Читать книгу Dead And Buried: A True Story Of Serial Rape And Murder - Corey Mitchell - Страница 16

EIGHT

March 12, 1999

Clovis, California

12:15 A.M.

“This is Gail Eberhart. I need to report that my daughter is missing.”

A San Luis Obispo Police Department dispatcher took the call. The woman caller did not sound too stressed, but concerned.The dispatcher calmly asked the woman for her daughter’s name.

“Aundria Crawford,” the woman replied. “She lives on Branch Street in San Luis Obispo, near the Greyhound bus station.”

“When was the last time you spoke with your daughter, Mrs... ?”

“Eberhart. I spoke with her this past Tuesday. But I paged her last night and I haven’t heard from her since. She always returns my beeps.”

The dispatcher could tell Eberhart was getting slightly more frantic as the conversation continued. He wanted to calm this situation down before the woman became too upset.

“Ma’am, I am going to send someone over there right away,” he assured her. “We will check it out for you right now.”

The dispatcher did not want to waste a second in tracking down the young woman. It had been four months since the disappearance of Rachel Newhouse. The last thing the police force of San Luis Obispo wanted was for word to spread that another local college girl had gone missing. He hoped he could nip this problem in the bud before it blew up into an all-outfrenzy. Besides, he assumed, she probably just took off for an early weekend and decided not to call her mother. The mom is probably just overprotective and panicky.

The dispatcher put a call out to beat patrol officer Jon Paulding, who whisked over to the small brown duplex, less than a half mile from the Jennifer Street Bridge. Officer Paulding pulled up in front of the apartment and noticed a white Ford Mustang in the driveway. He jotted down the plate numbers and made a mental note to check them out later. OfficerPaulding walked up to the front door on the right-hand side of the duplex and knocked. No one answered the door. The officer, not too concerned, wrote a note to Aundria and informed her that she should call her mother. He left it on her Mustang.

Meanwhile, back in Clovis, Gail Eberhart began to get scared. She continued calling for several more hours and still could not get a hold of Aundria. Finally, at 5:15 A.M., she called the San Luis Obispo Police Department again. The dispatcherdirected her call directly to Officer Paulding.

The police officer returned to Aundria’s duplex. This time he attempted to gain entry into Aundria’s home. Once he realizedhe could not enter through any of the doors, he asked for Eberhart’s permission to break in. She agreed without hesitation.He did not need to, however, as the dispatcher had already contacted the landlord, who would arrive soon with the keys.

Officer Paulding checked Aundria’s car again. He clasped the door handle, and to his surprise, it was unlocked. He looked in and noticed a brown leather purse, which belonged to Aundria, lying on the floorboard. He searched the purse for a set of house keys but found nothing. At the same time the landlord arrived.

Officer Paulding called for assistance and a second officer arrived at the Branch Street residence. The landlord unlocked the front door and both officers began to search the duplex. Officer Paulding checked upstairs in Aundria’s loft. He looked up at a countertop and spotted her pager.

Nothing looked unusual to the officers.

Officer Paulding contacted Gail Eberhart to inform her that nothing looked suspicious. She asked him if they should go ahead and file a missing-person report. The officer agreed and took the pertinent information.