Missing Colville Girl May Have Been Slain Police Say 12-Year-Old’s Artificial Feet Found Beside River
The case of a missing 12-year-old double-amputee has turned into a murder investigation.
Colville police announced Monday that Julie Harris’ artificial feet were found at the mouth of the Colville River over the weekend.
Police Chief Damond Meshishneck said his department is now handling the girl’s disappearance as a possible homicide.
Meshishneck declined to discuss possible suspects in the investigation, but the mother of the missing child says police are questioning her boyfriend.
Harris has been missing since March 3. The Special Olympics champion got up early that day, grabbed four slices of pizza and vanished, according to a runaway report filed with police.
Sherri Harris said Monday she believes her daughter is alive in Oregon. Police have received reports from people who say they saw the girl near Bend.
“I don’t feel that she’s dead,” Harris said. “My heart doesn’t feel that she’s dead. A mother knows these things. I think she’s in Oregon.”
Harris said her daughter can get around without her artificial feet and noted that one of the Oregon sightings had her in a wheelchair.
Harris accused police of trying to “frame” her live-in boyfriend, Don Sax.
She said Sax was questioned for hours Monday by police. Afterward, she advised him to stop talking until he has consulted with an attorney.
“All they’re looking for is a homicide,” Harris said of the police. “They’re not looking for a live child.”
Police refused to discuss whether Sax is a suspect. They also will not disclose what a beachcomber found April 9 at the confluence of the Columbia and Colville rivers. That find triggered an in-depth, multi-agency search of the area last weekend.
Sax could not be reached for comment Monday.
In an interview last month, he said Julie was in bed when he left to go fishing early March 3, and was gone when he returned.
Sax also said he argued with Julie the night before she disappeared. Sax said he was trying to persuade her that she needed to do her homework. He said she exploded, and told him to “go to hell.”
Until recently, Julie was an upbeat child who read mysteries and comics, said her mother. The child’s bedroom was full of Special Olympics medals and trophies, including a gold medal for downhill skiing.
The girl’s attitude soured and her grades slid as she became increasingly self-conscious about her handicap.
Julie was born with a blood disorder that left her with scars and skin grafts. She is 5-feet-1, 115 pounds, with bluish hazel eyes and sandy blond hair.
Julie’s grandmother has offered a $500 reward for information about the missing girl.
, DataTimes