Mother of three disappeared after going for night walk in 2002
Almost eight years ago, Rhonda Wilson — a petite, black-haired, mother of three — left her North Kentville home on a hot summer night to go for a walk.
She’s never been seen since.
Now, RCMP hope that a reward of up to $150,000 might finally solve the mystery of what happened to the 31-year-old whose boyfriend reported her missing Aug. 10, 2002, three days after he said he last saw her.
“Our whole goal is to bring attention to this file, to say it’s still unsolved and to solicit the public’s help in generating tips and information that may help solve this crime,” said RCMP Sgt. Brigdit Leger.
“In the event there’s anyone out there who has any information who may not have come forward yet, we’re hoping that with this coming to the forefront again . . . maybe they’re at a different place in their life where they will share that information.”
Investigators say Wilson’s boyfriend told police Wilson left her Mee Road home to go for a walk at about 9:30 p.m. on Aug. 7.
At the time, Wilson was said to be carrying a purse with only a small amount of cash. Her bank accounts have never been touched.
“This investigation has been open the entire time,” Leger said. “Throughout the years, we’ve received various tips from the public. All these tips were followed up and absolutely exhausted.”
While there were reported sightings of the missing woman, “they’ve all been explored and nothing has been confirmed or verified,” Leger said.
Leger said the police continue to treat the investigation as a missing person’s case.
In the years following Wilson’s disappearance, her father, Ronald Corbin, continued to search the area, fearing his daughter had been murdered. He told The Chronicle Herald he didn’t believe that she would have left her close-knit family, including her children, who ranged in age from three to 10 years when their mother vanished.
No one from Wilson’s family could be reached Friday for comment.
Wilson’s disappearance is the 59th case to be included in the province’s Rewards for Major Unsolved Crimes Program.
Begun in 2006, the program offers cash for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the crimes.
“We urge anyone with any information related to Ms. Wilson’s disappearance to please come forward,” Justice Minister Ross Landry said in a news release.
“We all share a responsibility in terms of building safe communities and no information is too trivial.”
Wilson is described as four-foot-nine and 100 pounds, with shoulder-length straight black hair and hazel eyes.
At the time of her disappearance, she reportedly was wearing dark blue jeans with gold zippers on the pockets, a jean jacket with an embroidered emblem and black, high-heeled sandals.
Anyone with any information can call the Justice Department toll-free at 1-888-710-9090.
More information on this case and the other cases in the program can be found on the department’s website, www.gov.ns.ca/just.
DELAWARE : A father and son are missing after their boat overturned off the Delaware Coast. David Whitehair Sr. who is 40 years old and David Whitehair Jr. who is 17 were supposed to go on a chartered fishing trip Friday however, the trip was cancelled due to poor weather conditions. Mr. Whitehair decided to go anyway. If you spot Mr. Whitehair and his son, contact State Police Troop 3. They have not been heard from since Friday.
3 p.m. after they left Woodland Beach aboard their boat
DSP News Release: Saturday, April 24, 2010- Report of Overturned Vessel Results in Missing Persons Investigation
Location: Delaware Bay in the area of Port Mahon, Kent County, Delaware
Date of Occurrence: Saturday, April 24, 2010, reported at approximately 4:45 p.m.
Missing Persons:
David Whitehair, 40, of Felton, Delaware
David Whitehair, Jr., 17, of Felton, Delaware
Resume: In the mid afternoon hours of today’s date, a 16 – 18 foot vessel was spotted overturned in the Delaware Bay in the area of Port Mahon.
U.S. Coast Guard personnel, Little Creek Fire Company, the DSP Dive Team and DNREC Fish and Wildlife responded to the area. Upon locating the boat, they found it void of any occupants. A search and rescue operation ensued and no one was located. This operation has been shut down this evening and will resume during daylight hours tomorrow.
This investigation revealed the boat was recently purchased by David Whitehair of Felton. Allegedly, Mr. Whitehair and his 17-year-old son were supposed to go on a chartered fishing trip yesterday; however, the trip was cancelled due to poor weather conditions. Mr. Whitehair decided to go anyway on his own boat and he took his son. He was last seen yesterday at 5:00 p.m. This information was not learned until today when investigators went to his home looking for him.
At this point, the Delaware State Police is handling this as a missing persons investigation.
Should anyone spot Mr. Whitehair or his son, they are asked to contact DSP Troop 3 at 302-697-4455 or 911. Source
Miramar Police Arrest Boyfriend In Woman’s Gruesome Homicide
MIRAMAR (CBS4) ― It started out as a missing person’s case, and it ended with the woman’s body stuffed inside a barrel. But now police in Miramar say they arrested the man who did it.
Miramar Police arrested that man Wednesday and charged him with the murder and decapitation of his live-in girlfriend. Detectives say Paul Edwards stabbed Lisa Spence at least 33 times, stuffed her body into a barrel, dumped the barrel near a canal and tried to cover up the crime with phony text messages to Spence’s family.
“We have some answers now, and we can start the process of healing,” Spence’s sister-in-law Avril Absolum told CBS4′s Carey Codd. “It was gruesome and cruel what he did.”
According to the arrest warrant in the case, the story begins on October 7th when Spence disappeared. She finished her shift at Bella Beauty Supply in Miramar and went to the apartment she shared with her longtime boyfriend, Edwards.
Spence did not show up for work the next day. Her boss called 911. He told police Spence was reliable and would never miss her shift.
Her boss also told police Spence was trying to leave Edwards, but she was afraid to because Edwards called in sick all week and stayed at home.
“She wanted to have a life with her children and sadly she underestimated the person she was dealing with,” Absolum said. “She has had a cycle of abuse with him. Many years. This has gone on for quite a while.”
In the days after Spence’s disappearance, her family members began receiving strange text messages from her phone.
Family members say they routinely spoke to Spence, especially her 17-year-old daughter, Cerline Stewart. Spence also had a 10-year-old son. But the phone calls suddenly ceased.
The messages indicated Spence left Miramar and moved to Jacksonville. The messages also spoke highly of Edwards, saying “I am sad because I will miss Paul. With all that happened he still was good to me in the end.”
Her family said it was out of character for Spence to text them and the language she used was unusual for her.
Police traced the cell phone records and noticed Spence’s phone was nowhere near Jacksonville when that particular text was sent.
“Our investigation revealed that her cell phone and his cell phone were always together, and they were always in Miami-Dade County or Broward County, and nowhere near outside that area,” said Miramar Det. Yessenia Diaz.
At the same time, Miramar Police began questioning Edwards about Spence’s disappearance, although he refused to take a lie-detector test.
The arrest warrant shows that Edwards admitted he and Spence had physical arguments in the past. He told police she left the apartment on October 7. He added that he had not seen or heard from her since.
But inside the apartment, evidence police uncovered told a different tale.
The arrest warrant reveals that police discovered blood “in several locations inside the residence.” They also found Edwards’s blood on a mop found in the apartment.
Police also noticed several cuts on Edwards’s finger and arm. Edwards said he received the wounds when Spence threatened him with a knife. According to the warrant, Edwards later told a co-worker he received the cuts when he was cutting chicken.
Detectives continued investigating the case throughout October and November, however, there was still no sign of Lisa Spence.
Miramar Police kept a close eye on Edwards. The warrant reveals they tracked some of his movements.
A break in the case came in mid-December. K-9′s from Miramar Police and Miami Gardens Police picked up the scent of remains in a barrel left in a Miami Gardens field. Inside the barrel was the body of a decapitated woman with dozens of stab wounds.
It took months, but investigators used DNA samples from Spence’s daughter to confirm that the body was Lisa Spence.
“This is definitely one of the most violent and gruesome scenes that this department has worked,” Sgt. Diaz said.
Spence’s family says the way she died will haunt them forever.
“She knew she was gonna die,” Absolum said. “We think about what Lisa went through that night — just a very, very terrifying experience. The way he did it, it’s just beyond words.”
Miramar Police arrested Edwards Wednesday and charged him with first degree murder. CBS4 News tried to reach his lawyer for comment but he did not return several phone messages.
Spence’s family credited the Miramar Police Department with unraveling the mystery which began as a missing persons case and ended in an arrest for murder.
Sgt. Diaz said if family members hadn’t spoken up, this case might never have been solved.
“(The family) did suspect foul play, and if it wasn’t for that specific information that they got to us immediately, and how unusual the manner of her disappearance was to them, we wouldn’t be where we’re at today,” she said.
Spence’s family does not want her death to be in vain. They want women in abusive relationships to get out quickly and get out alive.
The family also wants justice for Paul Edwards.
“We don’t want him to walk freely,” Absolum said. “Her children are growing up without a mom. Her mom and dad and siblings have had an unimaginable loss. We want him to pay for what he has done to Lisa.”
Police hope to generate new tips on open missing-person cases.
Melanie Drury yearns for the day when she’ll be able to bring her missing sister home.
It’s been almost 16 years since anyone has heard from Melisa Brady Sloan — a pretty, 23-year-old newlywed who disappeared in Orlando in May 1994. Her husband, Gulf War veteran John Sloan, was the last person to see her alive.
Melisa Sloan’s unsolved disappearance is one of Orlando Police Department’s 16 open, missing-person cases that date back as far as 1982. Half of the missing people are thought to be dead, or foul play is suspected, but police said investigators can’t close the case until it’s solved.
On Wednesday, Orlando police announced its new Missing Persons Tip Line — a 24-hour phone line dedicated solely to receiving tips in cases like Sloan’s.
“Every family needs closure, but closure is not the primary motive for the work that we do,” said Chief Val Demings, who was flanked by investigators and officers. “The driving force behind the work that we do is the victim.”
The announcement came a day after missing 11-year-old Winter Springs girl Nadia Bloom was found, four days after wandering away from home and into the woods. Orlando police did not investigate her case.
But it also came just days after detectives revealed that they had no further leads in the case of missing Orlando woman Jennifer Kesse. The 24-year-old woman disappeared from her condo near the Mall at Millenia in January 2006.
Until just a few weeks ago, a detective worked full time on the Kesse case. Demings met with Kesse’s parents and told them there were no more viable leads.
Homicide detectives Andre Boren, Patrick Schneider and Joel Wright on Wednesday highlighted the department’s 16 open cases. They start with that of Gwendelyn K. Goode, who was reported missing in February 1982 and represents the department’s oldest missing-person case. The 39-year-old woman was a heavy drinker and may have walked away from her life to become a transient, police said.
Investigators believe she is dead.
Another case involves 80-year-old Rayfield Crume, who suffered from the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. He never showed up to meet his wife at a store in June 2004. His truck was later found abandoned and stuck in the mud near Fort Myers at the edge of a swamp.
Searches turned up nothing, but he is believed to be dead, Boren said.
Investigators think the Missing Person Tip Line will generate more leads and help close some cases. Detectives urge anyone with information about missing people to call the tip line at 407-246-2916.
For Drury, the tip line renews her hope that her sister’s body will be found.
Detectives said they think Sloan was murdered and her body dumped, likely somewhere near her apartment on Kirkman Road in west Orlando. Search crews have combed the woods on several occasions in recent years, but nothing has turned up. Source
Chicago police this morning are hoping the public can help find a 15-year-old girl who went missing on St. Patrick’s Day on the Southwest Side.
Cynthia Sanchez, who has never previously been reported missing, was last seen leaving for school about 7:40 a.m. March 17 from 2724 W. 22nd Place, police said. She was en route to Curie Metro High School, 4959 S. Archer Ave., but never showed up.
She was last seen wearing a pink sweater and gray jogging pants. Police said she also frequents the area of the 2300 and 2400 blocks of South Washtenaw Avenue.
Anyone with additional information about Sanchez, including her whereabouts, should call the Harrison Area detectives’ special victims unit at 312-746-9259Source
