ALICIA MARKOVICH - 15 yo (1987) - Indiana/Windber PA

State police plan to mark the 24th anniversary of a 15-year-old
girl's disappearance in western Pennsylvania with a news conference
Tuesday aimed at jump-starting their investigation.


Alicia Markovich was last seen April 26, 1987. Although she lived
with her mother in Windber in Somerset County, she was visiting her
father in Indiana County on the day she was last seen.Police plan to discuss the case and give her family members a chance to address the media and answer questions.The
case last received widespread attention more than 10 years ago when her
father, John Markovich, told police in October 2000 that he received a
letter that purported to be a confession sent from Bedford, N.H.Based
on information in the letter, police and a dog trained to sniff out
cadavers searched a portion of the Conemaugh River bank outside
Blairsville, about 45 miles east of Pittsburgh. They found nothing.Police
said they went to Bedford, N.H., and questioned a person whose name
appeared on the letter. But that person had never heard of the girl or
her family and didn't know where Blairsville was.John Markovich
told police he last saw his daughter walking away from his Blairsville
home after the two argued about her mother seeking more money for child
support. As she left, police said, Markovich told her to be home by 8
p.m.He called police when she hadn't come back the following day.Alicia's
parents had divorced and her mother was given custody. John Markovich
still has a home in Blairsville and another in Painesville, Ohio, police
said.Police released few details from the letter, but one
portion said the writer got the idea for the letter "when I saw by
chance an Old Missing Persons flier posted on the side of a mailbox" in
Philadelphia."The second time I saw it, it was like everything
faded to gray, nothing seemed real for a long time, I had thought it all
had been forever buried," the letter said.The writer told of feeling remorse, guilt and depression.Police
have since said they doubt the unsigned, typewritten letter is
authentic. They don't expect to find the girl alive but instead hope to
solve the case and give the girl a proper burial, assuming her remains
can be found.
Read more: http://www.centredaily.com/2011/04/26/2669693/police-mark-24th-anniversary-of.html#ixzz1Kdh7RgVU