Tabitha Danielle Tuders, 13, Msg. 4/29/03, Nashville, TN

[Pauli]

http://www.missingkids.com/photographs/NCMC961685c1.jpg
TABITHA DANIELLE TUDERS

http://www.missingkids.com/photographs/NCMC961685e1.jpg
Age Progression

Case Type: Lost, Injured, Missing DOB: Feb 15, 1990 Sex: Female Missing Date: Apr 29, 2003 Race: White Age Now: 17 Height: 5'1" (155 cm) Missing City: NASHVILLE Weight: 100 lbs (45 kg) Missing State : TN Hair Color: Sandy Missing Country: United States Eye Color: Blue Case Number: NCMC961685
Circumstances: Tabitha's photo is shown age-progressed to 17 years. She was last seen at approximately 7 a.m. on April 29, 2003 at her home. Tabitha has a birthmark on her stomach, a scar on her finger, and her ears are pierced.

[4thekids]

Details of Disappearance

Tuders was last seen by her family at approximately 7:00 a.m. on April 29, 2003, when her father woke her up in their home in the 1300 block of Lillian Street in Nashville, Tennessee. She was watching television when he went to work. She was supposed to board the school bus at 8:00 a.m. at 14th & Boscobel Streets. Tuders did not get on the bus and never arrived at Bailey Middle School, where she attended.
Tuders's parents contacted the school that evening when she failed to return home. When they found out she had been absent from school that day, they reported her missing shortly before 6:00 p.m. She does not have a history of a runaway and her parents cannot think of any reason why she would want to leave her home. She was a straight-A student with a perfect attendance record, and there is no evidence that she had a boyfriend. She was supposed to go visit the Six Flags of America amusement park in Louisville, Kentucky two weeks after she disappeared, and was very excited about the trip. Tuders left behind all her possessions, including her clothes, makeup, and $20.

A neighborhood boy told police he saw Tuders get into a red car with a thirty- to forty-year-old man on the morning of her disappearance. He says once Tuders was inside the vehicle, it reversed course and headed up a hill. The boy's story has not been confirmed, but tracker dogs traced Tuders's scent along a route similar to the one described by the boy. The dogs eventually traced her scent into an alley, a place Tuders's friends say she would never have gone to alone.

Authorities have not ruled out the possibility that Tuders left of her own accord, but as more time passes with no contact from her it becomes more unlikely that she ran away. Her mother and adult siblings have both taken and passed polygraph tests in connection with her disappearance. They and Tuders's father have all been cleared as suspects.

A piece of paper found in Tuders's room after her disappearance may have some connection to her case. A picture of it posted below this case summary. The paper reads, in Tuders's handwriting, "T.D.T. - N - M.T.L." T. D. T. are Tuders's initials; the initials of the other person are unknown. Also found was a business card with Tuders's name, address, phone number, and the notations "call me" and "sexy girl," the latter of which was crossed out and rewritten as "ghetto girl." The card turned out to have been given Tuders by a friend, though, and had no connection to her disappearance. Police searched the logs of a computer at the local public library where Tuders is said to have visited Internet chat rooms, but turned up no information pertaining to her disappearance.

Martin Tim Boyd, who was arrested for trying to lure an eleven-year-old girl into his car four months after Tuders's disappearance, was looked at as a person interest in Tuders's case because of the nature of the crime he is charged with and because the alleged incident happened just a few blocks from Tuders's home. There is no evidence connecting Boyd and Tuders, however, and he was eventually taken off the suspect list.

On October 30, 2003, a trucker reported a possible sighting of Tuders from Linton, Indiana. The trucker saw a girl accompanied by a man and another teenaged girl. The girl who looked like Tuders appeared to be anxious and afraid. Later, when he saw a missing persons flier of Tuders, he realized that she resembled the girl he'd seen and contacted police. A hotel clerk in Linton also saw a girl resembling Tuders with a man and a teenaged girl and reported it. These sightings has not been confirmed.

August 19, 2003, almost five months after Tuders's disappearance, an eleven-year-old girl named Heaven Ross disappeared while on her way to school in Northport, Alabama. Her remains were found in Holt, Alabama three years after her disappearance; her murder remains unsolved. Like Tuders, Ross had light-colored hair and disappeared in the morning hours on the way to school. Authorities are considering a possible connection between the girls' cases, though the distance between Nashville and Northport is great and so far no evidence has been uncovered to link the two cases.

Tuders's case remains unsolved. Investigators are not sure what happened to her, but they believe she is in danger.



Above: Card found in Tuders's room


Investigating Agency
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Nashville Metro Police Department
615-862-8600



Source Information
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
Nashville Police Department
Laura Recovery Center
News Channel 5 Network
Missing Child Alert - Nashville, TN
WKRN-TV
MSNBC
The Polly Klaas Foundation
Operation Lookout
The Linton Daily Citizen
The Oak Ridger
America's Most Wanted
The Ledger-Enquirer

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/t/tuders_tabitha.html

[Nut44x4]

Missing Child's Cousin Shot To Death

Posted: Jan 22, 2008 09:30 PM EST

http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=7759155

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - It has been five years since 13-year-old Tabitha Danielle Tuders disappeared.

Now her family is going through another tragedy.

On Monday night, her cousin Billy Tuders was shot to death as two teenagers tried to rob him.

Billy Jack Shane Tuders joined his relatives in the search for the Nashville girl who police said may have disappeared between her home and a school bus stop.

"That's my baby," said Janice Tuders about her son nicknamed He-Man. "I have four and they took my baby."

"First, it's one thing and then another," said his father David Crutchfield.

Tabitha disappeared in April 2003 from a school bus stop.

"He-man helped us search for Tabitha," said her mother Deborah Tuders. "He was good with all the kids."

On Monday night, Billy Tuders left work and walked across the street.

"He walks across the parking lot to get some cigarettes and evidently he pulled out some money," Crutchfield said, "and when he came out that was it."

On his way back, 16-year-old Kevin Buford and Raymond Pirtle,17, asked him for money. When he declined, police said, an altercation occurred before Tuders was shot.

"They might not even meant to kill him," Crutchfield said.

"But they did and they took him," Janice Tuders said.

He was shot in the back as he tried to walk away.

"They're cowards, yes they are," she said. "They run away. If they're big enough to own a gun, they're big enough to take whatever follows."

"This whole family has been through so much," Deborah Tuders said. "We buried my mother-in-law two years ago in October. Tabitha five years ago, now Shane. I don't know how much more this family can take."

"She was gone and no one knew what happened to her, but what we knew what happened to He-Man," said his mother.

The Tuders family still has hope that Tabitha will be found, but her mother said the family doesn't have any more information than they did the day she disappeared.

In Billy Tuder's case, the family is turning their attention toward his 6-year-old daughter Madison, trying to prepare for life without her father.

Buford and Pirtle were charged in juvenile court with criminal homicide.

~~~
family photos on site

[Roamer]

IMO they should be tried as adults. :mad:

Deepest condolences to the family. :1222423:

[Faith]

I think they should be tried as adults also.

Prayers for the family. :innocent0001:

[Pauli]

Five Years Later

Tabitha Tuders
Five years ago, 13-year-old Tabitha Tuders walked to the bus stop. Her family hasn’t heard from her since.
by Sarah Kelley (http://www.nashvillescene.com/Stories/Cover_Story/2008/04/24/Tabitha_Tuders/#authors)

http://www.nashvillescene.com/images/2008/04/24/cover_tabitha-400px.jpg

The tiny clapboard house on Lillian Street is bustling with visitors on a balmy winter afternoon.

Nearly a dozen rowdy children are playing tag in the backyard, their carefree laughter in stark contrast to the forlorn faces of older guests quietly conversing on the porch. Ominous clouds loom in a dark gray sky, creating a bleak backdrop for the occasion.

Bo Tuders sips coffee from a plastic travel mug as he tends to hamburgers and bratwursts sizzling on the grill. In a daze, he watches the giggling children duck behind several rickety vehicles parked in the grass. A cherry-red Bonneville convertible in need of attention, a rusty Ford pickup truck and an old pontoon boat line the perimeter of the property, along with a brown conversion van with a sticker spanning the top of the windshield that reads “Team Tabitha.” The latter is a reminder that today is not a celebration, a point reiterated by the buttons some of the guests are wearing. The laminated circular pins show a smiling young girl with freckles, deep-blue eyes and sandy-blond hair. Below the photograph is a plea: “Help Find Tabitha Tuders.”Pulling a pack of Winstons from the front pocket of his denim shirt, Bo explains that if his daughter were here, family and friends would be celebrating her 18th birthday with a backyard barbecue just as they are doing today. But even in her absence, they are compelled to observe this milestone. “We get a little relief out of it,” he says, releasing a steady stream of smoke as he speaks.Trying to forget that she’s gone is not an option.

Tabitha was 13 years old when she vanished on her way to catch the school bus just three blocks from her East Nashville home on April 29, 2003. Since then, five years of birthdays, Christmases, school dances and summer vacations have come and gone without any answers, and to this day Tabitha’s fate remains a mystery.

“It’s certainly one of those cases that haunts the community and haunts this police department,” says East Precinct Commander Robert Nash, one of a handful of Metro officers at Tabitha’s birthday gathering. Sounding genuinely troubled, Nash adds, “I think we all very much would like to see this case solved and see Tabitha come home.”

But as more time elapses without an arrest, the chances of cracking the case diminishes. Even so, Nash is quick to say that sometimes all it takes is one break—like a single phone call—to solve a cold case such as this.

The police presence on this emotional day represents the department’s ongoing commitment to the investigation, but it doesn’t erase critical missteps in the beginning. By failing to issue an Amber Alert, and inexplicably clinging to the notion that Tabitha might have run away, the department lost precious time in the early stages of the case. Investigators have since tried to play catch up.

Meanwhile, Tabitha’s loved ones have continued their own desperate search for answers. In the wake of her disappearance, a circuit of volunteers dubbed “Team Tabitha” combed the alleyways, abandoned homes and parks of East Nashville looking for any sign of the missing girl. They knocked on door after door asking if anyone had seen her, praying the next neighbor might hold the type of incidental clue that could unlock the mystery. They hung posters with Tabitha’s picture in corner groceries, at gas stations and on telephone poles, covering a few miles in each direction. But the dozens of volunteers eventually dwindled to just a handful of relatives and close friends who refuse to abandon hope.

“It’s hard not to think about,” family friend Johnny White says at the event honoring Tabitha’s Feb. 15 birthday. “You just think about it all the time.” Just an hour earlier, White drove the route Tabitha is believed to have walked the day she disappeared on her way to Bailey Middle School. It’s a path he’s traveled countless times hoping to gain clues in his role as the unofficial leader of the civilian search effort. Standing outside the Tuders’ home, White points up the hill toward nearby 14th Street, explaining, “That’s the direction the dogs followed.”

Without chiming in, the burly but mild-mannered Bo Tuders simply nods in agreement, pulling another cigarette from his pack.

As the afternoon progresses, the gray sky surrenders to a light mist, just in time for the nearly 40 guests to cram inside the living room for a brief prayer service before it’s time to eat. The mood of the day straddles the line between a special occasion and a somber memorial, and talk of Tabitha alternates between past and present tense.

Among the many family photographs lining a large built-in bookshelf are pictures of Tabitha, including a striking close-up in which straight blond hair frames her tan face, and a wide smile reveals her slightly crooked front teeth. But mixed in with playful photos of the lighthearted child is yet another reminder of the family’s ongoing nightmare. Displayed in a brass frame fit for a graduation photo is an 8-by-10 age-enhanced picture of Tabitha, created by experts at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. With a thinner face, and shorter hair, the likeness is a stretch, but it’s the closest thing the Tuders have to knowing how their youngest child might look as a young woman.

The Rev. Sam Jones, a family acquaintance and minister, steps into the center of the room overflowing with relatives, friends, neighbors and police officers. He begins by explaining that Tabitha means “gazelle,” an appropriate name given her limitless energy. After reading a few verses from the Bible, the white-haired minister ends with the statement: “If she’s not alive on Earth, she’s alive in the arms of the Lord.”

Nothing was out of the ordinary at 1312 Lillian St. on the morning of April 29, 2003.

Debra Tuders awoke at 6 a.m. to find Tabitha sleeping soundly at the foot of their bed, as she often did. Although Tabitha had her own bedroom, she sometimes crept into her parents’ room in the middle of the night, curling up on a pallet of pillows and blankets on the floor. Unable to explain exactly why she came into their room at night, the couple simply say it made their little girl feel secure, and that’s all that mattered.

As her husband still lay sleeping, Debra got dressed and ready for her job as a cafeteria cook at nearby Tom Joy Elementary. “I stepped over Tabitha, I got ready for work and I left,” Debra explains during a recent interview. “I didn’t know that was going to be my last time looking at her.”

A short time later, Bo awoke and embarked on a similarly unremarkable morning ritual before heading to his job as a short-haul truck driver. Just before he was about to leave at 7 a.m., Bo gently shook Tabitha, who lay in her nightgown on the floor. In detail, he recounts their last, brief conversation, during which he told his groggy daughter to get up and get ready for school, that he loved her, and that he would see her later that evening. “She just said, ‘Alright daddy, I’m getting up. I love you, too.’ And that was it.”

Once Bo departed, Tabitha was left to get ready for school as usual, but she wasn’t home alone. Also at the house that morning was Tabitha’s older sister, Jamie, and her two young children, who at the time were temporarily residing in the small two-bedroom house. Still asleep with her kids when Tabitha left for school, Jamie said she never spoke to her sister that morning.

At or about 7:50 a.m., the young teen walked out the front door of her weathered white house wearing Mudd jeans, a light-blue shirt and Reebok sneakers, and set out on her quick journey to the bus stop. Despite the short distance, Tabitha’s path passed through a poor swath of East Nashville filled with sex offenders, ex-cons and odd, troubled souls, whose names would later end up in a police file downtown.

One man told detectives he saw Tabitha turning the corner from Lillian onto 14th Street, still within sight of her home. Other witnesses spotted her walking uphill along 14th toward Boscobel Street, where she caught the bus each morning at the foot of a steep slope.

A television repairman living near the top of Boscobel glanced out the open front door of his dark wood-sided house and noticed Tabitha casually strolling down the hill while reading a half-sheet of paper, which some think was the glowing, straight-A report card she received the day before. “She was walking real slow, reading some papers. It didn’t look like she was in a hurry,” says the neighbor, adding that it didn’t appear she was looking for anyone either. “Then I just closed the door, and that’s it.”

Possibly the last person to see Tabitha on her normal route was a young boy waiting for the school bus at the bottom of the hill at Boscobel and 15th Street. And although his account seemed to reveal the most specific and potentially crucial detail about her disappearance, police have questioned his credibility from the beginning.

The boy claimed Tabitha was walking down the hill as a red car pulled up beside her about halfway down the hill. The young witness said Tabitha got into the car, at which point the driver—a black male wearing a ball cap—turned around and headed back up the hill.

It’s been five years since their little girl vanished without a trace, and Bo and Debra Tuders still talk about her every day. The sadness is constant, but talking about Tabitha eases the pain.

“Out of the whole five years that kid has been gone not a day has gone by that her name is not mentioned,” Debra says, sitting on a blue overstuffed couch in her dimly lit living room on a rainy April afternoon. Picking up a small, framed photo of a young, laughing Tabitha, Debra says, “I have her picture sitting here on this table, right next to where I sit, and I talk to that picture.”

Dressed comfortably in a dark-blue sweatsuit, Debra sits on the edge of the couch, admiring the slightly blurry snapshot in a black plastic frame. And for a moment, her downcast demeanor shifts to a slight smile, and then to a laugh. But the smile fades in an instant, and she sits the photograph back in its usual spot on the table draped with a white table cloth and cluttered with knickknacks.

Then Debra’s cell phone rings, and she steps out of the room to take the call.

Seated on a matching blue couch across the room, Bo stubs out a cigarette in a plastic pink ashtray and explains, “We used to have a house phone, but we had it took out because people would play prank calls on us. They’d call and say things like, ‘This is Tabitha, daddy, can you come get me?’ ”
http://www.nashvillescene.com/images/2008/04/24/cover_tuders-parents.jpg
Bo and Debra Tuders
These days the house is mostly quiet. Too quiet. And just when the silence becomes unbearable, the couple find themselves talking about Tabitha, whom they lovingly refer to by the nickname “Boo.” But for Tabitha’s siblings—Jamie, who is eight years older, and Kevin who is 12 years older—it was a while before they’d reminisce about their sister. “Each one of us deals with the situation different. They are more open with it than they were at first,” Debra says. “We talk about her a lot, though. We’ve got each other.”

Sometimes Bo and Debra visit the garden planted for their daughter outside Bailey Middle School, often speaking to Tabitha as though she were right beside them. On the lush green lawn of the school, a simple wooden bench overlooks a cherry tree, now in full bloom with light pink flowers, and a concrete angel sits in a small patch of garden. An engraved brass plaque on the bench reads, “Dedicated to the Memory of Tabitha Tuders.”

As a seventh-grader, Tabitha was just beginning to excel at school, and she was incredibly proud of her soaring grades. Tabitha’s homeroom teacher remembers her as a friendly and studious girl who performed especially well in language arts class.

In great detail, Diane Jarrell recalls exactly where Tabitha sat in her homeroom—first row of desks, third seat from the back—and that her straight hair was constantly falling in front of her face. She fondly remembers Tabitha and her best friend frequently volunteering to help in the library. “They would argue over who got to use the electric stapler. Tabitha won every time,” says Jarrell, who switched positions to school librarian midway through that year. “I don’t believe a day went by without seeing the duo in the library, and I would have to repeatedly remind them to quit giggling so loudly.”

To this day Jarrell keeps a small white “missing” postcard above her desk at home with Tabitha’s picture on it. “It’s hard to believe it’s been five years since that day.” As for whether Tabitha might have left home on her own, she rejects that as even a remote possibility, saying she saw no signs of a troubled home life: “I never believed she ran away.”

On most afternoons, Tabitha came bounding through the front door at 4 p.m., eager to tell her mother about her day. But on this Tuesday in the spring of 2003, the minutes ticked by without her arrival. Assuming the bus was late, or that perhaps Tabitha was dawdling on her way home, Debra walked the three blocks to the bus stop, which she found deserted.

Believing her daughter might have missed the bus, Debra then drove two miles to Bailey Middle School, only to find the building locked. Unable to find anyone to ask about Tabitha’s whereabouts, she went home and anxiously waited for her daughter to come barreling into the house with an explanation.

But by 5 p.m., Bo had returned from work and still there was no sign of Tabitha. The couple returned to the massive red brick school and banged on the metal doors until finally a janitor answered and let them inside.

Frantically roaming the cavernous halls, the Tuders tracked down a teacher. When they asked if she had seen Tabitha after school, the teacher told them that their daughter never made it to school that day. Their hearts sank, panic set in and they raced home to call 911. “Right away we thought somebody snatched her up,” Debra says, adding that she knew her daughter would never cut school, and certainly would never run away.

Because school officials did not call to inform them of Tabitha’s absence, more than 10 hours had elapsed since they last saw her.

Almost 45 minutes after receiving the call, an officer responded to interview the Tuders and fill out a missing person report, and from the very beginning, the couple insisted their daughter was not a runaway.

Within two hours, officers were canvassing the neighborhood, fanning out as far as Shelby Park and LP Field nearly two miles away, searching local markets and empty buildings. More than 15 officers continued looking for Tabitha overnight, but because of inclement weather police were unable to use a helicopter in the search.

The department informed the media in time for the 10 p.m. news that Tabitha was missing, but police did not issue an Amber Alert, a broadcast system used to notify the public and other law enforcement agencies about missing children.

Police were harshly criticized for refusing to do so, but they still defend the decision, saying Tabitha’s disappearance did not meet the necessary criteria. “The police department was unable to determine that an abduction had occurred,” says Metro Police spokesman Don Aaron. “There was no physical evidence of that."
http://www.nashvillescene.com/images/2008/04/24/cover_tabitha1.jpg

The same mantra that no scenario can be ruled out has been repeated again and again, starting on the day Tabitha disappeared. And while police came out in full force to search during the first 72 hours, some officers made it clear to reporters they believed Tabitha was a troubled teen who left home on her own accord. As the investigation dragged on for weeks and then months with no word from the missing girl, it became increasingly apparent that someone kidnapped her.

In mid-July, more than two long months after she disappeared, police embarked on their largest and most systematic hunt for Tabitha, setting up a command center at LP Field. With the help of search dogs, officers carefully looked up and down residential streets one by one. They conducted a subsequent and equally thorough search of Shelby Bottoms Greenway on July 29, but no new evidence was discovered.

Rather than acknowledge any missteps in the investigation, then-Metro Police Chief Deborah Faulkner instead shirked responsibility, going so far as to blame the Tuders for a lack of progress. Shortly after the focus of the investigation changed to one of potential foul play, Faulkner told the Associated Press that it took the family three days to nail down what Tabitha was wearing, further chastising them for supplying police with outdated photos.

Needless to say, Faulkner’s tenure as interim chief was short-lived, and a new chief was appointed in January 2004.

Within days of taking over the department, Ronal Serpas announced his belief that the teenager was indeed abducted and declared the case a top priority. Some critics question whether Serpas has lived up to the promise, particularly as public interest in the case faded. The chief continues to receive updates on the investigation, according to Aaron, who says the case remains a priority. And while the top cop’s interest in the case seems to have ebbed, it’s clear that a handful of detectives over the years have continued poring over leads, scrutinizing past statements and re-interviewing witnesses in an effort to crack the case. Three years into an investigation that had grown cold, a veteran detective was assigned to investigate Tabitha’s disappearance to see if he could uncover any new clues. For 15 months, the detective worked solely on solving Tabitha’s case, reviewing every shred of information with the assistance of fellow officers, but to no avail.

When asked if the department held on to the possibility that Tabitha was a runaway for too long, Aaron says that even now, detectives can’t rule out any scenarios, given that they don’t know anything about the circumstances of her disappearance. “The police department publicly stated that Tabitha’s parents reported that she had not run away before and knew of no reason why she would be inclined to run away,” he says. “Still, there was no evidence discovered or developed indicating that she had met with foul play.”

The Tuders have always rejected the notion that Tabitha might have run away, saying their daughter had absolutely no reason to leave and nowhere to go. “They all thought she was a runaway. We tried to convince them she wasn’t,” her father says of the police. “What did she have to run away from?” One by one, the Tuders list Tabitha’s attributes and everything that was going well in her young life.
http://www.nashvillescene.com/images/2008/04/24/cover_tabithas_room.jpg
Time Stands Still Tabitha’s room remains unchanged.
About six months before she disappeared, Tabitha had started attending church with her best friend’s family, and soon she was singing in the Eastland Baptist Church choir and regularly volunteering at spaghetti dinners.

The Sunday before she vanished, Tabitha won $20 for memorizing her Ten Commandments at church, money that—along with all of her other possessions—was left behind on that last day she departed for school.

“The only time we were apart was at work and school. We were inseparable,” says Debra, who describes Tabitha as innocent for her age, lacking the typical attitude of many teenage girls. “She didn’t act like a normal 13-year-old. She was 13, but sometimes she acted like she was 8. She would just rather be here with us than doing anything else.”

Bo and Debra paint a picture of a much-loved daughter whose idea of mischief was “cutting up and making people laugh.” They recall the time when Tabitha was determined to bake her mother’s homemade biscuits without assistance, and how she spent all afternoon methodically following the recipe, proudly serving them at dinner that night. That same year, when a neighbor’s air conditioner broke in the sweltering summer, it was Tabitha who invited the woman and her dogs over to escape the heat. The young girl also befriended an elderly neighbor whom she affectionately called “grandma,” visiting her and often reading to her a few times a week.

“Tabitha, she had a good heart, a big ol’ heart,” Debra says in a low, sad tone, her husband agreeing from across the room.

As for boys, Tabitha’s parents say that unlike many girls her age, she was not yet interested. “She never had a boyfriend. Boys would call here, and she’d say, ‘Daddy, tell them I’m not here.’ She wasn’t boy crazy,” says Bo, shaking his head with the certainty of a father.

When her closest girlfriends spent the night, they would listen to music, play video games and stay up late talking in Tabitha’s room, which for the most part remains exactly as she left it.

Dozens of plush stuffed animals line a bookshelf, along with trinkets and other keepsakes the family has bought for Tabitha over the past five years. Above a girly white, four-poster bed hangs a poster of Tabitha’s name spelled out in flowers, a gift her parents bought for her when they traveled to New York to share her story on The John Walsh Show. Frilly purple and white curtains match the lavender walls, which were painted Tabitha’s favorite color after she was gone.

Pointing to a weathered picture of a chubby baby, Bo laughs and says, “If you can believe it, that’s Tabitha. That small, petite little thing was almost 10 pounds when she was born.”

Talking about their daughter, the Tuders are laughing and reminiscing one minute, and on the verge of tears the very next. The memories keep them going, while the thought of what might have been is excruciating.

Tabitha would be a senior at Stratford High School this year and on the verge of graduating. Bo and Debra plan to attend the graduation ceremony, during which there will be a moment of silence in Tabitha’s honor. “I know it’s going to be heartbreaking,” her mother says, “but I’m going to attend.”

The first night Tabitha was gone, Bo and Debra Tuders helplessly roamed the dark streets in search of their daughter, joined by officers and droves of community volunteers. When morning came, they continued searching despite their exhaustion. As the days progressed without solace, the Tuders were desperate, waiting for any glimmer of hope.

A steady stream of friends and relatives visited the house, bringing hot meals and a bit of comfort. A group of neighbors devised a plan to provide the family with dinner night after night, a gesture that continued for longer than anyone anticipated. Neighbors created a schedule, and for nearly an entire year, they delivered hot suppers to 1312 Lillian St.

“Thinking back, I wish we could have done more. I wish we could have done something to bring her home, but at least we were able to take care of them a little bit,” says Margaret Hart, a neighbor who helped organize the meals. Although she didn’t even know the Tuders at the time, she has since gotten to know the couple quite well, and feels as though she knows Tabitha, too. Like many residents of this close-knit, working-class neighborhood, Hart is haunted by the disappearance, saying she sometimes finds herself looking for Tabitha’s face in crowds. “It’s just a mystery to me what happened to that child. To think she wasn’t even safe to walk to the bus stop,” she says, pausing and taking a deep breath. “Poor little Tabitha. I don’t know. I just don’t know.”

Within a week of the disappearance, volunteers with the Shawn Hornbeck Foundation—a Missouri-based missing children organization—arrived in Nashville, bringing with them a team of scent-tracking dogs. The group canvassed the neighborhood, and the search dogs tracked Tabitha’s scent, following her typical route up 14th Street and onto Boscobel. Halfway down the hill, the dogs reversed course and headed back up the hill, corroborating the boy’s story about the red car.

Bo and Debra are inclined to believe the boy’s claim, but they say their daughter never would have willingly gotten into a car with anyone other than a family member, leading them to believe she was grabbed off the street. “I don’t think it was anybody that she knew,” Debra says. “Tabitha wouldn’t even get into the car with my neighbor without asking me first.”
But family friend Johnny White isn’t so sure, suggesting Tabitha might have been coerced into the red vehicle by an acquaintance, someone she trusted and who was capable of manipulating her. “I don’t think there could be a lot of suspects,” says White, adding that the boy said Tabitha got into the car without a struggle.

Detectives will not confirm or deny any theories, including whether they believe the account of Tabitha getting into a red car.

“We’re not saying the boy lied or that it’s a misstatement,” says Sgt. Mike Norton, who has actively investigated the case in recent months alongside lead Detective Tom Rollins. “We’ve just never been able to corroborate his story as fact.”

Making the mysterious disappearance all the more complicated to solve, detectives early on were faced with the near epic task of questioning the many unsavory characters living in Tabitha’s rough corner of the world. There was no shortage of sex offenders and criminals living in this gritty pocket of Nashville, some residing on the same block the Tuders have called home for 20 years.

There was a husband and wife—former residents of Lillian Street—arrested two weeks after Tabitha’s disappearance for allegedly raping a minor. The couple lived just a few houses down from the Tuders. Then there was Millard Earl Smith, a registered sex offender arrested in June 2003 after luring a young boy onto his motorcycle, then driving him to a secluded location and attempting to sexually assault him. The boy—who managed to escape unharmed—attended Bailey Middle School, where Tabitha also went to school. Smith now is serving time for this attempted assault, and for raping a woman he kidnapped from the Greyhound bus station. Police also questioned Leslie Paul Duke, yet another shady neighbor who spent more than a decade in prison for sexually abusing his four daughters. It was one of Duke’s own family members who warned the Tuders that their predatory relative might be involved in Tabitha’s disappearance. According to Tennessee’s sex offender registry, Duke still resides just a mile from the Tuders on Granada Avenue.

Of particular interest to police was a local maintenance worker who claimed to have seen Tabitha on the morning she vanished while he was driving a boy to Stratford High School. But the man’s story didn’t add up, and he was unable to give a legitimate reason for being in the area of Lillian Street that morning. This man drew even more suspicion by disparaging the missing girl on more than one occasion, including during a conversation with Scene reporters in 2003 when he described with his hands how Tabitha was beginning to develop physically. Police declared him an “active person of interest” in the summer of 2003, and aggressively searched his home, using a special chemical called Luminol to detect any blood. But after searching his apartment near Shelby Park, police found no incriminating evidence and interest in him lessened.

“A lot of people had an opportunity to take Tabitha Tuders that morning,” Norton says. “Tabitha was going to get on the school bus like she does every morning. After she left that house we don’t know what happened to her, to be quite frank. We just don’t know.”

As the years have progressed, leads have dwindled, but police still receive occasional tips. In fact, earlier this month detectives were looking into a new one, although if the past is any indication, it will result in another dead end. “There’s something we’re pursuing right now. It’s a new lead, and we take them all very seriously,” says Norton. “This one may not pan out, but we look at all of them.”

As for whether police believe Tabitha was abducted by a stranger, or by someone she knew, Norton says unfortunately he doesn’t have an answer. “What’s so baffling about this case is that a 13-year-old child disappeared with nobody seeing anything that we can absolutely say happened for sure.”

But in a rare departure from the department’s long-standing refusal to rule out any scenarios, Norton says one thing is clear: This girl did not willingly leave home. “Tabitha Tuders is certainly not a runaway, and it’s not like her parents were not keeping up with her.”

In the weeks after Tabitha was reported missing, family members submitted to exhaustive questioning, as well as routine lie detector tests. Investigators would not discuss the results of the tests, but nearly two years after the disappearance, police sources told the Scene there were “unresolved issues” with Tabitha’s older sister.

In March 2005, Jamie Tuders (now Jamie Pulley) told a Scene reporter that she had failed three of four lie detector and stress tests, although she blamed her interrogators for exerting too much pressure, confusing and even threatening her. “The very first detective who ever talked to me told me that they were going to take my kids away if I failed those tests,” Jamie says. “He said that my family and everybody else was going to see me on the news.”

Pressure from police eventually subsided, according to Jamie, who says a high-ranking police official later told her that the results of those three lie-detector tests were in fact inconclusive. “For them to do that to me, it not only hurt me, but it hurt my family seeing them do that to me,” says Jamie, crying for just a moment. “I understand they’re detectives and they have to do their job. They were just fishing for something, I guess.”

Just last year, Jamie wrote on an Internet message board: “All we want is for my sister to come back home.… We miss her and love her very much!! If at all you see this Boo don’t be scared, be strong and know that we are still looking for you. I love you!!”

After scrutinizing every detail of Tabitha’s disappearance, Johnny White will not go so far as to say that he thinks Jamie was involved. But the longtime family friend has spent countless hours investigating the case, and as a result he strongly believes that one of Jamie’s former boyfriends should be at least a person of interest in the case.

But Jamie rejects that opinion, saying, “I never had that feeling.”

On the morning Tabitha vanished, Jamie’s boyfriend had gotten off work stocking shelves at a nearby retail store at 7 a.m., according to White. Having previously lived at the Tuders’ home for several months, the boyfriend—who was driving a red car that day and who matches the description of the driver—also knew when and where Tabitha caught the bus each morning. And in the wake of the disappearance, White says Jamie’s boyfriend did not assist in the search effort.

“He was never helpful, and Jamie protected him from being questioned,” says White. “If he’s not a person of interest, who is?”

Jamie eventually broke up with that boyfriend, and has since married someone else.

When asked whether Jamie’s former boyfriend or anyone close to Tabitha is being considered as a person on interest, Sgt. Norton says he can’t discuss anything that detailed, for fear of jeopardizing the case. “It’s really hard to say we’re looking for this guy or that guy. Technically, nobody has been eliminated,” says Norton, adding that he’s still optimistic, a necessity in his job. “As far as I’m concerned, there’s a 50 percent chance she’s still alive.”

And while the likelihood of finding Tabitha safe diminishes with each passing day, the department will not stop searching.

“In a couple of years, if we haven’t found her, we’ll start from the beginning and go through the case again. You have to keep going through it,” Norton explains, comparing this method of review to reading a book again and again. “You read a book once, then you read it a second time and you pick up on something you didn’t see the first time around.”

Meanwhile, the Tuders are left to wait for their little girl’s return, or at the very least the ability to move on and grieve.

Not long after Tabitha disappeared, the Tuders desperately shared their daughter’s story with a few daytime talk shows, hoping someone might catch the segment and know something. The couple poured their hearts out on The Montel Williams Show, only to be told by a questionable psychic that their little girl was no longer alive and that her remains were in a field (although her psychic powers could not determine where). That same psychic gave the family of Shawn Hornbeck the very same grave news, yet the Missouri boy was found alive in 2007 held captive by a man outside St. Louis more than four years after his disappearance.

“That gives you a lot of hope,” says Debra, who sits quietly for a moment with her husband.Uncertain of their daughter’s fate, hope is all they have, and without answers, they cling to the thought that she’s still alive. If anyone is holding Tabitha against her will, or has any information, her mother pleads with them to come forward: “If she’s still out there, we just want her to come back home.”

http://www.nashvillescene.com/Stories/Cover_Story/2008/04/24/Tabitha_Tuders/

[packy]

It's heartbreaking.

It seemed pretty sure that she was on her way to school with people seeing her along her route. And it's confusing that they say they were never able to corroborate the story of the red car. How do you corroborate something like that. It's there and then it's gone.

[Roamer]

What a heartbreaking story. :1187603408.CR.Mothe

[Faith]

This is a very sad story.

[packy]

So sad. Hope somebody sees her picture and recognizes her. I noticed that a poster named Claire B mentioned her case at the Nashville scene site. Pointing out that they do investigative work. http://www.yelp.com/biz/nashville-scene-nashville

[foxfarmboxers]

So much heartache this family has experienced. My heart and prayers go out to them.

[AmyE]

http://www.tabithatuders.net/

[Roamer]

No information.

[AmyE]

No new updates!

[nanabillie]

http://www.examiner.com/x-7975-Nashville-Adventures-Examiner~y2009m5d12-Nashville-missing-child-Tabitha-Tuders-did-not-disappear


Complete story at link

Nashville Adventures Examiner (http://www.examiner.com/x-7975-Nashville-Adventures-Examiner)

Nashville missing child Tabitha Tuders did not disappear.

May 12, 11:36 PM

Feed



http://image.examiner.com/images/blog/wysiwyg/image/TTudersorig(1).jpghttp://image.examiner.com/images/blog/wysiwyg/image/TTudersorig(2).jpg
Everyone in Nashville wondered how 13-year-old Tabitha Tuders disappeared on April 29, 2003 somewhere between her home on Lillian street and the bus stop on Shelby Avenue, a distance of only a few blocks. But Tabitha did not disappear.
There is no such thing as someone ‘disappearing,’ even in a magic act. There is a reasonable, sometimes simple, explanation to how all magic tricks are accomplished. After all, the only ‘magic’ in magic is making people believe it is real. The reality is, Tabitha Tuders was either abducted or left on her own accord. A reasonable explanation exists but no one knows what it is. And therein lies the heartache the Tuders family has endured for six years

[Pauli]

National Vigil Sheds Light on Missing Person Cases
Posted: May 17, 2009 10:14 PM
http://wtvf.images.worldnow.com/images/static/gfx/c_fv_tl.gif Video Gallery

<1>

http://wtvf.images.worldnow.com/images/3769762_vt.jpg (http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=10377563#)National Vigil Sheds Light on Missing Person Cases (http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=10377563#)

2:39


http://wtvf.images.worldnow.com/images/10377563_BG1.jpg http://wtvf.images.worldnow.com/images/static/gfx/pxl_trans.gif
http://wtvf.images.worldnow.com/images/static/gfx/pxl_trans.gif

CLARSKVILLE, Tenn.- Clarksville joined a dozen other cities in the fight to keep missing people at the fore-front.

Tabitha Tuders could be Nashville's most notorious missing persons case.
Sunday night her parents joined other families with missing loved ones across the country for a national "vigil for hope."

Nothing will keep Bo and Debra Tuders from putting their daughter's picture before a TV audience or from putting themselves before anyone who will listen. Six years Tabitha Tuders is arguably the face for missing children in Middle Tennessee, but in 2009, she's also the face of hope.

"At this point, hope's the only thing we got. And uh...you give up on hope and you might as well just throw your hands down and say, 'I give.' But that's not coming out of us. Hope's all we got and we'll keep on having hope until she's returned," said Bo Tuders, Tabitha's father.

The Tuders jumped at the opportunity to be part of this national vigil for prayer. They were invited by Clarksville's "Angel Wings Air Search and Rescue," a grassroots group that strives to put eyes in the sky when anyone goes missing.

"If we need helicopters with infrared ya know, to be able to go down and search -- or up and search down, uhm...to be able to locate them," said Katharine Johnston, Founder, Angel's Wings Air Search and Rescue
Even this far into it, her parents presume Tabitha Tuders is still alive, and just like the countless cases out there, there's hope of bringing here home.
"We're not going to give up. I mean, we're just going to keep hoping every day that we find her. I mean, I wish I did know where she was because I would be there to get her. Believe me, I would be there," said Debra Tuders, Tabitha Tuders's mother.

Tabitha Tuders vanished on her way to her school bus stop in April 2003 and is presumed abducted. Detectives are working off an electronically age progressed picture and swear new leads come in pretty regularly.
Child fingerprinting was offered at this vigil as one way parents can proactively protect their children against kidnapping.


http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=10377563

[Lizziebeth]

Metro Police: Tabitha Tuders investigation “is in better shape than it has ever been”

June 28, 10:35 AM

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t53/i_am_me_hahaha/missing/tabithaposter1.jpg
Tabitha's photo on the Task Force room wall


A huge, black file cabinet and a tall, tan cabinet occupy a corner of the conference room. To open a drawer is a Herculean effort, as each is filled with files, binders, photographs, videotapes, and evidence. “And this isn’t even half of it,” Captain Marlene Pardue explains, nodding at the corner. For example, there are over 15 three-inch binders overflowing with information. Hanging over Captain Pardue’s shoulder is a life – size photograph of the subject of all this information on a MISSING poster: 13-year-old Tabitha Tuders.

Metropolitan Police Department Youth Services Division Captain Marlene Pardue heads the Task Force assigned to the Tabitha Tuders case. The team includes Lead Investigator Detective Tom Rollins, a man with over 20 years in policing, and two other investigators who work the case part-time. Each week Captain Pardue meets with the three detectives and two Sergeants in the room with the files and the poster to discuss the week’s tips, leads, and information. “We’ve committed resources to this case the last five years,” Captain Pardue explains. “I think that says a lot about the commitment of the police department.”

The Tabitha Tuders case is one of the strangest cases in Nashville history, and Metro Police’s investigative history. Tabitha left her home in east Nashville on the morning of April 29, 2003, walked past three houses, turned a corner, walked toward a bus stop to catch her school bus, and was never heard from again. Technically, legally, she must be treated as both a runaway and abduction, “because no body has been found,” explains Captain Pardue. Law enforcement must follow the law. For the officers, there is a fine line between emotion and reason, legal and visceral. “Part of you has to go over to the legal side. Part of you – your heart goes out to the family. But you have to have a balance or you won’t be successful.” It is akin to a doctor who must tell a patient the patient has cancer, then the doctor bursts into tears: treatment would not be effective. Police must balance compassion with reason. In the Tabitha Tuders case, Captain Pardue is speaking from personal and professional experience.

The Tuders were family friends of Captain Marlene Pardue’s family, and Pardue’s daughter knew Tabitha. Captain Pardue, her husband, and her daughter went to the Tuder home the afternoon Tabitha went missing. Marlene Pardue was working in the ID Division for Metro then, her husband was a Metro Officer, and her daughter, a pretty little girl with freckles across her nose akin to Tabitha’s, offered support, according to Bo Tuders, Tabitha’s father. “I like her,” Bo says of Pardue, “She helped us.” Now Captain Pardue shakes her head at the thought of being a parent to a missing child. “I can’t imagine,” her voice drops and she stares at her desktop. “I can’t imagine the pain the Tuders are going through…” Then she looks up, looks you in the eye, her voice strong. “But I have no doubt, no doubt in my mind, those two, (parents) Bo and Debra, love that child. Love that child.” This balance, of reason and emotion, is what makes Captain Marlene Pardue the right Leader for this Task Force.

Captain Marlene Pardue has the balance of nurturing instinct and she is what is called a “cop’s cop:” hardworking, dedicated, funny, honest, and straightforward. She looks you in the eye when she talks to you. As they say, ‘if you cut her, she’ll bleed police blue.’ By the time she was 21 she was certified in Jaws of Life operations and a multitude of significant firefighting skills. Pardue earned her stripes by arresting violent offenders, talking down violent gang members, domestic violent offenders, and intoxicated combatants. After the ID Division, she worked in Homicide Cold Case solving cases the rest of the department had to file away. Currently in Youth Services, she oversees investigations of child murders, rapes, runaways, and abuse cases. In her spare time, Captain Pardue is committed to doing volunteer work with local nonprofit organizations for local domestic violence education / prevention programs for both women and children. The ultimate goal of these programs is to prevent domestic crimes against women and the youth of Nashville.

What has her work in Youth Services taught her about protecting children? “You have to know what your child is doing,” Captain Pardue emphasizes. “We have such an easy capacity of communication now: texting, Myspace, Facebook. Most of it is harmless. But pay attention to who your kids are talking to,” she advises, although she knows this is no easy task. “Do your best.”

Giving a tour of the Tuders Task Force room, Captain Marlene Pardue stops under the MISSING poster of Tabitha. The Tuders case “is in better shape than it has ever been.” The Lead Detective is well versed in the case; five years of investigative efforts are cataloged and organized, no easy task and multiple investigators have worked the case until now. A core group is focused on suspects. Captain Pardue points to a computer screen. “If we get an anonymous email (that) Tabitha is working in a Las Vegas bordello, we’ll follow up until it’s proven false.” The team rules nothing out.

Perhaps you know something, saw something on or after April 29, 2003. Maybe you heard something about Tabitha Tuders. “If you have information but haven’t reported it, please call us,” Captain Pardue asks examiner.com readers. “There is some little piece of information out there, someone who hasn’t come forward yet.”

On the second floor of the Justice Center in Nashville is a nondescript room with well-worn chairs. In the corner are two cabinets heavy with reams of information. Each week a team of trained officers come here, pens scratching out more notes on how to find a little girl: a little girl who loved the color lavender, Teddy bears, and, most of all, her family. Above the team the little girl seems to watch silently from her own MISSING poster on the wall. She is forever frozen in time at 13 years old. She appears to be waiting for results, like her family, like the rest of Nashville, like the dedicated team sitting under her poster.

If you have any information about Tabitha, Please Contact Nashville Metro Police Department at 1-615-862-8600

Tabitha Myspace page - add it!

More information

http://www.examiner.com/x-7975-Nashville-Adventures-Examiner~y2009m6d28-Metro-Police-Tabitha-Tuders-investigation-is-in-better-shape-than-it-has-ever-been

[Lizziebeth]

Myspaces for Tabitha.
Run by her sister Jamie:
http://www.myspace.com/helpfindtabithatuders

three more run by others:
http://www.myspace.com/tabithaismissing

http://www.myspace.com/findtabithatuders

http://www.myspace.com/459463948

[Yates.examiner]

I am a writer for examiner.com/Nashville seeking ANYONE who knew Tabitha. Please keep up with her story by reading my articles at

http://www.examiner.com/x-30576-Nashville-True-Crime-Examiner

You can also contact me here. I will NOT stop until I find out what happened to her. I promised her...

[Jute]

Thank you for dedication and determination, Ms. Yates. Welcome to HFTM; it is a wonderful site for people to not only seek, but share information.

Here is the link to Ms. Yates' article on Tabitha:

http://www.examiner.com/x-30576-Nashville-True-Crime-Examiner~y2009m12d19-Tabitha-Tuders-home-for-Christmas

[gabby]

I am a writer for examiner.com/Nashville seeking ANYONE who knew Tabitha. Please keep up with her story by reading my articles at

http://www.examiner.com/x-30576-Nashville-True-Crime-Examiner

You can also contact me here. I will NOT stop until I find out what happened to her. I promised her...

Welcome to HFTM. I pray you find out what happened to her. And my prayers and thoughts are with Tabitha and and her family.

[Yates.examiner]

I am a writer for examiner.com/nashville AND an investigator, but not with any law enforcement entity. I am interested in speaking with anyone who knew Tabitha Tuders.

After my first interview & story with the family, I sat in my vehicle and stared at Boscobel Street. I could see Tabitha walking to school that day. I said aloud, "I will find the truth."

And I will. But I need your help. Contact me at examiner.yates@comcast.net

[Amusedtdth]

Welcome again and I pray you do find the truth, this family has endured so much.

[Nut44x4]

Shouldn't the title read 13?

[Pauli]

Police Get Help In Tabitha Tuders Search

Girl Disappeared 7 Years Ago

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Police haven't given up on the case of Tabitha Tuders, whom they still believe was abducted on her way to a bus stop. Now with some extra help, Metro police are hoping their efforts will lead to new information. http://www.wsmv.com/sh/images/ibs_icon/mere/video.gifVideo: Police Aided In Search For Tabitha Tuders (http://www.wsmv.com/video/22480438/index.html)

"When she left, a part of me left with her, because she was my heart," said Debra Tuders, Tabitha's mother (http://www.wsmv.com/news/22478394/detail.html#).

It's the question no one's ever been able to answer: What happened to Tabitha Tuders on her way to the bus stop?

"Tabitha has been missing and has not been heard from in seven years. In Nashville, that's just something that we don't have," said Metro Police Capt. Marlene Pardue.There have been exhaustive searches, and tips are still coming in, but nothing has panned out. But during a recent trip to Virginia, Pardue presented the Tabitha Tuders case to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Investigators there were able to offer some new and valuable advice on how Metro police should proceed with the case.

"We have put some things in place that we're going to do," Pardue said.She would not talk specifics but did tell Channel 4 that sometime in March, special investigators from the center will come to Nashville to help with the case. She said their expertise in certain areas will help with critical parts of the investigation.

"We'll probably go back and try to talk to everyone in the neighborhood to see did we miss something, does one of the people in the neighborhood know something that maybe they didn't come forward with initially in the investigation?" said Pardue.

It's new energy being put into an old case.Tabitha would be 19 years old now. Seven years without her, her parents (http://www.wsmv.com/news/22478394/detail.html#) believe she's alive."One day she's going to come home or the case is going to be broke, and we're going to find something," said Debra Tuders.

http://www.wsmv.com/news/22478394/detail.html

[Pandabear]

Such a sad case. I pray that Tabitha is alive and well and that she comes home to her family who loves her.

[Pauli]

Nashville LE and the Tuders were in LasVegas and supposedly have some leads and may be close to finding Tabitha.. Our local news is going to have something on this today... I'll post what they have to say.

[Pauli]

Seven years after Tabitha's disappearance her parents say they have the biggest lead yet... Hope that she is still alive.. they have photos that they think are her.. Think she is working for an escort service in LV... They both have the birthmark on stomach.. both have the double jointed thumb.. and there was something about the feet.. Tabitha's SSN was used once after she went missing..it was used in LV... the name she goes by is also the name of her favorite cousin..

This is all what was said on the news.. will provide a link as soon as possible.

[Pauli]

The girl they were looking for in LV was not there.. she has been traced to FL and LE has talked with her.. she is willing to do DNA... LE doesn't believe it's Tabitha.

[Pauli]

Parents Have New Hope In Tabitha Tuders Case

Family Says Missing Child Looks Similar To Woman On Escort Service Web Site

Reported By Dennis Ferrier (dferrier@wsmv.com)

OSTED: 3:28 pm CST February 9, 2010UPDATED: 7:24 pm CST February 9, 2010

The family is calling it the best hope that their daughter is still alive after the 13-year-old girl disappeared seven years ago on her way to her school bus stop in east Nashville.Tabitha's parents have pictures of a girl they think may be her, who is working for an escort service in Las Vegas.

Investigators say the woman is not Tabitha, but the Tuders family isn't satisfied and said there are too many similarities.One of the many theories surrounding Tabitha's disappearance was that she was kidnapped and then sold into the underground sex trade.

The family saw a picture of a woman named Brie on the Web site of a Las Vegas-based adult business. If she is still alive, Tabitha would be 20 years old.The family said the girl named Brie has a similar birth mark to their missing daughter.Also, there is the double-jointed thumb, a Tuders family trait, along with similar looking teeth.Using a morph program, the Tuders said Brie and Tabitha’s faces are also very similar.

"She resembles my daughter a whole lot. We laid a picture of this girl and everything matches up," said Tabitha's father Bo Tuders.

There is also a tattoo on Brie's back that they think might be a cry for help."(The tattoo) says TASOS. We don't know if that means, 'Come help me' or what. We don't know what that means," said Bo Tuders.

Another possible clue is that Tabitha's Social Security number was used once in Las Vegas after her 2003 disappearance.

Also, the Tuders said that Brie is the name of Tabitha's favorite cousin, so they said this could also be a connection.

"To me, that's the closest we've been. Everything this young lady fits Tabitha. It would make you think it is Tabitha. We want to prove it's her or not her," said Bo Tuders.

The Tuders traveled to Las Vegas and tried to find the woman who works at the Las Vegas escorts but failed.

Eventually, the FBI said they found Brie, also known as Tori Lane, in Florida, interviewed her and took a DNA sample. However, investigators ruled Brie out as being Tabitha.

Despite this, the Tuders said they still would like to meet her anyway because they are not satisfied.After the FBI went to Las Vegas to investigate the case, investigators said within 72 hours Brie/Tori Lane's picture was taken off the adult business's Web site.

http://www.wsmv.com/news/22513101/detail.html

[Pandabear]

My heart just breaks for this family. :1187603408.CR.Mothe

[AmyE]

Tory Lane / Bree

http://image3.examiner.com/images/blog/EXID30576/images/AN_Tory_Lane_1.jpg?SSImageQuality=Full

Tabitha Tuders

http://image3.examiner.com/images/blog/EXID30576/images/TabithaTuders4.jpg?SSImageQuality=Full

http://mydeathspace.com/smf/index.php?topic=24149.new

[AmyE]

Tori Lane

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tory_Lane

[annalyzer]

Tory Lane / Bree

http://image3.examiner.com/images/blog/EXID30576/images/AN_Tory_Lane_1.jpg?SSImageQuality=Full

Tabitha Tuders

http://image3.examiner.com/images/blog/EXID30576/images/TabithaTuders4.jpg?SSImageQuality=Full

http://mydeathspace.com/smf/index.php?topic=24149.new

Is her eye color blue like it says in the first post? This is the age progression photo ~

http://www.missingkids.com/photographs/NCMC961685e1.jpg

[AmyE]

Tabitha will be 20 on Feb 15, 2010.

Tory Lane is 27. DOB is Nov. 1982

[nomadpatti]

IMO, that age progression is supposed to be to 17. Someone got a bit carried away.......she looks like she is in her 30s!

Also, JMO, I do not see the connection between Tabitha and Tory.

[gabby]

They took dna samples. Does anyone know if the results came back negative?
The similarities are strange that both girls have so much in common. JMO
The age difference you mention Amy, could be proof of them not being the same person, however, it's odd that there is a 7 yr age difference considering Tabitha was 13 at the time of her disappearance. I think if she had been abducted and put in a sex trade there would be attempts to say she was over 18. IMO
One thing that came to my mind while reading these updates was Shawn Hornbeck. I recall he had even contacted the website his parents had. And although he had opportunities to run he hadn't because he feared for his safety. And Jaycee Dugard didn't tell anyone even when she was allowed to be in the public. It seems reasonable to me IF this woman is Tabitha, she may not just admit it. Surely she has been conditioned and frightened into believing she better not tell. IMO

[annalyzer]

IMO, that age progression is supposed to be to 17. Someone got a bit carried away.......she looks like she is in her 30s!

Also, JMO, I do not see the connection between Tabitha and Tory.

One is brown-eyed and the other is supposed to be blue-eyed.

[gabby]

One is brown-eyed and the other is supposed to be blue-eyed.

To me Tabitha and the woman look like they both have brown eyes. The age progression picture looks like Tabitha would have grown up and would have had blue eyes. Is that what yall are talking about?

[nomadpatti]

<snipped>
Eventually, the FBI said they found Brie, also known as Tori Lane, in Florida, interviewed her and took a DNA sample. However, investigators ruled Brie out as being Tabitha.
Despite this, the Tuders said they still would like to meet her anyway because they are not satisfied.After the FBI went to Las Vegas to investigate the case, investigators said within 72 hours Brie/Tori Lane's picture was taken off the adult business's Web site.

http://www.wsmv.com/news/22513101/detail.html

[gabby]

I just read her missing stats. It does list her eye color as blue. They sure look dark in that picture to me. Maybe the two aren't the same people, but I can understand why the family wonders.

[gabby]

<snipped>
Eventually, the FBI said they found Brie, also known as Tori Lane, in Florida, interviewed her and took a DNA sample. However, investigators ruled Brie out as being Tabitha.
Despite this, the Tuders said they still would like to meet her anyway because they are not satisfied.After the FBI went to Las Vegas to investigate the case, investigators said within 72 hours Brie/Tori Lane's picture was taken off the adult business's Web site.

http://www.wsmv.com/news/22513101/detail.html


I did read that, but it didn't specify that the dna results were negative. They took samples, but did they send them off to follow up? I was wondering because if the famiy had solid results back it would seem odd they still wondered, however, it seems likely they would continue to wonder if the dna tests were not followed up on. JMO
And it seems odd that her picture was removed after all of this. Is anyone still able to contact her or did she just vanish after this? JMO

[annalyzer]

http://www.charleyproject.org/images/t/tuders_tabitha6.jpghttp://www.charleyproject.org/images/t/tuders_tabitha2.jpg

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/t/tuders_tabitha.html

http://www.pollyklaas.org/missing/old-images/images3/TabithaTuders.jpghttp://www.pollyklaas.org/missing/kids/images/n-z/tuderstabithaap17.jpg

http://www.pollyklaas.org/missing/kids/tabitha-danielle-tuders.html

[gabby]

Such a beautiful smile. It would be wonderful if she was found and could smile like that again.

[Lizziebeth]

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t53/i_am_me_hahaha/missing/tabithabirthday-1.jpg

[AmyE]

Man found guilty in death of Tabitha Tuders' uncle

February 13, 2010

Kevin L. Buford was sitting in his car across the highway when Billy Jack Shane Tuders was shot and killed in 2008.




But a Nashville jury found that Buford played enough of a role in the slaying to convict him in connection with the killing. Buford, 42, was one of five people charged with killing Tuders outside a car wash on Clarksville Highway. The other defendants included Buford's brother and his two sons, who were teenagers at the time of the killing.
Prosecutors said the elder Buford masterminded the armed robbery that ultimately led to Tuders' death and egged his sons on to commit the crime. On Friday, he was convicted of facilitation to commit felony murder, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years, and attempted especially aggravated robbery, which carries up to 20 years.
"He didn't pull the trigger, but he is the reason Billy Jack Tuders is dead," Assistant District Attorney Kathy Morante said during closing arguments. "He wanted money and he didn't want to do (the robbery) himself."
Tuders was the uncle of Tabitha Tuders, who disappeared in 2003 while she was walking to catch a bus to her middle school. She has never been found.
All five of the men arrested in connection with his death were charged with felony murder, which can carry a life sentence.
"It is difficult for jurors when the person being tried wasn't the one that pulled the trigger," Morante said after the verdict.
A Nashville judge will sentence Buford in March.
Looking for a victim
Buford did not testify during the trial. Key testimony in the three-day murder trial came from Raymond Pirtle, a friend of Buford's sons who is also charged in Tuders' slaying.
Pirtle, 19, told the jury that Buford drove the others around town in search of a robbery victim.
"We were trying to figure out where we could go to rob somebody," Pirtle testified. "There really wasn't no plan."


Pirtle was 17 at the time Tuders was killed, and he faces criminal charges that could carry a life sentence. In court Tuesday, prosecutors said they had not reached a deal with Pirtle for his testimony, but that they would take his cooperation into account when it was his turn to face a judge.

Buford's defense attorneys used that fact, as well as Pirtle's past gang affiliation and run-ins with the law, against him. Under questioning, Pirtle admitted that he had initially lied to police about some of the details in the case.
The group robbed Pirtle's drug dealer, he said. After that, they came upon Tuders outside a market on Clarksville Highway. Buford's youngest son, Kevin D. Buford, ran up to him with a gun to rob him; Tuders was shot in the back as he ran away.
Kevin D. Buford, who was 16 at the time of the shooting, pleaded guilty in July and was sentenced to 40 years behind bars. Prosecutors said he agreed to testify against his father as part of that agreement but refused to take the stand this week. That means his plea will be set aside and his case will go before a jury.
The other defendants in the case — Pirtle, Diangelo Buford and Robert Buford — are awaiting trial.

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100213/NEWS03/2130325/1002/NEWS01/Man+found+guilty+in+death+of+Tabitha+Tuders++uncle +