The Charlotte Observer from Charlotte, North Carolina • B4

4B charlotteobserver.com The Charlotte Observer LOCAL When Conley called to volunteer her services, the search took on new momentum. Conley says she was drawn to the case because she has a daughter the same age as Jamie Fraley. hard to think about somebody losing a she says. still a police officer at heart. And this is one way I can Jamie mother, Kim Fraleyof Kings Mountain, welcomes the self-appointed investigators who have come to her side: put into words how much they mean to Not forgotten On the third anniversary of her disappearance, Jamie Fraley been forgotten.

Her photo is on a billboard along Interstate 85 in Gaston County put there by the Charlotte-based Kristen Foundation. The national nonprofit crusades for relatives of missing adults and is named in honor of Kristen Modafferi who, at 18, disappeared in San Francisco in 1997. Gaston County Police say the Fraley case that initially drew national attention is still active. Fraley, who was bi-polar and suffered from other health issues, drive and lived in an apartment complex on Lowell-Bethesda Road outside Gastonia. Authorities said they found her apartment locked with everything in place and no signs of violence.

purse and door keys were inside. Police said it looked as though she stepped away, expecting to return. The day after Fraley disappeared, a utility worker found her cellphone as it rang alongside South New Hope Road, about two miles from the apartment. mom and Aunt Stacy were desperately trying to reach her. Early on, police began to suspect Ricky Dale Simonds 49, as a of in disappearance.

He lived in the same apartment complex, and had served pris- on time for killing a woman in the 1980s, police said. And Fraley had been dating son, Ricky who considered a suspect because he was in prison when Fraley disappeared. But in June, 2008, Simonds Sr. turned up dead in the trunk of his car. Still, police searched for clues about what happened to Fraley.

She was a student at Gaston College and planned a career as a drug counselor, family members say. She a user and disapproved of drugs, her family says, but she wanted to help addicts. disappearance was the first of three high-profile Gaston County mysteries in spring 2008. On May 5, UNC Charlotte student Irina Yarmolen- ko, 20, was found strangled on the banks of the Catawba River in Mount Holly. On May 6, police found the BMW that Jennifer Rivkin, 42, of Kings Mountain was driving near a bar in west Gastonia.

Her purse was still inside the car. She was last heard from in a cellphone message she left for a friend on May 4. Three years later, only the Yarmolenko murder case is closed. A jury last month convicted a Mount Holly man in her killing. Police say the cases appear connected.

They have no leads in case, they say. As for Fraley, Gaston County Police Capt. Joe Rameysays the department recently reviewed her case to see if they missed anything. looking into several questions that arose, he says, but give details. Tip from Hong Kong visit Police have examined all manner of tips in case, Ramey says, including one from a vacationing Connecticut woman who believes she spotted Fraley in Hong Kong last year.

While the woman was downtown she saw several women in a group, and one of them mouthed before fading in the crowd. Back home, the vacationer searched the Internet for missing persons and thought she recognized Fraley as the woman she had seen in Hong Kong. passed along the tip to the Ramey says. have to take these things seriously. She (Fraley) could have been abducted and put in the sex trade or other illegal purposes.

These things are real He understands the frustration. good her family keeps the case before the public, he says, so new tips might come in. But he also says citizen-investigators should be cautious about where they search and be sure to get permission. Ramey, who keeps the Fraley file on his desk, says case will not fall off our radar. We Her family members say unhappy with the initial police investigation.

They wonder whether police properly analyzed cell- phone for clues. When family invited private investigators to help break the case, Stacy Dennis says, work with Now, the family wants help from Fayetteville-based forensic psychologist Maurice Godwin. A former police officer, Godwin, 53, is a forensic consultant for defense attorneys. He also does geographic as a free service to families in missing person cases. a tool, he says, that uses locations identified in police investigations to create a computer model that predicts where a body might be found.

To do that, Godwin says, he needs to see case file. But Gaston County District Attorney Locke Bellhas denied access. is an ongoing investigation, and not jeopardizing it by making public the information we Bell says. protect our Even without the file, Godwin says, still willing to go and see what I can Tough, time-consuming The search for answers has evolved over time. Stacy Dennis moved in with her sister Kim, Jamie mother, about two years ago to offer support.

Kim Fraley has gone on disability, suffering from the stress of her disappearance. Roots joined the pair in 2009 to look after her close friends and look into disappearance. The search intensified last October when Conley joined in. The women say they have a of Ricky Dale Simonds Sr. and their search revolves around his activities before his death.

They explore relationships, chase bits and pieces of stray information, one step leading to another. more we look, the more we Conley says. narrowing a tough, time-consuming course with no guarantee of success. But they are committed. Says Dennis: got to bring Jamie JEFF WILLHELM- RhetaConley, left, Stacy Dennis and Linda Rooks, far right, stand with Kim Fraley, Jamie mother.

Conley, Dennis and Rooks each with law enforcement experience are searching for Jamie Fraley, who at age 22 disappeared from her apartment near Gastonia on April 9, 2008. MISSING from 1B.