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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 28, 1995                   TAG: 9506280018
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: DUMFRIES                                LENGTH: Short

NEW SEARCH FOR CHILD IS FRUITLESS

All-day dredging and meticulous hand-searching through piles of silt and ash turned up nothing Monday as police and the FBI combed a pond in search of a girl missing more than five years.

Melissa Brannen was 5 when she disappeared from a Christmas party in 1989. A maintenance worker at her Lorton apartment complex was an immediate suspect and is serving a 50-year sentence for abduction with intent to defile.

A month ago, a Virginia Power worker dredging the ash pond at the Possum Point power station turned up a bit of red cloth, leading investigators to consider resuming the dormant search for the girl, Prince William County police spokeswoman Kim Chinn said.

Melissa was wearing a red plaid skirt and a red coat when she disappeared.

Searchers brought dogs to the site Monday and were encouraged when the dogs ``alerted'' the possible presence of a body, Chinn said. Searchers were further hopeful when an FBI sonar device showed something in the muck.

``After that, we are dejected. We had hoped to find something,'' Chinn said.

The area has been searched several times before. Caleb Hughes, the man convicted of taking Melissa, often fished nearby.

There are no immediate plans to search again.

by CNB