KAYLEAH WILSON - 12 yo (2010) - Greeley CO

Greeley CO ---- If you drive past the Wilson apartment on 28th Street in west Greeley,
you can see April Wilson or her son, Mackenzie, watching out the door.Watching
for Kayleah.


The 12-year-old girl left her home Sunday afternoon
to go to a friend's birthday party and never arrived. She didn't show
up at the pick-up location, and she hasn't come back home in two days.
Greeley police issued a bulletin Tuesday with Kayleah Wilson's photo on
it, asking for help in finding the girl.
Her home is in the 2800
block of 28th Street.
“We don't know what could have happened,”
said April, Kayleah‘s mother. “We've talked to her friends at school and
we've been sending out the fliers. Nobody's seen her.”
Kayleah
is described as 5-foot-1, 145 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes.
She was last seen wearing a white and pink shirt over a white tank top,
blue jeans, and white and red shoes.
According to the Greeley
police bulletin, there are no indications she uses drugs or alcohol and
has no history with gangs. She also has no history of running away from
home.
Kayleah has asthma and will likely be carrying an inhaler.
She does not have a cell phone and usually walks to various places to
meet her friends.
Her family said she likes to hang out at the
Centennial Park Library, the Greeley Mall, Walmart on 23rd Avenue, and
Hastings music store. She also goes to the Higher Grounds Youth Center,
in connection with her church.
“We've been passing out the fliers
everywhere,” April said. “I went up to the gas station on the corner
and gave them out to people filling up their cars.”
While mom was
talking, 17-year-old Mackenzie rushed out and gave a flier to a
pedestrian walking past the house. He said he's been out driving around,
looking for his sister.
Greeley police spokesman Sgt. Joe
Tymkowych said, “At this point there has been no information or evidence
developed to indicate she would run away. There is also no evidence of
foul play.”
Tymkowych said this missing child case does not meet
the criteria for an Amber Alert. He said to issue the alert, police have
to believe the child has been abducted. The No. 2 criteria for an alert
says the abducted child must be “in immediate danger of serious bodily
injury or death.” Tymkowych said police haven't found evidence to meet
that criteria.
Kayleah is a student at Brentwood Middle School
and has several friends in that area.

The FBI dispatched more than 15 agents to
Greeley on Wednesday to join in the search for a 12-year-old who has
been missing since Sunday, when she vanished on a walk to a party.
Federal agents' involvement signals nothing about what might have
happened to Kayleah Wilson or where she might have gone, said Agent Dave
Joly of the Denver FBI office.
"It only means the Greeley Police Department is a smaller agency with
limited resources and a lot of other responsibilities," he said. "We're
happy to do what we can and hopefully bring this to a happy
conclusion."
Kayleah, a Brentwood Middle School student, was last seen Sunday
about 3:40 p.m. A search hound was not able to pick up her scent
Tuesday, said Greeley police spokesman Sgt. Joe Tymkowych.
There is no evidence of foul play, and her family knows of no reason
she might have run away, he said.
Other regional agencies have also joined in the search, but no Amber
Alert has been issued because the case doesn't meet federal guidelines.

To issue an Amber Alert, local law enforcement must have evidence an
abduction has occurred, that the child is in imminent danger. Bending
the requirements "could lead to abuse of the system and ultimately
weaken its effectiveness," according to the Department of Justice.
The eight-block route from her home to the party is lined with homes
and businesses, which makes it an unlikely spot for an abduction to go
unnoticed on a sunny Sunday afternoon, Tymkowych said.
Kayleigh enjoyed walking, sometimes to a library more than a mile
from her home, he said, but she was not known to hitch rides.
Interviews with family, friends, schoolmates and registered sex
offenders in the area have turned up no clues, Tymkowych said.
Police hope surveillance tapes from area businesses might yield
information, but so far they haven't.
When Kayleah didn't return home Sunday evening, they began looking
for her and were told she never showed up at the party. The family
called police at about 10 p.m.
Kayleah is described as about 5-feet, 1-inch tall and 145 pounds with
brown eyes and brown hair. She was wearing a white and pink shirt over a
white tank top, blue jeans and white and red shoes when she left for
the party.
Anyone with information on Kayleah's whereabouts is asked to call
police at (970) 350-9600.

Sunday
» 3:40 p.m.: Kayleah Wilson says goodbye to her mother, April Wilson,
and leaves the apartment in the 2800 block of 28th Street. She's walking
to meet a friend south of the Greeley Mall, then to go to a birthday
party. It's likely she crossed U.S. 34 Bypass to get to the Greeley
Mall.

» 10 p.m.: Discovering Kayleah did not make it to the party
and did not return home, April Wilson calls Greeley police to report
her daughter as missing. As is standard with missing older children —
Kayleah is 12 — police handle it as a possible runaway and put out an
alert to watch for her.

Monday
» Morning: Greeley police officers discuss the case, canvas the area
and learn there is no indication that Kayleah is a runaway. Police spend
the day questioning the family and friends of Kayleah and contacting
possible witnesses in the neighborhood and the area south of the Greeley
Mall.

» Police request an Amber Alert through the state, but are
told the case does not meet the requirements. Her name and photo are
placed on state and national missing children sites. There is no
evidence of her running away, nor is there any evidence of foul play.

Tuesday
» Morning: Search dogs are brought in but are unable to pick up a scent
of the girl. Detectives decide it is time to send out a press release.

» 2:54 p.m.: The first press release with Kayleah's photo and description
is e-mailed from the Greeley police to media throughout the state;
police increase the number of officers and detectives working on the
case. The FBI is asked to join the investigation.

Wednesday
» 9 a.m.: There are now 25 officers and detectives working the case.
They search U.S. 34 Bypass near the house, looking through ditches,
culverts and bushes. No evidence of Kayleah is found. About the same
time, April Wilson passes out fliers of her daughter at Greeley West
High School.

» The FBI sends agents to meet and join the investigation with Greeley detectives.

» April Wilson spends much of the day at the Greeley Police Department, trying to help find her
daughter.

Four days after a 12-year-old northern Colorado girl disappeared
after leaving home to walk to a friend's birthday party, authorities
expanded their search Thursday to include places she was known to
frequent, including a music store, library and shopping mall."We're
hoping against hope that she's out there, she's safe and she is just a
runaway," said Sgt. Joe Tymkowych of the police department in Greeley,
about 60 miles north of Denver. "But we have to try to figure all the
possible propensities of things that could happen and pursue those leads
as well."Kayleah (Kay LEE uh) Wilson was last seen Sunday
afternoon, when she left her Greeley home to go to a birthday party just
across a busy highway from her apartment building.Authorities
have since gone door to door seeking information on the girl's
whereabouts and used dogs to comb medians, ditches and bushes along the
highway for clues. Investigators also have interviewed friends, family
and acquaintances and have found nothing to indicate she ran away,
Tymkowych said. Police planned to re-interview some of those people
Thursday.About 60 police and FBI agents were aiding in the search
for the sixth-grader, whom her mother, April Wilson, described as a
"good kid.""She never hanged out with the bad crowds," Wilson
said Thursday outside her apartment. "She had her friends. She liked to
hang out at the mall, go to the library — you know, typical kid stuff."Wilson
said she had no information on what may have happened to her daughter
but wants her to know, "We love you. We miss you. Just come home. We
want you home."Tymkowych said police have contacted the girl's
father, who lives in California, and other family members to advise them
that she's missing and may be contacting them if she ran away.He
says Wilson had a boyfriend, who has been interviewed and is
cooperating. He is not considered a suspect or person of interest. April
Wilson also spent about 12 hours at the police station Wednesday, but
Tymkowych said Wilson was there assisting police in the search.The
middle school student is 5-foot-1, weighs 145 pounds and has brown hair
and blue eyes. Authorities say Kayleah has asthma and was believed to
be carrying an inhaler. She doesn't have a cell phone.April
Wilson said her daughter likes pizza and the color pink, and that her
favorite band is called Celtic Thunder.At Kayleah's school a few
blocks from her home, teachers wore purple and pink memorial ribbons
turned sideways to resemble a "K" for Kayleah.Brentwood Middle
School science teacher Mandy Skinner described Kayleah as a soft-spoken
girl who often kept to herself but participated enthusiastically in
group discussion and completed her assignments."She's a typical
sixth-grader," Skinner added.Kayleah's case is not the first
missing-child case in Greeley. Jonelle Matthews, 12, went missing on
Dec. 20, 1984, and was never found. That case remains unsolved."That
again was one of those situations where we were never able to establish
if there was a runaway involved, or if it was an abduction," Tymkowych
said.FBI Denver field office spokesman Dave Joly said the FBI
regularly provides help in investigating possible child abductions.

Serious and unsmiling, the FBI agents parked the large unmarked white
van in front of the Wilson apartment Thursday afternoon, then went
silently into the apartment of a 12-year-old girl who's been missing for
four days.

Kayleah Wilson, 12, left her home Sunday afternoon
for a birthday party and never returned. Greeley police — and now as
many as 40 FBI agents — are working the case nonstop.

On Thursday, some of the agents carried in large cases, boxes and other
material that would be used to gather evidence and samples from the
house.

“They will take carpet samples, paint samples from the
walls, and other specimens that could help them later as the case
develops,” said Greeley police spokesman Sgt. Joe Tymkowych.

This type of evidence is collected routinely on a case to “capture
information,” Tymkowych said. Then, as the case develops, they will have
that evidence already at hand.

The agents helping Greeley police
are part of the Rocky Mountain Safe Streets Task Force, and they're
part of the Denver office of the FBI, concentrating on helping local
departments in the state.

There is nothing new in the case, according to Tymkowych, and now Greeley police and the FBI are
recanvassing the neighborhood and the girl's family and friends.

Dave Joly, an agent and spokesman for the Denver office of the FBI, said the
task force was formed several years ago with five other departments to
help with local investigations.

“We realize the FBI might have some resources that aren't available to smaller police departments,”
Joly said Thursday. “It's pretty typical for us to participate with the
investigation of missing children.”

The Denver task force includes the FBI, plus Denver police, Federal Protective Services,
Aurora police, Jefferson County Sheriff's Office and the Lakewood Police
Department.

Meanwhile, students at Brentwood Middle School,
where Kayleah attends, made ribbons Thursday to raise awareness of her
disappearance.

The ribbons — which were mostly colored green, the
color of the shirt she wore in a widely distributed photo, and maroon, a
color she often wore — were given to every sixth-grader Thursday.
Students throughout the rest of the school are expected to receive more
ribbons today.

“We've used it kind of as a voice for Kayleah
because right now, she doesn't have a voice,” said John Diebold,
principal of the school.

Members of the FBI and Greeley Police Department have interviewed at least a dozen students in connection with
the case, according to Roger Fiedler, spokesman for Greeley-Evans
School District 6. Diebold added that the school's staff is also
listening for clues from its students.

Kayleah's disappearance, though, has weighed heavily on the school.

“We've had a couple kids who have gone home because they are stressed,” Diebold said. “It's
been a stressful situation for them ... though most of my students are
pulling together and trying to figure out a way we can help find
Kayleah.”

In news accounts Thursday, Kayleah's former stepfather,
Jesse Wilson, said it could be possible the girl ran off to California
to see her father.

Tymkowych said that was speculation and that
the stepfather hadn't said anything like that to the police.

i saw the mother and stepfather on the today show - something isn't right IMO.

oviedo45 wrote:i saw the mother and stepfather on the today show - something isn't right IMO.

---Please, do elaborate on their appearance. I missed it...

The nearly week-old case of the missing 12-year-old Greeley girl is the
highest priority for the Denver FBI office.

“There is, at this moment, no higher priority to the Denver division of the FBI,” said FBI
Special Agent In Charge James Davis. “We have significant resources here
assisting in this investigation.”

Fifty people from the FBI, representatives of the National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children, and the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit are now in Greeley
working the disappearance of Kayleah Wilson.

And, police said Friday that there will be a larger number of police cars and Weld County
Sheriff's vehicles on the Greeley streets this weekend, all in search
of the missing girl.

She left her home to walk to a birthday party Sunday afternoon and never arrived.
She has not been seen for five days, and Greeley police and the FBI held a press conference Friday to
announce they need more help.

“We're doing basic police work right now,” said Greeley Police Chief Jerry Garner. “Re-interviewing
people, checking leads.”

Garner and FBI Special Agent In Charge James Davis said they hope people continue to call in tips to help in
the search for the girl.

“It's like you pass a traffic accident,
and you don't call in because you assume someone else called,” Garner
said. “Don't assume we know everything about this case. Even if you
don't think it's important, we need people to call us.”

Police have received more than 100 tips since Kayleah disappeared, and they
could still use more.

Additional photos of Kayleah were provided to the investigators by her friends,
and the photos show her appearance has changed since the time her school photo, which was distributed
earlier this week, was taken.

They also passed out photos of an asthma inhaler of the same brand the girl uses. “If someone sees this
inhaler somewhere, please don't touch it,” said FBI spokesman Dave Joly.
“We want to be able to get evidence and fingerprints from it.”

Davis said it isn't unusual for this many FBI agents to help on a local case.
And, “our efforts will continue until we've done everything we can, or
until Kayleah's safely back home.”

Friday afternoon, a large number of police, sheriff's deputies and FBI
agents were scattered along 30th Street, south of the Greeley Mall,
stopping traffic and handing out photos of the missing girl. The
birthday party that Kayleah was supposed to attend on Sunday was held in
that area, in the 1900 block of 30th Street.

In the press conference, neither the police nor the FBI would confirm stories that
Kayleah had a 17-year-old boyfriend, or that her father — now living in
California — was in jail. They did say they have talked to the father
several times, and they are sure the girl is not with him at this time.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has arrived in
Greeley, Davis said, “because they bring a special expertise into
missing children cases. The FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit also is in
Greeley to aid in the investigation.

Davis said they're received calls from numerous police and sheriff's departments, offering to help
in the case, including the Weld County Sheriff's Office.

“If we get tips from out of state,” Garner said, “the local departments and the
FBI offices in the area have been very helpful in checking the
information.” He said none of the tips has proven she is in another
state.

Kayleah's family has been “very helpful” in the case,” Davis said, as have the girl's friends.

They are also using the FBI's standard Child Abduction Response Plan in the case, which uses
experience from other cases to look into possible child abductions. They
said that doesn't mean they believe Kayleah was abducted. “What it
means is that there is no lead that won't be covered,” Davis said.

There are four sex offenders living within a 10-block radius of the Wilson
apartment complex. One sex offender lives close to the apartment, while
three others live near the area police believe Kayleah was headed to
before she disappeared. Police said they have interviewed several sex
offenders in Greeley.

While neither the police nor FBI would discuss specifics of the case, they all said they hope things will still
turn out all right. “We assume the worst and hope for the best,” Davis said.

HOW TO HELP
Kayleah Wilson is described as 5-foot-1, 145 pounds, with brown hair
and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a white and pink shirt over a
white tank top, blue jeans, and white and red shoes. She was last seen
at 3:40 p.m. Sunday in the 2800 block of 28th Avenue in Greeley.
If you have information on the disappearance of Kayleah, call the Greeley
police at (970) 350-9600. The FBI tip-line is 1-800-CALL-FBI.

Police on foot and on horseback
were searching open areas near the home of a 12-year-old girl for any
sign of the missing sixth-grader.Kayleah (Kay LEE uh) Wilson was
last seen Sunday at about 3:40 p.m. when she left her home to walk to a
friend's birthday party about a mile away, across a busy highway. Police
stopped more than 600 motorists passing near the area Friday to ask if
they had seen anything Sunday night.Greeley Police Sgt. Joe
Tymkowych says authorities have gone to Kayleah's favorite hangouts,
searched along the highway, interviewed friends, family, and
acquaintances, and have contacted registered sexual offenders who live
nearby.

Kayleah weighs 145 pounds and has brown hair and blue eyes.

Authorities are canvassing neighborhoods and talking to
motorists in Greeley, Colo., as the search for a missing 12-year-old
girl continues.Kayleah (Kay LEE uh) Wilson was last seen the
afternoon of March 28 when she left home to walk to a friend's birthday
party about a mile away, across a busy highway.

On Sunday, one
week after she disappeared, police planned to stop cars in the area and
ask drivers if they noticed anything a week before.
Police Sgt. Joe Tymkowych says authorities are also searching two
residential areas near the girl's home, including one that wouldn't have
been on her way to the birthday party.A search of some ponds and
a wooded, undeveloped area Saturday turned up no sign of Kayleah, a
sixth-grader who weighs 145 pounds and has brown hair and blue eyes.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is offering a
$10,000 reward for information that leads agents to find Kayleah
Wilson.Wilson is the 12-year-old from Greeley who disappeared
Sunday, March 28. Her family said she was walking to a friend's
birthday party but never showed up.Investigators still don't have
much to go on, despite hundreds of tips to the FBI hot line.
The FBI is offering the reward in the hopes that it might breathe new
life or draw new individuals into the investigation."We're still
out going door-to-door, but probably not in the same volume that you
were seeing before," said Jerry Garner, Greeley police chief. "We're
kind of filling in the holes where we've missed people in the past."Investigators
have already checked around the Greeley Mall, where Wilson would have
had to walk by when she disappeared. They've also checked open space
areas and abandoned buildings nearby.Asked if there were any persons
of interest investigators said "We've got some
people that we're looking at and were taking our time in washing those
folks out," said James Davis, FBI special agent-in-charge. "We don't
have the number of leads that we'd like to have, we're not confident
that we've got all the information that's out there, so the whole
purpose of this reward is to motivate folks to come forward."Police
are also appealing to Wilson herself, in case she's out there on her
own, and has become too afraid to come forward because of all the
attention."No matter how much law enforcement or public
involvement you see in this, you are the person we're trying to help.
You're not in trouble," said Garner.

Here's the Picture of the inhaler that Kayleah Wilson left home with.

HOW CAN YOU HELP?

Many people have asked how they can help in the search for missing
Kayleah Wilson. Here are some simple things you can do as a property
owner or landlord, or concerned citizen.

Please check and look along road sides, back roads, fields, dump areas
that we all may know about in the county or in the towns or areas you
drive to, or live near. These may be areas that you routinely drive,
walk, run, jog, etc. Check any ditches or areas that are typically hard
to see when driving by at high speeds. Other potential areas to check
are under bridges, abandoned barns or structures that are not normally
occupied, abandoned vehicles, etc.

If you notice a suspicious odor in an area, or see activities in or
around abandoned homes or property, if you happen to see circling birds
or gathering predators, like coyotes in or around an area, check it out
if it is safe, or contact the local law enforcement agency near you to
have it checked out.

If you own property that is not currently occupied check it out to make
sure it is still secure and everything in side is in order and as you
expect it to be. If you know your neighbor is not home and you have
permission to go on their property check for any broken windows, doors,
or suspicious activity or things that may appear out of place to you.

If you live in a rural area and know your neighbors are gone for
extended periods of time drive by those areas and make note of any
unusual cars, vehicles, or things that appear out of place and are not
consistent with what you are familiar with.

If you live near an empty home or building watch for any suspicious
activity or unusual people or vehicles in or around the structure that
are not normally there.
Do NOT go in any buildings or homes you do not own or trespass on
private property to search any areas.

If you see or suspect anything suspicious do not attempt to pick it up,
touch it, or contaminate the immediate surrounding areas. If you leave
the area before authorities arrive try to leave the same way you came in
so other potential items are not disturbed or contaminated.

If a suspicious incident is in progress and you are concerned for public
safety always call 911.
If the situation is not an emergency call the Greeley Police Department
at 970-350-9600 or the FBI at 800-CALL-FBI.

What could have been a major lead in the case of a missing 12-year-old
girl in Greeley turned out to be an old backpack.

An employee at a
business in the area of 13th Street and 8th Avenue told police
Wednesday that he had a backpack that once belonged to missing Kayleah
Wilson. But he'd had the backpack for several months.

The man,
who said he didn't want to be identified, said he purchased the backpack
last October at a church sale. He was looking at the backpack Wednesday
and realized it had Kayleah's name in it.

Police met with the
man and then contacted Kayleah's mother, April Wilson, who told them the
family had donated the backpack to the church last year.

Investigators
from Greeley police and the FBI said there were no new leads in the
case, and they did not have a press conference Thursday. More than 50
FBI agents, 25 Greeley police officers and about 50 Weld County
sheriff's deputies, posse members and volunteers are involved in the
case.

Today, Kayleah has been missing 12 days. She left her home
March 28 to walk to a birthday party behind the Greeley Mall. She never
arrived at the party, and despite 325 leads called in to police, plus
officers and agents knocking on more than a thousand doors to try to
find the girl, she has vanished.

Kayleah is 5-foot-1, 145 pounds,
with brown hair and brown eyes. When last seen, she was wearing a pink
and white shirt over a white tank top, blue jeans and red and white
shoes.

The vigil for Kayleah Wilson on Friday started like so many other
vigils: Quiet, solemn and peaceful.

Inside the doors to Higher
Grounds, organizers passed out candles and greeted newcomers with solemn
faces. Nearby, dozens of people sat silently, wearing T-shirts printed
with Kayleah's picture.

Still, despite all this quiet resolve,
something remained different: This vigil was not meant for mourning.
People wept, yes, but they did not grieve. Rather, these people gathered
to pray.

“This isn't a vigil that we have given up — it is a
vigil that we are continuing to do our quest and bring her home,” said
Michelle Thompson, who has organized a Facebook page in support of
Kayleah.

In all, about 75 people gathered Friday at the teen
hangout, 134 11th Ave. in Greeley, to rally around search efforts for
Kayleah, 12, who has been missing since March 28 after she left her
house to attend a birthday party.

The vigil came on the eve of a
new search effort led by the Texas-based Laura Recovery Center to find
the sixth-grader of Brentwood Middle School. After the vigil, organizers
called for members of the community to gather today and Sunday at
Journey Christian Church, 2332 27th St. in Greeley, to take part in the
new search effort.

Still, as organizers called for new
volunteers, neither the Greeley Police Department nor the FBI offered
any new developments Friday in their own search for Kayleah — a common
theme the past two weeks as clues to Kayleah's location have been scant.

So
with so new little information, the gathering turned into a “vigil of
hope.”

“That's why we rally around each other, is to keep that
hope — to keep our heads up; to keep going,” said April Wilson,
Kayleah's mother. “We want her found. She needs to come home; that's
what all this was for — for her to even see that she has so many people
that love her and care about her and want her home.”

As the vigil
drew to a close, one of the vigil's leaders read a few verses from the
book of Matthew. Though a prayer would soon follow, Ryan Dougherty first
reflected on the story of a shepherd that lost one sheep in a herd of
100 — but later searched for it and brought it back.

“In that
same way, your father in heaven is not willing that any of these young
ones should be lost,” Dougherty said to the crowd as the order was given
to blow out the candles.

Indeed, for many the search was just
beginning.

“We're leaving the light on for her,” said Janice
Jesser, a friend of Kayleah's grandmother.

Volunteers who traveled hundreds of miles to search for a missing
Colorado girl say the effort could use a lot more people. Out-of-state
help has arrived to search for Kayleah Wilson, but the local help they
wanted did not arrive.
Kayleah Wilson was last seen on March 28 when she left her house to go to a birthday party.
She never arrived.
Greeley Police and the FBI have taken hundreds of tips, and now a volunteer group from Texas has
come to Colorado to search.
The group calls themselves a "grassroots operation with big hopes."
Those hopes were dimmed Saturday when only 40 volunteers showed up.
Of those 40 volunteers, most of them were strangers to Kayleah.
"I just thought about her mom. You know, I thought I can't not help, I
can't not do something," volunteer Joe Bouchard said.
Each of the volunteers had their own reason for dedicating hours of their weekend to search
for Kayleah.
Some of the searchers were students at the University of Northern
Colorado, others were sympathetic parents, and there were also a few
local experienced searchers.
"I just thought if it were my little girl, I'd want everybody in the
town helping," Bouchard said.
The teams tried not to retrace the steps of police. They looked for
any evidence that might be tied to Kayleah.
The Laura Recovery Center, a nonprofit child search organization,
spearheaded Saturday's search. The Recovery Center has brought closure
to families of missing children before. The group has worked on cases
like Elizabeth Smart and Chelsea King.
They say the biggest help comes from the community.
The team from Texas will be leading another search on Sunday from 9
a.m. until 5 p.m. at the Journey Christian Church in Greeley. The
address is 2332 W 27th Street. Participants must be 18 years of age or
older and show a valid state identification. For additional information,
call the Laura Recovery Center at 866-898-5723.
They say even if you cannot make it out here, they encourage you to
keep an eye out for Kayleah in your own neighborhood. If you do find any
evidence, they ask you not to disturb it, and to call police immediately.
Kayleah is 5 feet, 1 inch tall, 145 pounds, with brown eyes and brown
hair. Police are offering a $10,000 for information in the case.
They are asking you to call 1-800-CALL-FBI if you have any information.

Nineteen more people joined the search for Kayleah Wilson on Monday,
combing the fields in and around Greeley, but again, no evidence was found.
For more than two weeks, the Greeley police, Weld County Sheriff's Office
and the FBI have been searching for the missing 12-year-old Greeley girl,
and on Monday they also reported there was nothing new on the case.
Kayleah Wilson disappeared March 28 as she walked to a friend's house to go to a birthday party.
Despite numerous searches, door-to-door inquiries and a $10,000 reward, the
girl's disappearance remains a mystery.
The FBI and Greeley police have a total of about 75 people working the case, plus about 30
sheriff's deputies, mounted posse members and other volunteers.
Over the weekend, 141 volunteers combed the fields in and around Greeley,
working with the Laura Recovery Center for Missing Children, a Texas
group that came to Greeley to organize the search. It was the same group
that had 19 searchers out on Monday.
The organizer for the Laura Recovery Center, Bob Walcutt,
said he and his staff left Monday afternoon to go to a conference in Albuquerque, N.M., on missing children.

Anyone with information about the missing girl is asked
to call the Greeley police at (970) 350-9600 or the FBI at (800)
CALL-FBI.

The longer Kayleah Wilson is gone, the
more certain police and FBI investigators are that the 12-year-old
Greeley girl was abducted.
"Our concern that she is safe increases by the day," Greeley Police
Chief Jerry Garner said Thursday.
While not eliminating the possibility that Kayleah left her home and
family of her own free will, police are "definitely leaning that this is
not a runaway situation," Garner said. "This is something more
serious."
Garner said in most cases, runaways call someone a few days after
they leave home. But no one has heard from Kayleah since she left her
mother's apartment in west Greeley the afternoon of March 28 to walk
about eight blocks to a friend's birthday party.
Hundreds of professional investigators and volunteer searchers have
pored over the Greeley landscape looking for the child and clues to her
disappearance.
Jim Davis, the FBI's special agent in charge of the Denver office,
said Thursday that he would be surprised if the person who took Kayleah
is still in Greeley. "We have scoured the area pretty well," he said.

Davis said the number of FBI investigators working on the case has
been scaled back as the number of leads has dwindled.
Greeley police and the FBI on Thursday upped the reward for any
information into her disappearance to $20,000 in hopes of generating
viable leads in the case.
"We are certainly not getting the leads that will break this case,"
Davis said. "We're looking for any help we can get."
The FBI hopes some psychological indicators developed by the agency's
Behavorial Analysis Unit might point them to the person responsible for
Kayleah's disappearance.
Since the evening of March 28 the person:
• Could be coming up with excuses to leave the area unexpectedly for
what may sound like a good reason (work related, visit a distant
relative or friend, etc.)
• May have missed work, called in sick, asked to change shifts,
particularly on days close to the night Kayleah disappeared.
• May have unexplained recent injuries (cuts, bruises) particularly
on his head, hands or arms.
• May have an unexpected or sudden interest in the status of this
investigation.
• May minimize or deny a known acquaintance with Kayleah.
• May display nervousness or irritability.
• May show a recent increase or decrease in expressing religious
beliefs.
• May have changed routine sleep patterns.
• May have changed "usual" consumption of alcohol, drugs or
cigarettes.
• May have shaved off facial or head hair or started growing a
mustache or beard.
• May no longer be driving, or changing the appearance of, his
personal or work vehicle for no obvious reason, including suddenly
keeping it in a shed or garage, covering it, painting it, selling it,
reporting it stolen or giving it away.
The person also is likely to live in the Greeley community and has
ties to the area around the Greeley Mall, the FBI said.

This case feels like the Lindsey Baum case to me. They still have no idea what happened to 12 year old Kayleah. It doesn't look good.


Tips continue to trickle into the Greeley Police Department regarding
the search for Kayleah Wilson — though officers have also been left to
battle a false, though fast-spreading, rumor.

The department has
received 40-50 tips in the last week and a half concerning the
whereabouts of Kayleah, who has been missing since March 28, according
to Joe Tymkowych, spokesman for the Greeley Police Department. Officers
from the department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, though,
remain no closer to finding the girl, Tymkowych said.

At the same
time, however, the department has received “dozens” of calls concerning
a rumor that Kayleah's body has been found in various places across the
city. Tymkowych said there is no truth to the rumor.

“These
rumors are not helping anything,” said Tymkowych, adding he did not know
where the rumor started, though it has been spread, in part, via
texting by school children.

Those with actual tips on the
whereabouts of Kayleah are asked to call the Greeley police at (970)
350-9600 or the FBI at (800) CALL-FBI.

Stories of a missing Greeley girl being found — or her body being found —
continue to circulate throughout Greeley and stream into the Greeley
Police Department and to the missing girl's family.
The stories aren't true, and they're difficult for the family.
“It hurts when people do this,” said April Wilson, mother of Kayleah Wilson, 12, the
Greeley girl who disappeared March 28. “It hurts because they aren't
true, and because if people hear those stories, they'll stop looking for her.”
April Wilson said her 17-year-old son — Kayleah's brother,
Mackenzie Wilson — hears the stories at school, the family gets calls
at home saying she's been found, and her friends have also been
receiving calls and text messages relaying the false stories.
“We just wish people would stop,” April Wilson said.
Greeley police spokesman Sgt. Joe Tymkowych called the rumors “counterproductive. They
hurt the case and her family.”
The number of officials working
the case has dropped significantly since the girl was first reported
missing. There are now two Greeley detectives, two FBI agents and two
agents from the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit working full-time on the
case. They still have a control room set up where they take tips and
keep material and information on the case.
Kayleah Wilson disappeared March 28 after she left home to walk to meet a friend for a
birthday party. She apparently crossed the U.S. 34 Bypass on foot and
walked through the Greeley Mall parking lot that afternoon; police have
surveillance photos showing her alone in the mall parking lot.
Thecase has brought widespread publicity and more than 50 FBI agents came
to Greeley to investigate the case for two weeks.
Police also released information about a 44-year-old man who was termed a “person of
interest” in the case. The man, who once lived in two apartment
complexes south of the Greeley Mall, was contacted and cleared.
The Behavioral Science Unit team from the FBI recently issued a list of
behaviors that could fit a suspect, if indeed the girl has been
abducted. Those behaviors include changing cars, growing or shaving off a
beard, or becoming abnormally interested in the case.
The reward for information that leads to the closure of the case was raised to
$20,000 because the investigators haven't been getting as many leads in
recent days, said special agent-in-charge Jim Davis.

Kayleah loved Mother's Day.

The soon-to-be 13-year-old for years made the holiday a special one for her mother.

“Mother's Day was her thing,” April Wilson said Saturday as she sat in the command center
of a search for her daughter in Windsor. “She always did something,
like make cards with little sayings. She'd look them up on the Internet
and print it off and make cards.”

Now, with Mother's Day 2010 upon her, the 37-year-old mother of three could only dread it. Her baby
girl, Kayleah, has been missing for six weeks after vanishing on her way
to a friend's birthday party on a Sunday afternoon.

Police and agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation organized massive
searches for the girl in the two weeks following her March 28
disappearance, but the number of authorities working the case has
decreased, while clues to her disappearance have remained weak from the
get-go. It's a fact Wilson accepts.

“They have to go back to their day jobs,” she said, adding that she remains confident police are
on task. “I don't feel at all that the authorities have slacked off. You
can't feel that way when the detective tells you, ‘I will never stop looking for your daughter.' ”

Since Kayleah's disappearance, Wilson said her full-time job has become the task of finding her
daughter. She makes flyers every day, and finds new places to hang them.
Saturday, she checked in 13 volunteers who came to the Windsor search
for the girl. Wilson is prohibited from going on the search, she said,
and she doesn't think she could handle finding anything “bad” anyway.
She has organized another search for her daughter May 22-23 in Milliken and Johnstown.

“There were hundreds of volunteers at first, but
every little bit counts,” she said. “Everyone says the world is so
different, that people don't care. That's not what I've seen in this
entire process. So many people who don't even know me tell me, ‘We're
praying for you.' Prayer is good.”

Until the end of the school year, searches have to be a bit haphazard, as she also must negotiate
life and conflicts people have. Today, Mother's Day, is a day most will spend with their own families.

“I'm going to church with my mother and spending the day with my kids, like any other day,” Wilson
said.

With two boys still at home, she already has had to deal
with one special day without her baby girl. She turned 37 on April 20,
the day her daughter had insisted on baking a cake.

Wilson now just tries to keep busy. During the daytime, she said, it's easier, as
she cares for Jesse Wilson, 4, and later in the afternoon, her
17-year-old son, Mackenzie Jamison.

“Nighttime sucks,” Wilson admitted, adding that she sleeps with Kayleah's hot pink sleeping bag
every night. “I'm still not sleeping. I'm constantly wondering where is
she, where could she be? ... She didn't even take a coat. When it's
rainy outside, my first thought is, ‘I hope she's inside.' ”

Wilson has found herself listening to Kayleah's favorite music, and buying the foods Kayleah wanted.

“Everything in the house reminds me of her,” Wilson said. “I went and bought popsicles for goodness sake
because she said she wanted to have popsicle races to see who could eat
the most the quickest without having a brain freeze.”

Wilson won't let the worry get the best of her, though. She said she must keep
hope alive and will do anything she can to find her daughter, who turns 13 on June 25.

“Every day becomes more frustrating,” she said. “But it's just like life. You either deal with it and have faith or you
roll over and die, and I'm not going to do that.”

» What's next
April Wilson and volunteers have planned a 10th search for Kayleah
Wilson for May 22-23 in Milliken and Johnstown. Volunteers should check
in between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. at the Milliken Police Department, 1201
Broad St. Volunteers must be at least 18 and have a photo ID. Volunteers
are asked to keep dogs and children at home. For more information, call
Judy at (970) 576-0618 or e-mail djsauriol@q.com.

» How to help
Kayleah Wilson is described as 5-foot-1, 145 pounds, with brown hair
and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a white and pink shirt over a
white tank top, blue jeans, and white and red shoes.
If you have information about Kayleah Wilson, call the Greeley police at (970) 350-9600 or the FBI at (800) CALL-FBI.

A decomposed body was found today just one mile from where 12-year-old
Kayleah Wilson of Greeley, Colo., went missing nearly two months ago.
A source close to the investigation said that they believe the body is Kayleah's but cannot be certain
until dental records are compared.
Greeley Police Sgt. Joe Tymkowkych did not immediately return messages, but told local reporters that the body was
discovered at 6 a.m. Wednesday by a worker who was inspecting the water
levels in an irrigation ditch.
The body is so decomposed that is was not immediately clear if it was
that of a female or a male, said Tymkowkych.
It is "impossible to tell right now when the body was deposited,"
Tymkowkych remarked.
The search for Kayleah, who went missing March 28 after leaving her
Greeley home to attend a birthday party, has been confounded by an
absence of any information or leads, police have said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-us-body-found-greeley,0,5920520.story
Colo. police retrieve decomposed body from ditch within mile of missing girl's home
P. SOLOMON BANDA
Associated Press Writer
May 19, 2010 | 1:12 p.m.
GREELEY, Colo. (AP) — Police retrieved a decomposed body from an
irrigation ditch in northern Colorado on Wednesday, about a half-mile
from the home of a missing sixth-grader.

There was no immediate indication of whether it was the body of Kayleah
Wilson, who was last seen walking March 28 to a friend's house for a
birthday party.

"We are unable to make an identification at
this time," Sgt. Joe Tymkowych said. "The decomposition is to the point
where it's difficult to say whether it's a male or a female."

Tymkowych said investigators couldn't rule out that the body was the
brown-haired, blue-eyed Wilson, described as about 5-foot-1 and 145
pounds. "Given the size of the person and its state of decomposition,
it's a possibility," he said.
A worker checking the ditch for problems after heavy rain Tuesday found
the body in about 3 feet of water early Wednesday, Tymkowych said.

Tymkowych wouldn't comment on how long officers believe the body was at
that spot. Searchers had checked the ditch at least twice before while
looking for Kayleah, he said. Investigators planned to use dental
records and possibly DNA and hair fibers to identify the body.

Identifying the body through dental records could take days, but it
could take weeks if investigators must use DNA, FBI spokesman Dave Joly
said.

A few of Kayleah's friends and residents gathered at the
ditch as officers walked along it ditch searching for evidence on
Wednesday afternoon.

Kayleah's friend Shelly Culver, 18,
described Kayleah as outgoing and said she loved to draw. "Kayleah
would not be the kind of person to run away."

Melissa Lynch,
31, whose daughter goes to school at nearby Frontier Academy, said, "To
a lot of us that live here that have kids, it's more than just 'that
Greeley girl.'"

A victim's advocate at the home of Kayleah's mother, April Wilson, said Wilson declined to comment Wednesday.

Decomposed Body Found In Greeley Ditch

Area Was Searched Twice For Missing 12-Year-Old Kayleah Wilson

Written by Thomas Hendrick, Wayne Harrison, Alan Gathright, and Kim Nguyen, Web Editors
POSTED: 9:43 am MDT May 19, 2010
UPDATED: 2:04 pm MDT May 19, 2010
GREELEY, Colo. -- A badly decomposed body discovered Wednesday morning in a Greeley ditch
by an irrigation worker is believed to be that of Kayleah Wilson, the
12-year-old Greeley girl who has been missing for nearly two months..storyAd{display:none;}The
girl, who vanished March 28 while walking to a friend's birthday party,
has been the subject of widespread searches. She was last seen near the
Greeley Mall.A well-placed, high-ranking law enforcement source told CALL7
Investigators that based on current information the FBI believes it is
the body of Kayleah Wilson but cannot definitively confirm until it
compares dental records.The FBI is declining any comment until
it has confirmed an identity. DNA and hair fibers may also be used to
identify the body, police said.The worker who found her body in
the Greeley Loveland Irrigation Ditch said the body was naked, bloated
and white, according to a 7NEWS source. A law enforcement source told
7NEWS that it is the same size, sex and age as the missing sixth-grader.Kayleah has brown hair, blue eyes, is about 5 feet 1 inch tall and 145 pounds.Greeley
Police Sgt. Joe Tymkowych said the discovery was made at about 6 a.m.
near 35th Avenue and the U.S. 34 Bypass by a worker who was inspecting
an irrigation ditch for problems, as he does after heavy rains. When
the worker opened a water-control gate near 29th Street, he spotted the
body and called 911, Tymkowych said.Tymkowych said that area has
been searched at least twice for Kayleah, who lives about a half-mile
away from the ditch. However, the searches may have occurred when the
water was low, or when the ditch was relatively dry. The irrigation
ditch also runs underground from 47th to 35th avenues.Heavy
rains and hail deluged Greeley Tuesday night, and authorities believe
the heavy water may have dislodged the body from its initial location.

Police officers look for evidence around the canal where a decomposed body was found Wednesday morning.

There was about 3 feet of water flowing in the ditch at the time the partially submerged body was discovered this morning.It is "impossible to tell right now when the body was deposited," Tymkowych said.The
body was pulled out at 10 a.m. by Union Colony Rescue Authority Dive
team. The Weld County Coroner's Office responded to the site and took
the body to McKee Medical Center in Loveland for an autopsy.Police
officers with probing poles are wading in the water to search the ditch
and its banks for additional clues. The flow of water in the ditch has
been cut to aid detectives.The water in the ditch runs northeast -- or toward Kayleah's home.Kayleah's Friends, Family React To News

Kayleah's
mother, April Wilson, has been informed that a body has been found. A
victim's advocate answered April Wilson's door and asked the media to
respect her privacy.Cheryl Fendich, a friend who has
participated in a number of searches, said that family and friends plan
to hold a candlelight vigil at 7 p.m. at the site where the body was
found. Some friends expressed hope that the body does belong to
Kayleah, because even if it is bad news, at least they can lay the girl
to rest and provide the family closure.The cause of the girl's
disappearance remains a mystery. Police do not know if it's the result
of foul play, an accident, or if she ran away. "Kayleah would
not be the kind of person to run away," said Kayleah's friend Shelly
Culver, 18. She said Kayleah was outgoing and loved to draw.Refresh this page and watch 7NEWS for more information.

A map showing the location of Kayleah Wilson's home (A), the Greeley Mall she was seen walking by (B), the friend's home she was walking to (C) and the ditch where the body was found (D).

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/23606902/detail.html

TomTerrific0420 wrote:

oviedo45 wrote:i saw the mother and stepfather on the today show - something isn't right IMO.

---Please, do elaborate on their appearance. I missed it...

they just didn't seem like other grieving parents of missing children - but now, in light of the body found today - I am no longer sure what to think. I am going to try to find the video and watch again.