'Search ongoing for missing Hancock County woman' 09.16.07

The Clarion-Ledger
Search ongoing for missing Hancock County woman
The Associated Press

KILN, Miss. — An investigation into the disappearance of a missing Hancock County woman has turned up few solid leads, authorities say.Brandi Hawkins Laurent, a 29-year-old mother of two, vanished in the middle of the night from her home on Aug. 3.Hancock County Sheriff’s Department investigators Kenny Hurt and Rita Blaize-Watson said as many as 100 leads have poured in from people calling, sending e-mail or stopping by the Sheriff’s Department.“We’ve had lots of people swear they’ve seen her,” said Hurt, the chief investigator.So far, however, those sightings apparently have been cases of mistaken identity.Laurent reportedly left on foot, without her car, identification, keys, cell phone or cash. Her husband, Leo Laurent, reported his wife missing at 11 a.m. Aug. 4, saying he had been unsuccessfully searching for her.Family and friends describe Laurent as a devoted mother to her daughters, ages 2 and 12. They maintain she would never leave without at least calling home later to check on them.Andrea Dominach, who has known Laurent since grammar school, doesn’t believe her longtime friend would leave her children willingly.“I don’t think she’s anywhere by choice,” Dominach said.As the Sheriff’s Department investigates, friends and family have conducted their own campaign to find Laurent, knocking on doors, keeping up a flurry of Internet postings and handing out fliers.Last week investigators received a tip Laurent was alive and planning to attend services at a church in Harrison County. That fell through.In another lead, a jail inmate claimed to have seen Laurent in Beaumont, Texas. His information was rejected as unreliable.Hancock County Sheriff Steve Garber said such dead ends are typical in cases like this.“It’s hard to decide, what do you put in the left stack and what do you put in the right stack?” he said.

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