Peps from NC, TN, VA, & GA

[Ducati Diva]

Please remember these faces and call the number if you happen to see either!!! This girl goes to school with my daughter. Her family is frantic. Thanks for reading!!!



December 11, 2008


Search is on for missing teen

Police: Girl may be with older man

Josh Boatwright and Andre A. Rodriguez

Police said Monday they fear a missing 16-year-old is with the man accused of assaulting her and under court order forbidding he contact the teen.
Christopher Lee Mehaffey, 37, faces an additional charge of child abduction if he is found with the missing girl, authorities said.
Andrea Fox said she noticed her daughter, Casey, was gone at 9:30 a.m. Saturday morning but thinks she may have left her Clyde home sometime overnight.
Waynesville police said they believe she left willingly with Mehaffey, who was charged last month with multiple offenses involving a relationship with the teen.
"We're up here doing whatever we can to find her,” Andrea Fox said after meeting with a Waynesville police detective Monday. “We're checking every lead we know to look for. We want to know she's OK.”

Fox told police her daughter had left her cell phone but had taken her Xbox, video camera, bookbag and purse, according to a Haywood County sheriff's report.

Police arrested Mehaffey on Nov. 26, charging him with offenses including indecent liberties and contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile.

He was released from custody on Dec. 2, when Haywood County District Court Judge Monica Leslie reduced his bond from $250,000 to $30,000, according to records at the Haywood County Clerk of Court's Office.

Haywood County Assistant District Attorney Reid Brown said he recommended the reduced bond after meeting with investigators in the case.

Mehaffey agreed to wrongdoing and was cooperative with investigators, Brown said.

Mehaffey is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday.

“If there had been any threat of violence or intimidation, we wouldn't have agreed to any bond,” Brown said. “Once he made the confession, I felt very comfortable about recommending that.”

The girl's family also had been reluctant to prosecute, Brown said.

“I just didn't think it would be fair to hold him in jail unless there was some evidence that he would leave,” Brown said. “He doesn't have to stay to make the bond. He can leave. He's not a flight until he doesn't show up in court.”

The new bond also included a provision that Mehaffey have no contact with Fox after her family took her to the jail to see Mehaffey, Brown said.

“Now he's violated that provision, so his bond will be revoked,” Brown said. “Now he's going to be charged with child abduction.”

Ellen Mehaffey, who is identified in reports as Christopher's mother, and B.J. Mehaffey posted the bond, according to records. She could not be reached for comment.

Andrea Fox said she was not told about Mehaffey's release.

“If we knew he was getting out we could have kept an eye on her (Casey),” Fox said.

“This could have been prevented if we were notified about it,” she said.

Andrea Fox said she had thought her daughter was dating Christopher Mehaffey's son, but later discovered the two were in a relationship.

"We don't know her state of mind right now," she said.

Family friend Steven Scott said they just want to hear from Casey Fox and know she's safe.

"Have her call and let us know that she's all right," he said. "Go to a pay phone and say, ‘I'm OK, I'm warm and I'm eating' at least. We just want to make sure that she's all right. At least let her call and let us know she's all right," he said.

Mehaffey's employer is listed as Haywood Vocational Opportunities in Waynesville, an organization that employs people with disabilities and helps them find work in the community.

A message left with the organization was not returned.

Waynesville police detective Ryan Singleton said he is not aware of Mehaffey having any disabilities.

Mehaffey has a history of drug use, but Singleton said he didn't think he'd been charged with any violent or sex-related crimes in the past.

Casey Fox is described as 5 feet 6 inches tall, about 110-115 pounds, with black hair and brown-hazel eyes, her mother told investigators in a report.

Mehaffey, whose address is listed as Virginia Avenue, Waynesville, is white, 5 feet 9 inches, 162 pounds and has blonde hair and blue eyes, according to a police report.

Anyone who has seen Casey Fox or Christopher Lee Mehaffey should call Waynesville Police at 828-456-5363.

Staff writer Mike McWilliams contributed to this report.

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