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Topic: Another baby girl missing!
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Kindgo
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Body of Cassandra Williamson Found
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,58818,00.html
Search for St. Louis-area Missing Girl Called Off, Reports of Body Found
FNC
Friday, July 26, 2002
VALLEY PARK, Mo. — St. Louis-area authorities believe they have found the dead body of a missing 6-year-old girl, who disappeared while she was eating breakfast Friday morning.
The body of little Cassandra Williamson was found on the grounds of an abandoned glass factory and was covered in debris. St. Louis County Police Chief Ron Battelle said the police had arrested Johnny Johnson, the homeless man who was staying in the home from which she vanished.
Battelle described Johnson as "a local transient." He would not say if Johnson confessed, but said he was cooperating with police.
His voice breaking, Battelle said the body has not been positively identified, "but we feel certain it is her."
Battelle said it appeared Johnson is the only person involved in the crime.
Johnson, 24, had been sleeping on the couch of the home in suburban Valley Park. He has been described as a white male, about 25 years old, about 5'10", with red hair, a goatee and a thin build, wearing a white shirt, red shorts and black tennis shoes.
"I got one look at him," said Cassandra's maternal grandfather, Jim Wideman said. "I'd never let him stay in my house."
Wideman said that Johnson's sister was a friend of Angela Williamson, the girl's mother.
Several sources said the houseguest had disappeared at the same time as Cassandra, but had returned three hours later, soaking wet and stating that he had gone for a swim.
Police said earlier Friday they were questioning Johnson, as well as several other individuals.
Cassandra, called Casey, was blonde, 4 feet tall, and weighs about 48 pounds. She was wearing a white nightgown with red flowers and was barefoot when last seen by her father at about 7:30 a.m. CDT.
Cassandra's mother said earlier Friday: "She never walks off without telling me she's going somewhere. She doesn't even go to her friend's house without telling me she was going. I just want my baby."
Angela Williamson said she and her husband Ernie had recently separated but had been trying to reconcile while she and their children stayed with her parents.
Ernie Williamson was staying at a mutual friend's home across the street from Angela's parents' house Thursday night and invited the children to stay with him. Angela then decided to stay, too.
Cassandra was in the kitchen of the house at about 7:15 a.m. CDT Friday morning with her father when he left the room briefly to go the bathroom, police said. When he returned, she was gone.
He reasoned that she might have gone back across the street to her grandparents' house, but she wasn't there.
"We are calling this an abduction and treating it as such," said St. Louis County police spokesman Rick Eckhard. "It was not in her character to leave the home. She's still in her nightgown."
Eckhard said there were four adults in the house Cassandra vanished from — apparently her parents, their mutual friend and the houseguest, whom Eckhard said they were questioning but whose name he would not confirm as Johnny Johnson.
Wideman said volunteers and police had searched the woods behind a nearby glass factory.
Two police helicopters were being used in the search and a command post was set up not far from the girl's home.
As word of the possible abduction quickly spread, volunteers began joining in the search. Many were looking around an area along the Meramec, which runs through Valley Park in southwest St. Louis County.
The small town, about 20 miles from St. Louis, also sits along Interstate 44.
Several cases of child abductions involving young girls have been in the news in recent weeks.
On Tuesday, police said a kidnapped 7-year-old girl, Erica Pratt, escaped from an abandoned rowhouse in Philadelphia. Also this week, a man was charged with kidnapping and killing 5-year-old Samantha Runnion of Stanton, Calif.
It also follows the high-profile kidnappings of 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart in Salt Lake City and of two San Diego children, 7-year-old Danielle van Dam and 2-year-old Jahi Turner. Elizabeth and Jahi remain missing; Danielle was slain.
Fox News' Catherine Donaldson-Evans and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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God bless,
Kindgo
Inside the will of God there is no failure. Outside the will of God there is no success.
Posts: 4320 | From: Sunny Florida | Registered: Jun 2002
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Kindgo
Advanced Member
Member # 2
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posted
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,58818,00.html
VALLEY PARK, Mo. — Police in the St. Louis area were searching Friday for the whereabouts of a 6-year-old girl, who was reported missing earlier that morning.
Cassandra Williamson, called Casey, of suburban Valley Park was last seen at home between 7 and 7:15 a.m. CDT wearing a white nightgown with red flowers. She was barefoot.
Police and her parents said the little girl was in the kitchen with her father. He left the room momentarily, but when he came back, Cassandra was gone.
Her father initially thought she had gone across the street to her grandparents' home to get a bowl of cereal.
Police were looking for a white male, about 25 years old, with red hair, a goatee and a thin build, wearing a white shirt and tennis shoes.
Two police helicopters were being used, and volunteers were searching an area along the Meramec River, which runs through Valley Park in southwest St. Louis County.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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God bless,
Kindgo
Inside the will of God there is no failure. Outside the will of God there is no success.
Posts: 4320 | From: Sunny Florida | Registered: Jun 2002
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