Heaven Ross Endangered Missing Aug. 19,2003 AL.
Heaven La Shae Ross DOB: Jun 11, 1992 Missing: Aug 19, 2003 Age Now: 13 Sex: Female Race: White Hair: Red Eyes: Brown Height: 4'6" (137 cm) Weight: 100 lbs (45 kg) Missing From: NORTHPORT AL Heaven was 11 years old when she disappeared from Northport Alabama on August 19, 2003. Heaven's photo is shown age-progressed to 12 years. Heaven was last seen at home around 7:03 a.m. on August 19, 2003. She left home to walk a few blocks to the bus stop and never arrived. Heaven has several moles around her mouth and her ears are pierced. She was last seen wearing a hot pink shirt very similar to the shirt pictured above. She also had on matching hot pink capri pants and light blue suede tennis shoes. Heaven may go by the nickname Shae. Heaven's picture and age composite, along with more information, can be seen at http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PubCaseSearchServlet?act=viewChildDetail&caseNum=970206&orgPrefix=NCMC&seqNum=1&caseLang=en_US&searchLang=en_US ANYONE HAVING INFORMATION SHOULD CONTACT National Center for Missing & Exploited Children 1-800-843-5678 (1-800-THE-LOST) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Northport Police Department (Alabama) 1-205-339-6600

Questions remain unanswered in search for Heaven LaShae Ross By Heather Henderson Metro/State Editor September 12, 2003 Many people search for a place called heaven. Beth Lowery continues to search for a girl called Heaven. Lowery, mother of Heaven LaShae Ross, an 11-year-old Northport girl missing since Aug. 19, spoke out to "Shae" at a news conference last Friday. "Our first thought goes out to our baby, Shae, because we love her and we will not stop looking for her," Lowery said. Lowery wore a tie-dyed shirt that read "Shae, Shae, please come home." Her face hosted few expressions, and shaking hands held over her mouth often covered those that did appear. Her husband, Kevin Thompson, stood beside Lowery as she made a plea for her daughter's safe return. "We would like to say to the person or persons that have our baby to please, look into our baby's eyes ... see she is unhappy and please let her go," she said. "There's a $65,000 no-questions-asked reward to please let her go. You've had her 18 days today. We cannot continue our lives as they were until she comes home, and until she comes home, our lives will not continue. We would just like for you to please bring our baby back home." The press conference was held at the Northport Post Office and kicked off the start of a new missing-child location program. Deliver Me Home involves printing and distributing fliers containing detailed descriptions of missing children to local homes and businesses within the first few hours of their disappearance. A tri-agency composed of the U.S. Postal Service, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children will sponsor the program. About 16,000 fliers were distributed following the press conference to zip codes 35473, 35475 and 35476. "We are so very pleased that this national program will get its start here in Alabama," said Gloria E. Tyson with the U.S. Postal Service. "The Deliver Me Home Network certainly shows our commitment to the communities we serve and further complements our corporate message, 'We Deliver for You.' " But the effort could be too little too late for Heaven Ross, according to statistics. Programs such as AMBER alert that disseminate information within the first few hours of abduction prove to be most effective, according to the NCMEC Web site. "She could be out of the country at this point in time," said Northport police Sgt. Kerry Card, one of the case's leading investigators. "That's why we've tried to get as much national coverage as possible." A joint investigative team made up of the Northport Police Department, FBI, Alabama Bureau of Investigation, Tuscaloosa Police Department, Tuscaloosa Sheriff's Department, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and many volunteers have combed and re-combed areas of Northport and Tuscaloosa without finding a trace of the child. "We still don't have a good trail to follow on this," Card said. "We have, through a process of elimination, narrowed down certain avenues that we'd want to explore. In so doing, we haven't eliminated any theories or anyone from some involvement in this." Card said investigators are not giving up easily on the girl who many of them feel they know personally. "We're just as intense with our commitment to this investigation as we ever were," he said. "We're a long way from slowing down on this." Though Card said searchers are still optimistic, the time factor is increasingly becoming a problem. "We still don't have the information we'd like to have for her safe return," he said. "For someone to just disappear into thin air at eleven years old in broad daylight on a fairly busy street-it's a very, very unique situation." According to the U.S. Department of Justice, about 69,000 children are abducted in the United States each year. That equals 11.4 abducted per 1000 children. Of these, 82 percent are abducted by family members, while 12,000, or 18 percent, are abducted by non-family members. Sixty-five percent of children abducted by non-family members are female. Among victims of "stereotypical kidnappings," in which victims are abducted by a non-family member and held at least overnight, 40 percent are murdered, and 4 percent are never recovered. According to the state of Washington Office of Attorney General, about 100 abducted children are killed each year, with 74 percent of the murders occurring within the first three hours of the abduction. The NCMEC says children should never be sent anywhere alone, even when they are close to home, as Ross was the day of her disappearance. Those statistics show most abduction occurs within three blocks of the child's home. Yet, according to statistics, t is hard to say what Ross's fate is or will be. Even children who have been missing for years have been found alive and well, according to the NCMEC 2001 report. Meanwhile, police continue to ask for help in Ross's case, and Gov. Bob Riley contributed $5,000 to a reward fund Thursday for information leading to the girl's return. Ross is described as a fair-skinned white female with brown eyes and red hair. She was last seen wearing a bright pink shirt with "Bratz" written across the front, bright pink shorts with "Bratz" written across the back and light-blue suede tennis shoes. She is 4-foot-6, 80 pounds and answers to the nickname, "Shae." She was last seen on Hunter Creek Road in Northport on Aug. 19 around 7 a.m. Anyone with any information about this case should contact the Northport Police Department at 469-1310. Senior staff reporter Cassandra Mickens contributed to this report. The Crimson White

Distinguishing Characteristics: Red hair, brown eyes. Ross's nicknames are Shae and Shae-Shae. Her ears are pierced and she has a freckled complexion and several moles around her mouth. Ross wore size 12 pants, size 12/13 shirts, size 10/12 underwear, and size 3 shoes at the time of her disappearance. Some agencies spell her middle name "Lashne." Clothing Description: Light blue suede or canvas tennis shoes, hot pink capri pants with gold ties on the side of each pant leg, a matching hot pink shirt with gold lace trim, and a gray or maroon hair ribbon on her wrist. The word "Bratz" was written on the back of her capris and on the front of her shirt; a photograph of a similar shirt is posted below. Details of Disappearance Ross was last seen at her Willowbrook Trailer Park home between at 7:00 and 7:05 a.m. on August 19, 2003, in Northport, Alabama, a suburb of Tuscaloosa. She left home to walk a few blocks to the bus stop in the Hunter Creek Road area, so she could ride the bus to school. Her older sister was already at the bus stop. A thunderstorm started as Ross left the house, so her stepfather went out to look for her so he could drive her to school. When he couldn't find her, he and Ross's mother drove to Collins-Riverside Middle School, where Ross is a sixth-grader, to see if she had arrived there. She had not, and her bus driver said he hadn't seen her that morning. Neighbors saw her walking to the bus stop, two to three minutes before she was supposed to arrive. She has not been seen since then. Ross carried a backpack with black and yellow netting and a yellow netting pencil pouch hooked on the side, and a water bottle at the time of her disappearance. In the backpack she had an inhaler; a red pocket dictionary; yellow, pink, and blue highlighters; three mechanical pencils, regular pencils; a ruler; some liquid paper; three-ring binders; four three-prong pocket folders; a science textbook; and a math textbook. Ross is described as an intelligent and obedient child who was close to her family and somewhat of a homebody. The night before she disappeared she complained of an upset stomach but felt fine the next morning. Her parents do not believe she ran away; her mother thinks she was kidnapped. There has been some speculation that her disappearance may be connected to that of Tabitha Tuders, who disappeared from Nashville, Tennessee in April 2003. Both of them are light-haired girls in the same age group who vanished on the way to school, and both are described as good students and well-behaved children who would not be likely to run away from home. However, authorities can find nothing to link the cases. Ross's mother and stepfather have both passed private lie detector tests. Ross's mother says she is looking as hard as she can for her daughter. Many rumors have circulated implicating her and her husband in Ross's disappearance but Ross's mother denies all the allegations. She has stated that believes she and her common-law husband were treated unfairly by police because her husband is African-American. Ross's house caught fire in the early morning hours of September 29, over a month after her disappearance, causing severe damage to Ross's bedroom and ruining most of her personal belongings. Authorities believe it was deliberately set, but they do not know if it is related to Ross's disappearance. Police questioned Evin Ryland, an adult acquaintance of Ross's, about her disappearance. Ryland has previously helped children run away from home, including Ross's older brother who was returned to his family after three weeks, and has been charged with custodial interference several times. A car similar to his 2001 black Mitsubishi Eclipse was seen in Ross's trailer park the morning that she disappeared. In September 2003 he was charged again with interfering with custody after two teenaged runaways were found with him. However, investigators have decided that Ryland probably was not involved in Ross's disappearance; he is not being called a suspect in her case. Authorities are not sure what happened to Ross; they are treating her disappearance a missing person case rather than a kidnapping due to the lack of evidence in her case. Her case remains unsolved. If you have any information concerning this case, please contact: Mentor Police Department 440-255-1234 Charley Project

The Search For Heaven NORTHPORT, Ala. Dec. 23, 2005 If you watched the hit CBS drama "Without A Trace" Thursday night, you may have seen the profile of a missing girl from Alabama, Heaven LaShae Ross. As The Early Show correspondent Melinda Murphy reports, Heaven disappeared more than two years ago, and police are no closer to solving the case. Heaven, nicknamed Shae, has been missing since Aug. 19, 2003, from Northport, Ala. She was last seen at her home at approximately 7 a.m. She left home en route to a nearby bus stop, but vanished within 50 yards of her front door. Born on June 11, 1992, she was 11 years old at the time of her disappearance and is now 13. Northport Police Detective Terry Carroll says Heaven's whereabouts remain a mystery and there is no evidence to indicate if she was abducted or ran away from home. He also says it's unknown if she is dead or alive. The little girl has been featured on several national television shows, which generated dozens of leads from across the nation, but none that panned out. "You can't really explain it. It's not even like death. It's so much worse. It's so much more intense. Because you don't know," says Heaven's mother Beth Lowery. "I don't know if she's being beat up. I don't know if she's being sexually molested. I don't know if she's hungry. I don't know if she's warm. You just can't describe it." A neighbor last saw Heaven walking to her school bus in a pink shirt on the morning of her disappearance. "She was like my shadow and I don't have my shadow no more. She's gone," says Beth Lowery. Heaven's older sister, Alex, was waiting at the bus stop near some mailboxes. But because it was pouring rain that morning, their stepfather decided to drive them to school. "I probably left at 6:56, 6:55 and she left around like 7:00 and my step dad got there around 7:02, maybe, and he just came around there and was like, 'Where is Shae?' And I was like 'I don't know,' " Alex Lowery remembers. The family called police almost immediately and they have been searching ever since, with no clues and no evidence. "The primary thing that we want is for this little girl to come home and until she does or until we find other evidence that she can't, it will always be with us. It will always be with us," says Carroll. Her disappearance has hit the community hard, especially her school. "The parents were such a wreck, understandably, that they were making the children a wreck," says Catherine Collins, Heaven's teacher. "And they thought they would be next. I mean, they would send me notes, 'Do you think someone will take me?' " Collins says she made a promise to her students at the beginning of the school year: "When you walk through those doors you are safe in my class, the part that kills me, the part that gets me is that she wasn't safe outside of my class so I don't say that anymore." All Heaven's family wants to know is her whereabouts but her mother fears she might not recognize her own daughter. "It's been two years and four months and I can't tell you what she looks like," Beth Lowery says. "I couldn't tell you if she's tall. I couldn't tell you if she's short, if she's fat, if she's thin. I couldn't tell you if her hair is still red and what scares me the most is that I might walk right past her and not even know." If you have any information about Heaven LaShae Ross' whereabouts, please contact the Northport, Ala., police at 205-339-6600. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/12/23/...in1161706.shtml

Police explore possibility of serial abductions Last Update: 8/16/2006 12:28:34 PM PRATTVILLE, Ala. (AP) - Police are investigating whether the unsolved abduction and murder of a Prattville girl five years ago may be tied to the disappearance of two other girls - one in Alabama and one in Georgia. Shannon Nicole Paulk, 11, was snatched from her Candlestick Park neighborhood in Prattville on Aug. 16, 2001. The Shannon Paulk Task Force, formed shortly after Shannon disappeared, announced Tuesday that investigators believe Shannon's case is linked to those of Heaven Lashae Ross of Northport and Teresa Melissa Dean of Macon, Ga. A statement cited "striking" similarities among the three cases. All three girls were 11 years old. All three were abducted from trailer parks where they lived. All three girls disappeared two years apart - but within days of each other in August. In all three cases, construction such as commercial construction, roadwork or bridge building was being done nearby. Prattville Police Sgt. Robert Furlong, the lead investigator on the Paulk case, declined to go into details of the investigation, but said the similar circumstances in each case led detectives to take a closer look at the Dean and Ross disappearances. Teresa Dean was last seen on Aug. 15, 1999, near her home. Tuesday marked the seventh anniversary of her abduction. Earlier this year, Georgia officials began circulating the composite sketch of a potential suspect in the Paulk disappearance, according to a report in the Macon Telegraph. The man in the sketch, the second generated by the Paulk investigation, is allegedly the last person seen with Shannon before she vanished. Shannon Paulk disappeared two years and a day after Teresa Dean. Heaven Ross was abducted two years and three days after Shannon. Heaven was last seen Aug. 19, 2003, when she left her home for the bus stop. She never made it there. While Shannon's body was found in the Autauga County Wildlife Management Area by rabbit hunters seven weeks after she vanished, neither Heaven nor Teresa have ever been found. Furlong told the Montgomery Advertiser that there is no direct evidence linking the three cases. No definite connection can be made until the two missing girls are recovered, the statement said. Meanwhile, investigators continue to seek clues in Shannon's death. Mayor Jim Byard has authorized $10,000 in reward money for anyone with information leading to a conviction. "That was the darkest day in our community," Byard said of the day Shannon was kidnapped. "Shannon came up missing on Thursday the 16th. The 17th is my birthday, and I spent that morning in Candlestick Park with everyone who was trying to find her. It is certainly a date that I will never forget." Shannon's task force, made up of members of city, county, state and federal law enforcement, is asking the public for information about the man in the composite drawing. He was seen with Shannon around 2:30 p.m. the day she disappeared. The man is described as a white man standing about 6 feet tall. In 2001, he was stocky, very muscular and very tan. His appearance, as well as the construction sites near each abduction, have led authorities to believe he works in construction or in the outdoors. The man's arms were very hairy and his teeth were yellow and crooked. He had obvious creases around his eyes and mouth and across his brow, and a bump on the bridge of his nose indicated it might have once been broken. The suspect also had a prominent mole under his right eye. The mole is described as having hairs growing out of it toward his nose. At the time of Shannon's disappearance, the man wore his dark hair short and had a goatee. He was driving an off-white four-door car that was covered in red dirt. He may have been seen in Candlestick Park before Shannon's abduction, and may have had access to several vehicles, the task force said. http://www.wpmi.com/news/state/story.aspx?content_id=F7BB2AAA-DF20-4B6C-80D6-7785CCB8C466 links to suspect sketches: http://wsfa.images.worldnow.com/images/5286593_BG1.jpg and http://wsfa.images.worldnow.com/images/5286593_BG2.jpg

On this date (August 19) , three years ago, nine year old Heaven Ross was headed to a bus stop and never arrived. It appears someone abducted her in broad daylight. Please take a look at her website which now includes an age progressed photo of what Heaven would look like now. Please help us find 13 year-old Heaven LaShae Ross. Heaven's photo is shown age-progressed to 12 years. She was last seen at home around 7:03 a.m. on August 19, 2003. She left home to walk a few blocks to the bus stop and never arrived. Case Type: Endangered Missing Sex: Female DOB: June 11, 1992 Missing Date: August 19, 2003 Race: White Age Now: 14 Height: 4’'6" (137 cm) Weight: 100 lbs (45 kg) Hair Color: Red Eye Color: Brown Missing City: NORTHPORT Missing State: AL Missing Country: United States Case Number: NCMC970206 Identifying Characteristics: Heaven has several moles around her mouth and her ears are pierced. She was last seen wearing a hot pink t-shirt as pictured here. She also had on matching hot pink capri pants and light blue suede tennis shoes. Heaven may go by the nickname Shae. If you have any information about Heaven LaShae Ross, please contact Northport Police Department 205-339-6600. Please email this web site to your friends and family and pray along with us for Heaven's safe return. We would also be very pleased if you would sign our guestbook. http://www.findheaven.net/

They found Heaven's body
Girl's Body Discovered in Tuscaloosa County; Possible Connection to Shannon Paulk Murder? Dec 19, 2006 12:12 PM EST TUSCALOOSA, Ala., Dec. 19, 2006 -- There's a tragic ending to a missing person case that surfaced more than three years ago and one which Prattville police thought at one time might have a connection to the murder of Shannon Paulk, an 11-year-old Prattville girl who was abducted and murdered in 2001. Authorities in Tuscaloosa County have identified a body found Monday as that of Heaven LaShae Ross of Northport. She was 11-years-old when she vanished on August 19th, 2003 apparently while walking to her school bus stop in the Willowbrook Trailer Park in Northport. Tuscaloosa County Sheriff Ted Sexton, at a news conference Tuesday, said the skeletal remains were found at an abandoned house in the Holt community, a few miles northeast of Tuscaloosa. Authorities said the girl's backpack was found near the body. A forensics team from the University of Alabama and FBI agents have been combing the site for evidence. Prattville police at one time indicated they were investigating the possibility that the murder of Shannon Paulk in 2001 could have been related to the disappearance of Ross in Northport and another girl who vanished from Georgia. Police said there were striking similarities in the appearance of the three girls -- all were taken when they were 11 years old, all were white females, all were abducted in the month of August, and all were taken from trailer parks with construction going on nearby. Prattville Mayor Jim Byard told WSFA Tuesday morning that the Shannon Paulk Task Force is still in operation and Sgt. Bob Furlong is focused exclusively on solving the case of the dead Prattville girl. Byard says Furlong talks on a regular basis with officers in Northport, Alabama and in Twigg County Georgia because of the similarity in the cases. Byard says he can only imagine what the Ross family and law enforcement personnel are going through in Northport at this time because he remembers what the Paulk family and local officers went through as they searched for the Prattville 11-year-old whose body was eventually discovered by hunters in October 2001. If you know anything that can help police, call the Prattville Police Department's Secret Witness line at (334)365-2220. Alabama Associated Press contributed to this story http://www.wsfa.com/Global/story.asp?S=5834304

BREAKING NEWS: Family says police confirmed body is Heaven LaShae Ross By Stephanie Taylor Staff Writer December 19. 2006 10:35AM UPDATED 5 p.m. TUSCALOOSA | A grim discovery Monday afternoon provided some answers to the three-year-old mystery of what happened to Shae Ross. But the mystery is far from being solved. Police found remains of the 11-year-old in an abandoned house down a rural, dirt road in Holt Monday afternoon. She was last seen walking to her bus stop on a rainy Tuesday morning in August 2003. The news left her family and the community that prayed for her safe return heartbroken. “This has given us some kind of closure from not knowing anything,” said Shae’s grandmother Carol Rowell. “The only question we have now is why. Why would someone do this to her?” Sheriff’s deputies had closed off Creek Road Tuesday while homicide and forensic investigators combed through the abandoned house. Creek Road backs up to Hurricane Creek and is off 44th Court in Holt. Donald Pearson has lived nearby for 33 years and said that the tree-lined dirt and gravel road has always been a magnet for questionable activity. He said that people go there to use drugs and he’s heard that prostitutes occasionally frequent the isolated road. “It’s gotten worse in the last 10 or 15 years,” he said. “There is all kinds of stuff going on down there.” He said that he recently walked down the road and looked inside the abandoned house. The porch had collapsed and the floors had fallen in, he said. Carl Ledlow, 24, said he was last there about three months ago. He said he sometimes takes his guns there for target practice. He works at C & C Marine in Holt and drove down the road to see why the police were there Tuesday. “I was just in there. Half the floors were rotted out,” he said. Ledlow lived in Willowbrook Trailer Park earlier this year and said that he had heard about Shae’s disappearance. “I’m surprised that they found her in there,” he said. “It’s terrible.” Shae’s mother Beth Lowery and stepfather Kevin Thompson weren’t ready to talk publicly Tuesday afternoon. Sheriff Ted Sexton and two deputies visited the house at midnight Tuesday to let them know they had found remains that they thought were Shae. Rowell said that they had found her backpack that had her name written inside. Friends and family members crowded the mobile home in the Willowbrook Trailer Park, offering comfort to Lowery as she shed tears and waited on phone calls from investigators with updates. A pile of wrapped Christmas presents by the trailer’s door included gifts for Shae, who would have turned 14 in June. Lowery has bought and wrapped gifts every Christmas and birthday since her daughter disappeared three years ago. UPDATED 1:30 p.m. TUSCALOOSA | The remains of a girl who has been missing for three years have been discovered in an abandoned house, law enforcement officials announced at a press conference Tuesday morning. Officials said the body is that of 11-year-old Heaven LaShae Ross, who disappeared on Aug. 19, 2003, apparently while walking to a school bus stop 50 yards from her home in Willowbrook Trailer Park in Northport. Family members and friends weren't ready to comment Tuesday afternoon, but Beth Lowery, Ross' mother, did say police confirmed the remains are of her daughter. According to a sheriff’s office press release, deputies received a report about 5 p.m. Monday evening of skeletal remains found in an abandoned house in Tuscaloosa County. According to the Associated Press, authorities said the girl's backpack was found near the body. The site, located at the end of Creek Road in Holt, was being combed by a team from the state Department of Forensic Sciences and FBI agents. The federal agency had joined the three-year hunt for the missing girl, known to her friends as Shae. “Based on other evidence found at the scene, the remains are possibly those of Heaven LaShae Ross,” the release said. Lowery and her husband, Kevin Thompson, were notified of the discovery early Tuesday morning. The discovery ends a three-year mystery that drew the efforts of officials from several law enforcement agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation. A task force consisting of officials from the Northport Police Department, the Tuscaloosa Police Department, the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office, the Homicide Unit, the FBI, the district attorneys office and the Center for Missing and Exploited Children has been recalled to help in the investigation. The University of Alabama’s Department of Forensics Anthropology will also assist. A joint operation center has been formed at the Sheriff’s Office patrol division at the Tuscaloosa Municipal Airport. http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061219/NEWS/61219001/1007

Remains of Missing 11-year-old Northport girl Found in Abandoned House Last Edited: Tuesday, 19 Dec 2006, 5:45 PM CST Created: Tuesday, 19 Dec 2006, 4:48 PM CST TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) -- The remains of a Northport girl who disappeared in 2003 have been found in an abandoned house in Holt, authorities announced Tuesday. Tuscaloosa County Sheriff Ted Sexton said the remains were those of Heaven LaShae Ross, who was 11 when she disappeared on Aug. 19, 2003, while apparently walking on a rainy morning to a school bus stop near her home in Willowbrook Trailer Park. Sexton said the remains were found Monday in the abandoned house at Holt, a Tuscaloosa County community about six miles east of Northport. Authorities said the girl's backpack was found near the body. The site was being combed by a forensics team and FBI agents. The federal agency had joined the three-year hunt for the missing girl, known to her friends as Shae. The Tuscaloosa News reported that family members and friends weren't ready to comment Tuesday afternoon, but Beth Lowery, the girl's mother, did say police confirmed the remains are of her daughter. In the weeks after Shae's disappearance, her picture was on posters across north Alabama and her case was featured on a national television program. Her mother said she believed her daughter saw someone she knew and accepted a ride to avoid the ominous weather. Her sister, Alex Ross, then 13, told The Tuscaloosa News she had been waiting at the bus stop and that her sister never made it there. Kevin Thompson, described at the time as Lowery's common-law husband, told The Tuscaloosa News in August 2005 that he replays that morning over and over in his mind. He said he offered to drive Shae to school because her book bag looked heavy, but she declined the offer. He said she had been out the door only a few minutes when he heard a loud thunderclap. He said thunderstorms scared Shae and he went to go after her. "But when I came out the door, I didn't see her at all," he said. "It's like she just vanished." In August, Prattville police said investigators were trying to determine if the missing Northport girl's case was connected to the unsolved abduction and murder of a Prattville girl, Shannon Nicole Paulk, five years ago, as well as the disappearance of Teresa Melissa Dean of Twiggs County, Ga., near Macon, in 1999. All were 11 when they disappeared. Shannon's body was found in woods seven weeks after she disappeared on Aug. 16, 2001. Teresa, who disappeared on Aug. 15, 1999, has not been found. http://www.myfoxal.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=1819485&version=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=1.1.1

Dear Poster Partner: It is with great sadness and deep regret that we notify you that Heaven Ross missing from Northport,AL, has been located deceased. Please discontinue dissemination of this poster. Please remove and discard any posters on this case that you have placed in public view. We greatly appreciate your part in our efforts to reunite families and look forward to your continued support. Thank you for your support. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children Visit our web site at www.missingkids.com.

December 21, 2006 Missing girl's remains discovered; child may have link to Shannon Paulk The Associated Press TUSCALOOSA -- The remains of a Northport girl who disappeared in 2003 have been found in an abandoned house in Holt, authorities announced Tuesday. Tuscaloosa County Sheriff Ted Sexton said the remains were those of Heaven LaShae Ross, who was 11 when she disappeared on Aug. 19, 2003, while apparently walking on a rainy morning to a school bus stop near her home in Willowbrook Trailer Park. Sexton said the remains were found Monday in the abandoned house at Holt, a Tuscaloosa County community about six miles east of Northport. Authorities said the girl's backpack was found near the body. The site was being combed by a forensics team and FBI agents. The federal agency had joined the three-year hunt for the missing girl. In August, Prattville police said investigators were trying to determine whether the missing Northport girl's case was connected to the unsolved abduction and murder of a Prattville girl, Shannon Nicole Paulk, five years ago, as well as the disappearance of Teresa Melissa Dean of Twiggs County, Ga., near Macon, in 1999. All were 11 when they disappeared. Investigators in the Shannon Paulk case will likely travel to Tuscaloosa in the coming days, said Prattville Police Chief Alfred Wadsworth. "I'm sure the investigators up there are very busy right now," Wadsworth said. "Whenever there is a case where a young child goes missing, we are interested in it. It's just most cases don't get this much attention." Shannon's body was found in woods seven weeks after she disappeared on Aug. 16, 2001. Teresa, who disappeared on Aug. 15, 1999, has not been found. District Attorney Randall Houston, who represents the 19th Judicial Circuit, urges the public not to get their hopes up. "Upon further investigation, it may prove that these cases aren't connected," he said. "On the surface they look eerily similar. But this office and law enforcement are going to follow any and all leads. Shannon's case is an active case." The Tuscaloosa News reported that Heaven's family members and friends weren't ready to comment Tuesday afternoon, but Beth Lowery, the girl's mother, did say police confirmed the remains are of her daughter. In the weeks after Heaven's disappearance, her picture was on posters across north Alabama and her case was featured on a national television program. Her mother said she believed her daughter saw someone she knew and accepted a ride to avoid the ominous weather. Her sister, Alex Ross, then 13, told The Tuscaloosa News she had been waiting at the bus stop and that her sister never made it there. Kevin Thompson, described at the time as Lowery's common-law husband, told The Tuscaloosa News in August 2005 that he replays that morning over and over in his mind. He said he offered to drive Heaven to school because her book bag looked heavy, but she declined the offer. He said she had been out the door only a few minutes when he heard a loud thunderclap. He said thunderstorms scared Heaven and he went to go after her. "But when I came out the door, I didn't see her at all," he said. "It's like she just vanished." -- Staff writer Marty Roney contributed to this report. http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061220/NEWS/612200350/1001

Memorial Services Held for Northport Girl Last Edited: Saturday, 23 Dec 2006, 10:02 PM CST Created: Saturday, 23 Dec 2006, 5:40 PM CST NORTHPORT, Ala. (WBRC-TV)-- The family of Heaven Lashae Ross, 11, held a memorial service on Saturday in Northport Alabama despite not having her body. Investigators recovered skeletal remains on Monday believed to be Ross, who went missing in August of 2003 while apparently walking to a school bus stop near her home in Willowbrook Trailer Park. Authorities said the remains were recovered in an abandoned home on Creek Road in Holt along with clothing and the girl’s back pack. In the weeks after Shae's disappearance, her picture was on posters across north Alabama and her case was featured on a national television program. Her mother, Beth Lowery, said she believed her daughter saw someone she knew and accepted a ride to avoid the ominous weather. Her sister, Alex Ross, then 13, told The Tuscaloosa News she had been waiting at the bus stop and that her sister never made it there. Kevin Thompson, described at the time as Lowery's common-law husband, told The Tuscaloosa News in August 2005 that he replays that morning over and over in his mind. He said he offered to drive Shae to school because her book bag looked heavy, but she declined the offer. He said she had been out the door only a few minutes when he heard a loud thunderclap. He said thunderstorms scared Shae and he went to go after her. "But when I came out the door, I didn't see her at all," he said. "It's like she just vanished." In August, Prattville police said investigators were trying to determine if the missing Northport girl's case was connected to the unsolved abduction and murder of a Prattville girl, Shannon Nicole Paulk, five years ago, as well as the disappearance of Teresa Melissa Dean of Twiggs County, Ga., near Macon, in 1999. All were 11 when they disappeared. Shannon's body was found in woods seven weeks after she disappeared on Aug. 16, 2001. Teresa, who disappeared on Aug. 15, 1999, has not been found. http://www.myfoxal.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=1860369&version=7&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=1.1.1

New Information in Murder of Heaven Lashae Ross Thursday December 21, 2006 11:30am Posted By: Jeff Wyatt Tuscaloosa - Investigators in Tuscaloosa county released new information Wednesday about the murder of Heaven Lashae Ross. Ross disappeared just over 3 years ago, and her body was found this week inside an abandoned house in the Holt area. Investigators now say her murder was a single incident. They initially believed it could have been related to another crime. Tuscaloosa authorities are getting national help in the search for Ross' killer. Funeral arrangements have not yet been made, but Tuscaloosa businessman Stan Pate has offered to cover all costs for the funeral. http://www.abc3340.com/news/stories/1206/381997.html

Remains of missing Northport girl released to family 6/28/2007, 12:42 p.m. CDT The Associated Press TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — Police have returned the remains of a Northport girl to her family after DNA tests confirmed they are those of the 11-year-old who disappeared on her way to school in 2003. The remains of Heaven LaShae Ross were found in an abandoned house by a man walking his dog six months ago. After DNA testing at Louisiana State University, they were returned to Alabama a month ago. Capt. Loyd Baker, commander of the Tuscaloosa County Metro Homicide Unit, didn't confirm that she had been identified until Wednesday. "We've consulted several forensic specialists over the last four weeks to make certain that we had done all the tests we needed to do before we released her body," Baker said. No one has been charged in her disappearance. Shae was last seen walking to her bus stop in Willowbrook Trailer Park on Aug. 19, 2003. Her skeletal remains were found in December at the home overlooking Hurricane Creek at the end of a long, isolated dirt road. Authorities said the girl's backpack was found near her body. Shae's body will be cremated Thursday. Her mother, Beth Lowery-Thompson, said she'll pick up the ashes Friday night or Saturday morning. Thompson said that having Shae's remains brought her a little closure. "I don't worry as much now," she said. "I know where she is, that she's not somewhere hungry, cold and being abused." The investigation into Shae's death is ongoing. The family held a memorial service in December after her body was found. Lowery-Thompson plans to have Shae's godmother and godfather present when she returns from the funeral home with her daughter's ashes. http://www.al.com/newsflash/regional/index.ssf?/base/news-30/1183052977282360.xml&storylist=alabamanews