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Thread: Nadia Kersh (23) missing since 11/3/08

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    Nadia Kersh (23) missing since 11/3/08

    http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/metro.ssf?/base/news/122699975954220.xml&coll=2





    KIM BRYANNews staff writer
    Homewood police have switched from a missing person to a criminal case in the disappearance of Nadia Kersh, 23, last seen Nov. 3, officials said Monday.

    "We will have a suspect soon, in my opinion," said Homewood Det. Sgt. Doug Finch. Police believe they have built a strong case against an Irondale man and acquaintance of Kersh questioned early on, Finch said. The man was held, but released for lack of evidence to make a charge, Finch said.

    "We have good, strong information from witnesses," Finch said. "We have strong forensic evidence. It gets stronger as the days go by."
    Asked why, with such strong evidence, the police have not charged the suspect, Finch said. "It's hard to charge homicide without a body."

    Finch said he has not given up hope of finding Kersh alive. "You never want to give up hope. But it's been two weeks, and it doesn't look good."

    Finch said the results of DNA analysis, which can take weeks, could be a key in the case. That analysis is being done at FBI headquarters in Quantico, Va.

    Brandon Falls of the Jefferson County District Attorney's Office is being apprised of the investigation, Finch said.

    Starting Wednesday, Homewood police will allow the public to help in the search for Kersh, Finch said. Volunteers, particularly those who have equipment or scent dogs, may call 205-332-6262.

    Kersh left her job at Tria Market in Homewood at about 1 p.m. on Nov. 3 to pick up her son, Christopher. She never got to the day care.

    Kersh's abandoned car was found in west Birmingham the next day, and her purse was found on railroad tracks in a nearby wooded area.

    Finch said police are working on a reverse timeline with CSX and other railroad lines, asking officials to be on the lookout for evidence on tracks and in train cars.

    "We hope we find her, or she turns up," Finch said. "But we have moved into a recovery mode point now."

    The Irondale man police believe to be a suspect has hired an attorney and has not talked to police since his release, Finch said. He declined to be specific about the man or his relationship to Kersh.

    "At this point, we have no specific area to search," Finch said. With help from the FBI evidence recovery team, Finch said the search has spread from West End to Irondale to Lake Purdy. Main access roads have been combed. But there's a lot of ground covered in those areas, Finch said.


    MySpace http://www.myspace.com/nadikagirl


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    Re: Nadia Kersh (23) missing since 11/3/08

    Search for missing Nadia Kersh search taken to Cooper Green housing
    Wednesday, November 26, 2008
    JEREMY GRAY
    News staff writer

    Homewood and Birmingham police officers along with FBI agents searched the vacant buildings in the Cooper Green housing community Tuesday morning for Nadia Kira Kersh.

    Homewood Deputy Chief Bob Copus would not say whether a tip to police had led officers to search the area.

    "We are searching places we think are potential places you might find evidence. They are areas of interest our investigation led us to," Copus said.
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    Officers, many wearing bullet proof vests, entered the buildings with guns drawn. Police Chief Phil Dodd said some buildings appear to have been slept in and officers have encountered hungry dogs in some buildings.

    Because of those conditions, Dodd said this search was being conducted by police and not with members of the public as with previous searches.

    Police said there were no other developments in the search for Kersh, a 23-year-old mother who disappeared on Nov. 3 after leaving work at a Homewood market and did not pick up her young son from day care.

    Anyone with information is asked to call Homewood police at 332-6262.

    E-mail: jgray@bhamnews.com


    http://www.al.com/birminghamnews/stories/index.ssf?/base/news/122770352357760.xml&coll=2

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    Re: Nadia Kersh (23) missing since 11/3/08

    http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2008/12/weather_hindering_equusearch_h.html



    Weather hindering EquuSearch hunt for Kersh
    Posted by Jeremy Gray -- The Birmingham News December 15, 2008 9:28 AM
    Categories: Breaking News

    Weather is hindering a search for missing Homewood mother Nadia Kira Kersh, said Tim Miller, founder of Texas EquuSearch Mounted Search and Recovery Team.

    Miller said the team had hoped to send up a drone plane to search for Kersh, and rain is stalling a ground search. However, Miller said he plans to conduct more searches this week. "I'm still optimistic about the search," Miller said.
    Special to The NewsNadia Kira Kersh


    Texas EquuSearch has been involved in a number of high-profile missing person cases, including the searches for toddler Caylee Anthony in Florida and Mountain Brook High School graduate Natalee Holloway in Aruba.

    Miller and his team arrived in Birmingham Friday and met with law enforcement officials. Searchers did not find anything Saturday, he said, but they eliminated a lot of areas where Kersh could have been.

    Kersh disappeared Nov. 3 after leaving her job at Tria Market in Homewood to pick up her son and never made it to the day care.

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    Re: Nadia Kersh (23) missing since 11/3/08

    New Developments in Search for Missing Homewood Woman

    Volunteers say that they have found several items they believe may belong to a missing Homewood mother. Nadia Kersh disappeared two weeks ago while she was on a lunch break from her job. Crews were searching along Lakeshore Parkway around 10:00 a.m. on Thursday when they found a few items, including a few CD's, an earring, a cell phone and a cell phone battery. These are all items they were told to look for, but what connection they may have to the case is uncertain. It is too early to say if these items belong to Kersh, but evidence technicians have collected the items and will analyze them. More than 100 people gathered on Thursday morning to help with the search. Searchers have been looking in the woods, in graveyards, and all over an area along Lakeshore Drive.

    http://www.myfoxal.com/myfox/pages/N...Y&pageId=3.2.1



    Birmingham police search area after children find bones

    http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2008/12/...arch_area.html

    Birmingham and Homewood police, along with the Jefferson County Coroner's Office, searched the area behind a southwest Birmingham apartment after children found what they thought were human bones.

    Police left the scene after it was determined the bones came from an animal.

    The spot is not far from other areas that have been searched since the disappearance of Nadia Kira Kersh, a 23-year-old mother who was last seen on Nov. 3 after leaving work at a Homewood market.

    Shunteria Alexander said her 8-year-old daughter and 5-year-old niece were playing near railroad tracks in the 2700 block of Jefferson Avenue at about 10 a.m. when they found bones.

    "It looked like a person," Alexander said.

    After searching the area where the bones were found for more than an hour, a deputy coroner determined the bones came from a large bird.


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    Re: Nadia Kersh (23) missing since 11/3/08

    3 March 2009

    Hello everyone,

    We would like to thank those who have contacted us about our daughter, Nadia.  Out of respect for your request of privacy we have not posted those emails.  Thank you so much for your interest in helping us find her; it means a great deal to our family.

    As we search for Nadia, the Homewood Police Department continues to build a case against a number one suspect, a 27 year old man from Irondale, AL.  They receive new information about her case on a regular basis.  We continue to wait for DNA analysis results from the FBI crime lab.  Apparently this is an extremely labor intensive process particularly given the large amount of evidence sent to them for analysis.  It’s difficult to wait but we realize we need to be patient.

    We are also trying to gain custody of our one year old grandson (Nadia’s baby).  He has been in temporary custody of a friend of Nadia’s since 5 November…two days after Nadia disappeared and before we were told of her disappearance. The process is very slow and it will take until mid-summer until we may be allowed to voice our request in court.  Our seven year old son says that our grandson is a special nephew to him and that he will teach him the Ten Commandments and how to follow God when he comes home.  Our grandson is a precious biracial little man.  For those of you who may have heard negative rumors about us, please understand that we love our grandson and race does not play a role in love.  (We believe we may have been confused with someone else.)

    We pray for those who have received misinformation and/or have false preconceptions about us.  We ask the Lord to soften your hearts and understand that we are a grieving family still looking for our daughter and hoping to bring our grandson home.  If you feel wronged, we ask for your forgiveness.  We pray for our grandson that he may be reunited with us soon.  It’s been a long wait for him and us.  We pray for Nadia and hope to find her as soon as we possibly can.  Today marks four months that she’s been missing.  It’s hard to believe she’s not here to talk to.  We miss her tiny voice, her carefree attitude and her gregarious laugh.  Her son needs to know where his mommy is and we want to find her too.  Our number one desire is to find her and bring her home to rest.  We’ve not stopped searching…and we never will.  We ask everyone to appeal to your hearts and help us find her.  We know there are people who have information leading to her whereabouts.  We ask you to come forward.  You can contact the Homewood Police Department in Alabama or you can contact us directly on this website.  We welcome you.

    We will periodically post new information and ask that you return and visit Nadia’s site.  Please help us find her.

    Kevin, Nancy and John Kersh

    http://helpfindnadia.com/2009/03/03/7/

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    Re: Nadia Kersh (23) missing since 11/3/08

    Homewood, Alabama Press Release 24 March 09
    24. March 2009 by admin.




    Hello family, friends and concerned others waiting to hear about news on Nadia’s case,

    The Homewood Police Department issued a press release today.  Here are some of the issues addressed in that release:

    Nadia has been missing almost five months.  The Police Department continues their criminal investigation against the 27 year old suspect from Irondale, AL.  They’re waiting for DNA evidence analysis from the FBI crime lab.  Information was received from the Homewood PD tipline (205) 322-6262 that Nadia’s car was seen in W. Birmingham driven by two black males on the day she disappeared.  Because of this information a new search is being planned for that area on Friday, 3 April.  Homewood PD Special Operations will be coordinating the search.   

    Total reward donations are now at $45,000.  Contributions to the reward money for information leading to Nadia’s whereabouts have come from the FBI, Barber’s Dairy, State of Alabama and private donations.  Recently, the State of Alabama donated an additional $5,000 to the reward monies.  Barber’s Dairy of Homewood matched that increase with another $5,000 for a total of $45,000. 



    We ask for anyone who may have any information about Nadia’s disappearance to please call the Homewood PD tipline at (205)332-6262.  Please do not continue to watch this (these) suspected offender(s) walk about your home in your community and possibly commit another offense to maybe someone you love.  Please help us bring the people responsible for Nadia’s disappearance to justice.  Please come forward with any information you have.



    We’d like to thank those people who have come forward and helped us draw nearer to finding Nadia.  You’ve made a courageous choice to help us.  It’s never a popular choice but one you’ve made I’m sure after much thought and contemplation.  We thank the Lord for your strength and thank you for thinking of Nadia and those who love her.   



    Although our hearts are burdened with not knowing where Nadia is or how she is, we have hope that we will find her and with that hope we wait.

    In His name,



    Nadia missing six months
    2. May 2009 by admin.


    Hello everyone,

    Tomorrow marks six months that our daughter, Nadia has been missing.  It’s too painful to think about writing to you tomorrow for I can only believe that I’ll be flooded with wonderful memories of her…we miss her terribly.  It’s still too hard for us to accept that she is not here.  It seems like only yesterday when we spoke to her about coming up with our grandson to spend Thanksgiving week with us.  She was finally coming home after we had been away in the Pacific for the past two years.  She told us she couldn’t wait to see us and her brother, John…I remembered she was so excited…so excited to show us how much our grandson had grown!  We miss her…we miss her silly tiny laugh and her carefree way of thinking…nothing seems too serious to her…life is always positive.

    Last week we drove 14 hours to visit Alabama.  While there we met with the authorities and took time to answer questions for Fox 6 news out of Birmingham.  (We will post this interview soon.)  Our greatest regret is that we were unable to visit with our grandson.  We’re very much hoping next time a visit with him can be arranged…it’s been a long time since we’ve seen him.  We wonder how he is doing and how much he’s grown.  We wish Nadia could be here for him.  We just can’t imagine how much he misses his mommy.

    We’ve been told there are still negative rumors about us circulating.  Please let us assure you these rumors are fabricated and false.  As you know, preadoption Nadia suffered tremendous trauma while living in Russia.  As a direct result of this, many stories of trauma have been transposed and misunderstood.  Nadia had been able to overcome a lot of her pass when she accepted the Lord into her life but the trauma left an undeniable scar.   Yet, she continued with a loving heart and was courageous in all she did to make a life for herself and her son.  We’re very proud of her.

    The last public search for Nadia was 3 April.  However, this has not precluded private searches from being done.  As I understand searches for her continue as I write.  We are extremely grateful for those individuals and teams who continue to give of their time and resources to help us find Nadia.  Thank you for not giving up hope as we have not given up…and never will.

    Thank you, Joey and friends for keeping the fires burning for Nadia in Australia.  It warms our hearts to hear her story has reached the other side of the world.  Thank you to our friends in Europe and the Pacific who have kept Nadia in your hearts.  Thank you all for remembering Nadia as we come upon the six month mark of her disappearance.

    We give praises to the Lord for giving us peace of heart during this time.  It’s with His loving kindness and strength that we move forward day to day.  He helps take away our worries and anxieties of things we cannot control.  Praise be to Him.

    I’d like to mention we met a special person of great faith during our trip to Alabama and we understand there are other people of the same lifting us up, lifting Nadia’s situation up, lifting our grandson’s situation up to the Lord.  We’re very grateful for all of you who continue to hold us all in your thoughts and prayers.

    Thank you Barber’s Dairy and the Governor Bob Riley for contributing a second time towards the reward monies for information leading to Nadia’s whereabouts.  We ask again for more information to help us find Nadia.  We know there are people out there who have information.  Please ask the Lord for strength to come forward and share your story with the Homewood Police Department no matter how trivial it may seem.  Every piece of information that comes in adds to the overall picture of what happened to Nadia.  Please help us find her.  The reward monies are at $45,000 and the Homewood PD tip line is always open at (205) 332-6262.  Please call and help us find closure.

    May the Lord’s blessings grace your lives,

    Nancy Kersh

    http://www.nadiakersh.org/

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    Re: Nadia Kersh (23) missing since 11/3/08

    http://www.myfoxal.com/Global/story.asp?S=12423441

    The last time Nadia Kersh was seen alive she was captured on videotape while leaving her job at Tria Market in Homewood.  That was on November 3rd, 2008. 

    Police and the community conducted numerous searches only to find the 23-year-old single mother's abandoned car and purse, but there was no resolution until Monday night when police charged 27-year-old Joacquas Haywood with capital murder.  They say he killed Kersh during the course of a burglary at her home. 

    "Mr. Haywood was a person of interest early on in this case," Homewood Police Sergeant Doug Finch said during a news conference Tuesday morning.  "We zeroed in on him in the first three days and continued to build this case over the next several months." 

    Police describe Haywood as a past acquaintance of Kersh's, but would not say more. 

    Prosecutors say they have enough physical evidence and statements to make a strong case, even though they do not have Kersh's body. 

    "I can't say that we've prosecuted one (of these cases) in our office," said Jefferson County District Attorney Brandon Falls.  "So there will be significant challenges. And we are doing the research and have done the research.  We've talked to other prosecutors around the country who've done this and we feel confident we'll be able to handle this case."

    Kersh's mother, Nancy, says she got word of Haywood's arrest at her Virginia home on Monday night.  "I just have to say nothing really prepares you for that kind of a phone call," Nancy Kersh said by phone. 

    Attorney Ezra Jordan went with Haywood when he turned himself into police Monday night.  "Mr. Haywood has always maintained his innocence of any actions to cause Ms. Kersh to disappear," Jordan said.  "And he continues to maintain his innocence."

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    August 2011 : Capital Murder Case Dismissed When DNA Testing Not Conducted on Key Evidence.

    The case for capital murder against Joacquas Haywood was dismissed following a prosecution request 29 August 2011. Prosecutors believe Haywood intentionally killed Nadia Kersh during a burglery & had initially requested a delay when it was discovered that the requested DNA testing of 2 key pieces of evidence had not been completed.



    The delay was not granted & as the tests had the potential to completely exclude the defendent, there were concerns the failure to complete the testing could provide grounds for the defendent to appeal. "We made the decision that if the judge would not continue the case, we would make certain those items were tested before going forward," said D.A Brandon Falls.

    Nadia's mother supported the decision saying she wanted the truth to emerge regardless of whether it points to Haywood's guilt or innocence. She went on to say "It's been a long wait for me. Nadia will have been missing three years this fall. But it's been a long time for his (Haywood's) family too. This not only affects us but his family is affected and the whole community"

    http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2011/08/...e_drops_c.html

    I'll try to find something on how the DNA tests went, although seeing as it's almost 2yrs & they seem to be leaving Mr Haywood alone, maybe we can assume he was exonerated? Poor guy if that's the case, they went after him HARD & he did 15mths labelled as her killer -which sux just as much for her & her family. If the tests did clear him, then every second the investigators spent focused on him, the real killer's trail got colder.

    This is an article on support shown for him while incarcerated, that also discusses Nadia's friendship with Joacquas Haywood & his mother.

    http://blog.al.com/spotnews2010/09/v...accused_t.html

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    Senior Member blighted star's Avatar
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    Or maybe I'll take the "poor guy" thing back?

    According to the official Find Nadia Kersh site, in a post from her Mum dated 3Nov2012, the final item requiring testing had only just been sent in a month earlier. She said that judging by previous tests, the results would take some time & she expected them to be in early this year. She also said she expected Mr Haywood to be reindicted at that point.

    Seeing as it's already June, maybe there'll be an answer one way or the other soon ...

    http://helpfindnadia.com/category/nadia-kersh/

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