1st Vermont amber alert issued for missing 12 yr old girl!

Pepsi4me

Wow! This is scary especially when we live near there.


Breaking News: Amber Alert Issued On Missing Girl








RANDOLPH, Vt. -- Vermont state police have uncovered new information in the case of a 12-year-old girl who vanished after being dropped off at a Cumberland Farms in Randolph on Wednesday morning and have issued Vermont's first-ever Amber Alert.

Brooke Bennett, of Braintree, Vt., was dropped off by a family member at the store at about 9 a.m. for what she said was a pre-arranged meeting with a friend, police said.

Police learned Thursday afternoon that the girl may have made up the story about meeting her friend at the Randolph convenience store. Investigators are concentrating on someone Bennett met online via the Web site Myspace.com.

Before she dissapeared, Bennett said she was going to visit her friend's sick relative at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, but she never showed up at the hospital and has not been seen since, police said.

According to police, an item of clothing similar to what Bennet was last seen wearing was found along Route 65 in Brookfield. Police also have surveillance video of the girl from the Randolph store.

Police have no suspects at this time and haven't identified the person she met on myspace.com. Forensic experts are checking Bennett's computer for further evidence, police said.

State police and K-9 teams, as well as the state police search and rescue team, have been activated and are involved in the search, police said.

Police are focusing their search in the Brookfield area near where the clothing item was found. Several area roads have been shut down and a command center has been established in Brookfield. The state police mobile crime scene command post is on scene there. A dive team is scheduled to search nearby Sunset Lake Friday, police said.

Bennett is 5' 3'' and weighs 98 pounds. She was last seen wearing blue jeans, a pink sweater and white sneakers with pink lettering, police said. Both of her ears are pierced on the top and bottom, police said. She has a freckle in the front of her neck and a bug bite above her left eyebrow. She has shoulder length brown hair with purple highlights and blue eyes, police said.

If anyone has seen Bennett or has any information pertaining to her disappearance, call state police at 802-234-9933.

JKATHERINE

Search for Missing Girl Turns to Uncle's Property

By DAVE GRAM, Associated Press Writer
16 minutes ago

CHELSEA, Vt. - The investigation of the disappearance of a 12-year-old girl zeroed in on her uncle Monday, with police searching his home while he was being arraigned on sex charges in an unrelated case, authorities said.

Michael Jacques, a registered sex offender who was one of the last people seen with Brooke Bennett before she vanished, pleaded not guilty to a charge of aggravated sexual assault and was held in lieu of $250,000 bail.

Col. James Baker, the head of the Vermont State Police, called Jacques a "person of interest" in Brooke's case at a Monday press briefing.

The other girl, a relative of Jacques', says he assaulted her over a five-year period, beginning when she was 9 years old and ending a few weeks ago, Orange County State's Attorney Will Porter said.

Authorities released an affidavit in which State Police Detective Sgt. William Jenkins said the girl told police that when she was 9 or 10, she was told — by telephone call and in a note left under her pillow — that she had been selected for enrollment in a "program for sex" and that Jacques was to be her trainer.

The girl, identified only as "A.R." in court papers, said she was told two other girls also were in the program. "The first who does it lives and the second gets her throat cut," she told police, according to the affidavit.

At the home of Jacques, 42, in Randolph, Vermont State Police called in state police from Connecticut and Massachusetts and used a helicopter and dogs to search the area.

Jacques, who is married to a sister of Brooke's mother, dropped Brook off at a convenience store in Randolph on Wednesday.

She had told family members she was going to meet a friend and visit a hospitalized relative of the friend but police believe that was a lie. Investigators believe Brooke may have been bound for a meeting with an unknown individual with whom she had been communicating through MySpace, the online social networking service.

Surveillance video from the store showed Brooke and Jacques leaving the store and going in separate directions.

Brooke, who just finished seventh grade, has not been seen since.

The prosecutor had argued against the judge's decision to grant bail.

Jacques has 1993 convictions for kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault and there is "a threat of prejudicial violence to this particular juvenile complainant," said Porter, in arguing for no bail. "Her personal safety was threatened."

He also noted the serious nature of the crime, which could lead to a life prison term, and said Jacques had violated the terms of his probation.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080630/...e pqEfTms0NUE

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Pepsi4me

UGH! I just saw this update on our local news.

My question is if he was convicted of sexual assault in 1993 then why did this girls parents let her go to a store with him.

LuvBigRip

CHELSEA, Vt. — The stepfather of a missing 12-year-old girl has been arrested on federal child molestation charges in connection with a sexual assault investigation involving her uncle.

Brooke Bennett's stepfather Ray A. Gagnon, 40, was in federal custody Tuesday on a charge of aggravated sexual assault on a minor, according to Vermont State Police.

The arrest is related to charges against Brooke's uncle, Michael Jacques, who was charged on Monday with sexually assaulting a young girl over a five-year period. The girl told police she had been enrolled in what police called a program for sex.

The new charges and second arrest do not involve Brooke, who vanished last week, police said.

The Vermont U.S. Attorney's office said Gagnon will appear in court Wednesday.

Brooke's father James Bennett told FOX News that Brooke's mother had been married to Gagnon after his marriage to her.

Bennett said Cassandra and Ray Gagnon separated about four years ago, but he wasn't sure whether the couple had divorced.

Brooke lived in Alabama with Gagnon and her mother for six years, Bennett said.

A press conference with updates on the case was scheduled for 4 p.m. EDT.

Gagnon was in federal custody Tuesday awaiting arraignment, but it was postponed until Wednesday.

If convicted, he could be sentenced to life in prison.

Police said Gagnon's arrest was related to the Sunday arrest of Jacques, 42. He pleaded not guilty Monday to a charge of aggravated sexual assault against the now-14-year-old girl over a five-year period, ending last month.

"This arrest is a result of Gagnon sexually assaulting another minor in the Royalton, Vermont, area during the summer of 2007," police said in a news release issued Tuesday morning.

The alleged victim in the Jacques case, identified in court papers as "A.R.", told police Jacques was to be her trainer in a "program for sex." She said she had met three men affiliated with the program.

Jacques is being held for lack of $250,000 bail.

Police did not say when or where Gagnon was arrested, but he is in Vermont and is being held at the Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield.

The charges against Jacques — and now Gagnon — grew out of the investigation into the disappearance of Brooke, who was last seen at 9 a.m. June 25 when Jacques dropped her off at a convenience store in Randolph.

Store surveillance video shows the two leaving the store together and then Brooke going left out the door while Jacques goes right.

Brooke had told family she was to meet a friend to visit the friend's hospitalized relative. Police now believe that was a lie and Brooke intended to meet someone she'd met on the Internet.

Police have described their investigation into Brooke's disappearance as involving social networking Web sites.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,374368,00.html

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Jolie Rouge

So the girl is still missing ??

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LuvBigRip

Yes. She is.

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ilovecats

Weird.I wonder if he had something to do with it or just a coincidence.

PrincessArky

Was watching this on the news last night.........I just have a terrible feeling this will not end well for the missing girl

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dv8grl

Bad news any day now I'm sure. I couldn't imagine what the parents are going thru.

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LuvBigRip

The Mom knows something. I saw her tv appearances, and she reminds me of Susan Smith, Scott Peterson and Drew Peterson. Not much in the way of emotion and what little there was looked faked. The father (not the step) looked distraught.

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PrincessArky

I havent seen her yet but I believe she has to know something I mean its her hubby and what her sister's hubby that are in trouble at the moment right? Just another case of a crap mom thinking of herself first

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