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April 28, 2005
New Photo Released In Child Abuse Investigation
Photo Of Witness Likely Taken In Northeast Or Canada
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Investigators unveiled a new clue Wednesday in the international investigation of reported child sexual abuse at a Disney resort hotel.
Detectives from Orange County to Canada hope the new images will help them rescue a young victim of sexual abuse.
The new photo shows a child sitting on a couch. The girl is believed to be a material witness in the case, not a victim.
The girl in the photo appears to be about 9 years old, and she's sitting on a couch, playing a video game.
Detectives hope that if they can identify her, they can identify a girl who was abused in a series of child pornography photos that are circulating on the Internet. Toronto police found the pictures of the abuse two years ago and since have found hundreds more of the same victim.
"I viewed five pictures the other day, and it's absolutely grotesque," said Orange County Sheriff Kevin Beary.
"We believe she's been on the same furniture and in the same room, and quite possibly knows the person that photographed the victim in our case," said Lt. Matt Irwin, of the Orange County Sheriff's Office.
Detectives from the Toronto Police Services Child Porn Task Force came across photos of a girl in a hotel room. By studying the hotel room, Orange County investigators helped confirm that the room was in Disney's Port Orleans Resort.
They think the photo of the girl on the couch was taken in either the northeastern United States or southeastern Canada.
"Probably and possibly a residence. Whether it is in fact the victim's residence, we don't know. But this is a separate crime scene from the one in Orlando and we believe we have another crime scene somewhere else in the country," said Sgt. Paul Gillespie, of the Toronto Police Service.
Detectives said the photographs are about 3 or 4 years old. They've set up a special hot line for people with any information about the case to call. The number is (866) 635-HELP (4357).
Since they've been looking for the child in the Disney hotel photos, detectives said the pictures have become a prized possession of child pornographers.
Posted by Nealus at April 28, 2005 12:35 PM
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