70 replies to this topic

[Lori Davis]

http://www.wkyc.com/...d=98277&catid=3

http://www.wkyc.com/...ines400x300.jpg

Cleveland family of missing man still searching one year later
Dick Russ
October 9, 2008

CLEVELAND -- The family of Justin Gaines still holds out hope the college student is alive, almost a year after he disappeared in Georgia.

"We have not given up. We continue the search everyday and every day is hell," says Justin's aunt Kelli McGill of North Ridgeville.

She and Justin's family in Georgia are planning a Northeast Ohio fund-raising dinner to support search efforts on the one-year anniversary of Justin's disappearance. He was last seen leaving a nightclub in Duluth, Georgia on November 2, 2007.

Justin was 18 years old at the time and a college student near Atlanta. He grew up in North Ridgeville.

"This will probably be our last major public event, so we need your help," says McGill, who tells Channel 3 News search funds are low and the young man's family is desperate.

"His family is crying out for help and desperately needs people to attend this event," McGill says.

The dinner will be held at Bullfrog's Sports Cafe on Center Ridge Road in North Ridgeville on October 25.

There is surveillance video of Justin leaving the nightclub but few other clues as to what may have happened to him. A reward of at least $25,000 has been offered and Justin's story has been aired on local and national television.

Patti Gaines, Justin's stepmother, provided photos of Justin when he was a boy.

"Sometimes if people see him as a child and realize that he IS someone's child, it may help," Patti Gaines told Channel 3 News.

McGill, who signs her pleas for Justin's return or recovery with the words "with hope," says whatever happened to Justin, the family needs closure.

"We understand that something detrimental most likely happened to Justin, but no matter his condition he deserves to be brought home with the proper respect."

"We will not be able to continue the search in order to bring him home if we can no longer financially support the independent agencies involved in looking for him."

Information about Justin Gaines disappearance and the North Ridgeville fund raising dinner can be accessed by following the links provided.

Print a poster: http://www.projectja...ustinGaines.pdf

[Kelly]

AAN Notify sent. Code 41

Help us find the missing: Become an AAN Member
http://www.projectja.../awareness.html

[Denise]

http://www.wkyc.com/...d=99489&catid=3

Community helps fund family search

It's been almost a year, and there's still no trace of a college student who mysteriously vanished from a nightclub.

A North Ridgeville restaurant was packed Saturday night with people doing what they can, to help find Justin Gaines. There were thousands of pictures of Justin on bumper stickers, buttons, and wristbands, handed out by volunteers.

"Every night I go to bed I wonder what's happened to my son", said his mother Erika Wilson. "I mean it's stressful after a year that we haven't found his shirt his shoes, his wallet."

He disappeared about a year ago from a bar near Athens Georgia. He was a freshman at nearby Gainesville State College.

Justin spent his early childhood in North Ridgeville, and lots of people there know him or his family. The Bulldog Sports Cafe was packed with people supporting the family. The event was a fundraiser to help the family search more and search harder.

"It does overwhelm me. I didn't expect this many people', said his father, Rich Gaines.

So far they have a Justin Gaines website. EquuSearch has looked for him. So has the Georgia State Defense Fund. The family's hired a private investigator. And the story's gotten network TV coverage. There are still no leads about Justin.

"People say you gotta give up", said Rich Gaines. "You don't give up on your child."

Justin's Mom has started a foundation called "Justin time". It focuses on what she calls the overlooked missing; teenagers and young adults. She hopes to help bring some other the closure she longs for.

Saturday was the last fundraiser the family will have in Ohio.

[Denise]

Justin has now been missing for one year.  Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends for his safe return.

[Lori Davis]

http://onlineathens....351181888.shtml

Missing student feared dead
A year after disappearance, family turns to helping others cope
By Lee Shearer
Story updated at 11:27 pm on 11/2/2008

It's been a year since Justin Gaines disappeared from Wild Bill's nightclub in Gwinnett County, and his family still doesn't know what happened to him - and may never know.

They hope for the best, but fear the worst.

Gwinnett County police and a private investigator the Gaines family hired believe the 19-year-old Gainesville State College freshman may have met with foul play. Gaines, a first-semester student at Gainesville's Oconee County campus, had just taken an apartment in Athens when he disappeared.

He went with friends Nov. 1 to the nightclub near Gwinnett Place Mall, probably carrying a fake ID. By 1 a.m. Nov. 2, his friends had gone and Gaines called some other pals trying to get a ride home.

He had no luck, and sometime about 2 a.m., his telephone went dead.

Since then, there's been no activity in his bank account, no calls on his cell phone - nothing to indicate his fate.

Gwinnett County police and Lawrenceville private investigator Bob Poulnot say they have chased down dozens of leads, and police say they've devoted thousands of hours to the case - and have come up dry.

Described by friends as laidback, bound for success and someone who brought people together, the Brookwood High School graduate may have met up with someone who saw him as a victim with money, some friends believe.

"He was always nice and clean shaved. He looked like he had a lot of cash on him," said Justin Hix, a friend since high school. "He loved people, and he loved helping people."

"I just think he met the wrong people and got in the wrong situation at the wrong time," said Cassidy Kohler, a friend who dated Gaines in high school.

Family members simply don't know what happened to him, and the uncertainty has been torture.

"It's hard not to know where your child is for so long, and not know if he's OK or not," his mother, Erika Wilson of Snellville, said in an interview. "I still hope that he's OK, but as time goes by and we heard so many rumors. ... It's upsetting. We don't have a shoe. We don't have a shirt. We're left to still wonder why."

"It's the worst thing that could ever happen," said an aunt, Kelli McGill of Wellington, Ohio. "You have no idea what it's like until you go through this, not knowing where your loved one is."

Wilson and McGill became experts in missing-persons investigations, but in the days immediately after Gaines disappeared, they were lost.

When Gwinnett police took Wilson's missing claim report a day after he disappeared, all the officers told her was that the report would be ready in four or five days, she said.

When the missing person is a teenager or an adult, police often assume the person has gone away voluntarily and will return soon, said David Van Norman, a deputy coroner investigator and unidentified and missing persons coordinator for the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department in California.

"This is an epidemic, but unfortunately, there's an attitude in law enforcement that I hear every day, that families hear: 'Well, there's no law against being missing. If we wait 24 hours, they'll come back.' "

That assumption usually is right - but in those cases when it's not, police miss their best chance to find out what happened, Van Norman said.

There's no national standard for missing persons investigations, Poulnot said.

Poulnot pushed police to gather DNA evidence and dental records on Gaines to post on a national law enforcement network.

Photographs help identify people, but the only sure ways are dental records, fingerprints and DNA, Van Norman said.

But police rarely gather and distribute that kind of evidence in missing-persons cases, said Van Norman, who has written a guide for families to use when a relative goes missing.

Wilson and family found a way to use their own pain and anger to help others caught in the same heartbreaking situation - they launched a foundation they hope will help other families undergoing the trauma of a missing son or daughter.

They hope their new Justin Time Foundation can help guide family members in the first numb stages of a family member's disappearance, both psychologically and in pushing police to investigate.

It's help the people can use, Poulnot said.

"Families are so traumatized initially they can't function. It's difficult for them to think of what to do, much less have the personal knowledge. They're totally dependent on the police department at that time to find their son or daughter," he said.

And Gaines' family created a Web site - www.justingaines.com - and posted a reward of $50,000 for his return, $25,000 for information that would lead to finding him.

Helping others will help ease their own wounds, said Gaines' aunt.

"You have all of this uneasiness, all of this worry, all of this stress, and you don't know what to do about it. It's not like you can just go out and find Justin today. Your life has been permanently changed because of this. You have all of this emotion built up in you.

"The best thing to do is turn it into good. We want to turn that passion into helping other people find their loved ones. I would much rather be focusing on helping someone else find their loved one than focusing on my anger that Justin isn't here," McGill said.

Originally published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Monday, November 03, 2008

[Denise]

http://www.ledger-en...ory/496321.html

Family presses search for missing Ga. teen

The Associated Press --

SNELLVILLE, Ga. --An 18-year-old Georgia student missing for a year hasn't been forgotten.

Justin Gaines' mother and about 150 friends and supporters gathered Saturday in Snellville to keep Gaines' memory alive and to continue the search for him.

The search began Nov. 2, 2007, when the freshman at Oconee campus of Gainesville College in Athens disappeared from a Duluth nightclub.

His mother, Erika Wilson, says they have distributed thousands of fliers, bumper sticks and buttons bearing his image.

Police say they are no closer to finding Gaines.

Gwinnett police spokesman Cpl. David Schiralli says there is no new information, but the case is still open.

More information is on a Web site: http://www.justingaines.com.

[Denise]

http://www.ajc.com/m...s_1102_web.html
Family gathers to remember missing teen

By GRACIE BONDS STAPLES
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Saturday, November 01, 2008

On the first day of November, a month indistinguishable from the difficult ones just past, a mother tried to forget that her son may never come home again.

And so, instead of giving in to her fear, Erika Wilson on Saturday afternoon did what she has done since she first learned her son was missing: She kept Justin Gaines’ memory alive.

About 150 family and friends gathered around tables decorated with cowboy boot confetti and ate barbecue brisket, cole slaw and mac and cheese at the Snellville Masonic Lodge. Each hoped their donations of $5 a person for the meal, and their purchases of raffle tickets, would help bring Justin back home.

They have been searching for Justin since Nov. 2, 2007, when the Snellville teen — then an 18-year-old freshman at Oconee campus of Gainesville College in Athens — disappeared from a Duluth nightclub. They have distributed thousands of fliers, bumper sticks and buttons bearing his image. “Have you seen me?” they all ask.

A year later, neither Gwinnett County police nor the family’s private investigator, Bob Poulnot, are any closer to finding him.

Cpl. David Schiralli, a Gwinnett police spokesman, said last week, “I can tell you now that there is no new information. The case is still open, and investigators are waiting for any new leads to surface or someone to come forward.”

Poulnot said he’s not giving up. But he acknowledged that the longer Justin Gaines is missing, the greater the odds he will not be found alive.

“He had a close relationship with his family and friends. He was enrolled in college and doing well,” Poulnot said. “It’s very unlikely he would not call his family and let them know his whereabouts within a few days, much less in a whole year.”

The approximately $1,400 raised Saturday will help pay for the private investigator; keep Justin’s cell phone service activated; print more fliers, bumper stickers and buttons; and maintain a Web site, www.justingaines.com.

By keeping Justin’s image before the public — by praying until something happens — his family hopes to eventually turn up clues to his whereabouts.

As strains of Keith Anderson’s “I Still Miss You” played softly in the background, family and friends, many wearing buttons bearing Justin’s image, milled in and out of the lodge dinning hall. Some stayed to talk. Others ordered to-go plates and left.

At 5:30 p.m., everyone gathered in a circle.

The Rev. Randy Rainwater of Grace Fellowship Church in Snellville said he was at a loss for words.

“This is one of the hardest things I’ve even been a part of,” he said, before bowing to pray for peace and comfort for the family. “My prayer is that someone some where will be brave enough to tell the truth.”

That’s Wilson’s prayer, too.

She wonders how much longer she can do this, but she also thinks what life would be like if she didn’t keep looking for Justin.

“You have to have hope,” she said. “I couldn’t function if I didn’t.”

[Lori Davis]

http://www.myfoxatla..._Answers_060509
Mother of Missing Teen Needs Answers
Updated: Friday, 05 Jun 2009, 10:19 PM EDT
Published : Friday, 05 Jun 2009, 9:35 PM EDT

It's been 19-months and still no sign of a missing Gwinnett County teenager. The family of Justin Gaines is hoping surveillance video showing him leaving a nightclub brings in fresh leads.

Erika Wilson said every time the phone rings she hopes the voice on the other line has information that will bring closure to her family. It's been something that's been out of reach for more than a year and a half.

The surveillance video is grainy and lasts only seconds, but the family of Justin Gaines hopes you take a close look.

The Gainesville College student disappeared after a night of partying at Wild Bills on November 1, 2007. His mother said this is the final confirmed sighting of the then 18-year-old.

"He was 18 when he went missing, then 19, now he's 20. And I don't want 21 to come along with no answers," said Wilson.

She said Gaines was unsuccessfully trying to reach friends for a ride home. The surveillance tape shows Gaines walking in to the club. It was released in 2007. The tape, several searches and a $25,000 reward have failed to turn up any signs of him.

"I know my son has probably been murdered and people out there know something," said Gaines mother.

The missing teen's family hired a private investigator, who said he is revisiting earlier tips in the case. He said, in particular, he wants to talk to an anonymous male caller who said he saw Justin that night, talking to two men in a parking lot.

"He also stated that over the weekend, he saw these two people and they talked about what happened to Justin," said Justin's mother.

Wilson said she's spent countless hours looking at images of her son disappearing into the darkness.

"I beg you don't make me go through this any longer," she said.

Wilson has hope someone will come forward and even wears a bracelet with the word on it.

"I thought after two weeks we'd have answers - good or bad. I never thought it would be 19 months. That this would be the life cycle that we do every day," she said.

[Kelly]

AAN Annual Poster Notify Sent to AAN Subscribers  Code 77

Help us find the missing: Become an AAN Member and receive notifications about missing persons via email.

Click here to become a part of the solution: http://www.projectja...awareness.shtml

[Jenn]

NamUs Profile for Justin: https://www.findthem....org/cases/5696

[Jenn]

Charley Project Profile for Justin: http://www.charleypr...nes_justin.html


Age-progression to age 20 (circa 2009)

[Lori Davis]

Justin has now been missing more than 3 years.  Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends and loved ones.

[Lori Davis]

Search continues for Justin Gaines after disappearance

8:48 AM, Jan 11, 2012 

ATLANTA, GA (CBS) - Gwinnett County police say something you may have seen can help solve one of Atlanta's unforgettable mysteries. This is the story of Justin Gaines, an 18-year-old college student who vanished from a Gwinnett County nightclub.

Erika Wilson smiles when she talks about her beloved son, Justin Gaines. He was a strong, charming young man.

Read more: http://www.todaysthv...r-disappearance

[Shannon]

http://www.11alive.c...f-Justin-Gaines

Five years later, still no trace of Justin Gaines

11:40 PM, Nov 2, 2012

Written by Blayne Alexander

SNELLVILLE - It hits Erika Wilson every time she walks by an Abercrombie and Fitch store. That familiar smell.

It reminds her of Justin.

"The other day, we were walking through the mall and that cologne just hit me in the face and I said, 'that's Justin's cologne," Wilson said. "It makes me cry."

Wilson last saw her son on November 1st, 2007. It was a Thursday night; Justin Gaines was heading out for a night at Wild Bill's in Duluth. Surveillance video shows him leaving the club around 2am. He was never seen again.

Gwinnett Police and private investigator Bob Poulnot have worked the case for five years, but still no trace of the 18-year-old.

But they may have a break in the case.

Poulnot says it has to do with an anonymous tip received in December 2007, one month after Justin disappeared. Police followed the tip at the time, but it led them nowhere. But in the past month, a couple of new tips have sparked renewed interest in that anonymous tipster of 2007.

Poulnot spoke out Friday on 11Alive News, hoping to reach the anonymous caller.

"We think it's very important that we speak with you," he said. "We have a desire to keep your name out of this, but at the same time, we need the information you have in order to find Justin Gaines."

For Justin's mother, the anniversaries are the hardest.

"Everything replays back in my mind. Yesterday I'm thinking he was coming home. At 11 o'clock I'm thinking he was going in the club," she said.

"By three or four I'm thinking, was he murdered at this time? Where did he go? It's like a bad video that plays over and over in your mind. You don't know what happened. We just want closure."

Poulnot says the anonymous caller, or anyone with information, can call an anonymous tip line: 877-270-9500.

[Shannon]

http://www.myfoxatla...5756/ohio-story

Ohio story renews hope for Justin Gaines' mother

Posted: May 07, 2013 1:53 PM MDT
Updated: May 07, 2013 3:29 PM MDT

By Julia Reynolds

The remarkable story of three young women missing for years found alive in Ohio has sparked hope for a Gwinnett County mother who last saw her son five and a half years ago.

Justin Gaines, then 18, vanished in November of 2007. His mother, Erika Wilson, said that she will never change her phone number and will never move from her home as long as there's a possibility her son is alive.

Wilson knows what the families of the three women found in Cleveland, Ohio have gone through.

"At first I cried, cried that they have closure but also positive -- they have their loved ones back in their arms," Wilson said.

Wilson's son was last seen on surveillance video leaving Wild Bill's on Pleasant Hill Road at 2 a.m. back in November 2007.

"Went out one night and was never seen again. But why? Why don't we know where my son is? Why are we going through this," Wilson said.

Wilson has a connection to one of the Cleveland women. She and Justin are from Ohio and her sister knows Georgina DeJesus' father. That sister helped DeJesus search for his daughter.

"Justin's Aunt Kelly has actually met with Georgina's father a couple of times while they were doing searches up there, and just talked, because it's always helpful to talk with someone else that's going through the same thing," Wilson said.

The thrilling discovery in Ohio gives hope to Wilson, who is often surrounded by thoughts of the worst. She hopes the Ohio discovery will help re-ignite the search for her son.

"So many people feel Justin's been murdered. But for me, my hope is that Justin's tied up in a basement by some woman…who thought he's good looking and wanted babies or children," Wilson said.

Justin's mom believes people out there know what happened to her son.

Gwinnett county police say they continue to work this investigation. They ask anyone with information to give them a call.

[Lori Davis]

http://www.myfoxatla...tin-gaines-case

 

Search for Justin Gaines suspended, indefinitely

 

Posted: Mar 27, 2014 4:53 PM EDT

Updated: Apr 03, 2014 4:55 PM EDT

By Will Nunley, Senior Digital EditorCONNECT

By George Franco, FOX 5 Reporte

 

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. - Gwinnett County authorities have suspended the search for missing teen Justin Gaines.

 

On Thursday afternoon several investigative units with the Gwinnett County Sheriff's Office followed a lead that led them to an old well on a remote road in rural Gwinnett County. Investigators have been on the scene since noon Thursday.

 

Sheriff Butch Conway, being very hands on with this case, is at the scene operating the trackhoe.

 

"It's a case we have been actively investigating with the Gwinnett County Police Department and it developed and (we are) following up on the leads that was a result of our investigation," said Deputy Shannon Volkodav.

 

Deputy Volkodav said they want to provide the Gaines family with closure. That is something that Justin's mother has been waiting for 6 long year.

 

"We long for closure. We never want the worst, but we know in our hearts it's going to happen and the sooner, the better. Really, that we have closure, you know, something maybe to help our family move on," said Justin's mother, Erika Wilson.

 

Wilson said that Justin's birthday is in a few days. He would have been 25 years old. She said it would be nice to give her son a proper goodbye.

 

Gaines was last seen at Wild Bill's nightclub in Duluth on November 2nd, 2007 at 2 A.M. Gaines was seen on surveillance camera walking away from the establishment. In the years since, his disappearance has sparked national headlines and led to countless hours of searches.

 

The Gwinnett County Sheriff would not go into details about why they suspended the search.; his office also failed to disclose what they found in the area. Authorities say they do no plan to return to this site, in the future. 

[Lori Davis]

http://www.cbsnews.c...ing-since-2007/

 

Cops: Tip leads to new search for teen missing since 2007

 

By CRIMESIDER STAFF AP  September 2, 2015, 4:55 PM

 

MONROE, Ga. -- Investigators hope a recent tip could help lead them to the body of a college student who went missing almost 8 years ago.

 

Multiple media outlets report 18-year-old Justin Gaines was last seen alive outside a Gwinnett County nightclub in November 2007. He was a freshman at the Oconee campus of Gainesville State College when he vanished.

 

On Tuesday, Walton County Sheriff Joe Chapman said investigators received a tip that Gaines's body may be in a well near the Apalachee River.

 

Chapman says authorities have searched the High Shoals area near the river for two days and pumped several wells.

 

Chapman says crews are returning to the area Wednesday to continue searching and will also use sonar equipment to search in water.

 

No arrests have been made in the case.

[Lori Davis]

http://www.wsbtv.com...-8-years/nnXtp/

 

Search suspended for Gwinnett teen missing for 8 years

 

Updated: 6:09 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 3, 2015 | Posted: 3:24 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 3, 2015

By Richard Elliot

 

WALTON COUNTY, Ga. — Crews have suspended the search for the body of a Gwinnett County teen missing for nearly eight years.

 

The Walton County Sheriff's Office announced late Thursday that an extensive three-day search of the property along the Apalachee River yielded no clues as to the disappearance of Justin Gaines.

 

Gaines vanished from a Duluth nightclub back in 2007.  Since then Gwinnett County Sheriff Butch Conway has chased clues across north Georgia hoping to find Gaines' remains and give closure to his family.

 

"It'll be closure for me, too. A case like this haunts you when you know you're close and you really want to get it solved," Conway said Wednesday.

 

He told Channel 2's Richard Elliot that an inmate long considered a person of interest in the case gave them information that a group of people dumped Gaines' body down an old abandoned well on the property along High Shoals Rd.

 

Crews searched or dug out three abandoned wells but found nothing.  A Georgia State Patrol dive team and a DNR Ranger sonar found nothing in a mill pond on the property.

 

Conway says he's never had another case like this in his entire career.

 

"I have never seen a case like this before that you had so many involved with this and no one's talked over such a long period of time," he said.

 

Deputies said the case remains an open and active investigation, and that investigators are pursuing other leads.

[Kelly]

http://www.wsbtv.com...nes-case/nnkFd/

Updated: 7:36 p.m. Monday, Sept. 21, 2015 | Posted: 3:45 p.m. Monday, Sept. 21, 2015

Man charged with concealing death in Justin Gaines case

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. —

Channel 2 Action News has learned a man has been charged with concealing a death in the Justin Gaines case.

Gaines vanished from a Duluth nightclub in 2007.

Channel 2’s Tony Thomas was the first person to tell the victim's mother of the charges and the first thing she asked Thomas was for the name of the man charged with concealing her son’s death.

Authorities had tried to keep this all quiet but an arrest warrant and Thomas’ questions brought out many new details in the case.

“Investigators received information from three sources that (Martin) Wilkie was involved in the disappearance,” said Chief Deputy Keith Brooks with the Walton County Sheriff's Office.

Walton County authorities charged Wilkie with concealing a death.

And despite one of the informants later admitting she was lying, investigators still believe Wilkie had something to do with the disappearance of Gaines.

"That's what we are actively pursuing,” Brooks said.

Gaines disappeared after leaving Wild Bill's nightclub in Duluth in 2007.

Repeated searches of Wells in Gwinnett and Walton counties have come up empty, but earlier this month, Thelma Ballew and her son, both inmates, described their involvement in the disappearance.

An investigator wrote Ballew said, "She participated and assisted the accused in transporting the victim's (Justin Gaines) body to High Shoals, Walton County, Georgia in a black metal toolbox."

Ballew later recanted.

“We exhausted the leads that we had. It was a setback as far as extended the time and manpower out there,” Brooks said.

The warrant also says Ballew's son, Dustin Glass, claimed he and Wilkie assaulted Gaines, which lead to Gaines being shot to death.

Wilkie is free on bond.

His lawyer told Thomas by phone they are considering a federal civil rights lawsuit but first are focusing on getting the charges dropped.

Investigators still believe they are on the right track.

“Hopefully with the coverage that this is receiving, we will receive more tips that will lead to more information,” Brooks said.

A magistrate court judge in Walton County to this point has allowed the concealing a death charge to stand.

Although authorities admit given that one key witness has admitted lying, those charges may ultimately be dismissed.