As the search for missing Donoho School senior Ben Stanford continued into its fourth day Thursday, some new information became available, but the 17-year-old Lincoln resident had still not been found.ERA King Real Estate, where his mother, Lynne Stanford, works, has announced a $20,000 reward for valid information “leading to Ben’s safe return,” according to a mass e-mail that went out Thursday evening.
According to Talladega County District Attorney Steve Giddens, who is heading up the multi-agency investigation, Stanford was last seen Monday between 7:30 and 7:45 a.m. in Anniston. He had spent the night at a friend’s house Sunday night, and was believed headed to school in a 2007 silver Jeep Grand Cherokee at that time. He apparently never made it to school.
Someone used Stanford’s credit card to purchase gas at the Texaco station on Alabama 77 North, near the entrance to I-20, at approximately 9 a.m. Monday, Giddens said.
It had been previously reported that the card was used at the Chevron station next door, but Giddens said this was not correct.
Investigators were in the process of reviewing the video surveillance tape from the Texaco station Thursday evening.
There has been no further activity on the card since Monday.
The vehicle was found by Georgia State Troopers just before 2 p.m. Monday in the emergency lane of I-20 East near Villa Rica, Ga., about 75 miles from Lincoln. The keys were not in the vehicle, the doors were unlocked, and the passenger side door was left open, according to the Carroll County Sheriff’s Department. The Jeep did not immediately come up as missing.
When Carroll County Sheriff’s deputies impounded the vehicle and entered it into the National Criminal Information Center database, however, it did come up missing, and law enforcement in Alabama was notified.
A search of the area was conducted on foot and by air, and surveillance video from nearby businesses was reviewed in Georgia, but yielded nothing.
“Obviously, the investigation is still ongoing, and there was a lot of work done today,” Giddens said Thursday.
A Missing Child Media Alert was issued by the Alabama Bureau of Investigation Wednesday evening. Stanford is described as being 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighing about 140 pounds, with brown hair and green eyes. He was last seen wearing rust-colored Carhartt jeans and a gray and purple, long-sleeved fleece shirt, with a white baseball cap.
Students and faculty at Donoho held a special prayer assembly Wednesday morning around the flagpole for their missing classmate, and the Greater Talladega Area Chamber of Commerce has been e-mailing his picture to area businesses and other chambers of commerce in the area. Billboards displaying Stanford’s likeness have gone up in the Birmingham area, as well.
As of Thursday, the search was beginning to gain national attention, including a segment with Greta Van Sustren on the Fox News Network Thursday night and a bulletin on the “America’s Most Wanted” Web site.
Ben Stanford is the son of Bill and Lynne Stanford and the grandson of Sen. Jim Preuitt, D-Talladega.
“It’s been a very long wait, but we have a lot of hope, and I know a lot of prayers have gone out for Ben and our family,” Preuitt said Thursday. “We’re grateful for that, and for all the friends that have come by and calling and offering to help however they can. We’re also thankful to the media for their interest and for still respecting our privacy. We still don’t know all the findings from the investigation, but from what I understand there’s not any evidence of foul play, and we’re grateful for that, too. We just want Ben back.”
Anyone with information on Ben Stanford’s whereabouts should contact the ABI at 1-800-843-5678 or call the Lincoln Police Department at 205-763-7777.
