By Noel Thompson, Freelance Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
LOCAL POLICE, an agent from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), a border collie sniffer dog Valerie Oakes and its master Harry Oakes Jr. did a second day of searching for missing American travel writer, Claudia Kirschhoch, in sections of Negril yesterday.
But at the end of the day there was still no breakthrough which could lead the crime sleuths to the whereabouts of the journalist. The search is scheduled to continue at 7:00 a.m. today in the Esher area of Hanover.
As early as 5:00 a.m. yesterday, the team began its search. They were led through a back gate at the Beaches Hotel leading onto the road but at this stage the dog lost the trail. This, its trainer said, suggested that Miss Kirschhoch had left the property and might have boarded a vehicle. But further up the boulevard, "Valerie" again picked up the trail in the vicinity of the Swept Away Hotel. As a result, a contingent of police personnel were deployed to conduct searches in that area.
At 7:30 p.m. the team trekked along the Bloody Bay Public Beach where "Valerie" scratched into the sand and barked in the direction of the offshore Boobie Quay. This resulted in Mr. Oakes requesting a boat to get onto the island.
On his return to shore, he told The Gleaner that the dog made some alerts during the water search leading them to believe it had smelt something belonging to the writer. "It could be clothing, personal belongings or something that Claudia may have touched that is in the water. Straight in line from where we were to where Valerie is alerting is the house of the girlfriend of someone who had been questioned earlier. So we will be talking to the detectives to see where we go from here. We are going to search the water in that area," he said.
The FBI's supervising agent Michael Bonner told The Gleaner that any evidence collected would be taken back to Florida from where they will be sent to the FBI's forensic laboratories in Washington DC.
The results, he said, would be forwarded to the Jamaica Constabulary Force. Mr. Bonner was not able, however, to say how soon the results would be ready, as DNA samples take longer.
"We already have control samples of Claudia's hair, fibres and clothes, so we can pretty much do a comparison of some of the things we already have. It is just a matter of us sending them up to our lab," Mr. Bonner noted. Meanwhile, local crime chief for Area One, Detective Superintendent John Morris, said that the level of co-operation between his party and the overseas police have been excellent. "We are trying to achieve the best results we possibly can. We are continuing the search as long as possible and we are hoping that something will turn," Mr. Morris said.
CCN's liaison officer for Westmoreland Corporal, Alva Douglas, said that at about 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday, a team of FBI personnel - headed by Michael Bonner and local police carried out a three-hour search in the Green Island area of Hanover where a former bartender of Beaches Negril Hotel lives. During the operation the police removed exhibits from the bartender's car including a plastic bag, a piece of carpet from the trunk and a pair of brown leather boots.
The house of the bartender's mother was subsequently sniffed and upon entering a rear room the dog barked and this alerted its trainer. They took from the house a pair of leather gloves, a piece of white cloth and a small knife. At 6:00 p.m. that same day, the team journeyed to the bartender's girlfriend's house in Esher, Hanover where the dog did some more sniffing but this time they came up with nothing.
The bartender's attorney, Michael Erskine and government forensic expert Sharon Brydson were on hand to witness the proceedings.
Claudia Kirschhoch, 28, went missing on May 27, while vacationing at Beaches Hotel.
