Girl missing for a year found alive

[imanewsjunkie]

It doesn't say who she was but at least one story ended in a happier ending today.

BLOOMFIELD, Conn. (AP) — A 15-year-old girl missing for nearly a year was found alive Wednesday, locked in a small hidden room under the staircase of a West Hartford home, police said.

Bloomfield police said they were surprised but relieved when they found the girl alive in a room blocked from view by a cabinet. They had gone to the home with West Hartford police to serve search warrants for DNA and other evidence.

They arrested two people Wednesday. Adam Gault, 41, of West Hartford was charged with second-degree unlawful restraint, second-degree reckless endangerment, second-degree custodial interference, interfering with an officer, risk of injury to a minor and second-degree forgery. He was held on $500,000 bond.

Ann Murphy, 40, of the same address was charged with conspiracy to commit second-degree reckless endangerment, conspiracy to commit second-degree custodial interference and risk of injury to a minor. She was held on $100,000 bond.

Police said they expect to make additional arrests. The girl was in protective custody and being examined by medical personnel.

[imanewsjunkie]

I'm not sure that it was a custody dispute but maybe more like the girl from Utah. Still only speculation at this point.

Conn. girl assumed new identity with man
Posted 1h 19m ago | Comments 2 | Recommend 3 E-mail | Save | Print | Subscribe to stories like this
By Stephanie Reitz, Associated Press Writer
HARTFORD, Conn. — A girl who vanished a year ago and was found hidden in a room in a man's home assumed a new identity that made her part of his family, authorities said Thursday, as they investigated whether he had inappropriate relationships with her and other girls.

The man, Adam Gault, 41, was arrested and charged Wednesday in her disappearance after police served a search warrant and found the missing 15-year-old girl locked in a hidden closet-like room in his house. The girl, who had a history of running away from home, vanished a year ago.

Gault, a dog trainer, was arrested with two women who lived in the house, 40-year-old Ann Murphy and Kimberly Cray, 26. The three were arraigned Thursday, charged with conspiracy to commit unlawful restraint, conspiracy to commit risk of injury to a minor and interfering with police.

Gault's bond was set at $1 million. Murphy, who police described as Gault's common-law wife, was held on $750,000 bond. Cray's bond was set at $500,000. It was unclear if Gault had a lawyer.

Cray's attorney, Michael Georgetti, told reporters that before the girl disappeared, she reported to police she had been sexually abused, though he said no arrests were made.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: Wednesday | Thursday | Hartford

Georgetti did not say who he believed had sexually abused the girl. He said Cray and the others were offering her a safe haven.

She lived in Gault's house for a year, attending school, and owned a cellphone, Georgetti said. He said that she was hiding from police Wednesday but was otherwise free to come and go.

"If you were taking actions to prevent someone from being abused, that is not a crime," Georgetti said. "We can protect animals from abuse. I think we should be able to protect children from abuse."

But West Hartford police Capt. Lori Coppinger said the girl was not attending school and disputed Georgetti's claim that the teen had been offered safe haven.

"Information that we have would lead us in another direction as to what her welfare was at this time," she said.

Investigators believe the girl sometimes traveled out of state and assumed a new identity while living with Gault, of nearby West Hartford, Bloomfield Police Capt. Jeffrey Blatter said.

"She was compelled to use a new name, to assume a new identity," Blatter told The Associated Press. "She did assume a name that would suggest she was part of that family."

The Associated Press is not identifying her because police are investigating if she was sexually abused. Authorities did not say how she altered her name.

Other girls may have experienced "something very similar to what's going on right now with this young girl" found Wednesday, Coppinger said. Police said Gault was associated with at least two or three other girls before police found the girl Wednesday.

The cases involving the other girls have not been prosecuted because the frightened girls were reluctant to give statements necessary to pursue the cases. Police said they will be interviewed and additional charges may be filed against Gault.

"The case is definitely ongoing," Blatter said. "There are obviously greater suspicions that are being pursued."

The girl's stepfather told WCBS-TV in an interview Thursday that her mother had been allowed to spend a few hours with her Wednesday.

"She's having some issues," he said of the girl. "She didn't even know who she was."

He said family members, who own a kennel and dog day care in Bloomfield, had limited information about what had happened to the girl in the year she was gone.

"We're just as much in the dark as everybody else is right now," said the stepfather.

The teen had no obvious external injuries. Investigators would not speculate on what she might have experienced during the past year or if she was held against her will.

Blatter said the girl remained in protective custody Thursday so investigators could continue talking with her.

Police said they had already established that Gault knew the missing girl, and said he and the girl's parents had some sort of undisclosed business transaction in the year before she disappeared.

Cellphone records showed that Gault and the teen talked often before she vanished, Blatter told CNN.

"There was an inordinate amount of contact via cellular phone and then, during follow ups, there were a lot of other circumstances that led us to believe there was an inappropriate relationship," he said.

Officers had questioned Gault several times, but he always denied any involvement in her disappearance. They served a search warrant on his home Wednesday morning, seeking a DNA sample and other evidence.

The girl was held in a locked tiny room, about 3 feet high and 4 to 5 feet deep. The doorway was hidden by a bureau.

Blatter said it did not appear the girl lived in the hidden room, and that police did not find bedding or other items that would suggest it was used as living space.

A 16-year-old boy identified in court documents as Murphy's son was also living at the house. He was placed in the custody of the state Department of Children and Families, which also will decide if the missing girl should be returned to her parents.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[imanewsjunkie]

There is another update on this girl but still not a lot of information on what happened.

Conn. girl missing for a year visits siblings
Updated 3h 57m ago | Comments 1 | Recommend E-mail | Save | Print | Reprints & Permissions | Subscribe to stories like this
By Marisol Bello, USA TODAY
The 15-year-old Connecticut girl who was missing for a year, then found last week hidden in a crawl space under the stairs of a trash-filled house, is gradually reuniting with her family as she recovers in a hospital.

She met Wednesday with her 17-year-old brother for the first time since she was found and is expected to see her two younger brothers next.

"We started with her mom last week and that went well, then the dad and that went well, and now the siblings," said the family's attorney, Marc Needelman. "If that goes well, then she'll see her grandparents. It's a step at a time."

Last week, West Hartford police charged Adam Gault, 41, his common-law wife, Ann Murphy, 40, and Kimberly Cray, 26, who also lived in their home, with unlawfully restraining the girl. The three also were charged with reckless endangerment and interfering with the police investigation of the missing teen.

Police are still investigating whether the girl was sexually abused. USA TODAY does not name people who may have been victims of sex crimes.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: Attorneys | BLOOMFIELD | Ann Murphy

Police in West Hartford and Bloomfield, the girl's hometown, say more charges are likely in the teen's disappearance. Police are working with the FBI, following dozens of leads that Gault may have had sex with other teenage girls across the state and may have videotaped some incidents.

Attorneys for Murphy and Cray say the girl was free to leave the home at any time. They say the defendants were providing her a safe haven because she was sexually and physically abused at home. Her parents, through their lawyer, have denied the accusation.

The girl had run away from her parents' home at least once. She and Gault, a dog trainer who did business with the girl's stepfather, filed abuse complaints with the state child welfare agency and the Bloomfield police before she disappeared last June. Gault's West Hartford home is about 10 miles from Bloomfield.

Police said there is no evidence to substantiate those claims. Bloomfield Police Capt. Jeffrey Blatter called the reports a "self-serving" move by Gault and said the girl was not in Gault's home voluntarily.

Meanwhile, the girl continues to adjust to normal routines, Needelman said. She remains in an undisclosed hospital, where her parents say she will receive the psychological treatment she needs. She is attending classes, but not in a traditional school setting, he said.

He said no one yet has a complete picture of what happened to the girl in the last year. He said police have talked with her only briefly, and that further interviews will depend on her recovery.

Professionals who work with kidnapped children who are returned to their families say the early days in the reunification are crucial. They say the girl's family and her counselors have to give her a sense of security and comfort and not overwhelm her with questions about her captivity. They say as she slowly regains trust in her family, she will feel more comfortable talking about her experience.

"You have no idea what she's been through," said Juliet Francis, a Washington, D.C., psychologist who works with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to treat children who have undergone similar traumas. "The biggest thing now is patience."

Nancy Sabin, executive director of the Jacob Wetterling Foundation in Minnesota, who has worked with kidnapped children and their families, including Elizabeth Smart, said children quickly learn how to survive in captivity and face even more stress when reunited with their families.

"People naively believe that once the child is back, it's all fine, but that's when the hard work begins," Sabin said. "The rules aren't so clear for the child. Who do you trust, who do you not? Everything is very confusing."
Posted 15h 33m ago