Post by LadyBlue on Aug 17, 2011 12:33:13 GMT -5
Amanda Lankey was spending the night at her friend Jessica Foster's home on the night of June 21, 2004. She didn't return home, and a search began - though an Amber Alert was never issued.
Two weeks later, the 13-year-old was found brutally killed in the Manistee National Forest. Now, seven years later, there are still more questions than answers. No one has ever been arrested in connection with her death.
Though her family now lives in Florida, they return to West Michigan each year at this time to hold a vigil and remember their daughter, their sister, the smiling teen who was somehow murdered.
Based on what they knew at that time, they thought Amanda was a
runaway. And there were reported sightings of Amanda over the next
several days that seemed to confirm the cops' beliefs. But a gruesome
scene would soon reveal that Amanda's disappearance was not that of
a runaway teenager ... it was something much worse.
Amanda's backpack, money and shoes were all left in the room she disappeared from.
On July 5, two weeks after Amanda went missing, a body was found by
mushroom hunters in the Manistee National Forest. Police confirmed that the body was
Amanda's. Current investigators now know she was not a runaway child.
They know that night, Amanda disappeared from her room, possibly even
leaving through the window to meet someone. That very night, police say she was killed.
Amanda's body had been laying in the woods for almost the entire two
weeks she was missing. And her body was badly decomposed. According to
the Medical Examiner, Amanda was beaten in the head, using a metal pipe
or a baseball bat.
www.woodtv.com/dpp/search/Woman_still_searching_for_justice_4_years_after_daughter_s_murder_308103
Two weeks later, the 13-year-old was found brutally killed in the Manistee National Forest. Now, seven years later, there are still more questions than answers. No one has ever been arrested in connection with her death.
Though her family now lives in Florida, they return to West Michigan each year at this time to hold a vigil and remember their daughter, their sister, the smiling teen who was somehow murdered.
Based on what they knew at that time, they thought Amanda was a
runaway. And there were reported sightings of Amanda over the next
several days that seemed to confirm the cops' beliefs. But a gruesome
scene would soon reveal that Amanda's disappearance was not that of
a runaway teenager ... it was something much worse.
Amanda's backpack, money and shoes were all left in the room she disappeared from.
On July 5, two weeks after Amanda went missing, a body was found by
mushroom hunters in the Manistee National Forest. Police confirmed that the body was
Amanda's. Current investigators now know she was not a runaway child.
They know that night, Amanda disappeared from her room, possibly even
leaving through the window to meet someone. That very night, police say she was killed.
Amanda's body had been laying in the woods for almost the entire two
weeks she was missing. And her body was badly decomposed. According to
the Medical Examiner, Amanda was beaten in the head, using a metal pipe
or a baseball bat.
www.woodtv.com/dpp/search/Woman_still_searching_for_justice_4_years_after_daughter_s_murder_308103