Hunt for 'kidnapped' 12-year-old girl after mother is murdered

Hunt for 'kidnapped' 12-year-old girl after mother is murdered

By
Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 4:13 PM on 7th December 2010

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Virginia police have issued an Amber Alert for a missing 12-year-old
girl believed to have been kidnapped after her mother was found dead in
their home.

The body of Tina Smith, 41, was discovered on Monday
morning in Roanoke County after she failed to turn up for work and her
daughter Brittany is now missing.

State police believe Brittany
may be with Jeffrey Scott Easley, 32, who is described as a friend of
the late Ms Smith, whose death is being treated as a homicide.

Missing: Police are searching for 12-year-old Brittany Mae Smith after her mother was found dead

Brittany Mae Smith was last seen 'several days ago' according to a Roanoke County statement issued on Monday.

'We
found out pretty quickly that (Brittany) had not shown up for school.
Nobody seemed to know where she was,' said Roanoke County police Lt.
Chuck Mason said, according to CNN affiliate WSET-TV of Lynchburg,
Virginia.

Sought: Virginia Police believe Brittany Mae Smith may be with Jeffrey Easley, pictured, a friend of her late mother

'We're concerned that her disappearance is going to be, at least a good possibility, it has something to do with the homicide.'

A
state-wide Amber Alert concerning Brittany said on Monday that Easley's
car, a 2000 red Chevrolet sport utility vehicle, has been found.

But
authorities are still searching for Tina Smith's vehicle, a silver 2005
Dodge Neon four-door sedan with Virginia license plates.

Brittany
Mae Smith is 5 feet tall, weighs 100 pounds, and has straight brown
hair and brown eyes, the Amber Alert says, while Easley, a 265-pound
white male, is 5 feet, 11 inches tall, has brown hair and hazel eyes.

'Police
have said that the young lady is in extreme danger,' commented Teresa
Hamilton Hall, public information director for Roanoke County.

Tina Smith and her daughter made the news in 2009 after Tina's son
Tyler died after a game in which people suffocate themselves in order to
achieve a 'high'.

Tina and her daughter, Brittany, were trying to raise awareness about
this game in an interview with ABC 13 in Virginia in September last
year.

'He's gone and I know that I wont be able to see him for awhile,' said Brittany Smith of her late brother.

'It'll
prevent another mom from going through this, another life being lost,
another sister crying out in her sleep for her brother, that's the
whole purpose of Tyler's cause,' added Tina Smith.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1336491/Hunt-kidnapped-12-year-old-girl-mother-murdered.html#ixzz17feKc9Zl

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