SHARON WEST - 14 yo - Labelle (Gulf Coast/LA border) TX

Investigators say skeletal remains were
found due east of a Jefferson County soccer field where missing teen
Sharon West was last reported.

West went missing July 30th. Phone records
show she was at the Seabreeze Youth Soccer Field on Highway 365 in
Fannett around 5:20 a.m. the morning she disappeared.

Deputy Rod Carroll tells 12News HD a rancher
found a skull in a nearby canal earlier today. He called the Sheriff's
Office and investigators found more bones scattered about 50 yards from
the skull.

Investigators tell 12NewsNow.Com female clothing was found at the scene.

Carroll says investigators contacted West's
father to inform the family of the discovery. Her mother was also
notified of the discovery.

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY JEFFERSON COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE AT 5 P.M. Friday

At approximately 11:30am, Friday, October 28,
2011, The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office received a call from a
local rancher that he had located a human skull on his property. The
property is located South of Hwy 365 between Labelle Rd and Gaulding Rd.


Responding deputies began a grid search of the area and located additional skeletal remains.

The investigation is continuing at this time. Members of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office and Crime Scene Lab are on scene.

http://www.kiiitv.com/story/15901197/skeletal-remains-found-near-area-where-missing-teen-last-seen

"The skull was found in an empty canal, he said, and the area was covered in heavy brush. The section of the private property where the bones were found is about three-quarters of a mile off the side of FM 365.

Carroll said teams had looked in the area before and might have been as close as 25 yards from where the skull was found Friday. The heavy vegetation, however, made searching the area difficult, he said."

Read more: http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/article/Human-remains-found-near-FM-365-in-Fannett-2241523.php#ixzz1cC2XM59m

Poster's note: It is extremely sad that searchers were so close to finding her and yet didn't. My heart goes out to her family.

Some items found with the skeletal remains of a young woman found
in a South Jefferson County field were identified as "similar to"
things belonging to a Fannett teen who went missing this summer.
Sharon West, 15, was last seen on July 30. Her last phone communication came
from a soccer field near the farm where the remains were found along
with some clothing and personal effects.
West's mother, Sandra West,
told investigators that pajama boxer shorts and glasses appeared to
match things her daughter was wearing before she disappeared, according
to a Jefferson County Sheriff's Office update on the discovery.
However, no positive identification has been made.
Investigators are awaiting the results of DNA testing and dental record comparison
with the skull that was found in a dry canal in a field south of FM 365 between Labelle and Gaulding Roads.

ead more: http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/article/Missing-Fannett-teen-s-mom-says-clothes-glasses-2243903.php#ixzz1cJCwqLkZ

Sharon West
has been missing since July 30th and authorities suspect that the
remains found Friday in a field in Fannett are the teenager, but they
have not been able to make a positive identification pending DNA
testing.

Jefferson County Deputy Rod Carroll said the
missing teen's mother, Sandra West, helped to identify some things that
belonged to her daughter.

"Pajama boxer shorts, there was some glasses and T-shirt found in the area," Carroll said.

Sandra West said she's sure the remains belong to her daughter.

The private investigator she hired, Chuck
Foreman, told 12 News HD it's time for the missing person's
investigation to enter a new phase.

"We believe items shown to Sandra belonged to
Sharon. we believe there was foul play. we expect a full investigation
by the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office," Foreman said speaking on
behalf of the family.

"We're going to take everything that we found
as a whole and all the different items, they're a part of the evidence
chain of the crime scene," said Carroll.

Deputy Rod Carroll says the Jefferson County
Sheriff's Office can't start a criminal investigation until they
positively identifies the remains.
http://www.kiiitv.com/story/15910589/west-family-believe-skeletal-remains-are-sharons-and-wants-investigation

JEFFERSON COUNTY - A private investigator working with the family of
Sharon West told KFDM News the teen's mother and father were called to
the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office on Tuesday and given information
that West's dental records confirm skeletal remains found off Highway
365 are those of the missing teen.

The 14-year-old went missing July 30. She was living at a friend's home in Fannett.

A rancher found a skull Friday, October 28 on his property south of
Highway 365 between Labelle Road and Gaulding Road. Sheriff's
investigators discovered more skeletal remains, along with clothing and
other items. Investigators said the remains are those of a woman under
the age of 25. Sandra West, Sharon's mother, has identified pajama boxer
shorts and glasses as similar to articles Sharon West wore prior to her
disappearance.

The Sheriff's Office was waiting for a comparison of dental records
and DNA of Sharon West before making a positive identification. Dental
identification was expected to take a few days. DNA testing can take
several weeks. No cause of death has been confirmed.



"Sharon's mother and father went down to the Sheriff's Office on
Tuesday and were told that the dental records are a match," said Chuck
Foreman, a private investigator working with the family. "The eyeglasses
and jewelry found at the site were enough but this confirmed it."

The Sheriff's Office told KFDM News any comments would have to come from the family.



Friends of the family have opened an account at Texas First Bank
to help with funeral and other expenses associated with Sharon West's
death. The account name is Benefit for Sharon West. Any branch can
accept donations.

Read more: http://www.kfdm.com/articles/private-45549-family-sharon.html#ixzz1cW3xI9zi

Sharon West's family said they hired private
investigator Chuck Foreman because they felt Jefferson County deputies
weren't digging deeply enough into her missing person's case.

Foreman said the family believes there's foul
play involved and said there's a clue that could lead them to a person
of interest.

Foreman says until he's no longer needed by the family, he's going to help them find out what happened to Sharon.

He said if the Jefferson County Sheriff's
Office doesn't start this criminal investigation, they're going start a
protest until something's done.

"we're waiting to see if they do what we feel what's needed, which is to locate that cell phone of Sharon's."

it was the cell phone that lead to the search of Sharon near the Seabreeze soccer off F-M 365.

and foreman believes that cell phone could lead investigators to finding out who played a role in Sharon's disappearance.

"We want a solid grid search around the
soccer field again and then around the area, if we get permission from
land owners to go in and do a proper search to look for it," Foreman
said

He wants to work with the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office in the case.

"We asking for them, we're begging for them, please, give this the time and energy so there could be accountability," he said.

Jefferson County Sheriff's Deputy Rod Carroll
tells 12 News HD the sheriff's office will not be commenting on this
case until the medical examiner releases the cause of death.
The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office still
hasn't publicly confirmed that the dental records of Sharon West match
human remains located near Fannett, but Foreman said the family was told
by county investigators that a match was made.

Foreman said he plans to do another search, for the cell phone, if the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office does not.
http://www.kiiitv.com/story/15957017/sharon-wests-family-wants-criminal-investigation

BEAUMONT, Texas - Investigators say remains found in October in Southeast Texas have been identified as a 14-year-old girl missing since July 30.

The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office on Friday announced dental records were used to confirm the identity of Sharon West of the Labelle-Fannett area.

The sheriff's office has said West was staying with a family friend when she turned up missing.

The sheriff's office on Oct. 28 received a call from a rancher about a human skull found on his property, in a Labelle field. Pajama boxer shorts and glasses similar to what West had been wearing were located in the area.

Autopsy results are pending.

Read more on myFOXdfw.com: http://www.myfoxdfw.com/dpp/news/Skeleton-Is-Missing-Texas-Teen-Sharon-West-121312#ixzz1jR1O13qP

A memorial service for Sharon West, the Fannett teen who disappeared nearly six months ago, is planned for 11 a.m. Saturday at First Baptist Church of Hamshire, 25304 Highway 124.

Earlier this month, dental records confirmed that female skeletal remains found in Fannett in October belonged to West.

The 14-year-old girl was last seen July 30.

On Oct. 28, investigators found several bones in a brush-filled area a few miles down the road from a soccer field on FM 365 where West was thought to have last made phone contact with friends.

The sheriff's office still does not have autopsy and toxicology reports from the crime lab it is using in the case.

The West investigation hinges largely on the question of whether forensic experts will be able to determine how she died.

Heat and moisture in the weeks after the 14-year-old went missing likely have degraded what could have been important evidence. The area also had been bulldozed in that time span, which could have disrupted the brush around the remains, said Jefferson County Sheriff's Office spokesman Rod Carroll.

West's parents aren't sure how her body ended up in the field, an area where Lynn West, her father, says the vegetation is in some places as thick as a wall and as tall as him.

"I'm never going to believe that she walked out to that spot alone," he said in an interview last year. "Never."



Read more: http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/article/Memorial-service-for-Fannett-teen-planned-for-2752758.php#ixzz1kieThNXf