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State police issue Amber Alert for missing 12-year-old

By John Curran
Associated Press
June 26, 2008

BROOKFIELD, Vt. (AP) _ An Amber Alert was issued Thursday for a 12-year-old girl who disappeared after being dropped off at a convenience store where she told family members she was going to meet a girlfriend.

But police believe Brooke Bennett lied about meeting the girlfriend and may have been bound for a meeting with an unknown individual with whom she had communicated through MySpace.com, an online social networking site.

Bennett, of Braintree, was reported missing around 9 p.m. Wednesday, about 12 hours after her uncle and cousin dropped her off at a Cumberland Farms store in Randolph.

She told family members she was going to meet her friend and then go to visit a sick relative of the friend at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, in Lebanon, N.H., according to Vermont State Police Capt. David Covell.

"It is the family members' opinion that that was a ruse to the family to get to that location," said Covell. "There's been no interview conducted that supported that that was a legitimate meeting."

Surveillance camera footage from the Cumberland Farms store showed Brooke being dropped off by her uncle and cousin, according to Covell. The footage, which police would not release, showed Brooke walking away from the store by herself, headed toward the village of Randolph, they said.

She hasn't been seen since.

A family member searching for her Thursday in Brookfield — near her uncle's home, where she spent the night — found items belonging to her near Route 65 that were similar to what she had been wearing, prompting an intensive search by police and dogs in the area of the Floating Bridge. Police wouldn't say what the items were.

In the Amber Alert, police said they had no information about a suspect or any vehicle.

Police haven't identified the person she was communicating with, but Vermont State Police computer experts were analyzing the computer in a bid to learn more, authorities said. Police said they don't know if it was a woman or a man.

The girl established her first MySpace account under her father's supervision, but he later pulled the plug on it a couple of months ago after they learned about some of her activity on it, according to the father, James Bennett, 41, of Bethel.

"We told her when we set it up there that's things you're not gonna' do," he said. "We had a little respect problem after a month or so, so we shut it off. There was an issue, and we decided it was not appropriate for her to have it. We changed the password so she couldn't use it," he said.

She later set up an account from another computer, which Bennett said he didn't know until a week ago. The girl lives with her mother in Braintree, not with Bennett.

MySpace.com, the Web's most popular social networking site, has more than 110 million active users. It's a free site, but registration is required.

On Friday, Vermont State Police divers will begin searching Sunset Lake, which is close to the place where the girl's belongings were found. On Thursday, a New England K-9 Search and Rescue dog walked a floating bridge that spans it, under the guidance of handler Nancy Lyons.

Police cordoned off the road that leads to the west side of the lake, and search dogs looked in that vicinity, too, to no avail.

"The floating bridge is a common place for teens to hang out," said Orange County Sheriff Bill Bohnyak. "It's very common for local kids from Randolph, Braintree, Brookfield, Chelsea to come over to the floating bridge."

Capt. Ed Ledo of the Vermont State Police said the Amber Alert wasn't issued earlier because police needed more information. The alert was issued about 5:25 p.m. Thursday, nearly 18 hours after the girl was reported missing.

"Because someone's missing, you can't just put an Amber Alert out. There are certain criteria we're bound by," Ledo said.

About 14 detectives were currently working on the case, he said.

"I'm sitting here waiting for a phone call, hoping it's good news. This is a very difficult time," said James Bennett, her father.

The girl, who just finished seventh grade, is described as 4-foot-11 inches tall, 98 pounds, wearing blue jeans, a pink sweater and white sneakers with pink lettering. She has blue eyes, brown hair with purple highlights and has pierced ears "top and bottom," according to the Amber Alert.

At the Randolph convenience store, a flier with a black-and-white photo of Brooke was taped to the glass door in front, and clerks handed out copies of it to customers inside. A store manager there declined comment on the girl's disappearance.

"It is certainly our hope that Miss Bennett is out there and has just failed for whatever reason to contact family and friends," said Covell. "At this point, we're looking at all possibilities."

Amber Alerts, which are named for Amber Hagerman, a 9-year-old Texas girl slain in 1996, are a partnership between law enforcement agencies, broadcasters, transportation agencies and the wireless industry to alert the public in the most serious child-abduction cases.

Anyone with information about Brooke's whereabouts is asked to call the state police at 802-234-9933.

[Admin]

Divers search for 12-year-old girl in lake

Wilson Ring
Associated Press
June 27, 2008

BROOKFIELD, Vt.—The search for a missing 12-year-old girl broadened Friday as the FBI joined in and police investigators turned to officials at MySpace.Com, the online social networking site through which she had been communicating with an unknown person prior to her disappearance.

A day after her disappearance triggered Vermont's first-ever Amber Alert, investigators focused on someone Brooke Bennett may have met online, the head of the Vermont State Police said.

"This case is about a MySpace visitation," said Col. James Baker. "Our focus is on the communications Brooke may have had via that media."

Police are asking for help from the public. Anyone who was in Randolph Wednesday morning is asked to call the state police, even if they don't think they saw anything significant, Baker said. They're especially interested in talking with people in the store at the same time Brooke and her uncle were there.

Brooke, of Braintree, vanished Wednesday after being dropped off at about 9 a.m at a convenience store in Randolph, where she was supposedly going to meet a friend and then go to a hospital to visit a relative of the friend.

She was seen in Randolph as late as 9:45 and possibly later, Baker said

Police now believe Brooke was not planning to meet a friend and that she may have been going to meet someone she'd been communicating with online. Video from an interior surveillance camera at the store -- released Friday -- showed the girl and her uncle walk into the store and then leave, each going in separate directions, with Brooke walking away by herself.

She was seen about 45 minutes later inside the Randolph Village Laundromat, police said.

Baker wouldn't say whether she was alone at that point, nor would he say whether police suspect foul play.

"We don't know if Brooke left with someone voluntarily. We don't know if Brooke is in another state camping and has no idea that this whole thing is going on," Baker said. "We're not ready to say that she was kidnapped, but we made the decision yesterday to put that Amber Alert out, take a very liberal interpretation of what kidnap meant."

Brooke was reported missing about 9 p.m. Wednesday, and an Amber Alert -- the first ever in Vermont -- was issued Thursday.

On Friday, state police dive teams searched Sunset Lake, near where items belonging to Brooke were found Thursday by a family member. Baker said the divers found nothing.

Meanwhile, investigators from the Vermont State Police, FBI and other agencies were trying to track Brooke's movements after she was dropped off by her uncle and cousin.

During the day Friday, the FBI brought in agents from New England as well as experts in behavioral science from Quantico, Va.

A major focus of the investigation was centered on her online activities.

"As we all know, warnings have gone out countless times, in this world that we live in today, there are folks that visit places, social networking spaces such as MySpace, whose intentions are not good. And they come from far away," said Baker.

Investigators aren't ruling out the possibility Brooke may have left Vermont.

Police want to hear from anyone who was in Randolph on Wednesday between 9:45 a.m. and 11 a.m., even if they don't think they saw anything, Baker said.

Baker said the Amber Alert wasn't issued sooner because investigators had to determine if her disappearance met the criteria for one. Officials didn't decide to issue the alert until they knew the MySpace activity could be related to it, he said.

Baker said MySpace officials -- who posted the Amber Alert on their web site -- were being helpful.

"MySpace takes the safety of our users very seriously," its chief security officer, Hemanshu Nigam, said in a statement released by the company. "We are assisting the Vermont State Police Department and cannot comment any further as it is an ongoing investigation."

Experts in missing children say the Internet can be a dangerous place.

"The reality is that the internet is the predator's new playground. They don't have to lurk in bushes anymore, they can lurk in cyberspace," said Marc Klaas, founder of the Klaaskids Foundation, of Sausalito, Calif.

"It provides them with a much greater degree of anonymity. It enables them to create any kind of a fantasy or fake life they want so they can use their well-honed manipulative skills to get close to the particularly vulnerable," said Klaas, whose 12-year-old daughter, Polly Klaas was abducted from a slumber party in 1993 and later found slain.

Bob Hoever, associate director of training for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, said child abductions related to the Internet are on the rise.

The public's help can be key in solving them.

"When a child disappears, it's like trying to find a needle in a haystack," he said.

"The more eyes and ears we have out there looking, the smaller that haystack becomes. Thanks to public help, 400 children have been safely rescued and returned to their families specifically because of the Amber Alert program and the public's help."

[Admin]

Cyber-Link Triggers 1st Vermont Amber Alert
Dive Teams Search for Brooke Bennett, 12, Who May Have Met Up With

David Schoetz
ABC News
June 27, 2008

The search for a 12-year-old girl who police fear may have been taken by someone she met online has triggered the state of Vermont to issue its first Amber Alert.

Brooke Bennett of Braintree, Vt., has been missing since 9 a.m. Wednesday, when an uncle dropped her at a Cumblerand Farms convenience store in nearby Randolph. The girl had told her family she was being picked up by a female friend to visit the friend's relative at a hospital just across the state line in New Hampshire.

But that apparently never happened.

Authorities now believe the story was a lie concocted by Brooke to conceal her real plan: an arrangement to meet up with someone she had met online, perhaps, her father thinks, through the social networking Web site MySpace. "Through investigation it was learned that Ms. Bennett was communicating with an unknown individual online," the Vermont State Police wrote in a lengthy press release that accompanied the Amber Alert announcement.

Surveillance footage from the Cumberland Farms store, which police have so far declined to release, showed the girl being dropped off. Instead of meeting the friend, she is seen walking away from the store, alone, toward the village of Randolph, police say.

She was not reported missing by family members until 9 p.m. Wednesday night.

Early Thursday, clothing similar to what the girl had been wearing was recovered in Brookfield, 10 miles north of Randolph.

The discovery triggered an intense ground search of the area by the state police search and rescue team and dogs from two different departments. "The items have been sent to the Vermont Forensic Laboratory for examination," according to the release.

Dive teams will search Sunset Lake today, a body of water near where the clothing was found, according to the State Police .

Fliers featuring Bennett's image have been posted in towns throughout the rural stretch of Vermont by police and volunteers.

They have not yet determined who Brooke may have been talking to online, but they are looking at Brooke's computer . "Members of the Computer Crime Unit are currently examining the computer used by Ms. Bennett in an attempt to isolate and identify whom she was speaking with online before being reported missing."

Authorities announced the Amber Alert yesterday afternoon, 18 hours after Brooke was reported missing and more than 30 hours after she was last seen. In the interim, police were able to gather enough information to meet the necessary criteria for an Amber Alert designation. In this case, it was the fact that she may have had a relationship online with an unknown person.

That criteria for triggering a Amber Alert varies from state to state, but the general idea is consistent: someone under 18 is missing and in danger and authorities have discovered some detail of information that could assist the public in helping them find the child. Sometimes that includes a picture of a suspected abductor or a vehicle description and license plate number.

Vermont adopted its Amber Alert system in November 2004, according to the state's public safety Web site. The program was created after the 1996 abduction and murder of Amber Hagerman, a 9-year-old Texas girl. The goal is to provide the media and public with relevant information that can help in the search.

In 2007, 68 of the 278 children who were part of an Amber Alert were found, a nearly 24 percent success rate. Since the program was first implemented in December 1996, 393 of the approximately 1,000 Amber Alerts activated (39 percent) have succeeded, Bob Hoever, associate director of training for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, told ABC News for a story in April about the dilemma law enforcement often faces in calling the Amber Alert.

Law enforcement officials know they will be subject to scrutiny if they wait too long, a child is found dead, and they have not transmitted information as widely and quickly as an Amber Alert allows. But they also face criticism if they make a call too early, whipping law enforcement, media and the public into a frenzy. Dee Anderson, the sheriff who devised the idea in Hagerman's case, told ABC News that more than 65 percent of children are dead within the first 48 hours of an abduction, a statistic adding another layer of pressure to the decision.

Brooke's father, James Bennett of Bethel, Vt., told The Associated Press Thursday that he had not seen his daughter in two weeks and that she lives with her mother. His daughter just finished the 7th grade at Randolph Union High School's junior high, the girl's father said.

His daughter had been disciplined for abusing her MySpace privileges, James Bennett said, and the computer password had been changed to prevent her from using it. The girl, however, reportedly found another computer to set up a new account.

Bennett was last seen wearing blue jeans, a pink sweater and white sneakers. She is described as 4 feet, 11 inches tall and weighs approximately 100 pounds. She has purple highlights in her hair, a distinctive scar on her calf, and both ears are pierced at the top and bottom.

[Admin]

Police news conference

STATE OF VERMONT

From today's media briefing regarding Brooke Bennett:

Date of Press Conference: June 27, 2008 @ 10:30AM

Press Conference Statement of: James Baker, Director, Vermont State Police

Good Morning Ladies and Gentlemen. Thank you all for coming. Your patience throughout this investigation is greatly appreciated and it has not gone unnoticed. When it comes to a missing child, I can assure you, as Director of the Vermont State Police, that getting information to the media to relay to the public are crucial. You are as much a part of this investigation as the investigators working the case. With that said, I will update you on where the investigation is at:

As of late yesterday afternoon, the FBI assigned two agents to work on this investigation full- time. In addition, the FBI is sending a five person team made up of agentswho specialize in child abduction cases to assist in the investigation. In addition to a large number of Troopers and Detectives, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, the Randolph Police Department, the Attorney General’s Office, the Orange County State’s Attorney’s Office, the New England K-9 Team, Border Patrol, Vermont State Police K-9 and the Vermont State Police Dive Team and the Vermont Forensic Laboratory are also a part of this investigation.

With information of Brooke communicating with an individual through MySpace, members of the Internet Crimes against Children (I.C.A.C.) have been working on the computer forensics portion of the investigation throughout the night. The results of their findings is not yet complete, therefore I am unable to comment on that at this time.

Yesterday morning items of clothing were recovered off of Rt. 65 in Brookfield in the vicinity of the floating bridge. After further development in the investigation, the State Police was reasonably assured that one of the items belonged to Brooke. As a result, Vermont’s first Amber Alert was issued at approximately 5:25 PM. Detectives have been following up on leads generated by the Amber Alert throughout the night.

In an effort to not compromise the case, I cannot discuss at this time the items that were found that are believed to belong to Brooke.

The last known sighting of Brooke was inside the Randolph Village Laundromat around 9:45 AM. We are asking the public if you were in the area of the Cumberland Farms or the Randolph Village Laundromat, between the hours of 9:00 AM and 11:00 AM to please call the State Police or your local law enforcement agency. Regardless of whether you feel you don’t have any information to offer, we would still like to speak with you.

I can’t emphasis enough that we need the public’s help. Please, if you think you may have ANY information pertaining to the disappearance of Brooke Bennett, I ask that you immediately call the State Police or your local law enforcement agencies.

Thank you.

[Admin]

Missing Vermont girl linked to MySpace activity

Wilson Ring
Associated Press
June 27, 2008

BROOKFIELD, Vt. (AP) — The search for a missing 12-year-old Vermont girl who triggered the state's first Amber Alert centered Friday on the social networking site MySpace after divers discovered nothing in a lake near where some of her belongings were found, police said.

Brooke Bennett vanished Wednesday after being dropped off in the morning at a convenience store, where she was supposedly going to meet a friend and then go to a hospital to visit a relative of the friend.

Police now believe that was a ruse, and that the girl might have been going to meet someone she'd been communicating with online.

One day after issuing the alert, investigators focused Friday on someone she might have met online, the head of the Vermont State Police said.

"This case is about a MySpace visitation," said Col. James Baker. "Our focus is on the communications Brooke may have had via that media."

Video from an interior surveillance camera at the convenience store in Randolph, released Friday, showed the girl and her uncle walk into the store and then leave, each going in separate directions, with Brooke walking away by herself.

She was seen about 45 minutes later inside a coin laundry, police said.

Baker wouldn't say whether she was alone at that point, nor would he say whether police suspect foul play.

"We don't know if Brooke left with someone voluntarily. We don't know if Brooke is in another state camping and has no idea that this whole thing is going on," Baker said. "We're not ready to say that she was kidnapped, but we made the decision yesterday to put that Amber Alert out, take a very liberal interpretation of what kidnap meant."

Bennett, of Braintree, was reported missing about 9 p.m. Wednesday, and the alert was issued Thursday afternoon, after officials determined the girl's MySpace activity could be related.

On Friday, state police dive teams searched Sunset Lake, near where items belonging to Brooke were found a day earlier by a family member. Baker said the divers found nothing.

Investigators from the State Police, FBI and other agencies were trying to track the girl's movements after she was dropped off by her uncle and cousin. A major focus of the investigation centered on her online activities.

"As we all know, warnings have gone out countless times, in this world that we live in today, there are folks that visit places, social networking spaces such as MySpace, whose intentions are not good. And they come from far away," Baker said.

MySpace officials posted an Amber Alert on their Web site and were being helpful, Baker said.

"MySpace takes the safety of our users very seriously," its chief security officer, Hemanshu Nigam, said in a statement released by the company. "We are assisting the Vermont State Police Department and cannot comment any further as it is an ongoing investigation."

[Admin]

Police Find Few Clues in Search for Brooke Bennett

Keagan Harsha
WCAX News
June 27, 2008

Police turned up few clues Friday in the search for a missing 12-year-old girl from Brookfield.

Brooke Bennett disappeared Wednesday morning-- prompting Vermont's first ever Amber Alert. The investigation is focused locally in central Vermont and nationally on the internet.

Witnesses saw Brooke outside a laundromat and Dunkin Donuts in Randolph Wednesday morning between 9:30 and 11:00 a.m. She wasn't seen again-- but some of her clothes were found along route 65 in Brookfield.

Bennett was last seen on surveillance at Cumberland Farms. She enters the store with her uncle, he purchases coffee and some cigarettes, and they leave the store. Brooke walks left, her uncle goes right.

"We know she stayed in that area for a period of time... because we have witnesses that put her in that area," says Vt. State Police Col. James Baker.

Police found several pieces of Brooke's clothing lying beside Route 65 near the floating bridge Thursday. That prompted a search Friday of Sunset Lake-- but that search turned up no new clues.

"I don't want the community to be scared. I want the community to be cautious," says Col. Baker.

News of Brooke's disappearance is putting some in this community on edge, especially fellow students who know the missing 12 year old.

Police aren't sure this was a kidnapping, but say they aired on the side of caution in choosing to issue Vermont's first ever Amber Alert.

"Kidnapping... we don't know that. We don't know if Brooke left voluntarily," says Baker.

They do know Brooke was chatting online with someone on MySpace and may have been planning to meet that individual.

As to who that person is or whether that person has been found-- police won't say.

"I will emphasize, this case is about a MySpace visitation," says Baker.

In the meantime, Brooke's parents are waiting to hear from their daughter. Their hopes rise every time they hear a rumor that Brooke has been found-- but those rumors are tearing the family apart.

"If there's people out there spreading rumors, don't. This is bad enough. We don't need it," pleads Brooke's father, James Bennett.

And police are also stressing that there are a lot of rumors floating around. The word around town is that Brooke's body was found in Sunset Lake. The rumor is not true. Police are still searching for her and have more than 30 investigators assigned to the case, including a five-person team from the FBI that specializes in missing person's cases.

And for the logistics of where Brooke was last seen and where her clothes were found, the Floating bridge at Sunset Lake is actually about 7-8 miles away from the Cumberland Farms in Randolph where Brooke was last seen, so it's doubtful she could have walked there. A plane from the U.S. Border Patrol flew over the entire area Friday looking for more clues-- but didn't find any.

Police also aren't saying exactly what they found along Route 65-- they say releasing any more details would compromise their entire investigation.

[Admin]

Search continues for missing girl, 12

Associated Press
June 28, 2008

RANDOLPH, Vt.—Fliers went up around Vermont and state lottery tickets included a notice of Vermont's first-ever AMBER Alert as the search for a missing 12-year-old girl entered its third day Saturday. Her father said he was staying close to the phone, hoping for good news.

Brooke Bennett of Braintree was last seen Wednesday in Randolph, where her uncle dropped her off after she said she wanted to meet a friend and go visit the friend's sick relative at a hospital.

Police have since raised doubts that such a rendezvous was planned and have been focusing their investigation on contacts the girl is believed to have made through the MySpace social networking Web site.

Vermont State Police said they searched again Saturday in and around the rural village of Brookfield, about eight miles from Randolph, where they said items of the girl's clothing were found. The search turned up no new leads, said Sgt. Tara Thomas, state police spokeswoman.

State police and the FBI were conducting forensic evaluations both of the found items, which they declined to describe, and of the computer the girl had been using.

Authorities said they were following up on more than 150 leads in the investigation, including some generated by the AMBER Alert.

AMBER Alerts are a national program administered by the U.S. Department of Justice designed to "to activate an urgent bulletin in the most serious child-abduction cases. The goal of an AMBER Alert is to instantly galvanize the entire community to assist in the search for and the safe recovery of the child," according to a program Web site.

Authorities were asking for anyone with information to call the Vermont State Police barracks in Bethel at 802-234-9933.

Meanwhile Saturday, James Bennett, Brooke's father, said he was feeling both anxious and frustrated. A constable in Bethel, where he lives, Bennett said he would like to be participating in the searches for his daughter but at been advised by state police not to.

"They've advised me to stay here and answer the phone and be where they can reach me if they need to," said Bennett, 41. "I really don't know what to think. I'm hoping it's something where she decided she had to take off and she's going to call and tell me she's OK. But I'm well aware it could be something much worse."

Bennett said his daughter had weathered a difficult transition this past school year from the small elementary school in Braintree to seventh grade at the much larger Randolph Union High School. "She had some issues, but she ended up with passing grades. She turned it around all right."

[Admin]

Residents shaken by missing child

Sarah Hinkley
The Times Argus
June 28, 2008

RANDOLPH — The reality of Brooke Bennett's disappearance really hit Jennifer Emmons when detectives stopped by the Randolph Village Laundromat to ask questions.

The North Main Street business is one of the last locations that witnesses saw Bennett, 12, sometime between the hours of 9 and 11 a.m. Wednesday morning, state police reported on Friday.

"It's not my kid, but I still feel for these parents," said Emmons whose son was in Bennett's seventh-grade class at Randolph High School. "My mother always said, 'there's got to be two of you.'"

Standing in front of a flier of Bennett with "Missing" written across the top, Emmons said the search for the girl, who has not been seen since she was dropped off in Randolph Wednesday, has been the talk of the town. She and other parents had been talking, fighting disbelief and admitting that there is no such thing as being too smothering.

"A sense of, wow, I can't believe it happened in Randolph," said Emmons, the mother of three, including two girls.

The laundry is located just over the bridge, toward Randolph village, from the Cumberland Farms where Bennett, of Braintree, was dropped off by her uncle around 9 a.m. Wednesday.

There is video surveillance of Bennett and her uncle entering the convenience store, making a purchase and exiting in opposite directions. Police reported that witnesses have said Bennett was seen near the laundry and at the Dunkin' Donuts on the other end of the village during the morning.

"You think you're grown up and you realize you're not," said Kayla Striebe, 13, of Northfield about being 12 years old. "Last night when we were watching the news, my parents just kept saying, over and over, 'Don't talk to strangers.'"

Vermont State Police Col. James Baker reported on Friday afternoon that the disappearance of Bennett is a "MySpace case." Police have reason to believe her disappearance involves someone with whom Bennett was communicating with on the Internet social networking site. When an Amber Alert was put out by the state police around 5:25 p.m. on Thursday, it was posted on the top of MySpace addresses, notifying those in Vermont accessing MySpace.

"My kids are not allowed on MySpace," said Emmons. "My kids are not allowed on the Internet without me there."

"We never thought of this stuff when I was growing up. Of course, we didn't have Internet," said Brenda Traegde of Royalton, who was talking with Emmons about the case.

From Bethel to Randolph and throughout central Vermont, talk of the young girl having vanished was on the tongues of everyone, even those without children. Most asked how anyone could be capable of an abduction, though no one is clear on what has happened to Bennett.

Those closest to Bennett's age are especially leery about her disappearance and the information that has surfaced in the last couple of days, including the fact some of her clothing was found on Route 65 in Brookfield.

"Right now it makes you feel like pretty much everyone around here you can't trust," said Emma Brooks, 14, of Hartford. "You don't really think that Vermont is where this type of thing happens."

She and several other teens, including Striebe, were hanging out in the gazebo of the park in Randolph Village early Friday afternoon. They were in town for a theater production at the Chandler Music Hall, located next to the Randolph Village Laundromat.

During a break in their activities, a number of youth were hanging out on the steps in front with two Randolph Police officers in their midst.

"It makes you more aware that you can't trust anybody," said Molly Clark, 14, of Northfield.

The group admitted they are making a point of traveling in packs, even the block walk from the music hall.

State Police Col. Baker stated during a morning press conference that his hope is that the community would not be scared, but instead focus on caution and trust that the police are doing their jobs. There are 30 detectives interviewing witnesses and following up on leads, Baker said.

Investigators from the FBI have been brought in for the case, including five who specialize in investigating missing children. Several federal agents are also working with the state's chapter of the Internet Crimes Against Children – or ICAC – task force in Burlington to look through Bennett's computer for information.

"It's sad for society to come to this, for our children to become prey to people that aren't necessarily right in the head," said Mark Ramsey, of Randolph. "Hopefully she turns up okay."

He was standing outside the Super Suds Laundromat, just over a block from the one where Bennett was spotted.

"It's bound to start happening in more rural towns," said Ramsey. "It's happening all over the United States."

Fliers with Bennett's photo were posted in the windows of businesses throughout downtown and life seemed to bustle as usual, but with the occasional mention of the missing girl. Rumors – discredited by police Friday afternoon – of her body being found in Sunset Lake were flying around in the shops and restaurants.

"We are gravely concerned about the wellbeing of Brooke Bennett," said Baker. "This case is very much centered around and about social networking online."

And as long as there is access to the World Wide Web, children everywhere are vulnerable.

"I feel like it could happen in any town, at any time," said Matt Caron, 15, of South Royalton, one of the theater group.

[Admin]

Police: No news in 12-year-old girl’s disappearance

Burlington Free Press
June 28, 2008

Officials investigating the disappearance of 12-year-old Brooke Bennett of Braintree spent today searching the area where items linked to her were found and following up on about 150 leads they’ve received in the case, Vermont State Police said this afternoon.

“An extended ground search was conducted earlier today in the area in which items were found earlier in the week that were believed to be linked to Brooke,” a written statement said. “The Vermont Forensic Laboratory is analyzing the found items.”

Computer forensics are also being conducted throughout the weekend and video from cameras in the area of Brooke’s disappearance and elsewhere is being reviewed, police said.

“These analyses will take time,” the statement said, adding that no new information was available.

Investigators have said Brooke had been communicating with an unknown person through online social networking site MySpace.com and may have been going to meet the person before her disappearance Wednesday.

She vanished after being dropped off about 9 a.m. at a convenience store in Randolph, where she was supposedly going to meet a friend and then go to a hospital to visit a relative of the friend, state police say. She was seen in Randolph as late as 9:45 and possibly later.

Brooke was reported missing about 9 p.m. Wednesday. An Amber Alert — the first ever in Vermont — was issued Thursday, the same day items belonging to Brooke were found by a family member near Sunset Lake. State police dive teams searched Sunset Lake Friday but found nothing.

State police, who have been joined by the FBI, have appealed to the public for information related to Brooke’s disappearance. On Saturday, police said they had received more than 150 leads generated by the investigation and from the Amber Alert.

“The Vermont State Police would like to thank the public for their overwhelming response to our request for information in this investigation,” the statement said.

[Admin]

Rumors Hard On Missing Girl's Family

Matt Henson
WCAX News
June 28, 2008

Another day of searching on Saturday, and still no sign of missing 12-year-old, Brooke Bennett. Brooke's family is holding out hope that their daughter will be found safe and alive, but the rumors around town are making the search difficult to bear.

Missing poster signs hang in the windows of storefronts in downtown Randolph, where Brooke Bennett was last seen on Wednesday morning. On many, people have added the words, 'still missing.' That's because there have been rumors that the young girl was found dead yesterday in Sunset Lake in Brookfield.

"There was an issue yesterday in South Royalton that they were taking posters down," said Brooke's father, Jim Bennett. "She wasn't found dead. The rumors aren't true."

The rumor wasn't just spread by word of mouth. On the social networking Web site, Facebook, people were writing on a special "Find Brook(e) Bennett" page that the 12-year-old was dead.

Companies from across the northeast are helping Brooke's family with their efforts to get more posters out, especially in the South Royalton area where the others were taken down. Spaulding Printing Press, in Bethel, donated 100 missing person flyers this morning. The Molly Bish Foundation in Massachusetts, is donating more than 100 pins with Brooke's picture on them. They will be distributed throughout the Randolph area on Sunday.

As for the investigation, the Vermont State Police did not talk to the media on Saturday. In a statement, they said they are working with the FBI to analyze Brooke's computer and her clothing that was found hear Sunset Lake on Thursday morning.

"It's frustrating not knowing what's going on. There are certain aspects of the investigation that they have to keep to themselves so they don't compromise the investigation, and I understand that. But it's still frustrating," Jim Bennett said.

As for the evidence the police are reviewing, they say that process will take some time, so no new information is expected for a few days.

[Admin]

Father waits for news

By Peter Hirschfeld
Vermont Press Bureau
June 29, 2008

RANDOLPH – James Bennett sits by the phone and waits.

It's a frustrating role for a worried father. But as police continued their search for his missing 12-year-old daughter Saturday, Bennett held out hope that the nightmare would end soon.

"I want to give her a big hug, tell her I love her and go from there," Bennett says.

Brooke Bennett was last seen Wednesday morning outside a laundromat in Randolph. More than 30 Vermont State Police officers and FBI investigators have been searching for the missing girl in Brookfield, where clothes purportedly belonging to Bennett were found by a family member near the side of Route 65 sometime Thursday.

"It's not easy," James Bennett says. "We're just hoping we're going to hear some good news, or any news. We're just hoping for the best."

Bennett, 41, serves as constable in Bethel and says he'd rather have a more active role in tracking down his daughter. But police, he says, have told him he'll be more useful fielding phone calls at home.

"They've advised me to stay here and answer the phone and be where they can reach me if they need to," Bennett says. "I really don't know what to think. I'm hoping it's something where she decided she had to take off and she's going to call and tell me she's OK. But I'm well aware it could be something much worse."

Brooke Bennett, who just finished seventh grade at Randolph High School, lives with her mother, Cassandra Gagnon, in Braintree. A family member who answered the phone there Saturday said the family would prefer not to talk to the media.

An Amber Alert issued Thursday – the first ever in the state of Vermont – has generated more than 150 leads, according to Vermont State Police. Flyers with pictures of the brown-haired, blue-eyed girl have been posted around the state, and state lottery tickets now seek information on her whereabouts. According to the alert, Brooke is 5 feet, 3 inches tall (not 4 feet, 11 inches tall as earlier reported) and weighs about 98 pounds; her hair is streaked with purple and both of her ears are pierced on the top and bottom.

After divers combed the depths of Sunset Lake in Brookfield on Friday without result, investigators embarked on an extended ground search near the spot where items of clothing were found.

The Vermont Forensic Laboratory is analyzing the clothing, according to police, however they say the process will "take time" to yield any new information. Police also are reviewing footage from video cameras located near where Bennett was last seen.

According to police, Bennett's uncle dropped her off in Randolph early Wednesday after she said she wanted to meet a friend and go visit the friend's sick relative at a hospital.

Police have since raised doubts that such a rendezvous was planned and have been focusing their investigation on contacts the girl is believed to have made through the MySpace social networking Web site.

James Bennett says his daughter had weathered a difficult transition this past school year from the small elementary school in Braintree to seventh grade at the much larger Randolph Union High School.

"She had some issues, but she ended up with passing grades," Bennett says. "She turned it around all right."

Police are seeking help from the public in the case and have asked that anyone who was in Randolph Wednesday morning call the state police. They are specifically interested in speaking with people who were in the convenience store where Bennett was dropped off by her uncle.

Col. James Baker, head of the Vermont State Police, has not said whether police suspect foul play. But the aggressive search indicates that police are considering the incident may be an abduction.

"We don't know if Brooke left with someone voluntarily. We don't know if Brooke is in another state camping and has no idea that this whole thing is going on," Baker said Friday. "We're not ready to say that she was kidnapped, but we made the decision yesterday to put that Amber Alert out, take a very liberal interpretation of what kidnap meant."

Police say they will continue their search through the weekend or until Bennett is found. They say they do not plan any new press briefings before the beginning of next week.

[Admin]

Uncle of missing Vermont girl arrested

CNN
June 30, 2008

(CNN) -- Investigators in Vermont charged the uncle of a missing 12-year-old girl Sunday with sexually assaulting a minor -- but they said the charge does not involve his niece.

Police said their investigation into the disappearance of 12-year-old Brooke Bennett uncovered evidence that her uncle had sexually assaulted someone else. They charged Michael Jacques, 42, with aggravated sexual assault against a minor, which carries a sentence of 10 years to life in prison.

Brooke remains missing.

She was communicating with someone on MySpace.com, the online social networking site, before she disappeared, police said. Investigators have been reviewing a computer she used for clues to her whereabouts.

Her disappearance triggered the first Amber Alert ever issued in Vermont, authorities said.

On Sunday afternoon, the case took a strange turn when authorities arrested her uncle.

"The details that led to Jacques' arrest were uncovered by investigators assigned to investigate the disappearance of Brooke Bennett," according to a statement the Vermont State Police released Sunday.

Brooke disappeared on Wednesday, investigators said, after visiting a convenience store in Randolph, Vermont. A few days later, police said they found articles of clothing that they believe belonged to her.

Her father, James Bennett, has pleaded for information about his daughter.

"Obviously I'm upset," he told WCAX-TV, a CNN affiliate. "We just want her home. We want her back."

Police have said they do not know whether Brooke left voluntarily with someone. They have scheduled a news conference for Monday afternoon to discuss the case.

Jacques, meanwhile, is scheduled to appear in Orange County District Court in Chelsea, Vermont, at 1 p.m. Monday.

[Admin]

Investigation into Brooke Bennett's disappearance shifts to Randolph

The Rutland Herald
June 30, 2008

RANDOLPH -- Vermont State Police confirmed this afternoon that the search for missing 12-year-old Brooke Bennett has shifted to the Randolph home of the girl's uncle.

Police issued a release moments ago stating: "As a result of this past weekend’s investigation into the disappearance of 12 year-old Brooke Bennett of Braintree, Vermont, the Vermont State Police and the FBI have concentrated their investigation efforts around the Jacques’ property in Randolph, Vermont. The Connecticut State Police and the Massachusetts State Police are assisting in the property search by providing a helicopter as well as additional K-9 units. The Vermont State Police Search and Rescue Team have been called in as well. The search will cover an extensive area. In addition, the FBI has flown in additional resources. Anyone with information pertaining to Brooke Bennett is urged to call the Vermont State Police at (802) 234-9933."

The Rutland Herald is on the scene at the home of 42-year-old Michael Jacques on East Bethel Road in Randolph. At this time, police are not allowing anyone to enter the property. A police officer is stationed at the bottom of the driveway, and highway cones also block access to the home, which sits about 100 yards off the roadway.

There are at least five Vermont State Police cars at the home, with officers wearing sweatshirts marked search and rescue, as well as baseball caps. One officer was also seen with a dog.

The State Police Crime Lab van is also at the scene, although officers have not entered the home.

Bennett was last seen when her uncle dropped her at a convenience store in Randolph on Wednesday morning. Police have not named Jacques a suspect in Bennett's disappearance. They did arrest him Sunday and charge him in an unrelated sexual assault case. In addition, police said Jacques was convicted in 1993 of aggravated sexual assault and kidnapping.

He is expected to be arraigned in court on the latest sexual assault charge today.

[Admin]

Judge orders Jacques held on $250,000 bail; helicopter searches Jacques' property

By Dave Gram
Associated Press
June 30, 2008

CHELSEA - A probe into the disappearance of a 12-year-old girl zeroed in on her uncle Monday, with police searching his home while he was being arraigned on sex charges in an unrelated case, authorities said.

Michael Jacques, 42, of Randolph, a registered sex offender who was one of the last people to see Brooke Bennett before she vanished, pleaded not guilty to aggravated sexual assault and was being held on $250,000 bail.

The alleged victim, a relative of Jacques', was a girl who says Jacques assaulted her over a five-year period, beginning when she was 9 years old and ending a few weeks ago, Orange County State's Attorney Will Porter said.

In an affidavit released afterward, Vermont State Police Detective Sgt. William Jenkins said the girl told police that when she was 9 or 10, she was told — in a telephone call and in a note left under her pillow — that she had been selected for enrollment in a "program for sex" and that Jacques was to be her trainer.

The alleged victim, identified only as "A.R." in court papers, said she was told two other girls were in the program, too.

"The first who does it lives and the second gets her throat cut," she told police, according to the affidavit.

At Jacques' home in Randolph, meanwhile, Vermont State Police called in state police units from Connecticut and Massachusetts and used a helicopter and dogs to search Jacques' home and an adjoining property. Troopers swarmed around Jacques' home — a large two-story house — beginning around 4 a.m. Monday.

Police haven't named him as a suspect in Bennett's disappearance, and seemed last week to be ruling him out. They wouldn't answer questions Monday, pending a 4 p.m. briefing.

Jacques, who is married to the sister of Bennett's mother, dropped Bennett off at a Cumberland Farms convenience store in Randolph on Wednesday after she told family members she was going to meet a friend and visit a relative of the friend's in the hospital.

Police believe that was a lie, and that Bennett may have bound for a meeting with an unknown individual she had been communicating with through MySpace.com, the social networking site. On Friday, Vermont State Police director James Baker said the MySpace communications were the main focus of the probe.

Surveillance video from the store showed Bennett and Jacques leave the store and go in separate directions.

Bennett, who just finished seventh grade at Randolph Union High School, has not been seen since. She is the subject of Vermont's first-ever Amber Alert, which was issued Friday.

In court Monday, a pallid Jacques — handcuffed and shackled at the waist — entered a not guilty plea through public defender L. Brooke Dingledine, who persuaded Judge Theresa DiMauro to grant bail over the objections of Porter.

Jacques has 1993 convictions for kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault and there is "a threat of prejudicial violence to this particular juvenile complainant," said Porter, in arguing for no bail. "Her personal safety was threatened."

He also noted the serious nature of the crime, which could lead to a life prison term, and said Jacques had violated his probation.

"There's no condition or series of conditions that could guarantee the safety of the juvenile complainant in this case," said Porter.

Dingledine said Jacques has a full-time job as an operations manager for a company in West Lebanon, N.H., owns his home and a rental property next door, has strong family ties and a family that depends on his income.

DiMauro said she was considering barring Jacques from leaving the county, but Dingledine — who called the corroborating evidence on the sex charge "very sparse" — said he needed to get to work. So the judge ordered a 24-hour curfew — except for work — if he makes bail.

Relatives of Bennett watched from the gallery as Jacques made his appearance.

Trooper Mark Magnant said police would not comment on either case pending a 4 p.m. briefing.

[Admin]

Statement from Colonel James Baker on investigation

June 30, 2008

Statement of Colonel James Baker, Director of the Vermont State Police, regarding the latest in the investigation into the disappearance of Brooke Bennett of Braintree:

Good Afternoon. Thank you all for coming. For those of you that don’t already know me, I’m Colonel James Baker, Director of the Vermont State Police.

I would first like to start out by thanking the media and the public for their patience and understanding throughout this investigation. We have reached out to you several times for assistance, and each time you’ve pulled through for us and have assisted in any way possible. The level of professionalism that you all have displayed is a true testament to yourself and the news organizations you represent. For that, I am grateful. It is clear that the goals of the media and the public are that of the Vermont State Police and the law enforcement partners working this investigation to find Brooke Bennett.

This case remains very active, and I can say, as a result of the tireless effort and hard work of the investigators, the scope of this investigation has narrowed and we are making progress. We have eliminated several scenarios that were potential possibilities in the disappearance of Brooke. Behavioral Scientists from the FBI have played and continue to play a major role in this elimination process.

On Sunday, the investigation discovered that Michael Jacques of Randolph, Vermont sexually assaulted a minor, who was being interviewed as a result of the Brooke Bennett investigation. The State Police called in detectives of the Chittenden Unit for Special Investigations, which includes a Vermont State Trooper assigned to the unit, to investigate the sexual assault. Investigators are looking into the possibility there may be more victims of sexual abuse by Jacques. The State Police would like to speak with any child or teenager who may have had contact with Michael Jacques.

The focus of today’s investigation is to search the Jacques’ property in Randolph, Vermont. The Connecticut State Police and the Massachusetts State Police brought in assets to assist in the search, to include a helicopter and K-9 Units. Forensic work is continuing to be done and analyzed. We continue to search for evidence that may help explain Brooke’s disappearance.

The preliminary forensic testing shows that articles found on VT Rt. 65 are connected to Brooke Bennett.

Late Saturday into early Sunday morning, information was developed as a result of forensic examination of computers that helped us change the direction of the investigation. As a result of that, Michael Jacques became a person of interest into the disappearance of Brooke. This is not the only avenue we continue to pursue and we continue to explore other investigative leads. With that said, I will re-confirm my statement from before that this case is about social networking on the internet.

The Vermont State Police are exhausting all of our resources to help locate Brooke Bennett. It is critical that the public continues to have faith in the State Police, and the protection that we provide the citizens of the State of Vermont. We ask that you remain cautious, not fearful, as again, we are making progress in the investigation into the disappearance of Brooke Bennett.

I would like to acknowledge and thank the support from the greater Randolph, Bethel community for providing food, refreshments and other logistical support for the investigators. The Whitcomb High School graciously opened their doors to us to make these press conferences possible. On behalf of the Vermont State Police, I thank you all.

I would also like to thank the assistance of the FBI, the US Attorney’s Office, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, the Orange County State’s Attorney Wil Porter, the Connecticut State Police, the Massachusetts State Police, the Burlington Police Department, the Chittenden Unit for Special Investigations, the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) team for their continued assistance in this investigation.

I will now open it up for questions. Again, please raise you hand and state your name and who you represent in an attempt to be fair to all that have attended today.