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08-30-2004, 09:51 AM
http://www.ocregister.com/newsimages/news/2004/08/28missinggirl1.jpg
3 Year Old Murdered 35 Years Ago.
Photo Source (http://www.ocregister.com/ocr/2004/08/29/sections/news/news/article_219545.php)
From the AP & the Daily Herald:
<hr>
QUOTE:
2 facing charges in 1969 death
By Kimbriell Kelly Daily Herald Staff Writer
A Lakemoor man and former Crystal Lake woman are in court today in California and Wisconsin on charges they murdered a toddler 35 years ago before leaving the West Coast for Illinois.
James Michael Kent, 62, was taken into custody Wednesday after he appeared in Lake County court in Mundelein for a traffic ticket for driving with a suspended license. Kent is charged with murdering his ex-wife's 3-year-old daughter, Michelle Pulsifer, in 1969.
http://www.ocregister.com/newsimages/news/2004/08/28missinggirl3.jpg
Photo Source (http://www.ocregister.com/ocr/2004/08/29/sections/news/news/article_219545.php)
Donna Pulsifer Kent Prentice, 57, who has since remarried, was arrested at her home Friday in the southwest Wisconsin town of Genoa. She also is accused of killing the child before leaving California and relocating to McHenry County.
The pair, according to published reports, split while living in Illinois in the early 1970s. Each could face 25 years to life in prison if convicted of Michelle's murder.
The case sat dormant until a private investigator took it on in 2001 at the behest of Ann Friedman, a multimillionaire married to Michelle's late uncle. She wanted to get to the bottom of Michelle's disappearance and paid an agency upward of $50,000 to solve the mystery, according to articles published in the Orange County (Calif.) Register newspaper.
The agency worked the case for two years, starting in 2001, before turning their findings over to the Orange County District Attorney's office.
After further investigation by California authorities, arrest warrants were issued for Prentice and Kent.
http://www.ocregister.com/newsimages/news/2004/08/28missinggirl2.jpg
FORLORN SEARCH: Richard Pulsifer Sr., 57, now a karate instructor in Las Vegas, says he searched for his daughter over more than three decades and got no help from authorities in tracing her.
Photo Source (http://www.ocregister.com/ocr/2004/08/29/sections/news/news/article_219545.php)
The arrests ended a search for Michelle that her father, Richard Pulsifer Sr., said he launched in July 1969. That's when he arrived at his ex-wife's home one weekend to find her missing, along with their children, Michelle and 6-year-old Richard Pulsifer Jr.
Investigators say Donna Prentice and Kent killed the girl, disposing of her body and fleeing their Huntington Beach home so they would never have to explain the girl's disappearance.
Richard Pulsifer Sr. said authorities told him at the time there was nothing they could do because his ex-wife had custody of the children.
"I tried to find Michelle but no one would help," said Pulsifer, who now lives in Las Vegas.
Richard Pulsifer Jr., who was reunited with his father years later, said his mother never answered his questions about Michelle's whereabouts. But he recalled the night Michelle burst into his room at the family's home and crawled under the covers, pleading with him to "please hide me."
"She sounded real scared," said the younger Pulsifer, now 41. "And then my mom came into the room and got her."
"I never saw her again," he said.
No missing person's report was ever filed. Investigators said they still don't know if the child died or what might have happened to her body.
Reached at their Wisconsin home, Noble Prentice, Donna Prentice's husband of 11 years, said Kent admitted involvement and implicated Donna.
"Mike said that she is the one that did it and Mike got involved in it. I don't believe any of it," Noble Prentice said. "I've been with Donna almost 25 years. She's just the sweetest lady in the whole wide world."
Noble Prentice said Donna and Kent lived in Crystal Lake while they were in Illinois.
In Illinois, authorities say Prentice told her new neighbors that her 3-year-old daughter stayed behind in California with Kent's mother.
"I think it's hard to give up a 3-year-old child but (she) went to the grandmother for better things," said Noble Prentice. He said his wife told him Kent abused her and she did not want her daughter in that environment.
Donna Prentice told her side to investigators in January, though she was unable to explain why they never tried to retrieve Michelle after Kent's mother died years later, said Ed Berakovich, an investigator for the district attorney's office in California.
Attempts to reach Kent's family Sunday were unsuccessful.
Kent, a truck driver who goes by the first name Mike, waived extradition and is being held on $1 million bail by the Orange County Sheriff's Department in the intake release center in Santa Ana, Calif. He is scheduled to appear in a California court today and is expected to be arraigned early this week.
Donna Prentice will appear before a judge today in Viroqua, Wis., for a bail bond hearing, said Noble Prentice.
END QUOTE
<hr>
So who was the private investigator?
Answer:
Paul Chamberlain (http://www.pchamberlain.com/)
3 Year Old Murdered 35 Years Ago.
Photo Source (http://www.ocregister.com/ocr/2004/08/29/sections/news/news/article_219545.php)
From the AP & the Daily Herald:
<hr>
QUOTE:
2 facing charges in 1969 death
By Kimbriell Kelly Daily Herald Staff Writer
A Lakemoor man and former Crystal Lake woman are in court today in California and Wisconsin on charges they murdered a toddler 35 years ago before leaving the West Coast for Illinois.
James Michael Kent, 62, was taken into custody Wednesday after he appeared in Lake County court in Mundelein for a traffic ticket for driving with a suspended license. Kent is charged with murdering his ex-wife's 3-year-old daughter, Michelle Pulsifer, in 1969.
http://www.ocregister.com/newsimages/news/2004/08/28missinggirl3.jpg
Photo Source (http://www.ocregister.com/ocr/2004/08/29/sections/news/news/article_219545.php)
Donna Pulsifer Kent Prentice, 57, who has since remarried, was arrested at her home Friday in the southwest Wisconsin town of Genoa. She also is accused of killing the child before leaving California and relocating to McHenry County.
The pair, according to published reports, split while living in Illinois in the early 1970s. Each could face 25 years to life in prison if convicted of Michelle's murder.
The case sat dormant until a private investigator took it on in 2001 at the behest of Ann Friedman, a multimillionaire married to Michelle's late uncle. She wanted to get to the bottom of Michelle's disappearance and paid an agency upward of $50,000 to solve the mystery, according to articles published in the Orange County (Calif.) Register newspaper.
The agency worked the case for two years, starting in 2001, before turning their findings over to the Orange County District Attorney's office.
After further investigation by California authorities, arrest warrants were issued for Prentice and Kent.
http://www.ocregister.com/newsimages/news/2004/08/28missinggirl2.jpg
FORLORN SEARCH: Richard Pulsifer Sr., 57, now a karate instructor in Las Vegas, says he searched for his daughter over more than three decades and got no help from authorities in tracing her.
Photo Source (http://www.ocregister.com/ocr/2004/08/29/sections/news/news/article_219545.php)
The arrests ended a search for Michelle that her father, Richard Pulsifer Sr., said he launched in July 1969. That's when he arrived at his ex-wife's home one weekend to find her missing, along with their children, Michelle and 6-year-old Richard Pulsifer Jr.
Investigators say Donna Prentice and Kent killed the girl, disposing of her body and fleeing their Huntington Beach home so they would never have to explain the girl's disappearance.
Richard Pulsifer Sr. said authorities told him at the time there was nothing they could do because his ex-wife had custody of the children.
"I tried to find Michelle but no one would help," said Pulsifer, who now lives in Las Vegas.
Richard Pulsifer Jr., who was reunited with his father years later, said his mother never answered his questions about Michelle's whereabouts. But he recalled the night Michelle burst into his room at the family's home and crawled under the covers, pleading with him to "please hide me."
"She sounded real scared," said the younger Pulsifer, now 41. "And then my mom came into the room and got her."
"I never saw her again," he said.
No missing person's report was ever filed. Investigators said they still don't know if the child died or what might have happened to her body.
Reached at their Wisconsin home, Noble Prentice, Donna Prentice's husband of 11 years, said Kent admitted involvement and implicated Donna.
"Mike said that she is the one that did it and Mike got involved in it. I don't believe any of it," Noble Prentice said. "I've been with Donna almost 25 years. She's just the sweetest lady in the whole wide world."
Noble Prentice said Donna and Kent lived in Crystal Lake while they were in Illinois.
In Illinois, authorities say Prentice told her new neighbors that her 3-year-old daughter stayed behind in California with Kent's mother.
"I think it's hard to give up a 3-year-old child but (she) went to the grandmother for better things," said Noble Prentice. He said his wife told him Kent abused her and she did not want her daughter in that environment.
Donna Prentice told her side to investigators in January, though she was unable to explain why they never tried to retrieve Michelle after Kent's mother died years later, said Ed Berakovich, an investigator for the district attorney's office in California.
Attempts to reach Kent's family Sunday were unsuccessful.
Kent, a truck driver who goes by the first name Mike, waived extradition and is being held on $1 million bail by the Orange County Sheriff's Department in the intake release center in Santa Ana, Calif. He is scheduled to appear in a California court today and is expected to be arraigned early this week.
Donna Prentice will appear before a judge today in Viroqua, Wis., for a bail bond hearing, said Noble Prentice.
END QUOTE
<hr>
So who was the private investigator?
Answer:
Paul Chamberlain (http://www.pchamberlain.com/)