Kynande Bennett - 5 - missing since 09/2002

[Doyle]

Kynande hasn't been found almost 20 months after her mother said she was snatched from a Kmart, hasn't been found after searches by hundreds from several states, hasn't been found more than a year after police charged her parents with homicide by child abuse.
http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/news/local/8710779.htm

[fourboys]

New Developments in Kynande Bennett Case

Posted: October 5, 2005

Nearly three years have passed without a trial in the Kynande Bennett case. That trial has now been set for one parent, and charges are dropped for the other.

Four-year-old Kynande was reported missing from the Whiteville K-Mart in the fall of 2002 and her parents were arrested in her disappearance. Both were charged with homicide by child abuse.

After their arrest, the couple paid bond and were allowed to return to their homes where they have been living ever since.

Now, Kynande's mother, Vartasha McCullough, will go to trial in February of next year. However, charges have been dropped against the father, Kevin Bennett, after it was determined there was insufficient evidence to go ahead with a trial against him.

http://www.wect.com/Global/story.asp?S=3941940&nav=2gQc

[PonderingThings]

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/local/13849393.htm

A mother received a 20-year prison sentence after a jury found her guilty in the 2002 disappearance of her 4-year-old daughter. An Horry County jury found Vartasha McCollough-White guilty Friday of homicide by child abuse, unlawful neglect of a child and inflicting great bodily harm on a child. The jury deliberated for four hours. Judge Edward Cottingham sentenced her shortly afterward.


More at link

[mysteriew]

Details about the trial. From reading this article, I really don't know, defense did make some good points.
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16100955&BRD=2081&PAG=461&dept_id=385210&rfi=6

[Bobbisangel]

Details about the trial. From reading this article, I really don't know, defense did make some good points.
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16100955&BRD=2081&PAG=461&dept_id=385210&rfi=6



I don't think I could have voted "guilty" if I had been on the jury...just going by what was said in that article by the Pros and the defense.

Did they have any evidence of the possibility of abuse besides the black eye the little girl had....mom said it was caused by a book falling and hitting her?
Her school said they had never noticed anything.

Her lack of emotion at the station right after she said her daughter was taken could simply have been from numbness. It sounds like LE was focussed on the mother right from the beginning. Why lie to her about needing article's of clothing for search dogs and never use dogs. Why didn't they take dogs to that parking lot???

As far as a WalMart greeter recognizing the mother who was without her daughter....how in the heck could a greeter remember anyone unless the person drew attention to themself? Greeters see tons of people walking by a day.

Boy, I wonder if any video cameras picked up this mother or her daughter in the parking lot or if LE even bothered to check the cameras. Remember when Dru went missing? There was a tape of it in the parking lot.

I hope the wrong person didn't get sent to prison only because LE was so anxious to arrest and try the mother. By the sounds of it they have no evidence...not even circumstancial evidence.

[SewingDeb]

Bobbi,

If I remember correctly, the video cameras showed the mother going in alone. That's why she was suspected right away.

[Kelly]

Kynande has been added to Project Jason's Adopt a Missing Person program. Please consider helping reunite her with her family by wearing her photo button and sharing her story with others. For more details on how you can make a difference, please see:

http://www.projectjason.org/adopt.html
__________________
Kelly Jolkowski, Mother of Missing Jason Jolkowski
President and Founder,
Project Jason
http://www.projectjason.org
Read our Voice for the Missing Blog
http://voice4themissing.blogspot.com/

[Bobbisangel]

Bobbi,

If I remember correctly, the video cameras showed the mother going in alone. That's why she was suspected right away.



The mom said that when they were out in the parking lot she went to grab a cart and when she turned around her daughter was gone.

Even after re-reading the story I don't see how the jury found her guilty.