Post by Anja on Aug 14, 2006 3:57:13 GMT -5
State funds to aid search for girl's body
Lubbock County Sheriff David Gutierrez secured $100,000 in state funds
Thursday afternoon to search a city-owned landfill for the body of Joanna
Rogers.
The search - which Gutierrez said could begin in "weeks or even days" -
will be conducted using a specialized search team and some county
equipment.
It will cost an estimated $74,000. But the price of the search could run
higher with the additional costs of fuel and personnel.
"We have had very generous support," Gutierrez said from Austin minutes
after receiving a commitment from the state.
Kathy Walt, a spokeswoman for the governor's office, said the money would
come from a state fund set aside to assist counties.
The Sheriff's Office planned to present a proposal to Lubbock County
Commissioners on Monday, requesting funding to search the landfill for the
body of the missing girl.
That item will remain on the county agenda when it is released Friday, but
it is unlikely that county funds will be used to pay for the search.
"We will still have to run the money through our account," Lubbock County
Commissioner Patti Jones said. "But the money will offset the expenses."
Joanna Rogers has been missing since 2004, when the 16-year-old
disappeared from her Lubbock County home, leaving behind her purse, keys
and cell phone.
Sheriff's deputies issued Lubbock's first Amber Alert in connection with
Joanna's disappearance and have continued to look for any information that
may lead to her whereabouts.
In December, investigators linked Joanna's disappearance to Rosendo
Rodriguez III, a 26-year-old jailed in Lubbock on capital murder charges.
No formal charges have been filed against Rodriguez in Joanna's
disappearance.
But Rodriguez is accused of beating to death 29-year-old Summer Baldwin,
whose body was discovered in September at the West Texas Region Disposal
Facility, located about 15 miles north of Lubbock.
A sanitation worker discovered Baldwin's body folded into a suitcase. She
was 5 weeks pregnant at the time of her death.
Detectives tracked the suitcase back to Rodriguez through purchase
records, according to police reports. Witnesses had also seen Baldwin and
Rodriguez together the night before her body was discovered.
During the investigation into Baldwin's death, police uncovered
information on Rodriguez's computer that linked him to Joanna and
subsequently named him as a suspect in her disappearance.
Joanna's mother, Kathy Rogers, said that Rodriguez had also confessed on
tape to killing her daughter and that the body may have been placed in the
landfill.
The Lubbock County Criminal District Attorney's Office and Rodriguez's
attorneys have been unable to comment on the existence of a taped
confession, citing a gag order issued in the case.
Sheriff's Office officials have also remained tight-lipped, saying only
that they had received "new information" in Joanna's disappearance and
that they were following up on that information.
Initial cost estimates for searching the landfill ran into the millions,
but officials with the Sheriff's Office were able to eliminate much of the
landfill area as a possible location of the body, reducing the size and
cost of the search.
Deputies plan to search a 200-by-200-foot area of the landfill to a depth
of about 25 feet.
"We couldn't have afforded the other," commissioner Jones said. "There is
just no way."
Gutierrez said his office would like to bring the search to a conclusion
as soon as possible.
"This has been a long, complex ordeal for us and the family," he said.
(source: Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)
Lubbock County Sheriff David Gutierrez secured $100,000 in state funds
Thursday afternoon to search a city-owned landfill for the body of Joanna
Rogers.
The search - which Gutierrez said could begin in "weeks or even days" -
will be conducted using a specialized search team and some county
equipment.
It will cost an estimated $74,000. But the price of the search could run
higher with the additional costs of fuel and personnel.
"We have had very generous support," Gutierrez said from Austin minutes
after receiving a commitment from the state.
Kathy Walt, a spokeswoman for the governor's office, said the money would
come from a state fund set aside to assist counties.
The Sheriff's Office planned to present a proposal to Lubbock County
Commissioners on Monday, requesting funding to search the landfill for the
body of the missing girl.
That item will remain on the county agenda when it is released Friday, but
it is unlikely that county funds will be used to pay for the search.
"We will still have to run the money through our account," Lubbock County
Commissioner Patti Jones said. "But the money will offset the expenses."
Joanna Rogers has been missing since 2004, when the 16-year-old
disappeared from her Lubbock County home, leaving behind her purse, keys
and cell phone.
Sheriff's deputies issued Lubbock's first Amber Alert in connection with
Joanna's disappearance and have continued to look for any information that
may lead to her whereabouts.
In December, investigators linked Joanna's disappearance to Rosendo
Rodriguez III, a 26-year-old jailed in Lubbock on capital murder charges.
No formal charges have been filed against Rodriguez in Joanna's
disappearance.
But Rodriguez is accused of beating to death 29-year-old Summer Baldwin,
whose body was discovered in September at the West Texas Region Disposal
Facility, located about 15 miles north of Lubbock.
A sanitation worker discovered Baldwin's body folded into a suitcase. She
was 5 weeks pregnant at the time of her death.
Detectives tracked the suitcase back to Rodriguez through purchase
records, according to police reports. Witnesses had also seen Baldwin and
Rodriguez together the night before her body was discovered.
During the investigation into Baldwin's death, police uncovered
information on Rodriguez's computer that linked him to Joanna and
subsequently named him as a suspect in her disappearance.
Joanna's mother, Kathy Rogers, said that Rodriguez had also confessed on
tape to killing her daughter and that the body may have been placed in the
landfill.
The Lubbock County Criminal District Attorney's Office and Rodriguez's
attorneys have been unable to comment on the existence of a taped
confession, citing a gag order issued in the case.
Sheriff's Office officials have also remained tight-lipped, saying only
that they had received "new information" in Joanna's disappearance and
that they were following up on that information.
Initial cost estimates for searching the landfill ran into the millions,
but officials with the Sheriff's Office were able to eliminate much of the
landfill area as a possible location of the body, reducing the size and
cost of the search.
Deputies plan to search a 200-by-200-foot area of the landfill to a depth
of about 25 feet.
"We couldn't have afforded the other," commissioner Jones said. "There is
just no way."
Gutierrez said his office would like to bring the search to a conclusion
as soon as possible.
"This has been a long, complex ordeal for us and the family," he said.
(source: Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)