Celina Cass 11-year-old girl who vanished from her bedroom

[CherokeeKid]

I noticed that LE does not call it "homicide" but just "suspicious death" and that's a "criminal investigation".

"Suspicious" might be that she was last seen alive in the evening and her body then found a week later in the river. If Celina drowned accidentally it would have been more plausible if it had happened during the day. But it's unlikely that she would go swimming at night.

However, that would not rule out suicide, IMO, if she jumped in the water on purpose to take her life.

"Criminal investigation" is based on how the body was found, some visual signs which could be seen while the body was still in the water and when the body was brought on shore. IMO, this could be that she was only partially clothed or no clothes at all. However, she could have taken her clothes off, or some of it, while at the river. She could also have been with someone at the river and decided to go swimming.

The visual sign could also be something different, like if her hands were tight. However, that would be a strong indication for homicide, IMO.

"Criminal investigation" could also be if she was put at risk, like giving her alcohol or drugs and she died from it or from risky behavior like going into the river. However, if the toxicology tests come out negative, there might not be much LE can go on, IMO.

There was no struggle in the house. The autopsy did not show cause or manner of death. Her body was found in the river. Does that mean she did not drown? And died possibly in the home? And her body was just put in the river? Or is LE just withholding any evidence and not making it public at this time? Just thinking out loud.

[CherokeeKid]

HLN news reported Celina was wrapped in a blanket when her body was found...

Their also back in the house and questioning the stepfather, I couldn't hear clearly what else HLN news reported since my television went mute on me, but I believe they mentioned something about a silver truck removed from the house...

She was wrapped in a blanket?
That looks like her body has been disposed of.

Gwen just posted a little while ago about this silver F150 truck:

A tow truck also arrived and was loading up a silver Ford F150 pickup truck with New Hampshire license plates. The F150 had a blue tarp over its bed, but a dark green plastic garbage can could be seen inside.

[Heli]

If you're found in the river wrapped in a blanket, I think it's fairly safe to assume, at the very least, your body was disposed of and probably after a homicide.

I suppose she could have gone outdoors wrapped in a blanket to keep warm and fell in the river but I doubt the blanket would have remained on her body, wrapped as it were.

[CSI]

If you're found in the river wrapped in a blanket, I think it's fairly safe to assume, at the very least, your body was disposed of and probably after a homicide.

I suppose she could have gone outdoors wrapped in a blanket to keep warm and fell in the river but I doubt the blanket would have remained on her body, wrapped as it were.

I was wondering also how the blanket stayed on her if she just wrapped it around her herself.

I am going to say it - her stepfathers reaction when they were searching the place she was found was about the same reaction Casey had when Caylee was found.

[bbeba103]

Last quote does not exists!

Yea Ck, that's what HLN news reported that Celina's body was wrapped in a blanket, and that investigators were back at home speaking to the stepfather.

Something about a silver truck taken from her home but my tv went mute for a few seconds so I didn't get to hear all the details about the truck.

If what HLN news reported is true since at times their facts are wrong at times I find it hard to picture how Celina would committee suicide yet wrap herself in the a blanket, but I guess their is a chance it can possible.

But if her body was wrapped in a blanket it makes it look like someone disposed of her body jmo..

[bbeba103]

Celina Cass Was Found Wrapped In Blanket In River

August 3, 2011 1:35 PM

BOSTON (CBS) –11-year-old Celina Cass was wrapped in a blanket when she was found dead in a river earlier this week, WBZ-TV’s Karen Anderson has learned.

The Associated Press reported Wednesday that authorities took away a silver pickup truck that had been parked near Celina’s home as the investigation intensifies.

Meanwhile, an autopsy Tuesday failed to show how Cass died, so toxicology tests are underway.

It’s a lack of answers that’s frustrating to the young girl’s father.

“I’d like them answered, but if they can’t answer them, I may have to go without and that’s going to be hard to live with,” Celina’s father, Adam Laro told WBZ-TV’s Sera Congi Wednesday.

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2011/08/03/d ... ass-death/

------
HLN news is also reporting that the stepfather has stopped cooperating with investgatiors...

[gwen]

Thanks, bbeba. I have had a feeling about the stepfather from the beginning. I can't imagine why a woman with 2 children would want someone like him living in their home. Sickening!!!

[CherokeeKid]

Last quote does not exists!

Celina being wrapped in a blanket changes my view of possible suicide. I no longer believe that. It rather looks like her body has been disposed by someone.

The stepfather no longer cooperating with LE makes him look more suspicious.

[CherokeeKid]

Family Waits For Answers In Girl's Death
Autopsy Results Pending After Girl's Body Found In River

POSTED: 11:50 am EDT August 3, 2011

Video at link


COLUMBIA, N.H. -- Relatives of an 11-year-old girl whose body was found in the Connecticut River this week said they are desperate for answers about her death.

Celina Cass was reported missing on July 26, and her body was found Monday in the river about a quarter-mile from her home.

Timeline: Search For Celina Cass
Images: Friends, Authorities Search For Girl
Pictures Of Celina Cass

"She could have slipped off and fell, banged her head," said her father, Adam Laro. "We don't know, but they claimed that they've found her. It looks like her body was placed in there. That's the scary part about it, you know?"

Investigators said an autopsy was inconclusive, and they are waiting for more tests to help determine how Celina died.

"At this time, both the cause and manner of death remain pending, pending further toxicology as well as further investigation," said Assistant Attorney General Jane Young.

State police major crime units from Vermont and New Hampshire returned to Celina's West Stewartstown home around 10 a.m. Wednesday. Several vehicles and the house are sectioned off with police tape, and officers were stationed outside overnight.

The bed of a silver Ford F-150 quad-cab pickup truck at the home was covered with a tarp, and the truck was put on a flatbed tow truck. It is unclear who owns the truck.

The house is where Celina's family said they last saw her alive a week ago.

The brother and mother of Celina's stepfather said he is not doing well and asked the media to leave him alone.

The latest word from the attorney general's office is that a criminal investigation is continuing into Celina's death, which has been labeled suspicious. Authorities said they are continuing to interview witnesses, but they are not commenting on any persons of interest.

"Based on a visual observation of Miss Cass' body both in the water and when we viewed it out of the water, we determined that the death was suspicious, and that's why we launched a criminal investigation and why we continue to go forward with that investigation," Young said.

Crime tape has been taken down from the banks of the Connecticut River where Celina's body was found, but the FBI remained at the scene with specialized equipment.

Wednesday morning, candles continued to burn at a local park where a picnic table has been used as a memorial to Celina.

http://www.wmur.com/news/28752487/detail.html

[CSI]

Was the blanket wrapped around her like you would do if you were cold, or was she fully encased in the blanket - covered from head to toe?

[CherokeeKid]

Was the blanket wrapped around her like you would do if you were cold, or was she fully encased in the blanket - covered from head to toe?

They didn't not give any more details. Not if her entire body was wrapped in the blanket, not if the blanket was secured around the body, not if the body was placed at the spot where it was found or somewhere else.

[bbeba103]

Thanks, bbeba. I have had a feeling about the stepfather from the beginning. I can't imagine why a woman with 2 children would want someone like him living in their home. Sickening!!!

You're welcome Gwen, I think the investigation will be focused in the house of Celina, I wonder have they tied the blanket back to her house.

[bbeba103]

Celina being wrapped in a blanket changes my view of possible suicide. I no longer believe that. It rather looks like her body has been disposed by someone.

The stepfather no longer cooperating with LE makes him look more suspicious.

Odd that once the body was found Celina's stepfather has now stop cooperating with the investigators.

I did see on television when the investgatiors were bringing up Celina's body from the pond she was wrapped in a white blanket but at that time I thought she was covered that way by the investgatiors.

Her body was covered from head to toe.

No part of her body was shown it seemed the blanket was very tight around her body jmo..

[gwen]

Investigations: This mobile phone photo shows law enforcement officials standing near the silver pick-up truck being removed from where it was parked near the home of Celina Cass, in Stewartstown, New Hampshire

[gwen]

Troubled past: Celina Cass's stepfather, Wendell Noyes, was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2003 and was hospitalised earlier this week

[bbeba103]

Gwen for the updates..

[bbeba103]

Thank you Ck as well for all the updates...

[bbeba103]

Celina Cass' birth father says her home was not stable, slept on air mattress in basement

Sleeping in the basement on an air mattress. That's the kind of environment 11-year-old Celina Cass' father says his daughter was exposed to.

And as investigators look into how she died, there may be a new lead in the case.

Police towed away a truck from outside the girl's home this morning.

Celina's birth dad is shedding some new light into the life of the little girl who disappeared only to be discovered dead a week later. He says his daughter was put in the basement, saying her home life was not stable. He claims she used to share a room with her sister.

As for the investigation, police towed away a silver pick up registered to Celina's step-dad Wendell Noyes. Reports say Noyes, who court documents show was committed for schizophrenia in 2003, was questioned in the child's disappearance and was not cooperative.

Police did not say what they were looking for in the truck, but at times investigators could be seen looking at the undercarriage. Still, Celina's birth father, Adam Laro, says he thought Noyes was odd but he didn't have any problems with him.

And then recently Laro says he learned more about Celina's home life and became concerned.

"The next thing I know they are staying on an air mattress on the cellar floor, staying down in the cellar and to me it's like, why would they do that? It wasn't a good atmosphere over there, there were a lot of people in and out of that place and a lot of faces every time I went over there. It hurts me incredibly. I don't even know how to explain it--it's crushing--it's heart crushing--it's like a sore that is never going to leave," said Laro.

Police found Celina's body in the Connecticut River on Monday. Some reports say she was wrapped in a blanket when removed from the water.

Investigators still don't know how she died despite the completion of an autopsy.

They're waiting for toxicology reports. Police say they have no suspects in the case just yet. We're told Celina's family is planning a private funeral.

http://m.wgme.com/index.php?action=arti ... 2c633391c4

[bbeba103]

Search for clues at family home N.H. investigators scour apartment, seize pickup truck

August 4, 2011

WEST STEWARTSTOWN, N.H. -Investigators searching for clues in the death of Celina Cass homed in on her family’s apartment here yesterday, scouring the premises and seizing a pickup truck from the driveway.

A day after an autopsy on Celina’s body failed to determine how she died, police and crime scene specialists descended on the home where the 11-year-old lived with her mother, stepfather, and older sister and was last seen before she disappeared July 25.

Celina’s body was recovered Monday from the Connecticut River, just a quarter-mile north of her home, after a meticulous search of the area. Authorities consider her death suspicious, and have launched a criminal investigation.

Jane Young, New Hampshire’s senior assistant attorney general, declined to provide details about the status of the investigation yesterday or say whether the girl’s family members are considered suspects. She would not identify the owner of the truck, a Ford F-150, seized from the family home.

The three-story multiunit house, which stands along the town’s major thoroughfare, was sealed off with crime tape yesterday, as investigators, some wearing blue surgical gloves or holding cameras, shuttled in and out of the family’s apartment.

The uncertainty around her death has unnerved this small town near the Canadian border, and yesterday Celina’s biological father, who did not live with the girl, and grandmother said they are desperate for answers.

“It’s a puzzle to me right now,’’ said Adam Laro, 45. “If there’s somebody out there who did it, I hope they can catch them. If they get away with this one, they’ll get away with another.’’

Laro, who was in the hospital with a heart condition when Cass disappeared, said he learned she was gone when she saw his daughter’s school picture on the morning news.

“I thought, ‘That looks like a picture of my daughter,’ ’’ Laro recalled in an interview from his home in Colebrook, about 20 minutes from Celina’s house. “And then I realized that it was my daughter.’’

Laro said he always enjoyed when Celina and her sister, Kayla, 13, would come visit. They would fish in a nearby pond, he recalled fondly, and splash around in the shallow water.

But recently, they had been too busy to visit much. He would call them and see if they were free to come over for the weekend, but they usually had plans, either playing sports or hanging out with friends.

When he did see them, he made sure to ask them how they were doing and see if they were having any problems at home, he said.

“I always told them, ‘If you ever have problems, give Daddy a call,’ and they’d always say they were all right,’ ’’ Laro recalled. “I figured they were happy enough, and they were safe. At least, I thought so.’’

As he talked about his daughter, Laro spoke slowly, often pausing between thoughts and struggling to find the right words. He looked exhausted, with heavy bags around his eyes.

He said he wonders if he should have been more persistent in asking his daughters about their home life.

“Before, I thought everything was OK,’’ he said. “But now, I don’t know. Maybe if I had pushed more, this wouldn’t have happened.’’

The autopsy on Celina’s body was inconclusive, pending further testing and toxicology results. Young said she did not know when the results will be ready, but said officials are making the case a top priority.

Earlier this week, Young said Celina’s death was considered a crime because of the condition of the body, but said she had to withhold details to preserve the integrity of the investigation.

She has declined to say whether the body was wrapped in anything, but said police were trying to determine where she was dumped into the river.

Marcia Laro, Celina’s grandmother, said that the girl’s body has been returned to the family and that funeral arrangements are being made. The service will be private, she said.

“She was such a unique little girl,’’ she said. “She was adorable, lovable, trusting, happy.’’

Marcia Laro said she does not understand why Celina’s mother has not contacted her former husband since Celina vanished.

“We haven’t heard from her,’’ she said. “We’re confused.’’

On Tuesday, the day after Celina was found dead, her sister Kayla came to visit, her father said. They sat by the pond in the backyard and fished. She has held up pretty well, he said, as well as could be expected.

“She’s a strong little girl,’’ he said.

LINK
edited by Fashionista

[CherokeeKid]

Celina Cass’s grandfather cries out for justice

By Marie Szaniszlo And John Zaremba
Thursday, August 4, 2011

Video at link

STEWARTSTOWN, N.H. — The grief-stricken grandfather of 11-year-old Celina Cass is pleading for police to solve the girl’s suspicious death and not leave loved ones grasping for answers like they are in Florida’s Casey Anthony case.

“I just hope justice is brought and whoever’s responsible gets the max because that little girl didn’t deserve that,” Wally Laro told the Herald yesterday. “I don’t want no Casey Anthony.”

Casey Anthony, 25, is on probation in Florida after being acquitted of murder in the death of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee, in a verdict that sparked outrage nationwide.

Investigators yesterday pored over Celina’s home in this north country hamlet for most of the day — seizing a late-model silver Ford F150 pickup. Law enforcement officials said the truck belongs to Wendell Noyes, Celina’s stepfather. Noyes has been involuntarily committed for paranoid schizophrenia in the past and was arrested in 2003 for breaking into an ex-girlfriend’s home and threatening to throw her down the stairs.

Laro of nearby Colebrook, N.H., said “rumors and speculation” abound, but he has faith that detectives who found his granddaughter will find out how she died.

“They brought an army up here to search for her. And I believe they will get to the bottom of this, because something’s wrong,” he said outside his home.

Last week a red pickup truck driven by a man who had moved in with the family was also hauled away by police.

Granite State cops from the Major Crimes Unit also removed barrels of evidence yesterday at the girl’s home in West Stewartstown after securing a search warrant. The girl’s death is being ruled suspicious, with further autopsy and toxicology results pending.

Celina was last seen around 9 p.m. July 25. Debbie Baglio, who lives steps from Celina’s home, told the Herald yesterday she called police to report Celina missing the next morning after Celina’s older sister, Kayla, 13, came knocking to ask whether she’d seen the girl.

Baglio said she rushed to Celina’s home to find that the family had not reported the disappearance.

“I don’t know why they didn’t,” said Baglio, who has three daughters about Celina’s age. Celina’s mother, Louisa Noyes, “was hysterical” over the girl’s disappearance, Baglio said.

“I barely got out of her that they hadn’t seen her since 9 o’clock,” she said.

Authorities combed the countryside and waterways in a frantic search for Celina. Her body was found Monday in the Connecticut River.

Close family friend Jeanine Brady, Louisa Noyes’ employer, said the girl’s body has been turned over to the family and a private service is being planned.


The last time he and hLaro said his son, Adam, Celina’s father, had tried to see her and her sister several times over the past year, but their mother usually told him they were busy or not at home.

“We don’t know what’s gone on in the house the last year or two,” Laro said.

The last time he and his son saw the children, he said, was when their mother brought them to the Hanover hospital where Adam Laro was being treated until last week for a severe heart condition. But he was heavily sedated and has no memory of seeing them, the elder Laro said. Later, he saw media coverage of the search for Celina.

“He just came home from the hospital last Thursday and said, ‘That’s my daughter,’ ” Wally Laro said. On Sunday, the ailing Adam Laro then went to a press conference to deliver a plea for his daughter’s return — against his doctors’ advice.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

http://tinyurl.com/4yqdvfr

[CherokeeKid]

Thank you Ck as well for all the updates...

Right back at you, Bbeba!

[Isanah]

Thanks, bbeba. I have had a feeling about the stepfather from the beginning. I can't imagine why a woman with 2 children would want someone like him living in their home. Sickening!!!

Perhaps, but you do know that mental illness can be treated. Though he should be very much a person of interest. Not cooperating with the investigation does seem suspect, though with his history he may feel that he needs a lawyer. Maybe he can not afford a lawyer. Maybe he is guilty as sin!

[gwen]

Perhaps, but you do know that mental illness can be treated. Though he should be very much a person of interest. Not cooperating with the investigation does seem suspect, though with his history he may feel that he needs a lawyer. Maybe he can not afford a lawyer. Maybe he is guilty as sin!

Of course I know that mental illness can be treated, however he just does not seem the type person I would want living with my children. JMO

[bbeba103]

August 4, 2011

Celina Cass' Stepfather Checks Into Mental Institution


Celina Cass' stepfather, whose truck has been hauled away by police investigating the girl's death, has checked himself into a mental health facility, ABC News affiliate WMUR reported today.

The station also reported that the girl's body was found wrapped in a blanket when they discovered her body in the Connecticut River near a dam a half mile from her West Stewartstown, N.H., home earlier this week.

No suspects or persons of interest have been identified by police, but investigators have strung crime scene tape around the Cass home, obtained a search warrant for the house, and on Wednesday they hauled away the silver pick-up truck that was usually driven by the girl's stepfather Wendell Noyes.
Noyes, 47, has checked into a hospital, WMUR reported. It is the second time in recent days Noyes has been hospitalized. He was rushed to the hospital after acting bizarrely on Monday, the day that Celina's body was discovered in the river.

The stepfather has a history of psychiatric problems. He was involuntarily committed to a mental facility in 2003 because of schizophrenia and arrested for threatening an ex-girlfriend, according to court documents. At the time, the judge in the case wrote that Noyes was "a potentially serious likelihood of danger to himself and others."

Noyes was charged with violating a protective order held by his ex-girlfriend and for criminal trespassing, criminal threatening and hindering apprehension. The girlfriend, who lived with her two kids at the time, said Noyes broke into her home while she was sleeping, lifted her mattress and slammed it down and then threatened to throw her down the stairs.

Earlier this week Assistant Attorney Generalane Young said Celina's death is considered suspicious based on "a visual observation of Miss Cass' body both in and out of water."

An autopsy completed Tuesday yielded no definitive answers as to how the 11-year-old died.

Celina Cass' Father Speaks Out

When Celina's biological father, Adam Laro, spoke with WMUR Wednesday, he could only speculate as to what might have happened to his daughter.

"She could have slipped off and fell, banged her head. We don't know. But they claim that they found, what looks like her body was placed in the water. That's the scary part," Laro said.

Laro also spoke with WCAX Wednesday, telling the station he's having difficulty coping with the loss of his daughter.

"I don't even know how to explain it. It's crushing ... it's heart-crushing … It's like a sore that is never going to leave," he said.

Laro told WCAX he hasn't been included in plans for Celina's memorial service.

"That makes me frustrated. It upsets me," he said. "You know, she is my daughter and I want to be part of that."

Laro, who says he voluntarily gave up custody of Celina but was allowed to visit, didn't notice anything worrisome at the Cass home. But he was troubled to find out Celina's bed had been moved to the basement. She had previously shared a bedroom with her sister, he told WCAX.

"Next thing I know, they are ... staying on an air mattress on the cellar floor. Staying down in the cellar. To me it's like … why would they do that?"

Celina was last seen Monday evening, July 25, at a computer in the home where she lived with her mother, stepfather and 13-year-old sister.

"It's kind of overwhelming for the whole town," said Shannon Towle, 48, who lives across the street from the Cass family. "I just don't think they're sharing everything. I hope they have more to go on."

The community is scared, Towle said, adding she's especially worried because she has a 13-year-old daughter.

As the town awaits more information about Celina's death, her body has been turned over to Celina's mother, Louisa Noyes.

The memorial service for Celina Cass will be in West Stewartstown, according to a Facebook post from consignment shop Lads and Ladybugs, where Celina's mother works. The store will be closed until Monday, August 8.

http://abcnews.go.com/m/story?id=14232912

[bbeba103]

Celina Cass's Grandfather: 'I Don't Want No Casey Anthony'

Published: Thursday, August 4, 2011 4:30 PM

As questions mount about what went on inside Celina Cass's house around the time of her disappearance, her grandfather pleaded with police to found out how the 11-year-old New Hampshire girl died.

"I just hope justice is brought and whoever's responsible gets the max because that little girl didn't deserve that," Wally Laro tells the Boston Herald. "I don't want no Casey Anthony."

Like the Florida case of the 25-year-old mom acquitted of murdering her 2-year-old daughter, the investigation in Cass's death appears to be focusing close to her home and family.

Police searched her house Wednesday in the tiny town of Stewartstown and seized a pickup reportedly owned by her stepfather, Wendell Noyes, who has a history of mental illness and who allegedly threatened an ex-girlfriend in 2003, and another pickup that had been used by a man who lived with Cass's family.

Cass was reported missing on July 26 and her body was found six days later by a dive team in the Connecticut River a few hundred yards from her home.

The cause of death is still not known after an autopsy was inconclusive. As authorities await the results of toxicology tests they have not identified any suspects.

"It's a puzzle to me right now,'' Cass's father, Adam Laro, 45, who didn't live with his daughter, tells the Boston Globe. "If there's somebody out there who did it, I hope they can catch them. If they get away with this one, they'll get away with another.''

http://m.people.com/newsitem.rbml?item= ... 252C00.xml