 
News
April 1-5
Arctic
flight to search for missing adventurers
Family, friends
and the support crew of two missing Australian adventurers are hoping a
flight over the North Pole will locate the missing pair tonight.
Jon Muir from
Natimuk and Eric Phillips from Melbourne have not been heard from since
Sunday.
Supporters
believe their communication equipment has malfunctioned and the two men,
who are endeavouring to walk unassisted to the North Pole, are unaware
they have lost touch with the outside world. A Russian supply plane will
fly over the area in a bid to locate the men, after a similar flight planned
for yesterday had to be cancelled.Support team member Simon Buckley says
contingencies are in place if absolutely necessary. "There's a contingency
plan and that is basically there's two ways if necessary to evacuate them
out," he said. "One is by helicopter or the other is via the plane that
is going to see if they can land on the ice next to them." Source:
ABC
News Thu, Apr 4 2002 8:21 PM AEST
Prisoner
assists police to locate Rockhampton bodies
A policeman
has told the Brisbane Magistrate's Court a prisoner encouraged an alleged
serial killer to reveal the location of the bodies of a number of missing
Rockhampton women. Leonard John Fraser, 50, is facing committal proceedings
on murder charges. He is alleged to have murdered three women and a 14-year-old
schoolgirl who disappeared from Rockhampton over a six-month period
in the late 1990s. Detective David Hickey told the court Brisbane prisoner
Allan Quinn met Fraser in jail and Fraser had told him he knew where the
women were. He said Quinn, of his own free will, endeavoured to encourage
Fraser to talk about the alleged murders and locations of the bodies to
give closure to the families of the missing women. The court heard Fraser
later directed police to a number of locations where remains of some of
the women were found. Source:
ABC
News. Thur, 4 Apr 2002 12:54 AEST
Search
continues for missing fisherman
A search has
resumed for a Sydney man swept off rocks at Port Kembla on the south coast
of New South Wales last night. Police say the 42-year-old man from Seven
Hills was fishing with friends off an area of rocks at Honeycomb Point
when a wave washed him into water about 6pm last night. A search got underway
a short time later with the help of the lifesaver rescue helicopter. Police
say conditions were poor at the time the man went missing, with strong
winds and a two metre swell hampering rescue efforts.
Source:
ABC News. Wed, 3 Apr 2002 6:53 AEST
Police
check missing Amanda's computer
LONDON (Reuters)
- Surrey police say they are trawling through missing schoolgirl Amanda
Dowler's computer files in an attempt to throw up new leads in the case.
"We're looking at a whole range of things -- computer files, mobile phone
records and witness statements," a police spokeswoman said. Surrey Police
have been investigating the possibility that the 13-year-old schoolgirl
-- known as Milly -- might have arranged a meeting over the Internet with
someone who was unknown to her family and close friends.The teenager was
last seen on March 21 in Walton-on-Thames in Surrey as she returned home
from school.One lead police were investigating was a message the teenager
was believed to have posted on the Web site FriendsReunited (www.friendsreunited.co.uk).The
site puts old schoolfriends back in touch and the message, which was posted
under the name of Amanda Dowler, talks about her current school and ends,
"lyl...xxxx" -- which in text message style means, "love you lots" followed
by kisses. The message had no date.Milly's disappearance prompted a massive
police search involving 100 officers. Detectives said they had received
more than 1,000 phone calls from members of the public.
On Monday,
actor Jonathan Pryce made a plea for her safe return. The teenager had
wanted to see the West End production of "My Fair Lady", which features
Pryce as Professor Higgins, and had been due to watch the show with her
family on Monday."I'm a father, my daughter is 12, she's a little younger
than Milly and when I saw her photograph it just made me think of my daughter,"
Pryce said.Pryce's appeal follows one made last week by Milly's favourite
singer, "Pop Idol" winner Will Young.
Source: Yahoo
News UK (Report includes photo) Tuesday April 2, 11:30 AM
International
News:
Missing
Colorado woman found in crawl space
In WESTMINSTER,
Colorado United States:
Police arrested
a man on suspicion of kidnapping after his ex-girlfriend was found in a
crawl space at his house.Maxine Southern, 39, was reported missing Jan.
14 by an adult daughter. Police said they found her unharmed Friday during
a search of William Gorman's house after a neighbor discovered handwritten
notes in trash bags asking for help.Gorman, 44, was arrested on suspicion
of second-degree kidnapping. He was released from the Adams County Jail
on $30,000 bond and was scheduled to appear in court April 12.
Police announced
the arrest Monday.Gorman denied keeping Southern against her will and said
he was helping her hide from police because of outstanding arrest warrants.Southern
had no listed phone number. Police did not know where she was Monday night.Westminster
investigator Tim Torres said Southern had outstanding warrants on narcotics,
assault and disorderly conduct charges.Torres said officers believe Gorman
ordered Southern into a crawl space off a basement bedroom when he did
not want people to know she was there. The space is hidden behind a bookshelf
that serves as a trick door.
She was not
in the crawl space all the time but was psychologically intimidated from
leaving the house, police said.Gorman said Southern asked in January to
stay at his house because she had no money and needed to hide.He said he
warned Southern if police came to the door and she voluntarily climbed
into the crawl space. She took a flashlight and was never in the space
longer than 10 minutes, he said."She put herself in (the crawl space) on
her own free will, end of story," he said.Neighbors said they never heard
or saw anything out of the ordinary at the house."We never had any complaints
about him," Betty Hose said. "It's just hard to believe he would do that."
Source: Nando
Times & AP Online, Sarah Cooke, Associated Press. April 2,
2002 8:35 a.m. EST
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