Julie Michelle Bullard 23 Missing/Abducted 1/1/06, NC

Little new in case of missing woman By GORDON ANDERSON BROADWAY - Lee County sheriff's deputies say they're still looking for leads in the case of Julie Michelle Bullard, who was allegedly taken at gunpoint from a mobile home on Bradley Road Jan. 2. Bullard, 23, was at the Bradley Road home of her boyfriend along with two other people, when a masked gunman burst through the door shortly after 1 a.m. The suspect tied up all four of the people in the mobile home before taking them to separate rooms and robbing them. When the other three victims managed to free themselves, they found that Bullard was gone. “We're still working any angle we can,” said Chief Deputy Kevin Bryant of the Lee County Sheriff's Department. Although the investigation has focused in Lee County, the case has involved several other agencies, including the State Bureau of Investigation and the Harnett County Sheriff's Department. Bradley Road is within miles of the Lee-Harnett county line. Harnett County became involved later the same day, when a deputy there pulled over 49-year-old David Wilson, who had been reported missing by his wife the night before. Wilson, who had served time in prison for second-degree murder, shot himself fatally as the deputy approached. Authorities in both counties haven't said whether the incidents are related, but have investigated to see if they are. There has been no publicly released information on a connection, if any, between Bullard's kidnapping and Wilson's suicide. However, Bryant has acknowledged that security video from The Pantry on Main Street in Broadway shows Wilson and Bullard in the store at the same time the night of Jan. 1. He did not say, however, that they were together. Bryant praised Bullard's family and a team of more than 100 volunteers who recently worked together to search for her. He said they organized the search without help from the sheriff's department. “I'd like to thank them for taking that step,” Bryant said, explaining that any help the department gets in the investigation is welcome. The search is not the first. On at least three occasions, deputies searched a pond behind the Bradley Road mobile home that Bullard was taken from, and dogs capable of picking up “secondary scents” - scents up to 90 days old - led Lee and Harnett county deputies on a search of a wooded, five-acre tract in Harnett County at the end of Thomas Kelly Road. None of the searches have turned up any evidence. Bullard is a 23-year-old white female, about 5 feet, 2 inches tall and 125 pounds. She has brown hair and brown eyes. The suspect was described as a white male in his mid-30s, wearing a camouflage jacket and jeans and carrying a stainless steel revolver. Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the Lee County Sheriff's Department Tip Line at 718-4577. Callers can remain anonymous. http://www.sanfordherald.com/articles/2006/01/18/news/news03.txt

Missing Woman’s Wallet Found POSTED: 7:14 pm EST January 21, 2006 UPDATED: 7:37 pm EST January 21, 2006 LEE COUNTY, N.C. -- Authorities have released new information in the Julie Michelle Bullard missing persons case -- her wallet and identification have been found in a ditch. Bullard was abducted Jan. 2 during a mobile home invasion in Broadway, police said. Investigators said someone broke into the home, tied up several people in the house, then took Bullard with them. Police said they plan to do an extensive search of the area where the wallet was found. http://www.nbc17.com/news/6316984/detail.html

Missing woman’s wallet helps searchers By Venita Jenkins Staff writer A wallet found in the Cedar Creek community led lawmen to search the area Saturday for a Lee County woman who disappeared nearly three weeks ago. The search for Julie Michelle Bullard has gained national media attention since she was reported missing Jan. 2, after a man reportedly broke into a mobile home she was visiting just outside the Broadway community. Bullard, who is 23, has not been seen since. Sheriff Moose Butler said a man working on his backhoe found Bullard’s wallet about 6 p.m. Friday in a ditch along Boggie Island Road, a rural area in eastern Cumberland County. The man flagged down a sheriff’s deputy who was on patrol and gave him the wallet, which contained Bullard’s identification card, Butler said. “This gives the family some hope,” Butler said. “This is the first evidence that has been found since she disappeared.” Bullard’s father, Julian Bullard, called the discovery of the wallet uplifting. “Now we have some direction because, up until that point, we didn’t know what direction to look,” he said. “We started at the abduction site and we have been working our way out in a circumference.” Deputies from Cumberland and Lee counties joined State Bureau of Investigation agents in a search spanning one mile Saturday morning. The Highway Patrol conducted a three-mile search using its helicopter. “We were not able to find anything of any substance that would help with this case at this time,” Butler said. He said law officers plan to go back the first of the week to search the swampy areas. “We will take some divers out there and check those bodies of water as much as we can,” he said. Between 60 and 75 volunteers continued their search in Lee County on Saturday. “We are never going to give up,” Julian Bullard said. “We are going to keep searching. One way or another — it may be formal or informal — we are going to keep searching.” Volunteers will shift their efforts to the Boggie Island Road area, Bullard said. “We will have to coordinate that with the local sheriff’s department. I am sure they will allow it,” he said. Kevin Bryant, Lee County’s chief deputy, said the discovery of the wallet has widened the search area. Lawmen had been focusing on Lee and Harnett counties. “We are talking about a search area from Broadway to the Bladen County line,” he said. “We are certainly glad that something turned up that was credible. We had to check out a lot of rumors that were not credible. “The discovery of the wallet really did help us.” A reward is being offered for information that would help locate Julie Michelle Bullard. Anyone with information is asked to call the Lee County Sheriff’s Office at (919) 775-5531. “The biggest reward is yet to come,” her father said. “We love her, and we are going to find her soon.” Staff writer Venita Jenkins can be reached at jenkinsv@fayettevillenc.com or (910) 738-9158. http://www.fayettevillenc.com/article?id=224869

More Clues in Search for Missing Woman Eyewitness News (01/22/06 - CUMBERLAND COUNTY) - Michelle Bullard's relatives, friends and authorities found more items connected to her kidnapping case Sunday. This comes just days after a man in Cumberland County found her wallet on the side of the road. Sunday, officials found two check stubs with Bullard's name on them, a white pair of women's socks and an Army issued ski mask. They also found a wallet with an ID of one of Bullard's friends in it. Bullard's wallet and ID were found along the same road late last week. This all happened on Bogie Island Road in Cumberland County. Bullard, 23, was with friends at her boyfriend's house in Sanford on January 2nd when they say a man stormed in, tied them up and kidnapped Bullard. Divers will return to the Bogie Island location on Monday and will search two additional bodies of water. Cumberland County Sheriff's Deputies, Special Response Team members, K-9 units, S-B-I agents, Lee and Harnett County Sheriff's Deputies, as well as State Highway Patrol Officers will return to the area as the search continues. Officials say this search will continue until all leads are exhausted and no other evidence is found in this case. http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=triangle&id=3836053

Father Of Missing Lee County Woman Hopeful For Daughter's Safe Return Search Continues For Michelle Bullard POSTED: 12:31 pm EST January 23, 2006 UPDATED: 1:12 pm EST January 23, 2006 CUMBERLAND COUNTY, N.C. -- Authorities looking for a missing Lee County woman are working with some new clues. Investigators say Michelle Bullard, 23, was last seen earlier in January at a home with friends when a masked gunman entered the home, took some money and grabbed her. The search for Bullard has span across three counties -- Lee, Cumberland and Harnett. Late last week, a man told authorities that he found Bullard's wallet and ID on Bogie Island Road in Cumberland County. Authorities say the man passed a lie detector test and is not considered a suspect. That discovery led investigators to two more clues -- two paycheck stubs belonging to Bullard and a purse belonging to one of the women in the home where Bullard was kidnapped. The Bullard family has been assisting in the search since their loved one was reported missing. Julian Bullard, Michelle's father, said it provides hope in the case. "Well, it's news. To me, it's hope because it's something that gives us direction. It gives us hope that we can find her soon," said Julian Bullard, Michelle's father. Investigators say the area they are searching at is often used by hunters. Authorities say they are having to sort through the debris to find out which items may be related to the case. A $10,000 reward is being offered to anyone who has information leading to an arrest or Bullard's recovery. Anyone with information that may help solve the case is urged to contact the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office at (910) 323-1500. http://www.wral.com/news/6368509/detail.html

Authorities Find More Belongings Connected To Missing Lee County Woman POSTED: 5:36 pm EST January 22, 2006 UPDATED: 6:51 am EST January 23, 2006 CUMBERLAND COUNTY, N.C. -- Cumberland County sheriff’s deputies have uncovered additional items believed to have been taken during a home invasion and kidnapping of a 23-year-old Lee County woman earlier this month. On Sunday, deputies returned to a remote location off Bogie Island Road in Cumberland County after search crews found a wallet that contained identification of a woman who was inside the home where authorities believe Michelle Bullard was kidnapped. The woman whose wallet was found Sunday, however, was not kidnapped. Investigators also found two check stubs with Bullard’s name on them, a white pair of women’s socks, an Army-issued ski mask, and a handbag, which authorities said may not be related to Bullard's disappearance. On Friday, a man found a woman's wallet -- with Bullard's identification card inside -- in a ditch on the same stretch of road, authorities said. The Cumberland County Sheriff's Office said divers would return to the scene Monday to continue the search and that the search will continue until all leads are exhausted. Investigators believe that in the early-morning of Jan. 2, a masked man took Bullard at gunpoint from a Sanford home where she had been visiting. For more than three weeks, investigators and volunteers have searched for Bullard in Lee and Harnett counties, but exhaustive searches have led to very little clues. A $10,000 reward is being offered to anyone who has information leading to an arrest or Bullard's recovery. Anyone with information that may help solve the case is urged to contact the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office at (910) 323-1500. http://www.wral.com/news/6344059/detail.html

Bogie Island Road now search's focus By Paul Woolverton Staff writer About 65 lawmen from three counties continued searching Monday in southeast Cumberland County for Julie Michelle Bullard, the 23-year-old woman reported kidnapped Jan. 2 more than 40 miles away in Lee County. On Monday, the searchers found several things — including a purse with marijuana in it, a red T-shirt and a set of boxer shorts — along Bogie Island Road off N.C. 53, Cumberland County Sheriff Moose Butler said at a news conference Monday afternoon. Investigators don’t yet know whether the items have anything to do with Bullard’s disappearance, Butler said. Divers searching in several farm irrigation ponds along the road found a car, Butler said, but the car appears to have been there for some time. With the rain and muddy conditions, the searchers could not get the car out of the pond Monday, he said. The searchers included Fayetteville police officers and deputies from Cumberland, Lee and Harnett counties. They are to resume looking at 8:30 a.m. today. Weather permitting, the N.C. Highway Patrol is to search from the air, Butler said. Bullard was reported kidnapped Jan. 2 from her boyfriend’s home just outside Broadway, a small town in Lee County. A gunman entered the house, held her and three friends at gunpoint, tied the friends up with tape, robbed them and kidnapped Bullard, authorities said. An intense search followed and the case drew national attention. A $10,000 reward was offered. On Friday, the focus shifted to Bogie Island Road, a 3.2-mile dogleg in rural southeast Cumberland County because a man found Bullard’s wallet there. Over the weekend, police found a wallet belonging to one of the other victims, two of Bullard’s check stubs, a white pair of socks (she was wearing white socks but no shoes when she was kidnapped), and a camouflage, military-issued ski mask, the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office said. Cumberland County sheriff’s spokeswoman Debbie Tanna said authorities don’t yet know whether the ski mask and socks are connected to Bullard’s case. The items were found strewn along the road as though someone threw them from a car window while driving by, Butler said. Family, friends gather On Monday, about a dozen of Bullard’s family and friends stood near in a foggy drizzle by a fire watchtower at the end of Bogie Island Road and prayed for good news. They left only when the drizzle turned into a cold downpour, and returned late in the afternoon when the weather cleared. “Our hopes and prayers are that she’s being held,” instead of the alternative, said her father, Julian Bullard. The family spent part of the time driving around the area to get familiar with it, he said, so that, if needed, they can help the police with the search. In the early days of the case, there was speculation that David E. Wilson of Harnett County kidnapped Bullard. They had been seen in the same store about three hours before the kidnapping, although they did not appear to be together. He killed himself the next night at his home about six miles from the kidnapping. His family said he had been depressed about heavy debts, poor health and high medical expenses. Wilson’s brother, William Wilson, lives in the Cedar Creek area near Bogie Island Road, Tanna said. On Monday, William Wilson said that law enforcement has not talked to him about the search on Bogie Island Road and that he does not know how close it is to his home. He declined to discuss the case further. Staff writer Paul Woolverton can be reached woolvertonp@fayettevillenc.com or at 486-3512. http://www.fayettevillenc.com/article?id=224964

Vehicle Among Latest Items Recovered In Search For Missing Woman Michelle Bullard's Father Hopeful For Daughter's Safe Return UPDATED: January 23, 2006 CUMBERLAND COUNTY, N.C. -- A third day of searching along a rural Fayetteville road has yielded more items that authorities will check for ties to the disappearance of a 23-year-old Lee County woman. Investigators say Michelle Bullard was last seen Jan. 2 at a Broadway home with friends when a masked gunman entered the home, took some money and grabbed her. Monday's search along Bogie Island Road resulted in divers finding a vehicle submerged in 10 feet of murky water, as well as a purse and some clothing items along the roadway. The Cumberland County Sheriff's Office said, however, that crews would not be able to raise the vehicle from the water for several days because of muddy conditions and that the recent wet weather has made it impossible for vehicles to drive into the area. Authorities say that some of the items found on Sunday and Monday may or may not be related to the case because hunters often use the area and are having to sort through debris. On Friday, a man told authorities that he found Bullard's wallet and ID on the same stretch of road and on Sunday, investigators found two more clues -- two paycheck stubs belonging to Bullard and a purse belonging to one of the women in the home where Bullard was kidnapped. The search for Bullard, which investigators plan to resume in the Bogie Island Road area on Tuesday, has span across three counties -- Lee, Cumberland and Harnett -- and has consisted of volunteers and officials from at least seven different law enforcement agencies, including the State Bureau of Investigation, state Highway Patrol and Fayetteville Police Department. Friends, as well as Bullard's family, have also been assisting in the search since Bullard was reported missing. Julian Bullard, Michelle Bullard's father, told WRAL that the latest clues in the case provides hope for him and his family. "Well, it's news," Julian Bullard said. "To me, it's hope because it's something that gives us direction. It gives us hope that we can find her soon." A $10,000 reward is being offered to anyone who has information leading to an arrest or Bullard's recovery. Anyone with information that may help solve the case is urged to contact the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office at (910) 323-1500. http://www.wral.com/news/6368509/detail.html

SPREADING THE WORD January 24, 2006 Still no one is poking around the Wilson brother salvage yard on Dudley Road. If you have been following the previous posts you will know that the salvage yard sits 2.5 miles away from where the belongings were tossed out along side of the road. Why this has not been searched is both a mystery and a disappointment. for more about Wilson's Salvage Yard. That said I have been extremely impressed with the effort put forth by some extremely dedicated members of law enforcement. All day long today it rained buckets on the 60 or more officers as they poked around looking for clues. I am also impressed with the vigil kept by the friends and family of Michelle's as they search for her while law enforcement looks elsewhere. It was Sunday's find by Michelle's stepmother Pat that caused Sunday's search and thus the discovery of other important evidence. Today I saw the family and friends walk the roads near the Salvage Yard owned by David Wilson's brother William Keith Wilson. The Fayetteville Observer Tuesday is reporting that "On Monday, William Wilson said that law enforcement has not talked to him about the search on Bogie Island Road and that he does not know how close it is to his home. He declined to discuss the case further." Thanks for the interest brother man! The searchers today found a few more items of various levels of importance depending on the lab results. When you search hard enough you will find everything including a submerged car. Yes a car was found in a pond located within the search area. When I told my brother Marc about this (Marc being a retired law enforcement officer, a Graduate of the FBI National Academy and a Private Investigator) he recalled a story about a murder investigation he conducted when they found a car in a pond years ago. When divers went in they found 4 more cars. Apparently it was a dumping ground for stolen cars or cars involved in insurance fraud. But this is a good indication of how deep the search is going as they struggle to find evidence that will bring about a location of Julie Michelle Bullard. I learned today how this search began. According to Debbie Tana, spokesperson for the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office, a man flagged down a deputy as the deputy was making a routine pass through the community of Cedar Creek. When the deputy stopped he was told by this man that he had found a wallet the day before that belonged to the abducted and still missing Michelle Bullard. When asked why it took so long for the man to report the found wallet he said that he was afraid to do so. I asked if the man who found the wallet was Hispanic and here is why, on Wednesday just after sunset, a man called the CUE Center for Missing Persons Tip Line. The caller could not speak English. What he did manage to say was "missing girl" "grass" "road." In the background a beep-beep-beep noise could be heard as if heavy equipment was being operated. The man hung up and called back to repeat what he had just said, "missing girl" "grass" "road". The man was advised to find someone that could speak English and to call back. In the meantime, Monica Caison the Founding Director of CUE found an interpreter and within 20 minutes called the man back. The man did not answer and the interpreter left a message on his voice mail that instructed him to call 911 to make his report. Ms. Caison immediately called the Sanford Police to report the call and gave the detective the cell phone number of the caller. Many times Hispanic's will be afraid to phone the police. First it is not something that is familiar to many of their cultures and second they may be here illegally and fear deportation. We searched his cell phone number for an identity and found out that his cell phone account was set up in Dunn, NC. Dunn is approximately 20 miles from Fayetteville. This may be a stretch at this point to link the call to the wallet, but what if something like that did happen? This is exactly why it is important to get the word out in areas outside of Broadway and Sanford. It is why it is so important for all news media, including those whose audience is primarily Hispanic, to get with the campaign to find Michelle Bullard. These newly discovered belongings were found 60 miles from Broadway. David Wilson was reportedly last seen in a convenience store at approximately 11PM and was known to be seen at 7PM the following day when he shot himself. That is 20 hours. He could have easily driven to Charleston, SC and back in that amount of time. Think about just how important it is to act quick, to get her picture out there, to get as much information that is known about the case so that a detailed story on her will get out and someone like Citizen X will do the right thing and report what he or she knows. Had Michelle's photo ID not have been in the wallet, who would have reported finding it? Perhaps pictures could have been released to the media of examples of the items taken from the home that night. Had Michelle's step mom not have noticed the make up case on the same patch of road searched many times prior, who would have? In fact who would have noticed anything if this tip that has led authorities to Cedar Creek was a tip from the same man that called CUE Center for Missing Persons' Tip Line? Because this tip came into the CUE Center's Tip Line it couldn't have come from the media, it came from a flyer or press release that was posted somewhere outside of the immediate area because of the networking of CUE Team members that distributed it nationwide. Otherwise why would he have dialed the number that he did? It is important that we all do what we can to help bring an awareness to Michelle Bullard's abduction and her tragic disappearance. http://www.bluelineradio.com/12306update.html

Cumberland search ends By GORDON ANDERSON FAYETTEVILLE - The search on an isolated road in southern Cumberland County for more evidence into the disappearance of Julie Michelle Bullard ended Tuesday, after investigators said “we don't know what else we can do at this point.” Search teams from Lee, Harnett and Cumberland counties spent the weekend searching Bogie Island Road south of Fayetteville after a man on a backhoe reported finding Bullard's driver's license in a ditch on the side of the road Friday. Bullard, 23, was abducted just after 1 a.m. on Jan. 2. She was at the Bradley Road home of her boyfriend, Will Stence, when a masked gunman burst through the door and tied up the four people inside before taking them into separate rooms and robbing them. When the other three victims freed themselves, they found Bullard was gone, witnesses told deputies. Since that time, authorities have been searching for Bullard. Before Saturday, they'd searched a pond behind the Bradley Road home three times, as well as a 5-acre patch of wooded land off Thomas Kelly Road just inside Harnett County. Several teams of scent-detecting dogs have been used in the searches. But after reporting that they'd also found a wallet containing the driver's license of one of the other victims in the Jan. 2 robbery, authorities closed the search area along Bogie Island Road. “We certainly feel for the family, but we feel like at this point we've covered that area to the best of our ability,” Cumberland County Sheriff Earl “Moose” Butler told reporters at a press conference Tuesday afternoon. “We will continue to search the area or any other areas if we receive any credible leads.” In the course of the search, investigators discovered several other items, including an Army-issued ski mask, a shirt, a pair of women's socks and a 1992 Ford Taurus submerged in a pond off the road. But Lee County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Kevin Bryant said detectives determined that none of those items had any relation to Bullard's abduction. Bryant did say, however, that the brother of David Wilson, lives within “a couple of miles” of the area where Bullard's wallet was found on Friday. Wilson, who shot himself Jan. 2 when Harnett County sheriff's deputies pulled him over near his home on Cameron Road in western Harnett County, had been reported missing by his wife the night before. Employees with The Pantry on Main Street in Broadway later told investigators that Bullard and Wilson were both in the store at the same time the night before Bullard's abduction. Authorities have not, however, said that the two were together. In fact, there is no indication from anyone that Bullard and Wilson were even acquainted. Deputies have said the only reason they've looked for a link between the two incidents is because of they happened so close together. Other than that, authorities have said that they know of nothing that ties the two incidents. Bryant told The Herald Tuesday that William Wilson allowed detectives to search his home. “We didn't find anything to indicate that there is any connection between these two incidents. As far as we know, it's just another coincidence,” Bryant said, adding that William Wilson was “nothing but cooperative and helpful to us.” A $10,000 reward is being offered for information leading to Bullard's return. To date, several agencies, including the Lee County Sheriff's Office, the Harnett County Sheriff's Office, the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office, the Broadway Police Department, the Fayetteville Police Department and the State Bureau of Investigation have been involved in the case. Several search-and-rescue teams have helped as well. Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the Lee County Sheriff's Office tip line at 718-4577. Callers can remain anonymous. http://www.sanfordherald.com/articles/2006/01/25/news/news01.txt

Parents refuse to give up hope Saturday, January 28, 2006 By Laura Arenschield BROADWAY — Karen Riojas fans out photographs of her oldest daughter and gazes at them in heartbroken admiration. The pictures are all she has for now. Her daughter, 23-year-old Julie Michelle Bullard, was kidnapped 23 days ago during a robbery at her boyfriend’s home. In one picture, an infant Michelle Bullard snuggles between her mother and father. In another, a teenage Michelle wears a gold cowboy hat, posing for a glamour shot. Then there is Michelle on graduation day, wearing a black cap and gown, her trademark smile lighting up the camera. “She had the most beautiful brown hair,” Riojas says. “And she had the most beautiful brown eyes.” Her eyes glistening with tears, Riojas shakes her head and corrects herself. “Has,” she says forcefully. “Michelle has the most beautiful brown hair and eyes.” Nearly four weeks have passed since the kidnapping outside Broadway. Searchers plan to spend today combing fields near where Michelle’s wallet was found this week. Julian Bullard, Michelle’s father, said volunteers are welcome. They will meet between 8 and 9 a.m. at the intersection of Bogie Island Road and N.C. 53, he said. They will look for any hint of what has happened to Michelle since the morning of Jan. 2. It was about 1 a.m., and Bullard was watching a movie with her boyfriend, his roommate and a family friend. The robber, his face covered, walked into the home and waved a gun. He robbed them, bound the other three people with tape and put them in separate rooms. When the others broke free, Bullard was gone. Since then, clues have trickled in, each one raising her family’s hope. The tips started the day she disappeared: David Wilson, a Harnett County man who spent 23 years in prison for murder, shot himself inside his truck when a sheriff’s deputy started to approach him. Riojas said Michelle didn’t know Wilson, but investigators pointed out the coincidence: Wilson, 49, committed suicide about six miles from where Bullard was last seen. A Broadway convenience store manager later said Bullard and Wilson were in the store at the same time the night of Jan. 1 — hours before Bullard was kidnapped — but said the two did not come in together or talk while they were in the store. Investigators later said there is no evidence Wilson robbed the home or took Bullard. A few weeks later, a man working on his backhoe found Bullard’s wallet in a roadside ditch in the Cedar Creek community in eastern Cumberland County. Searchers combed the area and found other items, including socks, a purse and boxer shorts. Debbie Tanna, spokeswoman for the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office, said there is no evidence those items are linked to Bullard’s disappearance. Horrible ups and downs For Bullard’s parents, hearing each tip is like sitting on a nightmarish see-saw. “You just hope someone’s going to wake you up,” Julian Bullard said Friday. “We go from day to day not knowing what day it is.” The North Carolina branch of the Missing You Foundation, an organization that helps people with missing family members, posted fliers with Michelle’s picture around North Carolina. Missing You also has organized searches near Broadway, where Bullard disappeared, and along Bogie Island Road, where her wallet was found. Riojas said she knows the statistics: After 72 hours, the odds are slim that a missing person is still alive. But slim odds are better than no odds, so Julian Bullard and Karen Riojas will spend today wading through the fields along Bogie Island Road. Pleas on television Every person who hears about Michelle’s disappearance is one more person who might know what happened to her, so Riojas has appeared three times on CNN and once on Fox News. Riojas remembers sitting in front of the TV last summer, watching coverage of a teenager missing in Aruba. She remembers seeing the girl’s mother, remembers how the agony and frustration built on the woman’s face with every interview. “And now here I am, going through it myself,” Riojas said. “No mother should have to spend the rest of her life wondering where her child is.” Tanna, the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman, said national coverage doesn’t hurt the case, but she doesn’t think it helps. She said detectives have not gotten meaningful tips from the shows’ viewers. To Riojas, though, no chance is too slim. “I’ll never turn down a chance to take Michelle’s story nationwide,” she said. “If I only focus locally, I might miss an opportunity to reach someone who knows something.” She has a message for the kidnapper, one she has repeated over and over: “Actions speak louder than words,” she said. “Emphasize that. Actions speak louder than words.” And neither parent will give up the search. “I love Michelle,” Riojas said. “I love my baby. And I hope and pray I don’t have to spend the rest of my life asking: ‘Where is my baby?’” http://www.fayettevillenc.com/article?id=225296

Purse, Wallet Latest Items Found In Search For Missing Lee County Woman POSTED: 5:12 pm EST January 30, 2006 UPDATED: 5:20 pm EST January 30, 2006 CUMBERLAND COUNTY, N.C. -- Investigators are testing a purse and a wallet to determine whether they are linked to a missing Lee County woman. Dozens of volunteers focused on a 25-square-mile area in Cumberland County over the weekend in search of Michelle Bullard, 23, who disappeared after a reported home invasion on Jan. 2. Volunteers found the wallet and Bullard's purse in a ditch over the weekend and turned the items over to the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office. Investigators think the wallet may have belonged to one of the men in the trailer at the time of the alleged home invasion. A local criminal profiler has created a map where he believes authorities should be investigating for clues into the disappearance of Michelle Bullard. The latest search came after a local criminal profiler, Dr. Maurice Godwin, created the map, which is based on his research of the case. He believes Bullard, if she is not alive, will be found in the area. Last week, dozens of volunteers and law enforcement agencies assisted in a search in Cumberland County along Bogie Island Road after a man found a wallet with Bullard's ID inside. The four-week investigation into Bullard's disappearance has spanned across three counties -- Lee, Harnett and Cumberland. Bullard is 5 feet 2 inches tall and weighs about 125 pounds and has brown hair and brown eyes. A $10,000 reward is being offered to anyone who has information leading to her recovery. Anyone with information that may help solve the case is urged to contact the Lee County Sheriff's Office at (919) 775-5531, Cumberland County Sheriff's Office at (910) 323-1500, or their local law enforcement agency. http://www.wral.com/news/6599030/detail.html

Profiler maps Bullard chances By Paul Woolverton Staff writer Criminal profiler Maurice Godwin of Fayetteville created a map showing where he thinks the authorities will find the body of Julie Michelle Bullard of Broadway. There is a 60 percent chance, Godwin said Wednesday, that Bullard is in a semicircular area north of Bogie Island Road, the spot in Cumberland County’s Cedar Creek area where her wallet was found Friday. There is a 47 percent chance she is in a semicircular area south of there, he said. People can view the map on Godwin’s Web site, www.investigativepsych.com. He prepared the map at the request of Bullard’s family. He has not shown it to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, which is investigating the case. He said he will let Bullard’s family do that. “I’m suggesting that the police do a grid search within this red area here,” he said, referring to his map. Bullard was reported kidnapped by a masked gunman about 1 a.m. Jan. 2 from her boyfriend’s home outside Broadway. Lawmen said a gunman tied up her boyfriend, his roommate and another woman, robbed them and took Bullard. On Friday, a man found Bullard’s wallet beside Bogie Island Road, a 3.2-mile dogleg that runs by woods, shacks, farm fields and a few homes more than 40 miles away from Broadway. Over the weekend, lawmen found Bullard’s check stubs on the roadside as well as the wallet of the other woman at the robbery. Godwin said he used a technique called reverse geographic profiling to prepare his map. The technique assumes that killers generally stay in areas they are familiar with, but they avoid leaving their victims too close to “home base” places or places where they dump evidence. Godwin and his technique drew national attention when he predicted one of the locations that the Washington Beltway snipers would strike in October 2002. He said his technique predicted to within one mile where to find a murder victim in North Dakota and where to find a serial rapist in Miami. It came to within one block, he said, of the home of a serial killer in Raleigh. The technique does not always work, Godwin said. A killer in Oregon traveled more than he expected, he said, so his prediction in that case was wrong. He had bad results in the BTK serial killer case in Wichita, Kan., he said, because the police initially did not tie the killer to all of the murders he committed. No one has reported that Bullard is dead, but Godwin thinks she is. He also thinks that David E. Wilson, who lived near Broadway, had something to do with it. His results assume that Wilson was involved and said that without that assumption, his profiling software would not have had enough data to produce a meaningful result. Investigators have been looking into whether Wilson was involved but so far say they have not found a link. Wilson, a convicted murderer, was seen shopping at the same store as Bullard three hours before the incident, and he committed suicide the evening after. The wallets and check stubs were found within a few miles of the home of Patricia Hall, who is David Wilson’s sister, and the home and business of William Wilson, who is David Wilson’s brother. Homes searched William Wilson said lawmen from Lee and Cumberland counties and from the State Bureau of Investigation searched his and Hall’s homes Tuesday, and they searched his salvage yard on Dudley Road. He said he and Hall gave the officers permission. “I wanted to be any help I could be on it,” William Wilson said. “I feel for the people.” The investigators did not take anything from the homes or the salvage yard, he said. William Wilson said he took a lie-detector test about the case with the SBI “and proved not to be lying.” William Wilson said he does not think David Wilson had anything to do with the case, although he can’t say for certain that he didn’t. He said he has no idea what happened to Bullard and he hopes and prays for her safe return. Chief Deputy Kevin Bryant of the Lee County Sheriff’s Office declined to discuss the search, deferring to the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office because the search was in the that jurisdiction. Cumberland County’s sheriff’s spokeswoman Debbie Tanna could not be reached Wednesday afternoon. Bryant said he had never heard of Godwin and his geographic profiling effort before Wednesday. If the Bullards ask him to look at the map, Bryant said, he will consider Godwin’s theory, but “we have to be somewhat skeptical of stuff like that.” He said many people, including psychics, have called with leads and suggestions in the case. Bryant would consult other police agencies about it. “If Julian (Michelle Bullard’s father) brings me something like that and we can verify he’s up-and-up in what he’s doing, we certainly aren’t going to turn down credible technology,” he said. http://www.fayettevillenc.com/article?id=225109

A month later, search for woman goes on Published: Feb 05, 2006 John Murawski The junked refrigerators made Timothy Harris's heart skip a beat. Harris, a U.S. Army veteran from the first Persian Gulf War, had been scouring the countryside all morning in search of Julie Michelle Bullard, a 23-year-old Broadway woman believed to have been abducted a month ago and not seen since. Harris, who conducted more battlefield searches during the war than he cares to remember, desperately wanted to look inside those refrigerators. No telling what somebody could hide in one out here in the middle of nowhere. There were four of them sitting in a muddy patch, next to an abandoned stove. Harris was one of about 40 volunteers Saturday who walked the roadsides and farmland in search of a clue, a sign, a tip. They meet every weekend, study maps, fan out to search, regroup for lunch, then set out again. On this Saturday, the searchers were assisted by three teams patrolling in boats, six people on all-terrain vehicles and a dozen more on horseback. "Just good-hearted people," said Julian Bullard, the anguished father of the missing woman. "You got family, friends, church members, people we don't even know." This was their fourth weekend of searching, organized by the Missing You Foundation, a Michigan group formed by people whose relatives disappeared. Many volunteers insist on not giving up hope. They talk of possibly sighting Julie Bullard, perhaps wandering down the side of the road, lost and disoriented. For others, coming out is a karmic investment, a favor returned by the community to a good Samaritan. Still others talk of helping the family gain some closure. Almost all mention their own kids. When you have kids, no further explaining is necessary. "Right now they have nothing," said Al Mignacci, a 69-year-old retired IBM engineer, who drove down from Raleigh. "They just have hope." Bullard's 19-year-old sister and 15-year-old brother regularly come out to search. Her mother, Karen Riojas, prepares meals for the searchers in the Broadway Community Center. Riojas set up a folding table to display color snapshots of her daughter on a tricycle, on a trampoline, at a poolside, in a playpen, sporting her Jayhawks T-ball uniform. Surrounded by the photos was a Valentine's card to mom, written a decade ago: "Even though we fuss a lot, I still you." Jackie Cox, the North Carolina director of the foundation, explained the search strategy: You start at the scene of the abduction and work your way out. The searchers have combed the roads 10 miles distant now. The volunteers break up into teams, climb into vans or ride al fresco in the beds of pickup trucks. Heads bent down, they look for a piece of clothing, key ring, lipstick -- "anything that's not trash," one said. They search road shoulders, briar patches, as far as the eye will take them. Advancing slowly, they swap the latest developments, rumors, theories. They reconstruct possible crime scenarios from the home invasion that has brought this community together in grief. Bullard, her boyfriend and two others were watching a movie in the boyfriend's unlocked single-wide trailer in Lee County when an armed man wearing a mask entered, bound all four and burglarized the trailer. When the other three got themselves loose and emerged, Bullard was gone. Her change purse turned up beside a road in Cumberland County two weeks ago. A purse and wallets belonging to the others were discovered nearby last weekend. The items -- some found by volunteer searchers -- were sent to a crime lab for analysis. It was mid-morning and the refrigerators gnawed at Harris. But the search rules are clear: No trespassing on private property without permission. "It's worrying me to death, those refrigerators that I saw," Harris said as the searchers walked past abandoned trailers, lean-tos, even a junkyard full of cars -- all on private property, all inaccessible. It rained intermittently. A rooster crowed somewhere. The only other sounds were footsteps and raindrops. Harris came out on this day in a show of support for Bullard's mother, who works with Harris at the U.S. Postal Service. Harris brought his 16-year-old son, Tim. "Could you imagine opening the door and seeing that many people coming in to support you?" Harris said. "It's got to feel good. There's a lot of psychological first aid in moral support." Their work colleague and search partner, Clark Haithcock, was getting antsy. "Looking in ditches ain't gonna cut it," he said, expressing a common frustration. "We need to be out in the woods. It's like a needle in a haystack." Walking a dirt road, the group came to a locked gate. They turned back. Passing the refrigerators again, Harris decided he had to go for it. He stepped out into a yard, passing a trailer that has seen better days. A curtain in the trailer window pulled back. The front door slowly opened. A woman peered out, withdrew, looked out again. A few moments later, Harris returned, the investigation yielding nothing, but his conscience eased. He explained to the woman standing in the doorway of the forlorn trailer: We're looking for the missing girl. Children peered out in curiosity at the pickup truck parked in front with four men in the back. The woman smiled, nodded her head. "Good luck," she called. http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/396613.html

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