In Memory of Brittany "BRITT" McGlone, Laci Rocha, Dru Sjodin and Brianna "BRI" Denison
Joined: Sept 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 8,443 Location: Raised in MS. Karma: 5,000
Deceased Coeds Kyrstin, Afton & Ashley, Nov. 2009 « Thread Started on Nov 3, 2009, 9:18am »
Police Search for Missing Dickinson State University Softball Players Tuesday, November 03, 2009
DICKINSON, N.D. — Authorities in southwestern North Dakota searched Monday for three Dickinson State University softball players reported missing after a friend received late night telephone calls that mentioned water and indicated the women needed help.
Kyrstin Gemar, 22, of Grossmont, Calif; Afton Williamson, 20, of Lake Elsinore, Calif.; and Ashley Neufeld, 21, of Brandon, Manitoba in Canada were believed to be in a white 1997 Jeep Cherokee with California plates when they were last heard from late Sunday night, authorities said.
Dickinson Police Lt. Dave Wallace said a friend of the women received two telephone calls from them, about one minute apart, before the line cut out. The exact words used in the calls and exactly which of the women they came from were not immediately released.
"Some place in that conversation, water was mentioned. What that context is, is speculation," Wallace said Monday night.
The friend who received the calls then called 911 to report that the women needed help.
Authorities used three airplanes and officers on the ground Monday to search within in a 30-mile radius of the cell phone tower north of Dickinson where the call came through. The search included Lake Patterson near Dickinson, which is about 98 miles west of Bismarck and 63 miles east of the Montana state line.
The air search was called off after dark with plans to resume Tuesday.
"Investigators are in the field as we speak, continuing to do interviews with friends, family and associates," Wallace said. "Nothing has been confirmed at this point, where we can say, 'Yes, they were here at this point."'
Wallace said relatives of the three women were expected in Dickinson by Tuesday.
Wallace refused to speculate on what might have happened and said nothing was being ruled out.
"Right now, we just have three missing young ladies," he said.
"THE DEAD CANNOT CRY OUT FOR JUSTICE IT IS A DUTY OF THE LIVING TO DO SO FOR THEM" Life, Liberty and The Pursuit of Happiness These are the rights listed in the Declaration of Independence for each of us; EXCEPT IF YOU ARE MURDERED YOU NO LONGER HAVE ANY RIGHTS. Someone took them and now THEIR RIGHTS ARE PROTECTED. is a tradgedy that doesnt help the victims or their families heal.
In Memory of Brittany "BRITT" McGlone, Laci Rocha, Dru Sjodin and Brianna "BRI" Denison
Joined: Sept 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 8,443 Location: Raised in MS. Karma: 5,000
Re: Missing Coeds Kyrstin, Afton & Ashley, Nov. 20 « Reply #1 on Nov 3, 2009, 9:19am »
Father of Missing College Student Says Players Often Went to Lake to Star Gaze Tuesday, November 03, 2009
DICKINSON, N.D. — The father of one of three missing college softball players said Tuesday the women often went star gazing near a lake in southwestern North Dakota and police do not suspect foul play in their disappearances.
Lenny Gemar told ABC's "Good Morning America" in a telephone interview that the Dickinson State University students would hang out by Patterson Lake near the city and "just look up at the stars and, you know, chat about the things that teenagers will chat about."
Police have refused to speculate on what might have happened to Kyrstin Gemar, 22, of Grossmont, Calif.; Afton Williamson, 20, of Lake Elsinore, Calif.; and Ashley Neufeld, 21, of Brandon, Manitoba in Canada. The women were believed to be in a white 1997 Jeep Cherokee with California plates when they were last heard from late Sunday night, authorities said.
Dickinson Police Lt. Dave Wallace has said a friend of the women received two telephone calls from them, about one minute apart, before the line cut out on Sunday. The exact words used in the calls and exactly which of the women they came from were not immediately released.
Wallace said water was mentioned in the conversation but the context was not clear. The friend who received the calls called 911 to report that the women needed help.
Authorities searched a 30-mile radius of the cell phone tower north of Dickinson where the calls came through on Monday using three airplanes and officers on the ground. The search included Patterson Lake just southwest of Dickinson, a city of 16,000 people about 100 miles west of Bismarck and 60 miles east of the Montana state line.
The air search was called off after dark. Police Officer Thomas Grosz said the search was likely to resume early Tuesday. He did not immediately know how many people it might involve.
Lenny Gemar said he and his wife arrived in North Dakota late Monday night to try to help find his daughter, Kyrstin, and her teammates. He said they were met at the airport by a university official and updated on the case and investigators' efforts.
"They haven't found anything that I'm aware of," he said. "No tire tracks, no clothing ... nothing at all to give us any indication where the girls ended up."
Gemar said he had not spoken with the friend who said she received the distress calls, but it didn't seem like the girls were being attacked.
"There was nothing to indicate that there was an assailant or anything like that going on," he said. "It just comes across as sounding more like an accident of some kind."
"THE DEAD CANNOT CRY OUT FOR JUSTICE IT IS A DUTY OF THE LIVING TO DO SO FOR THEM" Life, Liberty and The Pursuit of Happiness These are the rights listed in the Declaration of Independence for each of us; EXCEPT IF YOU ARE MURDERED YOU NO LONGER HAVE ANY RIGHTS. Someone took them and now THEIR RIGHTS ARE PROTECTED. is a tradgedy that doesnt help the victims or their families heal.
In Memory of Brittany "BRITT" McGlone, Laci Rocha, Dru Sjodin and Brianna "BRI" Denison
Joined: Sept 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 8,443 Location: Raised in MS. Karma: 5,000
Re: Missing Coeds Kyrstin, Afton & Ashley, Nov. 20 « Reply #2 on Nov 3, 2009, 6:46pm »
3 Missing College Softball Players Found Dead in Their Vehicle Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Three college softball players, who vanished Sunday night while at a North Dakota lake where they often went star-gazing, were found dead in their vehicle, which was pulled from a pond.
Police Lt. Rod Banyai said Tuesday night that police are "still investigating" the cause of the deaths.
Kyrstin Gemar, 22, of Grossmont, Calif.; Afton Williamson, 20, of Lake Elsinore, Calif.; and Ashley Neufeld, 21, of Brandon, Manitoba in Canada, all play softball for Dickinson State University in Dickinson, N.D.
A friend reported getting two phone calls from the two of the women late Sunday evening. The caller mentioned that they were near a lake and water and indicated they needed help before the line went dead, police said.
The women were believed to be in a white 1997 Jeep Cherokee with California plates when they were last heard from, authorities said.
Police described the first as a "very scratchy" call for help.
Kyrstin Gemar's father Lenny told Fox News on Tuesday that new information from Verizon has helped investigators narrow their search.
"There were calls made from two different girls to two different girls," Kyrstin Gemar's father Lenny told Fox News. "It was very apparent from both calls that there was some kind of an emergency."
"THE DEAD CANNOT CRY OUT FOR JUSTICE IT IS A DUTY OF THE LIVING TO DO SO FOR THEM" Life, Liberty and The Pursuit of Happiness These are the rights listed in the Declaration of Independence for each of us; EXCEPT IF YOU ARE MURDERED YOU NO LONGER HAVE ANY RIGHTS. Someone took them and now THEIR RIGHTS ARE PROTECTED. is a tradgedy that doesnt help the victims or their families heal.
"THE DEAD CANNOT CRY OUT FOR JUSTICE IT IS A DUTY OF THE LIVING TO DO SO FOR THEM" Life, Liberty and The Pursuit of Happiness These are the rights listed in the Declaration of Independence for each of us; EXCEPT IF YOU ARE MURDERED YOU NO LONGER HAVE ANY RIGHTS. Someone took them and now THEIR RIGHTS ARE PROTECTED. is a tradgedy that doesnt help the victims or their families heal.
By BLAKE NICHOLSON, Associated Press Writer Blake Nicholson, Associated Press Writer – Wed Nov 4, 12:44 am ET
DICKINSON, N.D. – The bodies of three missing North Dakota college softball players were found Tuesday inside a Jeep after authorities, aided by signals from the women's last desperate phone calls, spotted the vehicle submerged in a farm pond.
Police Lt. Rod Banyai said officers were investigating the cause of the deaths and autopsies were planned. He said he believed the women were on a stargazing trip in the Jeep when they called for help, but he did not know whether it already was under water when the calls were made.
"At this time, foul play is not suspected," Banyai said Tuesday night.
Investigators were working to determine whether the vehicle had any defects or whether alcohol was involved, he said.
Authorities had searched since late Sunday night for Kyrstin Gemar, 22, of San Diego; Afton Williamson, 20, of Lake Elsinore, Calif.; and Ashley Neufeld, 21, of Brandon, Manitoba.
The Dickinson State University students were believed to be in the white 1997 Jeep Cherokee with California plates when two of their friends received telephone calls before the lines went dead. Police described the first as a "very scratchy" call for help in which one of the women said they were near a lake and water.
Banyai said the 12-foot-deep pond where the women were found is a couple miles off a road on a farm northwest of Dickinson, a city of 16,000 people about 100 miles west of Bismarck and 60 miles east of the Montana state line.
He said "pings" — signals sent from a cell phone to a provider tower, or vice versa — from the women's phone calls helped narrow the search area. Searchers on foot found vehicle tracks leading into the pond Tuesday afternoon.
"After that was located, the plane flew over the top and it could see that there was a white object in the water," Banyai said. The submerged vehicle was pulled from the pond about two hours later.
Kyrstin Gemar's parents, Lenny and Claire, said during an earlier news conference at police headquarters, before the bodies were found, that it was not uncommon for his daughter and her friends to go stargazing on the spur of the moment.
Hours later, Lenny Gemar was among parents of at least two of the women who attended a prayer service inside a packed Dickinson State student center ballroom.
"It's the worst day of my life. A parent shouldn't be burying a child. Kyrstin had such a bright future ahead of her," he said.
"We are just trying to be strong for Ashley," said Neufeld's mother, Bev Neufeld. "That's what she would want, and we have so much support here (on campus). We know how much Ashley loved this school. I would just like everybody to remember Ashley's smile and personality."
Dickinson State spokeswoman Constance Walter said the 2,700-student school planned to work with the families and students on campus in dealing with the tragedy.
"They will be greatly missed by their teammates and others," Walter said of the women.
The college listed Gemar as a senior business major who played third base on the softball team. Neufeld was a senior outfielder working on a degree in psychology, and Williamson, a junior, was a pitcher majoring in psychology with a minor in coaching.
"I'm sure it will be difficult for quite a while. But we know that they'll be there with us. They would want us to play," softball teammate Jessica Huseby of Hamilton, Mont., said at the prayer service. "We just know they're going to be the 10th, 11th and 12th players on the field with us."
"THE DEAD CANNOT CRY OUT FOR JUSTICE IT IS A DUTY OF THE LIVING TO DO SO FOR THEM" Life, Liberty and The Pursuit of Happiness These are the rights listed in the Declaration of Independence for each of us; EXCEPT IF YOU ARE MURDERED YOU NO LONGER HAVE ANY RIGHTS. Someone took them and now THEIR RIGHTS ARE PROTECTED. is a tradgedy that doesnt help the victims or their families heal.
In Memory of Brittany "BRITT" McGlone, Laci Rocha, Dru Sjodin and Brianna "BRI" Denison
Joined: Sept 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 8,443 Location: Raised in MS. Karma: 5,000
Re: Deceased Coeds Kyrstin, Afton & Ashley, Nov. 2 « Reply #5 on Nov 4, 2009, 11:56am »
3 College Softball Players Found Dead in Submerged Jeep Likely Didn't See Pond Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Three college softball players found dead in their Jeep after it dove into a pond on a North Dakota farm during a stargazing expedition probably drove straight into the water because they couldn't see it in the dark, authorities said Wednesday.
Stark County Sheriff Clarence Tuhy said the women's SUV was found resting on its wheels Tuesday in about 10 feet of water hidden by tall grass, with the doors and windows closed.
"When you're not familiar with an area like that it would have been very easy to drive into," Tuhy said.
The sheriff said the Dickinson State University students were on private property. He stopped short of saying they were trespassing.
No foul play is suspected in the deaths of Kyrstin Gemar, 22, of San Diego; Afton Williamson, 20, of Lake Elsinore, Calif.; and Ashley Neufeld, 21, of Brandon, Manitoba.
The bodies of the women and Neufeld's dog were found inside the SUV after signals from their last desperate phone calls late Sunday helped lead authorities to the farm.
Police Lt. Rod Banyai said authorities do not expect autopsy results for a week or two. The autopsies will help determine the exact cause of death and whether the women were under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Authorities have said there is no indication they were.
The North Dakota Highway Patrol also will examine the 1997 Jeep Cherokee to determine if the vehicle malfunctioned, Banyai said.
The students were believed to be in the Jeep when two of their friends received telephone calls late Sunday night before the lines quickly went dead. Police described the first as a "very scratchy" call for help in which one of the students said they were near water.
Tuhy said the calls, which authorities were able to track to cell phone towers, were critical in leading searchers to the vehicle. He said it wasn't clear if emergency crews might have been able to reach the women had they called 911 instead of their friends.
"There could have probably been some location found (Sunday night) ... but if it would have been timely, I don't know," he said.
University President Richard McCallum said classes were canceled Wednesday and a memorial service was being planned on campus Thursday.
"It is times like this that we realize our sense of humanity and our sense of connection," he said.
Family members of the women planned to visit the site on Wednesday northwest of Dickinson, a city of 16,000 people that is about 100 miles west of Bismarck.
Gemar's father, Lenny, said Tuesday night after a prayer service on campus that "it's the worst day of my life."
Neufeld's mother, Bev Neufeld, said her family was trying to be strong.
"That's what she would want, and we have so much support here (on campus)," she said. "We know how much Ashley loved this school. I would just like everybody to remember Ashley's smile and personality."
The 2,700-student university listed Gemar as a senior business major who played third base on the softball team. Neufeld was a senior outfielder working on a psychology degree, and Williamson, a junior, was a pitcher majoring in psychology with a minor in coaching.
"I'm sure it will be difficult for quite a while. But we know that they'll be there with us. They would want us to play," softball teammate Jessica Huseby of Hamilton, Mont., said after the prayer service. "We just know they're going to be the 10th, 11th and 12th players on the field with us."
"THE DEAD CANNOT CRY OUT FOR JUSTICE IT IS A DUTY OF THE LIVING TO DO SO FOR THEM" Life, Liberty and The Pursuit of Happiness These are the rights listed in the Declaration of Independence for each of us; EXCEPT IF YOU ARE MURDERED YOU NO LONGER HAVE ANY RIGHTS. Someone took them and now THEIR RIGHTS ARE PROTECTED. is a tradgedy that doesnt help the victims or their families heal.
"THE DEAD CANNOT CRY OUT FOR JUSTICE IT IS A DUTY OF THE LIVING TO DO SO FOR THEM" Life, Liberty and The Pursuit of Happiness These are the rights listed in the Declaration of Independence for each of us; EXCEPT IF YOU ARE MURDERED YOU NO LONGER HAVE ANY RIGHTS. Someone took them and now THEIR RIGHTS ARE PROTECTED. is a tradgedy that doesnt help the victims or their families heal.
In Memory of Brittany "BRITT" McGlone, Laci Rocha, Dru Sjodin and Brianna "BRI" Denison
Joined: Sept 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 8,443 Location: Raised in MS. Karma: 5,000
Re: Deceased Coeds Kyrstin, Afton & Ashley, Nov. 2 « Reply #7 on Nov 6, 2009, 10:42pm »
Autopsy Results Show North Dakota Softball Players Drowned Friday, November 06, 2009
DICKINSON, North Dakota — Authorities say preliminary autopsy results show drowning as the cause of death for three North Dakota college softball players found dead inside a sport utility vehicle that sunk in a rural farm pond.
Stark County Sheriff Clarence Tuhy said Friday that two of the women's bodies were found in the SUV's rear cargo area and one was found in the middle of the vehicle.
The bodies of 22-year-old Kyrstin Gemar of San Diego, Calif.; 20-year-old Afton Williamson of Lake Elsinore, Calif.; and 21-year-old Ashley Neufeld, of Brandon, Manitoba, were found Tuesday.
Investigators believe the Dickinson State students were on a stargazing trip Sunday and likely drove into the water in the darkness.
A complete autopsy report, including tests for drugs and alcohol, isn't expected for a week or two.
"THE DEAD CANNOT CRY OUT FOR JUSTICE IT IS A DUTY OF THE LIVING TO DO SO FOR THEM" Life, Liberty and The Pursuit of Happiness These are the rights listed in the Declaration of Independence for each of us; EXCEPT IF YOU ARE MURDERED YOU NO LONGER HAVE ANY RIGHTS. Someone took them and now THEIR RIGHTS ARE PROTECTED. is a tradgedy that doesnt help the victims or their families heal.
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