http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061220/NEWS/612200331/1007
y Stephanie Taylor
Staff Writer
December 20. 2006 3:30AM
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Members of the Tuscaloosa County Sheriffs Office investigate an abandoned house where remains thought to be those of Heaven LaShae Ross were found Monday. The house is near the Holt community in Tuscaloosa County.
Staff photo | Dan Lopez
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TUSCALOOSA | A grim discovery Monday afternoon provided some answers to the three-year-old mystery of what happened to Heaven LaShae Ross.
But the discovery has also raised more questions.
Police found human remains in the crawl space under an abandoned house on a rural dirt road in Holt on Monday afternoon.
The girl, known as Shae, was last seen walking to her bus stop on a rainy Tuesday morning in August 2003, just yards from her home in Willowbrook Trailer Park in Northport.
The news left her family and the community, who had been praying for her safe return, heartbroken.
This has given us some kind of closure from not knowing anything," said Shaes grandmother, Carol Rowell. The only question we have now is why? Why would someone do this to her?"
Shaes mother, Beth Lowery, and stepfather, Kevin Thompson, werent ready to talk publicly Tuesday afternoon.
The family said Tuscaloosa County Sheriff Ted Sexton and two deputies visited their home at midnight Tuesday to let them know they had found skeletal remains that were possibly that of the missing girl. Rowell said that they had found a backpack with Shaes name written inside.
Sexton released few details about the case and the crime scene Tuesday.
Its extremely important that we protect the crime scene," he said. At a crime scene that old, possibly up to three years old, we have to do anything we can to preserve everything that is there."
Sexton said only that someone called investigators after finding skeletal remains in the house, but he gave no details. Family members said a man walking his dog found the bones after the dog ran into the house.
Sheriffs deputies closed off Creek Road Tuesday while homicide and forensic investigators combed through the house. Creek Road backs up to Hurricane Creek and is located off 44th Court in Holt. Before moving to Northport, Shaes family lived in Holt.
Members of the public provided police with possible leads in the case Tuesday, a family friend said.
Donald Pearson has lived near the site for 33 years and said the tree-lined dirt and gravel road has long been a magnet for questionable activity.
He said people go there to use drugs, and prostitutes occasionally visit the isolated road.
Its gotten worse in the last 10 or 15 years," he said. There is all kinds of stuff going on down there."
He said he recently walked down the road and looked inside the abandoned house. The porch had collapsed and the floors had fallen in, he said.
Carl Ledlow, 24, said he sometimes does target practice on the road. He works at C&C Marine in Holt and drove down the road to see why the police were there Tuesday.
I was just in there. Half the floors were rotted out," he said.
Ledlow lived in Willowbrook Trailer Park earlier this year and said he had heard about Shaes disappearance.
Im surprised that they found her in there," he said. Its terrible."
Friends and family members crowded the familys mobile home in Willowbrook Trailer Park, offering comfort as Lowery shed tears and waited for updates from investigators.
A pile of wrapped Christmas presents by the door included gifts for Shae, who would have turned 14 in June. Lowery has purchased gifts for her missing daughter every Christmas and birthday since she disappeared three years ago.
A joint operation center was established at the Sheriffs Office patrol division at the Tuscaloosa Municipal Airport. Members of the task force who were assigned to look for Shae in 2003 have regrouped to continue the investigation.
Investigators with the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences are examining the remains. The family will not be able to plan a memorial service until they are released.
Shaes disappearance baffled police and community members, who organized search teams and made donations to the family. Rewards for information climbed to $70,000. Volunteers posted fliers of the smiling redhead on storefronts and windows across the county.
The case was featured on NBCs Dateline" and Foxs Americas Most Wanted." Producers for the Fox television program called Tuesday and may broadcast an update on the case soon.
