TN TN - Tabitha Tuders, 13, Nashville, 29 Apr 2003

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http://www.nashvillescene.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?story=This_Week:News:City_Limits

Can Serpas Make Up for Lost Time?

The new police chief gives the Tabitha Tuders case top priority--nine months after her disappearance


By Matt Pulle


When new Police Chief Ronal Serpas declared publicly that he believes missing teen Tabitha Tuders didn't run away, he didn't just comfort her parents--he made it clear to both his force and all of Nashville that he's a new kind of boss. Unlike both acting Police Chief Deborah Faulkner, who resigned last week, and former Chief Emmett Turner, Serpas is more visible, outspoken and involved in day-to-day cases. He's the police chief Tabitha Tuders needed the day she disappeared from her East Nashville neighborhood.


Last Friday, Serpas held a press conference during which he announced that not only does he believe that the missing girl was abducted, but that the case will be the department's top priority. "I've been here for a week," he said. "And in my mind she's not a runaway."

It took the police department and then-acting Chief Deborah Faulkner months to come to the same conclusion. After Tuders disappeared from her East Nashville home on April 29, the police department insisted that she might have fled on her own, effectively dampening public interest in the case. In fact, Tuders, 13, earned straight As in her latest report card, left all her money behind in her room and had made plans with her friends later that week. A's Serpas quickly realized within days of being sworn in, Tuders hardly fit the profile of a runaway.

"After talking to the detectives, I don't believe she ran away," the chief tells the Scene. "I believe that given her background with her family, what happened that week, I just don't believe she ran away."

Under Faulkner, the police department lagged at keeping Tabitha's parents, Bo and Debra, updated about the case. Sometimes, the Tuders first learned about new developments by turning on the local news. And police were often slow to follow up on leads. In fact, it may have been the department's handling of the Tuders case that partly undermined Faulkner's candidacy for the job. (She failed to make the short list from which Mayor Bill Purcell chose Serpas.)

Meeting last week with the chief let the Tuders know that the investigation into their missing daughter wouldn't stall.

"It made us feel good to meet Chief Serpas," says Debra Tuders. "Chief Faulkner never came out and visited us face to face. I don't know why."

Serpas says that he met with the Tuders "to put a family with a face." He says, "I just wanted to know who they were."

To some more cynical observers, the chief's press conference might have seemed to be more about him than Tabitha. After all, he could have met with the family privately rather than invite local news crews. But the chief says that he wants to keep Tabitha's name and face in the press. In any case, part of his modus operandi clearly involves being a take-charge chief, a sharp departure from the laid-back, office-management approach that his predecessors took. Serpas, who wears his uniform every day to work, says that he wants people to see him and other command officers on the street. Being visible is an asset, he says. And many say that's one reason why he got the job.

"This is pure guesswork on my part, but I think that this is what Mayor Purcell wanted in a new police chief," says Metro Council member Mike *******, whose East Nashville district includes Tuders' neighborhood.

Johnny White, a family friend of the Tuders, is glad the chief is taking a more hands-on approach than his predecessor. "I think Chief Faulkner just got too callused," he says. "I had high hopes for her, but I kept waiting for her to come by and show us some effort was being done on the case." He adds, "If we could go back eight months with this chief I don't know what the outcome would be, but there would have been some major differences in how the investigation went. Especially early on."
 
I just heard on the morning news on channel 2 that a small human foot was discovered in lavergne tn. not far from nashville, police are going to search the area today with more day light at hand. they believe that it is a foot of either a small petite woman or a child. at this time there is no link on the news 2 webpage since the page has not been updated. for those websleuthers that would like a link to the news site you can find it at www.wkrn.com
 
Let public report on sex offenders, DAs say



_____Today's Top Stories_____

• 'Final mission': 101st heads home
• Let public report on sex offenders, DAs say
• Decade on death row hasn't altered plea: I didn't do it
• Williamson dog shelter overrun with gifts
• La Vergne considers land-friendly zoning category
• No Child Left Behind law providing stability to state's homeless students





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By IAN DEMSKY
Staff Writer


Proposed legislation would allow anyone with knowledge to disclose whereabouts

Proposed legislation to toughen state sex offender laws would allow any ''credible source'' to forward information to law enforcement about an offender's whereabouts, a draft of the legislation obtained Friday by The Tennessean says.

Under the state's existing laws, only the offender can update his or her information in the state's registry.

Last year, an examination of the state's sex offender registry by the newspaper found that 37% of the offenders in the state were not in compliance with registration laws or their whereabouts were unknown — even though some of the offenders were under probation or parole supervision or had been incarcerated. Others listed as in jail or prison had been out for some time.

District Attorney General John Carney, who was instrumental in researching and proposing changes to the law, gave an example of how the new law would work:

A sex offender moves from Knox County to Montgomery County and does not appear in person to notify law enforcement within the required 48-hour period. If a neighbor, his mother or another member of the public — what Carney called ''good citizen informants'' — phones in a tip that the offender has moved, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation would notify the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, which would try to verify the tip by going to Knox County.

Tips now are noted in an offender's file, but no one is charged with verifying them and the TBI cannot update an offender's information, even if the new information came from a district attorney or other official source.

In the example, if the sex offender were found to be living in Montgomery County, he could be arrested on a charge of violating the registration law, which under the new law would be a felony instead of a misdemeanor.

Or, if the offender was not living at the address at which he previously registered and had not notified law enforcement, a felony warrant could be sworn out for his arrest. The warrant would be entered into a national database, and if the offender was found anywhere in the country, he could be extradited to Tennessee for prosecution. The local district attorney decides whether to extradite.

''We designed the new law to utilize every bit of law enforcement function and ability,'' Carney said.

Under existing laws, convicted sex offenders must mail back registration cards every 90 days. If one comes back ''return to sender,'' another is sent 90 days later. If that comes back, too, the offender's address is updated in the state's computer system to ''unknown.''

''That's 180 wasted days,'' Carney said.

Then the local district attorney, after sending for an affidavit from the TBI on the violating offender, decides whether to prosecute.

District attorneys must be ''100% on prosecuting statewide,'' Carney said. ''We've got to, and we will.''

The proposed laws do away with the mailed cards, instead requiring violent offenders to register in person with local law enforcement once every 90 days and nonviolent offenders once per year, within the two-week period before and after the offender's birthday.

This will save the state $80,000 in mailing costs per year, Carney said. There will be a yearly fee the offenders will pay to help with the costs of administering the new laws.

Also, Carney said, if a missing offender from Knox County is found living in Montgomery County, he can be prosecuted there under the new law.

Another change to the law would require sex offenders who live in another state but work in Tennessee to register.

Proposed sex-offender laws

Here are some of the details of the proposed sex-offender laws, including some items that would be unique to sex-offender laws nationwide:

• There would be a distinction between violent and nonviolent sex offenders. Violent offenders would be required to register four times per year; nonviolent offenders would register once. All would have to register in person with their local law-enforcement agency.

• Once convicted and sent to prison or jail, sex offenders would have to register 48 hours before they were released. (Currently, they have 10 days to register after they get out.) When they change addresses, they would have 48 hours to re-register.

If they went back to jail for another offense or for violating their parole or probation, they would have to immediately update their information with the appropriate law enforcement agency. They would have to re-register within 48 hours of release.

Offenders living in nursing homes wouldn't have to register in person; however, a guardian or the facility's administrator would have to notify the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation of any address changes.

• Law enforcement would notify another state when a sex offender said he or she was moving there; they would ask the other state to verify the offender's address. If not, a felony arrest warrant could be issued for the offender.

• The agency that the offender registers with would have 12 hours to enter the information into the state's online database.

• Offenders would have to sign a registration form signifying they understand the laws and registration requirements. That way, they couldn't argue later that they didn't understand.

• A system is being developed also to track sex offenders who are considered ''homeless'' — defined as someone without a primary or secondary residence.

A primary residence is where a person stays for at least 14 consecutive days. A secondary residence is a place a person stays for 14 days out of a year, a place of employment or school where the person is for at least 14 days out of the year; or a place where a person stays four days in a row or four days out of any single month.

Offenders who move a lot, staying with relatives or friends, would still be required to register within 48 hours if they meet the secondary residence requirements, which also apply to out-of-state residences.

If they are truly homeless, they would still be required to register but could do so in person with any law enforcement agency. That agency, or any police officer who checked on them, could enter notes into the state database, updating the offender's most recent location and stated destination.

The details of the system to track ''homeless'' offenders are being developed.

• Each time an offender registered, he or she would be fingerprinted and photographed.

• After 10 years of good behavior, nonviolent offenders would be eligible to be excused from the registration requirements. However, failing to register or committing another offense would set that 10-year count back to zero
 
sure would have been nice for this to have been inforced from the beginning. its about time that the state takes a look at a broken system, it would also be good that a offender not be allowed to live within 1 mile of any school system, but then that would probably be another issue all together. :twocents:
 
As far as sex offenders not living within a mile thats not quite stiff enough... maybe just drop everything except the not living!

Looks like there is a movement to make it mandatory for schools to call the parents if there kid is not in school by the second period. Possibly Senator Haynes is sponsoring the Bill and naming the Bill the Tabitha Law.
 
SHE IS STILL MISSING!

We have taken up space here for over nine months and soon Tabitha will have a birthday Feb. 15 2004 and she'll turn 14. Doyle if you read this its ok to move her over to the missing but not forgotten.

She never was given our cities support that she deserves.
 
Johnny,

You have done great efforts in your efforts to help...What can we do to help? Anyone live near Nashville?

Are there any search activities going on right now?
 
johnny said:
SHE IS STILL MISSING!

We have taken up space here for over nine months and soon Tabitha will have a birthday Feb. 15 2004 and she'll turn 14. Doyle if you read this its ok to move her over to the missing but not forgotten.

She never was given our cities support that she deserves.
Click to expand...
No, not yet, don't give up hope, remember Elizabeth, just over 9 months later she came back, other's too. It can happen! Please don't move especially in the next few days as the Missing Forum is getting more traffic than usual.

http://www.rinokids.com/Children/Tuders/
 
This guy reminds me of Calie Brucia's murderer (Joseph Peter Smith)

A New Suspect Emerges

Detectives investigate a convicted rapist who lived near Tabitha Tuders


By Matt Pulle


Metro Police detectives looking into the disappearance of Tabitha Tuders are investigating a prime suspect: Millard Earl Smith, a 52-year-old convicted rapist.


Smith is currently in jail, charged with attempted sexual battery and solicitation of a 13-year-old boy who went to school with Tuders at Bailey Middle School in East Nashville. He was arrested just in June, one day after a teenage girl claimed that he raped and kidnapped her in yet another case.

"They're putting a lot of emphasis on him having something to do with this little girl," says Smith's sister, who didn't want to be identified by name. "My brother has problems, but as far as him physically hurting a child, he's never done that." Smith was convicted of raping a woman in Rutherford County in the 1980s and was charged with rape in the 1970s.

While Metro police detectives have investigated several men with questionable backgrounds whom they thought might have had something to do with the 13-year-old girl's sudden disappearance last April, Smith's rape conviction and alleged involvement in two more recent sex crimes makes him, in the eyes of police, a strong suspect.

On May 23, less than a month after Tuders went missing, Smith allegedly lured a young boy onto his motorcycle after leading the boy to believe that he knew his mother. He picked up the boy outside his East Nashville home, just a few blocks from where Tuders was seen walking to the bus the morning she disappeared. According to Stephanie Machado, the boy's mother, Smith told him that he knew his mother, mentioning that she played pool at Harold's, a bar on Gallatin Road, and that she didn't drink. While Machado says that's an accurate description of her, she says she never met Smith and doesn't recognize him from his picture.

Still, Machado says that she took her son to the bar to watch her play pool a few times and wonders whether that's where he spotted him. If so, Smith must have studied her closely, and followed her home to figure out where she and her son live. "He had to have been plotting this for a long time for him to have known what he knew," Machado says.

According to the warrant, Smith took the boy to an abandoned trailer on Heathcoat Avenue off Fessler's Lane. Smith went into the trailer, at the top of a steep, secluded hill with a cemetery behind it. He tried to get the boy to follow him inside, promising a CD player, a radio, new clothes or $20 as a reward. The boy refused and, according to the 13-year-old, Smith said, "I'm going to break it down for you. I want you to come in here so I can masturbate you."

The boy ran to the trailer of a local groundskeeper, who promptly called the police.

"He was so terrified," Machado says. "When I got there, he just held me and cried." Machado, who notes that her son wouldn't even go outside to play until Smith was arrested, says that she hopes increased public attention on the case will make it more difficult for Smith to get out on bail. In the event that happens, she says her family will move.

Exactly a month after Smith picked up the boy, he allegedly lured a teenage girl from the Greyhound bus station by telling her that her boyfriend said it was alright for him to give her a ride. He took her on his motorcycle to the same abandoned trailer off Fessler's Lane, where he allegedly raped her at knifepoint. According to sources close to the investigation, the girl noted the license plate number of Smith's motorcycle. Police arrested him the next day at his sister's house in East Nashville. Shortly after that, the boy identified Smith from a photo lineup. The girl did the same. In addition, a medical exam found Smith's DNA on the girl. He remains in a Metro jail on $270,000 bond.




Accused of two sex crimes and now the focus of an investigation into a missing person case, Smith has a long criminal history that includes several rape charges, trespassing, disturbing the peace, arson and grand larceny. His sister says that he has served the better part of his adult life in prison. Smith was released from Riverbend Maximum Security Institution last November, and while his sister claims that he registered as a sexual offender, a search for him on the TBI's Sexual Offender Registry didn't turn up his name.


Sgt. Keith Elliott, who has monitored the investigations into Smith, says only, "I will let his criminal history speak for itself."

Astonishingly, Smith is hardly the bad seed of his family. His brother, Oscar Franklin Smith, was sentenced to die for shooting and stabbing to death his estranged wife and her two sons. Evidence presented at the trial included a 911 tape that recorded one of the boys saying, "Frank, no. God help me."

Police detectives confirm that they have talked to Smith and that he continues to be a "person of interest." Complicating the investigation into Tabitha's disappearance is that there is no shortage of shady characters who have frequented the young girl's neighborhood. One couple, who lived five houses down from Tabitha, were arrested for raping a minor. Another man who lived nearby frequented Tabitha's block, handing out bicycles as gifts to area children. He also spoke suggestively about the missing 13-year-old girl to several people, including Scene reporters.

Smith is different from the others in that there's no evidence he knew Tabitha or her family. Members of the Tuders family who were shown a mug shot say that Smith doesn't look familiar. But what makes him a prime suspect--in addition to his sordid criminal background--is that Smith was hardly a stranger to Tabitha's neighborhood. He picked up the young boy just a few blocks from where Tabitha waited for the bus each morning. He lived only a few miles away. And according to a source close to the investigation, Smith also apparently tried to entice girls onto his motorcycle at Shelby Park, less than a mile from the Tuders' house.

Smith's sister, who let her brother stay with her family shortly after he was released from prison, claims that he's innocent in both of the recent cases against him. "I guess the kid wanted to take a ride," she says, denying that her brother tried to molest the boy. As far as the rape charge, she says that there are no witnesses.

The sister seems torn by her obvious feelings of loyalty and the fact that her brother has lived a very troubled life. "He's never gotten any kind of rehabilitation," she says. "We've tried to get him some help, but you put someone in an animal atmosphere like that; what do you expect?"

The sister says that she can't vouch for her brother's whereabouts at 8 a.m. April 29, when Tabitha Tuders disappeared. He had been working as a mechanic at a small garage her brother and husband operated. He didn't have to sign in, so there's no record of when he arrived that day. She says that he normally arrived at work after 9 a.m. Asked further about what her brother might have been doing that morning, she says that "the detectives are aware of our routine, and he was part of our routine."

While continuing to concede that her brother did pick up a 13-year-old boy on his motorcycle, she insists he didn't try to molest the child. "He gave rides to kids in my neighborhood," she says. "He's not a mean, violent person; he's not a vicious person. He may have a bad side." According to police sources, there is an "open investigation" into whether Smith might have molested other children as well.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Search for more articles By Matt Pulle
 
http://www.wsmv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1634138&nav=1TcRKg7M

February 6, 2004

Do Metro detectives have the clue they need to solve the Tabitha Tuders disappearance case? It's possible, and it was found in the most unusual place.

Investigators have been super quiet about a glass window removed from a Metro Jail Cell. Scratched on the inside of the window was some writing that police believe could be connected to the disappearance and probable murder of the 13-year-old East Nashville girl.

Tabitha has been missing for more than nine months and up until now investigators have failed to turn up a single clue.

Metro Detective E.J. Bernard, recently assigned to the case, confirms the glass was removed from the cell door and has now been turned over to a handwriting expert. Handwriting samples have also been taken from a number of the jail inmates.

But the veteran detective refused to reveal details about the writing that was first discovered by sheriff's personnel. It was found after Bernard and others questioned five prisoners in the cell. One prisoner who reportedly had access to the cell is described by Bernard as a person of interest.

The officer says, "The writing on the glass window could be very helpful if the person we think wrote it actually did."

Metro authorities have also been in contact with Memphis police and the Shelby County Sheriff's office, but declined to say why.

Police here are now convinced Tabitha is not a runaway, as initially believed, but has been murdered.

More than a dozen polygraph tests have been conducted, including all of the family members twice, without any results.

Some on the city's sexual offenders list, neighbors, and numerous school children have been interviewed and re-interviewed without developing any evidence.

Bernard says Police Chief Ronal Serpas has put a high priority on the case.

If you think you can help with the Tabitha Tuders case please contact the Metro Police.
 
From being treated like a runaway for nine months to reading the writing on the wall (or window) now they think its a possible homicide without any clues?

ps. They didn't have the compassion to call Debra and Bo (the parents) and let them know this story was going to air and for them to here for the first time that the police now are treating the case as a homicide?!?! The two detectives closest to the case whom Debra and Bo trust completely................. Somewhere there's a person that took there daughter and now the police have taken away ther hope.
 
I think that the TBI should allow parents to subscribe to the sex offender registry. That way a parent could be notified if a sex offender moves into their neighborhood. We need to be more proactive verses reactive.
 
I think the idea that cjones has about people that register for email updates of sexual offenders which are about to be released from the system should be notified, the information is public info any way. in the most recent event of carlies abduction it really brings the reality of child abduction into the nations face, to actually get to witness the whole abduction on tape and to sadly learn of the outcome later., should be a wake up call to the law makers of this country that something has to be done to help protect our children,and in some cases old and young adults that turn up missing. the law should realize that not every sexual offender released is rehabilitated, it is a mental sickness and some of them are never cured of it.. and our children pay the ultimate price for there over sitesightness.
 
Police in Tabitha case analyze cell writing



By CHRISTIAN BOTTORFF
Staff Writer

Metro police are examining handwriting on a window at Metro's Hill Detention Center as part of an investigation into the disappearance of 13-year-old Tabitha Tuders.

Police on Jan. 9 removed the window from a jail cell that had held a 20-year-old ''person of interest'' in Tabitha's disappearance. Police did not identify the person by name, but say he is from east Nashville, where the teenage girl's home is located.

Police declined to say what is written on the glass but said it did not specifically mention Tabitha by name.

Only a handful of inmates had been in the cell. Police have been conducting handwriting analyses on inmates who occupied the cell to see if any of their writing matches the scrawl. For now, however, police say it's possible that another inmate wrote the message to ''spite'' the inmate who is being questioned.

''It would not be accurate to say that this analysis of this window has any greater weight in the totality of the investigation than other pieces of evidence that we reviewed over the past several months,'' said Metro police spokesman Don Aaron.

Aaron said the man who was questioned has cooperated with investigators. He was incarcerated at the time for property crimes, Aaron said.

Metro detectives discovered the writing while they were conducting interviews at the facility, which houses mostly medium-security inmates, said Kevin Carroll, investigator for the Davidson County Sheriff's Office. Metro detectives asked Metro maintenance crews to remove the window at the Second Avenue jail. The cell has since reopened, Carroll said.

Tabitha disappeared from her east Nashville neighborhood on her way to her school bus stop last April 29. She never boarded the bus that day and never arrived at Bailey Middle School.

For pictures and more information about the missing girl, a Web site has been established at www.tabithatuders.com.
 
Subj: Tabitha Tuders 14th Birthday *A Day of Celebration Prayer & Hope*
Date: 2/12/2004 1:41:50 PM Central Standard Time
From: Kenny27DC
BCC: AMERITRANCO
Right-click picture(s) to display picture options




For Immediate Release "Team Tabitha"
February 12, 2004 Ken Bernstein 615-400-5620


Tabitha Tuders 14th Birthday
A Day of Celebration Prayer & Hope



On Sunday, February 15 at 2:00 PM the family & friends of Tabitha Tuders, members of Team Tabitha, students from Bailey Middle School & concerned neighbors & local citizens will congregate at Bailey Middle School in honor of Tabitha Tuder’s 14th birthday. There will be a short prayer service, a launching of 14 Balloons, and a special planting of a Flowering Pink Cherry Tree In celebration of Tabitha Tuders at her middle school.

This event will take place at 2:00 PM at Bailey Middle School
2000 Greenwood Avenue Nashville, TN.

Tabitha has been missing since April 29th, 2003. She never made it to her bus stop or to school that Tuesday morning. Sunday will be 293 days that she has been missing.
*Any information about the disappearance of Tabitha Tuders please call: Metro Police Department at 615-862-8600
*Donations to the Tabitha Reward Fund can be made at this event or by contacting Contact Johnny White at 615-566-0943.

For more information about this event please contact
Ken Bernstein: 615-400-5620
Johnny White: 615-566-0943
 
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