Police: Missing College Student's Body Found

(AOL News Oct. 7) -- Police say the body of a Western Washington University freshman who vanished on his way back to his dorm room after a party 10 days ago has been found floating in a nearby lagoon.

Dwight Clark, an 18-year-old student at the Bellingham, Wash., college was last seen at around 2 a.m. on Sept. 26, leaving a party near campus. Friends said he was heading back to his dormitory about six blocks away, but about 40 minutes later a "phantom" text message -- with no subject or words -- was sent from Clark's phone to another friend. Police later traced it to downtown Bellingham, and had been scouring the area.

A body believed to be Clark's was found by a port worker Wednesday in a downtown lagoon near where dozens of searchers and volunteers had been looking, and about a mile from the where the party he had attended was held.

Clark's driver's license was found on the body, Bellingham Police spokesman Mark Young told KOMO-TV. An official identification from the medical examiner's office won't come until later today, but "there's no reason to believe it's not him," Young told The Seattle Times.

There's no word yet on the cause of death, but Young told AOL News earlier this week that he considered Clark's disappearance "highly suspicious." On Tuesday, someone wrote on a missing poster outside a convenience store that Clark was stabbed 17 times, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported. Police are analyzing the handwriting and reviewing the store's surveillance video to try to figure out who wrote it, and whether it's a hoax.

Within hours of the somber discovery, hundreds of students and neighbors gathered downtown for a vigil in Clark's honor.

"Dwight was a kind, sensitive person who is now safe with his father and grandmother," family friend Penni Saum told the crowd, according to KOMO. "The family will continue to search for who's responsible, and we ask for your support during this difficult time, and your sensitivity and your privacy."

"It's just really heartbreaking, especially when it happens in your community," said another mourner, Kristina Nelson, according to the station.



Sponsored Links Clark's college also expressed its sympathies. "We are profoundly saddened, and extend our deepest condolences to the Clark family and all who knew Dwight personally," Western Washington University President Bruce Shepard wrote on the school's website. "We grieve and ache for this loss."

Another candlelight memorial is planned for Saturday in Brannan Skate Park in Clark's hometown of Auburn, Wash., according to a Facebook page with more than 20,700 members, set up to raise awareness of the teen's disappearance. He was an avid skateboarder. "Please if you skate, bring your board. Join us to remember the memory of Dwight Clark," the page reads.

"My heart goes out to dwight's family, friends, and peers. He will be remembered by many," wrote one Facebook user, Kayla Ann Grayson. "I know it's a bit much right now...but think about having a skateboarding event every year in memory of Dwight...you have soooo many people that he has touched," wrote another, Judy Grogan.

FBI, National Guard Search for Missing Boy Kyron Harmon

It's been so long, I really hope they find him..
ABC- The FBI and National Guard have been called in to join the search for a 7-year-old Portland, Ore., boy who disappeared from his elementary school after being last seen Friday morning.

Kyron Harmon went to Skyline Elementary School early Friday morning with his step-mother, Terri Moulton Kaine, to participate in a science fair, but no one saw him after she left him, walking down a hallway to his classroom at around 8:45 a.m..

When Kyron did not return home on his school bus as scheduled at 3:30 p.m. Friday June 4, his family called to report that he had not returned home.

The Multnomah County Sherriff's Office was contacted at approximately 4 p.m.

"We definitely got a late start here," sheriff's office spokeswoman Lt. Mary Lindstrand said today. "The family didn't know that he wasn't at school, his teacher didn't see him so we are feeling like we are behind the eight-ball here."

Staff at the school said they never saw Kyron after the science fair, and he did not make it to his classroom.

Multnomah County called in the Search and Rescue team to begin their search of the area surrounding the school. As the evening progressed, SearchOne Canine Inc. and officer from the Portland Police Department also joined the search.

The sheriff's office decided to upgrade the search to a Major Crimes Team investigation, which allowed it to deploy more resources, which included resources from Portland Police Bureau, Gresham Police Department, Fairview Police Department, Oregon State Patrol and the FBI.

Search and Rescue resources also expanded to include Mountain Rescue, Yamhill County Canine, along with additional members of the Multnomah County Search and Rescue team and the Portland police air unit.

The search continued through the the night, covering more than 20 miles of roadway and two square miles.

The search resumed today at approximately 7 a.m., and the sherriff's office brought in more support, including search and rescue resources from Washington County Sherriff's Office, Yamhill County Sherriff's Office, Clark County Washington, Pacific NW Search and Rescue, and a National Guard helicopter.

"We look for them with due diligence to try and find him, this is devastating for the family or anyone who knows him," Lindstrand said. "We just want to find him and get him home safe."

The search has been made difficult by the high grasses on the property surrounding the school.

"If they're not calling out to you, unless you basically step right over them you're going to miss them," a Multnomah County Sheriff's Office spokesman said today.

Gina Zimmerman, president of the school PTA, told the Portland Oregonian today that her 8-year-old daughter Madi has been a classmate of Kyron's for three years.

"He's not the type of child who would just go out of school and go searching or wandering around," Zimmerman said. "He's just a timid, sweet boy.

"Everybody's just worried and in shock that this could happen in our little school where everybody knows everybody," she said.

She said the K-8 school has about 300 students. The principal, Ben Keefer, declined to comment Saturday. Zimmerman told the newspaper that most of the parents and students of the K-8 school, which has about 300 students, arrived at the school shortly after 8 a.m. Friday for the end-of-year science fair.

She said Terri Korman took a photograph of Kyron in front of his project, which her daughter Madi said was on the red-eye tree frog.

"We always play on the swings together," Madi told the Oregonian. "I'm thinking my thoughts for him. I'm very worried."

Anyone with information regarding Kyron Horman's whereabouts is asked to call the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office tip line 503 261-2847.

Indiana girl, 2, missing more than a Week

(CNN) -- The mother of a missing 2-year-old Indiana girl said police are working "around the clock" to find her daughter, who was apparently taken from a parked car while her baby sitter was in a convenience store.

Jada Justice was last seen about 9:40 p.m. on June 16, when her 18-year-old babysitter and cousin stopped at a Gary, Indiana, convenience store to buy milk and cigarettes.

The baby sitter, identified as Engelica Castillo, told authorities that when she came out, Jada -- who had been in the back seat of the car and in a car seat -- was gone.

Asked by HLN's Nancy Grace if she questioned why Castillo left Jada in the unlocked car -- which was parked to the side of the gas station, not in front -- Jada's mother, Melissa Swiontek, said Tuesday, "I've asked her, and she just keeps telling me 'I don't know, I don't know. I was just running in real quick.' "

Prosecutors met Monday with authorities to review the case, but are waiting to see how the case plays out before taking action, said Diane Poulton, spokeswoman for the Lake County prosecutor's office.

"Nothing's been rejected," she said. "Nothing's been filed."

Swiontek told Grace she had spoken with the attendant at the gas station, who confirmed Castillo was there, and said her demeanor was normal until she left and then returned "hysterical."

Authorities have received more than 100 tips, and leads are being followed, Wendy Osborn, spokeswoman for the FBI's Indianapolis, Indiana, office, said on Wednesday.

Swiontek said Tuesday she and Jada's father had taken polygraph tests in the case. The two get along well, she said, and Jada's father has regular visitation with her.

Castillo had not taken a polygraph test as of Tuesday, Swiontek said. Asked whether authorities had requested that Castillo take a polygraph, Swiontek said, "They couldn't tell me for sure they asked, but I'm assuming if they asked me and him, they asked her."

Swiontek said Jada had never opened a car door and Swiontek said she didn't believe Jada could have opened the door of Castillo's car, which Grace reported was a 1991 Cadillac.

Jada is described as an African-American child about 2 feet 2 inches tall and weighing 35 pounds, with black hair, brown eyes and a light brown complexion. At the time of her disappearance, she was wearing an orange skirt, a white tank top with orange and green stripes, white sandals and purple underwear, the FBI said.

To offer assistance in the case, call 1-800-CALL-FBI (225-5324).