Press Release: More Than 50 Children Rescued During Operation Cross Country IV

For Immediate Release
October 26, 2009
Washington D.C., FBI National Press Office (202) 324-3691

Over the past 72 hours, the FBI, its local and state law enforcement partners, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) concluded Operation Cross Country IV, a three-day national enforcement action as part of the Innocence Lost National Initiative. The operation included enforcement actions in 36 cities across 30 FBI divisions around the country and led to the recovery of 52 children who were being victimized through prostitution. Additionally, nearly 700 others, including 60 pimps, were arrested on state and local charges.

“Child prostitution continues to be a significant problem in our country, as evidenced by the number of children rescued through the continued efforts of our crimes against children task forces,” said Kevin Perkins, Assistant Director of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. “There is no work more important than protecting America’s children and freeing them from the cycle of victimization. Through our strategic partnerships with state and local law enforcement agencies, we are able to make a difference.”

Residents on edge as 9 women vanish from N.C. city

Search for serial killer after six turn up dead AP .

By ALYSIA PATTERSON, Associated Press Writer Alysia Patterson, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 36 mins ago

ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. – They spent their nights jumping in and out of strange cars, trolling otherwise empty streets lined with decaying storefronts and boarded-up homes. Many sold sex to support drug habits or children left in the care of worried, hardworking grandmothers.

Even when they were picked up for drugs or prostitution, nights in jail looming, they called home to let their families know they were OK. Then, one by one, the calls stopped.

MS: Official wants phone records in prostitution case (or, Feds in our bedrooms)

By: The Associated Press | 02 Jul 2009 | 11:28 AM ET

JACKSON, Miss. – Dr. Roger Weiner, a Coahoma County supervisor accused of soliciting prostitutes on SugarDaddyforMe.com, wants records from a cellular telephone apparently used by an undercover agent involved in a sting operation.

Federal prosecutors claim Weiner thought he was meeting two prostitutes when he was arrested by the FBI at the Shady Nook truck stop on May 17. Weiner’s plan was to take the women to his cabin on Moon Lake near Clarksdale, according to court records.

Loved Ones Fear Truck Driver May Be Linked To California Missing

CUE Center For Missing Persons
PO Box 12714
Wilmington, NC 28405
Contact:
Monica Caison
(910) 343-1131
(910) 232-1687
cuecenter@aol.com

www.ncmissingpersons.org

For immediate release:
April 23, 2009

Note left behind reveals that a body can be found on the “15”

Wilmington, NC: April Pitzer vanished on June 28, 2004 and despite multiple searchers, public awareness campaigns, national coverage and pleas to the Newberry community; she remains missing. “It has been a long road paved with many tears”, said Gloria Denton, Pitzer’s, mother; “she has two little girls and a family who loves and misses her deeply,” she added. April was last seen in Newberry Springs, California; it is believed she took a ride with a trucker with plans to travel to her mother’s home in Arkansas, but never arrived. April called her grandmother from Arizona while traveling with a truck driver advising her of this information; a note was found in a bathroom stall at a pilot truck stop in Oregon possibly referencing a connection to April Pitzer’s case.

Many murder victims found along highways were killed by truckers, FBI says

Posted on Thu, Apr. 09, 2009

By JUDY L. THOMAS
The Kansas City Star

They call her Miss Molly.

Her battered body turned up in a shallow creek 23 years ago west of Salina, Kan., thrown from a bridge on Interstate 70. Despite efforts by investigators that have taken them across the country, she is unidentified to this day.

Miss Molly is among hundreds of murder victims whose bodies have been dumped along highways across the country over the past three decades — 11 of them in Kansas and Missouri. And, according to the FBI, many of the victims were likely killed by long-haul truckers.

This week, the agency announced its Highway Serial Killings Initiative to raise awareness of the issue and the FBI’s effort to support local and state authorities in their investigations into highway murders.

Oklahoma Investigator Connects Highway Killings

Apr 08, 2009 4:25 PM PDT
Apr 09, 2009 7:26 AM PDT
By Jon Jordan, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY — A series of highway serial killings involving prostitutes is the focus of a nationwide FBI investigation. The crime pattern, first discovered near truck stops along the Interstate 40 corridor in Oklahoma, has now spread to 500 murders across the country.

According to authorities, truck drivers pick up prostitutes at truck stops, take the women across country, kill them and then ditch their bodies.

Seven women who worked as prostitutes, many of them from Oklahoma, were murdered between the years 2003 and 2004. The person believed responsible is John Robert Williams, a truck driver.

NM: Police Pursue Possible Leads in West Mesa Cases

Video LINK

NM: Bone Search Concerns Missing Woman’s Mom

Remains Of 13 Bodies Unearthed On West Mesa

POSTED: 12:22 am MST March 4, 2009
UPDATED: 1:01 am MST March 4, 2009

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — More families of missing women are coming forward and searching for answers as police search for more bones on the West Mesa.

Crews have unearthed the remains of 13 people over the past month, but they’ve only identified three victims.

Police said they’re hoping a new tip line will help them ID the remaining 10 victims. Officers will start taking calls at 1-877-SOLV-APD or 1-877-765-8273 beginning Wednesday morning.

Bone fragments were found on the West Mesa Tuesday. Police said they are trying to link those bone fragments to specific victims.

In the meantime, so many families of missing women said they are in agony and wonder if their loved ones wound up among the buried bodies.

That was the case for Cinnamon Elk’s family.

Elk’s mother Diana, who didn’t want to give her last name, said “This is a nightmare.”

Diana said her daughter, Cinnamon, was a perfect child.

NM: West Mesa Search Sifts Through Details

POSTED: 5:25 pm MST March 3, 2009
UPDATED: 6:12 pm MST March 3, 2009

The search for human remains in the West Mesa is now in its fourth week.

Investigators spent Tuesday sifting through the dirt, gathering small fragments of human bones.

The work is now focusing on where remains have already been found.

Around those spots, crews are finding small pieces of bone as they turn up the sand.

“We continue to find bone fragments that we hope to link back to some of the remains,” Albuquerque Police Chief Ray Schultz said.

Schultz said his department is putting in limited overtime during the week, but because they’re trying to process the scene as fast as possible, crews are also working weekends.

Houston: Sting Targets Underage Prostitutes, Pimps

By Elizabeth Scarborough
Click2Houston.com

updated 4:17 a.m. PT, Wed., Feb. 25, 2009

HOUSTON – Law enforcement officers cracked down on underage prostitutes in 29 cities, including Houston, KPRC Local 2 reported.

“These are not prostitutes, these are child sex victims,” said Special Agent Patrick Fransen with the Houston FBI.

In the sting, undercover officers made more than 500 arrests nationwide.

“We go out and make as many arrests as we can,” said Fransen. “Then we look for the underage victims.”

In Houston, out of 45 arrests officials found that three of the suspected prostitutes were under the age of 18.

“This child is abused 10 to 15 times a night by various strangers and criminals,” said Fransen.