Assumed Deceased: Donna Haghighat Jou -- CA -- 06/23/2007

[Denise]

X

Print a poster: http://www.projectjason.org/aan/AAN_DonnaJou.pdf 






Officials Search For Missing SDSU Student
POSTED: 1:18 pm PDT July 5, 2007
UPDATED: 3:55 pm PDT July 5, 2007

SAN DIEGO -- Sheriff's deputies are asking for the public's help in locating a San Diego State student who has been missing since going on a date with a man she met online.


According to the Orange County Sheriff's Department, Donna Haghighat Jou was last seen on June 23 when she told her mother she was going on a date.


Jou left her Rancho Santa Margarita home at 5:30 p.m.
with a man on a black motorcycle. Before leaving, she told her mother she would be home later that night, but she did not return, investigators said.




read more here http://www.nbcsandiego.com/mostpopular/13628577/detail.html

[Denise]

read more here http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/13634650/detail.html

Men Sought In Case Of Missing Teen

POSTED: 10:37 am PDT July 6, 2007
UPDATED: 10:59 am PDT July 6, 2007

SAN DIEGO -- Investigators are searching for two persons of interest in connection to a missing San Diego State student.

Rancho Santa Margarita resident Donna Jou, 19, was last seen by her family on June 23, when she went on a date with a man she met on the Internet. According to her family, she got on the back of his motorcycle and rode away.

"We saw her on the corner right outside the apartment complex, getting on a motorcycle that was driven by a guy in his mid-30s," said Jou's brother Daniel.

[Denise]

read more here http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-mi...l=la-home-local

Sex offender sought in disappearance of O.C. woman
Suspect John Steven Burgess, 35, has lengthy criminal record

By Christopher Goffard, Times Staff Writer
12:13 PM PDT, July 6, 2007

Authorities are looking for a convicted sex offender in connection with the disappearance of a 19-year-old Rancho Santa Margarita honor student who has been missing for two weeks.

Donna Haghighat Jou was last seen June 23 at a party at the Los Angeles home of a man identified as John Steven Burgess, according to Orange County sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino.

Investigators believe that Burgess picked Jou up on his motorcycle that day near the apartment she shares with her mother in Rancho Santa Margarita. She told people she was going on a date.

Jou and Burgess apparently met online, Amormino said.

[Kelly]

read more here http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20070707-9999-1m7pubsafe.html

Sex offender is sought in missing student case

July 7, 2007

ORANGE COUNTY: A registered sex offender is wanted for questioning in the disappearance of a San Diego State University student who was on summer break at her family's home in Rancho Santa Margarita, authorities said.

Donna Jou, 19, was last seen June 23 getting on a motorcycle with John Steven Burgess, who also goes by the name Sin Jin Stevens, said Orange County sheriff's officials.
Burgess took Jou to a party at his rented Los Angeles-area home that night, said sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino.

[Denise]

read more here http://www.amw.com/missing_persons/case.cfm?id=46490

OC Woman Missing After Internet Date

John S. Burgess, aka Sinjun Stevens, has been named by police as a person-of-interest.

View LargerFamily members say that 19-year-old Donna Jou had recently finished her freshman year at San Diego State University and was spending the summer at her parent's house in Rancho Santa Margarita, an Orange County, Calif. suburb.

The straight A student loved physics but was taking additional classes at a nearby community college for the summer session. Donna's sister says that since she didn't live in the area, she was trying to meet new friends on the internet.

Cops say that on June 23, 2007 at around 5:30 pm, Donna Jou did just that...she met a man she had previously corresponded with on Craigslist. Police have now named that man, John Steven Burgess, as a person of interest in Jou's missing person case. Burgess, who is in his mid-thirties, drove a black motorcycle and wore a sleeveless white t-shirt on the day he picked up Donna. He also has a tattoo on his left shoulder.

[Kelly]

read more here http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_6369078

Donor offers $15,000 reward for missing SoCal college student

The Associated Press
Article Launched: 07/13/2007 02:57:19 PM PDT


RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA, Calif. An anonymous donor offered a $15,000 reward for the safe return of a university student who disappeared when she went out with a man she met on the Internet site Craigslist, the Orange County Sheriff's Department said Friday.

Family and friends of 19-year-old Donna Jou held an evening vigil for her at City Hall.

"We're desperately looking for my daughter," Jou's father, Reza Jou, said at a news conference. "She's my love. She's my life."

"We need the public to step in and find this guy. I want my daughter back," he said.

[Denise]

read more here http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/homepage/abox/article_1767240.php

Vigil seeks return of woman last seen with sex offender
Officials responsible for monitoring John Steven Burgess unflagged his status, documents allege.

By KIMBERLY EDDS
The Orange County Register

While the convicted sex offender wanted for questioning in the disappearance of a 19-year-old college student was creating an image of a loving father, devoted son and decorated Desert Storm veteran to meet women over the Internet, his status as a sex offender went unmonitored for months after he told authorities he was moving out of the state and no longer needed to be in the state's sex offender registry.

Officials responsible for keeping tabs on sex registrants unflagged the status of John Steven Burgess and never verified his residence as required by law, even though he continued to live in the state for at least seven more months, according to interviews and court documents.

Dozens of Donna Jou's relatives and friends, worn down by worry, gathered outside Rancho Santa Margarita City Hall on Friday night for a candlelight vigil, some holding photos of a wanted man and the missing girl as they whispered in Farsi that it wouldn't be long before Jou comes home. A $15,000 reward was being offered for information leading to Burgess, who whisked away the honor student he met online from her Rancho Santa Margarita apartment on his motorcycle June 23.

[Denise]

read more here http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/local/rsm/article_1767530.php

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Sheriff gets e-mail from man claiming to be Sinjin Stevens

Message expresses thoughts and feelings about what happened to missing student; detectives try to verify author

By KIMBERLY EDDS
The Orange County Register

RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA An e-mail sent last week to the Orange County Sheriff's Department by a man claiming to be John Steven Burgess, the convicted sex offender wanted for questioning in the disappearance of a 19-year-old honors college student he met on the Internet, has investigators scrambling to verify the author's identity  and the computer that sent the message.

Investigators would not disclose the exact contents of the email, but lead detective Dan Salcedo characterized the message as "an attempt to express his thoughts and feelings about what may have happened to Donna Jou." The San Diego State student disappeared June 23 after Burgess  who goes by the name Sinjin Stevens - picked her up on his motorcycle at her mother's Rancho Santa Margarita apartment and took Jou to his Los Angeles house for a party. She has not spoken to her family and friends and there has been no activity on her credit cards.

[Kelly]

read more here http://www.myfoxla.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=3894582&version=4&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1

Man Arrested in Florida in OC Missing Student Case  
 
Last Edited: Friday, 27 Jul 2007, 9:45 AM PDT  

  Jacksonville, FL  --  
A registered sex offender sought in connection with the disappearance of 19-year-old Donna Jou of Rancho Santa Margarita was in custody in Florida today, but her whereabouts remained a mystery.

John Burgess, 35, who calls himself SinJin Stevens and has relatives in Florida, including his mother, was arrested Tuesday in Jacksonville after he was seen on a bicycle near a motel dropping a clear plastic bag that allegedly contained rock cocaine, Orange County Sheriff's Department spokesman Jim Amormino said.

When authorities ran a check on him, they discovered he was wanted for questioning in Orange County.

It will be at least two weeks before Burgess is extradited to California to face charges -- unrelated to Jou's disappearance -- of failing to register as a sexual offender, the Orange County Register reported.

[Kelly]

read more here http://www.ocregister.com/news/burgess-saw-jou-1788885-truck-police

Friday, July 27, 2007

Police find truck in case of missing Rancho woman
Ford Ranger found two days after John Burgess, wanted in missing person case, is taken into custody.

By SALVADOR HERNANDEZ
The Orange County Register

A truck belonging to a convicted sex offender with whom a missing Orange County student was last seen was found and recovered by law enforcement Thursday, authorities said.

The blue Ford Ranger was found two days after John Steven Burgess was arrested in Jacksonville, Fla.

He was arrested in front of a Motel 6 after a police officer saw him ditch a bag with cocaine, police said.

Police had been looking for Burgess since Donna Jou, 19, of Rancho Santa Margarita, disappeared after a date with him.

[Kelly]

read more here KHOU News

Missing teen's father speaks out

04:20 PM CDT on Monday, July 30, 2007

From KHOU.com Staff Reports

The father of a missing college student is talking about his daughter's case.

Donna Jou, 19, graduated from Clear Lake High School last year.

She has been attending college in San Diego but then vanished on June 23.

[Linda]

read more here http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=3417733&page=1

Break in Missing Woman's Case -- 2,400 Miles Away

Sex Offender's Arrest May Break Open Case of California Coed's Disappearance

Authorities in California hope an arrest 2,400 miles away may help break the case of a coed who disappeared more than a month ago under suspicious circumstances.

Police in Jacksonville, Fla., arrested John Steven Burgess, 35, who also goes by the name Sinjin Stevens, on a drug charge Tuesday, Jim Amormino, a spokesman for the sheriff's office in Orange County, Calif., confirmed to ABC News.

Burgess, a convicted sex offender, is a person of interest in the disappearance of Donna Jou, a 19-year-old who had just finished her freshman year at San Diego State University and who met Burgess on the Web site Craig's List. Jou was spending the summer at her parents' house in Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., and according to her sister, was eager to meet new friends in the area.

[Denise]

read more here http://www.ocregister.com/news/donna-year-...416-online-city

RSM community reacts to case of missing girl
Donna Jou's disappearance serves as a wake-up call for parents.

By NAYELI PAGAZA
STAFF WRITER

For many Rancho Santa Margarita parents, Donna Jou's disappearance is a wake-up call about the threats that the Internet poses, even in the safest communities.

Few personally know the 19-year-old woman, who was last seen more than a month ago with a man she met online. But her case reminds them that predators often lurk behind computer screens.

"I don't know much about what happened, but it's terrible," said Jaclyn Nelson, 28, who works as a dental assistant in RSM and has an 8-year-old son. "I'm always concerned about safety on the Internet."

[Denise]

read more here http://www.ocregister.com/news/burgess-jou-investigators-1795462-sheriff-disappearance

Police find Burgess' laptop
Authorities also want to search truck of man wanted in disappearance of Rancho Santa Margarita woman.

By KIMBERLY EDDS
The Orange County Register

A laptop found in the Jacksonville, Fla., motel room of a convicted child molester wanted for questioning in the disappearance of a 19-year-old Rancho Santa Margarita student will be examined for information that may help lead to the missing woman, authorities said Wednesday.

John Steven Burgess, 35, who calls himself Sinjin Stevens, disappeared from Los Angeles on July 5, the day he was named a person of interest in the case. He put the truck's SINJIN1 vanity plates in its toolbox and ditched them, along with a motorcycle helmet, dishwashing gloves, some rope and a scrub brush, in bougainvillea vines near the railroad tracks a mile and a half from the home he rented.

[Denise]

read more here http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/homepage/abox/article_1797497.php

Friday, August 3, 2007

Candlelight vigil for Jou tonight

Family, friends hope for safe return of Rancho Santa Margarita student, who disappeared with convicted sex offender five weeks ago.

By KIMBERLY EDDS
The Orange County Register

SANTA ANA  Family and friends of Donna Jou  the 19-year-old Rancho Santa Margarita student who was last seen on a convicted child molester's motorcycle nearly six weeks ago  gathered at the Santa Ana Civic Center Plaza tonight for candlelight vigil to pray for her safe return.

John Steven Burgess, 35, who goes by the name Sinjin Stevens, will stand trial on suspicion of cocaine possession in Jacksonville, Fla. before authorities can extradite him to California to face charges for failing to register as a sex offender.

Investigators predicted Burgess would be back in California by next week, but that process is now expected to take at least several more weeks while Burgess goes to trial on the Florida drug charges.

The delay buys time for investigators from the Orange County Sheriff's Department and the Los Angeles Police Department to see if they can build a case on potential charges related to Jou's disappearance, Sheriff's Department spokesman Jim Amormino said.