Ebenezer
04-14-2005, 01:22 PM
Something needs to be done soon. Yet another kid disappears and a sex offender might be involved.
RUSKIN, Fla. - Authorities investigating the weekend disappearance of a 13-year-old girl from her family's mobile home questioned a convicted sex offender who once had a relationship with her mother, officials said.
Volunteers continued searching Thursday for Sarah Michelle Lunde, who has a troubled past and has run away before, Hillsborough County Sheriff's David Gee said. But she has usually returned after a few hours, and officials don't believe this is "a typical runaway," he said.
The man being questioned, 36-year-old David Onstott, was arrested Tuesday night in an unrelated incident in nearby Apollo Beach. Authorities say he threatened another man with a screwdriver.
"Obviously, he has our attention," Gee said, declining to talk about the details of the investigation.
Sarah disappeared after returning home Saturday night from a trip with a church youth group. Her 17-year-old brother, Andrew, said he saw her at about 9 p.m. Saturday and later went out with friends. When he returned home about 4 a.m. Sunday, the front door was open and Sarah was gone, he said. A half-empty bottle of beer had appeared on the kitchen table, he said.
About an hour later, Andrew told The Tampa Tribune, Onstott showed up at the family's home before dawn that morning and asked for the teens' mother.
Lunde said that when he told Onstott that his mother wasn't home, Onstott grabbed the beer bottle and left.
"He just showed up out of the blue," Lunde said. "It was strange."
Sarah's mother, thinking her daughter was at a friend's house, didn't report her missing until Monday.
The relationship between the girl's mother and Onstott had ended months earlier, Gee said.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=718&e=3&u=/ap/20050414/ap_on_re_us/missing_girl
RUSKIN, Fla. - Authorities investigating the weekend disappearance of a 13-year-old girl from her family's mobile home questioned a convicted sex offender who once had a relationship with her mother, officials said.
Volunteers continued searching Thursday for Sarah Michelle Lunde, who has a troubled past and has run away before, Hillsborough County Sheriff's David Gee said. But she has usually returned after a few hours, and officials don't believe this is "a typical runaway," he said.
The man being questioned, 36-year-old David Onstott, was arrested Tuesday night in an unrelated incident in nearby Apollo Beach. Authorities say he threatened another man with a screwdriver.
"Obviously, he has our attention," Gee said, declining to talk about the details of the investigation.
Sarah disappeared after returning home Saturday night from a trip with a church youth group. Her 17-year-old brother, Andrew, said he saw her at about 9 p.m. Saturday and later went out with friends. When he returned home about 4 a.m. Sunday, the front door was open and Sarah was gone, he said. A half-empty bottle of beer had appeared on the kitchen table, he said.
About an hour later, Andrew told The Tampa Tribune, Onstott showed up at the family's home before dawn that morning and asked for the teens' mother.
Lunde said that when he told Onstott that his mother wasn't home, Onstott grabbed the beer bottle and left.
"He just showed up out of the blue," Lunde said. "It was strange."
Sarah's mother, thinking her daughter was at a friend's house, didn't report her missing until Monday.
The relationship between the girl's mother and Onstott had ended months earlier, Gee said.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=718&e=3&u=/ap/20050414/ap_on_re_us/missing_girl