Jamie Harper

March 10, 2007
Paxton, Illinois

JAMIE HARPER


Photograph taken in 2005

DESCRIPTION
Date of Birth: November 29, 1986 Place of Birth: Champaign, Illinois
Sex: Female Hair: Brown
Height: 5'0" Eyes: Brown
Weight: 130 pounds Race: White

THE DETAILS
Jamie Harper was last seen on the morning of Saturday, March 10, 2007, at approximately 4:30 a.m. She had attended a party the previous evening in Rantoul, Illinois, and had made plans to spend the night at a friend's house. She never arrived at the friend's house and never returned home. All of her possessions, including her epilepsy medication, were left at her residence.

REMARKS

Harper has a pierced nose and a tattoo of a tribal design on her back. She was last seen wearing a white jacket, blue jeans, and sandals, and was carrying a black handbag.

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Individuals with information concerning this case should take no action themselves, but instead immediately contact the nearest FBI Office or local law enforcement agency. For any possible sighting outside the United States, contact the nearest United States Embassy or Consulate.

Saturday, September 5, 2009
Jamie Harper and Heather Zimmerman ILLINOIS

Two young women, missing ten years apart. A common link exists. The same man attended both parties that the women were last seen attending. FBI Investigating. Suspect has not been named, however, the FBI would like anyone with information to please come forward. The families of both young women need closure

"It's been a long ten years. But we just go day by day, and just hope something will come up," says Zimmerman's mother, Ann Mullins. For a decade, Mullins has been wondering what happened to her daughter.

Gifford police began searching for 19-year-old Heather Zimmerman after she disappeared in 1997. Her parents say she left to go out with friends and never returned. Now police say they've learned some of the people who were last seen with Zimmerman, were also those last seen with Jamie Harper. In fact, they say their "person of interest" in both cases is the same man.

http://illinoishomepage.net/content/fulltext/?cid=5926

Heather Zimmerman website : http://www.theyaremissing.org/heather.html

Jamie Harper website : http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/kidnap/harper_j.htm

Please help find missing Paxton woman Jamie Harper
Area police are asking for help locating a Paxton woman who has been missing almost a month. Paxton Police Chief Robert Bane said Jamie E. Harper, 20, was last seen by family members in Paxton on March 9 and later that evening in Rantoul. Bane said Harper worked at Bell Helmets through a temporary service but has not been to work since March 9. "She has not made any contact with any friends, family, anyone," Bane said, adding that Harper has no credit card or cell phone and "no reason to run away." She lives with her mother, who reported her missing to Rantoul police on March 19. On Wednesday, Bane said police agencies decided to enlist the aid of local media in trying to find Harper. Bane said Harper is 5 feet tall, about 130 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. She has a ring in her left nostril and a tattoo on the small of her back. She was last seen wearing blue jeans, a white jacket, sandals and carrying a black handbag. Bane said Harper has epilepsy for which she requires daily medication and had none with her when she left home. Anyone with information about Harper is asked to call the Paxton Police Department at 217-379-4315 or the Rantoul Police Department at 217-892-2103.

Disappearance of Jamie Harper Mystifies Police April 26, 2007 1:51 PM

Disappearance of Jamie Harper Mystifies Police

By David Lohr

April 26, 2007

PAXTON, IL. (Crime Library) — Two women who vanished nearly a decade apart may be linked together.  There are several similarities in the two disappearances, and police say the same man is considered a person of interest in both cases.

On the evening of March 9, 2007, Jamie Harper, 20, left her mother's house with a male companion and traveled to a party in Rantoul.  She left the party the following morning, and no one has seen her since.  Jamie's mother, Susan Kehrer, reported her missing the following week.

"Her friend was supposed to bring her home the day after the party, but he never did," Susan said in a telephone interview with Crime Library yesterday afternoon.  "I waited to report her missing because there were times in the past where she stayed out for a couple days."

Jamie Harper

Susan was reluctant to give any further details about her daughter's case, for fear of saying something that could jeopardize the investigation.  Before she hung up, she had this to say: "I don't think I should say anything else without talking to the police.  I am still hoping she ran off."

Not long after her disappearance, police received a tip from an anonymous caller that Jamie had overdosed, and her body had been disposed of in an area southeast of Paxton known as Dogtown.  The location is well known to veteran investigators.  It has been the site of numerous missing persons searches over the years and, in 1984, they discovered the body of Cindy Mizell, 24, in the woods surrounding Dogtown.  Her former husband, Kenneth Mizell, then 27, and his wife, Diana, 30, were later convicted of conspiracy to commit murder.  For their crimes, they were sentenced to six years in prison.


The search for Jamie began at Dogtown on March 18.  The Paxton Police Department, Ford County Sheriff's Department, Gibson Fire Department, Paxton Fire Department, Douglas County Search & Rescue, and officers from the Department of Conservation & Law Enforcement and the Division of Fisheries all participated in the three-day search.

"Dogtown contains three gravel pits," Paxton Police Chief Robert G. Bane said in a telephone interview with Crime Library yesterday.  "One is active and two are old and unused.  There are waterways out there and a lot of wooded area.  On the first day, we conducted a massive ground search by foot and with the use of all-terrain vehicles.  There were 42 officers and volunteers on the scene."

Paxtom Illinois Map

Over the course of the next two days, cadaver-sniffing dogs were brought in to assist in the search, and officers from the Department of Conservation & Law Enforcement and the Division of Fisheries deployed sonar-equipped boats to examine the bottom of the ponds.

"We ran the bottom of the pits with sonar and the dogs on top of the water.  Then Hummingbird [a manufacturer of sport fishing depth finders] had a professional fisherman come up to assist us, who is an expert on the sonar.  They searched the water with assistance from Vermillion County Search and Rescue.  They also ran cameras into the pits, searching areas of interest.  They found a couple of old boats, but nothing of interest to the case," Chief Bane explained.

 April 26, 2007 1:53 PM

Chief Bane admitted that he is concerned about foul play in Jamie's disappearance, but he stopped short of naming her date as a suspect.  In regards to that question, he had "no comment."  Again, when asked if she had left the party with her date, he had no comment.

"He was interviewed, but I cannot comment on him past that," Chief Bane said.  "The Rantoul Police Department conducted search warrants on different types of things on vehicles and houses.  People who were at the party and things like that.  We also did a ground search from the location of the party, north through some fields, but nothing was found."

According to Chief Bane, there are similarities between Jamie's disappearance and that of another young woman who vanished without a trace nearly a decade ago.

Heather Zimmerman

"In that case, the girl has never been found, so we do not know for sure if that was a murder. We also don't know if this is a murder.  We can tell you that there are similarities between the two cases and some of the people involved." 

On the evening of May 26, 1997, Heather Dawn Mullins Zimmerman, 19, left her parents' house in Gifford to visit a friend in Rantoul.  According to her father, Ronald Mullins, she left behind all of her belongings, and she never picked up her final paycheck from work.


She was last seen leaving my house," Ronald told Crime Library in a telephone interview yesterday evening.  "She walked out the door, and she never came back."

Shortly after Heather's disappearance, an anonymous caller told WCIA-Channel 3 that her body could be found in the Dogtown gravel pits.  A massive search was launched, and five cadaver-sniffing dogs were brought in.  Each one of the dogs hit on a scent, but they were unable to locate any remains.  Sonar-equipped boats also failed to yield any results.  Due to the pits' depth, which is estimated at 100 feet, divers were unable to search the bottom.  There were talks of draining the ponds, but those ideas were later rejected because of the costs involved.

Jamie Harper & Heather Zimmerman

"It was four or five years before they actually called us into the office and sat us down and told us what exactly they had," Ronald said.  "They informed us that she was at a party the night before, and the night she turned up missing, that was a Monday night." 

Ronald said he has been in contact with investigators since he learned of Jamie's disappearance and that he is aware of the similarities in the two cases.

"I cannot give out names, but it is my understanding that the person of interest back then is the same person of interest in this [Jamie's] case.  I have absolutely no idea how they are connected.  I don't know the other people [Jamie's parents].  They [police] said they had a lot of similarities, and they got this key person that they believe was involved in both cases, and the similarities in the cases are just that.  They are very similar.  Other than that, we are in the dark as much as anyone else."

 April 26, 2007 1:54 PM

Police won't comment on who their person of interest is, and both families remain tightlipped when it comes to releasing his name.  In the end, several questions remain:  Where are Jamie and Heather?  Are they still alive? And, perhaps most importantly, are their disappearances connected?

According to police, Jamie stands 5 feet tall and weighs about 130 pounds.  She has brown hair and brown eyes.  She has a nose ring and a tribal design tattoo on the small of her back.

Jamie Harper's Missing Poster

At the time of her disappearance, Heather was 5 feet, 6 inches tall, and she weighed 115 pounds.  She had blonde hair and green eyes.  She also had a tattoo of three red roses with a black stem on her left outer ankle.  She was last seen wearing a Sears navy chambray shirt, stonewashed bellbottom jeans, and black St. Michael shoes.

Anyone with information in the disappearance of Jamie Harper is asked to call the Paxton Police Department at (217) 379-4315 or the Rantoul Police Department at (217) 892-2103.  To provide information on the disappearance of Heather Dawn Mullins Zimmerman, call the Champaign County Sheriff's Department at (217) 384-1213.


http://www.crimelibrary.com/news/original/0407/2601_Jamie_Harper.html