TN - Gail Nowacki Palmgren, 44, Signal Mountain, 30 April 2011 - #12

[Annie_61]

Originally Posted by confused

I was following this one too, and did you see? They found him! Perfectly safe, in Canada. Apparently he just got in his big van and drove away. So glad for his family that he was located. Just thought you would want to know, if you didn't.

Just goes to show when the LE have full cooperation of family & friends how much easier and quicker it is to find someone who is missing, even if they have left of their own free will but. Good to see a happy ending
We can only hope that Gail’s case have the same happy ending.
But sadly after 5 months it doesn’t seem likely. Just my gut feeling of course.

Sorry for having to go back on old post but due to time differences posting is a rare thing for me

[Annie_61]

Originally Posted by BeanE

I've done a fair amount of work in my professional life developing standards, processes, and procedures, primarily for various government agencies. It was primarily at the federal level, but I've also done state, county, city level.

Because of this, I know that every government agency has procedures for everything - and I do mean everything lol. I also know that when an agency or department develops their own procedures for something, they have to start with procedures they're required to follow, and procedures they must use as a basis, which usually are based on tried and true methods that work, best practices, etc.

So... with all this in mind, after failing to find anything online for Signal Mountain, Hamilton County, or TN for procedures, I decided to go for the next best thing - what an agency would be likely to use as at least a starting point for their missing person procedures.

I think I found it. I think it's CALEA 41.2.5 and CALEA 41.2.6.

I'm finding lots of agencies that cite it as a reference, and lots of agencies with exactly the same wording.

What I'm not finding - yet! - is the original CALEA Standard that I can be guaranteed hasn't been modified or adapted by an indivual agency.

I'll keep looking.

Meanwhile, if anyone is interested in reading through some of these documents, just Google CALEA 41.2.5 or 41.2.5 missing persons

Here are some examples of the documents you can find:

Phoenix PD:
http://phoenix.gov/police/missin1.html

Peoria AZ PD:
http://www.peoriaaz.gov/uploadedFile...ation/4_29.pdf

Boardman Township PD:
http://www.boardmantwp.com/Police/do...g%20Person.pdf


In the course of my poking around, I also found this article:

When people go missing; Foul play or running away?
Posted Aug 16, 2010 @ 07:00 AM
Last update Aug 17, 2010 @ 10:44 AM
http://www.cantonrep.com/stark/canto...r-running-away

One thing that stands out from the links is that lack of funds and resources plays a huge part in why so many missing person cases can’t be investigated deeper. It really is making it so easy for criminals to dispose of people and get away with it, all you need to do is make sure there is no sign of foul play and you are pretty much home free. Sometimes it seems the laws that are meant to be there to protect everyday citizens are becoming more about protecting criminals. The LE really do have their hands tied a lot of times when it comes to making a call on how much time they can spend on a case, gut instinct no longer can play as big a part in solving crime these days.

As someone who lives a pretty dull ordinary life I can’t understand why anyone who has a missing family member would object to talking to LE, having the LE enter and search my place. Even though I know it is my right to refuse to talk etc. my personal feeling is, if I have nothing to hide why stop the LE from doing their job. It would give me peace of mind to be able to walk around with my head held high knowing I had done all I could to help the LE and prevent finger pointing. Also would help the LE from wasting valuable resources trying to work out if I was up to no good. Just some thoughts after reading all those links.

Again sorry for the late reply to a post...I am about to turn into a pumkin so will say good night.

[BeanE]

Originally Posted by hollyblue

Hmmmm, interesting . I know this is CPD, but don't we have the HCSD major crimes detectives on GP's investigation now? No foul play?

Missing Persons Division


The Youth & Family Investigations unit is commanded by Lieutenant Mike Mathis.

If circumstances indicate that foul play may be involved, a major crimes investigator may be assigned to the case.

http://www.chattanooga.gov/police_department/74_citymissingpersons.htm

That's the Chattanooga Police Department (CPD). They don't handle Gail's case. Gail's case is handled by the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office (HCSO).

If you go to the HCSO website (http://www.hcsheriff.gov) and look under the Site Map link, or the grey Investigations tab in the line of clickable tabs across the page under the page heading, you see what HCSO's Investigations division handles:

Investigations

Internal Affairs
Domestic Violence
Fugitive
Narcotics
Sex Offender Registry
Property Crimes
Property & Evidence
Special Services
S.U.R.T.

And one more - Personal Crimes. If you go to the Personal Crimes page, you see that Personal Crimes handles:

Personal Crimes

Child Abuse
Missing Persons
Suspicious Deaths, Homicide and Violent Crime

http://www.hcsheriff.gov/cid/personal_crimes.asp

HCSO has stated a multitude of times that Gail's case is a Missing Person case, and that there is no evidence of foul play.

HCSO's Sheriff Hammond additionally stated that "There's nothing at this point to indicate that anything nefarious has occurred".
http://www.wrcbtv.com/story/15144246...-disappearance

Based on all the above, it's impossible for me, personally, to see how a different agency is structured, and its procedures, into an indication that HCSO secretively has classified Gail's case as a major crime, and is lying to the public.

Upholding the public trust by being honest is important in law enforcement. I see in many cases where people express that they think LE is being dishonest with the public, but personally, it seems to me that it's a very rare thing. LE seems to me to refrain from commenting at all when information needs to be kept confidential, and then later, either they release the information to the press, or it comes out at trial.

99% of the time, I follow LE's lead, because they have training, knowledge, experience, and information that I don't. I'm following LE's lead in Gail's case, and LE is telling me (the public) there is not only no physical evidence of foul play (seems to me to be the most common statement of this sort made), and no evidence period (indicates no circumstantial to me) of foul play, but have taken it all the way to telling me (the public) there is nothing at all to indicate that anything at all nefarious happened here.

As always, I ask no one to agree with me, and am not trying to change anyone's mind. I'm simply expressing my thoughts, opinions, and how I perceive what I have learned about this case.

If any additional information comes out, or if LE develops or receives new leads and releases them, I can certainly perceive this case differently.

[BeanE]

Originally Posted by Annie_61

Just goes to show when the LE have full cooperation of family & friends how much easier and quicker it is to find someone who is missing, even if they have left of their own free will but. Good to see a happy ending
We can only hope that Gail’s case have the same happy ending.
But sadly after 5 months it doesn’t seem likely. Just my gut feeling of course.

Sorry for having to go back on old post but due to time differences posting is a rare thing for me

Just a note on Patrick Borally's case - it is a happy ending because he is alive, I agree, however, sadly, Pat has been reported in MSM per a police report to have made more than one suicide attempt during the time he was missing. He was found in a car with a hose hooked up to pump the carbon monoxide (I think that's what it is?) into the car, and a suicide note.

[BeanE]

Originally Posted by Annie_61

One thing that stands out from the links is that lack of funds and resources plays a huge part in why so many missing person cases can’t be investigated deeper.

Exactly - it all comes down to money, because we pay for the services of LE with our tax dollars. If we want more work done on missing person cases, we need to pay more taxes so that LE can hire more people to do the work.

Meantime, LE has to prioritize their case loads with the number of people they have, and the cost for additional resources to work on missing person cases falls to their families, for example, in privately engaging PIs, which is very expensive.

Families can also engage search organizations at no cost to them, but there is still a cost - the search organizations have to get funding somewhere for equipment, training, travel, housing during searches. And the searchers have to put out their own money for their own equipment, dogs, care of dogs, special clothing, shoes, boots, etc.

I don't know what the answer is. We can't, as individuals, make everybody pay more taxes for LE to hire more people. We can lobby for it in our own towns, but it will take many, many years I think.

We can donate to search organizations, and to the foundations that families of the missing set up to help fund the search for their loved ones.

And of course, we can all keep posting the flyers for missing persons, online, in our towns, and in towns we travel to, every chance we get, and encourage others to do the same.

The situation leaves me feeling helpless to help very much, and then I always think how much more helpless the family members must feel. Few of them have the money to pour into large scale search efforts and longterm PI services, or even any PI services at all.

It's very sad.

[confused]

Originally Posted by BeanE

That's the Chattanooga Police Department (CPD). They don't handle Gail's case. Gail's case is handled by the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office (HCSO).

If you go to the HCSO website (http://www.hcsheriff.gov) and look under the Site Map link, or the grey Investigations tab in the line of clickable tabs across the page under the page heading, you see what HCSO's Investigations division handles:

Investigations

Internal Affairs
Domestic Violence
Fugitive
Narcotics
Sex Offender Registry
Property Crimes
Property & Evidence
Special Services
S.U.R.T.

And one more - Personal Crimes. If you go to the Personal Crimes page, you see that Personal Crimes handles:

Personal Crimes

Child Abuse
Missing Persons
Suspicious Deaths, Homicide and Violent Crime

http://www.hcsheriff.gov/cid/personal_crimes.asp

HCSO has stated a multitude of times that Gail's case is a Missing Person case, and that there is no evidence of foul play.

HCSO's Sheriff Hammond additionally stated that "There's nothing at this point to indicate that anything nefarious has occurred".


Based on all the above, it's impossible for me, personally, to see how a different agency is structured, and its procedures, into an indication that HCSO secretively has classified Gail's case as a major crime, and is lying to the public.

Upholding the public trust by being honest is important in law enforcement. I see in many cases where people express that they think LE is being dishonest with the public, but personally, it seems to me that it's a very rare thing. LE seems to me to refrain from commenting at all when information needs to be kept confidential, and then later, either they release the information to the press, or it comes out at trial.

99% of the time, I follow LE's lead, because they have training, knowledge, experience, and information that I don't. I'm following LE's lead in Gail's case, and LE is telling me (the public) there is not only no physical evidence of foul play (seems to me to be the most common statement of this sort made), and no evidence period (indicates no circumstantial to me) of foul play, but have taken it all the way to telling me (the public) there is nothing at all to indicate that anything at all nefarious happened here.

As always, I ask no one to agree with me, and am not trying to change anyone's mind. I'm simply expressing my thoughts, opinions, and how I perceive what I have learned about this case.

If any additional information comes out, or if LE develops or receives new leads and releases them, I can certainly perceive this case differently.

Thank you for that post! Excellent information and well stated. I have read so much second guessing, questioning and outright blaming LE in this case. Criticizing LE for not doing this or that, and even trying to claim corruption in the form of the 'good ole boy' idea. It's been eye opening to see that so many form an opinion based on rumors and things they see elsewhere, and are ready to convict someone for a serious crime based on that-and talk badly about LE because they don't agree. I am sure most would feel differently if they were the one being accused. I am glad that LE is being quiet and carefully doing their investigation. Hopefully it will result in Gail and the truth being found.

[hollyblue]

I stated it was an officer of a different LE agency, but an investigation is usually handled in the same manner.

I think it's common knowledge that LE "fibs" when investigating a case and the public could care less when they do---IF the truth eventually comes out and the case is solved. JMO LE cares about solving the case and not whether or not they are appeasing public opinion...at least I hope not.

[Oriah]

Originally Posted by BeanE

Exactly - it all comes down to money, because we pay for the services of LE with our tax dollars. If we want more work done on missing person cases, we need to pay more taxes so that LE can hire more people to do the work.

Meantime, LE has to prioritize their case loads with the number of people they have, and the cost for additional resources to work on missing person cases falls to their families, for example, in privately engaging PIs, which is very expensive.

Families can also engage search organizations at no cost to them, but there is still a cost - the search organizations have to get funding somewhere for equipment, training, travel, housing during searches. And the searchers have to put out their own money for their own equipment, dogs, care of dogs, special clothing, shoes, boots, etc.

I don't know what the answer is. We can't, as individuals, make everybody pay more taxes for LE to hire more people. We can lobby for it in our own towns, but it will take many, many years I think.

We can donate to search organizations, and to the foundations that families of the missing set up to help fund the search for their loved ones.

And of course, we can all keep posting the flyers for missing persons, online, in our towns, and in towns we travel to, every chance we get, and encourage others to do the same.

The situation leaves me feeling helpless to help very much, and then I always think how much more helpless the family members must feel. Few of them have the money to pour into large scale search efforts and longterm PI services, or even any PI services at all.

It's very sad.

Thank you for this very astute post, BeanE.

It kind of randomly made me think of a time years ago when we were approached by a (very well intentioned) name brand manufacturer of USAR helmets. Much reduced cost- as long as any search that appeared in the media contained a shot of their label.

Had to turn that one down. Way to help victims? Not so much. Way to help SAR? Not so much.

But the cost ratio analysis forces many groups- into situations they do not want to be in... but have to be in.

Leaves me feel helpless too.

[Emeralgem]

IMHO..Considering the search of the residence on Ridgerock didn't even take place until almost two months after Gail was reported missing, I really don't know how Hammond can be certain no foul play is involved....
Guess he is entitled to state whatever he chooses since he is the sheriff, but that doesn't mean the public agrees with his assumptions concerning Gail's case..JMHO..

http://www.wdef.com/news/hamilton_co..._house/06/2011

[BeanE]

Originally Posted by Emeralgem

IMHO..Considering the search of the residence on Ridgerock didn't even take place until almost two months after Gail was reported missing, I really don't know how Hammond can be certain no foul play is involved....
Guess he is entitled to state whatever he chooses since he is the sheriff, but that doesn't mean the public agrees with his assumptions concerning Gail's case..JMHO..

http://www.wdef.com/news/hamilton_co..._house/06/2011

Personally, I haven't seen Hammond say he's certain. I've seen him (and LE e.g. Atkinson) say they haven't found any evidence and they haven't found any indications.

To me, that's different than saying "I'm certain", and to me, it's different from making assumptions - they're saying they haven't found anything.

My understanding, based on Gail's case still being marked Active, is that they will continue to investigate, and as I understand all these cases work, if and when they do find anything to indicate foul play, then they'll go in that direction.

If anyone in the public has evidence or sees indications of foul play, then I would encourage them to document it clearly, and send it to the tip email address:

Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office
423-209-8940
Sheriff’s dispatcher 423-622-0022
investigations@hcsheriff.gov

http://www.hcsheriff.gov/

[Emeralgem]

Originally Posted by BeanE

Personally, I haven't seen Hammond say he's certain. I've seen him (and LE e.g. Atkinson) say they haven't found any evidence and they haven't found any indications.

To me, that's different than saying "I'm certain", and to me, it's different from making assumptions - they're saying they haven't found anything.

My understanding, based on Gail's case still being marked Active, is that they will continue to investigate, and as I understand all these cases work, if and when they do find anything to indicate foul play, then they'll go in that direction.

If anyone in the public has evidence or sees indications of foul play, then I would encourage them to document it clearly, and send it to the tip email address:

Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office
423-209-8940
Sheriff’s dispatcher 423-622-0022
investigations@hcsheriff.gov

http://www.hcsheriff.gov/

I haven't heard the sheriff state he is certain either..I'm thinking my post may have been geared toward your comments about following LE's lead in Gail's case.

You stated...
LE is telling me (the public) there is not only no physical evidence of foul play (seems to me to be the most common statement of this sort made), and no evidence period (indicates no circumstantial to me) of foul play, but have taken it all the way to telling me (the public) there is nothing at all to indicate that anything at all nefarious happened here.


As I see it, and I realize I could very well be wrong, you are thinking the Sheriff is stating he is certain nothing nefarious has occurred and you are taking LE's words as "Gospel" since they have stated there is no evidence of foul play...

Please know, IF I am wrong in assuming this is what you meant, I do apologize..
Hope I have worded that correctly.. Ragweed in this area is responsible for giving me a terrible headache..It's hard to think...JMHO..

[Emeralgem]

Just wondering..
IF Missing Persons investigations at HCSO are handled by the Personal Crimes Unit then why is the Criminal Investigations Unit handling Gail's investigation?

Why has LE stated that MAJOR CRIMES would be looking into Gail's disappearance? Does a Missing Person fall into MAJOR CRIMES category?


The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division is requesting for anyone who may have information pertaining to this missing person investigation are urged to call 423-209-8940, Sheriff’s dispatcher 423-622-0022 or submit a tip to investigations@hcsheriff.gov


http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_202911.asp

[BeanE]

Originally Posted by Emeralgem

I haven't heard the sheriff state he is certain either..I'm thinking my post may have been geared toward your comments about following LE's lead in Gail's case.

You stated...
LE is telling me (the public) there is not only no physical evidence of foul play (seems to me to be the most common statement of this sort made), and no evidence period (indicates no circumstantial to me) of foul play, but have taken it all the way to telling me (the public) there is nothing at all to indicate that anything at all nefarious happened here.


As I see it, and I realize I could very well be wrong, you are thinking the Sheriff is stating he is certain nothing nefarious has occurred and you are taking LE's words as "Gospel" since they have stated there is no evidence of foul play...

Please know, IF I am wrong in assuming this is what you meant, I do apologize..
Hope I have worded that correctly.. Ragweed in this area is responsible for giving me a terrible headache..It's hard to think...JMHO..

Thank you for explaining that to me, emeralgem, and no, I don't think, and have never thought, that the Sheriff is stating he is certain nothing nefarious has occurred.

IIRC, I've stated several times in this forum, in several different ways, in an attempt to be clear to as many people as possible, that I think just as I stated above - that LE develops a theory (what they *think* happened - *not* what they *know* or are *certain* happened - just what they *think*), and continue to investigate, and if, along the way, they do find evidence or indications that a different theory would be more appropriate, then they switch gears.

I take LE's words as "Gospel" only that, so far, they have neither found nor determined any evidence or indications of foul play.

I realize that at any time they, of course, could find evidence or indications of foul play, and that is the primary reason why I have repeatedly said that, if more information becomes available, I can change my mind about what I *think* - not *know* or am *certain* of - happened here.

It is this same *lack* of any way to be certain that leads me to continue to pursue theories related to foul play, most notably, murder for hire, which I've talked about more than once in this forum.

It is the same for me in all of these cases. No matter what I *think* is *most likely* to have happened to the person, I continue to explore - and to act on - other theories, because I feel very strongly that that is the right thing for me to do for these missing people.

[BeanE]

Originally Posted by Emeralgem

Just wondering..
IF Missing Persons investigations at HCSO are handled by the Personal Crimes Unit then why is the Criminal Investigations Unit handling Gail's investigation?

Why has LE stated that MAJOR CRIMES would be looking into Gail's disappearance? Does a Missing Person fall into MAJOR CRIMES category?


The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division is requesting for anyone who may have information pertaining to this missing person investigation are urged to call 423-209-8940, Sheriff’s dispatcher 423-622-0022 or submit a tip to investigations@hcsheriff.gov


http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_202911.asp

If you look at the HCSO website, at the places I posted above, it appears, as I was trying to point out, that Personal Crimes is one of the areas that falls under their Criminal Investigations Division.

I don't recall ever seeing LE state that Major Crimes would be looking into Gail's case. I don't see anything on their site that indicates they have a Major Crimes unit.

[redfish]

Originally Posted by Emeralgem

Just wondering..
IF Missing Persons investigations at HCSO are handled by the Personal Crimes Unit then why is the Criminal Investigations Unit handling Gail's investigation?

Why has LE stated that MAJOR CRIMES would be looking into Gail's disappearance? Does a Missing Person fall into MAJOR CRIMES category?


The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division is requesting for anyone who may have information pertaining to this missing person investigation are urged to call 423-209-8940, Sheriff’s dispatcher 423-622-0022 or submit a tip to investigations@hcsheriff.gov


http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_202911.asp

That does seem like a fair question. When I saw this the first time it did send an alarm off for me. After I thought about it (for days on end) I came to adopt a possible explaination. I know that this community has limited manpower. Like many LE organizations all over their resource officers wear many hats. My son is in LE in a much larger organization and is a homicide detective. But, he also often has active cases of robbery and sexual assault and child endangerment on his plate at the same time. Also missing persons. When there is a homicide he is only one of 4 investigators. All other "major crimes" require their investigation skills as well. Lots of hats. LOOOOTs of time in court - never enough time to go around. This is how I perceive this statement in the paper.... one unit that handles all major crime, not officers who handle "petty crime". JIMO

[glorias]

What has become completely overwhelming to me since I started following the case is the sheer number of women who disappear, whose husband state the women just ran off because of marital strife. So many people seem to think it's very common for a woman to disappear, leave behind family and children and friends, abandon money and valuables and sentimental items, get a new name and new social security number and hide for the rest of their days.

In my world, it's common to get a divorce, not to disappear without a trace. As I said, that's my world, which apparently is not the real world if this case is any indication.

Then LE doesn't do any timely searches, doesn't interview the people closest to Gail, doesn't release even basic information like what Gail was wearing or what direction she was traveling so people could be on the lookout for her, then LE proclaims to the media that they have no evidence of anything. Of course they don't have any evidence of anything. Who would under those circumstances?

[believe09]

NCIC MP statistics for 2010:

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/nci...stics-for-2010

692,944 people were entered in NCIC as missing in 2010. 62K were entered as missing in April. 355,243 total for the year were females who went missing.

Statistically speaking, it is far more likely that a missing person is either a runaway juvenile or voluntarily missing.

Look at those numbers compared to the number of detectives out there.

Resources are finite for these cases-Gail is blessed because not only is the media interested, HCSO has far larger resources to devote to her case than does SMPD.

[Pearl*]

Originally Posted by redfish

That does seem like a fair question. When I saw this the first time it did send an alarm off for me. After I thought about it (for days on end) I came to adopt a possible explaination. I know that this community has limited manpower. Like many LE organizations all over their resource officers wear many hats. My son is in LE in a much larger organization and is a homicide detective. But, he also often has active cases of robbery and sexual assault and child endangerment on his plate at the same time. Also missing persons. When there is a homicide he is only one of 4 investigators. All other "major crimes" require their investigation skills as well. Lots of hats. LOOOOTs of time in court - never enough time to go around. This is how I perceive this statement in the paper.... one unit that handles all major crime, not officers who handle "petty crime". JIMO

Excellent point. I re-read the article after reading your post, and I noticed it says Major Crimes DETECTIVES are working on the case. It never says the Major Crimes Unit is handling it. I also notice in looking over the HCSO website, that the same (423) 209-8940 is listed as the contact number for several of the units. Also... the article linked is 4 months old. Do we really know what specific "unit" is handling it at this point? And did the unit in charge change over time?

(This is the article referenced: http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_202911.asp)

[Melodie]

I don't necessarily believe everything LE says to the public. I'm not saying they are lying, because they do not have to reveal everything to us. I think when they say, "We don't have any evidence that a crime was committed", what they may possibly mean is, "We don't have enough evidence that a crime was committed to prove it, make an arrest or name a suspect or POI". I am not convinced they have no evidence, just based on what has already been revealed. The Sheriff said they were planning an aerial search. That says a lot to me.

[BeanE]

Originally Posted by believe09

NCIC MP statistics for 2010:

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/nci...stics-for-2010

692,944 people were entered in NCIC as missing in 2010. 62K were entered as missing in April. 355,243 total for the year were females who went missing.

Statistically speaking, it is far more likely that a missing person is either a runaway juvenile or voluntarily missing.

Look at those numbers compared to the number of detectives out there.

Resources are finite for these cases-Gail is blessed because not only is the media interested, HCSO has far larger resources to devote to her case than does SMPD.

For just adult females over 21 last year, there were 52,111. And those, of course, are just the ones reported, and who make it into the NCIC system.

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/nci...stics-for-2010

[Pearl*]

Originally Posted by BeanE

I don't see anything on their site that indicates they have a Major Crimes unit.

Good point. I can't find it either.

[Pearl*]

Originally Posted by Melodie

I don't necessarily believe everything LE says to the public. I'm not saying they are lying, because they do not have to reveal everything to us. I think when they say, "We don't have any evidence that a crime was committed", what they may possibly mean is, "We don't have enough evidence that a crime was committed to prove it, make an arrest or name a suspect or POI". I am not convinced they have no evidence, just based on what has already been revealed. The Sheriff said they were planning an aerial search. That says a lot to me.

[bbm]

I'm having trouble drawing any particular conclusion from this. It seems to me that all statements are consistently noncommital. I think they are looking at all options. I sure hope they are. I think they owe her that.

[Melodie]

Originally Posted by Pearl*

[bbm]

I'm having trouble drawing any particular conclusion from this. It seems to me that all statements are consistently noncommital. I think they are looking at all options. I sure hope they are. I think they owe her that.

I definitely agree they should be looking at all options. I feel pretty sure that they have. I was addressing the foul play theory, though, in my post. I was trying to make the point that I feel sometimes one has to read between the lines. I don't believe LE always reveals everything they know to the public, nor should they. I suppose people could hear the Sheriff state that they are planning an aerial search and take that to mean that they could be looking for Gail's Jeep, where it may be obscured in the brush, if she was involved in an accident. I don't think that is what happened, so that is why I said, to me, it says a lot. To me, it says that LE does not believe Gail left her children on her own and is living a new life somewhere else. If they did believe that, I can't imagine why they would conduct an expensive search of that type. JMHO

[Emeralgem]

Originally Posted by Pearl*

Excellent point. I re-read the article after reading your post, and I noticed it says Major Crimes DETECTIVES are working on the case. It never says the Major Crimes Unit is handling it. I also notice in looking over the HCSO website, that the same (423) 209-8940 is listed as the contact number for several of the units. Also... the article linked is 4 months old. Do we really know what specific "unit" is handling it at this point? And did the unit in charge change over time?

(This is the article referenced: http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_202911.asp)

Thank you for bringing that to my attention.... Perhaps that is the source of my confusion...

[Emeralgem]

Originally Posted by believe09

NCIC MP statistics for 2010:

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/nci...stics-for-2010

692,944 people were entered in NCIC as missing in 2010. 62K were entered as missing in April. 355,243 total for the year were females who went missing.

Statistically speaking, it is far more likely that a missing person is either a runaway juvenile or voluntarily missing.
Look at those numbers compared to the number of detectives out there.

Resources are finite for these cases-Gail is blessed because not only is the media interested, HCSO has far larger resources to devote to her case than does SMPD.

Wonder what the statistics are for domestic violence...And the number of women who have disappeared and vanished by the hands of their husbands or boyfriends..JMHO