DAWNA NATZKE - 46 yo - Hot Springs Village AR

Dawn Natzke: Search delayed while officers spent holiday with their family




Dawna Natzke was last seen leaving a Christmas Party with her
boyfriend last Wednesday in Hot Springs Village, Arkansas, and according
to Arkansas Matter's
article on Monday, "Officers were set to conduct a search last Friday,
but it was suspended for them to spend the holidays with their families
over the weekend."

This seems like an unusual protocol for any law enforcement agency,
where weather or time is never a deterrent and holidays are often missed
and is an expected part of that profession.

Dawna is a mother of three and a 911 dispatcher for the Hot Springs
Village Police Dept. She is one of the police department's own and it
seems that postponing a search in lieu of celebrating Christmas with
family, is a cavalier attitude for the department to have when time is
of the essence in the first hours of a missing persons case.

"I just can't believe they waited so long, said Patty Hathaway, a friend of Dawna's.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2079475/Dawna-Natzke-missing-Why-arent-Arkansas-police-looking-OWN-dispatcher.html

Missing Arkansas Mother's Torched Car Found in Forest

Investigators in a small Arkansas town are baffled after a police
emergency dispatcher and mother of three vanished days before Christmas
and her torched car was found in a remote part of a nearby national forest.

Dawna Natzke of Hot Springs, Ark., was last seen eight days ago when she
returned home after attending a friend's Christmas party. The
46-year-old's live-in boyfriend reportedly told police that she was
watching television alone when he went to bed around 11 p.m. That was
the last time anyone saw her.

Two days later on December 23 Natzke's son reported his mother missing.
On Christmas Eve day, police were notified that her car, a 1997 Ford
Escort, was discovered completely charred in a remote part of Oauchita
National Forest. There were no signs of Natzke.

"The sheer fact that the victim's vehicle was found a distance from her
residence, burned, at least suggests that somebody wants to cover up
potential forensic evidence that might be inside that would ultimately
identify perhaps someone who has harmed her," Brad Garrett, FBI expert
and ABC News contributor said.


ABC News
Dawna Natzke of Hot Springs, Arkansas


Natzky has worked at the Hot Springs Village police department as an emergency dispatcher for the past six years.

"She's family, and we're doing everything we can do to find her," Lt.
Ricky Middleton of the Hot Springs Village police told ABC News.

Police are now coming under fire for not beginning a search of the area
where Natzky's car was found sooner. It was not until the day after
Christmas that the search of that area began. Police say it takes time
to get dog teams in place.

"One of the keys is that the very minute you hear that someone is
missing, whether they be an adult or a child, is you pull out all the
stops to find them, because if they've been harmed, they may still be alive," Garrett said.

Although there has been an intensive search for Natzky this week, with dogs and police on horseback, there is no sign of her.

"She's a fantastic mother her children are better behaved than most
teenagers you meet and that's really from my heart," Hella Cass, one of
Natzky's neighbors, told ABC News Arkansas affiliate KATV. "We hope for a good outcome for the whole situation."

Cass says that the community is supporting the woman's family by bringing them food, while neighbors organized a search.

"We're praying for the family, that they will be at peace whatever happened," Cass said.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/missing-arkansas-mothers-torched-car-found-forest/story?id=15257790#.Tv5C01bPwfw

Well, it looks like they found Dawna. A body was found near her bf's home - they have not said for sure but they did say the clothes are the same as described by friends at the party where she was last seen and the sheriff said there is only one missing person reported.
How sad for her boys.

I guess it if official


http://insidehotspringsvillage.blogspot.com/

HOT SPRINGS VILLAGE, Ark. – Searchers
looking for a missing police dispatcher found a body Saturday in the
wilderness several miles from her home, and while police wouldn't
confirm it was the missing woman's body, they told her family of the
find.


Debbie Shingler, whose 46-year-old sister
Dawna Natzke was last seen leaving a Dec. 21 Christmas party with her
boyfriend, told The Associated Press that police notified her family
that searchers found a body in a wilderness area about five miles from
her home in Hot Springs Village and about five miles from where her
burned-out car was found.




"They told us yes, they found a body, but it's not confirmed to be Dawna, but we all know," Shingler said.


"They don't want to speculate anything until
after the crime lab has done their investigation," Shingler said. "I am
sure if it wasn't (Natzke's body), they would be calling us."


Hot Springs Village police dispatcher Bill
Scarcella said searchers found the body near Jessieville. He declined to
say whether investigators believe the body is that of Natzke, a fellow
dispatcher at the gated community's police department.


Police have not named any suspects in
Natzke's disappearance. They have said the boyfriend told investigators
he and Natzke returned to her home after the party and that she was gone
when he awoke the next morning. She wasn't reported missing until the
following day after she failed to show up for work.


Shingler said she is the eldest and Natzke
the youngest of four sisters, two of which she said were in Arkansas
because of Dawna's disappearance and the third flew into the state
Saturday.


"I had to tell her when her plane landed" that a body had been found, Shingle said.


Shingle said police did not talk about the condition of the body that was found, or the possible cause of death.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/12/31/body-found-during-search-for-missing-arkansas-woman/?test=latestnews#ixzz1i9KDyDNa

I'll leave this here until we have official confirmation.

Arkansas investigators are working to determine whether the body
discovered Saturday in the woods is that of a woman who vanished just
before Christmas.

Dawna Natzke, 46, of Hot Springs, Ark., was last seen Dec. 21 leaving
a friend’s Christmas party with her boyfriend. The police dispatcher
and mother of three was reported missing two days later, when she failed
to turn up for work. Her live-in boyfriend, Kevin Duck, 28, said he
last saw her watching TV before he went to bed.

Her 1997 Ford Escort was discovered Christmas Eve day completely
charred in a remote part of Oauchita National Forest. The body was
found 5.5 miles away from her car, but authorities aren’t saying whether
it is Natzke. They have, however, notified her family of the discovery;
her sister says the family is convinced it is her.

“[The police] told us yes, they found a body, but it’s not confirmed
to be Dawna, but we all know,” Debbie Shingler, Natzke’s sister, told
the Associated Press. “They don’t want to speculate anything until after
the crime lab has done their investigation. I am sure if it wasn’t
[Natzke's body], they would be calling us.”

It wasn’t until two days after her torched car was discovered that
police began searching the forest, a move that has been met with
criticism.

”One of the keys is that the very minute you hear that someone is
missing, whether they be an adult or a child, is you pull out all the
stops to find them, because if they’ve been harmed, they may still be
alive,” FBI expert and ABC News contributor Brad Garrett said.

The police department said it took time to get the dog teams in place for a search.

Authorities wouldn’t discuss the condition of the body but say foul
play is suspected in the death. There are security gates at each of the
town’s entrances, but no video cameras that might have recorded Natzke’s
leaving the community.

Police have not named any suspects in the disappearance of Natzke,
who had recently separated from her husband. Despite an extensive search
last week, there are few clues and no other signs of her.

“She’s a fantastic mother. Her children are better behaved than most
teenagers you meet, and that’s really from my heart,” Hella Cass, one of
Natzke’s neighbors, told ABC News Arkansas affiliate KATV.
“We hope for a good outcome for the whole situation.”

Natzke has worked at the Hot Springs Village police department as an
emergency dispatcher for the past six years. “She’s family, and we’re
doing everything we can do to find her,” Lt. Ricky Middleton told ABC
News.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/01/search-for-missing-arkansas-mother-turns-up-a-body/

Hmmmm...........police & boyfriend are both suspicious as far as I'm concerned. Can't figure out whey the police weren't out earlier unless they already knew, hmmmmmmmm.........

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/03/dawna-natzke-found_n_1181867.html?ref=crime&icid=maing-grid7|main5|dl1|sec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D124579

Dawna Natzke Found: Body In Arkansas Forest Is Woman Missing Since Dec. 21

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A police dispatcher last seen alive leaving a party with her boyfriend shortly before Christmas was slain, authorities said Tuesday after confirming that a body found in the wilderness over the weekend was hers.

Dawna Natzke's death has been ruled a homicide, but investigators haven't determined exactly how or when she was killed, said her former boss, Hot Springs Village Police Chief Laroy Cornett.

"Our missing person's case has evolved into a homicide," he said, noting that the Garland County sheriff's office had taken over the investigation.

Police have not named any suspects in the case.
Natzke, a 46-year-old mother of three who had recently separated from her husband, was last seen leaving a Dec. 21 Christmas party with her boyfriend, Kevin Duck. She wasn't reported missing until Dec. 23, when she didn't show up to work.

According to police, Duck, 28, told investigators he and Natzke left the party and went to her home in Hot Springs Village, a gated community of some 13,000 residents about 35 miles west of Little Rock. When he woke up the next morning, Natzke was gone, he allegedly said.

Duck did not return telephone calls last week seeking comment, and his cell phone had been disconnected by Saturday.

Volunteer searchers came across Natzke's body in a forest about five miles from the wilderness area where her burned-out vehicle was found shortly after her disappearance.

Natzke's older sister, Vicki Hegyi, told The Associated Press that Cornett and a sheriff's deputy visited her mother's home on Tuesday to break the news to the family. She said the family had assumed the body was her baby sister's.

"It was a formality anyway," Vicki Hegyi said. "We knew it was Dawna."

She said Cornett and the deputy didn't discuss the condition of her sister's body when it was found.

"My stomach has been in my throat ... . Every detail that comes out is more heinous," she said.

Facebook pages related to Natzke's disappearance have drawn hundreds of followers. One page urged followers to report anything they may know about what happened to Natzke.

"There is at least one person who knows what happened and many more who, without realizing it, have the information needed to `crack this case,'" the page said.

Natzke lived in a community with security gates, but they weren't equipped with video surveillance.

___

Associated Press writer Jeannie Nuss contributed to this report.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/03/dawna-natzke-found_n_1181867.html?ref=crime&icid=maing-grid7|main5|dl1|sec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D124579