Missing Warren teen's mom pleads for her return, believes she's alive

WARREN

The family of missing 18-year-old Alesha Bell pleaded for her return today at a news conference in Warren City Council chambers.

Bells’s mother Tiffany Knepper said she believes her daughter is still alive and is being held against her will.

Also on hand were a brother and sister of Alesha, and Alesha’s 2-year-old son DeMond.

Bell has been missing since July 23.

Warren police Detective Nick Carney said he continues to treat the matter as a missing persons case.

Two Warren police detectives and other officers went to the state Route 6 home of James E. Brooks, 40, on Aug. 8, looking for the missing Warren teen.

They spoke with Brooks and didn’t find Bell but expressed concern for her safety because of Brooks’ previous criminal history.

The report says a Roaming Shores officer and an Orwell officer met the Warren detectives at 1773 U.S. Route 6 because of information that Bell’s cellphone was thought to be at Brooks’ house.

Brooks he said he had not seen Bell in a week or two. He said the last time he saw her was in Cleveland, the report says. Officers searched the home and found no evidence of her.

Ashtabula County Sheriff William “Billy” Johnson also confirmed Monday that Bell had been seen with Brooks though he could not specify when that happened or where. He said that information is contained in a police report, but he declined to release that information.

Bell, 18, was reported missing by her mother July 23 and has not been found. Ashtabula County authorities also are now checking human remains found Thursday at Brooks’ house to determine if they might be Bell’s.

Johnson said it’s too soon to say whether the remains are those of Bell, whether they might belong to more than one person, or even if they are male or female. He said he expects it to take three weeks before the Cuyahoga County Coroner’s office can provide some of those facts.

The remains were found in a burn pit and along a wood line behind the house when investigators served a search warrant while conducting a drug investigation.

Investigators on Friday charged Brooks with four counts of drug trafficking, four counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm and single counts of abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence. He is in the Ashtabula County jail in lieu of $700,000 bond.

The reason police believed Bell’s cellphone might be at Brooks’ house is that police pinged the phone, meaning they sent out a signal to the phone to determine its location, and it was identified as being at Brooks’ house, the report said.