CA CA - Ilene Misheloff, 13, Dublin, 30 Jan 1989

[LinasK]

Marchers holds annual vigil for Ilene Misheloff

By Sam Richards

CONTRA COSTA TIMES

Posted on Mon, Jan. 30, 2006

DUBLIN - Mike and Jan Barnes weren't going to miss Monday's annual vigil for Ilene Misheloff even if the rain had not stopped.

But like many of those who braved the unpredictable weather, the Barnes also came in the hope their presence would somehow shed light on Ilene's whereabouts after 17 years.

"We have a daughter a little older than that," said Jan Barnes of Danville, a friend of the Misheloffs. "I can't imagine what life would be like without her."

The Misheloffs march every year, marking the anniversary of their daughter Ilene's disappearance. They are supporting both their daughter and law enforcement efforts to find her. They also want to keep the public eye on the investigation.

"We're just trying to remind people we're still looking for Ilene," said Mike Misheloff, "Maybe

Ilene Misheloff disappeared from the streets of Dublin on the afternoon of Jan. 30, 1989. The 13-year-old had left Wells Middle School and was headed to the Dublin Iceland rink for a skating lesson. Ilene has not been heard from since.

Monday night, for the 17th annual candlelight vigil, about 120 walkers started their observance at Wells Middle on Dublin's Penn Drive and walked about a mile to St. Raymond's Catholic Church on Shannon Avenue. The gathering was a representative cross section of this suburban community, ranging in age from grade schoolers to seniors and including a dog or two.

Police, who say they still get three or four new leads per year on Ilene's disappearance, support the vigil as a way to keep the case in the public eye.

The Misheloffs publicize their daughter's case all year round. Out of an office on Village Parkway, the family runs the Ilene Misheloff Recovery Effort, sending out hundreds of fliers each week about Ilene, the facts of her disappearance and a computer enhanced picture of what she may look like as an adult.

Police Detective Nate Schmidt was heartened by Monday night's turnout and figures the ample media attention will generate at least a few calls over the next several days.

"You never know -- the smallest tip might turn into something big," Schmidt said.

Ilene Misheloff was 5-feet-3 inches tall and 115 pounds at the time of her disappearance. She had brown hair and brown eyes and had braces on her teeth.

The Misheloffs ask anyone with information about Ilene's disappearance to call Dublin police at 925-833-6670 or 800-635-6306, or the FBI at 415-553-7400.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/...s/13751627.htm

[jttnewguy]

Look here....http://websleuths.com/forums/showthr...ghlight=jaycee

There is some suspicion that she was abuducted by the same person(s) who abducted another little girl from South Lake Tahoe named Jaycee Dugard.

James Anthony Daveggio has been considered as a possible suspect in Dugard's abduction since the early 1990s. He and his former girlfriend, Michelle Lyn Michaud, were charged with the 1997 abduction, rape and murder of Vanessa Swanson. Swanson's remains were discovered approximately five miles from the site of Dugard's 1991 abduction. Photos of Daveggio and Michaud are posted below this case summary. They were also charged with additional counts of sexual assault in unrelated cases in the mid-1990s. Michaud claims that she met Daveggio in 1996 and therefore was not involved in Dugard's abduction. There are striking similarities between Michaud and the female suspect in Dugard's case. However, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has created a timeline tracing Michaud and Daveggio's whereabouts over the 1980s and 1990s and they say the pair could not have abducted Dugard.
Daveggio is also considered a possible suspect in the disappearances of Amber Swartz-Garcia, Michaela Garecht and Ilene Misheloff. Neither he nor Michaud has been charged in connection with any of the disappearances.
A defrocked priest named Stephen Kiesle became a suspect in Dugard's abduction in mid-2002. He was suspected because has since been arrested and charged with molesting three girls at the Santa Paula Catholic Church in Fremont, where he worked from 1968 to 1971. Kiesle did not know Dugard and denies any involvement in her case. Police searched his yard three times, using cadaver-sniffing dogs, radar, and a backhoe. They were looking not only for evidence in Dugard's disappearance but also evidence in the 1989 kidnapping of Amber Swartz-Garcia. They found no clues pertaining to either case and the searches concluded in July 2002.
Authorities have also investigated the possibility that Brian David Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Barzee, abducted Dugard. Photographs of Mitchell and Barzee are posted below this case summary. They are charged with the abduction and sexual assault of fourteen-year-old Elizabeth Smart of Salt Lake City, Utah. Smart was kidnapped from her bedroom in June 2002 and held captive for nine months before being rescued in March 2003. Mitchell, also known as David Emmanuel Isiah, has bizarre religious beliefs and reportedly thought God told him to make Smart his wife.
The police are investigating similarities between Smart's and Dugard's cases. The two victims physically resemble each other, and Dugard's stepfather says Barzee resembles the woman he saw abduct Dugard. Mitchell and Barzee have not been charged in connection to Dugard's abduction, however, and authorities are not certain if either was involved.

[LinasK]

Thank you for posting this, and bumping this case. This case hits close to home for me. I'm aware of this guy. They think his home stomping grounds were Pleasanton, the next town over from Dublin. He trolled for Vanessa Sampson in a torture van outside Foothill High School. She was walking along to work. Vanessa's body was found near South Lake Tahoe.

I also recently learned Ilene's backpack was found in a park very close to the ice skating rink she was walking to.

Originally Posted by jttnewguy

Look here....http://websleuths.com/forums/showthr...ghlight=jaycee

There is some suspicion that she was abuducted by the same person(s) who abducted another little girl from South Lake Tahoe named Jaycee Dugard.

James Anthony Daveggio has been considered as a possible suspect in Dugard's abduction since the early 1990s. He and his former girlfriend, Michelle Lyn Michaud, were charged with the 1997 abduction, rape and murder of Vanessa Swanson. Swanson's remains were discovered approximately five miles from the site of Dugard's 1991 abduction. Photos of Daveggio and Michaud are posted below this case summary. They were also charged with additional counts of sexual assault in unrelated cases in the mid-1990s. Michaud claims that she met Daveggio in 1996 and therefore was not involved in Dugard's abduction. There are striking similarities between Michaud and the female suspect in Dugard's case. However, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has created a timeline tracing Michaud and Daveggio's whereabouts over the 1980s and 1990s and they say the pair could not have abducted Dugard.
Daveggio is also considered a possible suspect in the disappearances of Amber Swartz-Garcia, Michaela Garecht and Ilene Misheloff. Neither he nor Michaud has been charged in connection with any of the disappearances.
A defrocked priest named Stephen Kiesle became a suspect in Dugard's abduction in mid-2002. He was suspected because has since been arrested and charged with molesting three girls at the Santa Paula Catholic Church in Fremont, where he worked from 1968 to 1971. Kiesle did not know Dugard and denies any involvement in her case. Police searched his yard three times, using cadaver-sniffing dogs, radar, and a backhoe. They were looking not only for evidence in Dugard's disappearance but also evidence in the 1989 kidnapping of Amber Swartz-Garcia. They found no clues pertaining to either case and the searches concluded in July 2002.
Authorities have also investigated the possibility that Brian David Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Barzee, abducted Dugard. Photographs of Mitchell and Barzee are posted below this case summary. They are charged with the abduction and sexual assault of fourteen-year-old Elizabeth Smart of Salt Lake City, Utah. Smart was kidnapped from her bedroom in June 2002 and held captive for nine months before being rescued in March 2003. Mitchell, also known as David Emmanuel Isiah, has bizarre religious beliefs and reportedly thought God told him to make Smart his wife.
The police are investigating similarities between Smart's and Dugard's cases. The two victims physically resemble each other, and Dugard's stepfather says Barzee resembles the woman he saw abduct Dugard. Mitchell and Barzee have not been charged in connection to Dugard's abduction, however, and authorities are not certain if either was involved.

[Richard]

There was a widely published composite sketch of the suspect in the Michaela Garecht case. How does this James Anthony Daveggio compare with that sketch and description? Was his photo ever shown to the woman who saw Michaela's abductor?

[LinasK]

18 years later, family still searching for girl

DUBLIN: Relatives, friends gather annually to remind public of teen who went missing in 1989

Posted on Fri, Jan. 26, 2007
By Sophia Kazmi
CONTRA COSTA TIMES

A candlelight vigil and prayer service for Ilene Misheloff, kidnapped from the streets of Dublin 18 years ago, will be held Tuesday evening.

Since her disappearance on Jan. 30, 1989, her family, friends and Dublin residents have gathered each year on the anniversary to remind the public that Ilene is still missing.

Ilene, 13, was last seen leaving Wells Middle School. She was heading to an ice skating lesson at Dublin Iceland and has not been heard from since.

The Misheloffs have not given up on finding their daughter. They publicize Ilene's case all year. From an office on Village Parkway, the family runs the Ilene Misheloff Recovery Effort. They send out hundreds of fliers each week about Ilene, the facts of her disappearance and a computer enhanced picture of what she may look like as an adult.

Ilene Misheloff was 5 feet 3 inches tall and weighed 115 pounds at the time of her disappearance. She has brown eyes, wore her brown hair shoulder length and had braces on her teeth. The day she disappeared, she was wearing a charcoal gray pullover polo sweater, a horizontally striped pink and gray skirt, black low-top Keds and carried a dark blue back pack. more at link:http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/...s/16551453.htm

[Marie]

Is this one of the cases possibly related to several other missing young women from the area?

[JDB]

Originally Posted by Marie

Is this one of the cases possibly related to several other missing young women from the area?

IMO I think it might be. Back then we had Amber Schwartz Michella Garecht. but I was living right around the corner when she went missing. Never to be found

[fran]

Originally Posted by JDB

IMO I think it might be. Back then we had Amber Schwartz Michella Garecht. but I was living right around the corner when she went missing. Never to be found

This article would probably bring back sad memories for you JDB. It's scary to think this person is still out there. Where is he now?

JMHO
fran


http://www.unsolved.com/0239-Swartz.html

UNSOLVED MYSTERIES on LIFETIME TV

....................SNIP..........................

Over the course of more than a decade, several young girls vanished along the Interstate 80 corridor.

[LinasK]

Originally Posted by Marie

Is this one of the cases possibly related to several other missing young women from the area?

She did disappear along with several other girls from the Bay Area, true. But they think her captors are in jail on Death Row for other crimes- James Daveggio and Michelle Michaud. They have not confessed and her body has never been found. I thought she deserved her own thread, as she didn't have one...

[Ca-Sun]

Originally Posted by LinasK

She did disappear along with several other girls from the Bay Area, true. But they think her captors are in jail on Death Row for other crimes- James Daveggio and Michelle Michaud. They have not confessed and her body has never been found. I thought she deserved her own thread, as she didn't have one...

I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of your Mom.

I agree, Linask, she does deserve her own thread! To this day, every time I drive by the Ice Rink I think of her. However, I've never heard that they suspect James Daveggio and Michelle Michaud are responsible for her kidnapping. Are they the people who kidnapped and killed the Pleasanton woman? How did you hear about this? Very interesting...


How is your leg doing? How much longer will you be in a cast?

[LinasK]

Originally Posted by Ca-Sun

I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of your Mom.

I agree, Linask, she does deserve her own thread! To this day, every time I drive by the Ice Rink I think of her. However, I've never heard that they suspect James Daveggio and Michelle Michaud are responsible for her kidnapping. Are they the people who kidnapped and killed the Pleasanton woman? How did you hear about this? Very interesting...


How is your leg doing? How much longer will you be in a cast?

Ca- That's what I read in the articles when they killed the gal from Pleasanton. They were trolling with a van around that time, and he's originally from Pleasanton. I've also since learned that Ilene's backpack was found in the creek at Mape Park!

[iNTERESTEDWOMAN]

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/...off_ilene.html Ilene Beth Misheloff

http://www.charleyproject.org/images/m/misheloff_ilene.jpg
http://www.charleyproject.org/images...off_ilene2.jpg
http://www.charleyproject.org/images...off_ilene3.jpg
http://www.charleyproject.org/images...f_ilene_ap.jpg

Upper Images and Lower Left: Misheloff, circa 1989;


Lower Right: Age-progression at age 30 (circa 2005) Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance

Missing Since: January 30, 1989 from Dublin, California

Classification: Non-Family Abduction

Date Of Birth: March 12, 1975

Age: 13 years old

Height and Weight: 5'3, 115 pounds

Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian female. Brown hair, brown eyes. Misheloff wore braces on her teeth at time of her disappearance. Her ears are pierced. Misheloff has freckles on her cheeks and on the bridge of her nose, and a small lump on the inside of her left ankle.

Clothing/Jewelry Description: A charcoal-gray Espirit pullover polo sweater, a pink and charcoal-gray skirt with horizontal stripes, and black low-top Keds sneakers.

Details of Disappearance

Misheloff was walking home in Dublin, California on January 30, 1989 at 3:00 p.m., after her classes concluded at Wells Intermediate School. Several classmates reported seeing Misheloff walking alone on Amador Valley Boulevard near Village Parkway and the Shamrock Shopping Center in the afternoon; she vanished shortly afterwards. She was taking a shortcut home, going through a wide alley behind a shopping center, a furniture store called the Sawmill, and Gallagher's Pub, then across the boulevard and through John Mape Park along a dry creek bed.

Misheloff has never been seen again. She was carrying a dark blue backpack at the time of her disappearance. The backpack was later found abandoned in the creek bed in John Mape Park near where she was last seen. It was located after the area had already been searched; authorities believe someone may have placed it there after Misheloff's disappearance.

Authorities announced that Timothy Bindner had a possible connection to Misheloff's case, as well as the disappearances of Michaela Garecht, Amber Swartz-Garcia, Tara Cossey and Amanda Campbell. A photo of Bindner is posted below this case summary. He maintains his innocence and successfully sued Campbell's hometown of Fairfield, California in 1997 for defamation of character. Bindner, a married sewage treatment plant worker, came to authorities' attention after he began sending birthday greetings to young girls in the East Bay area. One child's parents contacted authorities and handed over a letter Bindner had written to their daughter. The note was printed backwards and could only be deciphered by holding it up to a mirror. Bindner claimed he sent the cards as a kind gesture because the girls were "lonely."

Bindner also visited the Oakmont Cemetery gravesite of Angela Bugay, a five-year-old girl girl who was abducted and murdered in Antioch, California in 1983. A photograph of Bugay is posted below this case summary. Bindner was never considered a suspect in her murder and another man has since been arrested in that case.

Bindner approached many of the mothers of missing girls from the East Bay area offering his assistance, including Amber and Garecht's families. He introduced himself to Kim three days after Amber vanished. Investigators asked her to maintain a quasi-friendship with Bindner in hope of learning if he was connected to any of the girls' cases. She and authorities agreed that Bindner appeared to playing mind games with victims' loved ones and law enforcement. Many people theorize that he enjoyed taunting families into thinking that he may have been involved in the presumed abductions. He was once arrested for annoying two little girls whom he was trying to lure into his van, but the charges were later dropped. Bindner often drove around in a light blue Dodge van with a license plate that said "Lov You." Inside the van was wallpapered with many pictures of children. A photograph of the van is posted below this case summary.

Bindner refers to himself as a "good Samaritan." He asked Linda Golston, a reporter for The San Jose Mercury News, to interview him at Oakmont Cemetery at 4:30 a.m. He played his favorite song on her car stereo, "Jesus, Here's Another Child To Hold." Bindner told Goldston that he thought of the missing girls as "his children." She asked him how he believed the abductions occurred and he said one child was submissive, but another fought back against her assailant. Bindner added that he was "guessing" about the girls' reactions.

Bindner wrote a letter to a law enforcement agency in the late 1980s, stating that he believed the next girl who would be abducted from the area would be about nine years old. Garecht disappeared shortly thereafter; she was nine at the time of her abduction. Bindner also sent a holiday card to a profiler for the Federal Bureau Of Investigation (FBI) in 1990. The card depicted an image of a young girl holding up four fingers. Campbell vanished in 1991 at the age of four.

Search dogs traced Campbell and Swartz-Garcia's scent to Bugay's grave. Authorities never had enough evidence to prove Bindner was connected to their cases, although he was known for visiting the cemetery on occasion. Bindner was given a heroism award by the California State Patrol after assisting victims in the 1989 San Francisco earthquake. He has never been charged in connection with any of the cases.

James Daveggio has been considered as a possible suspect as well. He and his former girlfriend, Michelle Lyn Michaud, were charged with the 1997 abduction, rape and murder of Vanessa Lei Swanson. Swanson's remains were discovered approximately five miles from the site of Jaycee Dugard's 1991 California abduction. Photos of Daveggio and Michaud are posted below this case summary. They were also charged with additional counts of sexual assault in unrelated cases in the mid-1990s. In 2002, Michaud and Daveggio were convicted of Swanson's murder and sentenced to death. They are awaiting execution. Michaud claims that she met Daveggio in 1996 and therefore was not involved in Dugard's abduction. There are striking similarities between Michaud and the female suspect in Dugard's case, but the FBI no longer believes she and Daveggio were involved. Daveggio is also considered a possible suspect in Swartz-Garcia and Garecht's disappearances. Neither he nor Michaud has been charged in connection with any of the cases. Misheloff remains missing and her case is unsolved. She enjoyed ice skating at the time she disappeared.

[missacorah]

Originally Posted by Richard

There was a widely published composite sketch of the suspect in the Michaela Garecht case. How does this James Anthony Daveggio compare with that sketch and description? Was his photo ever shown to the woman who saw Michaela's abductor?

There is no similarity between the 2. I would be very interested to hear also whether the witness to Michaelas abduction viewed Daveggios photo.

[LinasK]

DUBLIN: Couple hopes someone will remember something to help them find their daughter

By Roman Gokhman STAFF WRITER

Article Launched: 01/25/2008 07:04:47 AM PST

Maddi and Mike Misheloff have lived the past 19 years one day at a time. There have been good days, for sure. There have been disheartening days. But that is not as important as the promise that each day has held.
"We keep on hoping that this will be the day," Mike Misheloff said Thursday.
Jan. 30 marks the 19th year since their 13-year-old daughter, Ilene, disappeared while walking home from school. And each day, they hope it will be the day she is found.
Just as they have done every year to mark the day Ilene disappeared, the Misheloffs will lead a walk Jan. 30 from Wells Middle School, which Ilene attended, to St. Raymond's Church. The Misheloffs say it is not meant as a memorial, but as a message to the community that Ilene's parents have not given up hope.
"People should realize we are still looking for Ilene, that there is a family that is still not whole," Mike Misheloff said. "If anybody has any information, they should call the Dublin Police Department."
On Jan. 30, 1989, Ilene was walking home from school on Amador Valley Boulevard. She was last seen at 2:30 p.m. on her way to Dublin Iceland. She never showed up to her ice skating practice.
Dublin police quickly ran out of clues in the case. There were no witnesses or evidence. Tips and leads have come in sporadically but have panned out.
<snip>
That's why the Misheloffs hold the two-mile walk each year. It's their belief that if residents know what's going on, they are more likely to talk about Ilene and maybe someone will remember something.
During the years, the walk has attracted 100 or more people, and 50 or so meet the marchers at the church for the vigil.
If remembering Ilene does not persuade someone to report what happened to her, authorities hope a $100,000 reward will help.
Anyone with information about the case can call the police department at 925-833-6670 or leave tips at 800-763-6306. more at link:http://www.contracostatimes.com/news...nclick_check=1

[LinasK]

DUBLIN: Couple hopes someone will remember something to help them find their daughter

By Roman Gokhman STAFF WRITER

Article Launched: 01/25/2008 07:04:47 AM PST

Maddi and Mike Misheloff have lived the past 19 years one day at a time. There have been good days, for sure. There have been disheartening days. But that is not as important as the promise that each day has held.
"We keep on hoping that this will be the day," Mike Misheloff said Thursday.
Jan. 30 marks the 19th year since their 13-year-old daughter, Ilene, disappeared while walking home from school. And each day, they hope it will be the day she is found.
Just as they have done every year to mark the day Ilene disappeared, the Misheloffs will lead a walk Jan. 30 from Wells Middle School, which Ilene attended, to St. Raymond's Church. The Misheloffs say it is not meant as a memorial, but as a message to the community that Ilene's parents have not given up hope.
"People should realize we are still looking for Ilene, that there is a family that is still not whole," Mike Misheloff said. "If anybody has any information, they should call the Dublin Police Department."
On Jan. 30, 1989, Ilene was walking home from school on Amador Valley Boulevard. She was last seen at 2:30 p.m. on her way to Dublin Iceland. She never showed up to her ice skating practice.
Dublin police quickly ran out of clues in the case. There were no witnesses or evidence. Tips and leads have come in sporadically but have panned out.
<snip>
That's why the Misheloffs hold the two-mile walk each year. It's their belief that if residents know what's going on, they are more likely to talk about Ilene and maybe someone will remember something.
During the years, the walk has attracted 100 or more people, and 50 or so meet the marchers at the church for the vigil.
If remembering Ilene does not persuade someone to report what happened to her, authorities hope a $100,000 reward will help.
Anyone with information about the case can call the police department at 925-833-6670 or leave tips at 800-763-6306. more at link:http://www.contracostatimes.com/news...nclick_check=1

[rmf]

I remember when the Misheloff kidnapping happened. I was still living in the tri-valley area when this took place. I moved not long after but found out later about Vanessa Sampson's murder. I'd worked with her mother for a time. They were a wonderful family and I was horrified to learn what happened to the little girl who used to visit her Mom at work in the summertime when she was off school.

[InterestedNHelping]

I grew up in a nearby area from this, and I have found a UID case that very well could be Ilene, I am researching it further, and am considering reporting it, but the Dublin police have been terrible to me in the past, (just rudeness unbelievable unkindness, not regarding this case) and I would actually like someone else to look into it, and wondered who might be more receptive to the possible match I have? Any suggestions?

[LinasK]

Originally Posted by InterestedNHelping

I grew up in a nearby area from this, and I have found a UID case that very well could be Ilene, I am researching it further, and am considering reporting it, but the Dublin police have been terrible to me in the past, (just rudeness unbelievable unkindness, not regarding this case) and I would actually like someone else to look into it, and wondered who might be more receptive to the possible match I have? Any suggestions?

PM me.

[JDB]

Originally Posted by InterestedNHelping

I grew up in a nearby area from this, and I have found a UID case that very well could be Ilene, I am researching it further, and am considering reporting it, but the Dublin police have been terrible to me in the past, (just rudeness unbelievable unkindness, not regarding this case) and I would actually like someone else to look into it, and wondered who might be more receptive to the possible match I have? Any suggestions?

PM Me also. This was close to home

[InterestedNHelping]

I spoke with the detective running the case, and gave him the info. He says due to the similarities and the thoroughness of the past research, it is most probable that they compared this case to Ilene, but he will check to make absolutely sure. Very kind detective.

[audrey77]

Isn't it refreshing to get someone with "people skills" after all that you've been through with them? I hope it's a match... this case is getting so old.

[LinasK]

Please Help Bring Ilene Home!
Ilene Misheloff has been missing for 20 years! Please join Ilene's family and friends for a Candlelight Walk and Ecumenical Prayer Service. Thursday January 29, 2009 7P.M.
The walk will start at Wells Middle School (6800 Penn Drive) and proceed to St. Raymond's Church (11555 Shannon Ave., Dublin, CA)
Information phone: (925) 829-3810
Website:www.find-ilene.org

Please Pray for Ilene's Safe Return

[LinasK]

Bumping since it's tomorrow night:

Originally Posted by LinasK

Please Help Bring Ilene Home!
Ilene Misheloff has been missing for 20 years! Please join Ilene's family and friends for a Candlelight Walk and Ecumenical Prayer Service. Thursday January 29, 2009 7P.M.
The walk will start at Wells Middle School (6800 Penn Drive) and proceed to St. Raymond's Church (11555 Shannon Ave., Dublin, CA)
Information phone: (925) 829-3810
Website:www.find-ilene.org

Please Pray for Ilene's Safe Return

[monkalup]

Some older articles
Anniversary Vigil For Missing Girl
-
Tuesday, January 30, 2001


(01-30) 04:00 PDT Dublin -- Parents of a Dublin girl who disappeared 12 years ago will hold a candlelight vigil march tonight along the route Ilene Misheloff walked the night she vanished.

The march will start 7 p.m. at Wells Middle School, 6800 Penn Drive in Dublin, and proceed to St. Raymond's Church, 11555 Shannon Ave., where an ecumenical prayer service will be held.

Ilene was 13 years old when she disappeared Jan. 30, 1989, while walking home from Wells. A flier from Dublin police shows a computer depiction of how Ilene would most likely look at age 25.

The annual vigil, which last year brought together the Misheloffs with the family of other kidnapped Bay Area girls, has dwindled in attendance from a 1, 000 participants in the first few years to about 100.

But Maddi Misheloff, Ilene's mother, said the vigil prompted calls to investigators and kept the disappearance in public memory. When she vanished, Ilene had braces, brown hair and brown eyes.

A $95,000 reward is being offered. Anyone with information about Ilene's disappearance can call Dublin police at (925) 833-6670 or (800) 635-6306, or the FBI at (415) 553-7400.

Page A - 16
URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg...MNC1476622.DTL


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
©2006 San Francisco Chronicle

[monkalup]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...MNFU15ITKM.DTL

Parents still hoping, 20 years after abduction
Kevin Fagan, Chronicle Staff Writer

Thursday, January 29, 2009




(01-28) 22:11 PST Dublin -- The pain is never far away. But neither is the hope.

When Maddi Misheloff speaks of her daughter, Ilene, the girl with the frizzy black hair and shy smile is always in the present tense. About to walk through the door.



The fact that Ilene vanished exactly 20 years ago this Friday at the age of 13 while walking home from school matters less to Maddi Misheloff than her belief that Ilene is still out there somewhere. Kidnapped, but alive. Waiting for a chance to return.

Misheloff, 59, sat in her living room with husband Michael this week, talked of the annual candlelight march for Ilene that they will lead tonight in their hometown of Dublin, and recalled the horror of Jan. 30, 1989, when they discovered their daughter was missing.

It was a horror shared by millions around the Bay Area back then, as Ilene's poster went up all over the nation and news outlets carried innumerable stories about the hunt for her. Her abduction culminated a string of mysterious snatchings of young local girls - kidnappings that left parents around the Bay Area in a hyper-protective state.

The anguished days that followed the 1989 abduction and the unfilled promise of relief in the years since showed in Misheloff's face as she spoke this week - but then she opened up a photo album of Ilene's b'nai mitzvah (Jewish coming-of-age ceremony) with her twin brother, Brian. And Misheloff's entire being changed.

Her eyes suddenly shone again. Her shoulders perked up. As she paged through pictures of Ilene posing with relatives and standing tall and proud in a white dress, Misheloff seemed suddenly ... happy.

When she got to the last photo, a shot of the twins grinning at the camera, tears came to the corners of Misheloff's eyes. She kissed a finger and tenderly touched Ilene's picture.

"Love you, baby," she whispered.

Before Ilene vanished, Maddi Misheloff recalled, the Misheloffs "were just your basic nondescript family, running the kids all over town. Ilene was ice skating, the boys (Ilene's twin and older brother Rob) were in soccer and Little League. We were pretty busy."

Ilene was a scholarly middle-schooler who wanted to be a pediatrician. She was also a promising figure skater, competing against future Olympic gold medalist Kristi Yamaguchi and winning first-place ribbons all over the Bay Area.

Then she was snatched - and not only were the Misheloff's lives thrown into chaos, the Bay Area went practically berserk with worry.

3 girls in 7 months
Ilene was the third girl in seven months to be abducted, after 7-year-old Amber Swartz-Garcia in Pinole and 9-year-old Michaela Garecht in Hayward. Combined with other high-profile kidnappings in a handful of years before that, most notably that of 10-year-old Kevin Collins in San Francisco in 1984, it seemed like a serial child-snatcher was on the loose.

Parental comfort was never quite the same again.

"It definitely changed the whole approach of that generation of parents," said Melissa Paredes Scampini, head of the Vanished Children's Alliance, a national nonprofit founded in 1980 and based in San Jose. "There were suddenly these great fears, and then a light went on in all our heads that parents really need help."

Missing children's groups began to sprout, and though many of them have since folded, some - such as the KlaasKids Foundation, created by the father of 12-year-old Polly Klaas, who was abducted and murdered in 1993 - remain. They pushed for parents to store children's fingerprints with police in case they're needed for searches, lobbied for faster police response to abductions, pushed for Megan's List, which shows where registered sex offenders live, and advised parents to always keep a watchful eye on their kids.

As a result, two decades later, parents are far more reluctant to let young children walk alone to school or play out front with no supervision. Still, more than 50 California children are typically abducted each year by strangers, according to the state Department of Justice.

Some local cases in the next few years after Ilene's disappearance got solved, most notably that of Polly Klaas. But that wave of East Bay girls' abductions was not.

More than 3,000 tips about Ilene's case came in to FBI and Dublin investigators in the first year, and similar torrents came for the others. A priest in the Sierra Nevada was suspected, along with a utility worker in Oakland and a drifter in Texas. These tips were dry holes, as were the tips from psychics, amateur sleuths and just plain creepy people who said they knew where Ilene was because they had a gut feeling.

"There is no way to know if her kidnapping was related to the other girls' or not," said Ilene's 64-year-old father, Michael. "It is just a total mystery."

Police still working
The case will never be closed until it is solved, said Dublin Police Sgt. Nate Schmidt.

"We continue to get leads here and there, especially with the age of the Internet, and follow them through," he said. "Hopefully someday, somebody will come forward and give us that tip that will finally give us answers."

Michael Misheloff, an engineer, and Maddi Misheloff, a human resources coordinator, don't delude themselves. Federal statistics show just 1 percent of abducted children are returned home after 10 years. But they say no other attitude than hope is acceptable.

The couple still rents a search office in Dublin, spending up to $20,000 a year of their own money on it and the nationwide mailing of 10,000 flyers offering a return reward of $100,000. And they know exactly what they'd say right now to Ilene if they had the chance.

"If you are reading this or hear this or watch TV, we love you, princess," Maddi Misheloff said quietly. "We want you home. Now. Enough is enough."

She grabbed her husband's hand, and the two sat silently for a long moment. Thinking.

Hoping.

Ilene's case
Help: Anyone with information about Ilene Misheloff's disappearance is urged to call the Dublin Police Department at (800) 635-6306.

Candlelight march: It will begin at 7 p.m. today at Wells Middle School, 6800 Penn Drive, Dublin.

E-mail Kevin Fagan at kfagan@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page A - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle