows a violin — also frozen in their places.

Debra's grandchildren sometimes play in the room and sit on the bed to watch videos. But they know not to touch anything.

The family has left a few objects for Tabitha to find on her return: a stuffed bear her grandmother bought before she disappeared but never gave to her, and colorful butterflies and flowers spelling out her name, painted by a Manhattan street vendor on the Tuderses' trip to the Montel Williams talk show in December.

Also awaiting her are a fiberglass angel and a racing trophy won in her honor.

''The only thing that's missing is Tabitha,'' said Johnny White, who has served as the family's spokesman.

Help find Tabitha

Anyone with information about the whereabouts of Tabitha Tuders can call Metro Youth Services detectives at 862-7417, CrimeStoppers at 74-CRIME or the Team Tabitha tip line at 566-0943. Additional information and photos of the missing teen are on the Internet at www.tabithatuders.com.

johnny

04-29-2004, 07:22 AM

Tabitha's trail, public interest grow cold

• Walking for Tabitha

By CHRISTIAN BOTTORFF
Staff Writer

A year after the mysterious disappearance of then-13-year-old Tabitha Tuders, her image is fading from the community's consciousness, becoming rare in television and newspaper reports and landing in the cold files of Metro police.

Pictures of the east Nashville girl's face are no longer plastered all over town on missing-person posters. Her 14th birthday passed in February. Few neighbors these days are wearing buttons featuring her picture.

Police response isn't nearly as large as it was in the early days of the investigation. Tips of supposed sightings have slowed to a dribble, officials said.

''We're very frustrated,'' said Johnny White, a volunteer who has been involved in the search from the first day. ''We don't have any direction, not any way to go. We have no hope. … We need someone to give us some hope.''

Tabitha's father, Bo Tuders, said it was not uncommon for him to encounter neighbors stunned to hear that his daughter has been missing so long. Often people assume she's safe at home, he said. That was where she was last seen April 29, 2003, as she walked to the school bus.

But she never boarded the bus and never arrived at Bailey Middle School that day.

''It's not in the public eye like it was,'' Bo Tuders said.

The Team Tabitha telephone line once hummed with activity. At times, 40 to 60 calls came in each day. Now five or six tips arrive in a month.

To the family, however, ''it still feels the same,'' said Tuders, who, along with a handful of family, volunteers and detectives, continues to look for Tabitha.

''She's still out there somewhere, and I still hope and pray that we get her back home,'' he said. ''At this point, all we have left now is hope. We still feel empty inside. We just want her back home.''

Police detectives are still tracking leads and rechecking facts in the case, but even police involvement has lessened over the months. There has been no positive sighting, and police have never had a significant clue to her whereabouts.

In the days immediately after she vanished, five detectives were assigned and police dogs were used to canvass the neighborhood. In July, police again energized the search by including help from veteran homicide and murder squad detectives in tracking down registered sex offenders.

Beat officers were used to question people in the neighborhood about possible sightings. Recruit officers at one point combed nearby Shelby Park, looking for clues or even a body.

Since January, 42 tips have come to Metro police, six of them from psychics. Police reported 52 interviews since January.

Just days after setting foot in Nashville, Chief Ronal Serpas met with Bo and Debra Tuders at downtown police headquarters, pledging to make the investigation his department's No. 1 case.

Serpas said that he was keeping close tabs on the probe and receiving a weekly report from investigators and that he still hoped police would be able to make some headway. An investigator from the police Youth Services division and other detectives will remain assigned to the case, he said.

''We need people to always call us with something because we're not getting substantive information,'' Serpas said.

''Even if it's an old lead. Even if it's old information we already heard about once before, we still will go back and check just to be sure.''

Volunteers, such as Johnny White, are continuing their search. This past weekend, two cadaver dogs were brought in to search part of Tabitha's east Nashville neighborhood.

Still, volunteers wonder whether their efforts will ever produce results.

''She is fading away,'' said White, part owner in a Nashville taxi company. ''That's the truth of it — she's fading away.

johnny

04-29-2004, 12:14 PM

'Person of interest' crashes near house

• Tabitha's room is as she left it, a year after her disappearance

Metro police detectives said last night they plan today to begin examining the wrecked car being driven by a ''person of interest'' in the Tabitha Tuders disappearance.

The vehicle was impounded yesterday evening after Ernest Fred Brown, who lives on Boscobel Street near the Tuders home, wrecked it at 14th Street and Boscobel. The accident happened near the school bus stop where Tuders disappeared. Yesterday was the eve of the first anniversary of her disappearance last April 29.

Detective E.J. Bernard said police had questioned Brown and the owner of the car several times in the past in relation to the Tuders case. Brown has not been charged with any crime in connection with the disappearance. The owner of the car was not named.

Debra Tuders, the girl's mother, said last night that Brown had been driving very fast in front of her house several times yesterday and family members had asked him to slow down because of children who play in the area. The crash happened shortly after that warning, she said.

— Ian Demsky

On the one-year anniversary of her disappearance, Metro Police have again questioned a man they call a "person of interest" in the Tabitha Tuders case.

Ernest Fred Brown was taken into police custody Wednesday night after crashing his car into a tree at the exact location where Tabitha was last seen. Tabitha's parents say that Brown had also been racing his car in front of their home earlier in the afternoon.

Police told News 2 that they have questioned Brown before and received new information in the case last night. But they do not know if Brown is connected in any way to Tabitha's disappearance.

Ernest Brown was given a citation for leaving the scene of the accident. Police tell us he was questioned in Tabitha's case and released. They are also examining the car he was in.

News 2 at 6 am

johnny

04-29-2004, 04:06 PM

http://www.wkrn.com/Global/story.asp?S=1826068&nav=1ugBMhQW

Tabitha Tuders' family marks anniversary of disappearance with hope, love

One year ago Thursday, a 13-year-old East Nashville girl disappeared while waiting for her school bus. Early Thursday morning, Tabitha Tuders' family and friends gathered to mark the somber anniversary, as well as to ask everyone to keep up hope and keep looking for Tabitha.

A missing poster still hangs on the porch of the Tuders' Lillian Street home, where friends gathered for the "Continue the Search" walk. Inside the house, Tabitha's room is just as she left it as she headed for the school bus stop one year ago.

Tabitha's father Bo Tuders told News 2 that he's satisfied police are doing everything they can. Bo said that he's believed from day one his daughter was abducted. The Tuders family says it has been a nightmare. It's been a year of sleepless nights, waiting for the phone to ring. Comfort comes in letters from complete strangers.

Bo Tuders read from one of the letters, which said, "I just wanted to send a quick note to let you know your family is in my prayers has been and continues to be. The one-year anniversary is this Thursday, so I pray for comfort for you on this day. Keep the faith and know you're never alone."

Metro Police officers say that they have run out of fresh leads in the case, but they will continue their search for Tabitha. The Tuders family asks everyone to continue to look for her. Adult volunteers who want to help in the search can call (615) 566-0943 or (281) 482-5723.

http://www.wkrn.com/global/video/popup/pop_index.asp?ClipID1=201506&h1=%22Person%20of%20interest%22%20in%20Tuders%20ca se%20questioned%20after%20crash&vt1=v&at1=News&d1=176134&LaunchPageAdTag=News&activePane=info&playerVersion=9&rnd=46644796

Lillia Marigza for News 2 at 6 am
4.29.04

johnny

04-29-2004, 04:16 PM

Today Marks One Year Anniversary Of Tuders Disappearance
Video
Posted: 4/29/2004 9:47:00 AM
Updated: 4/29/2004 11:21:06 AM

Thursday, friends and family of Tabitha Tuders, 14, marked the one year anniversary of her disappearance from her east Nashville neighborhood.

Also on Thursday, police will search the wrecked car of someone described by police as a “person of interest” in Tuders disappearance.

Earnest Fred Brown was seen in the area of the Tuders home several times Wednesday. He later crashed his car in that same area and ran from the scene, police said.

The crash caught the attention of detectives because Brown had been seen in the neighborhood the day Tuders disappeared.

Police impounded the vehicle to look for evidence. Brown was released after questioning.

Tuders family said they still hope for her return.

”I wish she was here... so we wouldn't have to do this. We're not going to give up. We're going to find her,” said Deborah and Bo Tuders, Tabitha’s parents.

To mark the one year anniversary of her disappearance, family and friends met at Tuders home on Lillian Street Thursday morning. And walked the route Tabitha took to her bus stop the morning she disappeared.

The parents of Tabitha Tuders called police after they learned their daughter did not make it to school.

Photos of the girl were put up around the neighborhood, and police searched near where she disappeared but didn’t turn up any clues.

In July, a police investigation led detectives to believe foul play might be involved in the case. Once again, officers canvassed the area near her home, but didn’t find anything.

johnny

04-29-2004, 09:45 PM

http://www.wkrn.com/Global/story.asp?S=1827670&nav=1ugBMiOk

Person of interest" in Tuders case speaks out

Ernest Fred Brown rode a bike along a neighborhood street in East Nashville on Thursday, knowing police have called him a "person of interest" in the Tabitha Tuders case.

Brown said, "I don't care what people think about me. I know what I am and what I ain't...I'm just myself. I ain't no killer and I ain't no rapist."

Police detectives say they have talked with Brown several times before. But he was brought back into their focus Wednesday night when he wrecked his car near the bus stop where 14-year-old Tabitha was last seen one year ago.

"I thought it was all about the car wreck until they took me down there and talked to me about her," said Brown.

Tabitha's family told News 2 that Brown had been speeding up and down their street earlier in the day.

Brown said, "I drove by yesterday, and they told me I was going too fast and I apologized to them and said they were right."

Metro Police Chief Ronal Serpas isn't commenting on the events of Wednesday night, but he asked the public to continue calling in leads.

"Most of what we're getting is stuff we've either already heard of or seen, or stuff that's just not real. It's make believe, it's rumor, it's folklore. But what we want is every one of those pieces of information, because a kernal of truth may be in one of them and we don't want to miss it," said Serpas.

Chief Serpas says that in the last three months, Metro Police have received 42 tips in the case, and has conducted 55 interviews. He says their investigation has included 21 different law agencies in 10 different states, plus the FBI.

Melissa Penry for News 2 at 4 pm
4.29.04

johnny

04-30-2004, 10:04 AM

Tuders case shadows neighbor whose life has not been sunny

http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/04/04/50617712.shtml?Element_ID=50617712

By IAN DEMSKY
and CHRISTIAN BOTTORFF
Staff Writers

Earnest Fred Brown admits he's a crack addict and a thief with psychological problems. But he said yesterday that he didn't abduct Tabitha Tuders.

Brown, 22, was already a ''person of interest'' in the yearlong investigation into the girl's disappearance. Then he was in a bizarre car crash Wednesday that thrust him into the spotlight on the eve of the anniversary of the girl's vanishing.

The east Nashville girl, then 13, disappeared on her way to a bus stop April 29, 2003.

Yesterday, more than 100 people turned out to follow the two-block path she would have taken that morning. Bo and Debra Tuders, the girl's parents, prayed for a miracle as the buzz about Brown circulated through the crowd.

Over the past year, he has been interviewed extensively by Metro police investigators, who said he had cooperated with them.

''If I knew who did it, I'd snitch, 'cause it's wrong,'' Brown said yesterday outside his home on Boscobel Street, about a block away from Tabitha's home.

About 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, the Tuderses had asked Brown to stop speeding past their Lillian Street home, where children were playing.

Minutes later, police say, Brown drove in reverse through a stop sign at 14th and Boscobel streets, crashing a borrowed Buick Century over metal posts and into a tree.

He then ran to 1213 Boscobel, the home of his girlfriend, Tammy West, the car's owner. Officers found him there about 7 p.m., according to police reports.

Brown was questioned and released Wednesday night. He was given misdemeanor citations of leaving the scene of an accident and driving without a license. Police impounded the wrecked car and are searching it for any link to Tabitha.

A week ago, Brown was released from jail on a car-theft charge. Since 1999, he has been arrested 14 times on charges including theft, driving without a license, illegal weapons possession, aggravated burglary, aggravated assault and probation violation, police records show. His arrest history before 1999 is confidential because he was a juvenile.

Known to family and friends as Fred, and to exasperated neighbors as ''Fast Fred,'' Brown said the crash happened as he attempted to recover a bike that had been stolen from his girlfriend's son. He told police the car's brakes failed.

''Fred just didn't think to turn the car around,'' said his mother, Charlene Brown.

Brown said it was a coincidence he wrecked the car near Tabitha's bus stop a year after she disappeared. Police detectives are also treating it that way.

''My brother might be a thief, but he's not a killer,'' said Christy Brown, his sister. ''He's not violent. I've hit him before, and he just stands there and takes it.''

His mother said neighbors had harassed her troubled son and that, after a year of questioning him without any evidence, police needed to leave him in peace.

''There's a lot of mental people in this world, and they're not all killers,'' she said.

Charlene Brown said police had interviewed family members many times, searched their vehicles and explored their yard with police dogs.

She also said her son just can't keep a secret. If he was involved with Tabitha's disappearance, he would have told his family, she said.

''He can't keep nothing to himself,'' said Dorothy Cox, his grandmother. He is very open about his drug problems, mental illnesses and property crimes, she said.

Brown agreed. ''I'd even snitch on myself.''

Early in the investigation, Brown became a ''person of interest'' after ''people in the neighborhood identified him as someone we should look into,'' said detective Faye Okert, who added that police have no suspects.

Brown was examined again in February after a written message relating to Tabitha was found in his cell at Metro's Hill Detention Center. Police say they think another inmate may have written it to spite Brown.

Police were also interested in a red Chrysler LeBaron that Brown had destroyed at a scrap-metal yard several months ago, Okert said. A 10-year-old boy, perhaps the last person to see Tabitha, told police she got into a red car that morning while he was waiting for the bus.

Police said earlier in the investigation that they had questions about the boy's story.

Detectives were unable to examine the car before or after it was destroyed. Okert said she was confident that Steiner-Liff Iron & Metal Co. would have checked the car before melting it down.

The car had broken down and was parked near Brown's Boscobel Street home for a time, his grandmother said.

''If it had a body in it, we would have known it.''

Even the neighbors whom Brown has stolen from said yesterday they didn't think he had anything to do with Tabitha's disappearance, though they wonder why he's still on the streets.

As for the Tuders family, they say they have no reason to suspect Brown, but they are reserving judgment while the investigation continues.

johnny

05-02-2004, 08:59 PM

http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/04/04/50680454.shtml?Element_ID=50680454

There was also a request for prayers for Tabitha Tuders, the east Nashville girl who disappeared from her neighborhood a year ago last week. The request was put forward by letter writer Virginia Trimble, whose daughter, Marcia, disappeared in 1975 while selling Girl Scout cookies and was found slain a month later.

Today, the Trimble case is one of Nashville's most notorious unsolved homicides.

''On behalf of Bo and Debra Tuders'' — Tabitha's parents — ''thank you for the coverage that you've given this child,'' Trimble said.

''Marcia Trimble was my daughter — is still, is my daughter. She was murdered 29 years ago. She was 9 years old. And I do appreciate The Tennessean for honoring her so many times over and mentioning, bringing her case to the public, because we want to solve her case. I want the killer of my Marcia to see, written in your newspaper, her name. I want him to see this, and I want him to be found.

''I just talked with the Tuders before I came and told them that I had this great opportunity to speak Tabitha's name before the public.''

close_enough

05-03-2004, 01:34 PM

i believe a couple of posts up this has already gone into much more detail than this, but i found it today.....

http://www.wkrn.com/Global/story.asp?S=1826094

johnny

05-05-2004, 06:29 PM

http://www.nashvillescene.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?story=This_Week:Columns:Love_And_Hate_ Mail

Nashville Scene Love Hate Mail

Hope prevails

Kudos on the Tabitha Tuders editorial ("Failing Tabitha Tuders," April 29). I pray every day for the family of this missing little girl. I'm outraged that there hasn't been more assistance for this family to find their little girl. Somebody knows what happened to Tabitha. Actually, more than one person has to know; a person doesn't just vanish into thin air without a little help. I challenge the police department to take time to care again. I know in this world of crime and drugs and murders every day, it's easy to become hardhearted to the plight of one person. But what if this was one of their 13-year-old daughters, or what if she was the daughter of some well-to-do Nashville official? Tabitha most likely would already be home if that were the case.

For Tabitha's family, I pray for peace in this time of a void in your lives. I pray that she is safe and will eventually be returned to you. I know with each passing day the hope grows dimmer, but just keep the faith in miracles. And I pray that whoever knows where Tabitha is will come forward and end this family's grief. Tabitha, wherever you are, know that there are people who love you and pray you are safe. No one has forgotten you, and we will never give up hope that you make it home safely to your family.

Heather L. Aldrich

johnny

05-06-2004, 11:26 AM

Pictures on Tuders' cars keep Tabitha's disappearance fresh

http://tennessean.com/sports/

http://tennessean.com/sports/motorsports/archives/04/04/50850703.shtml?Element_ID=50850703

johnny

05-06-2004, 10:58 PM

Breaking News About Tabitha At Ten!!!!!!!!

MidnightMyst

05-07-2004, 08:04 AM

Breaking News About Tabitha At Ten!!!!!!!!

So what was the breaking news??

Juliana

05-07-2004, 08:27 AM

So what was the breaking news??

I searched google for news and found nothing.

johnny

05-10-2004, 05:23 PM

The breaking news involved the vehicle that Ernest Fred Brown was driving and material found inside the vehicle which has been sent off to the FBI. I am not able to discuss at this time what was found. New information and more person's of interest have developed because on these events.

Juliana

05-10-2004, 06:26 PM

dannyodie

05-11-2004, 06:12 AM

thanks for keeping us posted on the breaking news. I had thought that the reason it never appeared on tv was that the law enforcement did not want it out too soon. hope that this is some good info and findings that will find the person that did this to the tuders family. please keep us posted as to what new developements may come about.

jat

05-14-2004, 12:02 AM

Why has Ernest Brown been a person of interest? Had we known this name before? I can't remember, so if anyone could refresh our memories that would be great.

Thank you.

Praying for Tabitha,
jat

dannyodie

05-14-2004, 07:04 AM

earnest fred brown if I recall correctly became a person of interest while jailed in nashvilles sheriffs dept. on other charges, apparently he or someone had made some type of statement which was found scratched into a window about tabitha. I beleive if I understood that the window was in the same cell as earnest was. nothing as far as I know really ever came of it, but the police have been keeping close eyes on him. earnest lives in the same neighborhood as tabitha. the evening prior to april 29 2004 which marks the one year mark of her disappearence he was speeding thru the neighborhood and ended up crashing his car at the same location she turned missing. I think that he at some time had mentioned that he was on the same street as tabitha the morning she disappeared. websleuths member " JOHNNY " may have a better handle on all of the particulars about him. he and I along with many others have been searching for tabitha for the past year.

johnny

05-14-2004, 10:56 AM

'Person of interest' in Tuders case arrested again

http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/04/05/51315588.shtml?Element_ID=51315588

A ''person of interest'' in the case of missing Nashville teen Tabitha Tuders has run afoul of the law for the second time in two weeks.

Earnest Fred Brown, 22, was arrested May 6 and charged with a car burglary that occurred near his home.................

Rocky

05-15-2004, 07:12 PM

Kathleen

05-16-2004, 01:51 AM

how hard is it in small town Tennessee to go to a hospital to deliver a baby while keeping the mother's identity hidden?

If the doctor sees an underage woman having a child, are they forced to report it?
Near my small Alabama town, about 10 years ago there were a group of adult women staying at a local Holiday Inn. They had a young woman with them, who gave birth at the motel. They reported that it just suddenly happened and that they could not make it 3 miles to the hospital, but oddly enough they just so happened to have with them several items needed or useful in childbirth, such as disposable waterproof pads, scissors, cord clamp, bulb syringe, along with baby clothes and baby blankets and personal hygiene items for the new mom!!!
They showed up at the hospital the next day, wanting to get a birth certificate, and the authorities were notified. The mother was not a young girl, but the circumstances were so strange that it was reported. I do not know the final outcome, but had the women NOT tried to get a birth certificate and just left and moved on or went back home, no one would have ever known anything had happened at all!!

dannyodie

05-16-2004, 06:20 AM

how hard is it in small town Tennessee to go to a hospital to deliver a baby while keeping the mother's identity hidden?

If the doctor sees an underage woman having a child, are they forced to report it?

rocky, in tennessee hospitals they report underage birth mothers to law enforcement if a legal parent or gaurdian is not present or accounted for, doctors for the most part will know that if a woman giving birth is underage or not. :twocents:

johnny

05-19-2004, 11:34 AM

http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/04/05/51530777.shtml?Element_ID=51530777

'Person of interest' in Tuders case back in jail

So, for the third time in recent weeks, police took Earnest Fred Brown downtown.

Brown, 22, is considered by Metro police to be a ''person of interest'' in the case of missing Nashville teen Tabitha Tuders — and by neighbors, a scourge and a problem.............

johnny

05-21-2004, 08:45 AM

http://www.wsmv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1883906&nav=1TcRNI9t

May 20, 2004

A so-called "person of interest" in the Tabitha Tuders disappearance will likely spend several months in jail on un-related charges. Earnest Fred Brown appeared in court on Thursday for burglary charges.

After hearing testimony from Brown's .................................

johnny

05-21-2004, 08:52 AM

http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/04/05/51649836.shtml?Element_ID=51649836

An east Nashville neighborhood is looking forward to a summer in which its sleep, its streets and its lawn mowers will be safe — a summer without ''Fast Fred.''

http://www.tennessean.com/local/

''Hey, Fred, do you have my ashtray?''

Fred said he did not.

''I'll give you $10 for it.''

Minutes later, she said, they had their ashtray back and Fred had his ten-spot.

They said they had seen him drinking in the streets, driving recklessly at 30 mph in reverse when children were present, brandishing a knife and a bat, provoking neighborhood dogs and smoking a substance through a glass tube.

johnny

06-16-2004, 01:20 PM

Voice mail claiming to be Tabitha probably a hoax, police say

By CHRISTIAN BOTTORFF
Staff Writer

A telephone message claiming to be from missing teen Tabitha Tuders, and maintaining she was being held against her will in Nashville, probably was a hoax, a Metro detective said yesterday.

The caller left the message on a telephone line belonging to the wife of a Smyrna police officer. The caller said she was in ''Dodge City,'' a nickname for a Nashville public-housing development that historically has had problems with rampant crime.

Detectives are trying to trace the call, but it probably was made from a cellular telephone, said Metro Youth Services detective Faye Okert. The message contained the sounds of cars in the background, Okert said.

The caller's telephone number was blocked and could not be immediately retrieved, the detective said. There was no explanation why such a message would be left with the wife of a Smyrna police officer, Okert said.

Even if the message was a hoax, investigators still want to know who left it, she said. Detectives have been to the housing development, Cumberland View, to search for Tabitha and have left a picture with the building's manager, Okert said.

Detectives also are looking for a man who the caller claimed is holding her. Detectives have not been able to find a person by the name given. No one by that name lives in Cumberland View, Okert said. The name was not released yesterday.

Okert said the caller was probably older than Tabitha, who went missing at 13 and would now be 14, but was pretending to be the missing girl and acting younger and upset.

''At some point during the conversation, she said, 'I'm OK, but come and get me. Get me to my mom,' '' Okert said.

Tabitha's mother and sister heard a recorded version of the message and determined that it was not the missing east Nashville girl, Okert said. They could not be reached yesterday for comment.

Tabitha has been missing since April 29, 2003, when she left her Lillian Street home to go to a nearby bus stop. She has had no contact with family members since she disappeared, police have said.

Okert said she could not recall any other hoax callers or messages throughout the yearlong investigation.