HOMOSASSA, Fla. - A registered sex offender who was being sought for questioning in the disappearance of a 9-year-old girl was taken into custody by deputies in Georgia on Thursday, officials said.
The sheriff's office in Richmond County, Ga., placed John Evander Couey under arrest because he didn't notify Florida officials that he was leaving the state, a requirement for sex offenders, said Ronda Hemminger Evan, spokeswoman for the Citrus County sheriff's office. She had no details about Couey's arrest but said he would be questioned in the disappearance of Jessica Lunsford.
"Our investigators are en route to speak with him," Evan said.
Couey, 46, was described by authorities as a "person of interest" in the search for Jessica Lunsford, who vanished from her bedroom Feb. 23. Couey lived near her home before he left for Georgia without telling authorities, officials said.
Authorities had said Wednesday they had issued two arrest warrants for Couey — one on a probation violation, the other on his failure to notify them of his move.
Investigators "may take him out of the picture" once they interview him, Citrus County Sheriff Jeff Dawsy said. Couey already had been questioned by police in Georgia over the weekend, and "he is getting more and more interesting to us as time as goes on," Dawsy said.
A spokesman for police in Savannah, Ga., where Couey had been interviewed earlier, said he was arrested near a Salvation Army in Augusta, Ga.
Couey's home in Homosassa is about two miles from Jessica's, but he also sometimes stayed with his half sister who lives within "eyeshot" of her house, Dawsy said.
Mark Lunsford, Jessica's father, said Wednesday that the family didn't know Couey.
"It's someone nobody has seen before," Lunsford said. "I know my daughter doesn't go with strangers. So I just don't see it."
No one answered the doors Wednesday evening at the half sister's house and Couey's mobile home. Homosassa is about 60 miles north of Tampa.
Detectives grew interested in Couey while interviewing all registered sex offenders in the area. They tried to contact Couey five days after Jessica disappeared and discovered he no longer lived there.
When investigators followed up with the half sister, who lives about 150 yards from the Lunsfords, she denied Couey had lived there. But another relative confided to a detective that Couey had stayed at her home.
The half sister said Couey had traveled to Savannah, Ga., knowing authorities were interested in questioning him. Police picked up Couey on Saturday at a Salvation Army shelter at the request of Citrus officials, Savannah-Chatham County Police Chief Dan Flynn said Wednesday. Flynn said Couey came to police headquarters voluntarily and was interviewed for about two hours.
Citrus County officials asked them Monday to talk to Couey again, but by then he could not be located.
Authorities declined to say what Couey had told them Saturday.
Couey's criminal record includes arrests for burglary, carrying a concealed weapon and indecent exposure. In 1991, he was arrested in Kissimmee on a charge of fondling a child under age 16. Records don't show how the case was resolved.
During a burglary in 1978, he was accused of grabbing a girl in her bedroom, placing his hand over her mouth and kissing her, Dawsy said. Couey was sentenced to 10 years but was paroled in 1980 when inmates were serving a small fraction of their sentences.
Associated Press writer Russ Bynum in Savannah, Ga., contributed to this report
Prosecutors: Lunsford Raped, Buried Alive
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
TAMPA, Fla. — A 9-year-old girl was raped, bound and buried alive, kneeling and clutching a purple stuffed dolphin, state prosecutors said in documents released Wednesday.
Jessica Lunsford's (search) body was found March 19 buried about 150 yards from her house in Homosassa, about 60 miles north of Tampa.
According to the documents, Jessica was found wearing shorts and a shirt — different from the pink nightgown her family said she was wearing when they reported her missing Feb. 24, The Tampa Tribune said in its online edition late Wednesday.
The body was wrapped in two plastic trash bags knotted at her head and feet in a grave covered by a mound of leaves, the state attorney's office said in the documents.
Jessica died of asphyxiation, according to a coroner's report. A convicted sex offender,John Evander Couey (search), 46, is charged in her slaying.
Officials said they believe Jessica may have been alive in Couey's home while police and volunteers searched for her. After she was killed, Couey fled to Georgia.
