2 cases studied for clues to kidnapping

So far there is no link between the cases involving boys at Savannah Trace Apartments, Clearwater's police chief says.

By CHRIS TISCH
© St. Petersburg Times
published January 3, 2002

CLEARWATER -- Though police say there is no apparent connection between the New Year's Eve abduction of a young boy and the September 2000 disappearance of Zach Bernhardt, detectives working the two cases huddled Wednesday afternoon to compare notes.

Police characterized the meeting as a routine, by-the-book gathering to see if there were any similarities in the two cases, both of which occurred at Savannah Trace Apartments, 2690 Drew St.

"We have nothing at this point to connect the two cases," Chief Sid Klein said Wednesday.

Police said if a suspect is caught in the New Year's Eve abduction, he will be questioned about the Bernhardt disappearance.

The kidnapper remained at large Wednesday. On Monday evening, the man used the promise of ice cream to lure a 5-year-old boy to a pickup truck near a playground at the apartment complex.

The child, an Eisenhower Elementary School kindergartener, was snatched. Witnesses saw the child pounding on the truck's windows as the kidnapper drove off.

The man dumped the boy in a trash bin near Bushnell about 10 hours later. The boy climbed out, waved down a motorist and later was returned to his family. Police say the boy may have been assaulted, but he had no major physical injuries.

Zach Bernhardt was 8 years old when he vanished Sept. 11, 2000. Unlike this recent case, no one saw him being taken away and no evidence of a crime was found, Sgt. Doug Griffith said.

No one has discovered any trace of the boy since he disappeared. Police say they don't know if he was snatched or if he ran away. His mother, Leah Hackett, was the last to see him that morning. She went for a short walk at 4 a.m. that day. When she returned, Zach was gone, she told police.

Zach's family members think he was snatched by a stranger. They said news of the latest abduction, though disturbing, gave them some hope that someone who knows something about Zach's disappearance might be found and arrested.

"We're following it and feel . . . that it could be the same one that took Zachary," said Carole Bernhardt, the missing boy's grandmother.

"If I was a sick person and I got away with something once at one place and knew it was so easy to get away with it, wouldn't you go back?" she asked.

Clearwater police on Wednesday urged the public to stay focused on the suspect in the New Year's Eve abduction. The case has gained some national attention, including from America's Most Wanted and Good Morning America television programs. Griffith, the department's acting spokesman, is scheduled to appear on the morning show today.

"We need to focus on getting him first," Griffith said. "The key to this whole thing is going to be him. Without him, we're kind of back at square one."

Police said the kidnapper drove north after the abduction, though the boy told police he didn't know if his kidnapper was on a highway or on back roads, Griffith said.

Police aren't pressuring the boy into answering a flurry of questions immediately after the traumatic event.

"We're trying to not overload him," Griffith said.

The kidnapper stopped several times during the journey, once near the end of the 10-hour ordeal to get something to drink. The man provided nothing to the boy, though he did let him taste his beverage. The boy later told police he didn't like the taste.

The kidnapper then stopped near a KFC restaurant in the area of Bushnell, some 80 miles north of Clearwater. He placed the child in a trash bin, closed the lid on the bin and left, police said.

Sumter County sheriff's deputies helped Clearwater police Wednesday by seizing surveillance videos from businesses along the I-75 corridor and near where the boy was found.

Detectives were reviewing those videos Wednesday in search of any recordings of the abductor.

Detectives also activated their major crimes tip line, which has been set up for the Bernhardt investigation. An alert also was sent to police statewide.

Griffith said police have received many tips since the crime occurred, and they are being pursued. He said at least seven detectives are working on the New Year's Eve abduction; three detectives continue to work full time on the Bernhardt case, he said.

Griffith said investigators aren't certain if the kidnapper's trail holds any clues.

"We don't know if this guy randomly picked this place and randomly drove there or is familiar with that area," Griffith said. "We just don't know if he's from down here or up there or from out of state."

Zach Bernhardt's family wonder the same thing. They are holding their hope in check.

"We just try to stay even," Carole Bernhardt said. "I guess we're getting used to it."

Chief Klein, meanwhile, urged Clearwater residents to watch their children closely as they always should, though he said panic is unwarranted.

"Just because we have one investigation, in which the only commonality is the location, is not cause to get overly panicked," he said.

To help

Anyone with information about the New Year's Eve abduction at Savannah Trace Apartments can call the Clearwater police tip line at 562-4422. The kidnapper is a white man between 5 feet 7 and 5 feet 11. He is thin with black, possibly shoulder-length, hair. He was last seen wearing a black and white jacket, dark blue jeans and brown dress shoes. He drove a dirty white pickup truck with an extended cab. The truck had tinted windows with gray interior. The truck had decals or stickers in either the rear window or on the quarter panels that spelled "Stone Cold Steve Austin." The truck also may have decals of ice cream cones on the sides.

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