Missing Student's Father Pleads For Her Return
The father of a missing Illinois State University student pleaded Friday for the safe return of his 21-year-old daughter, whose disappearance more than a week ago has sparked a nationwide search.
"Wherever she is, whoever might be in control of her, please for God's sake release her," Adiodun Adeyooye said after police briefed the media on a criminal investigation in the case.
Adeyooye said fasting and prayer have carried him through days of worry about his daughter, Olamide Adeyooye, an ISU senior from Berkeley in suburban Chicago last seen Oct. 13 after renting a movie at a Normal video store.
"I know with God, all things are possible. ... As each day goes by that I don't see her, my heart breaks," said Adeyooye, who now lives in Maryland and is staying in Normal to help with the search.
Normal police Lt. Mark Kotte said an investigation aided by the FBI and Illinois State Police is "moving along," but that authorities have yet to find the missing ISU senior or her car, a green 1996 Toyota Corolla.
Adeyooye, who is to graduate from the 20,000-student college in December, was reported missing last Saturday after she failed to show up for classes and her weekend job as a waitress. The disappearance was labeled a missing-person case until Wednesday, when police launched a criminal investigation after finding personal items belonging to Adeyooye near her off-campus apartment.
Police had declined to elaborate on what was found, but Kotte said Friday that documents with Adeyooye's name on them were found in a bag near a trash bin several blocks from her apartment.
Kotte would not say how many documents or what they contained, but combined with evidence found at her apartment and interviews, he said they led police to suspect wrongdoing.
"We're convinced some sort of criminal activity occurred. What it is and who's involved, that's why it's still so open for us right now," Kotte said.
Police also have identified six to eight "persons of interest" and have already interviewed some of them, Kotte said. None are now considered suspects, he said.
Kotte said nearly 40 police and other authorities are involved in the search, which includes ongoing foot and canine searches centered around Bloomington-Normal and aerial searches of the entire state. Descriptions of Adeyooye and her car also have been distributed to police across the country, he said.
Adeyooye's family and friends also are searching, posting fliers and sending out messages through Web sites and blogs seeking help finding her. Up to 30 family and friends from Chicago and other cities have traveled to Bloomington-Normal to help, her father said.
"They cheer our hearts up," he said.
http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/local_story_294195730.html
