Mary Lee Grobe's favorites (continued)

This is Mary Lee and her beloved BB when BB was just a puppy.

Too many missing women, too few answers, Part 2

COMMENTARY
By Clint Van Zandt
MSNBC
Updated: 4:05 p.m. CT July 23, 2007
Part 2

Lisa Stebic’s husband refuses to cooperate with police

Meanwhile investigators in the Plainfield, Ill. continue to look for Lisa Stebic, the 37-year-old missing mother of two that was last seen by her estranged husband on the evening of April 30th. Stebic’s husband, Craig, who was to be served papers evicting him from the home they shared with their children, said he had sent their children to the store. According to one media account, he last saw her walk out of their home carrying only her cell phone and purse.

Lisa, like Paige Birgfeld, has not been seen since. One unconfirmed media report indicates that traces of Lisa’s blood was found on a tarp in the back of Craig’s pick-up truck, a vehicle friends say she never rode in. Some are aware that these same friends recalled Lisa saying that Craig said that if she ever left him, "he could make her disappear," a remark that obviously got law enforcement’s attention. Craig has steadfastly refused to allow his children to be interviewed by investigators. Now the local district attorney must decide to if there’s a need to force this issue through a grand jury investigation. One would include an interview of the children by the grand jury, something that most investigators believe would be far less desirable than an interview by a qualified child psychologist.

Amy Jacobsen, a local NBC affiliate television reporter, was fired when a rival television station filmed her in a bikini visiting poolside with Craig Stebic and his sister. Jacobsen says she was attempting to develop the story. Some called her investigative tactics unethical. Others question who was more unethical in this case: Jacobsen for her attempts to pry information from the Stebics, or the rival television station for spying on Jacobsen.

Meanwhile, Lisa Stebic is still missing.

Missing and murdered university students
Means, motive, and opportunity are always questions that need be adressed whenever there's a suspect (or the politically correct phrase, “a person of interest”). Motive is often the most challenging.

Investigators in Wisconsin continue their search for missing 21-year-old University of Wisconsin college student Mahalia Xiong, last seen on July 13 when she left her friends to drive home. Police are looking at her cellphone records and reviewing any surveillance camera along the route she should have taken home that evening.

Even though a psychic has told Mahalia’s parents that she was abducted and is currently being held captive, Mahalia’s family and friends should know that another so-called psychic told Lisa Stebic’s friends where her remains were. When that location was searched, only deer bones were found.

Mahalia Xiong is the second UW student to go missing in a month. Authorities found the remains of 22-year-old Kelly Nolan in a remote area after being led there by her cellphone. Nolan’s death is considered a homicide.

Police also continue to search for 50-year-old Francine Tate, recently reported missing. Like Nolan, Tate is from the Madison, Wis. area. She and her husband took in a transient they had just met in church. The stranger, known only as “Randy,” was traveling with his dog, “Sophie,” and was thought to be heading to South Dakota. Authorities are also looking for Tate’s missing 1997 Toyota Corolla and are checking her cellphone records for leads to her disappearance.

Prospective law school student still missing in Florida
And in yet another high profile missing persons case, Florida police has apparently run out of good leads in the disappearance of 22-year-old recent John Jay College honors graduate Stepha Henry, last seen at a club in Ft. Lauderdale on May 29. The man who took her to the club says he lost track of her that night and that the borrowed car he used to take her to the club is also missing. Although his story sounds shaky at best, police have yet to name a “person of interest” in this case.

The reward offered for the return of Stepha, all of the above women, and many other missing persons across the U.S., are still unclaimed.

MSNBC

Clint Van Zandt is a former FBI Agent, behavioral profiler and hostage negotiator as well as an MSNBC Analyst. His web site www.LiveSecure.org provides readers with security related information.

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When law enforcement fails to take missing person cases seriously, bad things happen.

Summer Shipp from Kansas City is Still Missing
Teresa Butler from Risco is Still Missing
Amanda Jones from Jefferson County is Still Missing
Vicki Lour from Wayne County is Still Missing
Christine Carol Burnett-Pitts from Poplar Bluff is Still Missing.
Mary Lee Grobe from Butler County is Still Missing.

69% of missing adults in Missouri are Woman. (NCMA)

Something needs to be done to help these Missing Missouri Mothers. Some criminals and perhaps a husband, ex-husband, boyfriend, ex-boyfriend or even a son know that in Missouri the local LE will not do everything possible to solve a missing person case. I strongly believe the criminal in Butler County involved in Mary Grobe’s case was smarter and more intelligent than the local sheriff was. We must empower LE to make the right choices and to act quickly.

Too many missing women, too few answers, part 1

COMMENTARY
By Clint Van Zandt
MSNBC
Updated: 4:05 p.m. CT July 23, 2007

Of the 51,000 adults currently listed as missing in the United States, most know the story of 34-year-old Paige Birgfeld, the Colorado mother of two who has been missing since June 28.

What makes Birgfeld’s story different is the two lives that she led up to her disappearance, one as the twice-divorced woman who sold Pampered Chef products and taught dance lessons to preschoolers, and another as a one-woman escort service who used the Internet to advertise the various personal services she offered to meet the needs of some men.

Paige, known to her escort service clients as “Carrie,” may have been attempting to rekindle her relationship with her first husband the night she disappeared. He apparently was one of the few who knew of her night time activities with other men, indicating that she had told him that she had two clients to see after she left him that evening. Her cellphone was later used within a few miles from her home, and her burned down car was subsequently found in an auto parts lot, but Paige never made it home that night and has not been seen since.

Investigators would need to consider her two former husbands and the clients of her escort service as possible suspects in her disappearance— especially the two clients she allegedly told her first husband she was going to meet the night she disappeared. She also had other business dealings, but it was her escort service clients that attracted the attention of investigators after they accounted for her two former husbands.

It is from that client list that a current “person of interest” has been identified, this after authorities searched his home twice seeking evidence that could further link him to the missing woman. 56-year-old Lester Ralph Jones has a history of domestic violence, including a 1999 arrest for kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon against his then-wife, for which he was convicted and sentenced to a five years the state prison. One media report suggests the obvious: that Jones was a client of Birgfeld's escort service. What makes him perhaps even more interesting to law enforcement is the fact that the RV repair company where he works is just a short distance from where Paige’s burned out car was found.

If you were an investigator trying to find Paige, you might also consider the possibility that one of the clients she was allegedly going to spend time with the night she disappeared could have been Jones. If evidence was developed— perhaps a record of a telephone call between Paige and Jones or an appointment noted on her personal calendar in reference to him— then she could have met him at a location convenient for both of them, like the parking lot of the auto parts facility. Somehow, though, the working theory would also need to explain how items from her purse (her video store card, her checkbook registry and checks, etc.) were found strewn along the median of a highway miles from where her car was found. Could her assailant, in that theory Ralph Jones, have thrown them out of his car after being with Paige? Or could she have sensed her peril and surreptitiously dropped them from the car that was taking her away from her home and children?

Jones, whose current wife was out of town on the 28th, is a man who chased his former wife at speeds of over 100 mph, rammed her car, ran her off the road, and forced her at gunpoint to come with him. If Jones or another client of Paige’s escort service (known to its clients as Models, Inc.) had an appointment with her the night she disappeared, it’s likely that they will be much more than “persons of interest” should they not be able to account for their activities on that night.

Meanwhile there are two children who now have no mother. They’re now with their father, Paige’s second husband. Paige’s father has been named by a judge as his missing daughter’s conservator until she returns. It's a thread of hope that her family clings to, and they continually cite the case of Elizabeth Smart as evidence that Paige could still come home.

Meanwhile up to 100 volunteers braved 95 degree temperatures this weekend as they pressed their ground search for Paige. The searchers perhaps shared the hope of Paige’s father — that she’s out there somewhere alive and waiting for help. We hope they’re right.

MSNBC

Amanda Jones' parents keep hoping

Amanda Jones' parents keep hoping
By Robert Patrick
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
07/22/2007

HILLSBORO — When you're the parent of a missing person, you never give up wondering, hoping or trying to find some clue that would help.

On Saturday, police and the relatives and friends of Amanda Jones, who disappeared almost two years ago, were doing their own hoping — hoping that someone had seen something that would break open the case.

"We just need that one last bit of information," said Lt. Tommy Wright, stretching out his hand as if he were grabbing for something just out of reach.

On Aug. 14, 2005, Jones was 26 and just days away from giving birth to the son she planned to name Hayden Lucas, when she disappeared. Jones had told her mother that she was going to the Hillsboro Civic Center to meet the man she believed to be the baby's father, Bryan Lee Westfall.

On Saturday, Jones' parents, Hubert and Bertha Propst, were handing out "missing" fliers inside the main entrance to the Jefferson County Fair at the civic center, just steps away from where her car was found unlocked and with her purse inside.

Investigators and family members are hoping that someone who saw something the day Jones disappeared will see their fliers or one of two large banners funded by Eagle Bank, where Jones used to work.

Wright said that thousands would be reminded about Jones or see the plea for information for the first time. Wright said 6,000 had attended the fair Friday night.

"You never know," he said.

Wright said the banners would be moved around the county in hopes of catching the right eye.

It's the latest bid to get Jones back in the public eye.

In the spring, it was a "Finding Amanda Jones" page on the MySpace.com website.

There's still a $100,000 reward, and anyone with information is asked to call the Jefferson County sheriff's office at 636-797-5515.

Wright, chief of detectives for the Jefferson County sheriff's office, won't comment on a particular suspect. "We've looked at a person," is all he would say. But Wright said that the person had hired a lawyer and had declined to take a lie detector or voice stress analysis test.

The response to the Propsts on Saturday was mixed.

"Oh, she's still missing?" Bertha Propst said one fairgoer had asked.

Another said he'd seen her in a mall a few weeks ago, before saying he wasn't certain.

Wright said he would check that potential sighting out, just as investigators have checked out about 500 leads in the case.

Hubert Propst was tough to ignore, hitting passers-by with the question, "Will you help me find my daughter, please?"

He got a hug, a "God bless you" and nods.

rpatrick@post-dispatch.com | 314-621-5154

St Louis Post Dispatch

Google Bryan Lee Westfall

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Missouri Lawmakers: When will we make some changes for the sake of justice? Why are the hands of Law Enforcement tied in these cases. Criminals have more rights in Missouri than the victims and the victim's families. If changes aren't made, we will see more and more sad cases such as this.

More of Mary Lee Grobe's favorites

Mary Lee's Daughters--one named after her--one named after her Mother--all three very special to her.

Missing Man Found

Missing, Elderly man, Merrill Dee Silman, was found and he is okay. Found in OK.

Portageville police are looking for help in the search for a missing elderly man.

Portageville, MO
Police Search for Missing Man

July 18, 2007 04:40 PM CST

Police Search for Missing Man
By: Heartland News KFVS TV 12

PORTAGEVILLE, Mo. - Portageville police are looking for help in the search for a missing elderly man.

Police say no one's seen Merrill Dee Silman of Portageville since July 3rd.

Officers continue the search Wednesday for Mr. Silman.

Silman is a white male, 73 years old, about five feet six inches, 195 pounds. He has blue eyes, and balding, white hair.

If you have any information that could help find Dee Silman..please call Portageville police at 573-379-5500.

KFVS TV

Mary Lee's favorites

Mary Lee Grobe worked hard in her garden and always enjoyed picking her fruits and vegetables--she especially loved blackberry picking time! This time of year when I see blackberries I have to smile as the fond memories of her flood my mind.

Notice, her dog, BB in the background. She loved her also.

Thank you Project Jason and 18 Wheel Angels

Mary is on Project Jason's 18 Wheel Angels campaign. A special poster has been made for her and can be downloaded and printed for placement. More information about the program, and the link for the poster can be found here:

http://www.projectjason.org/18wheel.shtml

In addition to the campaign, Mary is also featured in a trucking publication called Through the Gears. This free magazine is distributed in truck stops nationwide.

Through the Gears is one of JB Scott's many publications. In partnership with Project Jason, they feature one missing person per month. You can pick up your free copies at a local truck stop, but if it's far from you, you may want to call and ask if they carry that magazine. These are NOT with the regular for purchase magazines.

Through the Gears has a circulation of about 150,000.

You can also see the current campaign information on this JB Scott webpage: http://www.truckjobseekers.com/Features/18_Wheel_Angel.aspx

We hope this helps in the search for Mary

We need to require DNA in missing person's cases

Kelly Jolkowski, Mother of Missing Jason Jolkowski
President and Founder,
Project Jason
http://www.projectjason.org
Read our Voice for the Missing Blog
http://voice4themissing.blogspot.com/


USA TODAY
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-06-10-unidentified-remains_N.htm

06/10/06

Bills would require DNA help in missing person cases

SALEM, Ore. — Their faces were everywhere — first on fliers passed out in their hometown, then on billboards and even on the cover of People Magazine and in constant rotation on CNN.

After months of searching, the bodies of Ashley Pond and Miranda Gaddis, classmates and fellow dance squad members from Oregon City, were found in August 2002, buried in a sadistic neighbor's backyard. They would have graduated from high school this month.

Now their mothers have joined with other families across the nation who don't know if spouses and siblings are dead or alive to press for passage of laws requiring police to expand their searches in missing person cases.

Their proposal — which is under consideration by legislators in Oregon, Connecticut, Indiana and New Jersey — centers on the nearly 50,000 unidentified bodies that are held at morgues across the country while an estimated 105,000 missing persons cases remain open.

Under the bill, police would be directed to send DNA samples from bodies that remain unidentified after 30 days to a central laboratory, where they'd be entered into a national database for comparison to missing-persons cases. Families could submit their own DNA samples for loved ones who have been missing for more than a month.

Similar legislation is already in place in Colorado, Washington state and the District of Columbia, said Kelly Jolkowski, one of the founders of the Campaign for the Missing, whose 19-year-old son Jason disappeared without a trace six years ago from their home in Nebraska. Future campaigns are being organized in Missouri, New York, Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, she said.

"How do I know some body in some morgue somewhere isn't my son, and they just didn't get the DNA from his body, so I will never know?" Jolkowski asked. "Families can go for years and maybe forever without an answer because these processes are not in place, and they should be."

Lending her name to the bill has made some painful memories flood back, said Lori Pond. In the earliest days of her daughter's disappearance, police thought 12-year-old Ashley Pond might be a runaway and she had to print her own fliers and hand them out on the streets of their hometown.

"There are times it brings up the loss of my daughter, but I am hoping for good to come out of all of this," Pond said.

Michelle Duffy, mother of 13-year-old Miranda Gaddis, said that in one way she and Pond were lucky, since their daughters' cases drew the national spotlight and, when the girls' bodies were found, positive identification took less than 24 hours.

Hundreds of other families never get the same kind of resolution, she said.

"If the kids wouldn't have disappeared in the same way, from the same place, no one would have cared," Duffy said. "If it weren't for Miranda disappearing, you never would have heard Ashley's name and that's sad."

Without identification, Jolkowski said, bodies may be buried in pauper's graves, or cremated, lost to a family forever.

Self Defense for Missouri Women!

Most of the missing persons in Missouri are women so good idea Friends of Summer. We hope you have a great turnout.

In honor of Summer Shipp, "Ken Bu Kan-Real Karate" (www.realkarate.org) has joined forces with "The Friends of Summer" Organization (www.friendsofsummer.com) and will be conducting a self-defense workshop on Saturday, July 14 from 10:00 a.m. to noon at the YMCA, 7000 Troost, KC, MO. Together, we have held this type of training class in the past and it was greeted with much enthusiasm by all who attended.

Please help spread the word and invite your friends and family to attend!
To see the flyer with more details, click Flyer for self defense event.

On the Road to Remember--Thank you all for your support

Publication:Daily American Republic; Date:Jun 13, 2007; Section:Front Page; Page Number:1A

On the Road to REMEMBER

Families of three missing women ,

By JACKIE HARDER Staff Writer



MINER — Friends and family members of three missing Southeast Missouri women gathered Tuesday in Miner to share

stories of pain, frustration, and their hope to someday have answers.

The rally was part of the On the Road to Remember Tour sponsored by the North Carolinabased CUE Center for Missing Persons and aimed at generating new interest in cold cases of missing persons.

According to Founder/ Executive Director of the Center for Missing Persons Monica Caison this is the fourth to have the nationwide year On the Road to Remember Tour. The CUE Center for Missing Persons organization will travel about 5,100 states, featuring year more than 75 missing persons and unsolved murder cases.

STILL MISSING ...

• Cheryl Ann Scherer was 19 when she was abducted April 17 1979 from the convenience store where she worked in Scott City.

• Mary Lee Grobe was 74 when she was last seen in September of 2003 at her Butler County home.

• Teresa Butler was 35 when she disappeared Jan. 25, 2006 from her home in Risco.

“Even though it’s been 28 years since Cheryl disappeared, we just want to keep her name out there ” said Diane Scherer. “We want people to know this is still an open case and to please not forget her.”

Diane Scherer was only 14 when her older sister was abducted from her place of employment, Rhodes 101 in Scott City. Cheryl’s car, keys and were left at the scene but purse was the register.

“We continue to be hopeful this case will be solved and we ask that with information no matter anyone how insignificant it may seem to you, please contact the Scott County Sheriff Department.”

Joyce Caldwell, daughter of Mary Lee Grobe, spoke about her mother’s disappearance and how she is working to help others in a similar situation.

“It’s hard for (others) to imagine what it’s like to have a family member missing. It’s difficult to articulate and communicate. Doctors have a pain scale of 1 to 10. I would say it has to be a 10 ” Caldwell say , said. “Having someone ripped from your life and having so many unanswered questions is unbearable. ...

“Mary Lee Grobe was a legally declared incompetent 74- -old widow when she disappeared year from her home. The laws at the time did nothing to identify and protect her ” Caldwell continued. “My husband Chris and I have worked really hard, though, to turn this into something positive. We felt if we can help other families then maybe that would heal our hearts and bring us some joy. ...”

The Caldwells were instrumental in the recent of the Endangered Persons passage Advisory (SB 84) which expands the Amber Alert to include adults who go missing under mysterious circumstances.

are with Missouri legislatures to create a law that prevents law enforcement from refusing to take a missing persons report.

“We also feel that DNA could be used more in bringing resolution to many of these cases ” Caldwell said. “There are (nationwide) about 50,000 unidentified bodies. If we could find a way to utilize this technology and have families of the missing supply DNA, maybe we could have some matches and resolve some of these cases.”

Brenda Wilson spoke of her sister Teresa Butler who went missing from her home in Risco last . Butler was reported missing year by her husband, Dale, who came home after working an overnight shift at an Arkansas steel mill and found their two sons home alone. young

“She was a mother, a wife, a sister a daughter, an aunt, and a friend. Teresa was an outgoing person. She always loved life -- even when life was a struggle ” Wilson said. “Teresa was 35 when she was taken from her home and her two boys. Teresa loves her boys more than anything in life. There have been lots of leads but they have all been dead ends.

“Since Teresa has been missing, life as we knew it is over. We now look over our backs and take second looks at people that may look like Teresa. We hold our kids a little tighter and try not to take one minute for granted,” Wilson continued, wiping away tears. “Teresa’s boys need her. The youngest was 2 and her oldest was 4 when she went missing. If you know something about Teresa’s case, please
shoes -- or in our shoes. Try to imagine how her parents feel or even her two sons. Someone knows something. ... They need to make it right and come forth ...”

If you have information regarding the disappearance of Cheryl Ann Scherer, call the Scott County Sheriff’s Office at (573) 545-3525.

If you have information about Mary Lee Grobe’s case, call Butler County Sheriff’s Office at (573) 785-8444.

If you have information about Teresa Butler’s case, contact the New Madrid County Sheriff’s Office at (573) 748-2516.

Teresa Butler missing from Risco
Grobe, missing from Butler County
Scherer Cheryl missing from Scott City

(ABOVE) Family and friends of missing persons gathered Tuesday in Miner. Pictured hugging are Joyce Caldwell, daughter of Mary Grobe, and Brenda Wilson, sister of Teresa Butler. (RIGHT) Joyce Caldwell, daughter of missing person Mary Lee Grobe, releases a balloon at the CUE Center for Missing Persons rally Tuesday.

http://activepaper.olivesoftware.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=REFSLzIwMDcvMDYvMTMjQXIwMDEwMA==&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin