Missing Woman: Tracey Leigh Gardner-Tetso - MD - 03/06/2005
Started by
Kathylene
, May 15 2007 11:42 AM
45 replies to this topic
#1
Kathylene
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Posted 15 May 2007 - 11:42 AM
Endangered Missing Adult
If you believe you have any information regarding this case that will be helpful in this investigation please contact:
Baltimore County Police Department at (410) 307-2020
Name: Tracey Leigh Gardner-Tetso
Classification: Endangered Missing Adult
Alias / Nickname: Tracey Gardner
Date of Birth: 1972-03-21
Date Missing: 2005-03-06
From City/State: Rosedale, MD
Missing From (Country): USA
Age at Time of Disappearance: 32
Gender: Female
Race: White
Height: 64 inches
Weight: 130 pounds
Hair Color: Blonde
Eye Color: Blue
Complexion: Light
Identifying Characteristics: Pierced ears, tattoo of a large "bird" on lower back, tattoo of a "bird" on right ankle in black ink.
Clothing: Gray sweatshirt, blue jeans, white "Nike" athletic shoes.
Jewelry: Silver rings worn on all fingers and thumbs.
Circumstances of Disappearance: Unknown. Tracey was last seen at approximately 3:00pm at her residence in the vicinity of the 7000 block of Bluegrass Rd. in Rosedale, MD. Her black 1996 Pontiac Trans Am was later located on March 17, 2005 in the vicinity of the 6600 block of Richie Hwy in Glen Burnie, MD.
Print a poster: http://www.projectja...ardnerTetso.pdf
Investigative Agency: Baltimore County Police Department
Phone: (410) 307-2020
Investigative Case #: 050661743
NCIC #: M-144729957
#2
Kathylene
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Posted 15 May 2007 - 11:43 AM
http://news.mywebpal.com/news_tool_v...localnews&om=1
Vigil marks four months since woman last seen
06/29/05
Family and friends of Tracey Leigh Tetso will meet July 6 for a candlelight vigil in honor of the missing Rosedale woman.
The event marks the four-month anniversary of Tetso's disappearance.
The 33-year-old Rosedale woman, of the 7800 block of Bluegrass Road, has not been seen since March 6, when she was expected to attend a Motley Crue concert in Washington, D.C., but never showed up.
The vigil will be at 8 p.m. in the Days Inn parking lot in the 6600 block of Gov. Ritchie Highway. The lot was where Tetso's 1996 black Pontiac Trans Am was found March 17.
Friends will supply the candles and will sell T-shirts to help fund the searches by volunteers that have taken place in the area nearly every weekend since April 6.
Vigil marks four months since woman last seen
06/29/05
Family and friends of Tracey Leigh Tetso will meet July 6 for a candlelight vigil in honor of the missing Rosedale woman.
The event marks the four-month anniversary of Tetso's disappearance.
The 33-year-old Rosedale woman, of the 7800 block of Bluegrass Road, has not been seen since March 6, when she was expected to attend a Motley Crue concert in Washington, D.C., but never showed up.
The vigil will be at 8 p.m. in the Days Inn parking lot in the 6600 block of Gov. Ritchie Highway. The lot was where Tetso's 1996 black Pontiac Trans Am was found March 17.
Friends will supply the candles and will sell T-shirts to help fund the searches by volunteers that have taken place in the area nearly every weekend since April 6.
#3
Kathylene
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Posted 15 May 2007 - 11:43 AM
Motley Crue Reward Spurs Interest in Case of Missing Woman
Tracey Leigh Tetso Has Been Missing Since March 6
Baltimore County, Md. (April 26, 2005) - A $10,000 reward offered by the band Motley Crue has spurred interest in the case of Tracey Leigh Tetso. Tetso, of the 7800-block of Bluegrass Road, 21237, has been missing since March 6 and the case is now being carried on news services and entertainment web sites around the nation.
Motley Crue stepped forward with the reward offer after finding out that Tetso was on the way to the group’s concert in D.C. the day she disappeared – but she never made that concert. Investigators have since found her car, but have little other information to go on. They are hoping anyone who had seen the woman or her car that day will contact police. The car was found in a parking lot along Ritchie Highway in Glen Burnie, Md.
Although there is no evidence of foul play, friends and relatives say it would be very unlikely for Tetso to disappear like this on her own.
Tracey Tetso is described as a white female, now 33 years old, 5' 4", and 130 pounds, with long blonde hair, and blue eyes. She has a tattoo of a bird on her back and another tattoo of a bird on her right leg. Her car is a 1996 black Pontiac Trans Am with dark tinted windows, displaying Maryland tags LRN 534.
Tetso's husband reported her missing after she was supposed to attend the concert in the Washington, D.C. area. Since then, detectives have learned that her car passed through the southbound side of the Harbor Tunnel on March 6 just before 8 p.m. and they hope someone may have seen the vehicle on the road.
If anyone has any information about Tracey Tetso or her vehicle, please call Baltimore County police at 410-307-2020.
Tracey Leigh Tetso Has Been Missing Since March 6
Baltimore County, Md. (April 26, 2005) - A $10,000 reward offered by the band Motley Crue has spurred interest in the case of Tracey Leigh Tetso. Tetso, of the 7800-block of Bluegrass Road, 21237, has been missing since March 6 and the case is now being carried on news services and entertainment web sites around the nation.
Motley Crue stepped forward with the reward offer after finding out that Tetso was on the way to the group’s concert in D.C. the day she disappeared – but she never made that concert. Investigators have since found her car, but have little other information to go on. They are hoping anyone who had seen the woman or her car that day will contact police. The car was found in a parking lot along Ritchie Highway in Glen Burnie, Md.
Although there is no evidence of foul play, friends and relatives say it would be very unlikely for Tetso to disappear like this on her own.
Tracey Tetso is described as a white female, now 33 years old, 5' 4", and 130 pounds, with long blonde hair, and blue eyes. She has a tattoo of a bird on her back and another tattoo of a bird on her right leg. Her car is a 1996 black Pontiac Trans Am with dark tinted windows, displaying Maryland tags LRN 534.
Tetso's husband reported her missing after she was supposed to attend the concert in the Washington, D.C. area. Since then, detectives have learned that her car passed through the southbound side of the Harbor Tunnel on March 6 just before 8 p.m. and they hope someone may have seen the vehicle on the road.
If anyone has any information about Tracey Tetso or her vehicle, please call Baltimore County police at 410-307-2020.
#4
Kathylene
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Posted 15 May 2007 - 11:43 AM
http://news.mywebpal.com/news_tool_v...localnews&om=1
Estranged spouse absent as others mark woman's March disappearance
07/13/05
About 50 people gathered last week to mark the four-month anniversary of a Rosedale woman's disappearance.
Dennis Tetso was not one of them.
Family and friends of Tracey Tetso, 33, say they were not surprised when her estranged husband did not attend a July 6 candlelight vigil in Glen Burnie.
He has had no contact with them since she was reported missing March 6, they said, nor has he participated in numerous searches conducted by volunteers.
"I'm at the point where I don't want to hear from him," said Rose Gardner, Tracey Tetso's grandmother.
The 33-year-old concrete company employee, who lived in the 7800 block of Bluegrass Road, was reported missing after failing to show up for a Motley Crue concert in Washington, D.C.
Baltimore County police said July 7 they have not identified any suspects. The case is being treated as a missing person's file with possible foul play, according to police spokesman Bill Toohey.
Family and friends formed a circle of candlelight in the same parking lot where Tracey Tetso's black TransAm was found March 17 in the 6600 block of Gov. Ritchie Highway. The lot is shared by a Days Inn and a bowling alley. Many of the supporters held fliers featuring the blonde woman's photograph.
"It's been four months," Cathy Gardner, mother of the missing woman, said during brief remarks. "There's not a day that goes by that we have not thought of her and keep her in our prayers until the day we bring her home. We will bring her home."
Monika Barilla asked people to remain hopeful about finding her friend. The two worked together at Aggregate Industries in Crofton.
"We are here to let each other know we are not giving up on her," Barilla said. "Keep the hope. We are going to find her. We are going to find her."
Rick Gardner, the Rosedale woman's father, said the only way he has been able to cope with not knowing what happened to his only daughter is by taking a day at a time.
"One day, it will all come to a head. He's a whiny little weasel," he said of his son-in-law.
Meanwhile, Rose Gardner said a part of her still expects her granddaughter to one day reappear.
'I still don't believe it. I think she's going to walk right in," Rose Gardner said. "But I know that is not going to happen. It's just like she went away. It's taken an awful toll on all of us."
When Tracey Tetso began telling her grandmother that she believed her husband was becoming controlling and possessive, Rose Gardner urged her to stay at the older woman's home in Ferndale.
"She told me, 'It's really getting scary,'" Rose Gardner said. "I wish I had made her stay."
Dennis Tetso did not return phone calls seeking comment.
One of the youngest participants at the vigil was only 2 weeks old. Tracey Leigh Lyons was named after Tracey Leigh Tetso, a childhood friend of her mom, Tiffony Lyons.
Tracey and I were very close," the new mother said regarding the baby's name selection.
One member of the audience knew all too well what family and friends are going through.
Darlene Huntsman's 23-year-old sister, Bernadette Stevenson Caruso, was reported missing in Sept. 27, 1986, from Eastpoint Mall and has never been found.
"It's been a long 19 years," she said.
Tracey Tetso is described as white, 5 feet 4, 130 pounds, with long blond hair and blue eyes. She has tattoos of a bird on her back and on her right leg.
Anyone with information about her is asked to call Baltimore County police at 410 -307-2020.
Estranged spouse absent as others mark woman's March disappearance
07/13/05
About 50 people gathered last week to mark the four-month anniversary of a Rosedale woman's disappearance.
Dennis Tetso was not one of them.
Family and friends of Tracey Tetso, 33, say they were not surprised when her estranged husband did not attend a July 6 candlelight vigil in Glen Burnie.
He has had no contact with them since she was reported missing March 6, they said, nor has he participated in numerous searches conducted by volunteers.
"I'm at the point where I don't want to hear from him," said Rose Gardner, Tracey Tetso's grandmother.
The 33-year-old concrete company employee, who lived in the 7800 block of Bluegrass Road, was reported missing after failing to show up for a Motley Crue concert in Washington, D.C.
Baltimore County police said July 7 they have not identified any suspects. The case is being treated as a missing person's file with possible foul play, according to police spokesman Bill Toohey.
Family and friends formed a circle of candlelight in the same parking lot where Tracey Tetso's black TransAm was found March 17 in the 6600 block of Gov. Ritchie Highway. The lot is shared by a Days Inn and a bowling alley. Many of the supporters held fliers featuring the blonde woman's photograph.
"It's been four months," Cathy Gardner, mother of the missing woman, said during brief remarks. "There's not a day that goes by that we have not thought of her and keep her in our prayers until the day we bring her home. We will bring her home."
Monika Barilla asked people to remain hopeful about finding her friend. The two worked together at Aggregate Industries in Crofton.
"We are here to let each other know we are not giving up on her," Barilla said. "Keep the hope. We are going to find her. We are going to find her."
Rick Gardner, the Rosedale woman's father, said the only way he has been able to cope with not knowing what happened to his only daughter is by taking a day at a time.
"One day, it will all come to a head. He's a whiny little weasel," he said of his son-in-law.
Meanwhile, Rose Gardner said a part of her still expects her granddaughter to one day reappear.
'I still don't believe it. I think she's going to walk right in," Rose Gardner said. "But I know that is not going to happen. It's just like she went away. It's taken an awful toll on all of us."
When Tracey Tetso began telling her grandmother that she believed her husband was becoming controlling and possessive, Rose Gardner urged her to stay at the older woman's home in Ferndale.
"She told me, 'It's really getting scary,'" Rose Gardner said. "I wish I had made her stay."
Dennis Tetso did not return phone calls seeking comment.
One of the youngest participants at the vigil was only 2 weeks old. Tracey Leigh Lyons was named after Tracey Leigh Tetso, a childhood friend of her mom, Tiffony Lyons.
Tracey and I were very close," the new mother said regarding the baby's name selection.
One member of the audience knew all too well what family and friends are going through.
Darlene Huntsman's 23-year-old sister, Bernadette Stevenson Caruso, was reported missing in Sept. 27, 1986, from Eastpoint Mall and has never been found.
"It's been a long 19 years," she said.
Tracey Tetso is described as white, 5 feet 4, 130 pounds, with long blond hair and blue eyes. She has tattoos of a bird on her back and on her right leg.
Anyone with information about her is asked to call Baltimore County police at 410 -307-2020.
#5
Kathylene
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Posted 15 May 2007 - 11:44 AM
http://news.mywebpal.com/news_tool_v...localnews&om=1
Missing woman case bonds a local crew with a 'Crue'
08/18/05
By MARY T. ROBBINS
Family and friends of a missing Rosedale woman were able to personally thank the rock band that has offered $10,000 toward Tracey Tetso's reward fund.
Tetso's parents and two close friends met with Motley CrŸe's Tommy Lee and Nikki Six before the band's April 14th concert at the Nissan Pavilion in Bristow, Va.
"They were really sincere; it was cool to come meet them and thank them for their help," said Monika Barilla, a longtime friend of Tetso's who has helped to organize search parties for the missing woman.
Tetso, 33, has been missing since March 6, when she was supposed to attend a Motley CrŸe concert in Washington and never showed up.
Baltimore County police continue to treat the case as a missing person's file with possible foul play. No suspects have been named, according to police spokesman Bill Toohey.
Her vehicle was found March 17 in the 6600 block of Ritchie Highway in a Glen Burnie parking lot shared by a Day's Inn and a bowling alley.
The band announced in April it would match the $10,000 reward fund being offered for information on the missing woman. The reward is also being offered by the Victims' Rights Foundation of Gaithersburg, Metro Crime Stoppers and Aggregate Industries, Tetso's employer.
The Fox Television Network's "America's Most Wanted" also filmed part of the meeting between Tetso's friends and family with the band and will be airing an update on the case as part of its Aug. 20 episode.
Tetso's family and friends attending the concert donned T-shirts bearing the image of the blonde concrete company dispatcher.
"They said it was not about publicity for them and it was never an issue about money for them," said Laura Smith, another friend of Tetso's who attended the concert. "When they found out she was missing and how much of a fan she was, their main goal was to try to get her as much attention as possible."
After news of the band's donation was released in April, media outlets across the country, from national rock magazines to major metropolitan dailies, picked up on the story.
"Then - boom! - the 'runaway bride' happened," Smith said, referring to Georgia resident Jennifer Willbanks, who faked her own disappearance after getting cold feet days before her wedding. "All the media attention went to her. The band said it was very frustrating for them."
Tracey Tetso is described as white, 5 feet 4, 130 pounds, with long blond hair and blue eyes. She has tattoos of a bird on her back and on her right leg.
Anyone with information about her is asked to call Baltimore County police at 410-307-2020
E-mail Mary T. Robbins at Mary T. Robbins@patuxent.com
Missing woman case bonds a local crew with a 'Crue'
08/18/05
By MARY T. ROBBINS
Family and friends of a missing Rosedale woman were able to personally thank the rock band that has offered $10,000 toward Tracey Tetso's reward fund.
Tetso's parents and two close friends met with Motley CrŸe's Tommy Lee and Nikki Six before the band's April 14th concert at the Nissan Pavilion in Bristow, Va.
"They were really sincere; it was cool to come meet them and thank them for their help," said Monika Barilla, a longtime friend of Tetso's who has helped to organize search parties for the missing woman.
Tetso, 33, has been missing since March 6, when she was supposed to attend a Motley CrŸe concert in Washington and never showed up.
Baltimore County police continue to treat the case as a missing person's file with possible foul play. No suspects have been named, according to police spokesman Bill Toohey.
Her vehicle was found March 17 in the 6600 block of Ritchie Highway in a Glen Burnie parking lot shared by a Day's Inn and a bowling alley.
The band announced in April it would match the $10,000 reward fund being offered for information on the missing woman. The reward is also being offered by the Victims' Rights Foundation of Gaithersburg, Metro Crime Stoppers and Aggregate Industries, Tetso's employer.
The Fox Television Network's "America's Most Wanted" also filmed part of the meeting between Tetso's friends and family with the band and will be airing an update on the case as part of its Aug. 20 episode.
Tetso's family and friends attending the concert donned T-shirts bearing the image of the blonde concrete company dispatcher.
"They said it was not about publicity for them and it was never an issue about money for them," said Laura Smith, another friend of Tetso's who attended the concert. "When they found out she was missing and how much of a fan she was, their main goal was to try to get her as much attention as possible."
After news of the band's donation was released in April, media outlets across the country, from national rock magazines to major metropolitan dailies, picked up on the story.
"Then - boom! - the 'runaway bride' happened," Smith said, referring to Georgia resident Jennifer Willbanks, who faked her own disappearance after getting cold feet days before her wedding. "All the media attention went to her. The band said it was very frustrating for them."
Tracey Tetso is described as white, 5 feet 4, 130 pounds, with long blond hair and blue eyes. She has tattoos of a bird on her back and on her right leg.
Anyone with information about her is asked to call Baltimore County police at 410-307-2020
E-mail Mary T. Robbins at Mary T. Robbins@patuxent.com
#6
Kathylene
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Posted 15 May 2007 - 11:44 AM
http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0306/308218.html
Anniversary Monday of Woman's Disappearance
Monday March 06, 2006 6:53am
GLEN BURNIE, Md. (AP) - It's been a year to the day since a Rosedale woman vanished en route to a rock concert in Washington.
Thirty-two-year-old Tracey Gardner-Tetso was last seen March 6th, 2005. Her car was spotted eleven days later at a Days Inn parking lot in Glen Burnie.
He friends and relatives gathered Sunday for a candlelight vigil to mark the anniversary.
Tetso's husband reported her missing after she was supposed to attend a Motley Crue concert at the MCI Center in Washington, D.C. She never arrived at the concert.
Detectives learned that her car passed through the southbound side of the Harbor Tunnel on March 6th just before 8:00 p.m.
Up to $2,500 is being offered for information of her whereabouts.
Anniversary Monday of Woman's Disappearance
Monday March 06, 2006 6:53am
GLEN BURNIE, Md. (AP) - It's been a year to the day since a Rosedale woman vanished en route to a rock concert in Washington.
Thirty-two-year-old Tracey Gardner-Tetso was last seen March 6th, 2005. Her car was spotted eleven days later at a Days Inn parking lot in Glen Burnie.
He friends and relatives gathered Sunday for a candlelight vigil to mark the anniversary.
Tetso's husband reported her missing after she was supposed to attend a Motley Crue concert at the MCI Center in Washington, D.C. She never arrived at the concert.
Detectives learned that her car passed through the southbound side of the Harbor Tunnel on March 6th just before 8:00 p.m.
Up to $2,500 is being offered for information of her whereabouts.
#7
Kathylene
Kathylene
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Posted 15 May 2007 - 11:45 AM
http://wjz.com/topst..._064192748.html
Mar 6, 2006 6:57 am US/Eastern
Vigil Held On Anniversary Of Woman's Disappearance
Kimberly Houk
Reporting
(WJZ) GLEN BURNIE It's been a year to the day since a Rosedale woman vanished en route to a rock concert in Washington.
Thirty-two-year-old Tracey Gardner-Tetso was last seen March 6th, 2005. Her car was spotted eleven days later at a Days Inn parking lot in Glen Burnie.
"A part of me, I'm so angry. And the other part I'm like, 'Okay, I need to understand until we do find her,'" Cathy Gardner, Tetso's mother, tells WJZ's Kimberly Houk. "This was a young, vibrant individual--a world ahead of her, looking for the future."
Her friends and relatives gathered yesterday for a candlelight vigil to mark the anniversary.
Tetso's husband reported her missing after she was supposed to attend a Motley Crue concert at the M-C-I Center in Washington, D-C. She never arrived at the concert.
Detectives learned that her car passed through the southbound side of the Harbor Tunnel on March 6th just before 8:00 p-m.
Clues to her whereabouts from that point on have been practically non-existant, and the police still have no answers for Tetso's concerned family.
"I got to the point where I don't even bother calling them anymore," says her father, Rick Gardner.
Despite the lack of clues, her loved ones hope someone will step forward who might know what happened to Tetso.
"She was really outgoing and great to be around. I loved her and somebody took her from me," says Dawn Smith, Tetso's best friend.
Tetso is described as a white female, 32 years old, 5'4", and 130 pounds, with long blonde hair, and blue eyes. She has a tattoo of a bird on her back and another tattoo of a bird on her right leg.
Her car is a 1996 black Pontiac TransAm with dark tinted windows, displaying Maryland tags LRN 534.
If anyone has any information about Tracey Tetso or her vehicle, please call Baltimore County police at 410-307-2020. Up to $25,000 is being offered for information leading to her whereabouts.
Mar 6, 2006 6:57 am US/Eastern
Vigil Held On Anniversary Of Woman's Disappearance
Kimberly Houk
Reporting
(WJZ) GLEN BURNIE It's been a year to the day since a Rosedale woman vanished en route to a rock concert in Washington.
Thirty-two-year-old Tracey Gardner-Tetso was last seen March 6th, 2005. Her car was spotted eleven days later at a Days Inn parking lot in Glen Burnie.
"A part of me, I'm so angry. And the other part I'm like, 'Okay, I need to understand until we do find her,'" Cathy Gardner, Tetso's mother, tells WJZ's Kimberly Houk. "This was a young, vibrant individual--a world ahead of her, looking for the future."
Her friends and relatives gathered yesterday for a candlelight vigil to mark the anniversary.
Tetso's husband reported her missing after she was supposed to attend a Motley Crue concert at the M-C-I Center in Washington, D-C. She never arrived at the concert.
Detectives learned that her car passed through the southbound side of the Harbor Tunnel on March 6th just before 8:00 p-m.
Clues to her whereabouts from that point on have been practically non-existant, and the police still have no answers for Tetso's concerned family.
"I got to the point where I don't even bother calling them anymore," says her father, Rick Gardner.
Despite the lack of clues, her loved ones hope someone will step forward who might know what happened to Tetso.
"She was really outgoing and great to be around. I loved her and somebody took her from me," says Dawn Smith, Tetso's best friend.
Tetso is described as a white female, 32 years old, 5'4", and 130 pounds, with long blonde hair, and blue eyes. She has a tattoo of a bird on her back and another tattoo of a bird on her right leg.
Her car is a 1996 black Pontiac TransAm with dark tinted windows, displaying Maryland tags LRN 534.
If anyone has any information about Tracey Tetso or her vehicle, please call Baltimore County police at 410-307-2020. Up to $25,000 is being offered for information leading to her whereabouts.
#8
Kathylene
Kathylene
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Posted 15 May 2007 - 11:45 AM
http://www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi...6/03_06-21/TOP
Candlelight vigil for woman who vanished a year ago
By VANESSA FRANKO, Staff Writer
Cathy Gardner clutched a white candle with gloved hands in the parking lot of a Glen Burnie Home Depot last night.
The Ferndale woman wore a white T-shirt emblazoned with a black and white close-up of a pretty woman. Above the picture, the shirt read "Lest we forget. We will NEVER give up hope."
The woman on the shirt is Mrs. Gardner's daughter, Tracey Tetso.
"I was hoping we wouldn't get to this day," said Monika Barilla of Millersville, Mrs. Tetso's coworker.
Mrs. Tetso, who worked in Crofton as a dispatcher for Aggregate Industries, disappeared a year ago today. Expected to meet a friend at the MCI Center in Washington for a Motley Crue concert, she never showed up.
Last night, more than three dozen coworkers, friends, family members and people who have helped search for Mrs. Tetso met for a candlelight vigil near where Mrs. Tetso's car was found after her disappearance.
"It's good to see my daughter's not forgotten," said Rick Gardner, who prefers to remember his daughter by her maiden name, Tracey Gardner.
Baltimore County homicide detectives continue to investigate the woman's disappearance.
"We are presuming she is a victim of foul play," said Bill Bill Toohey, a spokesman for the Baltimore County police.
He said her body has not been found, and none of the credit cards she was carrying have been used.
Mrs. Tetso grew up in Pasadena and graduated from Northeast High School. She was 32 years old when she disappeared, Mrs. Tetso lived in Rosedale with her estranged husband, Dennis Tetso.
On March 17, 11 days after she disappeared, Mrs. Tetso's car was found on in the parking lot of the Days Inn in the 6600 block of Ritchie Highway in Glen Burnie.
Last year, her family and friends searched all around Anne Arundel County, especially in woods near the Home Depot on Ordnance Road to no avail.
"As soon as the weather breaks, we'll start searching again," Mrs. Gardner said.
When rock band Motley Crue heard about what happened, members donated money to a reward fund, which is now up to $25,000 for information leading to an arrest.
Stories about her disappearance have appeared on Fox News and "America's Most Wanted" twice, generating a lot of tips. But Mr. Gardner none of them panned out.
The Gardners haven't given up all hope about finding out what happened to their daughter.
"Somebody out there knows something," Mr. Gardner said.
He said it wouldn't be like her to just go off and not tell anyone and that she would have at least contacted her grandmother.
"I just want to put her to rest," Mr. Gardner said.
At last night's vigil, attendees gathered around in a circle with their candles and said prayers and held a moment of silence for Mrs. Tetso. Some comforted each other as they cried, hugging each other and leaning on one another for strength.
"It's been a tough year and we all wish that Mrs. Tetso was here with us," Mrs. Barilla said.
Anyone with information about Ms. Tetso's disappearance are asked to call the Baltimore County Police at 410-307-2020 or Metro Crime Stoppers at 866-7LOCKUP.
For information on Tracey Gardner, visit www.findtraceygardner.com
Candlelight vigil for woman who vanished a year ago
By VANESSA FRANKO, Staff Writer
Cathy Gardner clutched a white candle with gloved hands in the parking lot of a Glen Burnie Home Depot last night.
The Ferndale woman wore a white T-shirt emblazoned with a black and white close-up of a pretty woman. Above the picture, the shirt read "Lest we forget. We will NEVER give up hope."
The woman on the shirt is Mrs. Gardner's daughter, Tracey Tetso.
"I was hoping we wouldn't get to this day," said Monika Barilla of Millersville, Mrs. Tetso's coworker.
Mrs. Tetso, who worked in Crofton as a dispatcher for Aggregate Industries, disappeared a year ago today. Expected to meet a friend at the MCI Center in Washington for a Motley Crue concert, she never showed up.
Last night, more than three dozen coworkers, friends, family members and people who have helped search for Mrs. Tetso met for a candlelight vigil near where Mrs. Tetso's car was found after her disappearance.
"It's good to see my daughter's not forgotten," said Rick Gardner, who prefers to remember his daughter by her maiden name, Tracey Gardner.
Baltimore County homicide detectives continue to investigate the woman's disappearance.
"We are presuming she is a victim of foul play," said Bill Bill Toohey, a spokesman for the Baltimore County police.
He said her body has not been found, and none of the credit cards she was carrying have been used.
Mrs. Tetso grew up in Pasadena and graduated from Northeast High School. She was 32 years old when she disappeared, Mrs. Tetso lived in Rosedale with her estranged husband, Dennis Tetso.
On March 17, 11 days after she disappeared, Mrs. Tetso's car was found on in the parking lot of the Days Inn in the 6600 block of Ritchie Highway in Glen Burnie.
Last year, her family and friends searched all around Anne Arundel County, especially in woods near the Home Depot on Ordnance Road to no avail.
"As soon as the weather breaks, we'll start searching again," Mrs. Gardner said.
When rock band Motley Crue heard about what happened, members donated money to a reward fund, which is now up to $25,000 for information leading to an arrest.
Stories about her disappearance have appeared on Fox News and "America's Most Wanted" twice, generating a lot of tips. But Mr. Gardner none of them panned out.
The Gardners haven't given up all hope about finding out what happened to their daughter.
"Somebody out there knows something," Mr. Gardner said.
He said it wouldn't be like her to just go off and not tell anyone and that she would have at least contacted her grandmother.
"I just want to put her to rest," Mr. Gardner said.
At last night's vigil, attendees gathered around in a circle with their candles and said prayers and held a moment of silence for Mrs. Tetso. Some comforted each other as they cried, hugging each other and leaning on one another for strength.
"It's been a tough year and we all wish that Mrs. Tetso was here with us," Mrs. Barilla said.
Anyone with information about Ms. Tetso's disappearance are asked to call the Baltimore County Police at 410-307-2020 or Metro Crime Stoppers at 866-7LOCKUP.
For information on Tracey Gardner, visit www.findtraceygardner.com
#9
Kathylene
Kathylene
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- Guests
Posted 15 May 2007 - 11:46 AM
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/loc...home-headlines
The day the music stopped
Mystery of a Rosedale woman who disappeared before a concert lingers a year later, haunting those who love her and hold out hope
By Stephen Kiehl
Sun Reporter
Originally published March 19, 2006
Tracey Leigh Tetso loved fast cars from the moment her father first strapped her car seat into his '69 Corvette. When she could afford her own, she bought a black Pontiac Trans Am - one that rode so low to the ground her grandmother refused to get in.
"She would call and she'd say, 'Grandma, I'm taking you shopping,'" said Rose Smith, 78. "And I'd say, 'Don't bring that car!'"
The car went everywhere else, though. Tracey took it to Ocean City, out on the town in Baltimore and to rock concerts in Washington. That's where she was supposed to be on March 6, 2005 - at the Motley Crue show at the MCI Center. The tickets were a present for her 33rd birthday, two weeks away.
She never made it to the show. The Trans Am was later found in the parking lot of a Glen Burnie Days Inn. Tracey never was.
A year later, after a nationally publicized search, the disappearance of Tracey Leigh Tetso remains a mystery. The case has haunted those who loved her and has torn apart the relationship between Tracey's parents and her husband, Dennis Tetso. They no longer speak to each other, and last month her parents filed in court a petition to gain custody of her house and car.
At a recent candlelight vigil in Tracey's memory, about 40 friends and family members fought back tears in a biting wind. Later that night, her stepmother - who had raised Tracey since she was 10 - suffered a heart attack, which her family believes was induced by stress.
In an interview before she entered the hospital, Cathy Gardner said she was certain she would find Tracey, one way or another.
"I talk to her every day. I can feel her," she said. "And I tell her I'm not going to give up. Everybody else can, Tracey, but I will not give up and I will bring you home. Sooner or later, before I close my eyes, I will bring you home."
Daddy's little girl
Tracey was always close to her dad, Rick Gardner. He said he took her everywhere in his blue Corvette, and she loved to ride along. He had gained full custody of Tracey when she was 13 months old, after divorcing her mother, Diane Stephens.
At the time, Gardner was a Marine at Camp Lejeune, N.C., so he took Tracey to live with his parents in Ferndale. He moved there a few years later.
When Tracey was 9, he took her along on his first date with his future wife, whom he had met while shopping at her parents' general store in Severn. He took her and Tracey to a drive-in movie theater.
"I thought, 'Oh, this is really good,'" Cathy Gardner said, recalling her surprise that Tracey went along on the date. But it worked. Cathy and Rick married a year later. The family went on vacations to Ocean City and Assateague Island, and Tracey modeled her wardrobe and hairstyle after her new stepmother's.
They lived in Pasadena, and Tracey started attending Northeast High School in 1986. She got into the heavy metal rock bands popular at the time - including Ozzy Osbourne, Motley Crue and Pantera - and played the music so loud that her parents bought headphones for her. She would walk around the house bopping her head to the angry beat.
At Northeast, Tracey fell in with a bad crowd, her parents said. She started using alcohol and drugs. Rick Gardner remembers one boy who showed up at the house to take her on a date: "His hair was down to his butt, and he had earrings all around and what looked like a bone in his nose. I slammed the door in his face."
The next time the boy came by, Tracey made him wait outside.
Rick and Cathy Gardner decided to move from Pasadena to Glen Burnie to get their daughter away from that crowd. They enrolled her at the Kiva House shelter in Arnold, a place for teenagers with substance-abuse problems to straighten out their lives.
Tracey pulled herself together, and after she completed the program and earned her high school degree, the Kiva director asked her to return as a counselor. Soon, she was taking the teens on day trips to places like Ocean City.
"She was really good with the kids there," said Laura Pryor, who became Tracey's friend when they both worked at Kiva. "She was like a big kid at heart. She would goof around with them like she was one of them, but she was still grounded as an adult."
You could find her on the infield at the Preakness every spring and at every Motley Crue concert in Baltimore or Washington. She loved Secrets and the Bearded Clam in Ocean City. She already had two dogs, but when she found a German shepherd abandoned in a parking lot, she rescued him and called him Rusty.
"He was so full of bugs," Cathy Gardner said. "He looked horrible. She took him to the vet and got him all fixed up."
In 2001, she bought a three-bedroom rancher in Rosedale. She planted gardens, made the house nice and kept it that way. Friends who would stay the night remember that she vacuumed every morning. Her curly hair, once light brown, had a brief flirtation with red before settling on blond.
She bought the Trans Am.
She met Dennis Tetso. He would come in every morning for coffee at the Pasadena Wawa, where she was working part-time. He eventually got her a job at Aggregate Industries in Crofton, a construction supplies company where he was a concrete delivery driver.
Tetso had two young children from a marriage that had ended in 1998, and he had a daughter born in 1984 from an earlier relationship. He was frequently in arrears on child support payments, often by thousands of dollars, according to court records.
But Tracey loved the kids. Tetso moved into her house. She made up bedrooms for the two children to use when they visited. And when Tetso proposed after four years together, she accepted. They set a wedding date of Sept. 18, 2004.
The date was a problem for Tracey's grandmother, who had cared for her while her father was at Camp Lejeune. Rose Smith - she had since divorced and remarried - was scheduled for heart surgery the same week. Smith decided to put off the surgery so she could attend the wedding, over the protests of her granddaughter.
"She said, 'I'll come up [to the hospital room] in my wedding gown,'" said Cathy Gardner, remembering Tracey's pleas with her grandmother to have the surgery. But the surgery was postponed, and the wedding was on.
The couple honeymooned in West Virginia, but it wasn't long before there was trouble. They spent Thanksgiving apart, and friends say Tetso didn't like Tracey going out with them. He would frequently call her cell phone when she was out.
"Tracey was free-spirited, and marriage, I don't think, was for her," said Pryor, the friend from Kiva.
By January 2005, Tracey had begun a relationship with a co-worker, Christian Sinnott, according to friends. Sinnott and Tetso knew of each other and didn't get along.
On Jan. 25, Tetso went to Baltimore County District Court to apply for a peace order - a type of restraining order -against Sinnott, saying he feared bodily harm. "He called my cell phone and told me I know where you live and I am going to braek your back then I am going to kill you and I mean business," Tetso wrote in court papers requesting the order. He added, "He was having a anfare with my wife."
A judge granted a temporary peace order on Feb. 3, ordering Sinnott to stay away from the Rosedale house and cease all contact with Tetso. But a week later, Tetso filed papers seeking to rescind the order. He wrote, "We had worked things out, and he said he was sorry."
Neither man could be reached for comment. Tetso did not respond to a letter left at his house or to several phone messages left over the past two weeks. Sinnott, who is a driver for Aggregate Industries, did not return messages left with his supervisor.
For Tracey, the months before she went missing were difficult ones. Her grandfather, whom she had been close to, died in December 2004. Her dog Rusty died around the same time. She buried him under her bedroom window, placing a stone and flowers there to make a small grave.
Still, if anything could bring her pleasure, it was music, friends said.
"She loved music, she loved her dogs, and she loved her grandma," said Dawn Howard, Tracey's best friend for more than a decade.
Her 33rd birthday was coming up on March 21, and Sinnott had bought tickets to a Motley Crue show in Washington on March 6, a Sunday. Tracey planned to meet him at his house in Crofton before heading to the 8 p.m. concert.
At 7:48 p.m., Tracey's Trans Am passed southbound through the toll plaza at the Harbor Tunnel, according to E-Z Pass records.
At 8:01 p.m., the car pulled into the parking lot of the Glen Burnie Days Inn off Ritchie Highway, just a few miles south of the tunnel, according to a grainy surveillance tape. It shows the car circling the lot then pulling into a spot. Two minutes pass; nothing happens. At last, the driver's door opens, a gray figure emerges and walks away.
Tracey's parents say that gray figure is too tall to be their daughter, who was 5-foot-4. Investigators say they don't know who it is. What is known is this: An up-and-down life that had at last come together was now shorn apart.
No sign of her
When Tracey didn't show up for work on Monday, a colleague called her husband and her grandmother.
Her grandmother called her stepmother.
Her stepmother called her father.
They all called Tracey's cell phone. No answer.
They searched every day in that first month - hundreds of acres in Baltimore and Anne Arundel counties, from Bodkin Creek to Downs Park, Fort Smallwood Park to Bayside Beach. Parking lots and landfills. Hospitals and shelters. Local and national media picked up the story. America's Most Wanted came to town. Motley Crue put up $10,000 in reward money. So did Tracey's employer.
Nothing came of it.
Early on, there were a hundred people tromping through the woods looking for Tracey. On large maps spread across their dining room table, Tracey's parents planned each search. The one person who didn't look was Dennis Tetso.
Rick and Cathy Gardner, both 57, went to the Rosedale house shortly after Tracey disappeared to collect some of her things. There was a confrontation; the parents say Tetso didn't want them there. He put up a "No Trespassing" sign in a front window, and the Gardners haven't been in touch with him since. But they still want their daughter's things.
In addition to the Trans Am, Tracey had a white Ford Explorer. Tetso did not make the payments on the vehicle, and the bank foreclosed on it. Rick Gardner went to the auction and paid $6,000 to get it back. He'd like the Trans Am, too, but it was paid off and is in Tetso's possession.
Late last month, the Gardners filed a petition in Baltimore County Circuit Court to be appointed guardians of their daughter's property. A hearing has not been set, but the parents hope they can demonstrate that Tracey was estranged from her husband and wanted to file for divorce.
Tetso, 41, was notified of the lawsuit by certified mail; he has not responded. The house in Rosedale, where Tetso still lives, is in Tracey's name alone; she bought it on her own. Her parents say the furniture in there was hers, too.
It's not just the things, though. As the investigation into Tracey's disappearance has faltered - police say leads have not come easy - her parents have faced the dawning realization that their daughter won't be coming home. They have coped in their own ways.
Rick Gardner, a driver for a dry cleaner, works as much as he can - 12 hours a day, six days a week. When he gets home at night, he lets his dogs out, lets them back in, goes to bed and starts over again in the morning. On Sundays, he sleeps half the day. When he's awake, he tries not to think about what happened.
"I don't even know what worry is anymore," he said wearily one night last week. "I just take it one day at a time and try to keep going. I have to try to maintain my composure. I can't let loose."
Cathy Gardner, until her recent heart attack, threw herself into the search for Tracey, turning her dining room into a command post. In a journal, she keeps a record of her efforts - calls to the detectives, sessions with psychics, tips that have come in, areas that have been searched.
A poster board with photos of Tracey sits in a corner of the room. Yellow T-shirts with Tracey's picture, smiling and radiant, are stacked and folded neatly. The family sells the shirts and other items to raise reward money.
At first, they hoped to find Tracey alive. Now, they just want to put her to rest. Cathy Gardner says it wasn't until last August, five months after Tracey vanished, that she began to believe Tracey would not be found alive.
"One weekend we were out, and we came across some dead dogs - the smell and the carcasses," she said. "And people kept saying, 'That's the smell we should be looking for.'"
Two weeks ago, Tracey's family and friends gathered in the parking lot of the Glen Burnie Home Depot - a place where they often met before heading out on searches - to remember Tracey with a candlelight vigil.
She was one of 834,536 people reported missing last year. The majority - 690,521 - are younger than 21 and often missing for only a few days. Just 30,000 adults have been missing for more than a year, according to the National Center for Missing Adults.
"We never thought we'd be at this point," Cathy Gardner said, reflecting on the first anniversary of Tracey's disappearance. "Every time on the news that you see a body's been found, your heart just goes to your knees."
But it's never Tracey.
Four hours after the vigil ended, Cathy Gardner's chest started tightening. Her husband drove her to Baltimore-Washington Medical Center (formerly North Arundel Hospital); she had suffered a heart attack. Doctors sent her to University Hospital in Baltimore for an emergency angioplasty.
The procedure began at 6 a.m. on Monday, March 6 - one year to the day since Tracey went missing. Cathy Gardner was in the hospital for a week, then sent home to rest. Her husband is certain it was brought on by stress.
"She's doing things that I couldn't do," he said. "She's out there doing it all for me."
Few leads, no answers
Baltimore County police were encouraged when Tracey's Trans Am was found March 17 last year in the Days Inn parking lot in Glen Burnie. But an examination of the vehicle yielded few leads.
Police searched her house April 1 but won't say what they found. The two detectives on the case, Philip Marll and James Tincher, declined to be interviewed for this article.
County police spokesman Bill Toohey said Dennis Tetso is offering "limited cooperation." Asked what that means, he said, "It means limited cooperation as opposed to full cooperation, not as much as detectives would like."
Toohey said Marll and Tincher are experienced detectives and part of the county's cold-case squad. They are chasing several new leads, but the case is a challenge, Toohey said, adding, "Right now, we don't have a crime. She has simply disappeared. She's a missing person."
There are stories of people who walk away from their lives - who close their bank accounts, hop a bus to Mexico or a plane to Europe and just disappear.
But that's not Tracey, say those who knew her.
"She would never do that to me," said her grandmother Rose Smith, who talked to Tracey almost every day. "She would never do anything like that. She was connected to her family and her friends."
Smith had her heart surgery in November. She had put it off first when Tracey was married, then again when she disappeared six months later. On Nov. 29, Smith entered the hospital to have her aorta replaced. During the 12-hour surgery, she suffered a stroke and remained hospitalized for five weeks.
The last time she saw Tracey was four days before she disappeared. It was a Wednesday, and Tracey had stopped by Smith's house in Ferndale to say hello. Her father was there, too, looking in on his mother.
He said Tracey was there only for a minute. She wanted to get home to her dogs. He remembers the last thing she said to him: "She said, 'I just stopped by to see if Grandma's OK, and I'm just heading on home.'"
The day the music stopped
Mystery of a Rosedale woman who disappeared before a concert lingers a year later, haunting those who love her and hold out hope
By Stephen Kiehl
Sun Reporter
Originally published March 19, 2006
Tracey Leigh Tetso loved fast cars from the moment her father first strapped her car seat into his '69 Corvette. When she could afford her own, she bought a black Pontiac Trans Am - one that rode so low to the ground her grandmother refused to get in.
"She would call and she'd say, 'Grandma, I'm taking you shopping,'" said Rose Smith, 78. "And I'd say, 'Don't bring that car!'"
The car went everywhere else, though. Tracey took it to Ocean City, out on the town in Baltimore and to rock concerts in Washington. That's where she was supposed to be on March 6, 2005 - at the Motley Crue show at the MCI Center. The tickets were a present for her 33rd birthday, two weeks away.
She never made it to the show. The Trans Am was later found in the parking lot of a Glen Burnie Days Inn. Tracey never was.
A year later, after a nationally publicized search, the disappearance of Tracey Leigh Tetso remains a mystery. The case has haunted those who loved her and has torn apart the relationship between Tracey's parents and her husband, Dennis Tetso. They no longer speak to each other, and last month her parents filed in court a petition to gain custody of her house and car.
At a recent candlelight vigil in Tracey's memory, about 40 friends and family members fought back tears in a biting wind. Later that night, her stepmother - who had raised Tracey since she was 10 - suffered a heart attack, which her family believes was induced by stress.
In an interview before she entered the hospital, Cathy Gardner said she was certain she would find Tracey, one way or another.
"I talk to her every day. I can feel her," she said. "And I tell her I'm not going to give up. Everybody else can, Tracey, but I will not give up and I will bring you home. Sooner or later, before I close my eyes, I will bring you home."
Daddy's little girl
Tracey was always close to her dad, Rick Gardner. He said he took her everywhere in his blue Corvette, and she loved to ride along. He had gained full custody of Tracey when she was 13 months old, after divorcing her mother, Diane Stephens.
At the time, Gardner was a Marine at Camp Lejeune, N.C., so he took Tracey to live with his parents in Ferndale. He moved there a few years later.
When Tracey was 9, he took her along on his first date with his future wife, whom he had met while shopping at her parents' general store in Severn. He took her and Tracey to a drive-in movie theater.
"I thought, 'Oh, this is really good,'" Cathy Gardner said, recalling her surprise that Tracey went along on the date. But it worked. Cathy and Rick married a year later. The family went on vacations to Ocean City and Assateague Island, and Tracey modeled her wardrobe and hairstyle after her new stepmother's.
They lived in Pasadena, and Tracey started attending Northeast High School in 1986. She got into the heavy metal rock bands popular at the time - including Ozzy Osbourne, Motley Crue and Pantera - and played the music so loud that her parents bought headphones for her. She would walk around the house bopping her head to the angry beat.
At Northeast, Tracey fell in with a bad crowd, her parents said. She started using alcohol and drugs. Rick Gardner remembers one boy who showed up at the house to take her on a date: "His hair was down to his butt, and he had earrings all around and what looked like a bone in his nose. I slammed the door in his face."
The next time the boy came by, Tracey made him wait outside.
Rick and Cathy Gardner decided to move from Pasadena to Glen Burnie to get their daughter away from that crowd. They enrolled her at the Kiva House shelter in Arnold, a place for teenagers with substance-abuse problems to straighten out their lives.
Tracey pulled herself together, and after she completed the program and earned her high school degree, the Kiva director asked her to return as a counselor. Soon, she was taking the teens on day trips to places like Ocean City.
"She was really good with the kids there," said Laura Pryor, who became Tracey's friend when they both worked at Kiva. "She was like a big kid at heart. She would goof around with them like she was one of them, but she was still grounded as an adult."
You could find her on the infield at the Preakness every spring and at every Motley Crue concert in Baltimore or Washington. She loved Secrets and the Bearded Clam in Ocean City. She already had two dogs, but when she found a German shepherd abandoned in a parking lot, she rescued him and called him Rusty.
"He was so full of bugs," Cathy Gardner said. "He looked horrible. She took him to the vet and got him all fixed up."
In 2001, she bought a three-bedroom rancher in Rosedale. She planted gardens, made the house nice and kept it that way. Friends who would stay the night remember that she vacuumed every morning. Her curly hair, once light brown, had a brief flirtation with red before settling on blond.
She bought the Trans Am.
She met Dennis Tetso. He would come in every morning for coffee at the Pasadena Wawa, where she was working part-time. He eventually got her a job at Aggregate Industries in Crofton, a construction supplies company where he was a concrete delivery driver.
Tetso had two young children from a marriage that had ended in 1998, and he had a daughter born in 1984 from an earlier relationship. He was frequently in arrears on child support payments, often by thousands of dollars, according to court records.
But Tracey loved the kids. Tetso moved into her house. She made up bedrooms for the two children to use when they visited. And when Tetso proposed after four years together, she accepted. They set a wedding date of Sept. 18, 2004.
The date was a problem for Tracey's grandmother, who had cared for her while her father was at Camp Lejeune. Rose Smith - she had since divorced and remarried - was scheduled for heart surgery the same week. Smith decided to put off the surgery so she could attend the wedding, over the protests of her granddaughter.
"She said, 'I'll come up [to the hospital room] in my wedding gown,'" said Cathy Gardner, remembering Tracey's pleas with her grandmother to have the surgery. But the surgery was postponed, and the wedding was on.
The couple honeymooned in West Virginia, but it wasn't long before there was trouble. They spent Thanksgiving apart, and friends say Tetso didn't like Tracey going out with them. He would frequently call her cell phone when she was out.
"Tracey was free-spirited, and marriage, I don't think, was for her," said Pryor, the friend from Kiva.
By January 2005, Tracey had begun a relationship with a co-worker, Christian Sinnott, according to friends. Sinnott and Tetso knew of each other and didn't get along.
On Jan. 25, Tetso went to Baltimore County District Court to apply for a peace order - a type of restraining order -against Sinnott, saying he feared bodily harm. "He called my cell phone and told me I know where you live and I am going to braek your back then I am going to kill you and I mean business," Tetso wrote in court papers requesting the order. He added, "He was having a anfare with my wife."
A judge granted a temporary peace order on Feb. 3, ordering Sinnott to stay away from the Rosedale house and cease all contact with Tetso. But a week later, Tetso filed papers seeking to rescind the order. He wrote, "We had worked things out, and he said he was sorry."
Neither man could be reached for comment. Tetso did not respond to a letter left at his house or to several phone messages left over the past two weeks. Sinnott, who is a driver for Aggregate Industries, did not return messages left with his supervisor.
For Tracey, the months before she went missing were difficult ones. Her grandfather, whom she had been close to, died in December 2004. Her dog Rusty died around the same time. She buried him under her bedroom window, placing a stone and flowers there to make a small grave.
Still, if anything could bring her pleasure, it was music, friends said.
"She loved music, she loved her dogs, and she loved her grandma," said Dawn Howard, Tracey's best friend for more than a decade.
Her 33rd birthday was coming up on March 21, and Sinnott had bought tickets to a Motley Crue show in Washington on March 6, a Sunday. Tracey planned to meet him at his house in Crofton before heading to the 8 p.m. concert.
At 7:48 p.m., Tracey's Trans Am passed southbound through the toll plaza at the Harbor Tunnel, according to E-Z Pass records.
At 8:01 p.m., the car pulled into the parking lot of the Glen Burnie Days Inn off Ritchie Highway, just a few miles south of the tunnel, according to a grainy surveillance tape. It shows the car circling the lot then pulling into a spot. Two minutes pass; nothing happens. At last, the driver's door opens, a gray figure emerges and walks away.
Tracey's parents say that gray figure is too tall to be their daughter, who was 5-foot-4. Investigators say they don't know who it is. What is known is this: An up-and-down life that had at last come together was now shorn apart.
No sign of her
When Tracey didn't show up for work on Monday, a colleague called her husband and her grandmother.
Her grandmother called her stepmother.
Her stepmother called her father.
They all called Tracey's cell phone. No answer.
They searched every day in that first month - hundreds of acres in Baltimore and Anne Arundel counties, from Bodkin Creek to Downs Park, Fort Smallwood Park to Bayside Beach. Parking lots and landfills. Hospitals and shelters. Local and national media picked up the story. America's Most Wanted came to town. Motley Crue put up $10,000 in reward money. So did Tracey's employer.
Nothing came of it.
Early on, there were a hundred people tromping through the woods looking for Tracey. On large maps spread across their dining room table, Tracey's parents planned each search. The one person who didn't look was Dennis Tetso.
Rick and Cathy Gardner, both 57, went to the Rosedale house shortly after Tracey disappeared to collect some of her things. There was a confrontation; the parents say Tetso didn't want them there. He put up a "No Trespassing" sign in a front window, and the Gardners haven't been in touch with him since. But they still want their daughter's things.
In addition to the Trans Am, Tracey had a white Ford Explorer. Tetso did not make the payments on the vehicle, and the bank foreclosed on it. Rick Gardner went to the auction and paid $6,000 to get it back. He'd like the Trans Am, too, but it was paid off and is in Tetso's possession.
Late last month, the Gardners filed a petition in Baltimore County Circuit Court to be appointed guardians of their daughter's property. A hearing has not been set, but the parents hope they can demonstrate that Tracey was estranged from her husband and wanted to file for divorce.
Tetso, 41, was notified of the lawsuit by certified mail; he has not responded. The house in Rosedale, where Tetso still lives, is in Tracey's name alone; she bought it on her own. Her parents say the furniture in there was hers, too.
It's not just the things, though. As the investigation into Tracey's disappearance has faltered - police say leads have not come easy - her parents have faced the dawning realization that their daughter won't be coming home. They have coped in their own ways.
Rick Gardner, a driver for a dry cleaner, works as much as he can - 12 hours a day, six days a week. When he gets home at night, he lets his dogs out, lets them back in, goes to bed and starts over again in the morning. On Sundays, he sleeps half the day. When he's awake, he tries not to think about what happened.
"I don't even know what worry is anymore," he said wearily one night last week. "I just take it one day at a time and try to keep going. I have to try to maintain my composure. I can't let loose."
Cathy Gardner, until her recent heart attack, threw herself into the search for Tracey, turning her dining room into a command post. In a journal, she keeps a record of her efforts - calls to the detectives, sessions with psychics, tips that have come in, areas that have been searched.
A poster board with photos of Tracey sits in a corner of the room. Yellow T-shirts with Tracey's picture, smiling and radiant, are stacked and folded neatly. The family sells the shirts and other items to raise reward money.
At first, they hoped to find Tracey alive. Now, they just want to put her to rest. Cathy Gardner says it wasn't until last August, five months after Tracey vanished, that she began to believe Tracey would not be found alive.
"One weekend we were out, and we came across some dead dogs - the smell and the carcasses," she said. "And people kept saying, 'That's the smell we should be looking for.'"
Two weeks ago, Tracey's family and friends gathered in the parking lot of the Glen Burnie Home Depot - a place where they often met before heading out on searches - to remember Tracey with a candlelight vigil.
She was one of 834,536 people reported missing last year. The majority - 690,521 - are younger than 21 and often missing for only a few days. Just 30,000 adults have been missing for more than a year, according to the National Center for Missing Adults.
"We never thought we'd be at this point," Cathy Gardner said, reflecting on the first anniversary of Tracey's disappearance. "Every time on the news that you see a body's been found, your heart just goes to your knees."
But it's never Tracey.
Four hours after the vigil ended, Cathy Gardner's chest started tightening. Her husband drove her to Baltimore-Washington Medical Center (formerly North Arundel Hospital); she had suffered a heart attack. Doctors sent her to University Hospital in Baltimore for an emergency angioplasty.
The procedure began at 6 a.m. on Monday, March 6 - one year to the day since Tracey went missing. Cathy Gardner was in the hospital for a week, then sent home to rest. Her husband is certain it was brought on by stress.
"She's doing things that I couldn't do," he said. "She's out there doing it all for me."
Few leads, no answers
Baltimore County police were encouraged when Tracey's Trans Am was found March 17 last year in the Days Inn parking lot in Glen Burnie. But an examination of the vehicle yielded few leads.
Police searched her house April 1 but won't say what they found. The two detectives on the case, Philip Marll and James Tincher, declined to be interviewed for this article.
County police spokesman Bill Toohey said Dennis Tetso is offering "limited cooperation." Asked what that means, he said, "It means limited cooperation as opposed to full cooperation, not as much as detectives would like."
Toohey said Marll and Tincher are experienced detectives and part of the county's cold-case squad. They are chasing several new leads, but the case is a challenge, Toohey said, adding, "Right now, we don't have a crime. She has simply disappeared. She's a missing person."
There are stories of people who walk away from their lives - who close their bank accounts, hop a bus to Mexico or a plane to Europe and just disappear.
But that's not Tracey, say those who knew her.
"She would never do that to me," said her grandmother Rose Smith, who talked to Tracey almost every day. "She would never do anything like that. She was connected to her family and her friends."
Smith had her heart surgery in November. She had put it off first when Tracey was married, then again when she disappeared six months later. On Nov. 29, Smith entered the hospital to have her aorta replaced. During the 12-hour surgery, she suffered a stroke and remained hospitalized for five weeks.
The last time she saw Tracey was four days before she disappeared. It was a Wednesday, and Tracey had stopped by Smith's house in Ferndale to say hello. Her father was there, too, looking in on his mother.
He said Tracey was there only for a minute. She wanted to get home to her dogs. He remembers the last thing she said to him: "She said, 'I just stopped by to see if Grandma's OK, and I'm just heading on home.'"
#10
Kathylene
Kathylene
-
- Guests
Posted 15 May 2007 - 11:47 AM
http://wjz.com/local/local_story_211184654.html
Jul 30, 2006 6:46 pm US/Eastern
Case Of Missing Md. Woman To Air On CBS Drama
(WJZ/AP) BALTIMORE The case of a missing Maryland woman that's already received national attention when it was featured on "America's Most Wanted" will now be aired on the CBS drama "Without A Trace" Sunday night.
Thirty-two-year-old Tracey Gardner-Tetso was last seen March 6th, 2005. Her car was spotted eleven days later at a Days Inn parking lot in Glen Burnie.
"Detectives have exhausted all possible leads, her husband has stopped returning all phone calls and perhaps with this attention someone will remember something," Baltimore County Police spokesman Bill Toohey told WJZ's Jessica Kartalija.
Tetso's husband reported her missing after she was supposed to attend a Motley Crue concert at the MCI Center in Washington, D.C. She never arrived at the concert.
Detectives learned that her car passed through the southbound side of the Harbor Tunnel on March 6th just before 8:00 p-m.
Clues to her whereabouts from that point on have been practically non-existant, and the police still have no answers for Tetso's concerned family.
Investigators hope the airing of "Without A Trace" will spur someone to come forward with information regarding Tetso's disappearance.
"I woke up in the morning and she wasn't there, I thought she stayed at a friend's house. You just don't disappear, there's no way, you just don't disappear," Dennis Tetso, Tracey's husband said.
Despite the lack of clues, her loved ones hope someone will step forward who might know what happened to Tetso.
"She was really outgoing and great to be around. I loved her and somebody took her from me," says Dawn Smith, Tetso's best friend.
Tetso is described as a white female, 32 years old, 5'4", and 130 pounds, with long blonde hair, and blue eyes. She has a tattoo of a bird on her back and another tattoo of a bird on her right leg.
Her car is a 1996 black Pontiac TransAm with dark tinted windows, displaying Maryland tags LRN 534.
"I made her a promise from the beginning that I would never stop searching Until we found her, and I will keep my promise. We will not stop until we bring her home," Tetso's mother, Cathy Gardner, said.
If anyone has any information about Tracey Tetso or her vehicle, please call Baltimore County police at 410-307-2020. Up to $25,000 is being offered for information leading to her whereabouts.
Jul 30, 2006 6:46 pm US/Eastern
Case Of Missing Md. Woman To Air On CBS Drama
(WJZ/AP) BALTIMORE The case of a missing Maryland woman that's already received national attention when it was featured on "America's Most Wanted" will now be aired on the CBS drama "Without A Trace" Sunday night.
Thirty-two-year-old Tracey Gardner-Tetso was last seen March 6th, 2005. Her car was spotted eleven days later at a Days Inn parking lot in Glen Burnie.
"Detectives have exhausted all possible leads, her husband has stopped returning all phone calls and perhaps with this attention someone will remember something," Baltimore County Police spokesman Bill Toohey told WJZ's Jessica Kartalija.
Tetso's husband reported her missing after she was supposed to attend a Motley Crue concert at the MCI Center in Washington, D.C. She never arrived at the concert.
Detectives learned that her car passed through the southbound side of the Harbor Tunnel on March 6th just before 8:00 p-m.
Clues to her whereabouts from that point on have been practically non-existant, and the police still have no answers for Tetso's concerned family.
Investigators hope the airing of "Without A Trace" will spur someone to come forward with information regarding Tetso's disappearance.
"I woke up in the morning and she wasn't there, I thought she stayed at a friend's house. You just don't disappear, there's no way, you just don't disappear," Dennis Tetso, Tracey's husband said.
Despite the lack of clues, her loved ones hope someone will step forward who might know what happened to Tetso.
"She was really outgoing and great to be around. I loved her and somebody took her from me," says Dawn Smith, Tetso's best friend.
Tetso is described as a white female, 32 years old, 5'4", and 130 pounds, with long blonde hair, and blue eyes. She has a tattoo of a bird on her back and another tattoo of a bird on her right leg.
Her car is a 1996 black Pontiac TransAm with dark tinted windows, displaying Maryland tags LRN 534.
"I made her a promise from the beginning that I would never stop searching Until we found her, and I will keep my promise. We will not stop until we bring her home," Tetso's mother, Cathy Gardner, said.
If anyone has any information about Tracey Tetso or her vehicle, please call Baltimore County police at 410-307-2020. Up to $25,000 is being offered for information leading to her whereabouts.
#11
Kathylene
Kathylene
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- Guests
Posted 15 May 2007 - 11:47 AM
http://wusa9.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=51114
Do You Know Where This Missing Maryland Woman Is?
Written by Samara Martin-Ewing
Created:7/31/2006 6:59:24 AM
Last Updated:7/31/2006 8:30:43 AM
Tracey Gardner-Tetso was last seen 16 months ago in her Rosedale, Maryland community.
“I made her a promise. From the beginning that I would never stop searching for her until we found her. And I'm going to keep my promise,†says Tracey’s mother, Cathy Gardner.
Tracey was last seen on March 6, 2005. She was supposed to be meeting a male friend for a Motley Crue concert at DC’s Verizon Center.
“She never arrived at the concert,†says Baltimore County Police spokesman, Bill Toohey.
E-Z Pass records confirm Tracey’s black 1996 Trans Am passed through the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel about an hour after that concert started. Minutes later, at 9:01 pm, surveillance cameras capture Tracey’s car pulling into a Day’s Inn hotel off Ritchie Highway in Glen Burnie.
“There is a man getting out of the car but it is entirely too difficult to identify him,†says Toohey.
Police say a search for the car gives no clues to Tracey. Also there is no indication Tracey has used her cell phone or tried to access bank accounts since she vanished.
At the time of her disappearance, Tracey was married. Although he was still living with Tracey, her family tells 9 News NOW Tracey filed for divorce just months after their wedding day.
Police say her husband is giving them “limited cooperation†but is not a suspect. In fact, police say, they have no suspects because they have no crime. No body. No blood. Tracey is still classified as a missing person.
“Let’s say a prayer for her,†says Nikki Sixx of the hard metal band Motley Crue.
Hearing about Tracey’s disappearance, the band donated $10,000 to the reward fund. The fund now stands at $25,000.
Cathy Gardner continues to speak out on Tracey’s behalf. Keeping her promise to never give up the search for her daughterâ€â€who would have been 34 years old this past March.
“We've come to grips that she's not coming back,†says Cathy. “But we should be able to bury her and get the closure.â€Â
If you have any information on Tracey Gardner-Tetso you can contact the Baltimore County Police at 410-307-2020.
Do You Know Where This Missing Maryland Woman Is?
Written by Samara Martin-Ewing
Created:7/31/2006 6:59:24 AM
Last Updated:7/31/2006 8:30:43 AM
Tracey Gardner-Tetso was last seen 16 months ago in her Rosedale, Maryland community.
“I made her a promise. From the beginning that I would never stop searching for her until we found her. And I'm going to keep my promise,†says Tracey’s mother, Cathy Gardner.
Tracey was last seen on March 6, 2005. She was supposed to be meeting a male friend for a Motley Crue concert at DC’s Verizon Center.
“She never arrived at the concert,†says Baltimore County Police spokesman, Bill Toohey.
E-Z Pass records confirm Tracey’s black 1996 Trans Am passed through the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel about an hour after that concert started. Minutes later, at 9:01 pm, surveillance cameras capture Tracey’s car pulling into a Day’s Inn hotel off Ritchie Highway in Glen Burnie.
“There is a man getting out of the car but it is entirely too difficult to identify him,†says Toohey.
Police say a search for the car gives no clues to Tracey. Also there is no indication Tracey has used her cell phone or tried to access bank accounts since she vanished.
At the time of her disappearance, Tracey was married. Although he was still living with Tracey, her family tells 9 News NOW Tracey filed for divorce just months after their wedding day.
Police say her husband is giving them “limited cooperation†but is not a suspect. In fact, police say, they have no suspects because they have no crime. No body. No blood. Tracey is still classified as a missing person.
“Let’s say a prayer for her,†says Nikki Sixx of the hard metal band Motley Crue.
Hearing about Tracey’s disappearance, the band donated $10,000 to the reward fund. The fund now stands at $25,000.
Cathy Gardner continues to speak out on Tracey’s behalf. Keeping her promise to never give up the search for her daughterâ€â€who would have been 34 years old this past March.
“We've come to grips that she's not coming back,†says Cathy. “But we should be able to bury her and get the closure.â€Â
If you have any information on Tracey Gardner-Tetso you can contact the Baltimore County Police at 410-307-2020.
#12
Kathylene
Kathylene
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- Guests
Posted 15 May 2007 - 11:48 AM
http://news.mywebpal.com/news_tool_v...ryID=5800&on=1
Interest growing in Tetso case Burst of media attention focusin
08/03/06
By MARY T. ROBBINS
The first anniversary last March of the unexplained disappearance of Tracey Testo drew a crowd, including family friend Chris Sperling.
Family and friends of Tracey Leigh Tetso are hoping a recent round of media attention will shed some light on what became of the Rosedale woman, now missing for more than 16 months.
Tetso, 34, of the 7800 block of Bluegrass Road, has not been seen since March 6 2005, when she was expected to attend a Motley Crue concert in Washington but never showed up.
The case was scheduled to be featured for the second time on a segment of the CBS drama "Without a Trace" July 30. Also that night, a story on Tetso's disappearance was supposed to air on WUSA-TV in Washington. The following morning, the woman's mother, Cathy Gardner, and long-time friend, Monika Barilla, were scheduled to be interviewed on the "CBS Early Show."
"We are hoping to get Tracey's name and face back out there," Barilla said last week.
Tetso's friends have said she looked forward to the concert for months and would not have missed it, nor would she run off without contacting her family.
For a year and a half, family and friends have scoured woods and landfills, held candlelight vigils, hired a psychic and raised reward money for the woman they say was a devoted daughter, granddaughter and friend.
Baltimore County police say her disappearance is being investigated as a missing-person case with foul play.
Police have not named a suspect but say that the cooperation of Dennis Tetso, Tracey's husband, has been "limited."
Barilla said Dennis Tetso hasn't contacted the family since his wife's disappearance.
The case received national attention last year, when the heavy metal band Motley Crue announced it would match a $10,000 reward put up by the Victims' Rights Foundation. The band learned about Tetso's disappearance through an e-mail from a fan.
Tetso has also been featured on "America's Most Wanted" television program.
Despite the national attention, the family is still without answers.
"You just have to believe God has a plan and that we will bring her home one day," said Barilla, who has helped to organize searches and fundraising events. "I can't think otherwise, with all the hard work we all have been doing to bring her home. There is no such thing as a perfect crime."
Anyone with information on Tetso's disappearance is asked to call the Baltimore County Police Department at 410-407-2020.
E-mail Mary T. Robbins at Mary T. Robbins@patuxent.com
Interest growing in Tetso case Burst of media attention focusin
08/03/06
By MARY T. ROBBINS
The first anniversary last March of the unexplained disappearance of Tracey Testo drew a crowd, including family friend Chris Sperling.
Family and friends of Tracey Leigh Tetso are hoping a recent round of media attention will shed some light on what became of the Rosedale woman, now missing for more than 16 months.
Tetso, 34, of the 7800 block of Bluegrass Road, has not been seen since March 6 2005, when she was expected to attend a Motley Crue concert in Washington but never showed up.
The case was scheduled to be featured for the second time on a segment of the CBS drama "Without a Trace" July 30. Also that night, a story on Tetso's disappearance was supposed to air on WUSA-TV in Washington. The following morning, the woman's mother, Cathy Gardner, and long-time friend, Monika Barilla, were scheduled to be interviewed on the "CBS Early Show."
"We are hoping to get Tracey's name and face back out there," Barilla said last week.
Tetso's friends have said she looked forward to the concert for months and would not have missed it, nor would she run off without contacting her family.
For a year and a half, family and friends have scoured woods and landfills, held candlelight vigils, hired a psychic and raised reward money for the woman they say was a devoted daughter, granddaughter and friend.
Baltimore County police say her disappearance is being investigated as a missing-person case with foul play.
Police have not named a suspect but say that the cooperation of Dennis Tetso, Tracey's husband, has been "limited."
Barilla said Dennis Tetso hasn't contacted the family since his wife's disappearance.
The case received national attention last year, when the heavy metal band Motley Crue announced it would match a $10,000 reward put up by the Victims' Rights Foundation. The band learned about Tetso's disappearance through an e-mail from a fan.
Tetso has also been featured on "America's Most Wanted" television program.
Despite the national attention, the family is still without answers.
"You just have to believe God has a plan and that we will bring her home one day," said Barilla, who has helped to organize searches and fundraising events. "I can't think otherwise, with all the hard work we all have been doing to bring her home. There is no such thing as a perfect crime."
Anyone with information on Tetso's disappearance is asked to call the Baltimore County Police Department at 410-407-2020.
E-mail Mary T. Robbins at Mary T. Robbins@patuxent.com
#13
Kathylene
Kathylene
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- Guests
Posted 15 May 2007 - 11:48 AM
Tracey Tetso will be featured on the TV program "Missing"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tracey Tetso will be featured on the TV program "Missing".
http://www.usamissing.com
The show will air the week of August 28, 2006, and in most areas, is shown on the following weekend.
Please check out which station airs the program in your area by visiting the following link.
http://www.usamissing.com/findus.htm
Then check out the station's site (provided in the above link) for the exact day and time the show airs.
All the following adults and children will be featured on this episode.
Joanna Rogers, Heather Bennett, Jason Smith, La-Teasha Brooks, Cermen Toney, Diane Aviles Colon, Tommy Adkins, Estela Salgado*, Elizabeth Mondelli, Neil Eddleman, Kristina Bishop, Chelsea Morales, Gerardo Morales, Jason Jolkowski, Angela Ramsey, Danielle Nottingham, Karen Giron Molina, William Smolinski Jr., Ana Leyva, Ashley Martinez, Jerry Tang, Cory White, Brittney Beers, Iumila Vasquez, Tracey Tetso.
*Recently recovered
http://www.usamissin...les/Page733.htm
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tracey Tetso will be featured on the TV program "Missing".
http://www.usamissing.com
The show will air the week of August 28, 2006, and in most areas, is shown on the following weekend.
Please check out which station airs the program in your area by visiting the following link.
http://www.usamissing.com/findus.htm
Then check out the station's site (provided in the above link) for the exact day and time the show airs.
All the following adults and children will be featured on this episode.
Joanna Rogers, Heather Bennett, Jason Smith, La-Teasha Brooks, Cermen Toney, Diane Aviles Colon, Tommy Adkins, Estela Salgado*, Elizabeth Mondelli, Neil Eddleman, Kristina Bishop, Chelsea Morales, Gerardo Morales, Jason Jolkowski, Angela Ramsey, Danielle Nottingham, Karen Giron Molina, William Smolinski Jr., Ana Leyva, Ashley Martinez, Jerry Tang, Cory White, Brittney Beers, Iumila Vasquez, Tracey Tetso.
*Recently recovered
http://www.usamissin...les/Page733.htm
#14
Kathylene
Kathylene
-
- Guests
Posted 15 May 2007 - 11:48 AM
Sunday vigil will mark Tetso disappearance
02/28/07
The two-year anniversary of the disappearance of Tracey Gardner Tetso of Rosedale will be marked at a gathering this weekend.
The "remembrance vigil" will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, March 4, at the Moose Lodge, 1900 Crain Highway South, in Glen Burnie.
Organizer Monika Barilla said the vigil this year will be for missing persons across Maryland.
Families and friends of other missing persons will speak at the vigil, as will representatives of the Doe Network, a nationwide volunteer group that assists in missing persons cases, she said.
Law enforcement officers and political leaders are also expected, Barilla said.
Tetso disappeared on March 6, 2005, on the way to a Motley Crue concert in Washington. Her car turned up 11 days later in the parking lot of a Glen Burnie Days Inn.
A reward for information that solves her case now stands at $25,000, of which $10,000 was donated by Motley Crue.
Family and friends say they are conviced Tetso was the victim of foul play. Police have not named a suspect.
North East Booster
02/28/07
The two-year anniversary of the disappearance of Tracey Gardner Tetso of Rosedale will be marked at a gathering this weekend.
The "remembrance vigil" will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, March 4, at the Moose Lodge, 1900 Crain Highway South, in Glen Burnie.
Organizer Monika Barilla said the vigil this year will be for missing persons across Maryland.
Families and friends of other missing persons will speak at the vigil, as will representatives of the Doe Network, a nationwide volunteer group that assists in missing persons cases, she said.
Law enforcement officers and political leaders are also expected, Barilla said.
Tetso disappeared on March 6, 2005, on the way to a Motley Crue concert in Washington. Her car turned up 11 days later in the parking lot of a Glen Burnie Days Inn.
A reward for information that solves her case now stands at $25,000, of which $10,000 was donated by Motley Crue.
Family and friends say they are conviced Tetso was the victim of foul play. Police have not named a suspect.
North East Booster
#15
Kathylene
Kathylene
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- Guests
Posted 15 May 2007 - 11:48 AM
Family to hold vigil for missing woman
Mother suspects foul play in disappearance
By LISA BEISEL, Staff Writer
It's been two years.
Two years since Cathy and Richard Gardner have seen their daughter.
Twenty-four months since Monika Barilla has seen her friend and co-worker.
Tomorrow, the family and friends of Tracey Leigh Tetso will commemorate the second anniversary of her disappearance with a vigil in Pasadena.
Ms. Tetso, 34, was reported missing March 7, 2005 after she failed to show up at a Motley Crue concert in Washington, D.C., the night before, Baltimore County police said.
Her mother, Mrs. Gardner, said the family suspects foul play in her daughter's disappearance.
"We all know that there's foul play involved," she said.
When a boy who had been missing for four years was found alive in Missouri, the family had some glimmer of hope of finding Ms. Tetso. But not for long.
"If she were alive, she definitely would have had contact," she said. "There's no way she would have walked away."
Ms. Tetso owned a house in Rosedale, cars, pets, had a good job and worked hard, her mother said. She wouldn't have left it all behind, her mother said.
"She just loved life. She worked hard, she liked to party, and she loved rock and roll - the louder the better," Mrs. Gardner said. "She was truly a good person inside."
Her daughter loved animals and had three pets, including one she picked up as a stray off the streets of Glen Burnie, her mother said. She was known for her loyalty to her friends and never forgot a birthday or anniversary.
Ms. Tetso worked in Crofton as a dispatcher for Aggregate Industries. She grew up in Pasadena and graduated from Northeast High School. She was 32-years-old when she disappeared and lived with her estranged husband.
Ms. Tetso and Dennis Tetso were married in September and were in the process of separating three months later, Mrs. Gardner said. Mr. Tetso couldn't be reached for comment.
Investigators have evidence the car went though Baltimore's Harbor Tunnel shortly before 8 p.m. March 6, but Mrs. Gardner said a closer look at the picture revealed Ms. Tetso was not driving the car.
On March 17, 11 days after her disappearance, Ms. Tetso's car was found in the parking lot of the Days Inn in the 6600 block of Ritchie Highway in Glen Burnie.
Baltimore County police have not named a suspect and have no updates on the case at this point. The missing person investigation remains open, said Cpl. Michael Hill, department spokesman.
Mrs. Gardner believes the only way to get closure and possible charges against anyone involved in Ms. Tetso's disappearance would be to find her body.
"I know deep inside she's not alive," she said.
So, she and her husband and their friends look. They look on the side of the road by the Baltimore Beltway, they look wherever there is a tip submitted to their Web site, Help us find Tracey Leigh Gardner.
Ms. Barilla, a friend and coworker of Ms. Tetso, is one of the people who takes part in the search.
Ms. Barilla keeps in touch with the Gardners almost daily to brainstorm about places to search and to get in touch with other missing person's families.
As the anniversary of her disappearance draws nearer, it's harder for the family to deal with the void Ms. Tetso left.
Tuesday, the anniversary of the last day anyone saw her, and her birthday on March 21, will be especially tough.
"We kind of blur it out, or we try to," Mrs. Gardner said. "We all know (the date), but none of us talk."
It's as if the calendar flips from March 20 to 22.
Ms. Barilla hopes the vigil will bring families and friends of missing persons together.
"It definitely helps when you hear other missing persons' stories, what their friends and family are going through. You can relate to it and support each other," she said. "I think if anything, it helps keep not just Tracey out there in the media and eyes of the public, but all the missing persons," Ms. Barilla said.
Story Index - Top Stories
Mother suspects foul play in disappearance
By LISA BEISEL, Staff Writer
It's been two years.
Two years since Cathy and Richard Gardner have seen their daughter.
Twenty-four months since Monika Barilla has seen her friend and co-worker.
Tomorrow, the family and friends of Tracey Leigh Tetso will commemorate the second anniversary of her disappearance with a vigil in Pasadena.
Ms. Tetso, 34, was reported missing March 7, 2005 after she failed to show up at a Motley Crue concert in Washington, D.C., the night before, Baltimore County police said.
Her mother, Mrs. Gardner, said the family suspects foul play in her daughter's disappearance.
"We all know that there's foul play involved," she said.
When a boy who had been missing for four years was found alive in Missouri, the family had some glimmer of hope of finding Ms. Tetso. But not for long.
"If she were alive, she definitely would have had contact," she said. "There's no way she would have walked away."
Ms. Tetso owned a house in Rosedale, cars, pets, had a good job and worked hard, her mother said. She wouldn't have left it all behind, her mother said.
"She just loved life. She worked hard, she liked to party, and she loved rock and roll - the louder the better," Mrs. Gardner said. "She was truly a good person inside."
Her daughter loved animals and had three pets, including one she picked up as a stray off the streets of Glen Burnie, her mother said. She was known for her loyalty to her friends and never forgot a birthday or anniversary.
Ms. Tetso worked in Crofton as a dispatcher for Aggregate Industries. She grew up in Pasadena and graduated from Northeast High School. She was 32-years-old when she disappeared and lived with her estranged husband.
Ms. Tetso and Dennis Tetso were married in September and were in the process of separating three months later, Mrs. Gardner said. Mr. Tetso couldn't be reached for comment.
Investigators have evidence the car went though Baltimore's Harbor Tunnel shortly before 8 p.m. March 6, but Mrs. Gardner said a closer look at the picture revealed Ms. Tetso was not driving the car.
On March 17, 11 days after her disappearance, Ms. Tetso's car was found in the parking lot of the Days Inn in the 6600 block of Ritchie Highway in Glen Burnie.
Baltimore County police have not named a suspect and have no updates on the case at this point. The missing person investigation remains open, said Cpl. Michael Hill, department spokesman.
Mrs. Gardner believes the only way to get closure and possible charges against anyone involved in Ms. Tetso's disappearance would be to find her body.
"I know deep inside she's not alive," she said.
So, she and her husband and their friends look. They look on the side of the road by the Baltimore Beltway, they look wherever there is a tip submitted to their Web site, Help us find Tracey Leigh Gardner.
Ms. Barilla, a friend and coworker of Ms. Tetso, is one of the people who takes part in the search.
Ms. Barilla keeps in touch with the Gardners almost daily to brainstorm about places to search and to get in touch with other missing person's families.
As the anniversary of her disappearance draws nearer, it's harder for the family to deal with the void Ms. Tetso left.
Tuesday, the anniversary of the last day anyone saw her, and her birthday on March 21, will be especially tough.
"We kind of blur it out, or we try to," Mrs. Gardner said. "We all know (the date), but none of us talk."
It's as if the calendar flips from March 20 to 22.
Ms. Barilla hopes the vigil will bring families and friends of missing persons together.
"It definitely helps when you hear other missing persons' stories, what their friends and family are going through. You can relate to it and support each other," she said. "I think if anything, it helps keep not just Tracey out there in the media and eyes of the public, but all the missing persons," Ms. Barilla said.
Story Index - Top Stories
#16
Kathylene
Kathylene
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- Guests
Posted 15 May 2007 - 11:49 AM
Family To Hold Vigil For MÖTLEY CRÜE Fan Who Vanished Two Years Ago - Mar. 3, 2007
Lisa Beisel of Annapolis, MD's Annapolis Capital reports that the family and friends of Tracey Gardner-Tetso  a Baltimore County woman who has been missing since March 2005 when she failed to meet friends for a MÖTLEY CRÜE concert in Washington  will commemorate the second anniversary of her disappearance tomorrow (March 4) with a vigil in Pasadena.
Her mother, Cathy Gardner, said the family suspects foul play in her daughter's disappearance.
"We all know that there's foul play involved," she said.
When a boy who had been missing for four years was found alive in Missouri, the family had some glimmer of hope of finding Gardner-Tetso. But not for long.
"If she were alive, she definitely would have had contact," she said. "There's no way she would have walked away."
Tracey owned a house in Rosedale, cars, pets, had a good job and worked hard, her mother said. She wouldn't have left it all behind, her mother said.
"She just loved life. She worked hard, she liked to party, and she loved rock and roll  the louder the better," Mrs. Gardner said. "She was truly a good person inside."
Investigators have evidence the car went though Baltimore's Harbor Tunnel shortly before 8 p.m. March 6, but Mrs. Gardner said a closer look at the picture revealed Gardner-Tetso was not driving the car.
On March 17, 11 days after her disappearance, Gardner-Tetso's car was found in the parking lot of the Days Inn in the 6600 block of Ritchie Highway in Glen Burnie.
The vigil will be held at the Glen Burnie Moose Lodge, where Gardner-Tetso had her wedding reception, from 2 to 4 p.m. tomorrow. At the end, 150 yellow balloons will be let go, each with a flyer for a missing person attached.
BLABBERMOUTH.NET - Family To Hold Vigil For MÖTLEY CRÜE Fan Who Vanished Two Years Ago
Lisa Beisel of Annapolis, MD's Annapolis Capital reports that the family and friends of Tracey Gardner-Tetso  a Baltimore County woman who has been missing since March 2005 when she failed to meet friends for a MÖTLEY CRÜE concert in Washington  will commemorate the second anniversary of her disappearance tomorrow (March 4) with a vigil in Pasadena.
Her mother, Cathy Gardner, said the family suspects foul play in her daughter's disappearance.
"We all know that there's foul play involved," she said.
When a boy who had been missing for four years was found alive in Missouri, the family had some glimmer of hope of finding Gardner-Tetso. But not for long.
"If she were alive, she definitely would have had contact," she said. "There's no way she would have walked away."
Tracey owned a house in Rosedale, cars, pets, had a good job and worked hard, her mother said. She wouldn't have left it all behind, her mother said.
"She just loved life. She worked hard, she liked to party, and she loved rock and roll  the louder the better," Mrs. Gardner said. "She was truly a good person inside."
Investigators have evidence the car went though Baltimore's Harbor Tunnel shortly before 8 p.m. March 6, but Mrs. Gardner said a closer look at the picture revealed Gardner-Tetso was not driving the car.
On March 17, 11 days after her disappearance, Gardner-Tetso's car was found in the parking lot of the Days Inn in the 6600 block of Ritchie Highway in Glen Burnie.
The vigil will be held at the Glen Burnie Moose Lodge, where Gardner-Tetso had her wedding reception, from 2 to 4 p.m. tomorrow. At the end, 150 yellow balloons will be let go, each with a flyer for a missing person attached.
BLABBERMOUTH.NET - Family To Hold Vigil For MÖTLEY CRÜE Fan Who Vanished Two Years Ago
#17
Kathylene
Kathylene
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- Guests
Posted 15 May 2007 - 11:49 AM
Family And Friends Of Missing MÖTLEY CRÜE Fan Looking For Answers - Mar. 5, 2007
Jessica Kartalija of WJZ.com reports that the family and friends of Tracey Gardner-Tetso  a Baltimore County woman who has been missing since March 2005 when she failed to meet friends for a MÖTLEY CRÜE concert in Washington  commemorated the second anniversary of her disappearance Sunday (March 4) with a vigil in Pasadena. [Watch a WJZ.com report on the vigil at this location.]
The ceremony came two years after the disappearance of Tracey Gardner Tetso, whose car was found days later in Glen Burnie. Gardner-Tetso's story appeared on CBS's "Without a Trace" and on "America's Most Wanted", but she still has yet to be found.
"You sit there with no closure, and that's the hardest part," said Gardner-Tetso's friend Monika Barilla.
Sunday's remembrance service also called on state lawmakers to create a task force for people who have gone missing.
"We have task forces for stolen cars, stolen credit cards, drugs...we need a task force involving law enforcement to investigate missing adults and children in the state of Maryland," said Sam Bowerman.
"I would like to see the government of the state of Maryland appoint a task force that would connect law enforcement officers through the state," said Darlene Huntsman, sister of a missing woman.
MÖTLEY CRÜE in April 2005 announced that they would match the $10,000 reward fund being offered for information on the whereabouts of Gardner-Tetso, who was reported missing by her husband. The reward is being offered by the Victims' Rights Foundation of Gaithersburg, Metro Crime Stoppers and Aggregate Industries, which employed Gardner-Tetso as a dispatcher.
BLABBERMOUTH.NET - Family And Friends Of Missing MÖTLEY CRÜE Fan Looking For Answers
Jessica Kartalija of WJZ.com reports that the family and friends of Tracey Gardner-Tetso  a Baltimore County woman who has been missing since March 2005 when she failed to meet friends for a MÖTLEY CRÜE concert in Washington  commemorated the second anniversary of her disappearance Sunday (March 4) with a vigil in Pasadena. [Watch a WJZ.com report on the vigil at this location.]
The ceremony came two years after the disappearance of Tracey Gardner Tetso, whose car was found days later in Glen Burnie. Gardner-Tetso's story appeared on CBS's "Without a Trace" and on "America's Most Wanted", but she still has yet to be found.
"You sit there with no closure, and that's the hardest part," said Gardner-Tetso's friend Monika Barilla.
Sunday's remembrance service also called on state lawmakers to create a task force for people who have gone missing.
"We have task forces for stolen cars, stolen credit cards, drugs...we need a task force involving law enforcement to investigate missing adults and children in the state of Maryland," said Sam Bowerman.
"I would like to see the government of the state of Maryland appoint a task force that would connect law enforcement officers through the state," said Darlene Huntsman, sister of a missing woman.
MÖTLEY CRÜE in April 2005 announced that they would match the $10,000 reward fund being offered for information on the whereabouts of Gardner-Tetso, who was reported missing by her husband. The reward is being offered by the Victims' Rights Foundation of Gaithersburg, Metro Crime Stoppers and Aggregate Industries, which employed Gardner-Tetso as a dispatcher.
BLABBERMOUTH.NET - Family And Friends Of Missing MÖTLEY CRÜE Fan Looking For Answers
#18
Kathylene
Kathylene
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Posted 15 May 2007 - 11:50 AM
Families Want Task Force To Find Missing People
Jessica Kartalija
Reporting
(WJZ) WASHINGTON It was two years ago that a Maryland woman went missing on the way to a concert in Washington D.C. Family and friends who have had loved ones disappear came together Sunday to support each other.
Yellow balloons fill a room of people holding out hope, each balloon with a picture of an adult gone missing.
The ceremony comes two years after the disappearance of Tracey Gardner Tetso, who disappeared on the way to a Motley Crue concert in Washington, D.C. Her car was found days later in Glen Burnie. Gardner-Tetso's story appeared on CBS's Without a Trace and on America's Most Wanted, but she still has yet to be found.
"You sit there with no closure, and that's the hardest part," said Gardner-Tetso's friend Monika Barilla
Sunday's remembrance service also called on state lawmakers to create a task force for people who have gone missing.
"We have task forces for stolen cars, stolen credit cards, drugs...we need a task force involving law enforcement to investigate missing adults and children in the state of Maryland," said Sam Bowerman.
"I would like to see the government of the state of Maryland appoint a task force that would connect law enforcement officers through the state," said Darlene Huntsman, sister of a missing woman.
wjz.com - Families Want Task Force To Find Missing People
Jessica Kartalija
Reporting
(WJZ) WASHINGTON It was two years ago that a Maryland woman went missing on the way to a concert in Washington D.C. Family and friends who have had loved ones disappear came together Sunday to support each other.
Yellow balloons fill a room of people holding out hope, each balloon with a picture of an adult gone missing.
The ceremony comes two years after the disappearance of Tracey Gardner Tetso, who disappeared on the way to a Motley Crue concert in Washington, D.C. Her car was found days later in Glen Burnie. Gardner-Tetso's story appeared on CBS's Without a Trace and on America's Most Wanted, but she still has yet to be found.
"You sit there with no closure, and that's the hardest part," said Gardner-Tetso's friend Monika Barilla
Sunday's remembrance service also called on state lawmakers to create a task force for people who have gone missing.
"We have task forces for stolen cars, stolen credit cards, drugs...we need a task force involving law enforcement to investigate missing adults and children in the state of Maryland," said Sam Bowerman.
"I would like to see the government of the state of Maryland appoint a task force that would connect law enforcement officers through the state," said Darlene Huntsman, sister of a missing woman.
wjz.com - Families Want Task Force To Find Missing People
#19
Denise
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Posted 03 June 2007 - 04:12 PM
http://www.hometowna...07/06_03-50/TOP
Families hope DNA can settle missing persons cases
By HEATHER RAWLYK, Staff Writer
They are questions Cathy Gardner has asked herself constantly since her stepdaughter disappeared two years ago: Could she be one of the 57 bodies yet to be identified in the state of Maryland? Is it possible she is one of thousands of unidentified bodies in morgues throughout the country?
Next week, the family of Tracey Gardner will finally get a chance to see if their DNA matches that of a Jane Doe currently logged into the National Crime Information Center's DNA database. And dozens of other families will have the same opportunity.
The Maryland Task Force For The Missing and Unidentified, Adults & Children will collect family reference samples at the Maryland Inn in Annapolis Tuesday morning. Law enforcement officials from throughout the state will collect saliva swabs from relatives of missing persons - which will then be uploaded into the database.
The database will search automatically until a match is made, according to task force representatives. That means continuous investigation as more unidentified bodies are logged into the database every day.
Ms. Gardner's father, Richard, will submit his DNA at the event. It will be the first time a sample has been collected from the family since she went missing on March 6, 2005.
Ms. Gardner, then 32, had tickets to attend a Motley Crue concert in Washington, and was expected to meet friends there. She never showed up at the concert, and has not been seen since that day.
Cathy Gardner said her stepdaughter, who grew up in Pasadena, was last seen at her home in Rosedale. Her car was later found behind a Krispy Kreme store on Gov. Ritchie Highway in Glen Burnie. The case is being investigated as a homicide.
The Gardner family would have submitted their DNA in a heartbeat, if only they had been offered the chance by investigators.
Frustrated, Cathy Gardner joined other relatives of missing persons in Maryland to form the task force and take matters into their own hands.
"We just said, 'Look. We're at our wit's end,'" she said. "We put all our resources together. We've been meeting two to three times per month and split up what we needed to do for this (event)."
There are more than 200 missing men and women in Maryland, according to the Maryland Missing Persons Network. Sixteen of the missing are connected to Anne Arundel County.
With 57 unidentified bodies in Maryland, there is a chance that one of the missing could be a match, Mrs. Gardner said.
"I think, 'Could she be one of the 57 laying in a box that has not been identified?'" she said. "...At least it would be closure. Then now we can move on and go 'OK, what happened?' "
Submitting the DNA of unidentified bodies and that of relatives of missing loved ones is extremely important, especially in cold cases, according to David Cordle, chief investigator for the State's Attorney's Office.
"Across the United States there are tens of hundreds of unidentified remains sitting in various coroner's offices," he said. "That makes tens of thousands of opportunities to ID missing loved ones."
Mr. Cordle is the lead investigator in the case of Nancy Marleine Snow, who disappeared from her Annapolis home in November 1980. He has collected a DNA sample from Ms. Snow's daughter and plugged it into the database - but so far has not found a match.
But with Jane Does entered into the system daily, there is still a chance.
He hopes police agencies throughout the country will take advantage of the technology that is out there, and pull out boxes of bones that have been shelved for years, and upload samples.
Darlene Huntsman, of Millersville, has hope that submitting her DNA into the database will help find her family member, Bernadette Stevenson-Curruso.
In 1986, the 23-year-old from Essex disappeared while driving her grandmother's Chevy Cavalier.
Mrs. Huntsman, a task force member, wishes police would have taken a sample years ago.
"All of these things would have helped find my daughter a little sooner," she said.
Families hope DNA can settle missing persons cases
By HEATHER RAWLYK, Staff Writer
They are questions Cathy Gardner has asked herself constantly since her stepdaughter disappeared two years ago: Could she be one of the 57 bodies yet to be identified in the state of Maryland? Is it possible she is one of thousands of unidentified bodies in morgues throughout the country?
Next week, the family of Tracey Gardner will finally get a chance to see if their DNA matches that of a Jane Doe currently logged into the National Crime Information Center's DNA database. And dozens of other families will have the same opportunity.
The Maryland Task Force For The Missing and Unidentified, Adults & Children will collect family reference samples at the Maryland Inn in Annapolis Tuesday morning. Law enforcement officials from throughout the state will collect saliva swabs from relatives of missing persons - which will then be uploaded into the database.
The database will search automatically until a match is made, according to task force representatives. That means continuous investigation as more unidentified bodies are logged into the database every day.
Ms. Gardner's father, Richard, will submit his DNA at the event. It will be the first time a sample has been collected from the family since she went missing on March 6, 2005.
Ms. Gardner, then 32, had tickets to attend a Motley Crue concert in Washington, and was expected to meet friends there. She never showed up at the concert, and has not been seen since that day.
Cathy Gardner said her stepdaughter, who grew up in Pasadena, was last seen at her home in Rosedale. Her car was later found behind a Krispy Kreme store on Gov. Ritchie Highway in Glen Burnie. The case is being investigated as a homicide.
The Gardner family would have submitted their DNA in a heartbeat, if only they had been offered the chance by investigators.
Frustrated, Cathy Gardner joined other relatives of missing persons in Maryland to form the task force and take matters into their own hands.
"We just said, 'Look. We're at our wit's end,'" she said. "We put all our resources together. We've been meeting two to three times per month and split up what we needed to do for this (event)."
There are more than 200 missing men and women in Maryland, according to the Maryland Missing Persons Network. Sixteen of the missing are connected to Anne Arundel County.
With 57 unidentified bodies in Maryland, there is a chance that one of the missing could be a match, Mrs. Gardner said.
"I think, 'Could she be one of the 57 laying in a box that has not been identified?'" she said. "...At least it would be closure. Then now we can move on and go 'OK, what happened?' "
Submitting the DNA of unidentified bodies and that of relatives of missing loved ones is extremely important, especially in cold cases, according to David Cordle, chief investigator for the State's Attorney's Office.
"Across the United States there are tens of hundreds of unidentified remains sitting in various coroner's offices," he said. "That makes tens of thousands of opportunities to ID missing loved ones."
Mr. Cordle is the lead investigator in the case of Nancy Marleine Snow, who disappeared from her Annapolis home in November 1980. He has collected a DNA sample from Ms. Snow's daughter and plugged it into the database - but so far has not found a match.
But with Jane Does entered into the system daily, there is still a chance.
He hopes police agencies throughout the country will take advantage of the technology that is out there, and pull out boxes of bones that have been shelved for years, and upload samples.
Darlene Huntsman, of Millersville, has hope that submitting her DNA into the database will help find her family member, Bernadette Stevenson-Curruso.
In 1986, the 23-year-old from Essex disappeared while driving her grandmother's Chevy Cavalier.
Mrs. Huntsman, a task force member, wishes police would have taken a sample years ago.
"All of these things would have helped find my daughter a little sooner," she said.
#20
Denise
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Posted 05 June 2007 - 05:49 AM
The Maryland Task Force For The Missing and Unidentified, Adults & Children will collect family reference samples at the Maryland Inn in Annapolis Tuesday morning. Law enforcement officials from throughout the state will collect saliva swabs from relatives of missing persons  which will then be uploaded into the database.
The database will search automatically until a match is made, according to task force representatives. That means continuous investigation as more unidentified bodies are logged into the database every day.
Ms. Gardner's father, Richard, will submit his DNA at the event. It will be the first time a sample has been collected from the family since she went missing on March 6, 2005.
http://www.roadrunne...ewsitemID=73958
The database will search automatically until a match is made, according to task force representatives. That means continuous investigation as more unidentified bodies are logged into the database every day.
Ms. Gardner's father, Richard, will submit his DNA at the event. It will be the first time a sample has been collected from the family since she went missing on March 6, 2005.
http://www.roadrunne...ewsitemID=73958
#21
Denise
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Posted 05 June 2007 - 05:52 AM
http://www.baltimore...local-headlines
Relatives of missing turn to DNA
Advocates urge testing to match samples with unidentified remains
By Julie Scharper
Sun Reporter
Originally published June 5, 2007
Some of them got into their cars and drove away, never to be seen again. Some left the house one morning and never came back. Years, or even decades later, their families still struggle to find out what became of their loved ones.
Now some relatives of the missing persons are pinning their hopes on genetic technology. They are providing samples of their DNA to a national database so it can be compared with DNA from unidentified bodies across the country.
"There are many families out there who are needlessly going without an identification and slipping further and further into a state of despair," said George Adams, a coordinator for the University of North Texas System Center for Human Identification, which processes genetic information for the missing persons database.
He is scheduled to address relatives of missing persons and law enforcement officers at an event sponsored by the Maryland Task Force for Missing and Unidentified Adults and Children in Annapolis this morning.
The group was formed by relatives of some of 57 people reported missing in Maryland, including two sisters of Bernadette Caruso, who was last seen on a Saturday evening more than two decades ago leaving Eastpoint Mall. Her family members long ago accepted that she is most likely dead, but they yearn for the closure of finding her body.
"Who's to say that my sister hasn't been laying somewhere in Maryland or in another state and we haven't been able to identify her?" asked Caruso's sister, Darlene Huntsman of Millersville.
More than 40,000 sets of unidentified remains sit in the offices of medical examiners and there are more than 100,000 open missing person cases across the country, Adams said.
The FBI sponsors a national database of genetic information pertaining to these cases, the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), which compares information from relatives of missing people to found remains, Adams said.
Yet DNA has been collected from only a small fraction of relatives of missing persons, he said. The process of gathering it is quick and painless - a cheek swab - and the DNA is processed for free at the University of North Texas, one of three labs approved by the FBI to update the CODIS database.
"There is no backlog," Adams said, noting that his lab does not receive enough samples to keep its robotic system occupied. "They should be coming in by the thousands."
Huntsman and her sister, Susan Bowerman, expect to have their cheeks swabbed at today's event. They say that they plan to reach out to the families of other missing people and to urge law enforcement officials to take advantage of the genetic technology.
The sisters, along with Cathy Gardner, stepmother of Tracey Leigh Tetso, a Rosedale woman who disappeared on her way to a Motley Crue concert in March 2005, launched the task force a few months ago to push missing persons issues and to be a liaison between law enforcement and families.
"The impetus was frustration," said Susan Bowerman's husband, Sam Bowerman, a retired Baltimore County police detective who met his wife when he was investigating her sister's disappearance.
Adams said that missing persons units are often short-staffed and underfunded, yet he urged law enforcement officials to take advantage of the free service that his lab provides.
"There should never be a cold case involving a missing person," he said.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Missing relatives
If you have a blood relative who is missing:
• Contact the detective assigned to your missing person's case and ask to have a DNA sample taken.
• Visit the task force's Web site, www.themarylandtaskforceforthemissingandunidentified.org.
• Attend an informational meeting at 9:30 a.m. today at the Maryland Inn at 16 Church Circle in Annapolis.
Relatives of missing turn to DNA
Advocates urge testing to match samples with unidentified remains
By Julie Scharper
Sun Reporter
Originally published June 5, 2007
Some of them got into their cars and drove away, never to be seen again. Some left the house one morning and never came back. Years, or even decades later, their families still struggle to find out what became of their loved ones.
Now some relatives of the missing persons are pinning their hopes on genetic technology. They are providing samples of their DNA to a national database so it can be compared with DNA from unidentified bodies across the country.
"There are many families out there who are needlessly going without an identification and slipping further and further into a state of despair," said George Adams, a coordinator for the University of North Texas System Center for Human Identification, which processes genetic information for the missing persons database.
He is scheduled to address relatives of missing persons and law enforcement officers at an event sponsored by the Maryland Task Force for Missing and Unidentified Adults and Children in Annapolis this morning.
The group was formed by relatives of some of 57 people reported missing in Maryland, including two sisters of Bernadette Caruso, who was last seen on a Saturday evening more than two decades ago leaving Eastpoint Mall. Her family members long ago accepted that she is most likely dead, but they yearn for the closure of finding her body.
"Who's to say that my sister hasn't been laying somewhere in Maryland or in another state and we haven't been able to identify her?" asked Caruso's sister, Darlene Huntsman of Millersville.
More than 40,000 sets of unidentified remains sit in the offices of medical examiners and there are more than 100,000 open missing person cases across the country, Adams said.
The FBI sponsors a national database of genetic information pertaining to these cases, the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), which compares information from relatives of missing people to found remains, Adams said.
Yet DNA has been collected from only a small fraction of relatives of missing persons, he said. The process of gathering it is quick and painless - a cheek swab - and the DNA is processed for free at the University of North Texas, one of three labs approved by the FBI to update the CODIS database.
"There is no backlog," Adams said, noting that his lab does not receive enough samples to keep its robotic system occupied. "They should be coming in by the thousands."
Huntsman and her sister, Susan Bowerman, expect to have their cheeks swabbed at today's event. They say that they plan to reach out to the families of other missing people and to urge law enforcement officials to take advantage of the genetic technology.
The sisters, along with Cathy Gardner, stepmother of Tracey Leigh Tetso, a Rosedale woman who disappeared on her way to a Motley Crue concert in March 2005, launched the task force a few months ago to push missing persons issues and to be a liaison between law enforcement and families.
"The impetus was frustration," said Susan Bowerman's husband, Sam Bowerman, a retired Baltimore County police detective who met his wife when he was investigating her sister's disappearance.
Adams said that missing persons units are often short-staffed and underfunded, yet he urged law enforcement officials to take advantage of the free service that his lab provides.
"There should never be a cold case involving a missing person," he said.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Missing relatives
If you have a blood relative who is missing:
• Contact the detective assigned to your missing person's case and ask to have a DNA sample taken.
• Visit the task force's Web site, www.themarylandtaskforceforthemissingandunidentified.org.
• Attend an informational meeting at 9:30 a.m. today at the Maryland Inn at 16 Church Circle in Annapolis.
#22
Linda
Linda
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Posted 07 August 2007 - 08:12 AM
http://www.fbi.gov/w...idnap/tetso.htm
THE DETAILS
Tracey Leigh Tetso was last seen at her residence in Rosedale, Maryland, on March 6, 2005. She was supposed to attend a rock concert that evening in Washington, D.C., but failed to meet her friends there. Her vehicle was later found at a local hotel in Glen Burnie, Maryland, on March 17, 2005.
REMARKS
Tracey Leigh Tetso was last seen wearing a gray sweatshirt, white tennis shoes, and possibly blue jeans. She has the following tattoos: a bird on her right calf and a larger bird on her lower middle back. Tetso wears her hair long. She may use the alias of Tracey Leigh Gardner.
THE DETAILS
Tracey Leigh Tetso was last seen at her residence in Rosedale, Maryland, on March 6, 2005. She was supposed to attend a rock concert that evening in Washington, D.C., but failed to meet her friends there. Her vehicle was later found at a local hotel in Glen Burnie, Maryland, on March 17, 2005.
REMARKS
Tracey Leigh Tetso was last seen wearing a gray sweatshirt, white tennis shoes, and possibly blue jeans. She has the following tattoos: a bird on her right calf and a larger bird on her lower middle back. Tetso wears her hair long. She may use the alias of Tracey Leigh Gardner.
#23
Linda
Linda
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Posted 07 August 2007 - 08:19 AM
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/g/gardner-tetso_tracey.html
Left: Gardner-Tetso's tattoo;
Right: Gardner-Tetso's car
Details of Disappearance
Gardner-Tetso was last seen at approximately 3:00 p.m. on March 6, 2005 at her residence in the vicinity of the 7000 block of Bluegrass Road in Rosedale, Maryland. She was planning to meet friends that evening to attend a Motley Crue music concert at the MCI Center in Washington, D. C.; her friends had bought her a concert ticket for her birthday.
Gardner-Tetso never arrived at the concert and has never been heard from again. Her cellular phone has been turned off since her disappearance; the last recorded call was at 3:05 p.m. on March 6. There is a record of her black 1996 Pontiac Trans Am passing through the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel southbound at 7:48 p.m. The vehicle was located on March 17, eleven days later, in the parking lot of a Days Inn in the vicinity of the 6600 block of Richie Highway in Glen Burnie, Maryland. A photograph of the car is posted below this case summary. It has tinted windows and Maryland tags numbered LRN 534.
Authorities are not sure what happened to Gardner-Tetso, but they think she may have met with foul play. Her loved ones say is is uncharacteristic of her to leave without warning. Her husband, who reported her disappearance, has refused to cooperate with the investigation or participate in search efforts, and Gardner-Tetso's family says she was afraid of him and was considering divorce at the time she went missing. He is not being called a suspect in her disappearance, however.
Motley Crue offered a reward for information leading to Gardner-Tetso's safe return, but the offer has yielded no viable tips. She was employed as a dispatcher at Aggregate Industries at the time of her disappearance. Gardner-Tetso is described as a responsible and caring woman who owned a home and cars, had a good job and took good care of her three pets. Her loved ones do not believe she left of her own accord; they believe she was probably murdered. Her case remains unsolved.
ÂÂ
#24
Linda
Linda
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Posted 02 February 2008 - 01:38 PM
http://www.amw.com/m...ef.cfm?id=31602
Tracey Gardner-Tetso
Motley Crue Meets With Missing Fan's Family
A 33-year-old Maryland woman has been missing since March 6, 2005. She disappeared hours before she was supposed to meet friends at a Motley Crue concert in Washington, DC. On August 13, the band returned to the DC area for a concert and invited Tracey's family.
http://media.amw.com...oupdate_pdb.wmv
Members of Motley Crue met up with Tracey's family at a recent concert to offer hugs and hope.
http://media.amw.com...illance_pdb.wmv
Surveillance video shows Tracey's car pulling into a Days Inn parking lot at 8:01 the night she went missing. Police do not believe Tracey is the driver.
http://media.amw.com..._Crew_1_pdb.wmv
Motley Crue members, Nikki Sixx and Tommy Lee, sat down with AMW producers to talk about their missing fan, Tracey Gardner-Tetso.
http://media.amw.com..._Crew_2_pdb.wmv
AMW is teaming up with Motley Crue to locate Tracey.
Motley Crue Fan Missing
A heavy metal band has joined in the efforts to locate a missing Maryland woman. Tracey Gardner-Tetso was on her way to a Motley Crue concert, but she never made it and hasn't been heard from since.
Now, Motley Crue is matching a reward put up by Tracey's employer and Metro Crimestoppers in hopes of generating some information about Tracey's whereabouts. Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue said, "We hope our involvement helps brings more attention to this case, and anyone with information will step forward."
The 33-year-old Rosedale, MD woman was last seen March 6, 2005 before she failed to meet friends at a Motley Crue concert at the MCI Center in DC.
Tracey never made it to the concert, and when her friends tried to call her cell phone, it was turned off. On Monday, March 7, Tracey's friend, Christian, who she was supposed to go to the concert with, called her office to see if Tracey had shown up for work. Tracey's supervisor and friend, Monika Barilla, told Christian that Tracey wasn't in yet. Christian told Monika that Tracey had never made it to the concert. "Tracey is a fun loving person. She loved rock-n-roll and Motley Crue was her favorite," Tracey's friend Monika told AMW producers. By Tuesday, March 8, Tracey was still missing and no one had heard from her. Her friends decided to call the police.
Car Of Missing Crue Fan Found
Police immediately questioned Tracey's family and friends. But no one has seen or heard from her since 3:05 on March 6. Then, cops tracked down a small piece of the puzzle. Police say there is a record of Tracey's car passing through the southbound tube of the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel at 7:48 p.m. the night she went missing. Her last outgoing cell phone call was at 3:05 p.m. when she phoned her friend, Christian, who had bought her the Motley Crue tickets for her birthday.
According to officials, Tracey's car was later found in the Glen Burnie area at a local Days Inn. So far, police have few leads as to Tracey's whereabouts and are hoping with national attention, someone might come forward with the clue they're looking for.
While Tracey's family friends aren't giving up on the search for more information about her disappearance, neither are the members of Motley Crue. Upon planning to return to the Washington D.C. area for a concert on August 13th, Vince Neil said, "We hope Tracey will be at that show. We'll be holding a pair of front row tickets for her."
A Special Meeting
Tracey wasn't at that show. But her some of her friends and family were there in honor of Tracey. The band gave them the royal treatment with top notch seats. But that's not all. Tracey's mom Kathy Gardner had never been to a concert before so band members made sure her first experience was memorable.
Band Members Tommy Lee and Nikki Sixx invited Tracey's family backstage to offer their support and encouragement. (See VIDEO AND PHOTOS) Everyone thanked Tommy and Nikki for their help and vigilance with hugs backstage and told them that Tracey was there in spirit.
Last Seen
Baltimore, MD
Police say there is a record of Gardner-Tetso's car passing through the southbound tube of the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel around 8 p.m. on March 6, 2005
Other Possible Locations
Maryland
Tracey's car was found at a Maryland Days Inn
Tracey Gardner-Tetso
Motley Crue Meets With Missing Fan's Family
A 33-year-old Maryland woman has been missing since March 6, 2005. She disappeared hours before she was supposed to meet friends at a Motley Crue concert in Washington, DC. On August 13, the band returned to the DC area for a concert and invited Tracey's family.
http://media.amw.com...oupdate_pdb.wmv
Members of Motley Crue met up with Tracey's family at a recent concert to offer hugs and hope.
http://media.amw.com...illance_pdb.wmv
Surveillance video shows Tracey's car pulling into a Days Inn parking lot at 8:01 the night she went missing. Police do not believe Tracey is the driver.
http://media.amw.com..._Crew_1_pdb.wmv
Motley Crue members, Nikki Sixx and Tommy Lee, sat down with AMW producers to talk about their missing fan, Tracey Gardner-Tetso.
http://media.amw.com..._Crew_2_pdb.wmv
AMW is teaming up with Motley Crue to locate Tracey.
Motley Crue Fan Missing
A heavy metal band has joined in the efforts to locate a missing Maryland woman. Tracey Gardner-Tetso was on her way to a Motley Crue concert, but she never made it and hasn't been heard from since.
Now, Motley Crue is matching a reward put up by Tracey's employer and Metro Crimestoppers in hopes of generating some information about Tracey's whereabouts. Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue said, "We hope our involvement helps brings more attention to this case, and anyone with information will step forward."
The 33-year-old Rosedale, MD woman was last seen March 6, 2005 before she failed to meet friends at a Motley Crue concert at the MCI Center in DC.
Tracey never made it to the concert, and when her friends tried to call her cell phone, it was turned off. On Monday, March 7, Tracey's friend, Christian, who she was supposed to go to the concert with, called her office to see if Tracey had shown up for work. Tracey's supervisor and friend, Monika Barilla, told Christian that Tracey wasn't in yet. Christian told Monika that Tracey had never made it to the concert. "Tracey is a fun loving person. She loved rock-n-roll and Motley Crue was her favorite," Tracey's friend Monika told AMW producers. By Tuesday, March 8, Tracey was still missing and no one had heard from her. Her friends decided to call the police.
Car Of Missing Crue Fan Found
Police immediately questioned Tracey's family and friends. But no one has seen or heard from her since 3:05 on March 6. Then, cops tracked down a small piece of the puzzle. Police say there is a record of Tracey's car passing through the southbound tube of the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel at 7:48 p.m. the night she went missing. Her last outgoing cell phone call was at 3:05 p.m. when she phoned her friend, Christian, who had bought her the Motley Crue tickets for her birthday.
According to officials, Tracey's car was later found in the Glen Burnie area at a local Days Inn. So far, police have few leads as to Tracey's whereabouts and are hoping with national attention, someone might come forward with the clue they're looking for.
While Tracey's family friends aren't giving up on the search for more information about her disappearance, neither are the members of Motley Crue. Upon planning to return to the Washington D.C. area for a concert on August 13th, Vince Neil said, "We hope Tracey will be at that show. We'll be holding a pair of front row tickets for her."
A Special Meeting
Tracey wasn't at that show. But her some of her friends and family were there in honor of Tracey. The band gave them the royal treatment with top notch seats. But that's not all. Tracey's mom Kathy Gardner had never been to a concert before so band members made sure her first experience was memorable.
Band Members Tommy Lee and Nikki Sixx invited Tracey's family backstage to offer their support and encouragement. (See VIDEO AND PHOTOS) Everyone thanked Tommy and Nikki for their help and vigilance with hugs backstage and told them that Tracey was there in spirit.
Last Seen
Baltimore, MD
Police say there is a record of Gardner-Tetso's car passing through the southbound tube of the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel around 8 p.m. on March 6, 2005
Other Possible Locations
Maryland
Tracey's car was found at a Maryland Days Inn
#25
Denise
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Posted 24 March 2008 - 04:20 PM
http://wjz.com/local...o.2.683009.html
Vigil Held For Missing Balt. Co. Woman
BALTIMORE COUNTY, Md. (WJZ) ― More than three years ago, Tracey Tetso drove away from her Baltimore County home on Bluegrass Road and seemed to vanish into this air.
On March 6, 2005, 32-year-old Tracey Tetso got in her car with plans to head to Washington DC for a Motley Crue concert. But something happened, because the Rosedale woman never made it to the concert and hasn't been seen since.
"When she didn't show up for work, I knew something was wrong because Tracey always showed up for work, and if she didn't show up, she called," said Monika Barilla.
Three years later, her family fears the worst.
"I definitely believe foul play is involved. I do believe that she is not alive. I've come to grips with it," said her mother, Cathy Gardner.
At a vigil Saturday night, the Tetso family continued to call media attention in hopes something new will develop.
Investigators have few pieces to this puzzle. The night of the concert, cameras caught Tetso's Pontiac Trans Am passing through the Harbor Tunnel around 8 p.m. Her car was recovered eleven days after her disappearance in a hotel parking lot in Glen Burnie after surveillance video showed her Trans Am pulling in.
Tetso's mother is doubtful her daughter was behind the wheel.
"I don't believe she left this area that day, so it was not her in that car," she said.
Even Motley Crue joined the effort, donating $10,000 to the now $25,000 reward.
Tetso is listed with the FBI as a missing person. If you have any information on this case, you can contact either the FBI or Baltimore County investigators.
Vigil Held For Missing Balt. Co. Woman
BALTIMORE COUNTY, Md. (WJZ) ― More than three years ago, Tracey Tetso drove away from her Baltimore County home on Bluegrass Road and seemed to vanish into this air.
On March 6, 2005, 32-year-old Tracey Tetso got in her car with plans to head to Washington DC for a Motley Crue concert. But something happened, because the Rosedale woman never made it to the concert and hasn't been seen since.
"When she didn't show up for work, I knew something was wrong because Tracey always showed up for work, and if she didn't show up, she called," said Monika Barilla.
Three years later, her family fears the worst.
"I definitely believe foul play is involved. I do believe that she is not alive. I've come to grips with it," said her mother, Cathy Gardner.
At a vigil Saturday night, the Tetso family continued to call media attention in hopes something new will develop.
Investigators have few pieces to this puzzle. The night of the concert, cameras caught Tetso's Pontiac Trans Am passing through the Harbor Tunnel around 8 p.m. Her car was recovered eleven days after her disappearance in a hotel parking lot in Glen Burnie after surveillance video showed her Trans Am pulling in.
Tetso's mother is doubtful her daughter was behind the wheel.
"I don't believe she left this area that day, so it was not her in that car," she said.
Even Motley Crue joined the effort, donating $10,000 to the now $25,000 reward.
Tetso is listed with the FBI as a missing person. If you have any information on this case, you can contact either the FBI or Baltimore County investigators.
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