Bay Area Recovery Canines (BARC) is a volunteer canine search and recovery organization dedicated to providing agencies with with highly trained canines and handlers to assist in the recovery of missing persons.
On June 17, 2006 BARC was requested to respond by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children for a missing child in PA. NCMEC's Team Adam experts had been on scene during the ongoing search. Earlier on the 17th, significant clues had been discovered in this tragic case helping authorities narrow down the massive search area. Canines Alley and Red indicated on a suspected site, aiding authorities to the missing child's location. .
Below are newspaper articles relating to the search.
Man In Custody, Charged In Greene Co. Girl's Death
http://kdka.com/local/local_story_169105758.htm
(KDKA) Bobtown A Greene County man said that he confronted and then strangled a 12-year-old Greene County girl who had been missing since last Tuesday. State Police have arrested Jeffrey Robert Martin, of New Geneva.
Martin, 48, is the caretaker of the farm where authorities found the body of Gabrielle Bechen buried in a shallow grave early Sunday morning. “It was not what you would consider a fresh grave site," said PA State Trooper Joseph Christy. "It was an area that looked like a dumping area for dirt and rocks.”
Martin has been charged with criminal homicide, aggravated assault and four counts of tampering with physical evidence.
The official cause of her death is pending an autopsy. Search teams had been scouring a four-square mile area near Bechen’s home in Dunkard Township for days but hadn’t found anything. Police say a major break in the case came when a civilian searcher found the girl’s ATV on the farm, partially buried under a pile of manure around 4:15 p.m. Saturday. Almost two hours later at 6 p.m., the search was called off for the day.
With the help of cadaver dogs, authorities found her body around 4:35 a.m. Sunday.
Police have not given a possible motive for Bechen’s death.
America's Most Wanted
http://www.amw.com/missing_children/recovered.cfm?id=39410
Gabrielle Miranda Bechen
Recovered
Jun 17, 2006
Police Discover Foul Play
The massive search for 12-year-old Gabrielle Bechen came to a halt on Saturday, June 17, 2006 after investigators located her ATV on a farm about a mile-and-a-half from her home.
Police say they found the four-wheel all-terrain vehicle the little girl was riding -- and her helmet -- on the 300-acre farm around 4:30 pm on Saturday. According to investigators, the four-wheeler was partially buried in an apparent attempt to conceal it.
When police began looking into people who work on the farm, they encountered 48-year-old Jeffery Robert Martin -- the farm's caretaker. Cops say when confronted, Martin directed them to the area where Gabrielle's body was located. With the help of cadaver dogs, authorities found Gabrielleeraly Sunday morning in a makeshift grave approximately one mile from where her quad had been found.
Police have Martin in custody and have charged him with criminal homicide, aggravated assault, and four counts of tampering with physical evidence.
Body of Missing 12-Year Old Girl Found, Farmhand Charged With Homicide
Monday , June 19, 2006
http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,200055,00.html
WAYNESBURG, Pa. — The body of a 12-year-old girl who disappeared last week was found buried at a farm where she liked to visit horses, and a farmhand was charged in her death, authorities said.
Gabrielle Bechen was reported missing Tuesday after she went riding on her all-terrain vehicle near her family's home in southwestern Pennsylvania.
Her body was found late Saturday, state police said. The ATV she had been riding was found partially buried at a large manure dump site about a mile from her body.
"Once the quad was located, there were several cadaver dogs that were brought in and they searched other areas around the farm, which led us to the location where ultimately Gabby's body was found," Trooper Joseph Christy said.
Authorities charged Jeffrey Robert Martin, a 48-year-old caretaker at the farm, with homicide, assault and tampering with physical evidence.
Bechen had visited the farm several times in the past to see the horses, and it's likely Martin and the girl knew each other, Christy said.
Officials did not release a cause of death. An autopsy was scheduled for Monday.
Search teams from West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia, Delaware and the Washington, D.C., area had joined local authorities and volunteers in looking for the girl.
NCMEC - PA Buried Search June 2006
