
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, February 25, 1991                   TAG: 9102250335
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A5   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: FAIRFAX                                LENGTH: Short

CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE BASIS OF KIDNAP CASE

Fairfax Commonwealth's Attorney Robert Horan will try to convince a jury that Caleb Hughes kidnapped 5-year-old Melissa Brannen largely through circumstantial evidence found in Hughes' car.

The trial began today in Fairfax Circuit Court. Horan said he would use a combination of hair, fiber and other evidence in his attempt to prove Hughes, of Woodbridge, abducted the girl with the intent to sexually molest her.

Melissa Brannen was last seen on Dec. 3, 1989, when she was attending a Christmas party with her mother, Tammy Brannen.

Hughes, a 25-year-old groundskeeper at the Brannens' apartment complex, is charged with abduction with intent to defile. He faces up to 20 years in prison.

Hughes has denied any involvement in the girl's disappearance, and authorities say there are no witnesses to any abduction.

Although Melissa's family has said they fear the child is dead, no body has ever been found.

During recent pretrial hearings, the prosecution presented as evidence blue fibers that appear to match those from a sweater the girl was wearing when she was last seen.

Ten red cotton fibers that seem to match a plaid skirt she was wearing and a strand of hair found in Hughes's car are said to be consistent with the child's.

by CNB