BODY PULLED WEDNESDAY FROM SUSQUEHANNA RIVER
Teen had been subject of intensive search for 4 months
16-YEAR-OLD WENT MISSING DECEMBER 28TH
FROM HALF-SISTER’S NW BALTO. APARTMENT
The worst possible news I can give to any mother.
— Balto. Police Comm. Frederick H. Bealefeld 3rd
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THE LATEST (9 P.M.): LISTEN TO AUDIO CLIP FROM I.V. CRIME REPORTER A.F. JAMES MacARTHUR (click here, then click right arrow to play clip). MacArthur reports on just-concluded news conference at Maryland State Police headquarters in Pikesville.
UPDATE: Col. Terrence B. Sheridan, secretary of the Maryland State Police, declined late Thursday to draw a connection between the unclothed bodies of missing teen Phylicia Barnes and an unidentified black male found four miles apart Wednesday in the Lower Susquehanna River approximately 10 miles from the town of Havre de Grace in Harford County.
At a late evening news conference Sheridan confirmed earlier reports that a preliminary investigation had shown there were “no obvious wounds or trauma on either body.”
The male is 6 ft. 4 inches tall and weighs 240 lbs., he said. “Other than being found on the same day in the same river, both unclothed, there is no known connection as of now between the two bodies.”
Nor is there any indication of sexual assault, he added, noting that because of the extremely cold temperature of the 200-mile-long river and the possibility the bodies could have been in the water for several months, some evidence might have washed away.
He said that a team of Maryland State Police homicide investigators are now “co-located” with the Baltimore police to work together on the case and that “some very smart people” are dealing with the particulars.
Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld 3rd, when asked if he had talked to the parents of the 16-year-old Barnes, replied sadly: “Yes, it was horrible. This is the worst possible news I can give to any mother.”
— A.F. James MacArthur
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As reported early Thursday and updated less than an hour ago (about 4:30 p.m.) by Charlotte, N.C., television reporter Derrick Rose, who has been following the case since Barnes was first reported missing three days after Christmas:
Body found in river is missing Monroe teen, police say
CONOWINGO, MD (WBTV) — The father of missing teenager Phylicia Barnes confirms to WBTV that one of the two bodies found in a Maryland River on Wednesday is the body of his daughter, who went missing in late December.
The body, found in the Susquehanna River in Conowingo, MD, had a tattoo on the lower right leg, a source said. According to the FBI missing poster, Barnes had a tattoo of a rose on her lower right leg.
Police also confirmed Thursday afternoon that Phylicia, who was 16 when she went missing during a trip to Baltimore, had been identified as the dead body.
Doctors at Maryland's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner were conducting an autopsy on the woman's body as well as the body of a man found hours after the female.
ALSO CHECK OUT I.V.’S APRIL 11 STORY ON THE SEARCH FOR THE MISSING TEEN (click here)
Editor's Note: Conowingo Hydroelectric Station, not far from where the body of Phylicia Barnes was found Wednesday, incorporates one of the largest non-federal hydroelectric dams in the United States. Located in the Lower Susquehanna River, it spans the Harford/Cecil County border approximately 45 miles northeast of Baltimore. The dam is less than an hour's drive from where Barnes was last seen at her half-sister's apartment in northwest Baltimore.
WBTV.com is a Charlotte, N.C., television outlet. Prior to her disappearance in Baltimore, Phylicia Barnes had been living with her mother in Monroe, N.C., a city of about 26,000 (as of the 2000 census) where she was an honor student and track star at Union Academy High School. Monroe is situated in the greater Charlotte metropolitan area and is the Union County seat of government.
I only hope that the lack of details about this case is not indicative of how the investigation went or what kind of evidence the authorities have in their possession at this time. It is standard operating procedure for the police to not reveal any details for an ongoing investigation so that they don't tip their hand on how much they know about the person(s) involved in the case.
This one, however, is a real head-scratcher. The close proximity of the second body does give one pause. I sincerely hope that the case is finally and quickly resolved in a way that everyone knows exactly what happened, when it happened, and, most importantly, why it happened.
you know im a big crtic of the baltimore city police department,but now that they have a body,i think they will find out who did this to this girl. i dont knowwhy they didnt look in this river sooner.most victims bodies are disposed of this way.
the waters of cherry hill use to be a dumping ground for bodies,that would show up in the inner harbor.my prayers go out to the family,i didnt know her,but no one should have to have a child taken away from them like that