Kevin Neal

Search for Children Called Off

While volunteers combed the fields and woods, other investigators began looking at family members. Everyone was brought in for questioning and polygraph examinations. Rick Smith and Gary McGraw both took lie detector tests and passed. The tests for Sue and Kevin were inconclusive.

On July 13, Deskins was forced to call off the search when it became obvious that the children had not simply wandered away. The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation and the FBI had both become involved in the investigation and relatives in neighboring states had been questioned.

In an interview with the Columbus Dispatch, a tearful Rick Smith continued to hold out hope that his daughter would come home alive, but did address the unspeakable.

"They stopped the search but they'll continue the investigation," Smith said. "Now they wait for someone to make a move."

His daughter was much too bright to simply get lost, Smith maintained, which left him with little hope. "Something happened to Indy,'' he said.

The sheriff's official in charge of the scene, Sgt. Chuck Stroud, was equally emotional when he notified searchers that their services were no longer needed.

"They're no longer the kids," Stroud said. "They're our kids. But, I'm out of places to go. There's nothing more I can do here."

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1. Messages from the Dead
2. 700 Years Later
3. The Children are Missing
4. Unhealthy Family Dynamic
5. Complex Relationships & Conflicts
6. Search for Children Called Off
7. Behind the Scenes
8. Neal's Criminal Past
9. Lies
10. Sexual Predator
11. Bodies in the Cemetery
12. A Ghastly Find
13. Physical Laws of Death
14. The Stages of Death
15. The Bureau of Criminal Identification
16. Working the Crime Scene
17. Manner of Death
18. Not Much to Work With
19. Cause of Death
20. More Forensic Clues
21. "We Are Not in a Rush"
22. No Smoking Gun
23. "Hurt Someone They Love"
24. Incriminating Statements
25. The Physical Evidence
26. Forensic Botany
27. Bug Collecting
28. Forensic Entomolgy
29. How Flies Tell Time
30. After the Blow Flies Flew Away
31. Enter the Cheese Skipper
32. Date of Death
33. The Secondary Screwworm in Court
34. Battle over Bug Evidence
35. Cheese Skippers for the Defense
36. Counterpoint
37. The Body Farmer
38. Dr. Bass for the Defense
39. "The Liver Bothers Me"
40. The Jury Decides
41. Bibliography