Assumed Deceased: Kynande Bennett--NC--9/29/2002

[Kathylene]

Age Progressed

DOB: Aug 24, 1998
Missing: Sep 29, 2002
Sex: Female
Race: Black
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Brown
Height: 3'10" (117 cm)
Weight: 90 lbs (41 kg)
Missing From:
WHITEVILLE
NC
United States


Kynande's photo is shown age-progressed to 11 years. She was reportedly last seen in the company of her mother at a Kmart department store in Whiteville, North Carolina. Kynande has pierced ears and a birthmark on her right arm. When she was last seen, Kynande had braids in her hair and was wearing a grey "FUBU" shirt and blue jeans.

Whiteville Police Department (North Carolina) 1-910-640-1428

Print a poster: http://www.missingkids.com/missingki...archLang=en_US

[Kathylene]

Missing Girl: Kynande Bennett-NC-9/29/02 http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/...t_kynande.html

Kynande Kalehje Bennett




Left: Kynande, circa 2002;
Right: Age-progression to age 6 (circa 2004)
Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance

Missing Since: September 29, 2002 from Whiteville, North Carolina
Classification: Endangered Missing
Date Of Birth: August 24, 1998
Age: 4 years old
Height and Weight: 3'10, 90 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: Brown hair, brown eyes. Kynande has a light complexion, pierced ears, and a birthmark on her arm in the shape of a seashell. When she was last seen, her hair was styled in small braids tied with small bows and/or barrettes. Kynande's name is pronounced "kee-NAHN-day."
Clothing Description: A gray FUBU t-shirt, blue jeans, white socks and black sneakers.


Details of Disappearance

Kynande's mother, Vartasha "Tasha" McCullough (sometimes referred to as Vartasha White or Vartasha McCullough White) said she last saw her daughter at a K-Mart store at 5:00 p.m. on September 29, 2002. They resided in Conway, South Carolina and were visiting Kynande's uncle in Whiteville, North Carolina that day. At first McCullough claimed Kynande disappeared in an aisle of the store, but she later changed her story and said she walked into the store and thought Kynande was behind her, but turned around and the child was gone.
Nobody remembered seeing the child with her mother in K-Mart that day, and video surveillance images of the establishment do not show any images of Kynande. Investigators claim that there is no evidence that she was even in the state at the time. No one other than Kynande's parents saw her in the two days before she was reported missing.

Police claimed that Kynande's mother and her father, Eddie Kevin Bennett Jr., who goes by his middle name, were uncooperative in the investigation into the child's disappearance and that there were inconsistencies in their stories. Photos of both parents are posted below his case summary. The day Kynande disappeared, her grandmother told the Conway Police Department that she suspected the child had been abused. Kynande's parents deny that they ever mistreated her.

Kevin denied claims that he had refused to help investigators, but admitted that he declined to take a polygraph. McCullough did take a polygraph and failed it. Kevin suggested that police were focusing on himself and McCullough for lack of any other suspects, and alleges that the investigators are biased against them because they are African-American. Investigators, however, claim that Kynande's parents seem uninterested in her case and never called to ask for updates. They also reported that McCullough failed a polygraph regarding her daughter's disappearance. Kynande's parents were both considered suspects in her case.

Police executed a search warrant on Kynande's home and her family's vehicles, and took blood and saliva samples from both parents. They later stated that the Bennett residence had been "sanitized" with bleach, but they found transfer stains, which come from fluid spatters being wiped. The stains were linked to Kynande by DNA.

Kynande's parents were both arrested in February 2003 and charged with homicide by child abuse in connection with their daughter's case. Investigators said they have DNA evidence that proves she died in Conway and never went to Whiteville on September 29. That, combined with Kynande's grandmother's testimony, lead to the murder charges. The charges against Kevin were dropped in October 2005, due to a lack of evidence. McCullough is still under indictment, however, and additional charges of unlawful neglect of a child and inflicting great bodily harm on a child were added in December 2005.

McCullough maintained her innocence at the trial and testified in her own defense, stating she would never have harmed Kynande. Prosecutors told the jury that McCullough had likely abused Kynande to death without meaning to, then panicked afterwards. She was convicted of all charges in February 2006 and sentenced to twenty years in prison.

Kynande remains missing. She is described as an intelligent, well-mannered child who could read simple words and count to thirty in September 2002. She liked the cartoon character Sponge Bob. Foul play is suspected in her case due to the circumstances involved.


Left: McCullough;
Right: Kevin

Investigating Agency
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Indiana State Police
800-382-7537

Source Information
The National Center For Missing and Exploited Children
About Crime and Punishment
The Sun News
The Wilmington Star
The Augusta Chronicle
Chat Area
The Fayetteville Observer
WWAY NewsChannel 3

[Kathylene]

Kynande has been added to Project Jason's Adopt a Missing Person program. Please consider helping reunite her with her family by wearing her photo button and sharing her story with others. For more details on how you can make a difference, please see:

http://www.projectjason.org/adopt.html
__________________
Kelly Jolkowski, Mother of Missing Jason Jolkowski
President and Founder,
Project Jason
http://www.projectjason.org
Read our Voice for the Missing Blog
http://voice4themissing.blogspot.com/

[Kathylene]

http://www.wwaytv3.com/Global/story.asp?S=4474839

Testimony continues in Kynande Bennett trial

Feb 21, 2006 04:34 PM EST

CONWAY, S.C. -- In day two of testimony in the Kynande Bennett trial we learned more about whey the young girl's mother got charged with killing her.

As Columbus County investigators took the stand Wednesday morning, they testified that the apartment where Kynande lived reeked of Clorox just after Kynande's disappearance.

What's more, her toys and clothing were found in the trash.

It's a story that started in the search for a missing child. In September 2002, 4-year-old Kynande Bennett war reported missing from the Whiteville Kmart. When investigators couldn't find her there, they made a trip to the family's apartment in Conway, S.C.

Agent Mac Warner from the North Carolina SBI said, "One of the first things that caught my attention was the very strong odor -- or smell -- of Clorox. We observed three empty gallons of Clorox that were there in the apartment, as well as a mop that was outside the door, the back door, that was still damp and had the odor of Clorox."

Warner said the overwhelming smell of a clean-up was a red flag that something very bad may have happened to Kynande. The defense attorney fired back that the SBI and sheriff's investigators connived their way into the house under the guise of helping Kynande's mother Vartasha McCullough.

As the state continued to call witnesses, a Kmart door clerk testified Vartasha McCullough arrived at the store that day alone, and Kynande was never there. And Monica Caison, who led volunteer search efforts, told the jury what she found in the trash can outside Kynande's apartment.

Caison said, "The entire large bin trash can that you get from the city or what have you was filled with children's clothing and toys."

If she's convicted of killing her daughter, Vartasha McCullough would face a sentence of 20 years to life in prison. It's not clear how long this trial will last.

[Kathylene]

Today, September 29, 2006, marks the four year anniversary of Kynande's disappearance. Please keep her and her family in your prayers.

[Kelly]

http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/news/local/story/161693.html

Posted on Sat, Aug. 18,

2002 DISAPPEARANCE
Missing girl linked to N.J. case
Conway police to pursue lead on 4-year-old

By Janelle Frost - The Sun News


A photo of Kynande Bennett (left), who has been missing since 2002, appears next to a composite rendering of an unidentified girl found dead in New Jersey in 2005. Police are pursuing all possible leads.Conway police plan to follow up on an e-mail the department received Thursday related to the 2002 disappearance of Kynande Bennett, said Police Chief Reggie Gosnell.

Gosnell said his office received an e-mail with a drawing based on a child's remains that were found in New Jersey in 2005.

The e-mail contained a link to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children Web site, where a composite drawing is posted of an unidentified female child whose remains were located in Upper Freehold Township, Monmouth County, N.J.

The individual who sent the e-mail linked the case to that of Kynande Bennett, stating that Kynande fits the description of the unknown child.

The New Jersey State Police posted two images of the unidentified child's face on its Web site earlier this week.

Kynande's mother, Vartasha McCollough-White of Conway, was convicted of homicide by child abuse last year after she told police that her then 4-year-old daughter, Kynande, disappeared in 2002 from a Whiteville, N.C., Kmart.

She has said she did not harm her child.

Officials in New Jersey said the remains found there could belong to any missing child across the country.

DNA shows that the child is probably a black female between 5 and 9 years old, according to a statement released earlier this week by the New Jersey State Police. Authorities believe the child died between 2001 and 2004. The cause of death has not been determined, the release said.

Evidence gleaned from the child's teeth show that she probably lived within a community that offered fluorinated water rather than well water. She also had no sign of fillings or other dental work, the release said.

A child's black Nike Air Force One shoe and a piece of canvas material, possibly from a handbag or book bag, with a distinctive print of Sylvester the Cat - a Warner Brothers cartoon character - were also found by police at the scene, the release said.

New Jersey police officials said they are actively pursuing tips, including one they got Thursday about Kynande.

McCollough-White's attorney, Ralph Wilson, said Friday that they and local officials should follow it up.

"They should certainly follow up on it and send any DNA evidence they have to be compared to the bone," Wilson said. "It's important because through this entire process, my client has maintained her innocence and said the child was missing. If DNA matches, that could substantiate her claim that the child was missing because she wouldn't have had time to get to New Jersey and then get back to South Carolina [based on the timetable]. Clearly, we know she was at [Kmart]."

Fifteenth Judicial Circuit Solicitor Greg Hembree said his office would be interested if there is a way to make a genetic match to find out if the remains are that of Kynande.

"We've always wanted to find Kynande's body," Hembree said. That has been a piece still missing, he said.

[Kelly]

http://www.fayobserver.com/article?id=270317

Published on Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Body found in New Jersey could be that of missing Whiteville girl

By Deuce Niven
Correspondent
 
WHITEVILLE — A laboratory in Texas is testing DNA samples to determine whether a body found in New Jersey is that of a 4-year-old girl who went missing in 2002.

The girl’s mother, Vartasha McCullough White, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for killing Kynande Bennett even though the girl’s body never was found.

White claimed Kynande disappeared from a Kmart in Whiteville in 2002.

Sean Adison, a detective with the Conway Police Department in Conway, S.C., said the DNA testing will determine whether the body found in New Jersey is Kynande.

“They’ve got the DNA profile we developed during our case,” Adison said. “They are comparing it with the remains they recovered in New Jersey.”

Adison said he does not know when the Texas lab will complete its work.

Conway police took over the case after officers in Whiteville decided that White lied when she said the girl went missing at the store there. Investigators don’t believe Kynande was in Whiteville on the Sunday evening she was reported missing. White was living in Conway at the time.

An anonymous Internet user put police on the New Jersey trail, e-mailing links to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to news outlets and to police, asking if a body found in Upper Freehold Township in Monmouth County, N.J., in March 2005 might be Kynande.

White was convicted in 2006 of homicide by child abuse, aiding and abetting child abuse, and child neglect.

Her lawyer, Ralph Wilson, is aware of the remains in New Jersey and wants the DNA analysis done, said his son, Ralph Wilson Jr. The younger Wilson is a clerk in his father’s office. The senior Wilson is out of the country, his son said.

A hunter walking in Clayton Park in Monmouth County discovered a partially buried skull and jawbone in tall grass on March 18, 2005, according to a statement from the New Jersey State Police.

Detectives found a complete skeleton and some canvas material that is possibly from a handbag or a book bag, with a print of the cartoon character Sylvester the Cat.

Forensic anthropologists have created two composite sketches from the skull and from DNA analysis that tells them the body is that of a girl, probably black, who was between 5 and 9 years old when she died.

Tests on the girl’s teeth indicate she lived in a community where the water is fluorinated. No fillings or dental work were found.

Two images of the child’s face give “a useful range of looks, depicting the possible age range for the girl,” the statement said. One is a computer-generated image based on a CAT scan of the child’s skull made by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The other is a drawing by a New Jersey State Police artist.

“It’s almost school time again, and we hope these images will trigger someone’s memory of a child that disappeared between three to seven years ago without an adequate explanation,” said Lt. William Sykes of the New Jersey State Police.

A tip line has been set up by New Jersey police. Anyone who recognizes the girl in the sketches, or who knows something about the case is asked to call (866) 657-7411.

“This is a very solvable case if the right people see these images,” said Lt. Col. Gayle Cameron, deputy superintendent of investigations for the New Jersey State Police. “Until then, the tragic death of this child will be on the minds and hearts of our detectives working this case.”

The person who e-mailed law enforcement identifies herself as Andrea. She said she would like to remain anonymous.

“I think a lot of this stuff seems to slip through the cracks because no one sends the information on,” Andrea wrote in an e-mail. “It’s kind of disturbing that even though this child was found two years ago, unless I’m wrong it’s just been checked out for the first time now to see if it’s the same person or not. It’s pretty sad, and it makes me really mad.”

[LoriDavis]

http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/news/local/crime_courts/story/443035.html

Woman's appeal denied in child's death
Mother: 4-year-old vanished at Kmart

By Kurt Knapek - kknapek@thesunnews.com
Posted on Thu, May. 08, 2008

An Horry County judge has denied a motion for appeal from a woman sentenced to prison in 2006 after the disappearance of her child, according to the S.C. attorney general's office.

Vartasha McCollough-White, 30, is serving a 20-year sentence after she was convicted in 2006 of homicide by child abuse in the death of her child, whose body has not been found.

McCollough-White has told police her 4-year-old daughter, Kynande Bennett, disappeared in 2002 from a Kmart in Whiteville, N.C.

Judge Steven John denied McCollough-White's motion for a late appeal last week, according to Christina J. Catoe, assistant attorney general.

Ralph Wilson Jr., McCollough-White's attorney during the trial, filed for a direct appeal within the allotted 10-days following the trial, but he did not file the appropriate paperwork after that, Catoe said.

Catoe said that during last week's hearing, Wilson testified that McCollough-White told him not to follow up on the appeal. But McCollough-White testified she wanted to go through with the appeal, Catoe said.

Wilson "testified that he tried to convince her to keep pursuing the appeal," according to Catoe. "Her testimony was that she seemed to indicate that she wanted an appeal."

McCollough-White now has 30 days to appeal last week's ruling, Catoe said.

McCollough-White is being held at Camille Griffin Graham Correctional Institution in Columbia.

Contact KURT KNAPEK at 626-0258.

[Kelly]

http://www.news14.com/content/top_stories/612666/n-c--missing-person---kynande-bennett/Default.aspx

N.C. Missing Person - Kynande Bennett

8/2/09

WHITEVILLE, N.C. -- Vertasha McCullough-White sits in prison, serving a 20-year sentence for killing her daughter, 4-year-old Kynande Bennett. Investigators never found Bennett’s body and her whereabouts still remain a mystery.

Bennett, whose family lived in Conway, S.C., was reported missing by her mother in 2002 from a K-Mart in Whiteville.

"[McCullough-White] went in and immediately walked around for couple of minutes right by the front door and started asking the clerk, ‘Did you see my daughter? Did you see my daughter?’" Monica Caison, with the CUE Center for Missing Persons, said.

Investigators say the family did have relatives in the Whiteville area but they don't believe Bennett ever came to North Carolina that day.

"They were supposed to go get their brakes fixed on their truck and while that was taking place, she was supposed to run to K-Mart, which didn't make sense right off the bat because of the fact she took the truck they were supposed to be working on," Caison said.

When authorities couldn't turn up any leads in Whiteville, they quickly turned their attention to the family's apartment in Conway. There, authorities say, the mother's story quickly fell apart.

"We were able to determine that she had, in fact, vacated her apartment a short time after Kynande went missing and had disposed of a lot of her clothing, toys and things like that in a trash can behind the apartment," attorney Bert von Herrmann, who prosecuted the case in 2006, said.

Police arrested Bennett's parents in 2003.

"The other thing that was very suspicious at the scene was there was huge amounts of Clorox used to clean all the surfaces in the apartment, and that was done after Kynande allegedly went missing in Whiteville," von Herrmann said.

McCullough-White was convicted of homicide by child abuse and charges against the father were dropped. McCullough-White maintains her innocence, but has lost recent chances to appeal her conviction. Those close to the case still think others were involved.

"It was my belief then, it is my belief now that there had to be other people involved in it,” von Herrmann said. “Who it was or what it was, what their involvement was, I can't say."

If you have any information regarding this case, please call the Whiteville Police Department or the Cue Center for Missing Persons at (910) 343-1131

[LoriDavis]

https://www.findthemissing.org/cases/5843/0/
NamUs profile for Kynande Bennett - Case 5843