Rescued Girl Is Recovering, Abductor Still Loose
SYRACUSE, N.Y., Oct. 27, 2004 — -- A chance discovery probably saved a young girl's life, but six months after 6-year-old Brittany Fish, who was snatched off the street near her home, was found shivering and moaning, bound and gagged under a tarp, whoever abducted her is still on the loose.
The nationwide manhunt for whoever abducted the little girl has produced lots of leads, but still no suspects, Syracuse law enforcement officials said.
"We're looking into every clue that comes in by phone, mail, whatever means," Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick told ABC News affiliate WIXT-TV in Syracuse.
At one time, investigators were getting more than 100 tips a day, but now they say they're down to just eight or 10 per week.
"Basically, we're at the same point we were then," Fitzpatrick said. "We're no further ahead at this point, but we still have numerous leads that we're following up on."
Most of them are linked to the composite sketch that was developed with Brittany's help by a top forensic artist.
"The person may very well have made efforts to conceal his identity both by cloaking his fingers and retrieving any biological fluid, any material, he may have left at the crime scene," the prosecutor said. "I am of the opinion that it's a local person. I know the crime lab has a mountain of evidence. There's still a possibility that we may get physical evidence to tie to the perpetrator to her abduction."
Brittany was rescued last April when a man looking over a vacant truck depot in nearby De Witt found a tarpaulin on the ground and lifted it to find the little girl tied up underneath it, but alive.
"This case was miraculous," said retired FBI agent Bob O'Brien, who works with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and was involved in the case as director of Team Adam, a group of trained former law enforcement officials who helps local police on missing and abducted child cases.
The man told police he'd heard moaning and lifted the tarp expecting to find a puppy. Instead, there was Brittany, her eyes and mouth covered with duct tape, her wrists also bound with tape, and her feet secured with plastic ties, police said.
The girl was wearing just a T-shirt and shorts, and in the chilly spring weather she was close to hypothermia and already suffering frostbite in her fingertips, police said.
But her family said the youngster shows few scars from her ordeal.
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