I'm on my computer and am trying to figure out how to open another window...yikes. ...anyway I just copied this..to save time.
xxooooo
mama
On Google News two hours ago.
Friday, January 28, 2005
Search for Katie continues
AUBREY WOODS
CROTHERSVILLE An Amber Alert issued Thursday in the disappearance of a 10-year-old Crothersville girl Tuesday afternoon brought hope to at least one family member.
I think it will do a lot of good, John Neace said of the alert issued for his daughter, Katlyn Maria Katie Collman.
But so far Collman remains missing as does the white pickup in which she was last seen riding with a white man around town about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Police issued a sketch of that man this morning. He was described as 5-feet-8-inches six-feet tall, very skinny, 18 to 20 years old with short dark hair and a fair complexion. He also was smoking a cigarette when seen with Collman.
Crothersville Police Chief Norman Ford, who is heading the investigation, said this morning police continue to receive information about Collmans disappearance.
Were getting new information all the time, but we havent developed anything significant, Ford said today from a command post set up at the Crothersville-Vernon Township Volunteer Fire Department.
Neace said he is confident somebody has information about his daughters disappearance and that they will come forward.
It was between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. so it was light out, Neace said.
Somebody seen something, Neace said. Somebody knows exactly what happened.
Collman was reported missing at 8:20 p.m. Thursday by Neace, who was at work at a factory in town.
Neace said he made that call after talking with his wife, Angie Neace.
He added that his wife said Collman had gone to the Dollar Store on North Armstrong Street (U.S. 31). The couple first thought the girl might have went somewhere with a friend who was trusted by the family, John Neace said.
She sometimes packed them up and goes to Wal-Mart, he said.
Neaces wife, however, eventually reached the family friend, who said Collman was not with them. Police later determined that Collman went to an apartment complex near the Dollar Store, then went to the store and back to the apartments before disappearing.
According to the Amber Alert issued around noon Thursday, Collman was last seen Tuesday riding in a white Ford F150 pickup with a white man described as 5-feet-8-inches six-feet tall, very skinny, 18 to 20 years old with short dark hair and a fair complexion. He also was smoking a cigarette when seen with Collman.
Jerry Goodin, public information officer with the Indiana State Police at Sellersburg, said during a press conference Thursday afternoon that many tips from Indiana and even Kentucky had been generated by the Amber Alert.
We have literally millions looking for Katlyn now, Goodin said.
The Tribune has received some e-mail complaints about why an Amber Alert was not issued immediately.
Goodin said the alert was not issued sooner because Collmans disappearance was being treated as a missing person, since police had no evidence she had been abducted.
Information received by police Wednesday about Collman being seen in the truck between 4:20 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. Tuesday was bolstered by other witnesses in the ensuing hours, and that led to the request for the Amber Alert, Crothersville Police Chief Norman Ford said.
An alert has to meet certain criteria before it can be issued, Goodin said.
There are 10,000 missing children in America each year, and without specific information the system becomes diluted, he said.
The criteria includes evidence that a child has been abducted and is in danger of serious bodily harm or death, and there must be enough descriptive information to believe the broadcast would help.
We dont want people out there looking for a green Dodge when its a white Ford, he said.
Goodin said the pickup is a late 1980s to early 1990s model, but police have no idea who the man is or why he took Collman.
He added that police have not ruled out anyone as a suspect in Collmans disappearance, and that police are using every resource they have available, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to bring her home to her family.
Neace said his daughters disappearance had been hard on his wife and other family members, but that the family has been receiving a lot of support from family, co-workers and residents of the small southeastern Jackson County community.
Its been terrible, the soft-spoken man said.
Ive have a stepdaughter at home. Shes older. She is really upset.
Goodin said asks person who abducted Collman not to harm her, but to leave her at a truck stop or other public area.
You can leave, Goodin said to the abductor through the media.
Goodin also said police continue to look for links between Collmans disappearance and an attempted abduction of a child in Austin on the same day. He said so far there is nothing tying to the two together.
