AMBER DUBOIS - 15 yo (2009) - Escondido CA

Monday, July 13th 2009 marks five long months that 15-year old Amber Dubois of Escondido, California has been missing.

Light a Candle for Amber Dubois

She was last seen on North Broadway, in the area of
Escondido High School, on Friday, February 13th 2009. This was in the
morning, at approximately 7:10 a.m.


The last time anyone saw Amber, she was wearing black pants, a black hooded sweatshirt, and black sneakers.


It is hard to imagine what this must be like for her
family. Sadly, Amber is one of thousands of missing people in the
United States, but her story is striking because of the senseless
tragedy and the relatively recent time frame.


Her family explains that she wrote a short story at
the age of twelve, titled "Ookume". It was about a young girl who was
in peril and ultimately rescued by wolf pups.


Her grandmother says that as a teen, Amber took up the
wolf as her "cause" and learned about their habits, behavior, packs,
dens, marking territory, reactions to other animals and their place in
the ecosystem.


"She was impressed by the dedication of the wolf to
its family life. As Amber's family, we are proud that she has the
tenacity and courage to stand up for an animal species that, clearly,
has not been favored by our country as a whole."





"Amber still must wait until she is 16 to attend the
intensive wolf seminars at, but, we were scheduled to visit Yellowstone
to at least see the wolves this past August."





"The next program is in June. The wolves are waiting for us Amber."


Amber's 'Grandmom' is an environmental attorney.


If anybody knows what happened to Amber Dubois, they
need to come forward and tell police what they know. Her family remains
hopeful and determined that Amber may be alive and unable to make
contact.


* There is a sizable reward of $60,000 for anyone
whose information can bring Amber home safe and also bring the person
or people responsible for her disappearance to justice.


You can just leave a tip at 760-743-TIPS (8477) or you could always call 911.


Her family says you can learn details and ask questions about the rewards by calling 1-562-360-5162.


* $50,000 for information leading to the safe return of Amber


* $10,000 for information leading to the arrest of person(s) responsible for her disappearance


===============================================


This video was produced by Amber's family:
http://vimeo.com/4848395

The bidding kept going and going.

Nicki Horton stood in the ring in disbelief. The price for the lamb she had devotedly raised over the
past six months continued to climb.

Two dollars a pound ... $3 a pound ... $5 a pound ---- typically the top of the market for lambs at
the San Diego County Fair's Junior Livestock Auction. Nine dollars a
pound ... $10 a pound, beyond even the $11 a pound commanded by the
grand champion, and still no end in sight.

Tears began to run down young Nicki's face as the bidding jumped into the teens, and she
glanced into the crowd at two people for whom the lamb had special
significance.

Maurice Dubois and Carrie McGonigle had tears in
their eyes as well. For the lamb had been named by their daughter Amber
Dubois, the 14-year-old Escondido High School student who disappeared
Feb. 13 on her way to school.

In Amber's pocket that morning was a check to cover the deposit to obtain the lamb she planned to raise
for the fair. She was going to call the lamb Nenette, which means
"little animal" in French ---- Amber's heritage on her father's side.

After her disappearance, Amber's family told Marc Reyburn, the school's
agricultural instructor and FFA adviser, they wanted to sponsor someone
to carry on Amber's plan to raise her lamb.

Nicki didn't have the money to care for a lamb of her own, so she gladly volunteered to
raise a lamb in Amber's name. She fed, watered, groomed and walked
little Nenette daily at the farm on the high school grounds. Some
donated supplies helped Nicki bring the lamb to a solid 135 pounds as
she walked her into the ring at the fair on Saturday.

The fair auctioneer shared Amber's story with the crowd as Nicki showed off the
tan and black Hampshire Cross lamb. Proceeds from the auction would go
to the Amber Dubois Trust Fund, the auctioneer said, to help in the
search for the missing teenager.

"As soon as people heard that, they kept bidding and bidding," said Nicki. "I was amazed."

A $12 bid was heard. Then $13. And still the total kept climbing. It
wasn't until the bidding reached $16 a pound that Mary Matav, founder
of Agri Service Inc. in Vista, was proclaimed the auction winner.

But it wasn't over. Members of the crowd began raising their paddles to add
another dollar or two a pound to the bid. More add-ons followed. Soon
fair officials couldn't keep up with the demand from spectators to
contribute to the cause.

Nicki, 15, already had taken Nenette back to the barn, not knowing that contributions were still rolling in.
Tears were falling as she and McGonigle said goodbye to the lamb.

"I told her to stop crying," McGonigle said. "She said, 'I can't. It's so sad.' We were both crying the whole time."

The regular auction continued while the fair's livestock office officials
set up a table where people could add their donations to the price for
the lamb. The fair tallied $7,365, a cool $54.55 a pound, while
McGonigle said that $8,370 came in for the Amber fund.

"It's just awesome to see so much support for trying to find Amber," McGonigle said. "It was very emotional."

The funds raised will be used by the family to hire a private investigator
and perhaps a public relations firm to keep up the search for Amber.
But the story doesn't end there.

When Nicki returns to Escondido High School for her sophomore year in the fall, she'll have a sponsor
for her next animal-raising effort.

"She wants to raise a steer, and we're going to sponsor her," McGonigle said.

Information on the Amber Dubois search and trust fund can be found at bringamberhome.com.

I was looking at the website and today they are having a big gathering for three missing children. Check out the website.

http://bringamberhome.com/

A young local author is reaching out to the family of missing teenager Amber Dubois. Jenna
Cooper, 17, is a senior at Santana High School. She signed copies of
her novel, "Turned," at the Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore in Kearny Mesa. Ten percent of Cooper's royalty from the book will be used to create a trust fund to bring Amber home. Dubois' family was at the signing. Dubois, 14, was last seen Feb. 13 in Escondido while on her way to school.

Six months after Amber Dubois disappeared, pictures of the
bookish, blue-eyed 14-year-old are still posted across Escondido
and across Southern California.

Banners reading "Help Us Find Amber" still line fences along
North Broadway near Escondido High School. Her name is still part
of the family's answering machine greeting at their home, just a
few blocks from the campus.

Amber was last seen Feb. 13 walking to school. No trace of how
or why she disappeared has been found.

Her family, despite a tortured spring and summer of searches
that turned up nothing, has not given up hope. It recently hired a
new private investigator and will fly in specialized search dogs
from Maine later this month.

This week, Amber's mother and father, Carrie McGonigle and Moe
Dubois, traveled to New York City for a national media blitz. Her
mother and father desperately hope the larger stage, including
interviews on network TV shows, will make the difference in a case
that has frustrated and puzzled police and left a gaping hole in
the family's heart.

"All it takes is one person to crack this case open," the teen's
father said. "All it takes is one pair of eyes."

Missing Amber

The door to Amber's bedroom is kept open inside the family's
two-story north Escondido home. The teen's black and gray cat,
Robin, often slumbers on Amber's bunk bed.

Her watercolor paintings of wolves (she adores wolves), her
"Twilight" movie poster and vast array of books, including her
Harry Potter collection, remain as she left them.

"I usually have panic attacks when I come up here," said
McGonigle, standing in her daughter's small room, her voice
breaking.

Amber's mother moved out of the home six weeks after the teen
disappeared, in part, she said, because the reminders of what she's
lost are all around. She now lives with a friend just a few blocks
away.

McGonigle's former boyfriend, David Cave, and the couple's
6-year-old daughter, Allison, remain at the home. Amber's father
lives in Orange County.

Family and the teen's close friends describe Amber as a model
student, a girl who was looking forward to raising a baby lamb
through her school's agriculture program and who never once spoke
of running away.

Her parents are convinced she was abducted by a stranger.
Police, without evidence to prove either theory, have classified
Amber's disappearance as a "suspicious missing person" case.

Sheila Welch, the teen's maternal grandmother, has paid for
public relations help for the family and recently hired Lawrence
Olmstead, a Los Angeles-based private detective. Olmstead follows
San Diego-based private investigator Bill Garcia, who worked for
the family early on. Welch emphasized the new investigator's work
is meant to complement, not compete with, local police efforts.

Welch, an attorney who lives in Paramount, north of Long Beach,
also has spent months arranging for the specialized search hounds
from VK9 Scent Specific Search Recovery of Brewer, Maine. The
company's canines can track a scent months after a person has
disappeared, Welch said.

The grandmother, who family say inspired Amber's love for
animals and reading, said she'll "never stop" looking for her
granddaughter.

Case remains a mystery

Escondido police have received and investigated more than 1,100
tips in the case. They've interviewed more than 550 people,
including Amber's family, friends, neighbors, sex offenders who
live near the family's Escondido home and every classmate she had
this past spring and fall, said Lt. Bob Benton. More than two dozen
police investigators and support staff worked on the girl's case
shortly after she vanished. Three full-time investigators are still
assigned to it, he said.

After all their work, however, they still have no idea what
happened to the shy and sheltered girl.

"We all wake up in the middle of the night just pondering, 'What
did we miss?'" Benton said. "That takes a toll on us."

In most missing-person investigations, police have something to
start with ---- the description of a suspect or perhaps a car
involved. With Amber's, they have next to nothing.

Police are still not sure whether the driver of a maroon pickup
seen on school surveillance video was involved in Amber's
disappearance. The truck was seen exiting the school's maintenance
yard at roughly the same time Amber was spotted walking nearby.

"In this case, we're just going down dead end after dead end,"
said the lieutenant, flanked by more than a dozen thick binders
containing interview transcripts, photographs and other original
case documents. "It's been so frustrating."

Police do not have any suspects, nor have they ruled anyone out,
including family members.

Amber's parents say they want police to explore all
possibilities.

"At this point, they're not looking at us as possible suspects,"
Amber's father said. "If something points in that direction (toward
a family member), I would want them to look there."

Amber's father, mother and the mother's longtime boyfriend all
voluntarily took polygraph tests shortly after the teen
vanished.

Escondido police have worked with agents from the Federal Bureau
of Investigation, investigators with the National Center for
Missing and Exploited Children, contacted law enforcement in Canada
(Amber has extended family in Montreal), Mexico and across the
globe.

"It's been an important case for all of us," said Escondido
police Investigator Beverly Marquez. "We want to find this girl and
bring her home."

Marquez serves as a liaison between the family and the
department. In her 15 years working missing-person cases, she said
couldn't recall one as involved as Amber's or with so few
clues.

She said that Amber's case will remain open as long as it
takes.

"She's not home yet ---- it's an active case," the investigator
said.

Family's anguish

The pain surrounding Amber's loss never truly subsides, family
members say.

Amber's father still has not been able to resume his job at
Netcom Technologies, where he's a senior estimator for the company.
Her mother just returned to work last month at a local printing
company, she said.

When despair hits, it's often a phone call from one of the
committed volunteers that lifts them, they say. Many of the
volunteers started as strangers and have become the family's
closest supporters.

Outside observers say Amber's mother and father have worked
diligently to find their daughter.

"I'm incredibly impressed by Moe and Carrie," said Marc Klaas,
whose daughter, Polly, was kidnapped and murdered in Northern
California in 1993. "As long as they can continue to be proactive
and as long as they can continue to be busy, I think they can hold
the fear at bay."

Klaas, through his Klaas Kids Foundation, has supported the
family's efforts.

When asked why they keep searching, family members say they
can't imagine doing anything else.

They want the girl who loved to collect seashells on the beach,
who made her mother breakfast on Mother's Day, who would hide under
the covers of her bed with a book and flashlight and read late into
the night, back home.

"I know that someone out there knows something," said Amber's
mother. "And I would just beg them to call anonymously. No one
needs to know who they are."

Six months ago today, 14-year-old Amber Dubois disappeared while walking to Escondido High School.

There has been no break in the case, and no lead that has proved
fruitful since she vanished Feb. 13, seemingly without a trace.

“We're really frustrated,” said Amber's father, Maurice Dubois.
“Every day gets tougher and tougher. I would never, ever have imagined
us getting to a six-month point.”

Escondido police have asked the Governor's Office for $40,000 from
a special fund set up for missing-persons cases to add to a reward that
sits now at $60,000 for information.

Police and Amber's family hope that the increased reward will shake something loose. Someone knows what happened to her.

Police are still actively investigating, but there has been no
progress, said Lt. Bob Benton. The department has three officers
assigned full time to the case, Benton said.

“We investigate these kind of cases as worse-case scenarios,”
Benton said. “We've never investigated a case of this magnitude with as
many dead ends as we've had.

“We're hoping a larger reward will bring somebody forward with information that will help us solve the case.”

Amber's parents were in New York City yesterday trying to drum up more national attention to their search.

Maurice Dubois said he and Amber's mother, Carrie McGonigle, will appear on several national television shows this week.

A candlelight vigil is scheduled for 8 tonight in front of
Escondido High. Several other vigils also are planned in other parts of
the country to draw national attention to Amber's plight.

An examination of Amber's Internet activity has shown only that she
visited sites that any normal 14-year-old girl would, Benton said. Some
records still have not been obtained because the Web-site operators are
based outside the United States. The FBI has been helping with the
Internet side of the investigation.

In addition, Benton said, his department has contacted more than 20
other police agencies around the country as they check out and
eventually dismiss one false lead after another.

Officially, Amber is classified as an “at-risk missing child.”
Benton said everything they have developed confirms her family's
initial description of her as a somewhat shy, bookish teen who would
not run away.

Amber was last seen by two witnesses walking along Escondido
Boulevard near the high school at 7:10 a.m. One of those witnesses said
she was walking with a tall, lanky boy who has yet to be identified.
All other possible sightings have been dismissed as untrue or
unreliable.

Two specialized dog teams based in Virginia are in the North County
this morning to renew a search for missing teenager Amber Dubois who
vanished more than six months ago.
The 14-year-old was last seen Feb. 13 about 7:10 a.m.
while walking to Escondido High School with a tall teenager who has
never been identified. Despite widespread publicity and numerous
searches, no trace of the girl has been found.
The dogs belong to the VK9 Scent Specific Search and
Recovery Unit, a nonprofit organization, said Sarah Platt who is the
officer in charge of the group. They arrived with their handlers at
Lindbergh Field about 10 p.m. Tuesday.
The canines, a 5-year-old yellow Labrador retriever named
Quincy and an 8-year-old German shorthaired pointer named Jack, are
trained to follow the odor of a specific person to the exclusion of all
others and are often deployed on cases that have gone cold, Platt said.

On Wednesday, the dogs will be searching in areas Platt
declined to specify and will have a dual purpose - to confirm whether
Amber was actually at any of the places she may have been sighted and
to develop new leads - “ideas perhaps they never thought of,” Platt
said.
The team will be in Escondido until Saturday, Platt said.

The VK9 SSSAR Unit is conducting the search at no charge to the family
in return for reimbursement for travel expenses, Platt said.
They teams support law enforcement and assist in criminal
and missing persons cases and also work with emergency management
agencies across the country.

Two specialized dog teams based in Virginia are in North County
until Saturday to renew a search for missing teenager Amber Dubois, who
vanished more than six months ago.

The 14-year-old was last seen about 7:10 a.m. Feb. 13 while walking
to Escondido High School with a tall teenager who has never been
identified. Despite widespread publicity and many searches, no trace of
the girl has been found.

The dogs belong to the VK9 Scent Specific Search and Recovery Unit,
a nonprofit organization, said Sarah Platts, the officer in charge of
the group. They arrived with their handlers at Lindbergh Field about 10
p.m. Tuesday.

The canines, a 5-year-old yellow Labrador retriever named Quincy
and an 8-year-old German shorthaired pointer named Jack, are trained to
follow the odor of a specific person to the exclusion of all others and
are often deployed on cases that have gone cold, Platts said.

She declined to specify where the dogs were searching yesterday,
but said there is a dual purpose: to confirm whether Amber was actually
at any of the places where she may have been sighted, and to develop
new leads — “ideas perhaps they never thought of.”

Amber's mother, Carrie McGonigle, said she was very anxious but
also “absolutely hopeful” that something would turn up. She said that
although search dogs had already scoured the area for her daughter, she
thinks these dogs, with their special training, might be the key to
finding Amber.

The organization is conducting the search at no charge to the
family in return for reimbursement for travel expenses, Platts said.

It supports law enforcement and assists in criminal cases including
arson, assault, rape, homicide and missing-persons cases, and works
with emergency-management agencies across the country.

It also partners with Project Lifesaver, a rapid-response program
that deploys specially trained teams to locate wandering children and
adults suffering from diseases such as Alzheimer's, Down syndrome and
autism.

The group's work has earned accolades from law enforcement. The
police chief in Kenton, Ohio, credits the dogs for tracking the exact
location and movements of a homicide suspect weeks after crimes were
committed. The man was arrested and later confessed to three killings,
Police Chief John Vermillion said on the group's Web site.

No significant breaks in the search for missing
teen Amber Dubois were reported Friday, two days after specialized
search dogs began scouring a local area looking for any trace of
the 14-year-old girl.

The dogs, said by their handlers to be able to track the scent
of a person missing for weeks or even months, are part of VK9 Scent
Specific Search Recovery of Brewer, Maine.

Escondido police Lt. Craig Carter said Friday morning that a
police canine officer was shadowing the dogs, Quincy, a Labrador
retriever, and Jack, a German short haired pointer, and their
handlers.

Carter said, however, there was nothing significant to report at
that time. He could not be reached Friday afternoon.

Moe Dubois, Amber's father, said he understood the dogs had been
helpful though, following the suggestion of local police, he said
he could not elaborate on the search.

The Escondido High School freshman was last seen at about 7:10
a.m. Feb. 13 walking to the school on North Broadway.

Anyone with information about Amber's disappearance is urged to
call Escondido police at 760-743-8477

A teenage LDS author is donating 10 percent of her book sale profits to the search for a missing California teenager.

Jenna
Cooper, author of "Turned," is a 17-year-old Santana High School senior
from Santee, Calif. When she heard of the plight of Amber Dubois, a
14-year-old Escondido High School student who has been missing since
Feb. 13, Cooper wanted to give her family a copy of her book so it
would be the first book she read upon her return.

After discussion with the family, she decided instead to donate 10 percent of the royalties to the "Bring Amber Home" fund.

"Turned" is available on Amazon.com.

Seven months after their daughter disappeared without a trace,
Amber Dubois' parents criticized the Escondido Police Department's
investigation, saying detectives have failed to follow through on
significant leads quickly, and called for outside eyes to review
Escondido's investigation.

"Our daughter is not getting what she needs to be recovered"
said Amber's father Moe Dubois at a Sunday prayer vigil at
Escondido High School, where the 14-year-old was last seen before
school on Feb. 13.

It was the first time the family has expressed public
frustration with Escondido police.

Police spokesman Lt. Bob Benton responded that Escondido had
launched "One of the most extensive investigations our department
has handled," with the help of several outside agencies.

He said that two investigators still worked on the case full
time, and that several agencies, including the Sheriff's
Department, the FBI and the National Center for Missing and
Exploited Children, had joined the search.

However, Moe Dubois said Sunday that police had, "dropped the
ball," with he and ex-wife Carrie McGonigle, Amber's mother, citing
several alleged delays that may have hurt Amber's chances of being
found.

On Aug. 24, the family received a tip from someone who reported
seeing Amber at a business, McGonigle said, declining to say where
the sighting happened. Police were notified of the tip and made
aware that the business kept surveillance video, she said. Police
never tried to get the tape, and after almost two weeks, the
business erased it, McGonigle said.

Benton said the department had received more than 1,000 tips and
credible sightings were followed up on quickly. He said he did not
immediately know what McGonigle was referring to, but he said he
would check with investigators and respond Monday.

Amber's parents also said police had delayed for weeks after an
important scent trail picked up by a team of highly trained East
Coast search dogs brought by the family to search the area in
August.

Benton said an Escondido officer who accompanied the outside
searchers followed the trail with the searchers and interviewed
people at its end. The officer got no leads from the interviews,
but police distributed fliers in the area, which both Benton and
the family declined to specify.

McGonigle said there needed to be more "outside eyes," on the
case, and was requesting that Escondido police allow a retired law
enforcement officer hired by the family to review the entire
investigation.

Benton said that both the FBI and the National Center for
Missing and Exploited Children had reviewed Escondido's
investigation and told the department it was unusually
thorough.

He said Escondido detectives were open to allowing a person
hired by the family to look at their investigative files, but other
agencies involved in the investigation would also have to
approve.

"Because there are many other agencies involved it would have to
be a unanimous decision," Benton said.

Amber's case is still classified as a "missing person"
investigation, because police do not know whether she left
voluntarily or was kidnapped. Family members believe the girl they
describe as a bookish and loving was abducted by a stranger and is
being held against her will.

The parents have conducted extensive efforts to find Amber,
bringing in search experts from around the county, organizing
weekend searches, hiring a series of investigators and continually
spreading the word of Amber's disappearance with fliers,
fundraisers, press conferences and television appearances.

Benton said police have been working closely with Amber's family
and planned to meet with McGonigle again this week.

A golf tournament fundraiser to aid the search for missing teen Amber Dubois is set for Monday Oct. 5, the Escondido girl's father said Tuesday.
The event will be held at the San Juan Hills Golf Club in San Juan Capistrano, with check-in starting at 10 a.m. and a shotgun tee-off at 12:30 p.m., said Moe Dubois.
Amber, 14, disappeared Feb. 13 on her way to class at Escondido High School. She was last seen walking north on Broadway near the school's football stadium, police have said.
Her family believes Amber was abducted by a stranger. Police, however, have classified hers as a missing person case, saying they do not have evidence to say whether she was abducted or ran away.
To pay for private search efforts, the family and its supporters have organized numerous fundraisers across the region.
The cost of October's golf tournament is $150 per person or $550 per foursome. All proceeds will benefit the Amber Dubois Search Fund, said the teen's father.
For more information about the tournament, contact Bob Welch at 949-370-1337. To register online, visit https://event-manager.compete-at.com/bobwelch.
For more information about the search for Amber, visit www.bringamberhome.com .

A reward for information about the whereabouts of missing Escondido 14-year-old Amber Dubois is now up to $100,000.

At the request of the Escondido Police Department, the office of Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger has added $40,000 to an already established
reward it was announced Thursday.
Amber disappeared Feb. 13 when she was last seen walking to Escondido High School.

Escondido Police Chief Jim Maher requested that the Governor's Office
offer the reward as part of the Governor's Reward Program, which has
existed since 1967. The office has offered rewards in 258 cases and
paid out in 19 of those.
Amber's family and friends already had established a
$60,000 reward of which $50,000 was earmarked for information leading
to Amber's safe return and $10,000 for information leading to an arrest
of whoever is responsible for her disappearance.
Anyone with information is encouraged to call (760) 743-TIPS (8477).