SOFTBALL PLAYER MISSING

SPY Readers:  Can you help?

9:10 a.m. UPDATE 15-year-old still missing
Press release from the Beaverton Police Department

Beaverton Police are asking for the public’s assistance in locating a runaway teenager who may be accompanied by her adult softball coach.

15 year old Michelle Elizabeth SMITH (Mimi) was last seen at school on the 26th of September when she was able to slip a note to a friend suggesting that she was running away.

Mimi has not been seen or heard from since then. Friends and family close to the investigation have told authorities that they believe Mimi may have left the area with a 38 year old man who was her softball coach. That man has been identified as Andrew James GARVER.  Sources told police that Garver has not been at work or been seen in several days, has liquidated some of his assets, withdrew money from a joint account that he shared with his current but estranged wife, told his daughter that he may soon be moving to California, and that both he and Smith did not show up for a softball game this week-end.

Police also learned that Garver turned in his car and replaced it with a leased
2003 Nissan Murano Dk Blue in color with Oregon Temp A664512. Garver is 6’, 190 lbs. Smith is 5’6” and 130 lbs.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Detective Dan Kelly at 503-526-
2298 or dial 9-1-1 if you believe you have spotted them or the vehicle


Beaverton girl, 15, goes missing

The Beaverton High School student may have run off with a 38-year-old man, police say


10/02/03



BEAVERTON -- Police are asking for help finding a 15-year-old girl missing from her Beaverton home.


Michelle Elizabeth "Mimi" Smith was last seen Friday at Beaverton High School, where she slipped a note to a friend saying she was running away.

Friends and family told police that Smith may have left the area with a 38-year-old man. There is no warrant for the man's arrest and police do not think the girl is in danger.

The man may be driving a dark blue 2003 Nissan Murano with an Oregon temporary license, A664512, said Officer Mark Hyde, Beaverton police spokesman.

Smith is 5 feet 6 inches tall and 130 pounds and has blond hair.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call Beaverton police Detective Dan Kelly at 503-526-2298. Anyone who sees Smith is asked to call 9-1-1.


Oregon News

Softball charged with kidnapping player
The Associated Press
10/4/2003, 7:04 p.m. PT
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A Beaverton softball coach has been charged with kidnapping one of his players, police said.

Andrew James Garver, 38, and Michelle Elizabeth Smith, 15, were last seen Sept. 26, when the girl left a note saying she was running away. Neither showed for a softball game last week and Garver has not been at work.Officer Mark Hyde, spokesman for the Beaverton police, said investigators think Smith went willingly, but the girl is too young to give legal consent.Authorities concluded that Garver knew or should have known that he did not have the right to leave the area with the girl, Hyde said.The warrant issued Friday charges Garver with second-degree kidnapping, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. The charge can be elevated to first-degree kidnapping if ransom is involved or the victim is held as a hostage. No such accusations have been made in Smith's disappearance.


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