Missing / Located Persons > Located Adults and Children

Located Safe: Amanda Berry--OH--04/21/2003

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LoriDavis:
http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/news/local_news/seven-years-after-disappearance-family-of-amanda-berry-still-waits-and-hopes

Seven years after disappearance, family of Amanda Berry still waits and hopes
Rally held on anniversary of disappearance

Posted: 04/21/2010
By: John Kosich

CLEVELAND - When 16-year-old Amanda Berry left her part time job early in the evening of April 21, 2003, she had reason to be excited.  It may have been a Monday, but the next day was her 17th birthday.

Her older sister Beth Serrano remembers that night vividly.

"I called her she was leaving out of work, she said 'my ride's here' and she'd call me when she got home," she said.

Three minutes later, Beth tried to call her sister back, but she didn't get an answer.  She would never get an answer... her sister was missing.

Seven years to the day of that call, Beth gathered with family and friends outside that Burger King at West 110th and Lorain Avenue in Cleveland to mark the anniversary with hope that their presence this night would prompt someone to finally come forward.

"I feel somebody did see something, maybe they're scared," she said. "They could be anonymous because maybe that one piece they hold can pull it together."

Keeping it together for this family hasn't been easy, almost two years after Amanda's disappearance, her mother Louwanna Miller died.

Here for support this night, as always, was Nancy Ruiz, whose daughter Gina DeJesus disappeared almost a year to the day following Amanda just a few blocks away.

Together these families have led an effort to not only search for the missing teens, but change the way Cleveland Police handle missing persons cases.

It's an action the city is moving on in the wake of the Imperial Avenue murders, when the bodies of 11 women were discovered in the home of Anthony Sowell in the fall of 2009.

A panel recommended the city create a missing persons unit in a 900 page report issued in March.  For Nancy Ruiz, it's a first step, but until it's created that's all it is.

When asked if she thinks her daughter's case would be handled any differently today, she said "no, because nothing has changed it's still the same and it had to change."

Anyone with information is asked to contact:

Cleveland FBI: 216.522.1400
Cleveland Police: 216.623.5118

LoriDavis:
http://fox8.com/2012/04/21/family-holds-vigil-for-missing-amanda-berry/

Family Holds Vigil for Missing Amanda Berry

Posted on: 10:13 pm, April 21, 2012, by Bliss Davis, updated on: 10:28pm, April 21, 2012

By Autumn Ziemba, Fox 8 News

CLEVELAND — It’s been nine long years of pain, wonder and worry for those closest to Amanda Berry. Almost a decade. Yet for Amanda’s only sister, Beth Serrano, time has stood still.

“There’s days where it feels like it’s so fresh because there’s no new leads, it feels like day one. But it feels like so long because–my heart–I just miss her so much,” Serrano explains through tears.

17-year-old Amanda left work at the Burger King at West 110th and Lorain on April 21, 2003, and was heading home to celebrate her birthday.

She never made it.

Saturday evening, at the very spot where it seems Amanda simply vanished, many gathered, hands held, to share in her absence.

“Today is Amanda Berry. 9 years! I’ve suffered 8, they suffer 9. And it should be enough!” exclaimed Nancy Ruiz, mother of Gina DeJesus, who disappeared just weeks after Amanda.

Moments later, the group marched to retrace Amanda’s steps, chanting her name.

“We want her to know we love her. We want her to know, we’re never going to stop looking for her,” said longtime family friend Victoria Dickens.  “Where Amanda’s at right now, she’s not at peace. Her family’s not at peace. and we just want her to come home. It’s been way too long.”

Amanda has become one of Cleveland’s most notorious missing persons cases.  A notoriety that was never asked for, and one that taunts.

“Constant worry, stress, just knowing, is she okay? Is she coming home? What’s being done to her? What has happened to her? You never know what you’re gonna hear, what’s the outcome gonna be” Serrano says.

And so, the prayers keep coming, and the candles keep burning, in hopes of an end that will bring Amanda Berry home.

The FBI continues to search for her and is working on another age-progression photo of what she might look like today, at age 26.

LoriDavis:
http://fox8.com/2012/07/19/source-authorities-searching-for-amanda-berrys-remains/

Police: Amanda Berry Search Complete, No Evidence Found

Posted on: 8:28 am, July 19, 2012, by Dan Jovic, Elisa Amigo, and Jack Shea, updated on: 03:02pm, July 20, 2012

CLEVELAND — The search for a young woman who went missing nine years ago is over, according to Cleveland Police, and no evidence of her body has been discovered.
Fox 8 News Elisa Amigo reports that Cleveland Police Commander Thomas McCartney said authorities have completed their search of a property at West 30th and Wade Avenue. The search and dig uncovered no new evidence in the disappearance case of Amanda Berry.

Crews have been investigating a possible break in the Berry case since early Thursday.

Berry is the Cleveland teenager who disappeared without a trace in 2003, one day before her 17th birthday.

Fox 8 News Bill Sheil reports that Deputy Chief Ed Tomba of the Cleveland Police Department says Robert Wolford, 25, an inmate from the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, was at the dig site in the early morning hours of Friday.

The search was launched after Wolford, of Cleveland, sent law enforcement a letter indicating that he knew the location of Berry’s body.

According to Tomba, Wolford was brought to the scene by the FBI for the second time in three days. Tomba adds that Wolford was adamant that the location was the spot where Berry’s body was buried.

Officials say the convicted killer may be trying to lessen his prison sentence by providing information related to Berry’s disappearance. According to authorities the tip that Wolford has provided was deemed “credible.”

Amigo reports that McCartney described Wolford’s demeanor as, “non-nonchalant.”

On Wednesday, Cynthia Conner witnessed Wolford being escorted to the same empty lot on the city’s west side where he stabbed a homeless man to death in 2007.

“He was in an orange jumpsuit, shackled and handcuffed. They took him out of the car, and he was pointing around in the lot and stuff,” said Conner.

Hours later, crews established a perimeter to begin their dig.

On Thursday McCartney said they had brought in a cadaver dog that hinted to one area, but not very strong. McCartney further explained that investigators were executing a “slow-hand dig” with a backhoe. Thursday afternoon, they had covered about 50-60 feet, but nothing was found.

Family friend Shirley Reynolds said, “I just hope they find closure, and it comes sometime today.”

“We never close these cases; they remain open until they’re solved,” Special Agent Vicki Anderson, with the Cleveland Division of the FBI, said of Berry’s case and those like it.  “So any tip that comes in, whether it’s here in Cleveland or anywhere in the nation, we definitely follow up on it.”

“Hopefully we’ll have information to provide later, either discounting this tip or saying, ‘Yes, it was credible,’” Anderson continued.

Meanwhile, Beth Serrano, Berry’s sister, told Fox 8 News she received a phone call from police and will meet with them to receive the latest information on the case.

On April 21, 2003, Berry left work at the Burger King at West 110th Street and Lorain Avenue, and was heading home to celebrate her birthday, but never made it.

Her family has worked to keep the case in the public eye, holding out hope for some answers.

Berry’s mother passed away in 2006, taking all of the unanswered questions to the grave.

Those who knew her and what she endured after her daughter’s disappearance maintain she died of a broken heart.

LoriDavis:
http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2012/07/inmate_brought_back_to_amanda.html

Police find nothing in search for Amanda Berry's body and end the dig

Published: Friday, July 20, 2012, 2:43 PM     
Updated: Friday, July 20, 2012, 3:33 PM
By Doug Brown, The Plain Dealer

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The search for the body of Amanda Berry on an empty lot on the  city's West Side has ended.

Cleveland police Commander Tom McCartney said around 2:30 p.m. that nothing was found. Tents and equipment used in the dig were removed from the property. A few hours earlier, McCartney said if nothing was found by this afternoon, the dig would end.

Using a larger backhoe, searchers picked up the pace of their work today. After 11 hours of digging yesterday, they had completed less than 20 percent of their expected work.

The inmate who tipped off authorities that the body of Berry would be found in the vacant lot was brought back to the property this morning.
Ed Tomba, Cleveland's deputy police chief, said inmate Robert Wolford was asked to observe where authorities are digging for the body to make sure they were searching in the right place.

"He was adamant of it being the right spot," Tomba said.

On Wednesday, Wolford pointed out to Cuyahoga County sheriff deputies where he believed Berry was buried. That spurred the digging that began Thursday at Wade Avenue and West 30th Street by law enforcement authorities that included the FBI crime scene's forensic until. Digging resumed around 7 a.m. today.

"We are looking for anything to give us hope he [Wolford] was being truthful," Tomba said. That could include clothing or a cellphone, Tomba said.
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason said Thursday that he got a letter three weeks ago from Wolford, who is serving a 26-year prison sentence in the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville for involuntary manslaughter and felonious assault. Wolford said he knew the location of Berry's body.

Berry disappeared after work in 2003, a day before her 17th birthday. She was coming home after working a shift at a West Side Burger King.
Wolford, 26, has been in the Cuyahoga County Jail since Wednesday.

A check of Wolford's juvenile record showed a string of theft and burglary accusations going back to 1999.

LoriDavis:
http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/news/local_news/oh_cuyahoga/fbi-will-use-tarps-and-take-breaks-if-rain-impacts-search-for-missing-teens-remains-in-cleveland#ixzz21C4B1S7a

Search is over for Amanda Berry; nothing found police said
Search finished

Posted: 07/20/2012 at 7:48 AM
Last Updated: 07/20/2012 at 2:57 pm
By: Kristin Byrne, newsnet5.com
By: Paul Kiska, newsnet5.com

CLEVELAND - Cleveland Police First District Commander Thomas McCartney said the search is over. McCartney said police and the FBI were completely thorough in their search but nothing was found.

Cleveland Police Deputy Chief Ed Tomba said Robert Wolford was brought back to the dig site with FBI agents overnight and Wolford was "adamant" about where he claimed he buried Amanda Berry's body nine years ago.

After removing some trees, police used two back hoes digging six feet in tandem while investigators watch closely, but the searchers left after nothing was found early Friday afternoon..

Tomba confirmed that Wolford claims he killed Berry and buried her body in a vacant lot on the corner of West 30th Street and Wade Avenue.

By 2:30 Friday afternoon police cleared the scene after the lot was back filled with dirt.

Investigators searched this vacant lot because they received a tip from the prison inmate, 25-year-old Robert Wolford.

According to the FBI, there used to a home at the vacant lot being searched. That home was torn down in 2002, the year before Amanda Berry went missing.

Berry was walking home from her job at Burger King at West 110th and Lorain when she disappeared the night before you 17th birthday.

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