Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 7, 1995 TAG: 9504070062
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BEDFORD LENGTH: Long
Two girls from Bedford and Lynchburg, one of whom was expected to testify against the other in court next week, have been missing since they were last seen together early Sunday.
Jamie Carol Wheat, 15, a 10th-grader at Liberty High School, was last seen in a car driven by 16-year-old Crystal Kernen, who lives in Lynchburg and had attended Jefferson Forest High School.
There was animosity between the two girls, according to Jamie's friends and family.
Jamie was the only witness to a fight in January in which her 17-year-old sister, Melissa, and Crystal are charged with beating up Jamie's best friend on a dirt road in Bedford.
Jamie was scheduled to testify against Crystal, and possibly Melissa, at their assault and battery trials in Bedford County Juvenile and Domestic Court next Tuesday.
``I'm just about crazy now. I'm really worried,'' said Jamie's father, Jim Wheat, who is divorced from Jamie's mother.
With the help of his fiancee and friends, he has been plastering Roanoke, Vinton and Bedford County with flyers asking for help locating Jamie.
He has also called America's Most Wanted and the Adam Walsh Foundation, which helps track down missing children.
``I hope somebody sees something and says, `Hey, I've seen that girl,''' he said. ``Just disappearing and not calling at all is not like her.''
Jamie's mother, Robin Wheat, said: ``I want my daughter home. She left without a coat, no money, nothing.''
Jamie left a house in Stewartsville with Crystal and a 7-year-old girl Saturday evening in a red Nissan Pulsar, license PSL-411. The car belongs to Crystal's parents.
Jamie's parents, family and friends fear she may have met with foul play or may be with Crystal against her will.
``I don't think my sister wants to be with [Crystal],'' said Melissa, a senior at Liberty High School. ``I thought Crystal was my best friend, but I don't guess she is.''
Vikki Shortt, a family friend, said: ``If Jamie was going to run away, she would have taken her makeup and hair spray. She would've taken her pocketbook. She was obsessed with her appearance and her hair.''
Jody Reynolds, 16, Jamie's best friend, filed charges against Crystal and Melissa for assault and battery after a fight that she said left her with a black eye and bruises and sent her to a doctor.
``Jamie didn't like Crystal,'' Jody said. ``That's what I find weird about this.'' She doesn't think Jamie would have gone anywhere with Crystal under normal circumstances.
In a letter that Melissa says was written to Jody but never sent, Jamie wrote: ``Have you heard anything from Crystal? Don't let her hurt you. If she ever touches you again or touches Melissa, I swear to God I will kill her because I love y'all! You know that. Right?'' Melissa gave the letter to the Roanoke Times & World-News.
Crystal's long blonde hair is shaved on the back and sides and she carved the name ``Kurt'' on her right forearm with two hearts after the suicide of Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain last spring.
She was released from a Lynchburg mental hospital last week, according to her parents, and is supposed to be taking medication for mood disorders.
Crystal's father, Clyde Kernen, said he last talked to his daughter Saturday evening. But he knows she and Jamie were in Lynchburg around 2:45 a.m. Sunday. He says he wasn't aware of any friction between the two girls.
On Saturday evening, he said, Crystal took out a neighbor's 7-year-old daughter, with whom she often spent time. The child appeared at the Kernens' door early Sunday. She said she had been riding around with Crystal and Jamie when Crystal let her out of the car at a bank in Lynchburg around 2:45 a.m.
The 7-year-old said Crystal borrowed $4 from her and told her to wait there, Kernen said. Then Crystal told the girl she and Jamie were running away. The girl walked 10 blocks back to the Kernens' house.
Kernen said his daughter has a history of running away and he hopes she'll be back soon. ``I really don't know why she left,'' he said. ``She didn't have reason to run off this time. I think she just thinks she's old enough to go off on her own and she doesn't need anybody to help her.
``It doesn't make any sense why she'd leave like this, but you can't second-guess a 16-year-old.''
Jamie was a good student at Liberty High, but was being taught at home because of threats from a classmate, her parents say. She has a history of running away, too, but not without letting her parents know where she is, they say. Jamie's mother filed runaway complaints against Jamie and her sister a few months ago when they left their home one night without permission. Both have court-imposed curfews.
Jamie Wheat is 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 130 pounds. She has medium-length brown hair and was last seen wearing a gray and white shirt, black jeans and black combat boots. She has a birthmark on the back of her right thigh.
Crystal Kernen is 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighs between 130 and 135 pounds. Both girls smoke cigarettes.
Anyone with any information as to the girls' whereabouts can call the Bedford police at (703) 586-7112, the Bedford County Sheriff's Office at (703) 586-7827, the Lynchburg police at (804) 847-1602 or Jim Wheat at (703) 343-4922.
by CNB