Ashani Creighton, Missing, 3/21/97 FL-OK
Endangered Missing ASHANI CREIGHTON DOB: Aug 16, 1992 Missing: Mar 21, 1997 Age Now: 13 Sex: Female Race: Black Hair: Brown Eyes: Brown Height: 4'0" (122 cm) Weight: 50 lbs (23 kg) Missing From: ORLANDO FL United States Age Progressed Ashani's photo is shown age-progressed to 12 years. She was last seen by her mother on March 21, 1997. She was abducted by her grandparents who have since been taken into custody. The grandparents moved from Orlando, Florida to Tulsa, Oklahoma during the month of August, 1998 and Ashani has not been seen or heard from since. She may also go by the name Karin. ANYONE HAVING INFORMATION SHOULD CONTACT National Center for Missing & Exploited Children 1-800-843-5678 (1-800-THE-LOST) Orange County Sheriff's Office (Florida) 1-407-836-4357 Poster Available at: http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PubCaseSearchServlet?act=viewPoster&caseNum=888712&orgPrefix=NCMC&searchLang=en_US

Convict writes he killed girl, another female years ago April 29, 2006 Anthony Colarossi and Pedro Ruz Gutierrez Sentinel Staff Writers It looks like a preschooler's drawing of a treasure map, with a scrawled X to mark the spot on an island in the middle of a lake. But the location in Orlando's Barnett Park doesn't contain buried gold. If convict Jerry Jackson is telling the truth, it contains the remains of a ghastly crime. ". . . me and another person killed a female name Angela I think the last name (is) Garett," Jackson, 18, said in a handwritten letter that was sent to a judge along with the map, "but it's really been on my mind very hard and I guess that if I tell you it will ease it in some way . . ." In a separate letter last month, Jackson tells more: "The reason i'm writting is because round bout March of 1997 me and a older male kidnapped and killed a 13 yr old black female her name is Ashani Creighton." In an unusual hearing this week in an Orange County courtroom, Jackson confirmed that he wrote the letters. The letters and what Jackson actually knows have detectives wondering whether they have one -- and maybe two -- bodies buried under a thicket populated with birds on a small island not far from the Central Florida Fairgrounds. It also has investigators questioning whether they finally have a break in the disappearance of Ashani, whose mother had sent her to Orlando in 1997 to live with her grandparents -- who were fugitives in a New Jersey child-abuse case at the time. Despite Jerry Jackson's claims, investigators have strong doubts about his stories. And Orlando police detectives won't get to re-interview Jackson and determine his credibility until Monday. "Until we get more information, it's going to be tough for me to speculate on what his deal is," said Orlando police Sgt. Richard Ring, whose detectives are checking out Jackson's accounts. "I have got to get more specific information before I start putting people in the water ." Compelling words The letters claiming two murders were compelling enough for Circuit Judge Bob Wattles to bring Jackson from his cell in a Panhandle prison into his courtroom Wednesday. Under oath, Jackson swore that he wrote the letters. He also identified a picture of Ashani Creighton, who was last seen in 1998 but was not reported missing until 2000. Orange County Sheriff's Office investigators think she is dead. Jackson said nothing in court about the other case, and Ring said detectives are not aware of another missing person named "Angela Garett." Orlando police detectives later questioned Jackson with his court-appointed attorney. Since Wednesday's hearing, Orlando police have been trying to re-interview Jackson to determine whether his story is credible. "We have some justifiable concerns about the validity of his allegations," Ring said. "Are we calling him an absolute liar? Nope." Meanwhile, Jackson's lawyer Elizabeth Berenguer doesn't think Jackson is lying. "I think he's credible," she said. "My gut tells me yes . But I don't have anything to base it on." In any case, the sketchy information Jackson has provided so far raises more questions than it answers. For one thing, Jackson identified Creighton as a 13-year-old. But at the time of her disappearance, she was about 5 or 6. She would, however, be 13 today. His map seems to mark an island within a lake inside the sprawling park near the Central Florida Fairgrounds. In reality, there is a small island in Lake Lawne that serves as a roost for dozens of birds. Much of Jackson's map accurately depicts the park and surrounding neighborhoods. Court records show he lived near the park before his arrest. Though his letters have rekindled the investigation into Ashani Creighton's disappearance, investigators are not hopeful he will lead them to her body or remains. Sgt. Allen Lee of the Orange County sheriff's homicide unit said detectives have their doubts about the teen's story because it doesn't match their investigation. "There may be a body out there, but we just don't believe it's Ashani," Lee said. Lee said based on intelligence and interviews with the children of Kaia and Ernest Jackson, Ashani's grandparents, investigators suspect Ashani's body was taken to Oklahoma after she was killed in Orange County. Her body is buried somewhere in that state, Lee said. "She was murdered here," he said. "We have specific information on how the body got out there ." The Jacksons have no apparent family ties to Jerry Jackson, who did not state in open court how he knew about Ashani's case. No one has been charged in Ashani's case, and the grandparents have never agreed to be questioned in the case. Records show Kaia Jackson, 55, is serving a 35-year sentence in Oklahoma for child abuse involving one of her six children. The couple's youngest child is thought to be 13; Ashani's mother, the oldest, is 34. The Oklahoma arrests in 2000 capped a 12-year national fugitive hunt by New Jersey authorities who wanted the Jacksons for a 1988 child-abuse case involving one of their sons. In that case, an 8-year-old boy escaped from the family's Teaneck, N.J., home and wandered into a restaurant where patrons were aghast to see a disoriented boy with burns, marks and other injuries on his body. The couple did not show up for the court hearings that year and were on the run, moving from state to state and living under assumed names. Each time, their children got new aliases and were home-schooled to avoid authorities. New Jersey police tracked them to New Orleans, Thibodaux, La., Las Vegas, Atlanta, Orlando and then Oklahoma. They were last seen in the Orlando area in September of 1998. After their arrests, the four children living with them were taken by Oklahoma's Department of Human Services. But there was no sign of Ashani. In 2000, New Jersey investigators said the couple's children gave conflicting accounts of Ashani's whereabouts. Ernest Jackson, 57, is serving a prison sentence in New Jersey for child abuse and assault in the 1988 case. History of mental illness Meanwhile, Jerry Jackson is now 18 and would have been 10 or 11 in 1998, when Ashani was last seen by her mother. He is in prison for 30 years for violent crimes he committed in 2002, including sexual battery with a weapon, kidnapping and armed burglary. His criminal-court file notes a history of mental illness. He had to be treated with medication at a state psychiatric hospital before he was deemed competent to plead no contest to his charges. His lack of medication late this week delayed detectives' attempts to question him. Judge Wattles later told Jackson that if his information led to the resolution of an unsolved case, he would see whether he could credit his sentence. "If he helps officers close a cold case, and he helps find this little girl, he deserves some credit," Wattles said. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-body2906apr29,0,5950607.story?coll=orl-home-headlines

Details of Disappearance Creighton was last seen by her mother on March 21, 1997 in their hometown of Orlando, Florida. She was initially abducted by her non-custodial grandparents, Ernest S. Jackson and Kaia Jackson, also known as Ernest and Abiola Anderson, in March 1997. Photographs of them are posted below this case summary. The Jacksons moved from Orlando to Tulsa, Oklahoma in August 1998, with their four children. The last confirmed sighting of Creighton took place at that time. Creighton's grandparents were arrested for child abuse charges in October 2000 in Oklahoma. The charges are relating to the abuse of one of their sons in 1988 and are not related to Creighton's case. Both Ernest and Kaia were convicted of the charges and sentenced to twelve and ten years in prison, respectively. The Jacksons' children were located in Oklahoma but Creighton was not with them at the time of their arrest and she has not been seen again. In 2006, Jerry Jackson wrote a confession that he and a male accomplice had killed Creighton "round bout March of 1997." He also confessed to the murder of another woman and drew a map pinpointing the spot where he said he put both females' remains. Jackson, a teenager who has a history of mental illness, is serving a thirty-year sentence for a number of violent crimes he committed in 2002, including kidnapping and rape. Authorities have doubts about his credibility; he said Creighton was thirteen years old at the time of her death when she would have been four, and there is no missing persons report on file for the other person Jackson claims to have murdered. However, police plan to investigate Jackson's account to see if it has any veracity. Creighton's grandparents are the prime suspects in her disappearance. Investigators believe she was murdered and her body was taken to Oklahoma and buried somewhere in that state. The Jacksons have refused to be interviewed regarding Creighton's case and have never been charged in connection with it. Some agencies name Brooklyn, New York as the place of Creighton's disappearance. Investigating Agency If you have any information concerning this case, please contact: Orange County Sheriff's Office 407-836-4357 Last updated May 9, 2006; details of disappearance updated. http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/c/creighton_ashani.html

Families Still Hope To Find Missing Children POSTED: 3:36 pm EST January 18, 2007 UPDATED: 6:03 pm EST January 18, 2007 ORLANDO, Fla. -- The man accused of kidnapping two Missouri boys pleaded not guilty on Thursday to charges that he kidnapped a 13-year-old last week. Police found the teen and another boy who had been missing four years in Michael Devlin's home. Devlin's lawyers said they want his trial moved because of all the publicity surrounding the case. He's in jail on a $1 million bond. Most missing children cases do not get the same level of attention, but the case does give other families hope. There are hundreds of children's faces posted on the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's Web site, www.missingkids.com. In Florida, officials think at least 18 missing children were taken by non-family members, WESH 2 News reported. Many have been missing for years, such as Falon Albury from Ocala, who disappeared in 1995 when she was 4 years old. Ashani Creighton from Orlando was last seen March 21, 1997. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's Web site features an age-enhanced photo of what the 14-year-old might look like today. Whether gone for five days or five years, the children's loved ones continue to keep hope that their missing child would return. Stories like that of Shawn Hornbeck, the 11-year-old Missouri boy who was abducted four years ago but found this past week, give families of missing children renewed hope of one day being reunited with their son or daughter. The Kesse family of Orlando has said several times that they will never stop looking for their daughter, Jennifer, who's been missing for nearly a year. The Kesses often referred to Elizabeth Smart, who was reunited with her family nine months after being abducted from her bedroom. While most missing children have not received national exposure, like Trenton Duckett of Leesburg did, the families never give up hope. Authorities said it is important to remember the faces of missing children because there's always a chance you could recognize a missing child and help bring him or her home. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's Web site lists 173 children as missing in Florida. http://www.wesh.com/news/10785791/detail.html

This poster is an update and replaces all previously released posters for this case. Endangered Missing ASHANI CREIGHTON DOB: Aug 16, 1992 Missing: Mar 21, 1997 Age Now: 16 Sex: Female Race: Black Hair: Brown Eyes: Brown Height: 4'0" (122 cm) Weight: 50 lbs (23 kg) Missing From: ORLANDO FL United States Age Progressed Ashani's photo is shown age-progressed to 15 years. She was last seen by her mother on March 21, 1997. She was abducted by her grandparents who have since been taken into custody. The grandparents moved from Orlando, Florida to Tulsa, Oklahoma during the month of August, 1998 and Ashani has not been seen or heard from since. She may also go by the name Karin. ANYONE HAVING INFORMATION SHOULD CONTACT National Center for Missing & Exploited Children 1-800-843-5678 (1-800-THE-LOST) Orange County Sheriff's Office (Florida) 1-407-836-4357 Poster Available at: http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PubCaseSearchServlet?act=viewPoster&caseNum=888712&orgPrefix=NCMC&searchLang=en_US