Area mother recalls memories of her own daughter's vanishing
MATT SUMAN, Morning Journal Writer
06/23/2007
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Sandra Ellis has been looking for her daughter, Kimberly Riley since her disappearance in 1998.
VERMILION TOWNSHIP -- What the family of missing, pregnant mom Jessie Davis of Stark County is going through is all too familiar to Sandra Ellis, whose daughter has been missing since Christmas 1998 from Lorain.
''It brought back a horrible memory from eight years ago when my daughter went missing,'' said Ellis, of Vermilion Township, when she heard about Davis' story on a TV news program earlier this week. ''It's as fresh as yesterday. It never goes away.''
Her daughter, Kimberly Riley, was 19 when she disappeared and would now be 27.
Linda Waters, the mother of Riley's live in boyfriend, Omar S. Seymore, told police she last saw Riley on Christmas Eve 1998 when Riley dropped off the two sons she had with Seymore at Waters' home.
Waters reported her son missing on Jan. 11, 1999, and said she had not seen him since early December, but he later was found and is serving prison time for identity theft.
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Ellis went to Lorain police on Dec. 27 after not hearing from her daughter for several days and said it was unusual for her daughter to be gone for so long without contacting her 7- and 21-month-old sons.
''We feared something was horribly wrong,'' she said.
Riley and Seymore were living together in an apartment on Cooper Foster Park Road, Ellis said.
In hope of getting some closure, last month, Ellis filed a wrongful death suit against Seymore, in Lorain County Common Pleas Court. Ellis believes Seymore is responsible for Riley's disappearance. Police do not have enough information to charge Seymore with any crime in Riley's disappearance, Lorain Police Sgt. Mark Carpentiere said.
But Chris Cook, Ellis' attorney, said though police and prosecutors may not have enough evidence to convince a jury that Seymore is criminally responsible for Riley's suspected death, he believes they can prove he's liable in a civil case. In a wrongful death case, the plaintiff must prove by a preponderance of evidence, or what amounts to more likely than not, he said.
Ellis said at the time, police believed Riley likely disappeared because she ran away. Riley and Seymore's apartment was uncharacteristically neat as if it had been recently cleaned or sanitized, the suit says. Diaper bags for her sons, that she always had with her, were also found at the apartment, Ellis said.
When police checked Riley's apartment, they found nothing missing and Christmas presents were under the tree waiting to be opened. Riley told Seymore's mother she was going to Midway Mall shopping when she dropped off her kids, police said.
That was the last time someone claimed to have seen Riley. Attempts to reach Waters for this story were not successful.
Seymore surfaced when he was extradited from California in 2005 for taking the identity of another, the suit says.
Riley and Seymore were seen together on Dec. 20 at Riley's grandparents home in Berlin Heights, Ellis said.
There are some similarities between Riley's and Davis' missing persons cases. They are both young mothers. A comforter was missing from Davis' Lake Township home, while two blankets were gone from Riley's apartment on Cooper Foster Park Road, Ellis said. Both Davis and Riley had children and relationships with older men.
Davis had a son with Bobby Cutts Jr., 30, and her family said she was pregnant with his child again. Authorities have said Cutts, a Canton police officer, is not a suspect, but he has been questioned and his home has been searched. Riley and Seymore, who is now 32, had two sons when she went missing.
Both Davis' and Riley's families are searching for answers about their disappearances. Patricia Porter, Davis' mother, has also said she has suspicions about Cutts and considers him a suspect.
But the similarities appear to end there between the two cases.
Davis family hopes she is still alive while Ellis said she's not holding out hope that Riley is living. In March 2006, Lorain County Probate Court Judge Frank Horvath declared Riley presumed dead.
Ellis said she could relate to what Davis' family must be feeling.
''I hope she's found alive, but I doubt she will be,'' Ellis said of Davis. ''I really feel for her family.''
After Riley disappeared, Ellis said she posted fliers with her daughter's picture in South Lorain, where Seymore was known, and they would be taken down the next day.
While authorities and volunteers have conducted a large-scale search for Davis, Carpentiere said there was not that sort of search for Riley. A large-scale search makes more sense if the person was last seen around his or her home, Carpentiere said.
But Riley's white 1989 Mazda four-door was found abandoned in East Cleveland, police said. Blood spattering was found in the interior of the vehicle on the passenger side. A cardboard box with blood spattering was found in the trunk.
The FBI searched the car in 2005 and found hair samples and fibers in the trunk, Ellis said. Also, a photo of Riley with the words ''die soon'' written on it was found, the suit says.
Carpentiere tried to interview Seymore last December in Mansfield, where he is in prison, and earlier at the Lorain County Jail, but Seymore would not talk about Riley's disappearance.
Next month, Ellis said she expects to see Seymore for the first time since he and her daughter vanished eight years ago when he is expected to give a deposition for the civil suit.
''I just want the label over his head -- murderer,'' Ellis said.
Seymore is expected to be released from the Mansfield Correctional Institution on July 24, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. Ellis said she fears the day Seymore is freed and her parents have a security system in place to protect themselves.
''I'm worried for my family right now,'' she said.
Ellis has custody of Riley's and Seymore's two children. They know their mother is missing and their father is in prison, but Ellis said she does not want them to know more details.
Ellis said she wanted to revive her daughter's case with the public to see if anyone would have new information.
''Maybe someone will come forward,'' she said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
ŠThe Morning Journal 2007
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