Missing teen's mom faces charge
By Janet Braswell
A Petal woman who has kept the memory of her missing daughter fresh for 12 years posted bond Tuesday after being charged with trying to poison her husband.
Petal Municipal Judge Sheila Smallwood set bond at $20,000 for Debra Lynn Stewart, 48, on the aggravated domestic violence charge.
Stewart was jailed early Tuesday after accusations that she was trying to poison her husband, Bill Stewart Jr.
"We were contacted by him," Petal Police Chief Lee Shelbourn said. "Allegations were made that she was attempting to poison him by placing d-Con rat poison in his medication."
Investigators found no apparent link to the 1993 disappearance of Debra Stewart's 17-year-old daughter, Angela Freeman, Shelbourn said.
Debra Stewart has made numerous appeals to the public through the news media for help in finding out what happened to Freeman, last seen the night of Sept. 10, 1993, behind the Pizza Hut in Petal.
Freeman's silver 1984 Honda Accord was found the next day near the Mahned bridge over the Leaf River in Perry County. Traces of blood were found in the car.
Divers and cadaver dogs searched the river for days without finding a trace of Freeman, who was four months pregnant. In the years since, new leads prompted searches of a nearby gravel pit and forensic analysis of a skeleton found in 2002 near New Augusta.
Debra Stewart held a memorial service for her daughter in January 2002 but vowed that she would not stop searching for answers.
"It's far from being over," Stewart said then. "I'm not going to give up. If I get a lead I'm still going to ask the cops what's going on."
When she appeared in court Tuesday, Stewart did not have an attorney but said she planned to hire one, court clerk Cheryl Fedric said.
Evidence collected from the Stewart's home, where Freeman's room remains as she left it, will be sent to the state Crime Lab for analysis, Shelbourn said. Efforts to contact Bill Stewart Jr. for comment were unsuccessful.
Maximum sentence for conviction of aggravated domestic assault is 20 years in prison.
A Petal investigator briefed Forrest County District Attorney Jon Mark Weathers by telephone about the case before making the arrest, he said.
"He thought he should charge her with aggravated domestic violence, a felony, and I concurred," Weathers said.
http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060222/NEWS01/602220323/1002