Children's Safety Zone
Mikelle Biggs Story Index
Contact The Mesa Police Department immediately with any new information!
Mesa Police, Criminal Investigations 480-644-4078, Sgt. Steven Stahl, steven_stahl@mesa.ci.mesa.az.us
Authorities on Tuesday announced a $31,000 reward in the mysterious disappearance of Mikelle Biggs, hoping that money can lead to answers where sweat, tears and prayers have failed.
Especially if the 11-year-old Mesa girl was indeed abducted by a stranger or strangers, as her parents and others believe.
If it's a team of abductors, "you can try to get one to roll on the other" with the bait of a substantial reward, Mesa police Detective Jose Martinez said.
"Maybe they're bragging to someone," who might turn them in for money, Martinez said.
Mikelle's parents, who attended a news conference announcing the reward, maintained hope.
"We will find you. Just hang in there," Tracy Biggs said in a short message to her daughter.
Among the donations to the reward fund is $20,000 from the K.C. Johnson Foundation, whose board of directors seeks to honor the memory of 9-year-old K.C. Johnson, who drowned tragically, by helping a little girl who now has been missing for 11 days.
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a foundation board member, said the money will be paid for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone responsible for Mikelle's disappearance.
His assistant, Lisa Allen, said she is setting up an account at Wells Fargo Bank.
Mesa police have fielded about 4,000 tips in the case, most of them dead-end or bogus leads. Other law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, have joined in. The latest is Globe police, who have detained two men who resemble a molester who struck Christmas Day around the Biggses' neighborhood.
Sgt. Ray Tarango, a Globe police detective, said Tuesday that the two men, arrested by his agency on unrelated charges, resemble the composite drawing of a man sought in the attempted molestation at an apartment complex a mile from Mikelle's house.
One of the men is a 32-year-old who was arrested Saturday on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. He has served time for theft, drug possession and sale, and driving under the influence, but not for sex crimes, court records show.
Maricopa County Superior Court records also indicate the man had at one time lived about two miles from Stapley Drive and Broadway Road, where the attempted molestation occurred.
The second detained man is a 27-year-old transient who was arrested Dec. 30 for suspected shoplifting. He has, however, been jailed since his arrest, including on Jan. 2, when Mikelle vanished as she ventured outside her house to await an ice-cream truck she had heard.
Even if police find the man in the composite and solve the attempted molestation case, cautioned Sgt. Earle Lloyd, a Mesa police spokesman, it may not be connected to Mikelle's disappearance.
The Christmas Day victim and her mother, however, remain convinced the same man is responsible, because both girls are 11 and the crimes occurred so close together.
"He seems to be preferring that age group," the girl's mother said Tuesday. "There were a lot of kids in that apartment complex. Why did they pick her?"
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Reproduced with permission from: The Arizona Republic Written by: By Jim Walsh ©Copyright 1999 Arizona Republic |
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