TERRESSA VANEGAS - 16 yo (2006) - Dickinson TX

One Dickinson family will not be celebrating Halloween this weekend.
Saturday will mark three years since Terressa Vanegas vanished. The
16-year-old was later found dead, and no suspect has been found. What happened to the teen is still a mystery, and her family has new hope they may one day find out. "It's just sickening that somebody would even think about doing that to
a little girl," said Terressa's sister, Jackie Metcalf.



Terressa's sisters, Metcalf and Amanda Vanegas, are now preparing for the anniversary of her death. "Ever since she passed away, I just haven't been the same," Vanegas said. Terressa was last seen at a party on Halloween night in 2006. When she
didn't return home the next morning, her grandmother assumed she was
with friends. "She had a history of running off to some friends' house for a couple days," said grandmother Betty Metcalf. Three days later, Dickinson police said a man riding a dirt bike found
her body lying in a ditch, just yards from her high school. While police would not confirm the details of her death, Terressa's
family said they discovered she had been beaten and strangled with her
own belt. Her long brown hair she loved had also been cut short. "I was devastated," Betty Metcalf said. "It was just like -- I was in
shock. I just wished I could go to sleep and never wake up." Family and friends searched the surrounding field for clues and found
Terressa's glasses and hair clip. Police also found some DNA on her
body. But that is still the best clue they have. "All they
(the police) ever say is 'We're waiting on DNA,'" Betty Metcalf said.
"We don't know anymore. After three years, we don't know any more than
we did the day they found her." Another Dickinson cold case
made national news earlier this month, when police announced they had a
big break in a 19-year-old case. Nearly two decades after Jennifer Schuett was raped and left for dead at the age of 8, a DNA hit led investigators to Dennis Bradford. He was living near Little Rock, Arkansas. It as an arrest that ignited something in Terressa's case -- a new hope that her killer might still be found. "These kind of cases never really get off your mind," said Dickinson Police Chief Ron Morales. For three years, Morales said his department has jumped at every lead. "We at first had quite a few leads to go on," he said. "We ran into dead ends on each and every one of them." But with a DNA profile in CODIS -- the database used by law enforcement
nationwide -- Morales is confident that it is only a matter of time. "One da, I'm a strong believer in that he will mess up," he said. "When that does happen, we'll have our person." Since 2001, CODIS has grown steadily and can now identify more than 7
million Americans by their DNA. In Texas, nearly 500,000 people -- or
roughly 2 percent of the state -- have been entered into the system,
usually after a felony conviction. That's how Dennis Bradford
was caught. Busted for kidnapping in Arkansas, his DNA made it into
CODIS, matching a sample retrieved from clothing found near Jennifer
Schuett back in 1990. For the Vanegas family, waiting has become the worst Halloween nightmare of all. "I'll just be sitting in the living room thinking about her, and then I
just -- tears just start coming to my eyes," Betty Metcalf said. "It's
like I just can't get past this point that I am now. And, I think I
could if I just knew who did it." "I have hope that one day we will find him," Vanegas said. "I just hope it's sooner than 19 years though." On Sept. 1, a new law took effect in Texas, closing a loophole to
require criminals to submit DNA after all felony convictions,
regardless of their sentence. It's part of a trend nationwide,
requiring more people to submit DNA for databases.

Terressa Vanegas
Age 16
Height 5’ 3” Weight 210 lbs





Detectives are asking the community to help us solve the senseless murder of
one of the children here in our community. We are seeking any information into
the death of 16 year old Terressa Vanegas. Terressa, a DISD student, was last
seen leaving the Green Caye Subdivision on foot about 11:00pm on Halloween
night and it is unknown to us as to what direction of travel she last took.
She was last seen wearing a white button-down dress shirt and blue Dickie
pants. Terressa’s body was discovered a couple of days later in a field across
from Dickinson High School.

What Detectives are trying to establish is: did anyone who resides in this area see
her on foot after this time frame and can help us determine her last direction
of travel from Green Caye, and was anyone seen with her?

Detectives would also like to know if anyone may have seen a female fitting
Terressa’s description possibly speaking to someone in a vehicle on the side
of the road who may have stopped and picked her up.

If anyone has any information that may be helpful to our Detectives you are asked
to call Dickinson Police Detective John Lopez at 281-337-6335 or e-mail:

jlopez@ci.dickinson.tx.us

Your information can remain confidential by calling Crime Stoppers
1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or 281-480-TIPS (8477)

Missing girl was best friend of teen found dead

Remember the story of Terressa Vanegas, the Dickinson High School student who disappeared on Halloween and whose body was later found in a field near the high school? The story just got a little weirder: It seems Vanegas' best friend, Kimberlee Ramsey of Bacliff, has been missing for a week and a half.

Ramsey was last seen leaving her home in the 4600 block of 7th Street in Bacliff the evening of Oct. 29. Interestingly enough, Ramsey and her family appeared on Dr. Phil to talk about the dangers of being a runaway; on the show, the family talked about a time when Ramsey ran away and didn't contact her parents for five weeks — that time, she ended up 2,000 miles from home. The problem, Ramsey said, was that her mom wouldn't let her marry her boyfriend — who mother Laura Ramsey said is already married. "I ran away because I didn’t feel like I belonged here," Kimberlee Ramsey said on the show. "My mom gave me her word that the day I turn 16 she would sign the papers over for me and him to get married, and now she’s going back on it. If they don’t sign the papers, I’m going to leave. Being here is ruining my life."

Ramsey was sent to the Aspen Achievement Academy for wilderness therapy, but Houston EquuSearch officials told the Chronicle that the treatment didn't work. Ramsey is described as 5 feet, 8 inches tall, about 155 pounds, with green eyes and brown hair with blond highlights. She was last seen wearing jeans, a blue football jersey and black house shoes. Anyone with information should call EquuSearch at 281.309.9500 or the Galveston County Sheriff's Office at 409.766.2322.

http://houstonist.com/2006/11/08/missing_girl_wa.php

Teen's body found behind school
Dickinson High student had been missing for a couple of days


By ANNE MARIE KILDAY
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

DICKINSON — Police are investigating the death of a 16-year-old Dickinson High School student who was found dead Friday on a former soccer field behind the school.

A passer-by discovered the body of Terressa Lynn Vanegas around noon lying face-down in a puddle of water, Police Chief Ron Morales said.

The girl's older brother said his parents did not want to talk about her death Friday night.

"We're really not doing too good right now," said Francisco "Frankie" Vanegas, 17.

Vanegas said that his sister was a freshman at ****inson High School.

She was identified by her mother, Morales said.

Terressa Vanegas, who turned 16 in August, was not involved in any extracurricular activities, but her brother said she was "a good student" and "enjoyed hanging out with her friends and going to school."

"She turned up missing a couple of days ago, so my parents called the police to start looking for her," he said.

Frankie Vanegas, apparently still shaken by his sister's death, said he wasn't exactly sure which day of the week she did not come home from school.

"I know she was home for Halloween, so it must have been the next day," he said.

The girl's body was taken to the Galveston County Medical Examiner's Office for an autopsy, Morales said.

No update found.

Please contact our forum if you have information about this case.