The Delta Democrat-Times from Greenville, Mississippi • A5

XDELTA DEMOCRAT-TIMES Monday, December 1, 2014 5X JOSH EDWARDS The Vicksburg Post VICKSBURG been 10 years Angela Schultz Shiers Barrentine went miss- ing, but time has brought little comfort and few leads in her disappearance and death. Barrentine was supposed to show up for Thanksgiving dinner 10 years ago but went missing for almost nine months before her body was found inside her truck sub- merged in the Big Black River. left her house the night of the 24th and never came her sister Stacy Hartley said. Family members last saw Barrentine around 6:30 p.m. Nov.

24, 2004 at her home. The 27-year-old mother was cooking dinner when the her grandparents stopped by to make sure she was coming to their home for Thanksgiving the next day. She assured them she would, but when mealtime came, she never showed up. She had vanished without a trace, leaving her epilepsy medication and li- cense at home. case has haunted me since Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace said.

A search Every day for the next eight and a half months, her sister searched for her. prayed and prayed and prayed please let me find Hartley said. Hartley and investigators from the Warren County Office discovered body inside her purple and green Ford F150 on Aug. 2, 2005. Finding body only brought the family more grief and questions.

thought if I found her I would be satisfied, but that Hartley said. get one step of closure, but it opens a totally different Troubled background Barrentine was a good, car- ing person who struggled with drug abuse throughout her life, her sister said. was a great person when she was sober. She re- ally was. got to put the good in with the Hart- ley said.

Witnesses reported seeing Barrentine at about noon on Thanksgiving Day in Ed- wards, and family members have said she may have gone to Hinds County to purchase drugs. An investigation by Hinds County De- partment turned up little, and family member have said they had difficulty getting help from the department. Only one investigator ever contacted them, Hartley said. never dealt with any- body else, and gone she said. In Warren County, investi- gators are still seeking clues in the decade old killing.

death investigation will ever be closed, and we will always be hopeful that information would one day be developed that would allow some agency to provide answers to a grieving Pace said. The case has been used in training classes for Missis- sippi Department of Public Safety investigators and has been analyzed by the cold case unit, Pace said. the years we have solicited the assistance of a number of different agencies including the Mississippi Bu- reau of Investigation and the FBI to no he said. Still, Hartley is committed to finding her killer. know one day find out.

she said. day find out who did it and why they did it. I think the family deserves to know who did it and why they did Central Mississippi Crime Stoppers is offering a reward of $6,500 for information leading to an arrest in the case. The agency will pitch in $2,500 and fam- ily will pay the other $4,000. New leads are always wel- come because there is no statute of limitations on homicide, Pace said.

HOW TO REACH US pUBLISHER Jon Alverson 378-0761 MANAGING EDITOR Tom Bassing 378-0723 BOOKKEEpER Tina Hale 378-0751 CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Dave Horchak 378-0732 pRODUCTION MANAGER Dean Francisco 378-0772 production 378-0756 Advertising 378-0741 Circulation 378-0734 Classified 335-1155 Editorial (News) 378-0715 Lifestyles 378-0717 Mail Room 378-0774 Newsroom Fax 335-2860 Obituaries 378-0716 press Room 378-0772 Sports 378-0722 Published afternoons Monday through Friday and Sunday mornings by the Delta Democrat-Times, 988 N. Broadway, Greenville, MS 38701. Pe- riodicals postage paid at Greenville, MS 38701. Postmaster: Send ad- dress changes to P.O. Box 1618, Greenville, MS 38702-1618.

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152-720 Vicksburg 2004 homicide remains unsolved Two bodies found at Greenwood motel GREENWOOD Greenwood police are inves- tigating the deaths of two people whose bodies were found Thanksgiving Day in a local motel. Police Chief Ray Moore told The Greenwood Com- monwealth that the victims have been identified as 37- year-old Jessie Lee Jr. and 36-year-old Ditrena McIn- tyre Lee. Moore said they were from Georgia but did not release hometown. Moore said police were called to the Golden Coach Inn about 9 a.m.

Thursday and used a pass key to enter the room. Once inside, Moore said officers found Ditrena Lee lying face up on the bed. Jessie Lee was found lying face up on the floor near an interior wall. Moore said there no out- side physical signs of trauma were found on either body. Autopsies are being per- formed.

Waveland to elect mayor, aldermen WAVELAND Candi- dates for mayor and board of aldermen have been going door-to-door as the election nears. WLOX-TV reported that elections are Tuesday and the new city leaders will take of- fice Wednesday. Republican businessman Jay Trapani and longtime Fire Chief Mike Smith, a De- mocrat, are in the mayoral race. Trapani was unopposed in the Republican primary. He said been a successful businessman for 32 years, and a city is alike a business in which the bottom line is not profit but service.

Corps say Steele Bayou bank work completed VICKSBURG The Army Corps of Engineers says work to shore up the banks of Steele Bayou has been completed two weeks early. The Vicksburg Post re- ported that the Corps said 225,000 tons of riprap have been placed along the bottom and sides since mid-September to re- pair a scour hole. The hole was downstream of the Mississippi 465 bridge, which sometimes had to be closed during the work. Dredging near major ports along the main stem of the Mississippi River is sched- uled to continue through mid-December. Associated Press More young abuse victims getting justice HENRY BAILEY JR.

The Commercial Appeal SOUTHAVEN His online KIK social media account was under the cute user name But this was a sexual pred- ator, and his prey was a 13-year-old Southaven girl who began communi- cating with him through KIK in Oc- tober 2013, exchanging nude photos with him, and later through Skype. When the girl came up missing on June 23, her mother reported it to the Southaven police, and told investiga- tors of the online contacts with who turned out to be 39-year-old Bobby Allen Osborne, a South Carolina reg- istered sex offender. The next day, the teen was found with Osborne in South Carolina and Osborne was arrested on federal charges, including enticement of a minor to travel in interstate commerce with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. case never made it through the criminal justice system: On Sept. 30, he was found dead in his cell at the Lafayette County Detention Center cell in Oxford, the result of self-inflicted hanging, authorities said.

But because of a two-year-old multi-disciplinary team now working through the Southaven-based Healing Hearts Child Advocacy Center, more accused child sexual predators are seeing their day in court in DeSoto County, and more young abuse vic- tims are getting justice. The team made up of law en- forcement, prosecutors, social work- ers, forensic interviewers, therapists and victim advocates share infor- mation, tying sensitive interviews with medical care, counseling, inves- tigation and prosecution. The group begins evidence recov- ery quickly and also the healing process. The payoff: In the six months following the June 2012 start of the team collaboration, child sexual abuse cases presented to the grand jury more than doubled over the previous six months, from 16 to 33, said Assistant District Attorney Steve Jubera in DeS- oto County. So far in 2014, the state has pre- sented to the grand jury 72 child abuse cases, up from 49 for all of 2013, Ju- bera said.

The cases include statutory rape, sexual battery, child exploitation and possession of child pornography, among other charges, including two child abuse deaths, he said. Of the out- come of the 2013 cases, Jubera said there were 12 pleas, one trial, 14 or no indictment bills, eight cases remanded to either youth or adult court and 14 cases that were not finished by the close of the year. The work of the multi-disciplinary team has made a difference, said Olive Branch police detective Jessica Riley. I started two or three years ago, there may have been five cases a year that see all the way to pros- ecution. Now that figure is about 10 cases.

The MDT has helped tremen- While the prosecution of cases has increased, the actual number of of- fenses has not, said Ashley Schachterle, founder and director of the nonprofit child advocacy center Healing Hearts. just becoming more aware of happening, because now we have a comprehensive system in he said. Healing Hearts opened in 2013 with a mission to respond to child abuse with a team approach that reduces trauma to the children, including by conducting forensic interviews, thor- ough fact-finding questioning of the victims in a room equipped with dis- creet video cameras and microphones. Other team members can watch the questioning from a monitoring room, and the victims do not have to repeat their abuse experiences to multiple in- vestigators. definitely more pedophile- type cases being said DeSoto Sheriff Bill Rasco.

He said cyberspace has become a fertile field for sex offenders. Internet is being used heavily by these pedophiles to contact young Rasco said. just sicken- The Internet is not the only hunting ground. Jailed and awaiting trial on state charges of sexual battery and child exploitation is Truitt Ray Neal, a 53-year-old Horn Lake man accused of abusing a girl from 2009 to 2014 while a position of trust and au- according to the Oct. 9 indict- ment.

And while the investigation is ongoing, the victim is already getting care and counseling through the Heal- ing Hearts team. The case a good example of the multi-disciplinary team approach, be- cause everyone was the same so to speak, allowing for a complete investigation as well as timely follow on care for the said Jubera. AP PHOTO DeSoto County assistant district attorney Steven Jubera describes how the use of closed-circuit cameras are a benefit in child abuse cases..