Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 21, 1990 TAG: 9006210231
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: By Associated Press
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Short
According to Morrisette, Jennifer Melissa Ball, 14, was abducted Tuesday night from Holiday House, a group home. Police believe the suspect may have been a sailor from the USS Coral Sea or someone recently released from the Navy and possibly headed home to South Carolina, detective Karl Morrisette said.
A group of sailors had visited the privately run, non-profit home for handicapped children about two years ago as a public-service gesture, and several had returned in the months that followed.
According to Morrisette, the man showed up at the house about 7:30 p.m., telling employees he wanted to bid them farewell on his way home. He left one wing of the facility, saying he wanted to say goodbye to other occupants.
Jennifer, a 5-foot-10 brunette who weighs 70 pounds, is mentally retarded. She has cerebral palsy and scoliosis and needs to have anti-seizure medicine administered twice daily, Morrisette said.
Authorities believe the suspect is of Spanish-American descent, 28, 5-foot-7 and weighs about 150 pounds. He was driving a light blue hatchback with a luggage rack on the roof and out-of-state license tags that witnesses believed were from South Carolina.
by CNB