DELAWARE: Search expands to Del. for mother missing for 2 weeks
By Candice Evans, Staff Writer
Posted Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at 9:34 am
POCOMOKE CITY, Md. – Christine Marie Sheddy stayed behind with her two sons when a Pocomoke couple left their home to pick up their children from school, according to Lynn Dodenhoff, Sheddy's mother.
"When they returned, Christine was gone and the boys were home alone," Dodenhoff, 50, said Tuesday.
The Worcester County Sheriff's Office continues to look for Sheddy, 26, who disappeared more than two weeks ago. She was last seen Nov. 13 in the area of Byrd Road in Pocomoke City.
"We still don't know where she is," said Detective Robert Trautman of the Worcester County Bureau of Investigation, who is handling the case. "We've expanded our search to Delaware and Virginia."
Sheddy and her two sons, ages 2 and 4, were staying with Dodenhoff at her Bowers Beach home before traveling to Pocomoke City. Sheddy told her mother she was visiting a couple she met through her boyfriend, who is also the father of her children, Dodenhoff said.
"Christine was supposed to come back here and pack her stuff to visit her sister in Philadelphia on Nov. 17," Dodenhoff said. "Nobody has heard from her, and she's never left her children home alone."
Currently, Sheddy's two boys are staying with their father, said Trautman, who doesn't suspect any foul play in this investigation.
"I've always known where she was," said Dodenhoff. "Even when we've gotten in an argument, she always called me."
Sheddy is 5-foot-3 and weighs 100 pounds. Anyone with information on Sheddy's location or disappearance is asked to call Trautman at (410) 352-3476 or (800) 811-8396
http://www.delawarebeaches.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/A7/20071128/DW01/71128018/-1/BEACHES(link no longer works)
Search expands to Del. for mother missing for 2 weeks
By CANDICE EVANS, The (Salisbury, Md.) Daily Times
Updated Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at 9:28 am
POCOMOKE CITY, Md. – Christine Marie Sheddy stayed behind with her two sons when a Pocomoke couple left their home to pick up their children from school, according to Lynn Dodenhoff, Sheddy's mother.
"When they returned, Christine was gone and the boys were home alone," Dodenhoff, 50, said Tuesday.
The Worcester County Sheriff's Office continues to look for Sheddy, 26, who disappeared more than two weeks ago. She was last seen Nov. 13 in the area of Byrd Road in Pocomoke City.
"We still don't know where she is," said Detective Robert Trautman of the Worcester County Bureau of Investigation, who is handling the case. "We've expanded our search to Delaware and Virginia."
Sheddy and her two sons, ages 2 and 4, were staying with Dodenhoff at her Bowers Beach home before traveling to Pocomoke City. Sheddy told her mother she was visiting a couple she met through her boyfriend, who is also the father of her children, Dodenhoff said.
"Christine was supposed to come back here and pack her stuff to visit her sister in Philadelphia on Nov. 17," Dodenhoff said. "Nobody has heard from her, and she's never left her children home alone."
Currently, Sheddy's two boys are staying with their father, said Trautman, who doesn't suspect any foul play in this investigation.
"I've always known where she was," said Dodenhoff. "Even when we've gotten in an argument, she always called me."
Sheddy is 5-foot-3 and weighs 100 pounds. Anyone with information on Sheddy's location or disappearance is asked to call Trautman at (410) 352-3476 or (800) 811-8396.
http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dl...8/NEWS/71128018link goes to archive
WORCESTER: Missing woman's family offers $5,000 reward
Staff Report
SNOW HILL — The family of Christine Marie Sheddy, a woman missing from Pocomoke City since Nov. 13, is offering a $5,000 reward for information that will help locate her, the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office said.
The sheriff’s office and other police agencies continue to look for Sheddy who was last seen at 2911 Byrd Road in Pocomoke City.
Sheddy is 27 years old, approximately 5-foot, 3-inch tall and weighs 100 pounds.
At the time of her disappearance, she had blond shoulder length hair.
Sheddy and her two sons, ages 2 and 4, were staying with her mother Lyn Dodenhoff at her Bowers Beach home before traveling to Pocomoke City. Sheddy told her mother she was visiting a couple she met through her boyfriend, who is also the father of her children, according to Dodenhoff.
"Christine was supposed to come back here and pack her stuff to visit her sister in Philadelphia on Nov. 17," Dodenhoff said. "Nobody has heard from her and she's never left her children home alone."
Anyone with information about Sheddy is asked to contact the Worcester County Bureau of Investigation at 410-352-3476 and the WorcesterCounty Sheriff’s Office at 410- 632-1111.
The public’s help is needed to bring Sheddy home before the holidays.
http://www.delmarvanow.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...013/1002/NEWS01Family Offers $5,000 Reward For Info On Missing Woman
POSTED: 9:37 pm EST December 17, 2007
SNOW HILL, Md. -- Christine Marie Sheddy has been missing from Pocomoke city since last month, and her family has offered a $5,000 for information that will help find her.
Sheddy is 27 years old, about 5 feet, 3 inches tall and weighs 100 pounds. When she went missing on Nov. 13, Sheddy had blond, shoulder-length hair.
Sheddy and her two sons, ages 2 and 4, were staying with her mother Lyn Dodenhoff at her Bowers Beach home before traveling to Pocomoke City. Sheddy told her mother she was visiting a couple she met through her boyfriend, who is the father of her children.
Anyone with information about Sheddy should contact the Worcester County Bureau of Investigation or the Worcester County Sheriff's Office.
http://www.nbc4.com/news/14877310/detail.htmlFamily Searches For Missing Mother
By WMDT STAFF
(FREDERICA, DE -- WMDT) 12/19/2007
Being with family during the holiday season is a privilege many of us take for granted. A Bowers Beach family is still without one of their own less than one week before Christmas.
Christine Sheddy, 26, a mother of three, was last seen on November 13 in Pocomoke, Maryland. Christine and her two young sons were visiting a couple she met through her boyfriend, also the father of her two boys.The couple called Christine's mother Lynn when she went missing.
Her mother, Lynn Dodenhoff, says, "They told me that when they got back from getting their children at daycare that she was gone and her boys were left there alone."
Lynn says that Christine would never leave her boys alone and she's always known where her daughter was. The two boys, ages two and four, are now staying with their father. Christine's seven-year-old daughter Hailey's father passed away when she was just three. She's now staying with her grandmother Lynn in Bowers Beach, Delaware.
Dodenhoff says, "She goes, 'my daddy is in heaven, if my mommy goes to heaven, I don't know what I would do.'"
Hailey Sheddy says, "Please help my mom come home before christmas."
Dodenhoff says, "If anyone can help us find her, one way or another, we just need to bring her home."
Christine's family is currently offering a $5,000 reward for information. If you have any information on her whereabouts you are asked to contact the Worcester County Bureau of Investigations at 410-352-3476.
http://www.wmdt.com/topstory/topstory.asp?id=3058No suspected foul play in missing woman case; FBI currently not involved
Wed, 26 Dec 2007 06:23:51 -0500
There is new information in the case of a woman gone missing from Pocomoke. Still no sign this hour of 27 year old Christine Sheddy of Milford who went missing November 13th. WGMD just spoke to Sgt. Richard Klebon of the Maryland State Police and he tells WGMD that the search continues, but the FBI is not involved.
Klebon adds that there is no suspected foul play.
About the missing persons list---Delaware State Police told WGMD earlier that as of last week, she is not on the local or national missing persons list. However Sgt. Klebon tells us differently.
http://www.wgmd.com/newspost/fullnews.php?id=6677December 21st, 2007 by Dan Gaffney
Christine Sheddy has been missing from our area since November 13, 2007.
WGMD Report:
A reward is being offered for information that leads to finding Christine Marie Sheddy, who has been missing since last month. Sheddy is 27 years old, about 5 feet, 3 inches tall and weighs 100 pounds. She went missing on Nov. 13, and at that time Sheddy had blond, shoulder-length hair. Sheddy and her two young sons were staying with her mother at her Bowers Beach home. Sheddy told her mother she was going to Pocomoke to visit a couple she met through her boyfriend, who is the father of her children. Anyone with information about Sheddy should contact the Worcester County Bureau of Investigation or the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office. Those numbers – 410-352-3476 or 410-632-1111.
The Maryland Coast Dispatch gives us this detail
Sheddy left her Bowers Beach, Del. home on Nov. 13 with her two sons, ages two and four, in tow to visit a couple in Pocomoke she had met earlier through her boyfriend. Sheddy remained behind with her two sons at the Pocomoke residence while the couple went to pick up their own children at school.
When the couple returned, Sheddy was gone and her two boys were left home alone. Sheddy was supposed to have returned to her Bowers Beach residence on Nov. 17. She was reported missing, touching off a search throughout the county and beyond. According to reports, Sheddy’s two sons are now staying with their father.
The couple is only known to me as “Tia and Junior”. Family and friends tell me Christine had only recently met “Tia and Junior”. I have also learned the couple has left the property where the disappearance happened and are living elsewhere in the area.
The girls mother Lynn Dodenhoff tells me her missing daughter will turn 27 years old Saturday. I have interviewed friends, and family and other acquaintances of Christine; no on has heard from her.
http://www.wgmd.com/blog/2007/12/21/what-has-happened-to-christine-sheddy/A year after Pocomoke City woman was reported missing, leads have gone cold
By Jenny Hopkinson • Staff Writer • November 20, 2008
POCOMOKE CITY -- Lynn Dodenhoff hasn't seen or heard from her daughter in 12 months.
A yearlong investigation continues into the whereabouts of Christine Sheddy, the 27-year-old Delaware woman who disappeared from a Pocomoke City farmhouse in November 2007, leaving behind her children and plenty of questions about what happened at the rural Byrd Road residence.
"I was hoping for something by now," said Dodenhoff, who has struggled to keep her daughter's name and face in the public eye.
But after a year of searching, both Dodenhoff and the Worcester County Bureau of Investigation are hoping for the best but expecting the worst.
"I just think it is going to take a hunter or a new development coming to the area before I find my daughter," she said.
Sgt. Michael McDermott of the WCBI said while officials were initially optimistic about finding Sheddy, the trail of evidence has long since gone cold.
"She still hasn't been heard from by anyone in over a year," McDermott said. "Right now, the family and law enforcement are fearing the worst and investigating it from that perceptive."
Sheddy was last seen Nov. 13, 2007, at the home of Clarence Jackson and Teresa Johnson -- whom she knew through her boyfriend, Levi Hall -- on Byrd Road, where she was staying with her two young sons.
Dodenhoff said when Sheddy called her Nov. 10, she was very upset and made plans to come home. The two women arranged for Hall to pick up Sheddy and their two children in Pocomoke City that Tuesday and bring them to Dodenhoff's home in Delaware.
On Nov. 13, before Hall's arrival, Sheddy was in the house with her sons when Jackson and Johnson left to pick up their children from school. When the couple returned, Sheddy had disappeared.
'They didn't know her'
Dodenhoff said she notified Worcester County law enforcement of her daughter's disappearance about 20 hours after she was informed. However, after officials received questionable reports about Sheddy's character from Hall's family and information found on her My Space.com profile, it delayed the search under the assumption that she had run away by choice, she said.
"I have to deal with that," she said. "I have to deal with what they say. I mean, I could go postal if I wanted to, but what's that going to prove? I've heard several things, I've heard she's a prostitute or into drugs. But they didn't even know her."
Many of the scandalous things said about Sheddy are untrue, said Dodenhoff, who described her daughter as a loving mother caught in a tumultuous relationship with Hall.
"She was great," Dodenhoff said. "She was moody but, I mean, for the most part, she was the most loving person. She would help anybody. She would make you laugh -- oh, god, she would make you laugh."
The speculation about Sheddy's personal life among law enforcement officials, Dodenhoff said, has led to a mismanaged investigation into her disappearance.
While McDermott -- who also serves as mayor of Pocomoke City -- said the WCBI is doing everything it can to find the missing woman, Stephanie Burke, editor of a local blog, the Pocomoke Tattler, said police had been uncooperative in providing her any information about Sheddy, turning down offers for help to search the area, and seem to be of the opinion that "she deserved it," Burke said.
"It just seems like there is no follow-through," Burke said. " I understand the police can't tell me everything, and they can't tell Lynn everything, but when you have a whole community willing to help ... I don't understand what their philosophy is in not putting the heat on."
During investigations, police are reluctant to give away information that could jeopardize a case's eventual prosecution in court. McDermott said officials had searched the area around Byrd Road several times after Sheddy's disappearance and continue to investigate alleged sightings and other tips they receive.
Working against time
Tom Mauriello, a professor of forensic science at the University of Maryland, said in a missing person's case, it is important to look at all aspects of the person's life to determine what may have happened.
"There are thousands of things that you would look at," Mauriello said. "There are so many different avenues."
A good investigation would include inquiries into the missing person's criminal records, mental health history, personal life and bank accounts before and after the disappearance for anything out of the ordinary. Furthermore, officials should search the places where the person was last seen for any information.
"Every minute that ticks off the clock is a loss of evidence," Mauriello said. "Evidence can be compromised out in the elements, of course it could. Could it be eliminated? Not necessarily."
Key people in the missing person's life and the last to see him or her alive should be interviewed and submitted to polygraph testing, something which Hall, Jackson and Johnson have declined to do, Dodenhoff said.
Calls for the public's help seem to have produced few leads into the case. Neither has a $5,000 reward that, until it was recently withdrawn, was offered by the family for any information, nor the posting of Sheddy's story on "America's Most Wanted."
And after a year of wondering, Dodenhoff wants answers and to be able to tell her three grandchildren -- Sheddy's two sons, who now live with Hall, and a daughter, who is in Dodenhoff's custody -- what happened to their mother.
"All I want is my daughter so I can bring her home and put her to rest," Dodenhoff said. "I couldn't care less who was involved, I couldn't care less. I just want her home. That way her children could move on and not wonder why their mother left; because she would never leave them. It will come to an end, and we will find my daughter, and justice will be served. I have full confidence that will happen."
http://www.delmarvanow.com/article/20081120/NEWS01/811200369/-1/newsfront2