12-yr old Brooke Bennett missing from Vermont.

**SoUncool** · June 26th, 2008, 12:22 PM

http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp...=menu183_6_2_6

Brookfield, Vermont - June 25, 2008

Vermont State Police have launched a massive search for a young girl in central Vermont.

12-year-old Brooke Bennett, of Braintree, was last seen Wednesday morning when a family member dropped her off at the Cumberland Farms in Randolph. The family member left. A friend was supposed to come and pick Brooke up to bring her to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center to visit the friend's relative. Bennett was not at the Cumberland Farms when the friend arrived.

Police say they are focusing their search in the Brookfield area. Several roads have been closed and a command center has been set up. Police have reportedly found some items of interest. However, they are not sure if those items are linked to Bennett's disappearance. K-9s and search and rescue teams from all across the region have been called in to assist in the search.

Bennett was last seen wearing blue jeans, a pink sweater and white sneakers with pink lettering.

If you have seen her or have any information-- call Vt. State Police at 802-243-9933.

**celtic friend** · June 26th, 2008, 02:40 PM

I hope she is found safe.

**Redvelvet08** · June 26th, 2008, 02:54 PM

I hope they find this beautiful young lady safe and sound. This is happening just way to much these days!

**petrina** · June 26th, 2008, 02:54 PM

i hope she just lied to her parents to make out a lil. then i hope they kick her butt but still she will be safe.

**Morbid** · June 26th, 2008, 03:20 PM

**Lynntoast** · June 26th, 2008, 10:56 PM

Police now say she had apparently lied about her destination and was planning to meet an unknown individual she had been communicating with online

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/a...17/1007/NEWS02

This really doesn't sound good for this poor girl. :(

**Mom of 4** · June 26th, 2008, 11:08 PM

Oh no that doesn't sound good at all. Damn I wish kids would pay attention to the news and all the other information they are taught about internet predators. :tsk:

**Unamused Cat** · June 26th, 2008, 11:16 PM

Other than saying clothing, the police will not discuss what items were found near a pond. The dive team will be searching underwater in the morning.

video: http://www.necn.com/Boston/New-Engla...214529597.html

**tricia71** · June 27th, 2008, 07:50 AM

i make my kids read these stories everyday............i have an 11yr old boy and a 15 yr old daughter and i am constantly checking them......i just wish people would be more alert as to what kids are doing, ya know?

**Lynntoast** · June 27th, 2008, 11:42 AM

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm...ndid=270831610

This is her myspace. It is set to private. She last logged on the day she went missing. :(

**Ruby** · June 27th, 2008, 12:58 PM

So here's some interesting reporting, vis-a-vis myspace pages and young'uns. She had a site which her dad permitted and monitored, but he didn't like how she was handling herself with it, so he took it away from her. Shut her down. She surreptitiously opened another account on another computer and he just found out about that. So, she did not have parental permission for the myspace acct. Here's the link:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,372726,00.html

**Unamused Cat** · June 27th, 2008, 01:11 PM

I hope she gets back home... so her parents can whip her ass. Bah...

**Lynntoast** · June 27th, 2008, 07:55 PM

A diver enters Sunset Lake in Brookfield, Vt., as police continue their search for missing 12-year-old Brooke Bennett Friday, June 27, 2008. The lake is near where a family member found items belonging to Bennett, of Braintree, on Thursday

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/a...EWS01/80626034

**Shadow** · June 27th, 2008, 08:37 PM

thank you Lynn.

And I agree Cat.. she does need her ass whipped. I think that's part of the problem with young people today, not enough of them get that discipline they so badly need.

~ceisdsgil

**petrina** · June 27th, 2008, 09:12 PM

so do they think she is alive? any confirmation? debit card use? wha? and the person she is with - perv or killerperv? if we frontpage it will her friends spill some beans?

**Ruby** · June 27th, 2008, 09:36 PM

Today they found one of her shoes.
It's not seeming good....

**Shadow** · June 27th, 2008, 09:52 PM

Ruby, thank you for sharing.. no, this doesn't look good. :(

~ceisdsgil

**Mom of 4** · June 27th, 2008, 09:58 PM

Originally Posted by Ruby

Today they found one of her shoes.
It's not seeming good....

Oh no! I have a sick feeling in my stomach. Well if it is someone she was talking to online they should be able to trace it.

**Unamused Cat** · June 27th, 2008, 10:53 PM

They are saying a family member found items of clothing belonging to Brooke. I keep wondering about the uncle.

**Shadow** · June 27th, 2008, 11:56 PM

any more news yet?

*prays this story doesn't have a sad ending...but thinking it looks as though it might...

~ceisdsgil

**Unamused Cat** · June 28th, 2008, 12:31 AM

Nothing new other than the FBI sending a special 5 man team to help in the search.

http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel08/card062708.htm

**Shadow** · June 28th, 2008, 12:50 AM

thank you Cat...

~ceisdsgil

**SoUncool** · June 28th, 2008, 09:16 AM

**SoUncool** · June 28th, 2008, 09:22 AM

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/a...EWS01/80626034

Searchers hug each other Friday as they look for missing 12-year-old Brooke Bennett of Braintree along a road in Brookfield. Ver´mont State Police divers searched Sunset Lake on Friday, where a family member found items belonging to the girl Thursday.

BROOKFIELD — The search for a missing 12-year-old girl broadened Friday as the FBI joined in and police investigators turned to officials at MySpace.com, the online social networking site through which she had been communicating with an unknown person before her disappearance. A day after her disappearance triggered Vermont’s first Amber Alert, investigators focused on someone Brooke Bennett might have met online, the head of the Vermont State Police said. “This case is about a MySpace visitation,” Col. James Baker said. “Our focus is on the communications Brooke may have had via that media.”

Police believe Brooke was not planning to meet a friend and that she might have been going to meet someone she’d been communicating with online. Video from an interior surveillance camera at the store — released Friday — showed the girl and her uncle walk into the store and then leave, each going in separate directions, with Brooke walking away by herself.

She was seen about 45 minutes later inside the Randolph Village Laundromat, police said.

Friday, state police dive teams searched Sunset Lake, near where items belonging to Brooke were found Thursday by a family member. Baker said the divers found nothing.

During the day Friday, the FBI brought in agents from New England and experts in behavioral science from Quantico, Va.

A major focus of the investigation was centered on her online activities.

“As we all know, warnings have gone out countless times, in this world that we live in today, there are folks that visit places, social networking spaces such as MySpace, whose intentions are not good. And they come from far away,” Baker said.

Baker said the Amber Alert wasn’t issued sooner because investigators had to determine whethe her disappearance met the criteria for one. Officials didn’t decide to issue the alert until they knew the MySpace activity could be related to it, he said.

Baker said MySpace officials — who posted the Amber Alert on their Web site — were being helpful.

“MySpace takes the safety of our users very seriously,” its chief security officer, Hemanshu Nigam, said in a statement released by the company. “We are assisting the Vermont State Police Department and cannot comment any further as it is an ongoing investigation.”

**Mom of 4** · June 28th, 2008, 09:29 AM

She was seen about 45 minutes later inside the Randolph Village Laundromat, police said.

Could they be more vague? Was she alone? What was she doing in the laundromat? Was it caught on video or is it a witness who claims to have seen her? How close is the laundromat to the area her articles of clothing were found?

Geez inquiring minds want to know.

**SoUncool** · June 28th, 2008, 09:31 AM

Originally Posted by Mom of 4

Could they be more vague? Was she alone? What was she doing in the laundromat? Was it caught on video or is it a witness who claims to have seen her? How close is the laundromat to the area her articles of clothing were found?

Geez inquiring minds want to know.

I hear ya mom...they're not saying much still. I don't get it, if they want the public's help, why the hell don't they give us more info? Afraid it will "hamper" the investigation?

**Ruby** · June 28th, 2008, 12:58 PM

The article I read last night said they had witnesses who put her at The Village Laundramat or the Dunkin' Donuts in town. They actually used that "or" in their story, which I found strange. I could see if she was seen at one AND the other. But what's with the "or"?? Weird huh? They definitely said that witnesses saw her there around 9:45 AM (uncle dropped her off at store at 9 AM). So they were still asking for anyone who claimed to have seen her. But they're not revealing whether the sightings that were reported were of her alone or her with someone. :-(

**SoUncool** · June 28th, 2008, 01:00 PM

I've been checking for any updates all morning. PLEASE post if ANYBODY sees something. This really hits me close to my heart as my daughter is also 12...

**Unamused Cat** · June 28th, 2008, 01:28 PM

I am not finding anything new. I sure want to hear more about that uncle.

**Mom of 4** · June 28th, 2008, 03:55 PM

Originally Posted by Unamused Cat

I am not finding anything new. I sure want to hear more about that uncle.

I have to admit I am a bit suspicious of the Uncle too UC. I hope I am wrong and he did nothing more than drop her off. The personal items found near his home just raised my eyebrows a little.