News 4 This Morning
Mother of Bianca Piper, missing since 2005, talks to News 4
12:21 PM CST on Friday, March 9, 2007
Related Story:
New age progression photo of Bianca Piper, missing since 2005, released
Watch the interview with Shannon Tanner
Bianca Piper's mother, Shannon Tanner
(KMOV) - The recovery of Shawn Hornbeck and Ben Ownby is putting the spotlight on the search for Bianca Piper.
It's been two years since she disappeared in Lincoln County.
Authorities have released an age progression picture of what Bianca Piper would look like now.
She was 13 when she disappeared while taking a walk in 2005.
Bianca's mother, Shannon Tanner, joined News 4 This Morning to give an update.
Bianca Piper in an age progression photo.
Her mother says she believes she must have gotten into a car with someone.
The recovery of Shawn Hornbeck, after being missing for four years, gives Bianca's mother renewed hope.
Shannon Tanner says she knows law enforcement is doing everything possible to find Bianca.
2-year anniversary for missing eastern Missouri girl
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- A teenage girl who disappeared two years ago will be remembered Saturday, while a regional task force continues efforts to find her and other missing children from eastern Missouri.
Bianca Piper was 13 when she vanished March 10, 2005, in rural Lincoln County, about 60 miles north of St. Louis. Family and friends will gather at 1 p.m. Saturday to plant a tree and dedicate a bench at Winfield Elementary School, where Bianca attended.
Bianca was last seen walking on a gravel road near her home in Foley. Bianca's mother, Shannon Tanner, told authorities she dropped the girl about a mile from home, hoping the walk would give her a chance to calm down after a dispute over doing dinner dishes. Tanner said it was a practice counselors had advised.
Two years later, Bianca's fate is still unknown, even as a special task force made up of federal, state and local police look into whether kidnapping suspect Michael Devlin could have played a role in her disappeareance and several other unsolved cases.
Devlin, 41, was arrested Jan. 12 after two missing boys were found at his apartment in the St. Louis County town Kirkwood. Ben Ownby, 13, had been missing four days since his abduction from the Franklin County town Beaufort. Shawn, now 15, had been missing since 2002 from Richwoods in Washington County.
Devlin has pleaded not guilty in the disappearances. In addition to kidnapping charges in Franklin and Washington counties, he faces forcible sodomy charges in St. Louis County and federal charges for producing child pornography and transporting a boy across state lines with the intention of sexual assault.
So far, investigators have found no link between Devlin and Bianca. But task force spokesman Sgt. Al Nothum of the Missouri State Highway Patrol said the investigation continues.
"Are we ready to say we're ruling out this person or that person? They (the task force) specifically said we're not at that point," he said.
Tanner did not return phone calls from The Associated Press. She told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that despite new leads in the case, her daughter's disappearance only becomes more difficult.
"It's getting harder to face, the fact that it's been so long," Tanner said. "I think I'm almost more depressed about it this year."
Tanner was placed on probation in March 2005 for an assault against another daughter. Police have said they do not view the domestic incident as related to Bianca's disappearance.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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