Alaska Authorities Hunt for Familiar Face

Aug. 30, 2007 — -- Authorities in Alaska are hunting for a man in connection with the disappearance — and possible death — of a nurse last seen nearly a month ago.

FBI officials in Anchorage announced Wednesday that they had obtained a warrant for the arrest of Joshua Alan Wade in connection with federal bank fraud and aggravated identity theft charges.

Wade, 27, used an ATM card belonging to Mindy Schloss on Aug. 6 to make unauthorized withdrawals just days after she was last seen at her Anchorage home, the FBI said.

Law enforcement agencies in Alaska are already familiar with Wade, a convicted felon. In 2003, a jury acquitted Wade on rape and murder charges tied to the death of a 33-year-old woman. Wade's defense attorneys successfully argued in the trial that their client had only claimed to be the killer to impress his friends.

Wade was found guilty of evidence tampering in the case, but acquitted on all other charges. He remained in jail until December 2004.

At the time of the arrest, Wade was also a suspect in the murders of five other women in the Anchorage area. He has not been charged in any of those cases.

Now, the FBI and Anchorage Police Department are calling Wade a person of interest in Schloss' disappearance.

Schloss was last seen by workers doing a job at her home Aug. 3. On Aug. 4, according to spokesmen for the FBI and Anchorage police, an unidentified man was captured on video parking her red Acura in a lot near the Anchorage International Airport. The surveillance footage was found after police discovered Schloss' car Aug. 9.

An affidavit filed by the FBI to obtain Wade's arrest warrant claims that Wade was living in the house next to Schloss the weekend she vanished. On Aug. 4, there was a party at that house that witnesses say Wade attended.

On Aug. 5, a man later identified by authorities as Wade used an ATM card belonging to Schloss to withdraw $500 from a local bank branch. The man was caught on camera wearing a bandana and baseball cap pulled over his head.

The next day, Wade made a second $500 withdrawal, but this time, lost the ATM card in the machine. He can be seen on bank security cameras pacing back and forth inside the lobby and trying to get the card back.

According to the FBI affidavit, Wade had looked at the balance in the Schloss account, which had contained more than $20,000. A witness told authorities that a man riding a silver bicycle was seen driving from the bank location.

Schloss, 52, was reported missing Aug. 6, when she failed to arrive at her nursing job.

On Aug. 18, Anchorage police used a warrant to search the house where Wade was living. Inside, they found a bicycle, bandana and jacket that matched the items tied to Wade in the surveillance footage. Inside the coat pocket, according to authorities, was a receipt for a $500 bank withdrawal.

DNA collected from the inside Schloss' car was also "consistent" with the sample Wade provided Alaska authorities when he was convicted of the evidence-tampering felony in 2003.

Authorities will not call Wade a suspect, but he is a "person of interest" with a warrant tied to Schloss' disappearance and they want to know how Wade and Schloss initially crossed paths.

"He may not have done anything," Lt. Paul Honeman of the Anchorage Police Department told ABC News, adding that there's a chance that friends and acquaintances of Wade may also be involved in the case. "But we really are interested in knowing what their relationship was and how they came into contact with one another."

Where Wade has gone, authorities did not know. "He literally could be anywhere right now," Honeman said.

Investigators have suspected foul play since the disappearance, and now admit that she very likely may be dead, an acknowledgement that hasn't slowed the search for Schloss.

"We've never stopped looking for Mindy Schloss," FBI Special Agent Eric Gonzalez told ABC News. "We're continuing to look for her today."