Sex Offender Link Feared in Florida Girl's Disappearance

April 13, 2005 -- -- Police in Hillsborough County, Fla., are searching for a 13-year-old girl who has not been seen since this weekend, and investigators say they are concerned about what was described as her family's close relationship with a registered sex offender who lives in the area.

Sarah Lunde was last seen at her family's home in Ruskin on Saturday night, and police began searching for her intensively on Monday, after they were contacted by her family.

Drawing lessons from the recent abduction and murder of another Florida girl, Jessica Lunsford, detectives immediately focused on local sex offenders as part of their investigation. Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee said he even got pointers from the man who led the search in Citrus County for 9-year-old Jessica.

"I actually spoke to [Citrus County] Sheriff Dawsy ... about this case and compared notes a little bit about the process and got some good advice from him," Gee said. "It is eerily similar; I just hope it does not have the same conclusion."

Jessica Lunsford was found dead, and a sex offender who lived in her neighberhood, John Couey, has been charged with her abduction and murder. The case has led a Florida congresswoman to propose tighter federal guidelines for how sex offenders are tracked and a national registry for parents to check.

In the search for Sarah Lunde, the sheriff's office identified 24 registered sex offenders living in her neighborhood. Of those, nearly all have been located.

"Of the 24 sexual offenders that we reported were in the area, we've been able to account for 23 of these sexual predators or offenders at this time. We have one of the offenders that we believe has absconded out of state, but we've also established that this occurred well before the incident when Sarah went missing," Capt. Craig Latimer of the sheriff's office said.

All of those offenders have or will be questioned, including one person previously linked to the family. David Onstott, 36, was arrested Tuesday night in Apollo Beach on charges of failure to register as a sex offender and an unrelated charge of assault with a deadly weapon. He was booked into the Orient Road Jail and, has been questioned by detectives several times. Police did not elaborate on the connection.

Sarah's father, who has not been connected to the family in 10 years, was also located by investigators, who were on their way to interview him today, though they did not say where.

Sarah returned home Saturday night, a day early from a church youth group trip to find her brother the only one home. Sometime after she came home he left to go to the store, but when he came back, the 13-year-old was gone and the front door was open.

"She was found missing when her older brother came home. He had gone out for the night. He came back home, the front door was wide open; she was not around," Gee said.

The wife of Sarah's pastor, Sherry Cook, said her son went to pick Sarah up for Sunday school.

"He was told that someone had already picked her up. And he came to church and found that she had not been picked up," said Cook.

By Monday, with the family in a panic, the sheriff's office began searching for Sarah. A day later, that search had expanded into a massive effort from the air and on the ground.

On Tuesday, dozens of squad cars were parked in Sarah's rural neighborhood, and more than 100 deputies were searching on foot through empty yards, thick underbrush and the pine forests that surround Ruskin.

A mobile command center was parked at the nearby First Apostolic Church, and a sheriff's office helicopter circled overhead. As the afternoon went on, at least 30 volunteers joined the deputies' search for Sarah, who Cook said was a friendly girl and a talented singer.

"Everything's set up for searching for her, and we're hoping and praying every minute that she'll be OK and that they'll find her and all will be well," Cook said.

Sarah does have a history of leaving home for a few hours, Gee explained, but "nothing like this."

"Although there have been some cases in years past where she would be missing for a small amount of time, where she would leave, get upset with her parent, generally just for a few hours, at this time it appears to be out of character for her," Gee said. "There are also other circumstances that we used to believe that there is evidence of foul play."

Sarah's mother made a brief appearance at a news conference with Gee on Tuesday evening to plead for her daughter's return.

"Sarah, if you are listening to this, please call, please come home. We're all searching for you. We love you and miss you very much," Kelly Mey said.

Sarah is described as 5 feet, 2 inches tall and 175 pounds. She has brown hair below her shoulders that she usually wears in a ponytail. She has hazel eyes, and her left forearm is in a green half-cast due to a wrist injury.

ABC News affiliate WFTS-TV in Tampa, Fla., contributed to this report.