Phone data obtained in search for missing couple

Dare County investigators have obtained records of cell phone calls, messages and tower locations as the search continues for a woman and her ex-boyfriend who have been missing for almost a week.

Lynn Jackenheimer, 33, of Ashland, Ohio, was in Salvo the last time anyone heard from her. She was visiting the Outer Banks with Nathaniel Summerfield, 27, also of Ashland, and her two children last week.

In an Ohio 911 call, a man identifying himself as Jake Summerfield said that his brother told him he had strangled Jackenheimer.

Search warrants for records on two cells phones, one used by Nathan Summerfield and another by Jackenheimer in her mother’s name, had been requested by Capt. Jeff Derringer of the Dare County Sheriff’s Office.

One warrant described Summerfield as a “person of interest in a missing person case in that he made statements to the fact of strangling Lynn Jackenheimer and burying her in our jurisdiction.”

So far, the 911 call from Summerfield’s brother is the only evidence police have that a crime might have been committed, Capt. Carl Richert of the Ashland County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday.

With six detectives on the case in Ohio — three each from the sheriff’s office and the Ashland city police department — Richert said investigators are prepared for the worst.

“But right now we only have evidence that we are dealing with two missing persons,” he said.

Still, concerned friends held a vigil for Jackenheimer in Ohio Monday night

Police in Ohio have three surveillance photos of Summerfield’s grey Honda at an Ashland Bank at about 10 a.m. Sunday.

He was alone in the car.

“They’re not great,” Richert said. “But they showed his face in the window.”

The last anyone heard from Jackenheimer was when she called a friend from Salvo late July 3. The conversation continued past midnight into July 4, Richert said.

He said Jackenheimer offered no hint of trouble.

The two children were dropped off with separate relatives, Richert said. Summerfield and Jackenheimer are the parents of the 3-year-old boy and the 13-year-old girl was Jackenheimer’s from a previous relationship.

Both were “left in the dark” about what happened, Richert said. But because of the boy’s age, he could provide little information, and the daughter has difficulty conversing because she is autistic, he said.

“They are safe and they are with family members,” he said.

Summerfield and Jackenheimer have had a rocky, on-and-off relationship, Richert said.

Police found nothing on Hatteras Island after searching on land using dogs and from the air.

Chief Deputy Steve Hoggard with the Dare County Sheriff’s Office said the family had arrived July 1 at a rental house in Hatteras Colony. They had rented the house through Saturday but left Friday. Hoggard said investigators went through the house and found nothing to indicate foul play or that someone had left in a hurry.

Interviews by Ohio police with the rental agency provided no evidence that Jackenheimer was with the family when they left Friday, Hoggard said.

On Thursday, crews from the Dare Sheriff’s Office, National Park Service, Nags Head Police Department and the Kill Devil Hills Police Department plan to search again in areas of Hatteras Island.

On Tuesday, the Dare County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that the two had visited the Outer Banks in previous years.

“Dare County investigators are seeking information from local residents that may have had a friendship or other contact with the two missing persons during this or earlier OBX visits,” the statement said. “We are asking anyone who may have had such a relationship, at any level, to contact the Dare County Sheriff’s Office at 252‐475‐5980. ”

A photo dated July 3, 2012, on Jackenheimer’s Facebook page shows her walking with someone — possibly her daughter — along the Manteo waterfront with the weather tower in the background.

Summerfield was last seen driving a dark gray 2009 Honda Civic, with Ohio license plate FMV-7540.

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