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Missing teen was visiting family of murder suspect
(Facebook photo)
Nags Head Police Chief Kevin Brinkley said Monday that Danielle Dennis-Towne of Steger, Ill. had been staying with the family of Enrico Mascaro in Nags Head for about two weeks when both were reported missing Friday morning.
He described the two as acquaintances.
Mascaro’s family, who moved to the Outer Banks from the Chicago area several years ago, became concerned when the pair did not return Thursday night, Brinkley said. He said Mascaro’s parents thought it was unusual that they did not come home.
The two were last seen at 9:40 p.m. Thursday, according to the missing persons report, which was filed at about noon Friday.
Police got involved after items discovered in a wooded area of Kitty Hawk “led us to believe that we needed to find them,” Brinkley said. The items were not found by police, he said, but provided no other details about them.
A bulletin to be on the lookout for the pair was issued Friday. Mascaro was arrested that night on a fugitive from justice warrant in Clifton Forge, Va., and the body of a woman was found in the trunk of a Mustang he reportedly had been driving.
Mascaro has waived extradition and faces a murder charge when he returns to the Outer Banks.
Online records show that Towne, 18, was a 2011 honor graduate of Bloom Trail High School in Chicago Heights, Ill., and was a member of the JROTC.
Brinkley said that Mascaro, 19, was attending College of The Albemarle and apparently had a summer job.
Clifton Forge Police Chief Barry Balser said the state medical examiner used dental records to identify Dennis-Towne and ruled the cause of death as a gunshot wound to the head, Roanoke.com, the Roanoke Times’ website, reported Wednesday.
Roanoke.com earlier reported that cell phone tracking led local police to the suspect about 9:30 p.m. Friday after an alert was sent out by Kitty Hawk police.
The car was found parked in Clifton Forge and a police officer staked it out, Roanoke.com reported. When a man approached the car, he was arrested, according to the website.
Roanoke.com said that police returned with a search warrant and found the woman’s body.
Police are still investigating the case.
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Scott says:
Wow…. Right in our back yards…
EKIM says:
Big city moving to our little town, WHERE ITS SAFE!
cindy floyd says:
This is unbelievable…
JG says:
Danielle was a beutiful young lady from a very small town outside of Chicago. It can happen anywhere, and it is just as wrong – little town or big. This is heartbreaking, yet sadly very believable.
KHer says:
I think it’s believable. We’re just fortunate here not to have much of this kind of crime. But it’s horribly sad for both families.
happens everywhere says:
a kitty hawk police officer was convicted for murder not to long ago and the chief of southern shores shot himself in his office not to long ago, do we forget so soon?
Allan 2 says:
To the parents of young women and men: PLEASE spend some time with your children. The new found freedoms of summer and with the confidence of being “over 18″ makes them invencible…they have not yet connected to the reality of some very evil people with bad intentions who may be right next door or in this case, even closer than “next door”. Make them aware!
It makes me very sad.
EKIM says:
Well said A2
KHer says:
To follow up on Allan 2′s comment, I’ve on occasion had to be out past midnight and am always shocked at how many cars loaded with teenagers are cruising around. Often the cars are filled with girls on vacation.
As I told my kids, there’s nothing good happening on the road after midnight, so don’t be out there.
DAR says:
Whoever said it is occuring in our own back yard is correct. Actually, it is happening in plain site. Look @ some the the ages of our young people and you see them with people who you know they should be
With. It is a total shame how the young are being used and abused
And not anyone has the bravery to open this can of worms.
Thank you.