Reachelle Smith turns 4 years old Sep 10 2006 11:36PM KXMBTV Today is Reachelle Smith's fourth birthday. Reachelle is the Minot girl who was last seen in Mid-May and has since been the subject of weeks of searching. And that searching will resume in the next couple weeks. Reachelle's mother Samantha Smith says a search dog owner from South Dakota will be making another trip to the Minot area soon to comb more areas in search of clues. It'll be the third trip to the region for the dog-handler. And his lack of success in finding anything related to Reachelle has her mother encouraged. (Samantha Smith, Reachelle's Mother) "Him not finding anything has been...has been a joy. But it's been hard. It's a joy because it doesn't point to she's dead, but it's hard because she's still not home." Samantha says she hopes Reachelle will be found soon and hopes especially that her daughter's birthday is being remembered by whomever has her. "We don't know if they're giving her a good birthday party. We don't know if she'll get any presents, or a hug, or anything. And that's the hardest part for us is just not knowing." Minot police and Ward County deputies say previous searches for Reachelle have turned up nothing. They also say there are no new leads in the case. http://www.kxmb.com/getArticle.asp?ArticleId=43262

09/11/2006 Search To Resume For Missing Minot Girl The mother of a missing Minot girl says a South Dakota bloodhound handler will continue to help in the search. Reachelle Smith has been missing since mid-May, and massive search efforts have turned up no trace of her. Reachelle's mother Samantha Smith says Denny Adams will bring his bloodhounds back to the Minot area in a couple of weeks. Adams, of Conde, South Dakota, has been involved in two earlier searches. Reachelle Smith turned four years old over the weekend. Reachelle was believed to be with a family friend, Leigh Cowen. He was found dead after an apparent suicide. But there was no sign of Reachelle. Samantha Smith says she's holding out hope that her daughter is still alive, and that whomever may have her remembered her birthday. http://www.keloland.com/NewsDetail6162.cfm?Id=0,50922

Doghandler to continue search for missing girl MINOT (AP) - The mother of a missing girl says a South Dakota man and his bloodhounds will return here to continue the search for her daughter. Reachelle Smith, who turned 4 over the weekend, was last seen at her Minot home on May 16. Massive searches have turned up no trace of her. Samantha Smith, Reachelle's mother, said Denny Adams, of Conde, S.D., who runs Dakota Territory Search Dogs, is returning to the Minot area later this month. Adams and his dogs have participated in two earlier searches. "Him not finding anything has been a joy," Samantha Smith said. "But it's been hard. It's a joy because it doesn't point to she's dead, but it's hard because she's still not home." Samantha Smith's sister, Stephanie Smith, is the child's legal guardian. Adams has paid his own expenses other than motel rooms, which were taken care of by the Smith family. He has searched parts of the Upper Souris National Wildlife Refuge, where a stolen van and the body of 22-year old Leigh Cowen were discovered in late May. Cowen had claimed to be the father of Reachelle. Adams and his dogs have helped in searches that recovered the remains of University of North Dakota student Dru Sjodin and Erika Dalquist, of Brainerd, Minn., in two high-profile kidnap-murder cases. Samantha Smith said she hopes Reachelle will be found alive, with someone who may have kidnapped her. "We don't know if they're giving her a good birthday party. We don't know if she'll get any presents, or a hug, or anything," Samantha Smith said. "And that's the hardest part for us is just not knowing." http://www.bismarcktribune.com/articles/2006/09/12/news/state/120655.txt

Search for missing girl is planned MINOT (AP) - Law enforcement officers plan another search Friday for a child who disappeared from her home here about five months ago. Reachelle Smith was last seen at her Minot home on May 16. Searches involving hundreds of volunteers on foot and on horseback, and the draining of part of a river channel, turned up no trace of the girl. She turned 4 years old in September. Reachelle was believed to be with Leigh Cowen, 22, who disappeared about the same time. His body was found May 23, in a van in the Upper Souris National Wildlife Refuge northwest of Minot, and authorities said he apparently killed himself. But they found no trace of Reachelle. Sheriff's Capt. Todd Keller said authorities plan to look again at that area Friday. "We are just doing a little bit of follow-up, in the same area that we had searched in the past, "Keller said. "The sheriff suggested that we do search the area again where the vehicle was found and maybe some of those townships that we missed when we had done the large horse search earlier this year." http://www.bismarcktribune.com/articles/2006/10/26/news/state/122868.txt

Authorities Recover Ground in Search for Reachelle Smith Oct 27 2006 11:36PM KXMBTV Five months have passed since Reachelle Smith disappeared. She would have celebrated her fourth birthday in those missing weeks. Now, authorities have returned to the site where her suspected abductor took his own life....... the Upper Souris Wildlife Refuge. There, the recovered old ground, looking for any sign of the missing Minot child. Abby Wuellner has more. Spring has turned to summer, and summer to fall in the months since anyone last saw Reachelle Smith, but still law enforcement officers continue to pursue her case... (Cpt. Todd Keller, Ward Co. Sheriff Dpt.) "The sheriff wanted us to come back before the winter months, before everything was covered with snow, and do another search." Today, searchers from the Ward County Sheriff's Department, the Minot Police Department, and the Bureau of Criminal Investigation retraced their steps at the Upper Souris Wildlife Refuge... Where on May 23, authorities found the body of Leigh Cowen, the man believed responsible for the girl's disappearance. Nearby, yellow tape still hangs on branches where they found things he left before he committed suicide. Sgt. Larry Hubbard was among those who found the items in initial searches. (Sgt. Larry Hubbard, Ward Co. Sheriff's Dpt.) "We've done numerous searches. i was out here the first day when we did the initial search." But since then, he says other than the color of the leaves, little has changed. (Sgt. Hubbard) "You can see the line a lot better with the foliage change, and a lot of the leaves off the trees, but still it's difficult walking with the steepness of the hills." No new leads prompted this search. Rather, previous search parties weren't able to re-cover the whole area several months ago. And as the 14 man search wrapped up this afternoon, those involved say they found nothing new pertaining to the case of the little girl...but added they don't intend to stop searches altogether. (Sgt. Hubbard) "It's frustrating. You know, we want to have some kind of closure to the case one way or the other, whether we find Reachelle or have a different type of closure. Everybody would like to have closure." So as fall turns to winter, and snow covers the leaves that now crunch underfoot, they'll continue to look for Reachelleand seek some closure in this case. At the Upper Souris Wildlife Refuge, Abby Wuellner, KX News. In the next few weeks, Reachelle's family will have a dog-search recover the ground yet again. Authorities are also asking that hunters be on the look-out for any sign of the little girl. http://www.kxmb.com/getArticle.asp?ArticleId=59517

Family Still Hopes for Reachelle`s Return Kristin Bien 2/21/2007 Tuesday, May 15th, was a day like any other. That night, after a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a few hugs, Reachelle Smith drifted off to sleep. "The next morning I woke up, got all my stuff together, got ready for work, went downstairs and she wasn`t there," says Stephanie Smith, Reachelle`s guardian. "I was like, `Leigh, where is she?` And he said, oh, my mom came and took her this morning. I told you about it the other day." This wasn`t a new thing. Leigh Cowen was a trusted friend, almost like part of the family. They agreed Reachelle would be home on Friday. After a few days of being away from her child, Stephanie Smith asked Cowen if she could see her or talk to her. Cowen always had an excuse. His car broke down, they were shopping, she was with his mom. Then towards the end of the week, Cowen and his mother stopped by the house but Reachelle was nowhere to be seen. Smith continues, "So I ran outside. I looked at his mom and I said, `Where is Reachelle? I want to see my baby.` And she gave me this weird look. I thought she was looking like she was mad, like they had a bad discussion. Leigh said, `Can I have a moment with my mom?` I found out after I reported Reachelle missing that he was telling his mom that he was covering for Samantha. Says Samantha and Reachelle are in South Dakota." But Samantha didn`t have Reachelle. Samantha was with friends on her way to Bismarck. After a couple of days of Cowen`s excuses, Reachelle`s family went to the police. An Amber Alert was issued shortly after. The next day, police found Cowen dead in his car near Lake Darling. It was a suicide. To this day, there is still no sign of Reachelle. "It will never stop. I even imagine the cars with the tinted windows has Reachelle in them. I think about her every day. It is tough. I think it is the hardest thing you could ever go through," adds Smith. Reachelle`s family continues to hold onto a hope their little girl who loves puzzles and Dora the Explorer will come home safe. http://www.kfyrtv.com/news_stories.asp?news=5286

Sunday, May 13, 2007— Time:3:12:21 PM CENTRAL One year later … Where's Reachelle? By DAVE CALDWELL, Staff Writer dcaldwell@minotdailynews.com Wednesday will mark one year since a little girl with an angel’s face and an electric smile apparently disappeared from a northwest Minot apartment, sparking an Amber Alert and spawning national media coverage. Reachelle Marie Smith was 3 when she was last seen in the apartment where she lived with her mother, Stephanie Smith, and her mother’s live-in acquaintance Leigh Cowen. Reachelle was last seen at around 10:30 p.m. on March 16 when she was put to bed by Cowen. An Amber Alert issued on May 22 after Smith discovered Reachelle was missing, and coverage of the subsequent search for Reachelle was featured on CBS’ “Without a Trace” and “The Morning Show,” as well as Fox’s “America’s Most Wanted.” Although reports coming in to local law enforcement agencies are becoming less and less frequent with the passage of time, they have not stopped altogether. “We’ve still been getting leads in from time to time,” said Sgt. Jason Sundbakken of the Minot Police Department, the detective investigating Reachelle’s case. “We’re following up on them as best we can, but sometimes there’s just not enough information to pursue anything on them.” “We’ve been able to follow up on a lot of the leads that we get and determine that the girl that was observed isn’t the one that we’re looking for,” he said. “We’re plugging away with that, but other than that there really isn’t any massive influx of new information. Hopefully one of these leads will lead us to where we’re looking or what we’re looking for.” That sentiment was echoed by Capt. Todd Keller, head of the investigations division at the Ward County Sheriff’s Office. “We continually get tips in,” Keller said. “We do follow-up on the leads that we get in.” Keller said the most recent lead that the department physically followed up on came from a less-than-orthodox source. “An individual’s brother had a dream that a little girl was put into a drain on their farmstead,” he said. The farm in question is located northeast of Minot, in McHenry County, Keller said. “We did go up and check that. It’s an old well – it has a pipe sticking out of the ground. We didn’t see anything suspicious.” Keller said the physical location of the area made it more plausible as a potential site where something could’ve been intentionally placed for a year without being noticed. “It was in a pretty hidden area,” he said. “I think it would be kind of hard for anyone to just happen across it to put somebody in it.” Keller said law enforcement personnel used flashlights and gave the area a thorough visual inspection before determining nothing suspicious was there. Sundbakken said that his department gets a lot of tips from psychics, but most are so vague they can’t be followed up on. “We’re looking for the number four (for example), and by a lake with a boat,” he said. “It could be anywhere. The more detailed ones we get, we look into them as best we can. But we haven’t been able to find anything so far with those tips.” “A lot of time, they’ll be coordinates Ö latitude and longitude,” he said. “We look it up and we always follow up on them. Ö I’m not going to discount any of that (psychic) stuff, but so far none of those leads have come out.” Keller said that another lead that seemed potentially promising in the Trestle Valley area in recent months turned up empty as well. “An individual was walking on his property and saw an area that looked like it had disturbed ground,” he said. “We went out there and dug up that area, but it didn’t reveal anything suspicious.” Keller said that the majority of tips to the sheriff’s department are things of that nature. “And we do still want to make people aware — especially with this anniversary coming up — that she is still missing,” he said. “We want to remind them to check their property and report anything suspicious. The time frame now is getting where there might be (vegetation) growth over something. “But anything we get in here, we do go check out.” Sundbakken believes that the fact that Reachelle has such common features with no real physically distinguishing marks works against her while the search continues. “That’s a hard thing to overcome,” he said. “She’d be a 4-year-old, brown-haired, brown-eyed girl. Which matches both of my own daughters at that age perfectly. They’re very common features. We’ve gotten a lot of tips that they think they saw the girl, and they send a picture and 100 percent of the time — so far — it’s not been Reachelle. But if somebody has a question, get a picture and send it off. It’s better to be safe than sorry.” Sundbakken said that despite the passage of time, he’s not ready to give up hope anytime soon. “You’ve got to (hold out hope),” he said. “I said it before and I’ll say it again Ö I’d just as soon follow up on 1,000 leads that turn out not to be her as overlook one that turned out to be a valid lead that will lead to someplace to find her. “The minute you give up hope on finding anything, you’ve just given up. And I’m not willing to do that until we come up with some conclusive answer. “You can’t let her down, and you can’t let the family down by doing that.” Family stays in touch With the passage of nearly a year, Reachelle’s biological mother, Samantha Smith, has moved to Arizona, but remains very involved in the case, according to Sgt. Jason Sundbakken of the Minot Police Department. He said he also maintains contact with Leigh Cowen’s mother in Kansas, as well as family members of Reachelle’s biological father in Colorado. “I talk to (the father’s) mother very frequently,” he said Friday. “And I got a call from (Samantha) last night. They’re constantly calling and asking if there’s anything new, and what’s going on with the case. It’s nice that they’re keeping tabs on things.” “As far as Mr. Cowen’s mom, I speak with her from time to time as well,” he said. Sundbakken said that the working theory is that Cowen most likely knew what happened to Reachelle and had some level of involvement, and killed himself either out of guilt or to cover up something. “(Cowen’s mother is) still very upset about the fact that she feels that her son may have been involved in the disappearance, and she’s very concerned about that,” Sundbakken said. “She really did love that little girl, and she would like to come up with a conclusion just as much as everybody else.” Background on Reachelle Smith’s disappearance - Reachelle Smith is put to bed at around 10:30 p.m. on May 16. - Leigh Cowen tells Reachelle’s custodial mother, Stephanie Smith, with whom he is living, that Reachelle is staying with his mother at her residence at Minot Air Force Base. - Cowen tells Smith on May 19 that his mother’s car has broken down and Reachelle is still at the base. - Cowen steals a van from Smith’s residence in the early morning hours of May 22. When Smith discovers the missing van, she goes to the home of Cowen’s mother at Minot AFB, but discovers that Cowen’s mother had moved to Wichita, Kan., the week before. Smith contacts the Minot Police Department to report Reachelle missing. An Amber Alert is issued that quickly goes nationwide. - Kansas authorities search the home of Cowen’s mother in Wichita, but turn up no evidence that Reachelle had ever been there. - Cowen’s body is found in the stolen van on a gravel road at the Upper Souris National Wildlife Refuge northwest of Minot. Cowen apparently committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning after hooking a hose to the exhaust pipe. - Subsequent searches are conducted, including massive coordinated searches of area parks, horseback searches of rural areas and wildlife refuges and even the draining of a portion of the Souris River near the Smith residence. None turn up any concrete evidence in the little girl’s disappearance. Where to get more/give information Reachelle Smith is listed on the Web site of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at (www.missingkids.com) as well as being featured on the Web site for Fox network’s “America’s Most Wanted” at (www.amw.com). Anyone who may have information relating to the case is asked to contact the Minot Police Department at 852-0111. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.minotdailynews.com/news/articles.asp?articleID=11021

A Little Girl Lost Almost two years later, still no Reachelle By DAVE CALDWELL, Staff Writer dcaldwell@minotdailynews.com POSTED: May 8, 2008 Nearly two years after her disappearance, investigators are still baffled by the case of little Reachelle Marie Smith. Reachelle was 3 when she was last seen in the apartment where she lived with her mother, Stephanie Smith, and her mother’s live-in acquaintance Leigh Cowen. Reachelle was last seen at around 10:30 p.m. on May 16, 2006, when she was put to bed by Cowen. Her case has garnered national attention, having been featured on Fox’s America’s Most Wanted and CBS’ “Without a Trace” and “The Morning Show.” But sadly, as time goes by, that national attention is slowly fading. “After a couple of years, all that will slow down a little bit,” said Sgt. Jason Sundbakken, who heads the investigation of the case at the Minot Police Department. “The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the Lost Child Network and all these other agencies are involved in this. They’re always keeping their ear to the ground and trying to help us out with things. That’s always appreciated,” he said Wednesday. “We’re still getting tips in,” Sundbakken said. “Still trying to figure out a couple of puzzle pieces that we still have missing. Any information that we get that we didn’t already have is going to point us in that direction.” Sundbakken said he feels confident that the areas that have investigated were searched thoroughly. “North Dakota’s a big, open place,” he said. “There’s lots of little hidey-holes, but what we covered, we feel we covered extensively. Does that mean we might not have missed something? We hope we did everything thoroughly enough that we can check that box off the list.” Sundbakken was asked if he thought he and/or the department were taking undue criticism due to the passage of time since Reachelle’s disappearance. “Not really,” he said, saying that most of the angst actually seems to be from the police end. “Obviously, we’re frustrated. We’re still getting tips in but they’re getting fewer and fewer, and more and more vague as time goes by. But we still get information in that we follow up on weekly, and we’re hoping that continues until we’re at the point where we can come to some form of conclusion to this case.” Capt. Todd Keller, head of investigations for the Ward County Sheriff’s Department, said Wednesday that there have been no new developments in the case for some time. “No leads or anything,” Keller said. In the past, the sheriff’s department has conducted searches when tips are presented, but have done none recently, according to Keller. No matter what level of conventionality, the importance of the case dictates that most any lead be followed up on. Sundbakken says the department still hears occasionally from psychics who offer information, but not nearly as many as previously had contacted them. “That’s gone down an awful lot,” he said. “I’ve spoken with at least one psychic in the past three to four months, and she provided some information that didn’t really pan out. I followed through on it. I’m not willing to discount anything.” The van Cowen committed suicide in was found at Upper Souris National Wildlife Refuge. That vast area was searched thoroughly, as were other remote locations. Extensive searches of the Mouse River, which runs in front of the apartment where Reachelle lived near Oak Park, were conducted. “We searched that area with the bloodhounds,” Sundbakken said. “We searched pretty much the entire river channel and the surrounding areas from end to end. We also searched intensely up at the Des Lacs (National Wildlife) Refuge with bloodhounds, with foot searches and four-wheeler searches and equine searches. Some suspicion in the case originally centered on Cowen’s mother, who moved to Wichita, Kan., around the time of Reachelle’s disappearance. Sundbakken said that he speaks to her from time to time, and he doesn’t seem to harbor much suspicion toward her. “Honestly, she is as much concerned as anybody,” Sundbakken said. “With the knowledge that there’s a potential that her son had something to do with Reachelle’s disappearance, and she loved that little girl – she really did. For quite some time, she felt that little girl was her granddaughter, so she’s very interested in coming up with a conclusion or figuring out where Reachelle is.” Sundbakken is himself a father to two girls, one almost exactly the same age as Reachelle, which makes the case a little more personal to him. Reachelle’s birthday in September will make her 6. “It’s frustrating, because you see her … I know if it were my little girl, I wouldn’t give up until I either found her or where she was,” he said. “As a detective, your job is to find the answers and to solve things, and there’s just so many questions and not enough answers. “To go for two years and still have this thing hanging over your head, and you really want to solve it, but you’re just not able to. There’s just a lack of information.” Sundbakken said that clues have been investigated and reinvestigated in an attempt to solve the mystery, but that he’s not averse to accepting help when it’s offered. “Anytime I have somebody who’s willing to take a look at something, it’s just a new set of eyes,” he said. “Sometimes when you’ve looked over the same thing for two years now, you miss the forest for the trees. Anytime I can have someone lend an ear or lend an eye, or whatever specialized skills, I’m more than willing to share. “I’m more about finding this little girl than I’m worried about the pride of being wrong.” Fact Box Background on Smith’s disappearance • Reachelle Smith is put to bed at around 10:30 p.m. on May 16. • Leigh Cowen tells Reachelle’s custodial mother, Stephanie Smith, with whom he is living, that Reachelle is staying with his mother at her residence at Minot Air Force Base. • Cowen tells Smith on May 19 that his mother’s car has broken down and Reachelle is still at the base. • Cowen steals a van from Smith’s residence in the early morning hours of May 22. When Smith discovers the missing van, she goes to the home of Cowen’s mother at Minot AFB, but discovers that Cowen’s mother had moved to Wichita, Kan., the week before. Smith contacts the Minot Police Department to report Reachelle missing. An Amber Alert is issued that quickly goes nationwide. • Kansas authorities search the home of Cowen’s mother in Wichita, but turn up no evidence that Reachelle had ever been there. • Cowen’s body is found in the stolen van on a gravel road at the Upper Souris National Wildlife Refuge northwest of Minot. Cowen apparently committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning after hooking a hose to the exhaust pipe. • Subsequent searches are conducted, including massive coordinated searches of area parks, horseback searches of rural areas and wildlife refuges and even the draining of a portion of the Mouse River near the Smith residence. None turn up any concrete evidence in the little girl’s disappearance. http://www.minotdailynews.com/page/content.detail/id/514959.html

Amber Alert: Missing North Dakota girl Posted: Jan 21, 2009 11:47 AM EST Bluefield (WVVA)- Reachelle Marie Smith has been reported missing in the North Dakota area, and her family is asking people all over the country to help in her safe return. Reachelle Smith celebrated her sixth birthday September 10, 2008 and answers to the nickname 'peanut'. If you have any information in this little girl's disappearance, contact your local law enforcement agency. http://www.wvva.com/global/story.asp?s=9708432

Cops: No Signs Of Reachelle Smith Where Man's Body Was Found Leigh Cowen was found dead inside a van in Minot, N.D. Police say he may have killed himself. Cops in Minot, N.D., are now searching for new clues that will lead them to Reachelle Smith. Investigators say they initially thought the little girl may have been traveling with 22-year-old Leigh Cowen. But any hopes of finding the 3-year-old with him vanished when cops found Cowen's dead body following what appeared to be a suicide. Unfortunately, the discovery of Cowen's body didn't shed any light on where Reachelle might be. But that doesn't mean investigators are giving up. As of May 26th, a force of 200 searchers continued the mission to find the little girl. Search teams scoured parks, a local river and a city landfill in hopes of finding clues. The National Guard also joined the search. But following the weekend search, police say the search is taking a new turn -- things are starting to wind down in the search for little Reachelle. Investigators say the fact that they've received few new leads is putting a damper on their mission. Reachelle Smith was last seen at her house on Tuesday, May 16, 2006, at about 10:30 p.m., when she was put to bed. She is about 3' feet tall and weighs about 40 pounds. She has brown eyes and straight, light brown hair. http://www.amw.com/missing_children/case.cfm?id=38883