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Police search for sex offender, mentally challenged woman
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Gabriella Trayer
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Robert Bryan Hebb
Family and friends are worried for the woman’s safety.
NEW CASTLE, Pa. — Police are looking for a Megan’s Law sex offender who left the city with a 20-year-old mentally challenged woman.
Friends and family of the woman, Gabriella Trayer, of Edinburg, Pa., believe she was taken to Clarksville, Tenn., on Feb. 9 by Robert Bryan Hebb, 44, who was convicted in 1998 of attempted aggravated sexual battery.
Friends say they believe Hebb took her to Clarksville because of ties he had there.
Joe Willis, Trayer’s father, said they tracked Hebb to an old girlfriend’s home in Clarksville on Feb. 10 through an acquaintance who knows him. But the pair did not stay with her.
Now, family and friends say they’re worried for Trayer’s safety.
The Pennsylvania State Police have a warrant for Hebb’s arrest because he did not notify them of an address change — required for offenders on the state Megan’s Law list. Anyone with information about the couple’s whereabouts is asked to call the Pennsylvania State Police at (724) 598-2211.
Trayer’s mother, Rita Willis, acknowledged her daughter is an adult and can choose to stay with Hebb. But if he is arrested, she believes her daughter will be persuaded to come back.
The Willises say that Trayer’s mental development is that of an 8- to 12-year-old child.
Hebb and Trayer knew each other through a drop-in center called Patches Place, which also houses programs for mentally ill people.
The drop-in center offers a recreation area, food pantry and showers for homeless people.
Hebb, a homeless man who stayed with friends, frequented the center since it opened more than a year ago, said Sandi Hause, who runs one of the programs there.
Hause and her daughter, Angela Hagberg, who also works at the center, say they took Trayer under their wing during times she did not stay with her parents in Edinburg. Sometimes, she stayed with Hause.
Joe Willis said his daughter, who was adopted when she was 6, was always welcome to stay at their home, but wanted to be independent. “Ellie did what she wanted,” he said, adding that he and his wife always tried to keep up on her whereabouts when she wasn’t living with them.
She had moved back in with her parents around Christmas time. But shortly after Christmas, she left again, Willis said.
Hause said that once she and Hagberg realized Hebb and Trayer were in a relationship, they tried to persuade her not to see him.
Hagberg said that on Feb. 6, she told Hebb she’d go to the police if Trayer did not come with her. Trayer stayed with Hause that weekend, Hause said.
On Feb. 8, they decided she might be better off at her parents’ house, so they took her there. Hause said she also went to the state police that day.
Trayer knew that police had been contacted, Hagberg added.
The next morning, Trayer got a ride to New Castle with her mother for what she said was a doctor’s appointment.
She went to the City Rescue Mission, where she knew Hebb would be eating lunch, Hause said. They believe the two of them left the city in a beige sport-utility vehicle lent to Hebb by a tenant in an apartment complex on West Washington Street where he was staying.
“I just want her back,” Hause said. “I want her safe. I just don’t trust that this man will keep her safe.” She said she hopes Trayer will at least call to let everyone know she’s OK. “She can call collect. I don’t care.”
Hagberg said she feels Hebb betrayed the center staff’s trust. “It’s a big blow to everybody,” she said.
“We’re just really worried about our daughter,” Willis added.
starmack@vindy.com