When will it ever end!?!? Another little girl goes missing this morning........

[pandybat]

Police Look for 6-Year-Old Mo. Girl


Jul 26, 1:02 PM (ET)

By JOE STANGE

VALLEY PARK, Mo. (AP) - Police using helicopters and bloodhounds searched for a 6-year-old suburban St. Louis girl reported missing Friday morning. Authorities said they believe she was kidnapped.

Authorities said Cassandra "Casey" Williamson was in the kitchen of a Valley Park home at around 7:30 a.m., with her father, Ernie Williamson. The family lives nearby, but was staying at the home of a friend.

Williamson said he was about to pour his daughter a bowl of cereal and left the room briefly to go the bathroom. When he returned, the girl was gone.

Police don't believe she is with relatives or friends. Police checked across the street at the child's grandfather's home, but she wasn't there.


"We are calling this an abduction and treating it as such," said St. Louis County police spokesman Rick Eckhard. "It was not in her character to leave the home. She's still in her nightgown. So we believe it was an abduction at this time."

Cassandra's mother, Angela, said, "She never walks off without telling me she's going somewhere. She doesn't even go to her friend's house without telling me she was going. I just want my baby."

Police questioned another man who was staying at the home, but Eckhard said he was just one of several people sought for questioning. His name was not released.

As word of the disappearance spread, volunteers began joining in the search. Many were looking around an area along the Meramec River, which runs through Valley Park in southwest St. Louis County.

Several cases of child abductions involving young girls have been in the news in recent weeks.

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I'm telling ya.....I'm starting to get a little freaked about all this. Although its really been too hot to allow it, I don't think I would let my little girl go outside without me to play even if it was nicer outside. We went to the grocery store yesterday and I made her sit in the cart instead of walking with me like she usually does. They can dissappear in just a few seconds. This is getting ridiculous!

[dianemarie]

I've been getting freaked out about things like the gate being left open in the backyard. I question my daughters to make sure it was one of them and not a stranger who wandered into the yard over night. And I'm appalled at the 16 year old Oregon girl who faked her abduction when she ran off to Seattle with her friends. I hope the Missouri case ends happy like the Pennsylvania case did earlier this week.

[Mouse7088]

Oh nooooo...this is horrible. Kenny and I were just discussing all of these children missing the other day because he had a dream about our Codey who is w/ Kenny's parents right now...I just can't imagine the terror for all involved....I don't want to either if truth be known. I so hope she is found....SAFE and UNHARMED!

[jenimadison]

(quietly whispers..."watch your children")

[pandybat]

Here's another version of the story......
Man...I hope they are now searching the river!

Girl Believed Abducted
Father Left Room; Upon Return, She Was Gone



July 26 — Police in suburban St. Louis are searching for a 6-year-old girl who apparently was kidnapped this morning from a neighborhood home where she had been staying.

"We are calling this an abduction and treating it as such," said St. Louis County police spokesman Rick Eckhard, according to The Associated Press.
Police said there was no indication Cassandra "Casey" Williamson had run away or left the home on her own.

"It was not in her character to leave the home," Eckhard said. "She's still in her nightgown, so we believe it was an abduction at this time."

Casey was last seen in the kitchen of a Valley Park, Mo., home by her father before 7 a.m. and was reported missing to police around 7:30 a.m. after her parents could not find her, police told ABCNEWS. The father, Ernie Williamson, told police he left the room briefly, and when he returned, the girl was gone.

The Williamsons had stayed overnight at a neighbor's home across the street from their own house, said Sgt. Bob Frohne of the St. Louis County Police, which handles policing duties for Valley Park, about 20 miles southwest of St. Louis.

The family and police went door to door in the neighborhood, but turned up no trace of the girl, a police spokeswoman said. A search of the neighborhood continues with helicopters, bloodhounds and citizen patrols.

"We've excluded any other reason that she would be missing and now we have to assume the worst," Frohne said. "There's no logical explanation for her not be in the home."


‘Unemployed Fellow’ Interviewed

Frohne said he did not know why the Williamsons were not staying in their own home, but that police have interviewed "an unemployed fellow [who] spent the evening on the couch in Cassandra's family home."

Police have not released the man's name, but picked him up in the neighborhood near the Meramec River, which is being searched, Frohne said. They have not called him a suspect.

The Associated Press quoted Ernie Williamson as saying the man was missing from the home where he and his daughter were staying around the time Casey disappeared, but turned up later. The man was wet, and said he had gone for a swim in the river, according to Williamson.

In addition, Frohne said police continue to seek "another person" for questioning, but he would not give details.

Casey is 4 feet tall, 48 pounds. She is white, has blond, shoulder-length hair, and was last seen wearing a white nightgown with red flowers, police said.

[buckeyemomma]

Since I usually allow Boo out back to play, we have a chain with a lock on the back gate and he knows not to talk to anyone and I drill him every day...if a stranger or anyone tries to pick you up or get you to go with them..he is to kick, scream, fight,and keep screaming. But he rarely is out by himself for more than a few minutes. I have a complete fenced in rear yard, but now I think someone will be with him all the time.

[3tbear]

How awful! How sick are these people who abduct children like that? They need help. That child must be so afraid! I hope they find her alive and get the person who took her.

[tasker109]

im watching tv right now...they have suspended the search upon finding the little girls nightgown in a vacated factory. the parents have been taken in for questioning. they didnt say they found the little girl...only her nightgown in the factory! how very very scary....i know the kids resent your hovering over them, but you just cant take your eyes off of them anymore!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Sis359]

Oh it is such a scary world out there, I pray she will be found safe.

[Sis359]

They found her body, so very, very sad.

[Mouse7088]

I just caught part of the press conference they had...they wouldn't go into any details really because that was really more of the investigation that is still obviously on going. This is just so sad...wasn't she missing for like 30 minutes before she was reported missing? They have always said the first 24 hours were the most crucial, with this case....it was like there wasn't any chance to even have hope.

[cashhound]

Yep Mouse. 30 minutes according to the reports. Her parents looked around for her first.

Am I overly suspicious? There are a few things I don't understand. First, why was there an "unnamed unemployed man" sleeping on their couch? Why was the girl and her dad sleeping across the street at the neighbor's house? And now the police have taken the parents in for questioning? Is that what I read?

<very confused>

[tasker109]

from what i understand....the parents were seperated and the father was staying at a neighbors house so he could be close to help the family.....but the house he was staying at was evidently a flop house or something because they were also letting a transiet person....johnny johnson, sleep on the couch. the little girl wanted to spend the night with her daddy over there......weird set up but thats what i heard.....

[cashhound]

Thanks Tasker. From what I just read at msnbc, the have arrested the transient guy as a suspect. That's all the info they have over there. Not even that at cnn.

[NaomiMarie]

So sad that we (parents, grandparents, caregivers) have to live in constant fear ..........
SIGHHHHH