Missing Toddler's Mom Unable to Complete Polygraph

ABC News(PORTLAND, Maine) -- The mother of missing Maine toddler Ayla Reynolds attempted to take a polygraph test with investigators but failed to complete it due to a medical condition, she said in a message on her website.

Trista Reynolds announced she took the polygraph test Wednesday to answer questions about the disappearance of her 1-year-old daughter from the girl's father's house in December.

"According to the test administrator, who was very courteous and professional, I was unable to complete the test due to a medical condition," Reynolds wrote. "It was suggested to me that after treatment by a medical doctor I might be able to finish the test, but the investigating authority is content with the general outcome of the incomplete test (as it stands)."

She does not explain what the medical condition was and could not be reached for comment. The Maine State Police department would not comment on the polygraph test. 

Reynolds had promised to make public the results of her polygraph test after Ayla's father, Justin DiPietro, took a test but did not release the results.

The toddler disappeared sometime between the night of Dec. 16 and the morning of December 17, after her father put her to bed and before he checked on her in the morning. Police have said they are treating it as a kidnapping, but have not named any suspects in the girl's disappearance. They have said the family has cooperated with authorities.

DiPietro and Reynolds were estranged at the time of the disappearance, and Ayla was living with her father while Trista Reynolds was in drug rehab, according to both families. Reynolds was in the process of trying to regain custody of Ayla, and had filed papers in court the day before the girl disappeared, she told ABC News.

Ayla was last seen wearing a green one-piece outfit with a soft cast on her arm, which was broken in an accidental fall just weeks before her disappearance, according to police.

Maine State Police, along with the Maine game warden service, and FBI, searched rivers and lakes in DiPietro's neighborhood in addition to checking area dumpsters and canvassing neighbors. The searches turned up nothing, police said.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Missing Montana Teacher: Suspects Have Lengthy Criminal Records

Ryan McVay/Thinkstock(SIDNEY, Mont.) -- The two men charged with aggravated kidnapping in the disappearance of missing Montana teacher Sherry Arnold have had numerous run-ins with the law.

Though the FBI will not say what led them to Lester Vann Waters Jr., 47, and Michael Keith Spell, 22, the two men were taken into custody last week and are being held at the Williams County Correctional Center in Williston, N.D., while they await extradition to Montana.  Both men had been living in an unincorporated area near Parachute, Colo.

Waters has an extensive criminal record in Florida with charges including a weapons offense, narcotic possession, theft, trespassing and leaving the scene of a crash injury.  He has served time in Florida jails at least three times.

Records also show that Waters has used about a dozen aliases and has been charged with giving police a false name when arrested.

Spell was arrested and charged with drug possession, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and sexual contact without consent in Colorado in May 2007, but the charges were dropped for unknown reasons.

Investigators have remained tight-lipped about the details of the investigation, providing very little information about the connection between Waters and Spell or what led them to the conclusion that Arnold is dead.

FBI investigators have said they believe that Arnold is dead, but they have not yet been able to locate her body.

On Monday, investigators asked farmers and ranchers in remote areas of Montana and North Dakota to search their properties for disturbed soil or grass near vacant farms.  They believe Arnold could be buried somewhere in the area.

Arnold, 43, a married mother of two and stepmother of three, disappeared on Jan. 7 around 6:30 a.m. while jogging near her home in Sidney, Mont.  A single running shoe was the only trace left behind.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Missing Snowshoe Hiker Found Alive on Mount Rainier

Purestock/Getty Images(ASHFORD, Wash.) -- A trio of rescuers found snowshoer Yong Chun Kim alert and conscious on Monday after he went missing Saturday during a hike on Mount Rainier in Washington state.

Kim, 66, was cold but otherwise in stable condition, according to National Park Service spokeswoman Lee Taylor, who added that rescuers were trying to send in a Sno-Cat vehicle to complete the rescue amid weather too harsh for helicopters.

A team of more than 70 people and two teams of rescue dogs earlier had narrowed their search for Kim, of Tacoma, Wash., officials told ABC News.

Kim was leading hikers in the Paradise region of Mount Rainier National Park when he slipped down a steep slope.  Instead of climbing back up to rejoin the group, Kim continued on to meet the group further down the trail. When he did not arrive 30 minutes after he radioed the group to tell them he was on his way, the park service launched a search.

Taylor told ABC News that one of the members of Kim’s group went along on Sunday’s search and took the team to the point where Kim was last seen. One of the searchers also on Sunday noticed snowshoe tracks in an area called Stevens Creek, which was where the rescue team then focused its search.

Rescuers then found Kim in the upper Stevens Creek basin, Taylor said.

The search for Kim was the second one in Mount Rainier Park in less than two weeks.  A manhunt was launched earlier this month to find Benjamin Colton Barnes, 24, after he shot and killed park ranger Margaret Anderson on New Year’s Day.

The body of Barnes, an Iraq war veteran, was found the next day; he apparently drowned in a creek after suffering from hypothermia.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Missing Montana Teacher Sherry Arnold Dead, School Says

Comstock/Thinkstock(SIDNEY, Mont.) -- Missing Montana mother and teacher Sherry Arnold is dead, according to a post on her school district's website. The FBI announced Friday that they have one person in custody and another being questioned.

Arnold, 43, disappeared around 6:30 a.m. on Dec. 7 when she went out for an early morning run near her home in Sidney, Mont. A single running shoe was the only trace of Arnold left behind.

"Based on a tip from the public, law enforcement took one adult male into custody, and another adult male is being questioned by police," FBI spokeswoman Debbie Dujanovic Bertram said in a statement. "The investigation to determine what happened to Ms. Arnold continues."

Sidney Public School officials posted a message on the school district's website saying that they were informed of her death Friday morning, after Arnold's family was notified. Arnold was a married mother of two, and stepmother of three.

Arnold was a teacher in Sidney since 1993, teaching at both the middle school and high school, where she was a math teacher at the time of her death.

Search and rescue teams used canine units, private planes, a helicopter, and searchers on ATVs and horseback. Hundreds of community members turned out to help the Sidney Police Department and the FBI search for Arnold.

Sidney is a small town of roughly 5,000 people that has experienced a sudden influx of out-of-towner oil workers following the Bakken oil boom in North Dakota, according to the Billings Gazette.

Sidney Police Chief Frank DiFonzo told the newspaper that crime rates have gone up since the influx in areas including bar fights, domestic violence and drunk driving.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Search Continues for Missing Montana Teacher; Running Shoe Found

Ryan McVay/Thinkstock(SIDNEY, Mont.) -- Montana police are searching for a mother and math teacher who was last seen when she went out for an early morning jog on Saturday and did not return.

Police found a running shoe identified as Sherry Arnold's near a truck route that is reportedly part of her normal jogging route, but say they have been unable to determine what may have happened to her.

Arnold's stunned family is praying for her return.

"I'm hoping she's found.  I'm hoping that she's healthy.  I miss her so badly," Arnold's husband Gary Arnold told ABC News.  "We miss her so badly.  This community needs her back."

Sherry Arnold, 43, was last seen at about 6:30 a.m. on Saturday when she was leaving home for her usual early-morning jog.

When asked what he thinks may have happened to his wife, Arnold said in a choked voice, "I don't even want to go there at this point."

The couple has five children between them from previous marriages.  Gary Arnold has three and Sherry Arnold has two.

She has been a teacher in Sidney, Mont., since 1993, teaching at both the middle school and high school, where she is currently a math teacher.

The Sidney Police Department is working with about 40 soldiers from the Montana Army National Guard in the search for Arnold, according to ABC News' Great Falls, Mont., affiliate KFBB-TV.  Search and rescue teams have used canine units, private planes, a helicopter, and searchers on ATVs and on horseback.

"We'll keep looking and we'll maintain looking until we've exhausted all of our resources, which hasn't happened yet," Bob Burnison of the Sidney Police Department told KFBB.

Arnold has brown eyes and black hair.  She is 5 feet, 10 inches tall with a slender build, weighing about 140 pounds.  She was last seen wearing a hooded sweatshirt with white stripes on the sleeves, red nylon pants with black leggings and black gloves.

Authorities are asking that anyone with information regarding Arnold's whereabouts please call the Sidney Police Department at 406-433-2210.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Atlanta, St. Louis Cops Eye Similarities for Missing Women Cases

Ryan McVay/Thinkstock(ATLANTA) -- Similarities in the disappearances of two women in St. Louis and Atlanta have police in the two cities comparing notes to see whether the cases might be related.

Stacey Nicole English, 36, of the affluent Atlanta suburb of Buckhead, and Phoenix Coldon, 23, of St. Louis, both went missing in December and the cars were later found with the engines running.

The apparent similarities in the case have some people questioning whether the same person could be responsible for both disappearances.

English was reported missing by her parents on Dec. 27, after they called her for several days and failed to get a response. They went to her home and inside found her phone, iPad and the key fob to gain entry to her apartment complex. She never left home without her phone or iPad, they said.

English was apparently last seen by Robert Kirk, a St. Louis resident who was a guest in her home from Christmas Eve until Dec. 26.

Coldon was last seen outside her St. Louis home on Dec. 18. The woman's mother told police she saw Coldon in her car outside the family home, but when she checked later, the young woman's car was gone. The young woman failed to return home that night, and Coldon's mother called police the next morning.

Neither Coldon nor English have been seen since.

English's car, a white 2006 Volvo S60, and Coldon's vehicle, a 1998 black Chevy Blazer, were both impounded by police on the day the women apparently went missing. According to several reports, police initially didn't realize the cars that had been impounded belonged to the missing women for whom they were searching.

The women's parents have been critical of both departments' handling of the investigations, particularly the initial failure to connect the impounded cars to the cases.

Carlos Campos, a spokesman for the Atlanta Police Department, told ABC News Monday evening that his department had communicated with investigators in St. Louis.

No one at the St. Louis Police Department's media office could be reached Monday evening, but the apparent similarities of the case reportedly have caught their investigators' attention as well.

Coldon's mother, Goldia, told the Huffington Post that St. Louis police Capt. Troy Doyle, who is working on her daughter's case, said he has seen similarities in both cases.

Campos told ABC News that Kirk was not considered a suspect or a person of interest, denying previous media reports that claimed police had named Kirk a person of interest in English's disappearance.

"As of right now there is no crime so there is no suspect to develop. This is a missing person's case," he said.

He said the department was working hard to solve the case.

English is about 5'3" tall and weighs about 120 pounds. She reportedly worked as an instructional designer at SunTrust Bank. A reward of $5,000 has been offered for any information that aids in locating her.

Police have also mounted a search for Coldon, who was last seen wearing grey sweatpants, a dark-colored hooded top and sneakers. She is 5'6" tall and weighs about 125 pounds.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Missing Man's Family Seeks Psychics' Help

Goodshoot/Thinkstock(PITTSBURGH) -- The relatives of a missing 25-year-old Pennsylvania man said they aren't entirely certain they believe in psychics — only that they're willing to use an assortment of means to locate him.

James Slack, of Bridgeville, Pa. was last seen at a String Cheese Incident Concert in Pittsburgh, Pa., on Dec. 6.

"You just explore every option, and anything that can help out is worth it. It's worth a shot," Maureen Shields, Slack's sister, told ABC News affiliate WTAE Friday while touring the area where her brother was last seen with the psychics.

A friend told police that Slack was inebriated when, during a 3 a.m. phone conversation on Dec. 7, he explained that he was "still partying" and "I don't know where I'm at."

Psychic sisters Suzanne Vincent and Jean Mckenzie Vincent said the visions they've been having and the responses Slack's relatives provided to their queries led them to believe that he is dead.

"I kept seeing a vision of railroad tracks," said one of the Vincents, who, according to their Web site, have been doing psychic profiles and investigations for 25 years.

The Vincents said they had an impression that he was hurt some place and he died from the elements.

In addition to contacting the psychic sisters, Slack's family has been posting pictures of him on social media and on fliers.

"We are doing everything from canvassing; talking to every single person we meet. Actually, we've had fliers handed out to people at concerts from the band," Slack's uncle Michael Lowe told WTAE.

A $5,000 reward is being offered for information on Slack's whereabouts.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Missing Oklahoma Mom Met Clients for Sex, Husband Told Cops

Ryan McVay/Thinkstock(OKLAHOMA CITY) -- The husband of a mother missing since early December changed his story after reporting her disappearance, adding the detail that she was advertising as a massage therapist on Craigslist and meeting men for sex, according to a new police report.

Justin Adams initially told Oklahoma City, Okla., police his wife, Jaymie Adams, 26, went missing when she went to meet a friend at a local McDonald’s. He said the last time he heard from her was when she called to tell him she was in the parking lot. He found her empty van the next morning around 5 a.m. and reported her missing.

A search warrant for Justin and Jaymie Adams’ cellphone records filed this week revealed that Justin Adams came back the next day with a different story.

“On [Dec. 11, 2011] … Justin Adams walked into the OCPD Santa Fe Briefing Station and informed officers that he hadn’t been completely honest with officers in reference to his report on [Dec. 10],” the report reads.

Adams informed officers that his wife -- who has three kids and who a Facebook page said was two months pregnant --  advertised as a massage therapist on Craigslist, but was actually “engaging in sexual acts for cash.”

Adams told officers his wife was actually going to meet a client at a motel, and the last message he received from her said she was at McDonald’s, but the client didn’t show up.

The couple also participated in “swinging” with people they met on Craigslist, Adams told authorities.

Jaymie Adams took her cellphone and laptop with her when she left that night. According to the police report, “telephone records show that during the morning of 12/10/11, the telephones of both Justin and Jaymie were relaying telephone calls from the same telephone towers.”

Justin Adams also told authorities, according to the warrant, that a nearby restaurant owner told him he had seen Jaymie Adams paying for her meal at nearly 3 a.m. on Dec. 10.

Investigators interviewed the restaurant manager Justin Adams said he had spoken with, but the manager told police he didn’t remember seeing Jaymie Adams. Surveillance video from the restaurant also didn’t show her in the restaurant.

Several days after Adams admitted to initially lying to police, he agreed to take a polygraph test. He was found to be “deceptive” when answering the question, “Do you know your wife’s whereabouts?”

Sgt. Gary Knight with the Oklahoma City Police Department said there have been no new developments in the case, and both missing persons and homicide detectives are working to find Jaymie Adams.

“Anytime there’s a case like this, when someone’s been missing a long time and the circumstances are so suspicious, you don’t know if they’re going to turn up alive or dead,” Knight told ABC News, “so we have investigators from different departments, including homicide, involved in the investigation.”

Calls to Justin Adams’ attorney, Irven Box, were not returned.

Police have not named any suspects in the disappearance.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Missing Toddler Ayla Reynolds: $30,000 Reward Offered

ABC News(WATERVILLE, Maine) -- A $30,000 reward is being offered in the case of missing Maine toddler Ayla Reynolds, the largest missing person reward in the state's history.

In announcing the reward, police said that they believe there is foul play in the disappearance of the 20-month-old girl who has been missing since Dec. 17.

"We are confident that Ayla did not let herself out of the house," Waterville Police Chief Joseph Massey said. "We believe that someone removed Ayla from the house, and that is where our investigation is focusing."

Massey and local attorney John Nale said that calls were pouring in from private citizens and businesses wishing to make donations for a reward, with the money adding up to $30,000.

"I am very hopeful that the offer of a large monetary reward may serve to spur someone to make the phone call we desperately want to receive, the call that will lead us to Ayla Reynolds," Massey said.

Investigators searched for the toddler through the holiday weekend. Police said they believe that additional leads that came in over the weekend were prompted by the coverage of the case on America's Most Wanted.

The leads, however, have not led to any suspects yet and authorities are conscious of the time that has passed since Ayla was last seen.

According to police, Ayla's father Justin DiPietro, 24, said he put the child to bed the night of Dec. 16 in his home, and awoke the next morning to find her missing. Police have said several other adults were in the home, including one non-relative. Reynolds was living with her father while the girl's mother, Trista Reynolds, 23, was in rehab for substance abuse.

Police have said both parents have been cooperative, but investigators still have no sense of what happened to Ayla.

Investigators are asking that anyone with information about Ayla please call the Waterville Police Department at 207-680-4700.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Missing Kansas Student Aisha Khan Found, Reunited with Family

Ryan McVay/Thinkstock(KANSAS CITY, Kan.) -- Aisha Khan, the 19-year-old Kansas college student missing for nearly a week has been found safe and unharmed, according to ABC News' Kansas City affiliate KMBC-TV.

Police said they made contact with Khan by phone Wednesday night and that she was not in danger.  The police investigation has now been closed, but no other details on Khan's whereabouts or what happened were immediately available.

Khan was last heard from on the morning of Dec. 19 when she left her sister a troubling voicemail, saying that while she was studying for finals at an outdoor picnic table, a drunk man had been harassing her and attempted to kiss her before she hit him and took off.

"Oh my gosh he was so scary.  My heart is, like, pounding.  I've never got this scared in my life," Khan can be heard saying in the message.  "Pick up your phones, I am freaked out right now."

Her family had feared the worst, with her mother and husband of five months pleading with her alleged captor to let her go.

In a brief press conference late Wednesday night, a Khan family spokesperson thanked the community for their outpouring of support.  But no family members would speak to reporters.

Police, who just days ago told ABC News that they were treating the case as an abduction, had no comment on Khan's reappearance.

Overland Park Officer Brian Schnavel told KMBC Wednesday that "Khan was not abducted or held against her will and no criminal act occurred," and that their investigation has concluded.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio