Trinity Mount Ministries

Showing posts with label volunteers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label volunteers. Show all posts

Monday, March 25, 2019

Search continues for Indianapolis baby Amiah Robertson


Amiah Robertson was reported missing on March 16.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Indianapolis police say the search for a missing 8-month-old baby is being treated as a homicide investigation.

Chief Bryan Roach called a news conference Saturday and expressed frustration over a lack of cooperation from people who should be able to help authorities. He says he's "angry," a week after Amiah Robertson was reported missing by her family.


The chief says, "Somebody knows the whereabouts."

Police and volunteers have been searching along the White River in Indianapolis, based on certain items found along the bank.

Amiah Robertson, an eight-month-old baby, went missing last week.

Asked if he believes Amiah is alive, Lt. Bruce Smith says investigators "hope for the best" but can't ignore the fact that the baby can't take care of herself.

Amiah was reported missing on March 16 and police issued a statewide Silver Alert for her on Tuesday.

Robertson's mother is not a suspect and has been cooperating with detectives, police told WRTV.

On Tuesday, Indianapolis detectives executed a search warrant at a residence in the 200 block of South Holmes Avenue, according to a press release.

Anyone with information on the incident is asked to call IMPD Missing Person's detectives at 317-327-6160, 317-327-3811 or Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana at 317-262-8477.


Tuesday, February 5, 2019

Community Outreach Spotlight Jamming Hoopsfest

Submitted by Major Paco Balderrama of the Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Police Department.

In 2010, the Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Police Department (OCPD) created Jamming Hoopsfest, a youth outreach event. Held every Thursday for 6 weeks during each summer, this effort involves a collaboration with numerous community partners and individual volunteers.
Outdoor tournament basketball serves as the center of community interaction. Youths of all ages from at-risk neighborhoods come together to participate, eat dinner, and hear a short positive message from a community leader. Police mentors who serve as coaches, referees, disk jockeys, and cooks reinforce the life lesson learned.
Each week, several youth participants receive recognition for their positive behavior and outstanding display of character. Winners get a pair of the latest sneakers.
Over the years, Jamming Hoopsfest has grown significantly and become an event that the community and OCPD look forward to every summer. About 250 youths participate each week. Officers who regularly volunteer enjoy getting to know the kids on a personal level and forming meaningful and long-lasting relationships. The program helps form a stronger partnership between OCPD and the community it serves.
For additional information, contact Major Balderrama atjuan.balderrama@okc.gov.

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Nagging feeling led missing teens’ searcher back to bridge:

CharlotteObserver.com

Finding the vanished has become Monica Caison’s mission:


By Mark Washburn












The bodies of Jake Ziegler and Ray Pierce were found in this small lake under this bridge on I-20, 200 yards west of the Wateree River near Camden, SC. Authorities told reporters late Sunday that it appeared as if their Pontiac G-6 veered across the median and went down the embankment. Photo by Jeff Blake/Special to the Charlotte Observer.

Something about the bridges haunted Monica Caison.

Her search teams had spent two weeks looking for a car with two teens from Catawba County who had vanished on a trip to Myrtle Beach. An intense search along I-77 had yielded nothing, and on Sunday they were in their third day of scouring the fringes of I-20 between Columbia and Florence.

They had climbed the roadway banks already, hacking through jungle-dense vegetation in places, without finding a clue.

“There was something about it,” Caison said Monday. “I just didn’t feel good. I said, ‘Let’s go back in and get a second look.’ ”

Caison and her volunteer team of 15 decided on a new approach: They would check the bridges from the interstate’s medians rather than the sides.

Buck Creek bridge, 20 miles east of Columbia, was the first. At the base of the span, out of sight of motorists, they found a car bumper. A searcher kicked it over. Still attached was what authorities in two states were hunting – N.C. license plate BBD-8844. Just beyond it was the still, dark water of Buck Creek that had swallowed the car.

“I don’t see how these people found that wreck,” said Jim Matthews, sheriff of Kershaw County. “They are to be commended.”


Aimed for sunrise
Jake Ziegler, 18, and Ray Pierce, 17, seniors at Bandys High School in Catawba County, left a party in the early hours of Oct. 13. They told friends they were going to take Ziegler’s 2006 Pontiac G6 to Myrtle Beach, about four hours away, to catch the sunrise.

When they failed to return, authorities began a search by ground and air.

Among those helping was the Wilmington-based CUE Center for Missing Persons. CUE, which stands for Community United Effort, was started in 1994 by Monica Caison. She was looking to get involved in charity work and decided to focus on people who were missing.

Today, her organization has 10,000 trained volunteers across the nation and continues to grow. They have helped more than 9,000 families to date.

Caison, 49, a mother of five and grandmother of three, runs the organization from Wilmington. She has worked with police across the country in missing-person cases, augmenting their forces with her professionally trained volunteers.

She often goes on searches herself, and has been instrumental in helping find people. She draws no salary from the non-profit organization.

“I was one of 11 children,” Caison said. “My parents were very strict and organized. Everyone in the family was involved in charity work. It was instilled in us when we were young. Life’s true meaning is trying to help others.”


Solved friend’s case
Caison grew up in St. Petersburg, Fla., and has had first-hand experience with missing persons.
A childhood friend, 20-year-old Melinda Harder, disappeared in July 1980. CUE does a road trip annually to draw attention to missing-persons cases, and in 2008, it went to St. Pete. Posters were put up around town showing pictures of Harder with an age-progression portrait.

A police investigator saw the poster at a convenience store while stopping for coffee. She looks like a Jane Doe from an earlier case she knew, thought the investigator.

DNA proved her right. Harder’s remains had been found in a rolled-up carpet in 1989, but no one knew who she was.

Through Caison’s efforts, Harder’s body was identified. Her killer has never been found.

Searching for teens
CUE entered the search for Ziegler and Pierce at the beginning.

Trained search-team members came from as far away as Florida and Virginia. They took time off from work, or helped out on weekends. Rotating volunteers every few days, Caison had a team of about 15 on the case at all times.

Volunteers come from many walks of life. Some are searching for their own missing family members, others are in public service or retired from the military, police or fire agencies. Some have lost family to homicide and find it therapeutic to help others.

Caison’s troops started along I-77 and worked south. They checked for skid marks or tire tracks leading away from the highway. They drove along the edge of woods lining the road. When they didn’t have a clear view into the woodland, they would stop and hike in, up to a half-mile, looking for the car.

On Friday, they began looking on I-20 East with the same routine: Look for anything out of place, any disturbance that might hint at a wayward car.

By midday Sunday, they’d finished their canvass of the interstate, but the bridges were still nagging Caison.

Only trace at edge
Buck’s Creek was the first bridge they rechecked. Caison dropped a team of four off to walk down the grassy median. As they approached the water, they saw some debris, then the bumper.

Sheriff Matthews said the car apparently came out of a curve and into the median, threading a narrow pocket between guard posts on either side of the road. A slight incline at the top of the embankment sent the car airborne. It cleared a fence and some trees at the bottom of the slope and disappeared into Buck’s Creek.

Ziegler’s parents, who were driving a nearby highway to look for clues, soon arrived. Caison comforted them but kept them away from the crash site.

Matthews said he walked the scene Sunday and was amazed Caison’s team had located the car containing the teens’ bodies. There were no skid marks on the road, no sign that anything had happened there.

“If the bumper had stayed on the car,” he said, “I don’t know when those boys would have been found.”
Washburn: 704-358-5007

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/10/29/3631631/nagging-feeling-led-missing-teens.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/10/29/3631631/nagging-feeling-led-missing-teens.html#storylink=cpy

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Saturday, October 20, 2012

Suspect in Whitney Heichel slaying found through intense investigation by police, volunteers:

OregonLive.com
Oregon

Suspect in Whitney Heichel slaying found through intense investigation by police, volunteers:

Helen Jung, The OregonianBy Helen Jung, The Oregonian 
on October 20, 2012 at 5:00 PM, updated October 20, 2012 at 5:44 PM

Condolences for Starbucks barista Whitney Heichel, found murdered Friday
EnlargeGresham, Oregon---October 20, 2012-- Early Saturday afternoon, friends and acquaintances of Whitney Heichel gathered outside and inside the Starbucks where Heichel was a barista. Police announced Friday night that they had found the body of Heichel, 21, who had been missing since Tuesday, and arrested Jonathan Holt in her killing. A candlelight service is planned for 6 p.m. Saturday at the Starbucks, 2442 E. Burnside, Gresham, where Whitney Heichel worked. Ross William Hamilton /The OregonianCondolences for Starbucks barista Whitney Heichel, found murdered Fridaygallery (4 photos)
On the morning that she vanished, Whitney Heichel kissed her husband goodbye before heading out into the chilly, damp air. 

It was dark -- sunrise was still 45 minutes away last Tuesday morning -- and Heichel had a 7 a.m. shift at a Starbucks just a short drive away. 

But she wasn't the only one outside the Heatherwood Apartments at that time, detectives would learn, as they investigated why the 21-year-old woman never made it to work. 

Over the next four days of intense investigative efforts, Jonathan D. Holt, another resident of the Gresham apartment complex, would go from potential witness to prime suspect in Heichel's disappearance. 

Around the clock, police officers, church members, friends, family and other community members searched for clues, uncovered evidence and sent tips. Investigators interviewed Holt, noting inconsistencies in his answers. And results from forensic tests Friday, together with his statements and other evidence, culminated in Holt's Friday night arrest on accusations of aggravated murder. 

"It was a totality of information that got us to the point we believed we had enough information that Holt was responsible for her disappearance," Gresham Police Chief Craig Junginger said in an email Saturday. 

Around the same time that police arrested Holt, searchers on Larch Mountain in east Multnomah County found Heichel's body. The discovery crushed hopes that somehow the woman known for her compassion and friendliness and who dreamed about having children with her beloved husband would be found alive. 

"Really, words can't begin to express the sadness that our families are experiencing tonight," Jim Vaughn, a spokesman for the family, said Friday night. "Whitney was a very loving person, one who was loved by everyone. She had no enemies, she had no people that didn't love her." 

Holt is scheduled to be arraigned Monday afternoon in Clackamas County Circuit Court. Heichel was killed in Clackamas County, not in Multnomah County where her body was found, according to Gresham police. A Multnomah County prosecutor will continue to work with Clackamas County on the case. 

The medical examiner completed an autopsy on Heichel Saturday afternoon, but the results were not made public. 

The investigation that would span two counties, pull personnel from eight different agencies and command the efforts of hundreds of church and community volunteers, started with a morning phone call. 

Sometime after 8 a.m. Tuesday, Heichel's Starbucks manager called Clint Heichel to alert him that his wife had failed to show up at work. 

Her husband tried several times to reach Whitney Heichel on her cellphone. Other friends and family also tried texting her. Unable to reach her, Clint Heichel called police just before 10 a.m. 

Whitney Heichel disappearance
Here's a timeline of events, based on police reports and family statements:
Monday evening: Whitney visits her mother, Lorilei Ritmiller, and talks about how much she wants to be a mother.
Tuesday, 6:45 a.m.: Whitney leaves the Heatherwood Apartments in the 700 block of U.S. 26
Tuesday, 7 a.m.: Heichel fails to show up for work at the Starbucks near Powell and Burnside in East Gresham.
Tuesday, 9:14 a.m.: Someone uses Whitney's ATM card at a gas station at 257th and Stark.
Tuesday, 9:56 a.m.: Clint Heichel, Whitney's husband, calls 9-1-1.
Tuesday, 11:17 a.m.: Whitney's Ford Explorer is left in the parking lot of the Walmart at 23500 N.E. Sandy in Wood Village.
Tuesday, 1 p.m.: Family and friends looking for Whitney find her Explorer at the Wood Village Walmart.
Wednesday: The East County Major Crimes Team is activated and a team of 24 detectives starts following leads. In addition to other areas, they search in Dodge Park and on Larch Mountain.
Thursday, 10 a.m.: Gresham police call a news conference to talk to reporters about events related to Whitney's disappearance. Among other things, they reveal they have received more than 40 tips over two days.
Thursday at 4 p.m.: In a second news conference, police say that they have been searching Larch Mountain all day and are still doing so. They have been joined by Search and Rescue volunteers and Oregon State Police forensic experts.
Thursday at 5:24 p.m.: A woman reports that kids playing outside a Troutdale apartment complex have found a cellphone that turns out to belong to Whitney Heichel.
A group organized by the Heichels' Jehovah's Witness church also soon hit the streets. They searched extensively -- and effectively -- finding Heichel's black 1999 Ford Explorer at 1 p.m. in the Walmart parking lot at Wood Village. The passenger side window had been broken. 

Gresham detectives arrived at the lot and soon found some of Heichel's belongings in a garbage bin there and, later, at another shopping center. Video surveillance footage from Walmart would later show investigators the vehicle had been left at 11:17 that morning. 

But the footage did not show a suspect to an identifiable degree, Junginger said. 

Meanwhile, investigators led by Gresham Lt. Claudio Grandjean developed information that suggested Heichel's vehicle had been driven to Clackamas County. Church volunteers fanned out, finding evidence linked to her near Dodge Park. 

By Wednesday morning, authorities were able to determine that Heichel's ATM card had been used at a gas station at Southwest 257th and Southeast Stark, at 9:14 a.m. the previous day. Authorities launched a search at Dodge Park. Around the same time, more church members and other community volunteers theorized how far Heichel's vehicle could travel in the window established by the ATM card being used and the vehicle being found at the nearby Walmart, said Vaughn, the family friend. They also considered places where a suspect might leave someone, focusing on waterways and wooded areas. 

That strategizing yielded a big find -- the volunteers discovered Heichel's vehicle license plate at Larch Mountain. Search and rescue crews shifted to that area, uncovering a large amount of evidence over the next two days -- and eventually, Heichel's body. 

It was also Wednesday that police heard that Holt, a neighbor in the Heichels' apartment complex, might have been outside the complex that morning. 

Police wondered whether Holt might have seen anything suspicious that morning, and he agreed to come in for an interview. 

But in a follow-up interview the next day, Holt's story started to change, Junginger said. He gave different times and places in answering some of the same questions investigators had posed previously. Police collected his DNA and took his fingerprints. 

On Thursday, children discovered Heichel's cellphone in a field near a Troutdale apartment complex, giving police additional unspecified evidence implicating Holt, Junginger said. 

And then Friday, investigators received results of forensics tests of Heichel's vehicle that linked Holt to her SUV, Junginger said. The evidence, bolstered by Holt's conflicting accounts and other statements he made, built a case that led police to make the arrest. 

Police have not said what they think happened outside the apartment complex Tuesday morning between Holt and Whitney Heichel. Holt was acquainted with both the Heichels and may have been familiar with them through Jehovah's Witness gatherings, Junginger said. But there was no evidence of any relationship between Holt and Whitney Heichel beyond being acquaintances, he said. 

On Saturday, many of those involved in the investigation were decompressing after 18- and 20-hour shifts. While they work their best on every major crime, Junginger said, the Heichel case was "a tough investigation." The more they learned about her and the more time they spent with her family, the more "detectives could relate to their own families." 
At times, officers kept at the investigation so much that Grandjean, the lead investigator, had to tell them to eat and to go home and rest.
"When we're in the trenches, working the long hours, I think we're motivated by justice," he said. "It is inspiring to work with people who sacrifice like that for others in that way."

Junginger credited the volunteers for their contribution and their discoveries, noting that their assistance "almost tripled the amount of people" who could search. 

Vaughn, the family friend, said the church and community pulled together to just do what they could to help find someone they loved. 

"We're just normal everyday people that wouldn't know our right hand from our left on how to do something really good other than pounding the pavement. That's what Jehovah's Witnesses are known for." 

They just wish the outcome had been better, he said. 

"We're 7 million strong," he said. "When one of us hurts, we're all hurting, because we consider ourselves to be brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers and friends. It's just the way we are." 

--Helen Jung


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