Tracy Ocasio - missing since 27 May 2009

[Olivia]

http://www.myspace.com/9833651

Orlando, FL– 27 year old Tracy E. Ocasio has been missing since leaving the Taproom Bar in Orlando at approximately 1:30am Wednesday. (UPDATE: OCASIO WAS SPOTTED ON SURVEILLANCE AND THE MAN WITH HER HAS BEEN QUESTIONED)

Tracy, who resides on New Victor Rd, Ocoee, left the bar at “last call” and her car was found abandoned on Frankin Street in Ocoee. The homeowners on the property where the vehicle was found called Police saying there was a car parked there that did not belong to them.

Elizabeth Ocasio, Tracy’s Mother, is frantic:

“She’s missing. Nobody has seen her or heard from her,” said Ocasio.

“She goes there every Magic game, and she cheers for the Magic, and afterward, she texts everybody she knows and says, ‘Go Magic.’ Apparently, that didn’t happen after this game.”

“I honestly don’t think she would be going on her own. She was so involved in cheering for the Magic. She would definitely want to see the game tonight (Thursday).”

Orlando police will not comment if they consider Ocasio’s disappearance suspicious or if she is in danger. But they ask anyone who has seen her to call police at 321-235-5300.

[intrigued1csc]

I read far too many stories like this. Poor girl. I don't really wanna read about how she was found nekkid from the waste down in a duffle bag on the side of a road.  :-(

[jnicole]

I read that at first as she went to go play Magic and cheer on the other players.

Anyone remember that game, magic the gathering or whatever? 


I hope they find her soon.

[QueenBeeYatch]

They arrested the man that was last seen with her, James Virgil Hataway, 28, on other charges but they are taking the opportunity to serve a search warrant to search for anything related to her disappearance.  Another woman has also come forward, after seeing his picture on TV and says he was giving her a ride home from a bar and attacked her.  Similar scenerio to what seems to have happened to Tracy.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/orl-bk-ocoee-missing-woman-060309,0,4355393.story

Tracy Ocasio could make new friends anywhere.

When she visited South Florida beaches as a child with her mother, she often would point out a family with children and tell her mother that they were friends and she wanted to sit next to them.

After Elizabeth Ocasio sat near the other family, she would discover that her elementary-school-age daughter didn't know anyone in the family at all.

"She saw a kid her age over there and just knew that kid would be her friend," said Elizabeth Ocasio.


Ocasio, 27, has been missing since May 26, when she disappeared after watching an Orlando Magic playoff game with friends at Taproom, a bar in Orlando's MetroWest neighborhood.

On Monday, Ocoee police named James Virgil Hataway, 28, as a person of interest in the case. He is currently in the Orange County Jail on drug-related charges. On Tuesday, Judge Heather Higbee, who also questioned Hataway's juvenile conviction on kidnapping and bodily injury charges, ruled that he had to remain in jail because he was out on bond in a different case.

A Seminole County woman also came forward Tuesday to tell Ocoee investigators that Hataway had attacked her nearly a year ago when she gave him a ride from a Casselberry bar.

Hataway, who told investigators that he had met Ocasio at Taproom about two weeks before her disappearance, said he had given her a ride home, but cell phone records indicate that she was in the area of West Franklin Street in Ocoee, near where he lives, as late as 8:30 that morning. Ocasio's car was found at a vacant lot on West Franklin near Hataway's home.

Her parents doubt she would've left her car there voluntarily -- especially at night.

"She was afraid of the dark," said her father, Joe Ocasio. "There's no way she would've been there by herself, with no lights, no streetlights."

The Ocasios have distributed hundreds of fliers and are desperately searching for the daughter they describe as "outgoing" and "the spark of the party."

She attended high school in Fredericksburg, Va., and moved with her family to Central Florida in 1998. During the past 10 years, she worked a series of restaurant and retail jobs, including positions as a Denny's waitress and sales jobs at arts-and-crafts store Michaels, a pet store and Ross Dress for Less.

In recent months, inspired by the example of her brother, Valencia Community College student Joey, 18, Ocasio had spoken of going to school, possibly to study radiology -- not an unusual choice for the gregarious young woman with eclectic tastes, said her parents.

She kept two lizards, two scorpions and a cat named Cookie as pets, and for Christmas, she'd asked for books about World War II aircraft and ancient Rome's caesars.

Her interest in radiology was sparked after her father spent time in the hospital.

With a trembling voice, Elizabeth Ocasio said she last had spoken with her daughter just before the Magic game started, when she called to find out whether Ocasio would come home that night or spend the night with friends.

Ocasio said she would return that night to the home she shared with her parents.


Here's more on the lady who claims he attacked her last year:

http://www.individual.com/story.php?story=102127960

Woman says man tried to strangle her las year; now he's questioned in Ocoee woman's disappearance
Anika Palm and Walter Pacheco
Jun 02, 2009 (The Orlando Sentinel - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --

A woman who has pending charges against a man questioned in connection with the disappearance of Ocoee resident Tracy Ocasio talked to Ocoee investigators this afternoon about an incident that is similar to the events in Ocasio's disappearance.

The woman, who does not want to be identified, told investigators that a little less than a year ago, James Virgil Hataway asked her for a ride home from a Seminole County bar, she said. Hataway lived in Casselberry at the time.

When she pulled into Hataway's driveway and reached out to hug him, he put his hands around her neck and tried to strangle her, she said in interviews today.

The woman escaped from her car, but Hataway chased her and slammed her into the concrete, she said. It was only after she screamed for help and some of his neighbors came outside that the attack ended.

She still bears bruises on her arms from the incident.

She said she knew Hataway for about a year prior to the incident but not well.

Earlier today, an Orange County judge ruled that Hataway, who is being questioned in connection with Ocasio's case, will remain in jail.

While determining his bail, Judge Heather Higbee questioned Hataway's prior juvenile conviction of kidnapping and bodily injury out of Hillsborough County.

"Prior history with traffic charges is one thing, but prior history with kidnapping charges is a different thing entirely," Higbee told Hataway's public defender.

She set bail at $500 on the drug-related charges that landed Hataway at the Orange County Jail on Monday. However, Higbee said he must remain in jail because he already was out on bond in a different case.

Court records show Hataway had been arrested in April on criminal-mischief charges.

Investigators said Ocasio, 27, was last seen leaving the Taproom bar on Raleigh Street in the MetroWest neighborhood about 1:30 a.m. May 26. She had just left a Magic game, reports show.

Police this morning searched a dirt lot in the area of West Franklin Street in Ocoee after they arrested Hataway as a person of interest in the case.

"He is not a suspect in this case, but a person of interest because he was the last one to see her," Ocoee police Detective Mark Olson.

Olson said they had searched that area before, but brought in police dogs this morning to sniff out anything detectives might have overlooked.

"We wanted to rule out the area where we found her car," Olson said. "We found nothing."

Police said Hataway, of Ocoee, had met Ocasio at the Taproom almost two weeks before she disappeared.

Hataway told police he had taken Ocasio home after the bar, but the missing woman's cell phone records show she was in the area of West Franklin Street later that morning. Records show Hataway lives near that area.

"When we checked for the cell phone records, cell phone towers still indicated that she was in the area of his house by 8:30 in the morning," Ocoee police Sgt. Mike Bryant said. "So that part of his story doesn't quite add up."

Investigators later found her vehicle abandoned on a dirt parking lot on West Franklin Street.

Officer Bill Richardson, a police spokesman, said drugs were found at Hataway's home at the time of his arrest.

The missing woman's mother, Elizabeth Ocasio, fears the worst has happened to her daughter.

"I'm beginning to think that something serious might have happened to her," Elizabeth Ocasio said in a televised interview.

Olson said the family has been living in Ocoee since 1989.

Court records show Hataway has been behind bars in the past. His latest arrest was in April on charges of criminal mischief. He also had been arrested twice in 1998 on burglary charges, but adjudication was withheld.

Check back for updates.

Amy L. Edwards of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report.

[PCP777]

Part 1

Ocoee police continue their hunt for a missing 27-year-old woman who was last seen leaving a MetroWest bar May 26.

Tracy Ocasio disappeared after watching an Orlando Magic playoff game with friends at Taproom. Police say James Virgil Hataway, 28, is the only person of interest in the case so far.

"He was the last person to talk to her," Ocoee Detective James Berish said.

Crime line is now offering a $5,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction in the case.

Apopka police are looking at Hataway as a potential person of interest in an unsolved missing person case. Police said there are several similarities between the missing Ocoee woman and the their case. Hataway told police that Ocasio gave him a ride home from the Taproom, where witnesses saw them kissing earlier in the night. When they arrived at his house in the 100 block of Lyle Street in Ocoee, she wanted to smoke marijuana with him, according to police. Hataway told police he showed her the drugs he had, but she didn't like them and left his house. But records show that Ocasio's cell phone was near the area of Hataway's home about 8:30 a.m. the next day.

On May 28, police found Ocasio's abandoned car just yards from Hataway's house. It was hauled away as evidence. Police executed a search warrant at Hataway's house over the weekend, but did not find any evidence of the missing woman, police said. They did find drug paraphernalia.  Investigators have used bloodhounds and cadaver dogs to search the area near Hataway's home. "You always want to hold out hope, but as time goes on" the likelihood of finding someone alive diminishes, Berish said. "We are keeping our eyes open."

Hataway, 28, is being called a person of interest in the case, but has not been named a suspect, police said. He is currently in the Orange County Jail on drug-related charges.


Hataway is possible suspect in an unsolved Apopka missing person case

Earlier this week, Apopka police interviewed Hataway about the unsolved missing person case in their jurisdiction, spokesman Officer Steve Popp said. It was the second time investigators talked to Hataway about Onda Christopher George's disappearance. In February an officer patrolling a rural area in Apopka found Hataway and two other men in a wooded area near a car. Officers later found out the car belonged to the missing man, Popp said.

"The officer asked him what they were doing out there and they said they were looking for their friend," Popp said. "But, his story changed several times."

Police have yet to locate George, 29, dead or alive. At the time of the George's disappearance, the Orange County Sheriff's Office used a helicopter to search for the man from the air, while officers searched on the ground with four-wheelers. Their search turned up nothing, Popp said. "It's just eerie," Popp said of the coincidences between the cases.

[intrigued1csc]

Very creepy. This guy needs to come clean. I wonder what the rest of the story about the "friend" Onda George is...

[Tina-Bee]

http://www.wesh.com/news/19779635/detail.html

OCOEE, Fla. -- Equusearch and other volunteers were back out Wednesday scouring wooded areas in Ocoee for missing woman Tracy Ocasio.

The Texas-based group said they will be in Central Florida through Saturday. They are looking for more volunteers, and reminding anyone who comes to help search to bring plenty of fluids to drink.

Ocasio was last seen leaving a bar in Metro West on May 27 with James Hataway. He remains in police custody.

[Hayalet]

Detectives Say Suspect Has Interest In "Dark Arts"

Posted: 5:31 pm EDT June 18, 2009Updated: 6:47 pm EDT June 18, 2009
OCOEE, Fla. -- Frightening new details were revealed Thursday about the suspect in the disappearance of missing Ocoee woman Tracy Ocasio. Detectives say James Hataway, who is in jail right now, was involved with the so-called "dark arts," including cannibalism, vampires and serial killers.

If there was a TV show coming on about vampires or serial murders, Ocoee detectives say Hataway would watch it. Websites about cannibalism, suicide, or serial murders, detectives said Hataway's ex-girlfriends told them, he had a heightened interest in.

READ: Hataway's Booking History http://www.wftv.com/pdf/19632971/detail.html
IMAGES: Photos Of Man Arrested, Scene http://www.wftv.com/slideshow/news/19632801/detail.html
RAW VIDEO: Hataway Bond Hearing  http://www.wftv.com/video/19633159/index.html
INTERVIEW: Woman Claims Hataway Attacked Her http://www.wftv.com/video/19645613/index.html


Detectives searched Hataway's house Thursday and two personal computers may have information about what Ocoee detectives are calling Hataway's "heightened interest" in the "dark arts." Detectives will be searching the hard drive for the websites he's visited and documents and pictures he's saved that have anything to do with murder, suicide, cannibalism, vampires, and serial murders.

Detectives served the search warrant Thursday at Virgil Hataway's home, where they say James' father was cooperative. The home on Lyle Street is where James was living at the time Tracy Ocasio disappeared and he also had full use of both personal computers.

Detectives say what they find on the computers could provide them with disturbing evidence of a dark side of James Hataway or just show, as investigators said Thursday, he's "just a really weird guy who was the last person to see Tracy alive."

After the search was conducted, Virgil Hataway did not answer the door.

Meanwhile, several miles away, Liz Ocasio had just returned from Texas EquuSearch's command center. Thursday, 60 searchers along with 20 people from the Apopka Police Department covered 250 acres, but didn't find anything. Ocasio says they need more volunteers.

"I just hope that she didn't suffer, and if anyone knows where she is, I think it's him," said Elizabeth Ocasio, Tracy's mother, after learning of Hataway's interest in the "dark arts."

Elizabeth Ocasio says it's unlikely she'll ever see her daughter again, but no matter how much she tells herself that she hasn't been able to prepare herself for the news. Instead, she's focused on the search and getting the word out about the need for volunteers. She says doesn't want to think about Hataway's morbid interests.

"That's just too painful to think about," she said.

http://www.wftv.com/news/19793378/detail.html

[Hayalet]

10:43 AM EDT, July 28, 2009

Liz Ocasio has vowed to go to every one of James Hataway's court dates -- even if sometimes he isn't present.

Ocasio drove to the Orange County Courthouse this morning for Hataway's pretrial hearing in an unrelated criminal mischief case, but he wasn't there. The public defender representing Hataway was scheduled to meet with the judge in his chambers, but Hataway was never transported from the Orange County Jail where he is being held.

"Any time he's in court I want to be there," Ocasio said. "Even if he's never charged with what he did to my daughter, I want him to see me."

Hataway, 28, is the only person of interest in Tracy Ocasio's disappearance on May 27. Hataway has not been charged in that case.

In a separate case in Seminole County, Hataway's attorney today entered pleas of not guilty on his behalf. Hataway is charged there with trying to choke a woman following a night out last summer.

Tracy Ocasio, 27, vanished about 1:30 a.m. after watching an Orlando Magic game at MetroWest neighborhood bar. Hataway told police Tracy Ocasio had given him a ride home from the bar and then left.

Massive searches have found no sign of the woman. Her car was found abandoned and unlocked just a few blocks from Hataway's home.

"May 27 is the day she [Tracy Ocasio] went phone-silent," Liz Ocasio said. "It's been two months and I don't even remember what my life was like before that."

Drew and Joyce Kesse, whose daughter Jennifer Kesse went missing from her condo in Jan. 2006, have organized a large scale search for this weekend. The search will utilize sonar equipment, dogs and professional searchers to look for Jennifer Kesse and Tracy Ocasio.

"Hopefully this weekend we'll find my daughter," Liz Ocasio said. "I thank the Kesse's for organizing the search and also looking for Tracy."

Liz Ocasio said she would love if her daughter would walk through the door and announce she's home, but knows the chance of that happening is slim.

"I know we're searching for bones; a body," Liz Ocasio said. "But I can't go much further than that."

Copyright © 2009, Orlando Sentinel

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/orl-bk-tracy-ocasio-072809,0,3498924.story

[Eternally Solo]

[size=12pt]Hataway Waives Right To Speedy Trial [/size] -http://www.clickorlando.com/news/21101329/detail.html
28-Year-Old Accused Of Strangling Another Woman

POSTED: Thursday, September 24, 2009 UPDATED: 1:20 pm EDT September 24, 2009



OCOEE, Fla. -- A person of interest in the disappearance of an Ocoee woman appeared in court on Thursday to face charges in an unrelated attack last summer.

James Hataway, 28, who is the last person to be seen with Tracy Ocasio, faces burglary and battery charges after being accused of trying to strangle another woman who gave him a ride home last year.

In court Thursday morning he waived his right to a speedy trial and the next hearing in the case was scheduled for Oct. 14.

Rachael Clarke told police that Hataway attacked her in August 2008. She said she ran away from Hataway, who caught up to her and slammed her head on the ground, according to police.

Ocasio's mother, Liz Ocasio, was at Hataway's hearing Thursday morning. She said she will be at every court appearance, even those that have nothing to do with her daughter, to support the other victim and gain some peace of mind.

"I just wanted to see him for myself and make sure he stays in there. It's satisfying seeing him in chains and I know he's not going to get out, at least not soon," Liz Ocasio said.

Tracy Ocasio vanished in late May after leaving a MetroWest bar with Hataway. He told investigators that Ocasio gave him a ride home and drove away. Her car was found abandoned near Hataway's home.

Hataway has not been charged in connection with Ocasio's disappearance.

[Hayalet]

More about James Hataway

http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/os-hataway-roommate-20100127,0,6955969.story

A neighbor heard screams about 3 a.m., went outside, saw a man beating and choking a woman and knew right away who was hurting her, according to new evidence released Wednesday by prosecutors.

It was James Virgil Hataway, 29, the man who has since become better known as a person of interest in another case: the disappearance of 27-year-old Tracy Ocasio.

Hataway is not a suspect and has not been arrested in that case. Ocasio has not been found. She was last seen leaving an Ocoee bar with Hataway in May.

After she disappeared, Seminole County prosecutors charged Hataway in another case. He's charged with battery, false imprisonment, robbery and burglary with a battery in the Aug. 7, 2008, attack on a young woman near his home in south Seminole County.

He has pleaded not guilty and is in the Seminole County Jail awaiting trial.

Records released by prosecutors Wednesday shows that authorities have strong eye-witness evidence.

Neighbor Karen Lowe told deputies she saw the attack and recognized Hataway.

Her live-in boyfriend, Michael Fishell, told investigators he also saw the attack. In a written statement, he said he didn't recognize the attacker but saw that the man "had a woman suspended in the air with both hands around her neck."

Fishell took the woman inside, and she told him her attacker was Jimmy Hataway, Fishell said.

Although deputies searched for Hataway that night, they did not find him. He was not arrested until nearly a year later, June 12, 2009.

Months after the Seminole County attack, as authorities sought to bolster their case, they tracked down one of Hataway's former girlfriends. She told deputies Hataway had called her the night of the 2008 attack, saying he'd been in a fight and needed a ride, according to

prosecution records. That woman picked him up about a half mile from where the victim was injured. Hataway said he could not go home, so the woman drove him to her home, the report says.

A month later, Hataway confessed to her, the woman told deputies.

The victim, whom the Orlando Sentinel is not identifying, told authorities she and Hataway had been at a bar and went to the home of friends. Later, she drove him home.

She told authorities that as she reached over to hug him good night, Hataway grabbed her, wrapped his hands around her neck and choked her.

She got out of the car and tried to run away but tripped. He grabbed her by the hair, slammed her head into the ground then twisted her neck as if he wanted to break it, according to court records.

She began screaming. Neighbors came outdoors, and Hataway fled, according to records.

Hataway's roommate at the time, Colt Ryan Hickox, 31, was home when the attack occurred, according to court records.

At a deposition two weeks ago, Assistant State Attorney Anna Valentini asked him about the night of the attack, but he refused to answer all of her questions.

Hickox said he was asleep about 3 a.m. when Seminole County deputies came to the door, mistook him for Hataway and handcuffed himHe said he didn't hear the woman's screams but saw her being wheeled out of the neighbors' house on a stretcher.

Hickox said he was asleep at the time of the attack and did not know Hataway's whereabouts.

When Valentini began asking him what he remembered of conversations with Fishell, Hickox stopped answering.

"I ain't going to say nothing anymore," he said.

[emmy_dreamy]

http://tracyocasio.com/updates.php

Tracy's father started a blog to keep people updated and to ask for help.  It's so heartbreaking.  I hope they find her soon.

[Hayalet]

http://www.cfnews13.com/News/Local/2010/4/20/report_tip_in_ocasio_case_sparks_new_search.html

A new search is planned for missing Ocoee woman Tracy Ocasio.

According to the Orlando Sentinel, a new tip in Ocasio's disappearance has sparked an upcoming search.

Joe Ocasio, the missing woman's father, said he and volunteers with a local chapter of the Central Florida Search and Rescue will mount a search in Ocoee and MetroWest on May 8.
   
No details were given about the tip.

However, the group will search the area near the Taproom in MetroWest, which was the last place Ocasio had been seen with James Hataway.

Hataway is being held on unrelated attempted first-degree murder charges in a 2008 attack.

[azkarisma]

She's been gone for a year, and police just upgraded someone who was a person of interest to a full-fledged suspect in the case.

http://www.cfnews13.com/News/Local/2...ppearance.html

OCOEE -- The man who has been considered a person of interest in a woman’s disappearance a year ago has now been named a suspect.

Police said all fingers point to James Hataway, the man last seen with Tracy Ocasio, who vanished in May 2009 after she and Hataway left a Metrowest bar.

Investigators said Hataway went home with Ocasio, but he lied about what he was doing with her when questioned.

Hataway was already locked up in Seminole County on an unrelated crime when Ocoee police named him a suspect on Ocasio’s disappearance.

Ocasio’s parents Wednesday said they are not giving up hope, and a new search will take place during the first weekend of June.

Wonder why it took them so long?  The guy is into some strange stuff, according to a profile that JVM did of him awhile back:

[flash=200,200]http://us.cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2009/06/22/jvm.ocasio.suspect.cnn[/flash]

[Hayalet]

Ocoee police plan to search an area in west Ocoee to look for missing Tracy Ocasio

August 23, 2010|By Bianca Prieto, Orlando Sentinel

A search is planned this week for missing Ocoee woman Tracy Ocasio.

The missing woman's parents said police plan to use search dogs in an area in west Ocoee this week to look for their daughter. A tip in an unrelated case prompted the search, said father Joe Ocasio.

"We continue to hope and pray that one day sooner than later one of these tips will lead us to a break in her case that would help us find her and get justice," Ocasio said in a recent email.

Tracy Ocasio disappeared in May 2009 after she was seen leaving a MetroWest bar with James Hataway. Ocoee police have not charged Hataway in connection to Tracy Ocasio's disappearance, but say he is the prime suspect.

Volunteers have conducted numerous searches for Tracy Ocasio since she disappeared. Most recently the Orange County Sheriff's Office dive team scoured the bottom of Lake Bennet in an effort to find the missing woman.

Hataway is being held without bond at the Seminole County jail while he awaits trial in an unrelated attempted-murder case.

Anyone with information about Tracy Ocasio's whereabouts can call Crimeline at 1-800-423-8477. A reward of up to $10,000 is being offered.

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2010-08-23/news/os-missing-tracy-ocasio-search-20100823_1_lake-bennet-metrowest-bar-tracy-ocasio

[Hayalet]

Thank fuck they locked this evil freak up, but such a shame not much seems to be happening with Tracy's case

James Hataway Sentenced To Life, Apologizes To Victim

http://www.wftv.com/news/27822372/detail.html