Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 15, 1990 TAG: 9003152444
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B4 EDITION: BEDFORD/FRANKLIN
SOURCE:
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Short
Authorities said the search is continuing for an Air Force deserter and the 12-year-old aunt of the abducted child.
Brittany Collins of Gulfport was found at the King George Econo Lodge, according to Randy Wydell, an agent for the Naval Investigative Service in New Orleans.
"The hotel people found her in a hallway crying for her mom," said Mary Kay Gominger, a spokeswoman at the Naval Construction Battalion Center. "She was in good health."
Nancy Brooks, also with the Seabee base, said the child's parents, Jerry and Angela Lynette Collins, were flown Wednesday afternoon to the Norfolk Naval Base to see their daughter.
FBI special agent Tom Love said state, local and federal officials are looking for Senior Airman James Nicholas Coppock, 25. Unnamed Navy officials in Mississippi identified the 12-year-old as Stephanie Lynn Griffith.
Love said the two were last seen driving a dark blue 1988 Toyota MR2. Coppock has been charged in Mississippi with abduction and desertion, the agent said.
Wydell said Brittany was taken from a day-care center at the Navy's Construction Battalion Base in Gulfport, apparently by her aunt and Coppock. The mother is a chief petty officer assigned to the base medical staff and the father is a civilian dependent.
- Associated Press
by CNB