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Alesha Bell's family pleads for her return
By Joe Gorman
WARREN
Tiffany Knepper said Wednesday she hopes her maternal instinct isn’t covering up her denial.
Knepper, her grandson, and son and daughter were at a news conference in Warren council chambers, pleading for the return of her daughter, Alesha Bell, 18, who has been missing since July 23.
Knepper said she refuses to entertain the thought that a set of bones found at an Ashtabula County home could be her daughter’s. Authorities are awaiting DNA testing to determine whose bones they are.
“I feel it. I feel my daughter’s out there,” Knepper said.
When asked if it was her maternal instinct that had her thinking that way, she said she hoped so.
“I pray it’s not denial,” Knepper said.
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.
Police were at Brooks’ home in the first place because Bell’s cellphone traced back to there. Ashtabula County authorities also are now checking human remains found Aug. 20 at Brooks’ house on U.S. 6 in Roaming Shores to determine if they might be Bell’s. Brooks is in the Ashtabula County jail on a slew of charges, including abuse of a corpse. The bones were found when police searched the home as part of a drug investigation.
Warren police Detective Nick Carney said DNA tests are being done on the bones but the results will not be known for at least 10 days.
But Carney also said Wednesday he is holding out hope that Bell is still alive. He said the case is still considered a missing person case.
“I’m staying positive,” Carney said.
The family refused to discuss the findings in Ashtabula County except briefly, when Knepper said she did not believe the remains belonged to Bell.
Knepper said she believes her daughter is alive and someone has her or knows where she’s at.
“Somebody has her and won’t let her come home,” Knepper said.
Knepper was joined by her son and Bell’s brother Nate Knepper and Bell’s sister and her daughter Eunicea Knepper, as well as Bell’s 2-year-old son, DeMond Hunter.
They all said Bell would never leave her son for a long period of time and she would have told someone if something was wrong. They said the child asks for his mother often.
Eunicea Knepper asked if someone had Bell if they would just let her go, and she asked the public for their help.
“Just think if this was your daughter,” Eunicea Knepper said.
Carney said he was hoping that by having the family speak, it would spur someone with information to call police or even spur Bell herself to let people know where she was, especially if she was able to see her son.