By David Lohr
July 30, 2007
GREEN BAY, Wis. (Crime Library) — "We are no closer to bringing any further charges," 11th Circuit Solicitor Donnie Myers told TheState.com Friday. "They [investigators] just need to produce more evidence."
The news came as a blow to Sallie Jones, a woman who has been waiting for more than a year to find out what happened to her daughter, 54-year-old Portia Sumter Washington, and her great-granddaughter, 8-year-old Angelica Cassandra Livingston.
|
Angelica Livingston |
Portia and Angelica lived together in the Park Place Apartments in West Columbia, South Carolina, along with Portia's live-in boyfriend, 46-year-old Kenneth Andrew Lynch. Portia and Lynch's relationship was rocky, at best. In January 2006, Portia told police that Lynch had assaulted her and that her granddaughter had been a witness, but, shortly afterwards, she declined to press charges.
On June 10, 2006, neither Portia nor Lynch showed up at the automobile dealership where they both worked. Over the next few days, Angelica's mother, Theresa Brown, attempted to contact her daughter several times, to no avail. The two usually talked on a daily basis, and Portia's lack of response quickly raised concerns. When Theresa went to her mother's apartment on June 14, she was shocked to find it completely empty. Her mother, her daughter, and Lynch were nowhere to be found.
Suspecting foul play, Theresa filed a missing persons report. Despite repeated requests from the family, investigators refused to issue an Amber Alert, citing a lack of evidence that a child abduction had occurred.
|
West Columbia South Carolina Patch |
"Sometimes, some people want to disappear for a while, domestic relations or whatever," West Columbia Police Chief Dennis Tyndall later told reporters. "So it could be anywhere from that to something worse. We don't know. That's what we're trying to find out."
Next Page
For More Daily Crime News