Search expands for missing 6-year-old Bremerton girl
Aug 5, 2014, 4:12 PM | Updated: 5:34 pm
The search widened Tuesday for a missing 6-year-old Bremerton girl, as over 112 people from ten agencies joined the hunt for Jenise Paulette Wright. But so far there are no signs of the little girl who disappeared over the weekend.
“This is heartwrenching,” said Kitap County Sheriff Steve Boyer.
Searchers scoured the East Bremerton mobile home park Tuesday, going door to door and checking all the dumpsters in the neighborhood for any clues in the disappearance.
Investigators were also trying to contact all of the registered sex offenders and transients living in the area, said Kistap County sheriff’s Deputy Scott Wilson.
“We want to find out where they were on the the time that she was disappearing, or think that she disappeared, and what they may have been up to,” Wilson said.
The FBI and Washington State Patrol joined the search Tuesday, bringing in personnel and resources from all over the country.
Frank Montoya Jr., the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Seattle Division, said the agency would leave “no stone unturned” in the investigation.
“They bring with them the kind of experiences that are gained from these kinds of investigations in every part of the country and even globally. We thought it was that important to find Janise that we bring these resources to bear,” he said.
Wilson said the girl’s parents took a lie detector test Monday evening, but the results likely won’t be released to the public.
Jenise was reported missing Sunday evening, nearly 24 hours after her parents last saw her in their home in the east Bremerton neighborhood around the Steele Creek Mobile Home Park. They didn’t call 911 immediately because she had previously wandered off around the fenced neighborhood and they felt she was safe.
Neighbors reportedly saw the little girl sometime between noon and 4 p.m. Sunday. She was reportedly wearing a pink shirt and blue jeans, and possibly had on flip flops or was in bare feet.
“This is unconfirmed but it is the best description we have to go on,” Wilson said.
The FBI has set up a tipline to collect information. It’s 1-800-CALL-FBI. Searchers are also using the hashtag #findjenise on Twitter.
Janise lives in the home with the parents and six others. Child welfare workers removed an 8-year-old boy and 12-year-old girl from the home Monday. A 16-year-old boy, who also lives there, was out of town over the weekend. Two other adult children also live in the home.
Jenise, who shared a bedroom with her sister, is 3 feet tall, weighs 45 pounds and has black hair. She’ll be a first-grader this school year.
