Witness describes bloody motel room
Police search for bedspread along U.S. 54, U.S. 69
BY TIM POTTER
The Wichita Eagle
EL DORADO - On the same day that police sought the public's help in finding a bedspread involved in the investigation into a missing woman, a restaurant owner disclosed information that might help explain why investigators suspect she was the victim of violence.
The employer of a man police say is a "person of interest" in the disappearance of 18-year-old Emily Sander said Tuesday that he saw what appeared to be "a lot" of blood in the man's El Dorado motel room. The room has become a crime scene in an investigation that stretches into Texas.
Joe Terziu, owner of Bella Casa Italian Restaurant, which sits beside the El Dorado Motel, told The Eagle he saw what looked like blood on a bed and carpet in the room where Israel Mireles had been staying.
El Dorado police say Mireles, 24, is the last person seen with the Butler Community College student before she disappeared after leaving a bar just east of El Dorado on Friday night.
In a prepared statement Tuesday afternoon, Deputy Police Chief Rick Kennedy said: "We are asking for the public to pay particular attention to areas east of El Dorado along Highway 54 to Fort Scott, then along Highway 69 to Baxter Springs, for a bedspread matching the one in the photograph." Kennedy showed a photograph of a white bedspread with a maroon-and-blue floral design.
"We are interested in locating a bedspread similar to this," Kennedy said.
Searchers have been looking along U.S. 54 and U.S. 69, Kennedy said. Agencies involved in the search include the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, the Butler County sheriff's office and the Kansas Highway Patrol, which has been searching by air. Trained citizen volunteers are helping.
At the motel Tuesday, searchers came and went in trucks bearing all-terrain vehicles.
Searchers also have checked along the Walnut River, which flows near the motel, on the east side of El Dorado.
Although Mireles has not been located, Kennedy said, "we are aggressively seeking his whereabouts."
A 2007 Ford Taurus, which had been rented in El Dorado and which authorities thought Mireles was using, was found earlier Tuesday in Vernon, Texas, about 50 miles northwest of Wichita Falls.
Detectives and KBI special agents arrived in Vernon on Tuesday night to help Texas Rangers check the car for evidence, Kennedy said.
Kennedy also provided a more recent picture of Mireles, taken about three weeks ago. It shows Mireles wearing earrings and a piercing below his bottom lip.
The motel room
Terziu, Mireles' employer, said he went to the room Saturday after the motel owner told him that it looked like the room where Mireles was staying was damaged.
The motel owner, Isaac Patel, said he saw that a window beside the door had been broken.
Terziu said he went into the room and thought to himself "this place looks scary" after he saw the blood. The telephone wire appeared to be disconnected, possibly cut, he said. He told the motel owner that he should call police.
Police have said they came to investigate after the motel management called about 2:45 p.m. Saturday with a report of a possible altercation.
El Dorado police declined to comment on Terziu's description of the motel room.
Terziu said Mireles had been staying at the motel with his pregnant girlfriend. Terziu thought she was 18, he said. Police say she is 16.
Terziu said Mireles had worked for him previously at restaurants in Hays and Vernon, Texas, and that he had been working at the El Dorado restaurant as a waiter for a couple of months.
Terziu described Mireles as "not reliable" because he often quit his jobs; he said Mireles had quit his waiter job Nov. 21.
A public-records search showed that Mireles lived in Vernon as recently as October 2005. Terziu said Mireles has relatives in Vernon.
Mireles' criminal record in Texas includes misdemeanor convictions for possession of prohibited weapons, hunting from a vehicle and driving while intoxicated.
Authorities have said that they think Mireles was traveling with his girlfriend, who is from Hays. The Eagle is not naming her because she is a minor.
Police said Monday that they were concerned about the girlfriend's welfare as well.
Martin Straub, an assistant principal at Hays High School, said the girlfriend was enrolled as a freshman after moving into the district last year. He said she dropped out earlier this year.
Assistant Hays Police Chief Philip Hartsfield said his department was helping El Dorado police on the case. He said he had no record of his officers ever coming into contact with Mireles.
'Some good, solid clues'
At Tuesday's news conference, Clem Sander, Emily Sander's grandfather, thanked media for coverage of the disappearance.
"We're still hoping for the best, prepared for the worst," he said.
"We're trying to remember her as the last time that we saw her, which was Thanksgiving."
Lots of people have been calling the family to voice support, he said.
He said he was heartened by the idea that authorities have "some good, solid clues," have found the car and have been able to narrow their search to two highways.
'She told me she'd call'
In the motel parking lot Tuesday, one of Sander's friends, 18-year-old Nikki Watson, sat in her car on the verge of tears. Watson voiced her worries.
"Emily just wouldn't leave," she said.
Sander has been "like my daughter's godmother, aunt," Watson said.
She said Sander has been living in apartment complex across the highway from the motel and restaurant -- and only a little over a mile from the bar where she disappeared.
Watson has been calling Sander's cell phone, over and over, to hear her friend's voice.
They last talked around 5:30 p.m. on Friday.
"She told me she'd call me that night, and she never did," Watson said.
Tuesday evening, outside Room 21 -- where Mireles had stayed and where investigators had set up crime-scene tape -- Patel finished installing new glass where the window had been broken.
The investigators were gone.
And the door to Room 21, which had been open for the past two days as investigators walked in and out, was now closed, secured by a shiny padlock.
http://www.kansas.com/news/story/239825.html
Police search for bedspread along U.S. 54, U.S. 69
BY TIM POTTER
The Wichita Eagle
EL DORADO - On the same day that police sought the public's help in finding a bedspread involved in the investigation into a missing woman, a restaurant owner disclosed information that might help explain why investigators suspect she was the victim of violence.
The employer of a man police say is a "person of interest" in the disappearance of 18-year-old Emily Sander said Tuesday that he saw what appeared to be "a lot" of blood in the man's El Dorado motel room. The room has become a crime scene in an investigation that stretches into Texas.
Joe Terziu, owner of Bella Casa Italian Restaurant, which sits beside the El Dorado Motel, told The Eagle he saw what looked like blood on a bed and carpet in the room where Israel Mireles had been staying.
El Dorado police say Mireles, 24, is the last person seen with the Butler Community College student before she disappeared after leaving a bar just east of El Dorado on Friday night.
In a prepared statement Tuesday afternoon, Deputy Police Chief Rick Kennedy said: "We are asking for the public to pay particular attention to areas east of El Dorado along Highway 54 to Fort Scott, then along Highway 69 to Baxter Springs, for a bedspread matching the one in the photograph." Kennedy showed a photograph of a white bedspread with a maroon-and-blue floral design.
"We are interested in locating a bedspread similar to this," Kennedy said.
Searchers have been looking along U.S. 54 and U.S. 69, Kennedy said. Agencies involved in the search include the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, the Butler County sheriff's office and the Kansas Highway Patrol, which has been searching by air. Trained citizen volunteers are helping.
At the motel Tuesday, searchers came and went in trucks bearing all-terrain vehicles.
Searchers also have checked along the Walnut River, which flows near the motel, on the east side of El Dorado.
Although Mireles has not been located, Kennedy said, "we are aggressively seeking his whereabouts."
A 2007 Ford Taurus, which had been rented in El Dorado and which authorities thought Mireles was using, was found earlier Tuesday in Vernon, Texas, about 50 miles northwest of Wichita Falls.
Detectives and KBI special agents arrived in Vernon on Tuesday night to help Texas Rangers check the car for evidence, Kennedy said.
Kennedy also provided a more recent picture of Mireles, taken about three weeks ago. It shows Mireles wearing earrings and a piercing below his bottom lip.
The motel room
Terziu, Mireles' employer, said he went to the room Saturday after the motel owner told him that it looked like the room where Mireles was staying was damaged.
The motel owner, Isaac Patel, said he saw that a window beside the door had been broken.
Terziu said he went into the room and thought to himself "this place looks scary" after he saw the blood. The telephone wire appeared to be disconnected, possibly cut, he said. He told the motel owner that he should call police.
Police have said they came to investigate after the motel management called about 2:45 p.m. Saturday with a report of a possible altercation.
El Dorado police declined to comment on Terziu's description of the motel room.
Terziu said Mireles had been staying at the motel with his pregnant girlfriend. Terziu thought she was 18, he said. Police say she is 16.
Terziu said Mireles had worked for him previously at restaurants in Hays and Vernon, Texas, and that he had been working at the El Dorado restaurant as a waiter for a couple of months.
Terziu described Mireles as "not reliable" because he often quit his jobs; he said Mireles had quit his waiter job Nov. 21.
A public-records search showed that Mireles lived in Vernon as recently as October 2005. Terziu said Mireles has relatives in Vernon.
Mireles' criminal record in Texas includes misdemeanor convictions for possession of prohibited weapons, hunting from a vehicle and driving while intoxicated.
Authorities have said that they think Mireles was traveling with his girlfriend, who is from Hays. The Eagle is not naming her because she is a minor.
Police said Monday that they were concerned about the girlfriend's welfare as well.
Martin Straub, an assistant principal at Hays High School, said the girlfriend was enrolled as a freshman after moving into the district last year. He said she dropped out earlier this year.
Assistant Hays Police Chief Philip Hartsfield said his department was helping El Dorado police on the case. He said he had no record of his officers ever coming into contact with Mireles.
'Some good, solid clues'
At Tuesday's news conference, Clem Sander, Emily Sander's grandfather, thanked media for coverage of the disappearance.
"We're still hoping for the best, prepared for the worst," he said.
"We're trying to remember her as the last time that we saw her, which was Thanksgiving."
Lots of people have been calling the family to voice support, he said.
He said he was heartened by the idea that authorities have "some good, solid clues," have found the car and have been able to narrow their search to two highways.
'She told me she'd call'
In the motel parking lot Tuesday, one of Sander's friends, 18-year-old Nikki Watson, sat in her car on the verge of tears. Watson voiced her worries.
"Emily just wouldn't leave," she said.
Sander has been "like my daughter's godmother, aunt," Watson said.
She said Sander has been living in apartment complex across the highway from the motel and restaurant -- and only a little over a mile from the bar where she disappeared.
Watson has been calling Sander's cell phone, over and over, to hear her friend's voice.
They last talked around 5:30 p.m. on Friday.
"She told me she'd call me that night, and she never did," Watson said.
Tuesday evening, outside Room 21 -- where Mireles had stayed and where investigators had set up crime-scene tape -- Patel finished installing new glass where the window had been broken.
The investigators were gone.
And the door to Room 21, which had been open for the past two days as investigators walked in and out, was now closed, secured by a shiny padlock.
http://www.kansas.com/news/story/239825.html
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