RHIANNON SMITH - 15 yo - Winchester (W of Winsted) CT

Police in Winchester are investigating a report of a missing teen. 16-year-old Rhiannon Smith was last seen at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 1. Police
say a letter was found at her home suggesting that she may be going to
Canada or Prince Edward Island because she believes that "an ex-lover"
is coming from Florida to harm her or her grandparents. Rhiannon
does not have a driver’s license or access to a vehicle.
Police are not
certain if she has a network of friends that would provide her with
resources to leave the area. She also suffers from unspecified psychological issues.

Rhiannon
is described as a white female, about 5 feet, 8 inches and weighs about
180 pounds with shoulder length brown hair and brown eyes. As of late Friday evening, no new information was available. Anyone having information on the missing girl should contact the Winchester Police Department at 860-379-2721.

Winchester PD to resume investigation into disappearance Tuesday

Published: Monday, September 06, 2010

By JASON SIEDZIK

WINCHESTER — The Winchester Police Department will pick up the search for a missing teenager on Tuesday, Sept. 7.

Winchester Police also confirmed that the detective in charge of the search for Rhiannon Smith will be back on duty Tuesday.

Smith, 16, was last seen Sept. 1 at 3 p.m. Smith's disappearance is not suspected to be related to criminal activity, but the Winchester Police Department has been investigating several leads in Winsted and Alabama. A letter found at Smith's home suggests Smith might have left due to threats against herself or her family.

Anyone with information on Smith’s disappearance is asked to contact the Winchester Police Department at (860) 379-2721.
http://www.registercitizen.com/articles/2010/09/06/news/doc4c855f5c570b9567008781.txt

12 September 2010
WINCHESTER —
Town police said today they are looking for a 16-year-old girl who has been reported missing since Sept. 1.

Rhiannon Smith, was last seen leaving her home on East Wakefield Boulevard.

Detectives have reached out to family members in Connecticut, Florida and Alabama, posted national police bulletins, and contacted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Det. Kevin Kinahan said in a statement today.

Police are monitoring her cell phone and computer.

The teen is 5 foot 8 inches tall, 180 pounds, with brown, shoulder length hair. She may be carrying a blanket and a red gym bag. She may have been seen sleeping in a dugout at a town ball field late last week, but police received the report too late to verify it. The police phone number is (860) 379-2721.
http://www.courant.com/news/breaking/hc-winchester-missing-teen-0912,0,3372519.story?track=rss

Police have contacted the FBI for assistance in the search for Rhiannon Smith, the 16-year-old girl who has been missing since Sept. 1. Sgt. Kevin Kinahan said in a statement that the department is following additional leads and sending an “impassioned plea” to her that she contact her grandparents or the police to let them know she is safe. Police have no credible in­formation that Smith has left the state or is being held against her will. She wrote a letter that indicated she might be going to Canada, but she does not have a passport or driver’s license or any type of identification. Kinahan said Smith appears to be suffering from some delusional thoughts and she refer­ences vampirism and being a wolf in some of her past e-mail correspondences.

The search for Rhiannon Smith, 16, of Winsted continues.
Smith was last seen on Sept. 1.
According to a missing person poster in the Torrington Police Department, she might be with a male companion.
The press release described Smith as an “endangered runaway.”
Smith has brown hair and brown eyes. She is five-foot-eight-inches tall and weighs 180 pounds.
The Winchester Police Department is enlisting the help of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
A letter was found from Smith was found at her home indicating that she may travel to Canada or Prince Edward Island because she believed that someone was coming from Florida to harm her or her grandparents, according to www.helpfindmychild.net.
It is unknown whether Smith has the means to leave the state through a friend or acquaintance, according to www.helpfindmychild.net, and she does not have a license or a vehicle.
Anyone with information on Smith’s whereabouts is asked to contact the Winchester Police Department at 1-860-379-2721 or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-843-5678 (1-800-THE-LOST).

Another week has gone by with no word from missing 16-year-old Rhiannon Smith, but police say there is still hope she is alive.

Winsted Police Chief Robert Scannell clarified comments he made to The Winsted Journal last week, in which he said the young woman may be dead. Scannell said he is not certain of Rhiannon’s whereabouts and any discussion of her being in harm’s way was based on statistical data. The chances of finding a runaway who has been gone for more than a month, with no contact of any kind, become slimmer as time goes by.

Rhiannon’s case has been followed by friends and family in online blogs and on Facebook, where people continue to ask for help in locating the Explorations School student, who had recently transferred from The Gilbert School. Last week, it was reported that the FBI had been contacted by Winchester police regarding the case, but since the case is not officially an interstate abduction, federal agents have not gotten involved.

Rhiannon is described as 5 feet, 8 inches tall, 180 pounds, with brown shoulder-length hair. Her grandparents said she took a black bag with her, along with a number of vampire books, when she left home Sept. 1. She left behind a cryptic note suggesting an ex-lover intended to harm her and her grandparents, with whom she lived at 402 West Wakefield Blvd.

Since Rhiannon’s disappearance there has been no activity on her cellphone or computer accounts, leading family members to fear for her safety. Police and family members stressed this week that they remain optimistic and hopeful that Rhiannon will return home safely.

According to police press releases, there have been no new leads, but lead investigator Sgt. Kevin Kinahan is following up on some interviews to determine who Smith may be traveling with.

A candlelight vigil is being planned for Saturday, Oct. 9, at 7 p.m. on the Green in East End Park.

Police, investigators and family are urging anyone with any information on Smith’s whereabouts to contact the Winsted Police Department at 860-379-2721.

As the search for Rhiannon Smith continues, several Winsted residents have kept her in mind in their own ways.

Friends and family of Rhiannon have organized a candlelight vigil, to be held Saturday evening at 7 p.m. at East End Park in Winchester in memory of Smith and in hopes of her return. Meanwhile, a Facebook group devoted to finding her — “Help Find Rhiannon Smith - Missing Since 9/1/10” — has attracted nearly 1,000 followers.

“We are sending Rhiannon an impassioned plea asking that she contact her grandparents or the police department just to let us know that you are safe,” said Winchester Police Department Sgt. Kevin Kinahan, who is spearheading the investigation, in a press release.

Smith, 16, was last seen Sept. 1. Since then, the case has been referred to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Federal Bureau of Investigation spokesman Bill Reiner confirmed that the bureau does not have an open case regarding Smith’s disappearance, but also stated that the Winchester Police Department has contacted the FBI for assistance. According to Reiner, the FBI cannot open its own case regarding a missing person, and cases involving missing persons cannot be federally prosecuted unless there is evidence of an abduction.

Early leads in Winsted, as well as Florida and Alabama, proved fruitless, and the Winchester Police Department has said that there is “no credible information” that Smith might have left Connecticut or is being held against her will. A letter left at Smith’s house indicates that she might have been on her way towards Canada — specifically Prince Edward Island — but it is unclear how she might do so, as Smith has no license, passport or form of identification.

Additionally, police believe that Smith appears “to be suffering from some delusionary thoughts.” According to a press release issued Oct. 1, Smith “references vampirism and being a wolf” in past e-mail correspondence and also appears to be interested in Japanese anime. The letter left at Smith’s house — found shortly after her disappearance — made references to threats against herself or her grandparents.

Dale Smith, Rhiannon’s grandmother, emphasized that her granddaughter’s mood had improved in the days before her disappearance. Rhiannon Smith had recently left the Gilbert School, which appeared to improve her mental state, and had just started attending another high school.

“Something happened between 12 a.m. and 6 a.m. the morning she disappeared,” said Dale Smith in a phone interview.

Smith is described as a Caucasian female, approximately 5 feet, 8 inches tall, 180 pounds, with brown shoulder-length hair. Police said she may be carrying a blanket and a red bag similar to a gym bag, while Dale Smith said the bag may be black with red stitching.

Anyone with information into Smith’s disappearance is asked to contact the Winchester Police Department at (860) 379-2721 or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at (800) 843-5678 (1-800-THE-LOST). Reports may be made anonymously, if so desired.

Friends and family members of missing Winsted 16-year-old girl Rhiannon Smith described the youngster as a smart, artistic and caring young high-schooler who could be shy and quirky. She also had problems at times being teased and harassed by her peers.

“Rhiannon has an amazing imagination, and had a lot of trouble separating imagination from reality, which really worries us,” said her grandmother, Dale Smith. “She is so artistically talented, a wonderful singer, writer and artist. She is a beautiful person. She marches to the beat of a different drum, and she always will. We will always love her for that.”

Rhiannon reportedly has an exceptional personality, especially considering all that she has gone through in her life. Her parents separated right after she was born, and her mother, Susan B. Dean, with whom Rhiannon was very close, died when Rhiannon was 10 years old, on Aug. 31, 2004.

Rhiannon went to live with her stepfather for a short time, attending middle school in Torrington before moving in full time with her maternal grandmother and step-grandfather, Brian Brunell, in Winsted.

“Rhiannon dreaded going to school. She was tormented by kids in Torrington and even more at The Gilbert School. We didn’t know to what extreme it was, but she was bullied by other kids constantly,” Smith said. Rhiannon is fairly shy, but made friends online with ease and felt comfortable being who she wanted to be behind a computer screen, Smith said.

Smith explained, “Rhiannon was tormented in school by bullies or people making fun of her, but now she is being tormented and bullied by the silence.”

With Winchester police treating Rhiannon’s case as one of a runaway, the AMBER Alert system has not been used, while state and federal investigators have passed on the case, saying there is no conclusive evidence Rhiannon has left Winsted. Police have acknowledged that Rhiannon “appears to be suffering from some delusionary thoughts and that she references vampires and being a wolf in some of her e-mail messages.”

An ongoing Winsted Journal investigation has uncovered numerous acquaintances of Rhiannon, many of whom have yet to be found and identified. Based on an examination of Rhiannon’s e-mails, some friends acknowledge Rhiannon may be with Jeffrey Woods of Alabama — the online friend nicknamed “Max.”

Interviewed by The Winsted Journal, Joey Schneider and his best friend, Shawn Ferree, both agreed Rhiannon may very well be with Woods.

Ferree explained, “Joey and I met Rhiannon online through our group, the ‘Kura Killers,’ which is a volunteer group we started on the side to help people out who were being bullied online, had people hacking into their accounts or needed help in life. Rhiannon contacted us seeking help for Woods.

“Woods had been staying with Rhiannon’s family in Connecticut but had to leave and had nowhere to go, so Rhiannon introduced us to Woods in hopes we could set him up with a place to live, and we did, we helped him for as long as we could in Florida before he went back to Alabama and we had heard he had died from Rhiannon.”

Police have since confirmed that Jeffrey Woods is not dead.

Ferree continued, “Jeff and Rhiannon were lovers, and now that I know he is alive I think they wanted to run away and start a life together. Whether or not Jeff’s intentions were known to Rhiannon I don’t know, but I believe Rhiannon is with Jeff.”

Ferree described Woods as being close to 6 feet tall, muscular, with blond hair and part Native American. His parents adopted him in Alabama but kicked him out of their home when he was 18.

Said Ferree, “When he was in Florida with us, his Native American ID card was close to expiring. I don’t know if he got it renewed.”

Accepted into The Hartford Academy of Performing Arts in ninth grade for her talent in dancing, music, writing and drawing, Rhiannon had flourished artistically in recent years. Beyond her artistic talents, she is an extremely giving and protective person, her grandmother said Sunday afternoon.

“Rhiannon is such a special girl, so protective of the people she loves. In the winter time she would always watch out for people walking on the frozen lake and would run out and try to save anyone who got into trouble or would warn people if she thought the ice wasn’t safe. She’s amazing. She wouldn’t hurt a fly. Even though she is terrified of and hates bugs, whenever she would find one she’d capture it in a jar and leave it outside her bedroom door for Papa to put outside.”

In diaries and various journals and notes, Rhiannon would write about herself: “I love all animals, I love to read, I love to sing, I love to dance, I hate being the same as everyone else, I LOVE Halloween, I love nature, I love to draw.” Her room is covered with posters, figures, pictures and decorations of wolves and other animals. In one of her requests in a letter to Santa a few years ago, she asks for “a book on REAL magic so I can stop war because it is killing a lot of people and I want to stop all the pain, like Goddess Athena.”

A Winsted teenager who's been missing since September 1st has been found in Alabama. Police say 16-year-old Rhiannon Smith was driven across state lines by a friend, 20-year-old Jeffrey Woods, who lives in Alabama. Woods claims Smith lied to him telling him she was 19 and that her name was Crystal Winters. Police say members of Woods family started to question her story, did some Internet research and soon found out she wasn't who she said she was. The family then called Alabama police. Smith is still in Alabama. There's no word on when she will be returned to her family in Winsted. Police say charges may be filed against Woods for bringing a minor across state lines.

Although 16-year-old Rhiannon Smith, who had been missing since Sept. 1, was located in Russelville, Ala., last week, questions about her future continue to linger.

Rhiannon is currently staying in the Russelville home of Tonya Whitman, 32, and her nephew, Jeffrey Woods, 20.

Whitman and Woods left Alabama on Aug. 31 and drove a rented car to Winsted to pick up Rhiannon.

“We think she had been siphoning money from us for months and sending it down to Tonya and Jeff so they were able to rent a car,” said Rhiannon’s grandmother, Dale Smith. “She was also supposed to have all the money for the gas to return to Alabama, but she didn’t, and Tonya ended up having to spend every last penny to pay for the drive back.”

According to Smith, Rhiannon told Whitman and Woods to arrive at 10 p.m., when she would be returning to the house “with her cousin.”

Whitman and Woods may face criminal charges for transporting a minor across state lines without the consent of her legal guardians.

“We know Rhiannon has problems, but she is not one to be overlooked,” Smith said. “She is incredibly bright, and when she wants something to happen, she’ll find a way to make it happen.”

Rhiannon left a note suggesting that an “ex-lover” had threatened to harm her grandparents. The note led authorities in the wrong direction, contributing to the amount of time it took to locate her.

“We knew it was very strange and unlike Rhiannon from the beginning,” Smith said.

Rhiannon also told anyone who knew Jeffrey Woods and who would learn of her disappearance that Woods was dead.

When Winsted police contacted Woods, he reportedly lied, saying he had not seen Rhiannon since 2009.

Smith, who raised Rhiannon since her mother died six years ago, said she is still hurt, upset and puzzled over the circumstances surrounding her granddaughter’s disappearance.

There is some evidence suggesting that Rhiannon ran away to be with another boyfriend, not Woods, whose identity has not been determined. Smith said she is concerned the boyfriend may be lying to Rhiannon or may not exist at all.

“The most important thing is that she is alive,” Smith said. “We are very worried she will take off again. She is in a very, very fragile state mentally right now.”

This past fall, Rhiannon Smith’s name was plastered across every
newspaper in Litchfield County as police, her family, and friends, tried
to find her after she disappeared on the evening of Sept. 1. Friends
gathered to search for her, held a vigil to pray for her safe return,
and didn’t give up hope that she’d be found.

And eventually, she was. And now she’s ready to tell her story.

By
the time she ran away, Rhiannon said she had few choices. During a
recent interview, the teen said she “absolutely hated going to school”
and that she was taunted and traumatized by both adults and her own
peers until she could stand it no longer.

“What I went through
and endured in my life, (made me internalize) all of the pain and
suffering from being bullied for as long as I can remember,” she said.
“Losing my mother when I was ten and having feelings of abandonment from
any father figure I’ve ever had, really only left me with two choices:
to take my own life, or to start a new one.”

“Luckily I chose the
latter, and made the plan to run away,” she said. “What I’ve gone
through in the 16 years of my life, most people don’t experience in a
lifetime.”

Smith left her home in Winsted and went to Alabama on
the evening of Sept. 1, with her best friend and his aunt in a rented
car. She left a note behind that contained lies and false plans to throw
off friends and family who would search for her.

When Rhiannon was 10, her mother, to whom she was extremely close, died unexpectedly.

“From
that point death pretty much followed me through my life, even with
pets,” Rhiannon recalled. “We’ve always had pets and it seemed that
every time we’d get a pet they’d die soon after. Death and loss became a
very normal part of my life. I was so afraid of losing anyone else in
my life. I started trying to avoid situations where I thought I would
lose someone I cared about.”.

And then there was the bullying,
examples of which go back to first grade, she said. One particularly
disturbing memory was being hit by a teacher.

“She just hit me,”
she said. “I still have a scar on my side from it.” After another friend
expressed fear of being hit, that friend’s mother talked with Smith’s
family. but at the time the family decided to put the incident behind
them, according to Rhiannon’s grandmother, Dale Smith.

“At that time we thought it was best to just let it go and move on,” she said.

But
that incident, along with her difficulty with other children in school,
resulted in the young girl starting to put herself down.

“When
you’re so young and your mind is still so vulnerable, if all your mind
learns is negative — those hurtful things, they stick with you for the
rest of your life,” Rhiannon said. “I started to think I was weird and
different. Kids would make fun of me because I had really long dark hair
and very pale skin, so they would start calling me a witch or a vampire
in day care and kindergarten. It just stuck with me and only got
worse.”

After her mother passed away, Smith said other children
made fun of her for not having a mom. “What made it worse was that the
kids who were making fun of me for not having a mother were the same
kids who were in my class that had made cards for me saying they were
sorry to hear about my mom,” she said.

After her mother’s death,
Rhiannon was sent to live with her grandparents, Dale Smith and Brian
Brunell, with whom she still resides.

Her mother’s best friend
Kelley McGuire also stepped in to support the family. McGuire, who is
still a close friend, spearheaded the efforts to find Rhiannon when she
ran away. In fact, many members of the Winsted community came together
to search for Rhiannon for the two months that she was missing.

But Rhiannon didn’t make it easy for anyone to find her.

“I
orchestrated the whole escape plan myself,” she said. “My best friend
didn’t have a say in the planning aspect of it. I came to the point in
my life that after all the suffering I had gone through, I was either
going to run away or kill myself. I chose to run away because I couldn’t
kill myself and do that to my grandparents. They had already lost their
daughter. I didn’t want them to have to live with feeling like it was
their fault if I killed myself.”

In Alabama, Rhiannon said no one cared that she was different and people accepted her for who she was.

“I
had my problems, and they had theirs,” she said. “Everyone worked on
their own issues. It helped that I was with my best friend because I was
really upset and worried about leaving my grandparents, but I didn’t
have to feel that I was a burden on them anymore, and I didn’t want to
have them have to worry about having to take care of me,” Smith said.

Even
though she felt safe in Alabama, she is happy to be at home and is
working to re-establish the loving relationship she’s always shared with
her grandparents in Winsted.

Rhiannon is intent on sharing her
experience with the hope that it will help others. She wants to reach
teens who are in that pivotal position where she once stood, feeling all
out of options and left between choosing to run away and start fresh —
or to end their lives.

“I know I made the right decision,” she
said. “I hope to inspire other teens to reach for that same lingering
sign of hope and use that to start fresh and ignore the bullies. Be
proud of who you are, embrace being different and find self-empowerment
in learning to love who you are.”

Rhiannon seems like a very, very intelligent girl. I'm so glad she's trying to stay on top of things and try to help others too.