Search for missing Pierce County girl goes national

TILLICUM, Pierce County — Lakewood police and the family of a missing 10-year-old girl are now turning to a national audience for help after a sonar search of American Lake yielded few new leads.

Lakewood Police Lt. Bret Farrar said police searching for Adre-Anna Jackson have enlisted the help of The National Center of Missing and Exploited Children and television's "America's Most Wanted." Information on the girl, who has been missing since Friday, is available on the Web sites for the center (www.missingkids.com)and the show (www.amw.com).

Yvette Gervais, the girl's mother, said she was relieved. "I wanted them involved days ago," she said Wednesday.

An FBI team that used a special sonar to search American Lake on Tuesday for any sign of the girl hit on an underwater object. But divers who searched the lake discovered it was a shopping cart. Scent dogs are also being used to search a lakeside park that Adre-Anna frequently visited.

"The scent dogs did track the girl to the water, although the scent could be six to seven days old, and searching the lake was the next logical step," said Farrar.

The FBI team will likely continue to search the area by the docks of Harry Todd Park in Tillicum through Thursday, he said. In the meantime, teams of detectives are investigating all other leads, tips and possibilities. They are interviewing the 51 register sex offenders who live near Adre-Anna's home.

"We have to interview them and verify what they've told us. It's time-consuming and we do not yet have a person of interest nor have we eliminated anyone as a suspect," Farrar said.

Gervais told police her daughter went to Tillicum Elementary School on Friday to see whether the school was closed because of snow.

When the girl did not return, Gervais assumed that the school, which in fact was closed, had been open. She said she did not worry until that afternoon, when her daughter failed to return home.

"We're torturing ourselves, wishing so hard we had not let her go," Gervais said Tuesday.

She said Adre-Anna enjoyed visiting Harry Todd Park, but because she could not swim she was not allowed to go there alone.

Using dogs, police officers and volunteers, a ground search for Adre-Anna began Friday afternoon and was called off Saturday afternoon after searchers scoured fields and alleys, knocked on doors and passed out fliers.

Lakewood police Officer Joe Sandall said new dogs were brought in Tuesday for another search of the same areas.

Gervais said she gave police one of Adre-Anna's tennis shoes that had not been handled or worn by others for the new search.

Gervais also said that she and the girl's father, Jon Federicci, willingly endured more than 10 hours of questioning by police on Friday evening so officers could clear them of any involvement in the girl's disappearance.

"That's why we were willing to talk to them, so we could get that done with and extend the search," Gervais said.

Farrar said police have not ruled out any possibilities. "The strongest thing I can say is that we have no specific person of interest, but we haven't ruled out anybody, either," Farrar said.

Federicci spoke with law-enforcement officers at the park Tuesday but declined to talk to reporters.

Gervais said she is prepared for whatever police and divers may find in the lake, but she still has hope that her daughter will be found alive.

"I don't think she's in there. I hope she's not in there," Gervais said. "That keeps me going. I would have cracked by now otherwise."

Christine Clarridge: 206-464-8983 or cclarridge@seattletimes.com