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Gonzalez, Andrea November 20,1993; Alabama 5 YO
Topic Started: Aug 24 2006, 05:58 PM (802 Views)
oldies4mari2004
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http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/g/gonzalez_andrea.html

Andrea Gonzalez


Above: Andrea, circa 1993


Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance

Missing Since: November 20, 1993 from Russellville, Alabama
Classification: Endangered Missing
Age: 5 years old
Distinguishing Characteristics: Brown hair.
Medical Conditions: Andrea had emotional problems at the time of her 1993 disappearance.


Details of Disappearance

Andrea was reported missing on November 20, 1993 by her father, Paul Gonzalez Jr., and stepmother, Kim Sherrie Gonzalez; they said she disappeared from the family's trailer and might have been taken by her mother, who lived in Peoria, Illinois at the time. Andrea has never been heard from again.
On February 13, 1995, over a year later, Kim confessed to police that Andrea had not disappeared at all. She claimed Andrea had died after being accidentally scalded in the bathtub. Kim stated that she panicked afterwards, wrapped the body in plastic garbage bags, weighted it with a concrete blocked, and dropped it off a bridge into Upper Bear Creek Lake in northwest Alabama. An extensive search of the lake turned up two trash bags, but no sign of Andrea.

Paul at first claimed he had been asleep when Kim bathed Andrea and he woke up to find his daughter missing, but he later admitted that he helped his wife dispose of the child's body. Police did not think Andrea's death was accidental, however, and charged first Kim and then Paul with capital murder. Both of them could have faced the death penalty if convicted.

Prosecutors argued that the Gonzalezes effectively murdered Andrea by withholding medical treatment from her after her scalding, but without Andrea's body, there was not enough evidence to convict either defendant of murder. Paul pleaded guilty to manslaughter in Andrea's case and testified against Kim at her trial. He was sentenced to ten years in prison, served only two, and was released in September 1997. Kim was found not guilty of murder and guilty of child abuse in 1997; she was released from prison in 2001.

Investigators continue to search for Andrea's body. The latest search, in a cellar in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, turned up no evidence. Andrea formerly resided in Galesburg and Peoria, Illinois. She has never been located.



Investigating Agency
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Franklin County Sheriffs Office
256-332-8811



Source Information
The Doe Network
The Birmingham News
The Decatur Daily
The Peoria Journal-Star
The Philadelphia Inquirer



Updated 1 time since October 12, 2004.

Last updated October 27, 2005; medical condition added, details of disappearance updated.

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monkalup
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Ell
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Missing girl won't be forgotten


By Jonathan Willis

Region Bureau


RUSSELLVILLE
Last Updated:October 07. 2007 11:11PM
Published: October 08. 2007 3:30AM

The memory of one 5-year-old girl has not been erased from the minds of people in Franklin County, even though it's been almost 14 years since she was last seen.

Memorials in her honor are planned so that the community never forgets the missing little girl who is presumed dead but whose body was never found.

Andrea Gonzalez disappeared from her Russellville home in 1993.

Through the years, many people have tried to find out what really happened to the little brown-eyed girl whose face is etched in the minds of those who remember her story.

Although her father and stepmother have served time for her presumed death, Gonzalez's body was never found.

"This was a very unique and difficult case for everyone involved," said Franklin County Sheriff Larry Plott. "We did have a trial but the body was never found."

Andrea Gonzalez was reported missing from her Russellville home Nov. 20, 1993, by her stepmother, Kim, and her husband, Paul, the child's father.

The missing child report ignited a two-day search, which involved more than 400 volunteers. The search was called off when investigators suspected foul play.

On Feb. 13, 1995, Kim Gonzalez told authorities that Andrea had not disappeared but died after being accidentally scalded while taking a bath.

She said she panicked and tossed the body into the water at Mon Dye Bottoms Recreation Area near Phil Campbell. Divers searched the lake for 13 days to no avail.

Kim Gonzalez and her husband, Paul, were both charged with capital murder.

After a four-day trial in Greenville, a Butler County jury found Kim Gonzalez guilty of the lesser charge of child abuse in May 1997.

After a series of appeals, she began serving her 10-year sentence June 30, 1999. She was given credit for the 23 months she served in the Franklin County Jail.

She was released from the Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women in Wetumpka on Nov. 26, 2001. Records indicate she was incarcerated for four years and three months.

In April 1997, Paul Gonzalez pleaded guilty to manslaughter in a plea agreement that included his testimony against his wife during her trial.

He received a 10-year sentence but was required to serve two years in jail and placed on two years' probation. He received credit for the 18 months he served in the county jail.

He was released in September 1997 and moved back to his native Texas.

During his testimony, Paul Gonzalez admitted to disposing of the child's body in Upper Bear Creek Lake at Mon Dye but maintained the child died after bathing in scalding water.

Some people believe the little girl was taken from Russellville and could still be alive.

"I think she is still alive and should be considered as a missing person since her body was never found," said Louise Henkle, a volunteer who helped search for the body.

"It's like a dark cloud hanging over us."

There have been some renewed efforts to make sure the child is not forgotten and that other kids could be helped if they were in similar situations.

Teresa Mitchell and April Broome, of Russellville, have developed a web page in Gonzalez's honor and hope that people will see her lasting impact on the community.

"We thought we could do a page to help keep awareness out there," Mitchell said.

She said the page, myspace.com/wheresandrea, is also a way of promoting domestic violence awareness.

"I can't stand the thought of any child being neglected or abused," Mitchell said. "We just want to raise awareness to the issue."

The Franklin County Domestic Violence Response Coalition also plans to honor Gonzalez, as well as another child lost to abuse.

The coalition will place a fountain memorial at the Red Bay Police Department in memory of 3-week old Chance Waldrop, who died in September 2005. Waldrop's father, Jodey Wayne Waldrop, was sentenced to death last week for killing the infant.

A monument is also being placed at the new Franklin County Jail with an engraved picture of Gonzalez and the dates of her birth and disappearance.

"By keeping it in the public's eye, we don't want anything like this to ever happen again," Plott said.

In order to fund these two projects, the coalition is accepting donations.

Engraved bricks are being sold for $35 in memory or in honor of someone, although they do not have to be bought for someone who was a victim of abuse.

The cost includes the brick and up to three inscribed lines with the maximum of 15 letters per line.

The bricks will be placed at both memorials. They can be purchased by calling the Red Bay Police Department or the Franklin County Sheriff's Office.

Jonathan Willis can be reached at 332-0140 or jonathan.willis@timesdaily.com.

http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20071008.../710080317/1011
Ell

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Ell
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DNA Developments in Andrea Gonzalez Case
DNA Developments in Andrea Gonzalez Case



April 24, 2008

NewsChannel 19's Jerry Hayes reports:
Email: jerry.hayes@whnt.com

DNA developments give new hope to a cold case.

More than 14 years ago, a little girl disappeared from her home in Franklin County. Pictures of Andrea Gonzalez were plastered across Tennessee Valley TV sets.

Her big eyes and smiling face melted the hearts of viewers who simply hoped she was safe.

Two years later, her father and step mother were charged with murder, even though Andrea's body had not been found.

To this day, the case has haunted authorities and some family members who believe Andrea is still alive.

Several weeks ago, I got a tip that DNA tests were being done on a young woman bearing striking similarities.

Garnet Cantrell is Andrea's grandmother. She told me, "I do not believe that Andrea is dead and I will never believe that. And I believe she's out there somewhere. We've just gotta find her."

Cantrell recently got new hope that Andrea might be alive. A young woman surfaced in the Shoals that caught the eye of investigators.

So, police officers went to Cantrell's home to get a DNA sample from her and Andrea's brother. They compared it to DNA taken from the young woman.

Franklin County Sheriff Larry Plott has been working Andrea's case since day one, November 20, 1993. He asked for the DNA test after he started seeing similarities in the girls' backgrounds.

"We looked at this young person and because of the history this young person had, we could not go back through papers, through historic things and figure out exactly where she came from and who the parents were," Plott said.

The girl in question is 16. Andrea would be 20. However, there are indications her birth certificate has been altered.

"This is the closest we've ever been," says Cantrell.

For almost two months, she and others have been holding onto hope that the DNA test would prove that Paul and Kym Gonzalez lied at trial.

The couple testified they'd accidentally killed Andrea and dumped her body off a bridge at Mondye landing.

Paul Gonzalez did time for manslaughter, and Kym Gonzalez served time for child abuse. For all these years, it's been a cold case.

Sheriff Plott doesn't have any conclusive evidence that Andrea is dead because her body was never found.

"I think all of us hope and pray that some day that we find her and she's happy and healthy, but it's up to God on this one, but we're responsible to do our part," Plott said.

That means checking any new lead that comes into his office.

Plott says he will never be satisfied until they find Andrea's remains and have a formal burial.

Meanwhile, Andrea's grandmother isn't giving up hope.

The DNA test results are back from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and the tests indicate the girl in the Shoals is not Andrea Gonzalez.

However, Andrea's grandmother thinks the results may be flawed, and is hoping to get another DNA test done on the young woman and Andrea's birth mother, Michelle.

NewsChannel 19 is not releasing any information about the young woman in the Shoals in order to protect her and her identity.

Sheriff Plott says she's already been through enough.

I have seen photographs of the girl, and there some similarities if you consider what Andrea might look like today. However, the DNA results say it's not her.
http://www.whnt.com/Global/story.asp?S=8225077
Ell

Only after the last tree has been
cut down;
Only after the last fish has been
caught;
Only after the last river has been
poisoned;
Only then will you realize
that money cannot be eaten.
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oldies4mari2004
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http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20110117...r-forget-Andrea

Plott says he'll never forget Andrea
By Trevor Stokes
Staff Writer
Published: Monday, January 17, 2011 at 3:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Sunday, January 16, 2011 at 11:06 p.m.

Larry Plott never met Andrea Gonzalez, but in the 17 years since her disappearance, the girl's image still haunts him.

The 5-year-old's father and stepmother reported her missing Nov. 20, 1993, initially claiming Andrea walked away from their trailer in Franklin County.

In the end, the stepmother, Kim Gonzalez, admitted she scalded and accidentally killed her stepdaughter and the father, Paul Gonzalez, said he helped dispose of the body by tossing it off the Mon Dye Bridge at Upper Bear Creek Lake.

Paul pleaded guilty to manslaughter and served two years of a 10-year sentence and was released in 1997. That same year, Kim was found guilty of child abuse and served time in prison until 2001.

For Plott, the case remains unsolved because Andrea's body was never found.

“My thinking was to recover the body,” Plott said. “My job as sheriff was to give that child a proper burial.”

On Friday, Andrea would have celebrated her 23rd birthday. Plott estimated he spent thousands of hours, along with the countless volunteers and officers, in their search for the missing girl.

In October 2009, Plott dedicated a memorial to Andrea in front of the sheriff's department.

“One of the last things in human customs is a burial, and at that point, you've done all you can do as a human,” Plott said. “This child never got that.”

Plott is leaving office after 28 years. His successor, Shannon Oliver, entered the reserve program in December 1993 as the Alabama Bureau of Investigation started to treat Andrea's case as foul play.

Oliver was among hundreds of volunteers who searched Mon Dye looking for the girl's body. When he joined the sheriff's department in May 1994, he said the mood was anxious as investigators collected evidence and followed leads.

“The arrest being made was one chapter, but there was just never the end of the book,” Oliver said.

He said if the department receives any new leads, “we will pursue them.”

The case remains open at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. “We will always continue to look for the child until she is found,” said Robert Lowery, executive director of the missing children's division at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Friday was the last day that Plott was able to work on Andrea's case. He said he also regrets not resolving another case. On July 29, 1991, burglars shot and killed Elizabeth Farned and critically wounded her husband, Jessie.

“Home invasion was a term that wasn't used at that point,” Plott said.

It's a case he wanted to solve before leaving office.

He said Andrea's case will haunt him even after he leaves office and takes up some fishing in February.

He said the child's disappearance affected him on a personal level.

“You can't keep from it because of the child, and you get to know so much about her.”

Now, it's time to move on.

“My faith helps me cope with these decisions and things I have no control over,” he said.
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