Free Republic posters and lurkers, please help locate this lady! and give any suggestions that might help. THANK YOU
Still praying bump.
Just saw this story on FOX News. Authorities think the escapees from Kentucky are responsible. Did anyone else see the report??
Our prayers for her safe return.
Prayer sent.
She has obviously been kidnapped, and in classic kidnap fashion has had her credit cards stolen by the 'nappers, who
tried to get more money from her account, after her own possibly initial withdrawal. It would be nice if these ATMs
had some kind of direct line to the police who could be alerted at least on the SECOND wrong pin number.
http://www.herald-dispatch.com/2002/November/26/LNtop1b.htm
Prayer vigil held for two missing women
By REBECCAH CANTLEY-FALK - The Herald-Dispatch
The disappearances of 19-year-old Marshall University student Samantha Burns and a South Carolina woman drew prayers Monday from people in both states and throughout the country.
Community United Effort, a center for missing persons in Wilmington, N.C., sponsored a prayer vigil for the two women Monday at the Highest Praise Worship Center in Shallotte, N.C. Burns, who lives in West Hamlin, W.Va., has been missing since Nov. 11. Alice Donovan, a 44-year-old woman from Galavants Ferry, S.C., has been missing since Nov. 14.
Volunteers with Community United Effort have assisted in searches and distributed fliers about Burns and Donovan, said founder Monica Caison. The organization, with 18 chapters, is dedicated to the recovery of missing persons and support of their family members.
The vigil included prayer, singing, photo displays of Burns and Donovan and a map detailing the movements of two Kentucky fugitives -- now in custody, who are suspects in both cases.
"Our effort for both of these cases has been nationwide," Caison said. "We’re networking with a lot of contacts from California to Maine."
The organization became involved in the Donovan case because of its close proximity to Wilmington, Caison said. Volunteers began wondering last week whether Donovan’s and Burns’ disappearances were related, she said.
"We have been in contact with a lot of people who know Samantha, and they have been e-mailing us," Caison said. "We decided to go ahead and do both vigils together."
Chadrick E. Fulks, 25, and Leon Branden Basham, 21, are suspects in both disappearances, although police say they have not made a definite link between them and the Burns case. The men escaped from the Hopkins County Jail in Kentucky on Nov. 4. Basham admitted to kidnapping Donovan, according to an affidavit presented Thursday in U.S. District Court in South Bend, Ind.
Joe Cicarelli, senior agent with the FBI in Charleston, said he could not comment Monday on whether the two had been interviewed about Burns’ disappearance. Ongoing searches for both women have not turned up information about their whereabouts, according to police.
Burns and Donovan are featured on the Community United Effort Web page. The two also were featured Saturday on the television crime show, "America’s Most Wanted."
Related Stories
• Mental evaluation ordered for Basham
• Fulks to face kidnapping charges in S.C.
• Samantha Burns coverage
Samantha Burns’ father, John, said he was glad to know about Monday’s prayer vigil. Support in the form of prayers and people volunteering to search has helped the family, he said.
As of Monday afternoon, the Samantha Burns Web site had received 16,771 unique hits and contained 143 pages of words of encouragement from people throughout the United States and Canada.
"It’s been unbelievable," John Burns said. "Family and friends, even people we don’t know, have helped. There were probably 10 to 15 people I’d never seen before in my life that helped search Saturday."
John Burns spoke Monday with West Virginia State Police, he said. Police are keeping in contact with the family, but aren’t releasing every detail of the investigation, he said.
"We’re still in the same place," John Burns said. "There’s nothing new. (Police) are still being reined in on what they tell us, which I understand."
With no new leads developing, John Burns is afraid his daughter’s disappearance will fade from public attention, he said. Monday marked two weeks since Samantha Burns was reported missing.
"What I’m afraid is going to happen is that time will go by and if something doesn’t develop soon, it’s going to be forgotten," he said.
Samantha Burns’ family hasn’t lost hope, although each day becomes more difficult, said Arlenea Hughes, her grandmother.
"Just to think of so many things that could have happened to her," Hughes said. "But I still trust in the Lord. He can do all things."
Approximately 18 of Samantha Burns’ family members gathered at Hughes’ home Sunday for dinner, she said. For now, the family is still planning to celebrate Thanksgiving, she said.
"As far as right now, we’re going to have Thanksgiving," Hughes said. "It won’t be easy, but we’ll go ahead and do it."
For the Burns family, time stopped Nov. 11, John Burns said.
"It happened two weeks ago, and it’s like it was yesterday," he said.
"It doesn’t get any easier. She’s my only daughter, and we’re really a close-knit family. It’s just like somebody reaches in and rips your heart out."