Tuesday, 20 May 2008

Update - Online Search Gains Momentum (Fordebridge Times)

Sorry this has taken me time to post but I've been manic with press enquiries and questions from people who are helping. This was published in yesterday's Fordebridge Times:

The launch of professorsjournal.com last week has been met with general approval from the online community, our Chief Correspondent reports.

Attracting thousands of visitors, from over 50 countries on every continent, professorsjournal.com is the creative attempt by Rachel Richleau (29) to find her father with the support of the online community. Professor James Richleau (51) and his fellow professor Arthur Morgan (52) went missing on the night of 6 April 2008. Police investigations are ongoing but have, so far, yielded no results.

Speaking exclusively to The Fordebridge Times, Rachel Richleau gave this honest appraisal of the current situation, “My father has been missing for six weeks. I know the police were concerned about making all that we knew public, and offering such a large reward, but I cannot just sit and wait to hear some news if and when it occurs. I did that for the first four weeks to no avail. My father left clues about what he was doing when he disappeared and there might be something in that information than can lead to his discovery. From what we know he was seeking a date, a place and an object and it was that search that precipitated his abduction or disappearance.”

Speaking of the difficulty of launching a site when her background is in history and academia she said, “It’s been a challenge. With the help of friends we built the site at a rate of knots and there have been a few teething problems but most of them have now been ironed out. The online community is fantastic and have given loads of feedback that we’ve used to correct errors and improve the site. We hope they continue to do so. I owe a massive debt to lazylaces.com and unfiction.com for mentioning the site. And enormous thanks to AP (he knows who he is) for all his valuable feedback. All that said, this site is to solve the mystery and find my father. I hope people online and off will keep signing up to help me.”

Senior police sources have unofficially expressed delight, after initially being sceptical, at the success of the site and the quality of leads, intelligent suppositions and information that it is now being generated. Officially, however, anyone with information should contact DCI Marshal of Fordebridgeshire Constabulary.

I'll post the last few weeks' coverage too.

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