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EquuSearch joins search for missing Ohio woman

07:50 AM CDT on Thursday, June 21, 2007

Associated Press

EquuSearch founder Tim Miller talks about the importance of the search.

CANTON, Ohio  -- For the second time in three days, investigators searched the home of a Canton police officer who fathered the son and unborn daughter of a woman who went missing, leaving the 2-year-old boy home alone. Also on Wednesday Texas-based EquuSearch joined in the search for the woman who went missing more than a week ago.

FBI agents and sheriff’s deputies carried more than a dozen boxes and several bags out of Bobby Cutts Jr.’s home on Wednesday.

Cutts’ mother, Renee Horne, told The Repository that agents served a search warrant and were looking for a quilt from the home of Jessie Davis, who was last heard from on June 13. Horne said investigators also were looking for the woman’s cell phone, the newspaper reported.

Investigators believe 2-year-old Blake Davis might have been referring to the missing comforter when he told them: “Mommy was crying. Mommy broke the table. Mommy’s in rug.”

Horne said FBI agents questioned her son twice on Wednesday, and read him his Miranda rights during the second interview. They also took Cutts’ two cell phones, she said.

Investigators have said they have no suspects and that Cutts has cooperated. Additional calls seeking comment were placed with the sheriff’s office late Wednesday.

Cutts told The Repository he had nothing to do with Davis’ disappearance and that he has slept little and had no appetite since she vanished.

“The last five days have been a nightmare. It won’t end,” Cutts told the newspaper on Tuesday.

Cutts, who also has two children with his wife, Kelly, said he and his wife are separated but have not filed for divorce and that she knew he had a relationship with Davis.

He said he last spoke with Davis at 8 p.m. on June 13, about 90 minutes before she last spoke with her mother.

On its Web site, the FBI lists the case as a kidnapping. But FBI spokesman Scott Wilson in Cleveland said the label is standard whenever foul play is a possibility, and the agency doesn’t know whether Davis was abducted.

Davis, 26, is due to deliver a girl July 3.

Investigators were testing the DNA of a newborn girl left in a basket Monday on a former school nurse’s doorstep, about 45 miles from Davis’ home. They cautioned, though, that they don’t believe the two cases are connected.

Davis’ mother reported her missing on Friday after discovering 2-year-old Blake alone in their home with the furniture askew. A pool of bleach was on the bedroom floor, and the contents of Davis’ purse were scattered in the kitchen. Her cell phone and a comforter were missing.

Though law enforcement hadn’t announced any further searches, a volunteer group, Texas EquuSearch, planned to use community helpers, sonar equipment and a 2 ½-pound drone airplane equipped with a camera in the nose to search Thursday for Davis.

“We’re holding onto that hope that maybe she’s still alive out there and that would be the greatest thing in the world, but realistically we know after a period of time that that normally doesn’t happen,” said Tim Miller, the group’s director.

The FBI is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to Davis’ whereabouts. EquuSearch added a $5,000 reward.

 

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