Missing Adults

[ex member]

Woman, 73, Missing from Austell

Reported By: Elaine Reyes
Web Editor: Sean Rowe
Last Modified: 6/1/2005

The search for a 73-year-old woman residing in Austell, Ga., has Cobb County police officers, family members and others out in force Wednesday.


Lillie Marie Keais, of Austell, Ga.

However, without much information to go on, police are asking the public for their help in finding 73-year-old Lillie Marie Keais. On Tuesday, the day she disappeared, she went to the doctor’s office, got her car fixed and was running a handful of errands, authorities said.

Family members told 11Alive’s Elaine Reyes that Keais returned home about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday and left to drive to the grocery store. They say she never returned from that trip.

“She wouldn’t just up and leave like this,” said Keais' daughter, Anne. “This is the worst thing to imagine, your mom or your dad just disappearing and not knowing.”<br>
After filing a missing persons report with the Cobb County police, the Keais’ relatives told 11Alive’s Elaine Reyes that they spent much of Tuesday night and Wednesday morning canvassing her neighborhood in Austell, as well as adjacent locations.

Police have not confirmed whether foul play is involved in the woman’s disappearance.

Keais was driving a burgundy Nissan Sentra with the Georgia license plate 2-5-2-8-A-R-B. Anyone with information about the vehicle or Keais’ whereabouts is asked to call the Cobb County Police Department or 9-1-1.
www.11alive.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=63929

[ex member]

Article From Unsolved Mysteries
www.unsolved.com/0120-Modafferi.html


In June 1997, Kristen Modafferi, a design student at North Carolina State University, arrived in San Francisco where she planned to spend the summer. Within three days, Kristen took a job at Spinelli's coffee shop (now known as Tulley's) located at the Crocker Galleria, in San Francisco's financial district. On June 23, three weeks after her arrival, Kristen asked a co-worker for directions to Baker Beach, which is next to Land's End Beach. Kristen clocked out at 3:00 p.m., but was seen 45 minutes later on the second floor of the Galleria walking with a blond woman carrying a backpack. That was the last time Kristen Modafferi was seen.
With the help of a bloodhound, police went to Land's End Beach where Kristen's scent was picked up and lost at the water's edge. They also traced her scent in the Crocker Galleria and lost it at the bus stop. Among her possessions, police found a personal ad that read, "Friend seeking female friend to share activities, enjoy music, photography, working out, walks, coffee, or simply enjoying the beach, and exploring the Bay Area." Did Kristen place or answer the ad?

On July 10, 1997, a phone call came into the ABC affiliate, KGO. The caller told assignment editor Bill Magee that he knew exactly who killed Kristen. He said that two women had kidnapped Kristen, killed her, and dumped her body under a bridge in the Point Reyes area of Marin County. When police questioned the two women, they said that the caller was probably someone they knew named "John" - who was angry with them because the women were about to fire an employee of theirs who happened to be John's girlfriend. Three other women came forward and said they also had problems with John and his girlfriend - specifially that John's girlfriend had allegedly lured the women to John and that he had tortured them. One woman told police that John said, "Now you know what happened to Kristen Modafferi!" When police searched John's residence, his girlfriend's diary was found with the pages missing around the time of Kristen's disappearance. Police do not have enough evidence to charge "John."


Websites for Kristen Modaferri:
www.Modlink.Com/Kristen
www.FindKristen.Com
Support Site Forum - findkristens.conforums3.com

Name: Kristen Deborah Modafferi

Classification: Endangered Missing Adult
Date of Birth: June 1, 1979
Date Missing: June 23, 1997
From City/State: San Francisco, CA
Age at Time of Disappearance: 18
Gender: Female
Race: White
Height: 68 inches
Weight: 140 pounds
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Brown
Complexion: Medium

Identifying Characteristics: Distinct facial dimples.
Clothing: Black T-shirt with "Spinelli's Coffee Shop" logo, l/s dark blue plaid flannel shirt, tan pants and carrying a dark green "Jansport " backpack with 2 library books in it.

Circumstances of Disappearance: Unknown. Kristen was last seen leaving Spinelli's Coffee Shop where she was employed in downtown San Francisco. She never returned to the house she was renting in the vicinity of the 200 block of Jayne Ave., in Oakland, CA.

Investigative Agency:
Oakland Police Department
Phone: [phone]
NCIC #: M-038421722

NCMA PROFILE

[ex member]

Shirley Dean Cowan



Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance
Missing Since: January 14, 2001 from Austin, Texas
Classification: Endangered Missing
Date Of Birth: October 4, 1940
Age: 60 years old
Height and Weight:5'2; 130 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics:Blonde hair; green eyes. Cowan has a surgical scar as the result of a gallbladder operation.
Medical Conditions:Cowan has arthritis in both of her hands and in her back. She was depressed at the time of her 2001 disappearance.
NCIC Number:M-051340591

Details of Disappearance
Cowan was last seen at her residence in Oak Forest RV Park in Austin, Texas on January 14, 2001. Cowan vanished leaving behind a trail of blood. Evidence at a house in Kingsland indicates 64-year-old Shirley Dean Cowan was the victim of a violent crime.
She was wearing a shirt and pants at the time of her disappearance. Cowan also wore a white gold wedding ring with one large diamond surrounded by several smaller diamonds.

Investigating Agency
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Texas Department Of Public Safety
800-346-3243
OR
Llano Sheriff Office
325-247-5767

The North American Missing Persons Network

[ex member]

Police search for missing woman

News-Chronicle
May 10 2004

Green Bay police still are looking for Beulah Ann Ware, 47, who has been missing since March 30. Police do not suspect foul play in the disappearance of the Green Bay resident.


Beulah Ann Ware

Police said Ware had an abusive boyfriend and told friends she wanted to find a new place to live before he was released from jail. Her boyfriend was released on March 22 and on March 30 he reported Ware missing.

She was last seen on March 23 with a shorter woman. Ware is white, 5-feet-5-inches tall and weighs 150 pounds. She has black hair and hazel eyes.

She often rode a bike between the areas north of Ashland Avenue east through Danz Avenue.

Police are asking anyone with information about Ware to contact Det. Jeff Gloeckler at 448-3230.
www.greenbaynewschron.com/page.html?article=125739

[ex member]

Ground search for missing man expanded

By Marsha Miller
News Editor
June 12, 2005

The ground search for a missing man expanded to the air Friday afternoon as Southern Oklahoma Ambulance Services air vac helicopter joined Ardmore police in the hunt.

"They called and asked if we needed assistance. We said we certainly did," Lt. Eric Hamblin, Ardmore Police Department Criminal Investigation Division, said.

Cpl. Randy O'Hanlon joined the air search, while other officers, including Dickson police and firefighters continued the search on the ground for Jimmy McCullough.

"They are flying east of P Street up and down State Highway 199 to the Johnston County line," Hamblin said.



The 44-year-old Byars man vanished from Ardmore about 2 p.m. June 3. He was reported missing June 4 by his former wife.

The Tishomingo woman told police she dropped McCullough off at the Gold Mountain Casino, located on Sam Noble Parkway, on her way to shop in Ardmore. When she returned to the casino to pickup him up he was gone.

Security video tape confirms McCullough was at the casino for a short time. He reported left on foot. O'Hanlon, who is the lead investigator on the case, said it is believed McCullough walked away from the casino headed east.

McCullough, who has health problems, is described as Caucasian, 5 feet 6 inches tall, 130 pounds with brown-gray hair and hazel eyes. He has a tattoo of a cross with a heart in the middle on his right forearm.

McCullough was last seen wearing a red t-shirt, blue jeans and black and white tennis shoes.

Anyone who believes they may have seen the missing may or know of his whereabouts is urged to call Ardmore police at [phone] or any local law enforcement agency.

ardmoreite.com/stories/061205/loc_0612050049.shtml

[ex member]

Police seek missing educator

Friday, June 03, 2005
CAROL ROBINSON
News staff writer

Birmingham investigators have searched the car and Ensley home of a longtime city educator for clues in his disappearance, but turned up nothing.

Walter Moore, 48, an assistant principal at Hayes Middle School, has not been seen or heard from since May 22. His 2000 Maxima was found May 25, abandoned along Avenue E in Ensley.

Birmingham police family services detectives, along with homicide investigators, this week combed his 53rd Street home looking for anything that might tell them what happened to him.

"There's no sign that tells us foul play was involved, no hard evidence," Sgt. Scott Praytor said. "But we haven't ruled it out."

Family members tell police it's not like Moore to be out of touch with his friends and family.

Moore joined the Birmingham school system in 1979 as a special education teacher, and remained in that capacity until he was named a temporary assistant principal in 2004, school spokeswoman Michaelle Chapman said.

She said school officials know little about Moore's disappearance, but he missed the final week of classes for this school year.

"Naturally," she said, "people are concerned."

Anyone with information is about Moore is asked to call police at 933-4113.

www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/inde...6971.xml&coll=2

[ex member]

Aruba story overshadows cases in city

Commentary By ELAINE WITT
BIRMINGHAM POST-HERALD
Posted June 09 2005

It isn't that they don't have sympathy for the justifiably frantic loved ones of Natalee Holloway.

In fact, Nancy Lewis' friends and relatives know something about what the Holloways are feeling.

What they don't understand is why most of the news outlets fixated on the Holloway case have shown so little interest for the past three weeks in the plight of another Birmingham-area resident who disappeared May 18 while driving to her job as a cook at Children's Hospital.

It's been noted before that we, the news media — especially cable TV — lose all sense of proportion when faced with what syndicated columnist Paul Campos has dubbed the "Photogenic White Girl in Distress" story line. Think Laci Peterson, Chandra Levy and Elizabeth Smart.

Holloway, a new graduate of Mountain Brook High School, appears to have been snatched away from those who love her while on a senior trip to a Caribbean island.

It's a bleak situation.

And it's also a convergence of facts that created the perfect storm for cable TV. The specter of what may have happened to her is horribly disturbing to anyone who has ever been young and female or has a daughter or niece or friend meeting that description.

It does not diminish the awfulness of the Holloway case to decry the fact that we Americans, to put it bluntly, care more about such victims than we do about a middle-aged black woman who also appears to have been abducted by someone who meant her harm.

Nancy Lewis has been a cook for seven years at Children's, where she prepares eggs, oatmeal, pancakes and the like for the young patients' breakfast and then prepares lunch vegetables for the cafeteria line.

"Everybody here has a caring heart for what they do and who they're serving, and it shows in their dedication. She would go above and beyond what was needed to get the job done," Gavin Boinski, production manager and executive chef in the hospital's kitchen, said of Lewis. "She would come in early, stay late, give of her own time to make sure the job was done."

In the hospital, Boinski said, Lewis was known for her good humor. "The laugh was infectious," Boinski said. "She was always upbeat, always cheerful and just happy, and other employees feed off that."

Her disappearance, he said, has left the staff heartbroken and bewildered. "It's like you've lost one of your family members."

Although Lewis was not scheduled to start work until 5 a.m., it wasn't unusual for her to go in early, and that was the case on May 18. Her roommate, who was getting ready for an early shift at a different hospital, told her goodbye at 3:45 a.m. and never saw her again.

"Between her leaving home and getting to work, something happened," said Birmingham police Detective V.L. Green, whose office this week announced it is looking for Bessemer resident Peggy L. Clark, identified as a "person of interest" in Lewis' disappearance.

Dozens of people are reported missing in the Birmingham area each month, but most of the cases are quickly resolved.

Among the cases still oustanding is the May 22 disappearance of Walter Moore an assistant principal at Hayes Middle School. Moore's automobile, like that of Lewis, was found abandoned within days of his disappearance. Detective T. Thomas said Moore spoke to a friend on the telephone that Sunday evening and never made it to work the next day.

She said she's received "a lot of rumors" in the case and a few leads.

Lewis was known to be scrupulous about keeping her Chevy pickup full of gas, and she drove with her doors locked.

"Both of us try to be cautious when we leave the house, because it is rather dangerous for anyone going out that time of morning, especially a woman," said Grethel Pryor, a friend with whom Lewis has shared a home in southwest Birmingham for 10 years.

The day after her disappearance, Lewis' truck was found abandoned near a Midfield gas station. Police have released a composite sketch of a man believed to have been driving the truck after Lewis' disappearance.

Lewis' friends and relatives have donned T-shirts bearing Lewis' image while they pass out fliers in the area where the truck was found.

They also have raised a few thousand dollars as a reward for information. They realize the reward is small compared to the $55,000 that has been offered to help find Holloway.

And they think the media could do more. Until this week, when police released a photograph of Clark, the case got limited news coverage.

"I just can't understand why a dedicated citizen of Birmingham who works at Children's Hospital is not getting the coverage she could get, from the news media, the detectives, the FBI," said Matilda Scott, a co-worker of Lewis.

While they wait, Lewis' family, like the Holloways, must deal with the fact that as time passes hope becomes more elusive.

"She was a wonderful lady," Brandi Miller said of her aunt, and then corrected herself: "She is a wonderful lady."
www.postherald.com/me060905.shtml

[ex member]

Mother: three young detainees know what happened to missing teen

The Associated Press
June 12, 2005

The mother of a missing Alabama teenager said Sunday that she believes three young men who were with her daughter the day of her disappearance know what happened to her, and Aruban authorities should pressure them to reveal the information.

Beth Holloway Twitty, 44, also said she thought that two former hotel security guards detained in connection with the disappearance of 18-year-old Natalee Holloway were innocent and should be released.

"All three of those boys know what happened to her. They all know what they did with her that night," Twitty said during a 45-minute, one-on-one interview with The Associated Press in her hotel room at the Holiday Inn, the same hotel where Natalee was staying before she disappeared on May 30.

Twitty declined to say what she thought the boys had done or whether she thought her daughter was still alive. She said the most important thing now was to find Natalee.

The three young men - the son of a Dutch justice ministry official and two Surinamese brothers - have told police they brought Natalee Holloway to a lighthouse at Arisha beach then dropped her off at her hotel before 2 a.m. the day she disappeared. The two Surinamese brothers also told police that Natalee and the Dutch boy had been kissing in the back seat of the car.

Twitty said she met the three young men within 12 hours of Natalee's disappearance and she said it surprised her that it took authorities more than a week to detain them. Twitty said if she does not see results soon in the case, she might start to believe that authorities are trying to protect the young detainees.

Authorities have said they are pursuing all leads, while Prime Minister Nelson Oduber has said that "no one stands above the law" on the island.

Natalee Holloway vanished hours before she was expected at the airport May 30 to end a five-day trip to the Dutch Caribbean island with 124 classmates and seven chaperones celebrating their graduation from Mountain Brook High School, near Birmingham, Ala. Her U.S. passport and packed bags were found in her hotel room.

www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dl...mplate=dateline

[ex member]

Missing Mosinee Man

Justin Ware
June 11 2005

Search teams are continuing to look for 40-year-old Jeffrey Stencil after he went missing sometime before midnight.

Tammie Stencil says her husband called her after sliding into the middle median on I-39 right before Cedar Creek exit.

His wife says when she came to pick him up his car was there, but Jeff was no where to be found. She tells us nothing seemed to be missing from his black Toyota truck and there seemed to be no broken glass and no damage to the vehicle.

A fishing boat was called in and bloodhounds were able to track Jeff's scent through part of the area near the accident.

"Then they went from train trussel from there they put people along the creek, although the way to the river and then they are walking from there all the way down there," said Chief Bill Paduan of the Rothschild Fire Department.

Authorities say that there are 80 people looking for the man, combing through rough terrain, shoulder to shoulder so they miss nothing.

Police are asking the public if they know of any information to alert the authorities.

www.wsaw.com/home/headlines/1625946.html


SEARCH FOR MISSING MAN CONTINUES

Jun 12, 2005

IT'S BEEN 24 HOURS AND THERE'S STILL NO SIGN OF JEFFREY STENCIL.
HE WENT MISSING SATURDAY NIGHT AFTER CRASHING HIS CAR ON HIGHWAY 51 NEAR ROTHSCHILD.

AROUND ELEVEN O-CLOCK SATURDAY NIGHT, IN THE MIDST OF A THUNDERSTORM, JEFFREY ALLEN STENCIL'S VEHICLE WENT INTO THIS DITCH.
"IN THE WORSE OF THE STORM, THE INDIVIDUAL PUT THE VEHICLE IN THE DITCH AT THE 186 MILEMARKER, NO KEYS, HE WASN'T THERE."

HE WAS ON HIS WAY HOME FOR WORK.
STENCIL CALLED HIS WIFE FOR HELP.
WHEN SHE SHOWED UP, SHE SAW NO BLOOD, NO BROKEN GLASS, AND AFTER LOOKING AROUND, NO SIGN OF HER HUSBAND.
NOW, OVER ONE-HUNDRED FRIENDS, FAMILY, LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AND SEARCH CREWS, ARE LOOKING FOR JEFFREY.
RIGHT HERE, BY THE RIVER. TWO BLOODHOUNDS PICKED UP HIS SCENT.

"MOST INDIVIDUALS THAT ARE LOST TYPICALLY DO GO IN CIRCLES, SO THEY THINK THIS IS A HIGH PROBABILITY IN THIS AREA."
AND THAT AREA, IS SWAMPY,
"IF THE INDIVIDUAL GOT HURT OR DISORIENTED, WITH THE RAIN IT'S WET, MUDDY AND MARSHY, IT'S AN EASY PLACE TO GET LOST ESPECIALLY IN THAT MUCH OF A STORM LAST NIGHT."
THE TALL MARSHYGRASS IS TOUGH TO LOOK THROUGH.
"WHERE SOMEBODY COULD LAY DOWN AND WOULDN'T EVEN SEE THEM."

LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AND SEARCH CREWS ALSO LOOKED AROUND OTHER PARTS OF THE AREA, BUT FOUND NOTHING.
BUT, PADUAN SAYS THEY'LL CONTINUE TO KEEP LOOKING.

"YOU COULD SEARCH FOREVER DEPENDING ON WHERE HE'S AT, WE DON'T KNOW IF HE'S IN THE RIVER, THE CURRENTS ARE QUICK, REGARDLESS IF YOU'RE A GOOD SWIMMER YOU'RE NOT GOING TO STAY WITH THE CURRENT."
SEARCH CREWS WILL PICKUP ON THE SEARCH MONDAY MORNING, AFTER CALLING IT OFF AT DARK SUNDAY NIGHT.

THE 40-YEAR0OLD WAS LAST SEEN WEARING BLACK JEANS, A BLUE BASEBALL CAP, AND A BLUE LOGO T-SHIRT.
IF YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION AS TO HIS WHEREABOUTS.. YOU'RE ASKED TO CALL THE MARATHON COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT.

www.waow.com/news/full_story.php?id=37529

[ex member]

Grand Rapids Police looking for missing elderly man

June 11 2005

Grand Rapids Police are looking for a 77 year-old man with Parkinson's Disease, who's been missing since late Friday morning.

Robert Tebeau left his home on Benjamin around 10:30 a.m. Friday morning to walk at the Woodland Mall.

He was captured on video around 3:45 p.m. at the Rapid Central Station, where he got onto the wrong bus.

The driver thinks Tebeau was dropped off at Leonard and Ball.

A person matching Robert's description was seen around 5:30 p.m. Friday night near Plymouth Avenue and Oak Industrial Street, less than a mile away from the bus stop, and less than 2 miles from home.

"He does walk a lot, but he can also stumble and fall and that's our concern, that without his medication he maybe fell somewhere and is knocked out," said daughter-in-law June Tebeau. "We hope no foul play has happened."

The family tells us he's missed several doses of his medication.

Anyone with information about Robert Tebeau should call the Grand Rapids Police Department.

www.woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=3...96&nav=0Rceavkc

Grand Rapids Police Search for Missing Man

Mary Ogle
Updated: 6/12/2005

Grand Rapids Police are asking for help in the search for a missing man. 77 year old Robert Tebeau went missing on Friday while trying to return home from the Woodland Mall by bus.

He was last seen in the Leonard and Ball Street area and police conducted an extensive search there today complete with canine units.

Police are also asking residents living within a one mile radius of this area to search their sheds and garages because they think Tebeau may have been frighten into hiding by Friday's storm sirens.

www.wzzm13.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=40908

[ex member]

Missing Immigrant Woman Sought

UPDATED: 5:03 am EDT June 13, 2005

CLARKSTON -- DeKalb County police were searching Monday for an Ethiopian immigrant who apparently walked away from her home this weekend during a rain storm.



Authorities said Taiba Muhammed, 57, who lives at an apartment in the 6600 block of Old Singleton Lane has not been since since leaving the residence sometime Saturday night.

Relatives said the woman, who vanished while it was raining, does not speak English.

As many as 20 volunteers searched a wooded area near her home Sunday, but the woman was not found. She was last seen wearing a long dress and no shoes.

The woman moved to metro Atlanta less than a month ago from the Washington, D.C., area, authorities said.

Anyone with information about the woman was asked to call DeKalb police.

www.wsbtv.com/news/4600161/detail.html

[ex member]

MISSING MAN MIGHT HAVE BEEN FOUND

June 13, 2005

Barnstable police believe they may have found the body of a 22-year-old man missing for about a month.

BARNSTABLE, Mass. (AP) - Police say the body was found floating in Paddy's Pond in the Marstons Mills section of Barnstable about 8 pm Sunday night.
Officials say the body's clothing and appearance resemble the missing man, Noah Curtin, but are awaiting a medical examiner's findings Monday before making a definite identification. The cause of death also remains undetermined.

Curtin disappeared May 11th. Police using dogs and helicopters searched for weeks in the area around the pond where Curtin liked to take hikes and long walks.

www.wcsh6.com/home/article.asp?id=23596

[ex member]

Family, friends, searchers hunt for missing Casnovia man

Tuesday, June 14, 2005
By Jon Malavolti
CHRONICLE STAFF WRITER

Doug Geib continued to inspect every tree and bush while others took a quick break Monday afternoon between search-and-rescue missions.

Geib was searching a rural area for any signs of his son, Casnovia Township resident Todd Douglas Geib, who has been missing since he reportedly walked away from a "kegger" party early Sunday morning.

More than 100 people, including family, friends and volunteers, scoured the woods and fields all day near the 22-year-old's home at 291 Moon Court and the site where he was last seen at an outdoor party behind an apple orchard.

About 50 volunteers and police were out early this morning beginning another search.

According to the State Police Grand Haven Post and family members, Geib left the party and was apparently walking home to the room rented from his cousin near Half Moon Lake.

He was last heard from at about 12:50 a.m. Sunday when he used his cell phone to call a friend.

All he said was "I'm in a field," before the phone call cut off. The friend called back and heard only what she thought was either breathing or the wind before the call ended.

Geib, who is single, hasn't returned to his job at Hager Distribution in Grand Rapids.

As of this morning, no signs of Geib have been found by the searchers.

State Police Detective Sgt. Gary Miles said Monday authorities were treating the situation as an "endangered missing person case."

"There are many speculative ideas of what may have happened," Miles said. "At this point, we'll have to wait and see."

Family members said Geib and several friends attended the party Saturday evening, calling it an "annual event" with about 50 people.

The site was still littered with crushed beer cans and bottles Monday as volunteer teams and tracking dogs scoured the area, attempting to pick up on Geib's trail. The owner of the land where the party was held said he didn't know anything about the event.

One family member said some people at the party believe they saw Geib walk away from the party site to head home. He was staying about a mile-and-a-half southeast of the party site.

Searchers walked through fields with grass sometimes as high as 4 feet tall, yelling Geib's name, while an airboat searched nearby bodies of water and a helicopter flew overhead, searching for signs of him. Both vehicles were operated by volunteers with the West Michigan Search and Rescue organization.

Geib's sister, Jenni Broton, described her brother as a "good guy, fun and athletic." He attended Ravenna High School and likes to go dirt-biking with friends, she said.

She said her brother has never disappeared before.

Geib's brother-in-law, Matt Broton, said many volunteers and family and friends had been out searching since Sunday evening.

"Stuff like this makes you start to think the worst," Matt Broton said.

Matt Broton helped to organize the search, giving out directions to "make sure we check every nook and cranny."

"We're just hoping for the best."

www.mlive.com/news/muchronicle/inde...63906218310.xml

[ex member]

Update: Two Tipsters Report Seeing Missing Virginia Reporter

By Joe Strupp
Published: June 14, 2005

NEW YORK Missing reporter Ward Sanderson of the Daily Press in Newport News, Va., has been spotted as far away as Richmond and Williamsburg, according to editors. The paper received information on his whereabouts following a story in Tuesday's edition about his disappearance.

"My sense is that there is still a lot of uncertainty, but no reason to think he's not out there taking care of himself," Ernie Gates, editor of the Daily Press, told E&P Tuesday afternoon. "But we are still concerned. He appears to be behaving oddly and it makes us concerned that he is disoriented."

Meanwhile, one of Sanderson's former colleagues at Stars & Stripes, told E&P that he was "solid as a rock" and one of the best reporters ever at that paper.

Sanderson, 35, has been missing since May 31, when he last showed up for work at the paper, where he covers military affairs. Editors filed a missing person's report on him June 3, but did not publish a story about his disappearance until today.

The story, which was picked up by Associated Press and several other Virginia papers, apparently sparked action, Gates said. He noted two significant tips that came into the newsroom Tuesday. One was from a convenience store clerk outside of Richmond, about 75 miles from Newport News, who said she encountered Sanderson at 4:30 a.m. last Wednesday.

"She was concerned that he was on foot at that time of the night, so she called police," Gates said. Prior to that incident, Sanderson was spotted at a real estate office in Williamsburg, about 50 miles from Richmond, the previous Monday, June 6. Gates said the real estate agent told the paper that Sanderson came in saying he had had an appointment, then left.

"The real estate agent called police who spoke with Ward, but the gist of his comments to the officer were that he was fine," Gates said. "We've talked to the police in both places, but we haven't dispatched people to track them down because we are still getting all of the information."

Since Sanderson's disappearance, speculation about why he dropped out of site has grown, including concerns about post-war trauma following his many months in Iraq. Gates said he had shown no signs of emotional problems or suicidal behavior. He sparked more concern when police found his car parked at a local bank, with the keys dropped in a night deposit box, along with a note saying he did not need the car anymore.

Someone also mailed his Daily Press employee identification card back to the paper, with no explanation. "He displayed no signs of emotional distress, which is why this is so strange," Gates said about Sanderson's previous behavior. "Nothing in his behavior suggested this."

A Daily Press employee since March, Sanderson had previously worked for Stars & Stripes, where he had periods assignments covering the Iraq War while based at one of the paper's Germany bureaus. Gates said he had shown no signs of suffering from any war-related problems or suicidal tendencies.

Terry Boyd, a Stars & Stripes reporter who worked with Sanderson in the paper's Germany office between 1999 and early 2005, also shot down speculation that Sanderson might have done himself in or suffered in other ways from emotional effects of the war. "I can't imagine that it was a factor in his disappearance," Boyd said during a phone interview from Germany Tuesday. "He is not that kind of guy. He's solid as a rock. " When asked if Sanderson ever discussed depression or other emotional problems, Boyd said, "Nothing, never, no!"

Although both Boyd and Sanderson rotated in and out of Iraq on assignment during the first years of the war, he said the two never served together. He also did not think Sanderson saw much combat, instead spending most of his time behind the front lines on stories about everything from military chaplains to Baghdad hospitals.

Although he had not spoken with Sanderson for several months, Boyd said some colleagues had gotten e-mails from him, with no trace of stressful problems. "They had nothing troubling in them," he said of the notes. Boyd speculated that, as police have theorized, Sanderson might have just wanted to drop out of sight.

"Everybody who has been gone [from the United States] for six or seven years has an adjustment period when they return," Boyd said. "After being so long outside the United States, you sometimes need to adjust again." Then he added, "We just want to find out where the hell he is, he's got to stop worrying people."

Sig Christenson, president of Military Reporters and Editors and a military correspondent for the San Antonio Express-News, stopped short of connecting Sanderson's disappearance to an Iraq-related emotional problem or suicide. But he admitted that speculation is unavoidable in such a case.

"It is a very disturbing thing, and distressing," Christenson said. "I worry that it does mean something. If it was somebody who was in Iraq, it crosses your mind. I hope that is not what it is."

Boyd said Sanderson had built a reputation at the paper as someone who took on challenges with gusto. "He liked big projects and did a lot of great work," Boyd said. "He was one of the best reporters who ever worked at Stars & Stripes. He could get people talking."

He cited a 2004 story Sanderson did on the lack of equipment and parts for an Army Black Hawk helicopter unit. He said editors praised the piece as one of the first from Iraq that had many military personnel on the record. "It was one of the first to document that Iraq was beginning to stress the Army [resources]," Boyd said. "He gave it an honest evaluation."

Daily Press Editor Gates said Sanderson had been covering a variety of issues when he disappeared, ranging from local base closings to Memorial Day plans. His last two stories, which ran May 28, concerned a locally-based Navy crew that had helped with a drug seizure in the Arabian Sea and a Navy veteran who was in a dispute with the Naval Public Affairs office over using Navy press releases on his Web site.

"I think the more the story gets around, the more people will respond," Gates said. "The fact that he is turning up in other places is encouraging. With some luck, we will be able to find him."

www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/ne...t_id=1000957137

[ex member]

Missing man's friends fear he may have jumped off bridge
Noted designer was depressed but is known as prankster

Peter Fimrite,
Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, June 14, 2005

Charles Frederick Tharp's whole life has been built on creativity.

The man everyone knows as Rick has a room full of awards for graphic design, but it's the world around him that is Tharp's real canvas, according to his friends and colleagues.



The 52-year-old Los Gatos designer, they say, put just as much of his soul into the silly, cynical Christmas cards he sent and the amusing pranks he played on his friends. He lived, by all accounts, with the same joie de vivre that resonated in his work.

Which is why his sudden disappearance is so confusing and mysterious.

There is a strong possibility that a man spotted jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge at 7:58 p.m. June 4 was Rick Tharp, but no body has been recovered. Tharp had recently been depressed, according to friends, and the only witness to the apparent suicide described a man who fit Tharp's description, according to sources close to the investigation.

California Highway Patrol and bridge police officers found a backpack containing Tharp's writing and other identifying material near the place where the man jumped, friends quoted investigators as telling them.

But there is still no confirmation of his death, and several unanswered questions remain. Where, for instance, is his black BMW? It has not been spotted by bridge parking officers or the CHP. Tharp lives in San Jose, and his studio is in Los Gatos. How did he get to the bridge if he didn't drive?

And then there is Tharp's well-known penchant for playing practical jokes.

"He pulled enough tricks that half of us think he might have just jumped in that big black BMW of his and went on the lam," said one close friend.

Either way, it's a disturbing twist in the life of an unconventional man.

Rick Tharp was born in Mansfield, Ohio, on Sept. 6, 1952. He moved to California in 1975 after earning a degree from Miami University of Ohio. He first opened a business designing and making signs and later opened a full- fledged design studio in Los Gatos called "Tharp Did It."

The firm specialized in corporate identity, package design and environmental design. His work included wine labels, posters and award-winning advertising campaigns for companies such as toymaker Brio. Known for his humorous designs, he even incorporated bar codes into his creations. He had recently begun incorporating a circled T, made to look like a copyright logo, in his designs.

He worked on posters and other materials for the campaign to bring the 2012 Olympics to San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge 50th anniversary celebration in 1987. He was president of the Western Art Directors Club for many years and won virtually every award for design that was given, including a Clio Award for a wine label he did in 1988.

Visitors to his house could see all his awards hanging on pins on a clothesline, as if they were hanging out to dry.

His poster work was so uniquely good that some of it is on display at the Smithsonian Institution and the Library of Congress, according to longtime friend Franklin Avery.

But it was Tharp's personality that set him apart. Once, when he learned that a rival design shop was holding a picnic, he showed up at the party in a gorilla suit and bombarded the guests with water balloons, according to Avery, a photographer.

When asked for a business card, he would hand over a black card with "My Card" and nothing else printed on it. He would hand out one with "My Other Card" to those who asked again.

His official "Tharp Did It" card described his work as "poodle grooming, repair and taxidermy."

"He always felt all the best designs happened after a couple of glasses of wine at lunch with a white napkin and a black ink pen," Avery said.

Nobody knows for sure what caused Tharp's spirits to sink last year. Avery thinks it was a ringing in his ear that began last August and had continued ever since. His friends knew about his depression and were trying to keep a close watch on him.

There is plenty of speculation about where he went, but those who know him cannot help but think it might yet be another glorious lark.

sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c...BAGPBD85US1.DTL