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Thread: REACHELLE SMITH - missing little girl (7)

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    REACHELLE SMITH - missing little girl (7)

    http://www.missingkids.com/missingki...archLang=en_US

    Case Type: Non Family Abduction 
    DOB: Sep 10, 2002
    Sex: Female
    Missing Date: May 17, 2006
    Race: White
    Age Now: 7
    Height:  3'4" (102 cm)
    Missing City: MINOT
    Weight:  40 lbs (18 kg)
    Missing State :  ND
    Hair Color: Lt. Brown
    Missing Country: United States
    Eye Color: Brown
    Case Number: NCMC1044761
    Circumstances: Reachelle's photo is shown age-progressed to 7 years. She was last seen at her home in the early morning hours of May 17, 2006. She is missing under suspicious circumstances.
    [quote author=deeply shaded link=topic=16707.msg1596454#msg1596454 date=1271309270]<br />You fart dust?&nbsp; :2huh:<br />[/quote]

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    Re: REACHELLE SMITH - missing little girl (7)

    I followed this case for a long time because I was hoping the man who thought he was Reachelle's father had given her to someone for 'safekeeping' but he offed himself and took the info on what happened to Reachelle with him to his grave. There was a very long thread on this on the court TV site and the sister of the man who killed himself used to post there. She lives in England.
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    Re: REACHELLE SMITH - missing little girl (7)

    [quote author=deeply shaded link=topic=24549.msg1561149#msg1561149 date=1268351931]
    I followed this case for a long time because I was hoping the man who thought he was Reachelle's father had given her to someone for 'safekeeping' but he offed himself and took the info on what happened to Reachelle with him to his grave. There was a very long thread on this on the court TV site and the sister of the man who killed himself used to post there. She lives in England.
    [/quote]

    Dang... so no one has bothered looking for her anymore?
    GOD, I hate when people do this! It drives me crazy to know there MIGHT be a little girl out there, alive, wondering what is going on.
    [quote author=deeply shaded link=topic=16707.msg1596454#msg1596454 date=1271309270]<br />You fart dust?&nbsp; :2huh:<br />[/quote]

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    Re: REACHELLE SMITH - missing little girl (7)

    It was a complicated story. She lived with her aunt. Her mother was peripherally involved as I recall. They told this guy he was the father but then that he wasn't. His mother was also somehow involved. I think the aunt and mother said that Reachelle had been at her house, but that was denied by his mother, saying Reachelle had only been there once or something.

    I'll try to find the story and post it. It's been a long time and I can't remember details. She was really dear to my heart for months, though. I just knew she was going to turn up and I looked for her sweet little face everywhere I went even though I was far away. Never know where they might end up.
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    Re: REACHELLE SMITH - missing little girl (7)

    Here is a myspace for her.

    http://www.myspace.com/bringreachellehome
    Quote Originally Posted by beli View Post
    kim kardashian - made famous for having a sex tape, should die in a fire
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    Have you ever walked into a mall, sat on God's lap, and had your picture taken?

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    Re: REACHELLE SMITH - missing little girl (7)

    http://theyreourchildren.blogspot.com/2007/05/missing-child-reachelle-smith.html

    The story of little Reachelle Smith may be a confusing one, and it was a confusing story long before she disappeared from her home early one morning last May.
    The story begins in 2002, when Reachelle's mother, a teenager who didn't feel ready to care for a baby, gave custody of Raechelle to her sister, Stephanie. Stephanie was the one who raised Raechelle for the next three years... until the night of May 16, 2006.


    Stephanie apparently had a roommate, Leigh Cowan, a man who had known Reachelle all her life. In fact, Leigh usually claimed that Reachelle was his daughter, and had even convinced his own mother that Reachelle was his. (After Reachelle went missing, DNA tests proved that Leigh was not actually Reachelle's father.) Leigh had recently been charged with theft, and was on probation. He had missed a meeting with his probation officer, and knew that there was a warrant out for his arrest, and that he could face up to eighteen months in prison if he was caught. He had even taken pictures of Reachelle, so that he could bring the pictures with him when he went to prison.


    When Stephanie woke up on May 17 and saw that Reachelle was not in the house, Leigh told her that his mother, who lived near by, had come and picked up the child to stay with her for a few days. Stephanie didn't find this surprising. After all, Leigh thought of himself as Reachelle's father, and Leigh's mother believed herself to be Reachelle's grandmother.


    Days passed. Stephanie began to ask Leigh how long his mother was planning to keep Reachelle for. She began to suggest that it was time for the three-year-old to be brought home. Leigh had various excuses, including that his mother's car had broken down and so she was unable to bring Reachelle home, that his mother and Reachelle were going off on some activity that day, etc.


    On one of the days, Leigh's mother actually came to Stephanie's house. When Stephanie asked her where Reachelle was, Leigh's mother looked at her strangely, and seemed confused by the question. Leigh asked to speak privately with his mother. Unbeknownst to Stephanie, Leigh told his mother that he was covering for Reachelle's birth mother, Samantha, who he said had taken Reachelle to South Dakota. (That turned out to not be true!)


    On the 22nd, Stephanie woke up to find that her van was missing, and Leigh was gone as well. Stephanie went to where Leigh's mother lived, hoping to find Leigh, the missing van, and Reachelle, there. But instead, she found that Leigh's mother had actually moved away the week before. Stephanie then called the police, and reported Reachelle as missing. It was believed that Leigh had taken Reachelle, and perhaps was traveling with the child, in the stolen van, to where some of his relatives lived.


    But then, in a bizarre twist of events, Leigh was found dead. Aparently he had driven the van to a near by wildlife refuge, and committed suicide. Reachelle was still no where to be found.
    Since then, word about her disappearance has been passed around the Internet... and for a while, people believed that her story was an urban legend and that Reachelle Smith didn't really exist. (Although why someone would make up a missing child case and pass it around the Internet is beyond me... but apparently it does happen!)


    Do a search on Reachelle's name on the Internet, and you will find all sorts of message boards where arm-chair detectives have posted their thoughts about Reachelle's family. Most seem to think that Leigh was responsible for Reachelle's disappearance, and that he committed suicide either out of guilt, or to cover something up.

    Others have criticized Reachelle's aunt for not calling the police sooner, and for letting a &quot;strange man&quot; spend time with Reachelle. Some have suggested that Stephanie or Samantha had something to do with the disappearance. When making these assumptions, people often point out Reachelle's unusual living situation as a reason.


    But I've lived a pretty unusual life myself, and I can tell you from experience that people are different everywhere. It is not so unusual for a young mother to give custody of her baby to her sister or another relative. It is not so unusual for there to be more than one possibility about who a child's father is... and it is not so unusual for one person, who really wants to be father, to latch on to the idea that he really is. It is not even so unusual for a parent to not immediately call the police when one family member tells her that another family member has taken the child for a visit for a while.
    Quote Originally Posted by beli View Post
    kim kardashian - made famous for having a sex tape, should die in a fire
    Quote Originally Posted by McMama View Post
    Have you ever walked into a mall, sat on God's lap, and had your picture taken?

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    Re: REACHELLE SMITH - missing little girl (7)

    Wow, wow, wow. So confusing.
    That's so freaking sad. BUT, on a good note... they haven't found her body, so there's still hope..
    ..right? :/
    [quote author=deeply shaded link=topic=16707.msg1596454#msg1596454 date=1271309270]<br />You fart dust?&nbsp; :2huh:<br />[/quote]

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    Re: REACHELLE SMITH - missing little girl (7)

    There is hope, but it's been a long time now. If someone has had her all this time she may never resurface as Reachelle again. She'd be in school now and could look totally different.
    Quote Originally Posted by beli View Post
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    Have you ever walked into a mall, sat on God's lap, and had your picture taken?

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    Re: REACHELLE SMITH - missing little girl (7)

    [quote author=deeply shaded link=topic=24549.msg1561191#msg1561191 date=1268354334]
    Here is a myspace for her.

    http://www.myspace.com/bringreachellehome
    [/quote]

    I requested this page. I have a number of pages like this, I don't know if it helps, but I try.

    When your child is missing, it is THE most horrific and empty feeling in the world.&nbsp; :-(

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    Re: REACHELLE SMITH - missing little girl (7)

    and what about Leigh's mother? Did she tell what Leigh told her the day that she went to the house? I mean, does she believed that reachelle was with her bio mother?

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    https://www.kxnet.com/news/top-stori...5-years-later/


    More details: Missing person case of Reachelle Smith closed, 15 years later


    Minot police say a 3-year-old girl missing since 2006 is now presumed murdered.

    Reachelle Smith went missing on May 17, 2006, from her home in Minot. Her body still has not been found.




    Missing person flier of Reachelle Smith, from May 17, 2006


    Police say they believe the downstairs neighbor who was living with the family murdered her. Leigh Cowen committed suicide five days following Reachelle?s disappearance.


    ?Why 15 years later? I think that goes back to the human aspect of all of us, and that?s, much like the parents, the family, we held onto some hope that there was some chance that this would end differently. But upon review, the overwhelming evidence shows that?s not the case. It?s time for closure for the family, the community, the department so we can focus our energy on other cases that are open that we can hope to resolve in some way,? Chief of Police John Klug said.


    Reachelle wasn?t reported missing to police for five days.

    Cowen told Reachelle?s mother various stories of where Reachelle was for those five days following her not being in the home on the morning of May 17.

    When Cowen disappeared with the family van on May 22, Reachelle?s mother reported her missing to police.


    An Amber Alert was issued.



    FILE ? In this May 24, 2006 file photo, searchers look for 3-year-old Reachelle Smith at the Upper Souris National Wildlife Refuge near Minot, N.D. Fifteen years after Smith disappeared, Minot?s police chief announced Tuesday, May 25, 2021, that the case on the girl known as ?Peanut? is closed and the only suspect in her disappearance killed her. Chief John Klug said police believe ?without a doubt? that the girl was slain by Leigh Cowen, who killed himself about a week after Reachelle was last seen. Her body was never recovered. (AP Photo/Will Kincaid File)



    ?Clearly those days could have provided us access to Mr. Cowen to get answers to the questions that we still have. But hindsight?s 20/20. He was deceptive, trying to cover the fact that he did something. We don?t know his motive, we don?t know the results of what happened. We can say those things pretty clearly now. Those five days would?ve been important just for us to be able to speak with him,? Capt. Jason Sundbakken said.

    Searches were conducted throughout the city and K-9s followed her scent to a riverbank in Minot.

    That river channel was drained, but she was not found.




    A red cooler owned by the family is said to be the key to the case. That information was never released to the public ? until Tuesday.

    Investigators say Cowen was seen by a neighbor unloading the cooler from the family van the morning of Reachelle?s disappearance.

    Ammonia and rags were found in that cooler and were sent to the State Medical Examiner.

    Reachelle?s blood was also found.

    ?Substantial. It was a substantial amount for us to know that something bad, very bad had happened. More than just a cut on the finger?And the location is was found was under the hinge?It was a fairly large cooler?We have no clear motive,? Sundbakken said.

    Cowen?s body was found on May 23, six days after Reachelle?s disappearance. He killed himself in the family van by carbon monoxide poisoning.

    Police do not believe anyone else was involved in her death.


    A press conference on the disappearance of Reachelle Smith | File photo


    The case was revisited by two Minot police investigators 15 years later. One had been on the case since the beginning, the other had not.

    Police say the case is closed, and there will be no further investigation.





    Poor baby. RIP Reachelle
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