Tabitha Tuders - 13 - missing since 4/29/03

[Doyle]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/903257/posts

[Doyle]

bump

[Rocky]

I've been going crazy wanting to share this with everyone, Johnny if you're watching get in here as soon as you can to fill us 9in on what you know.

http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/03/08/37523949.shtml?Element_ID=37523949

"''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.''"

[Rocky]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

[johnny]

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]

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

[johnny]

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

[johnny]

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]

Tuders case leaves parents, police frustrated
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More Links

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
Tabitha Tuders tip site





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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]

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

[johnny]

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

[johnny]

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.



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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]

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

[tylin]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

[tylin]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

[johnny]

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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]

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]

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

[johnny]

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

[Rocky]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

[Rocky]

"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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

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

Thank You All!

[johnny]

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















By SHEILA BURKE
Staff Writer

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Rocky]

Teens Turn To Technology To Communicate (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]

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

[johnny]

Not Faulkner's Best Moment

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


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

Whoa.

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

Another cheap shot.

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

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

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

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

[johnny]

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

By Stephanie Taylor
Staff Writer
August 22, 2003

Email this story.


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Reach Stephanie Taylor at 722-0210

[johnny]

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

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



Tabitha's parents hope to aid family of missing girl



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By SHEILA BURKE
Staff Writer

Possible link between Nashville, Alabama cases

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Babcat]

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

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

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

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


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



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


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


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


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

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

Location

All the girls are missing from the state of Tenessee


Chronology of dates missing:

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

Age

Three girls are 16
Two girls are 17
One is 13

Height


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

Weight


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

Hair color

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

Eye color

Four girls are blue eyed
Two are green eyed

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

[Doyle]

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

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

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

[Babcat]

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

[Up2theminute]

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

[johnny]

search for missing girl
Reward money surpasses $60,000

By Scott Parrott
Staff Writer
August 24, 2003

Email this story.


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

• Discuss this story


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Reach Scott Parrott at scott.parrott@tuscaloosanews.com or 722-0200.

[johnny]

Tuderses provide comfort to family



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By HOLLY EDWARDS
Staff Writer

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

[johnny]

Police look for man who tries to lure girls into car



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By SUE McCLURE
Staff Writer

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[johnny]

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


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



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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

[johnny]

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

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

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

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


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


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

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

[johnny]

The Nashville Scene letters to the Editor



Some turnover, please


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

Bill Sizer



Cheap shots


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

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

Calvin E. Hullett, president

Fraternal Order of Police, Andrew Jackson Lodge # 5

CEHullett@aol.com (Nashville

[Ghostwheel]

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

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

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

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

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

[johnny]

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

[Anniegirl]

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

[Anniegirl]

Tabitha- still waiting for you to come home..

[johnny]

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]

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

[mindys]

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

[johnny]

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]

that is incredible...

but does offer some hope she might be found.

if this pans out, and she can be traced.

[johnny]

Serial rapist's victims tell their stories on television


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

[johnny]

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 s