Anonymous tip prompts search for missing man

Williamsburg police say an anonymous tip from a caller in Michigan prompted them to organize a two-day search near the Cumberland River for the body of a homeless man, who has been missing since 2000, and that information they obtained through a paid psychic coincides with the caller’s information.
“The search was based on an anonymous call that I had from a male individual in Michigan, who refused to give his name, phone number, or any information,” said Williamsburg Police Detective Wayne Bird, who is heading up the investigation.
“He had information that during that time frame there was a younger male, who lived in the Williamsburg area, who had bragged about killing a homeless man on the railroad tracks. The area that he described in the conversation we had fit the area that we were searching that is why we were searching the area.”
About 20 volunteers from the Williamsburg Rescue Squad and area volunteer fire departments turned out Thursday and Friday to search a mile and a half area on the banks of the Cumberland River for the remains of Danny Ray Harrison. Harrison was last seen on Nov. 18, 2000, after his uncle dropped him off at a local homeless shelter, and someone spotted him walking past the G&E Drive-In about 5 p.m.
Bird said police believe that Harrison is dead and that he was probably the victim of foul play. So far there are no suspects and no arrests have been made.
A police investigation into his disappearance had been at a virtual standstill for years, which in part prompted police to contact the psychic.
“We had a five year old missing person case where a guy vanished without a trace. We did everything that we could possibly think of to do to try and come up with a location of where he is at, or where his body might be,” Bird said.
“The family after three or four years had mentioned to me about using a criminal psychic. The reason we used a criminal psychic is because we had nothing else to go on, and his family requested it.”
Bird said he spent six months researching psychics, and located a world renowned criminal psychic, Noreen Renier, who he contacted about two months ago.
According to her web site, Renier has worked on over 400 unsolved cases in 38 states and six foreign countries.
“She has had lots of success in cases in the past,” Bird said. “I actually called other agencies and talked to other agencies about her, and she came highly recommended so we did use her. I contacted the family back, and they gave me the go ahead to do it. We did a reading with Ms. Renier, who provided some descriptions of locations. This wasn’t what the search was based on though.”
Bird said the description he got through the anonymous tip from Michigan about the body’s location, and the information he got through the psychic matched up to some extent.
“The description I got from the anonymous call, and the psychic seemed to match that area we searched, but that doesn’t mean anything a lot of terrain along the river looks similar,” Bird said.
“She (Renier) didn’t specifically say the Cumberland River. She basically thought there was a body of water that appeared to be a river or stream near the body,” Bird said.
Bird said the city did pay Renier for her services, but he declined to comment on the costs.
“She said, we I talked to her, that she should only be used as a last resort, and that is pretty much what it was, a last resort. We had nothing else to go on,” Bird said.

Closure wanted
Harrison, who was 47 when he disappeared, was originally from Tennessee, but had moved to Williamsburg a few months before he disappeared.
Bird said Harrison had an uncle, Eugene Harrison, who lived in Williamsburg.
“According to the sheets he filled out at Emergency Christian Ministries – he had to put a reason that he was staying there – the reason he was staying there was to find work,” Bird said.
“He did find work while he was here. He did work at G&S Tires part-time that’s when he started staying at Emergency Christian Ministries, then he moved out of Emergency Christian Ministries and was staying with a family here for a while. Then he left the family, and went to Christian Ministries and that is basically where he disappeared from,” Bird said.
Harrison is a white male, who is 5’7″ tall and weighs 185 pounds. He has gray hair, blue eyes, and a medium complexion.
He was last scene wearing bib overalls, a white T-shirt, and white tennis shoes.
“The family has come to the same conclusion we have that he is dead. They also suspect foul play. They have indicated to me that all they want is closure. They hope to find something just to get some closure,” Bird noted.
It was very usual for Harrison to go more than two or three days without calling his family and checking on his daughter, Bird said.
“Three days didn’t go by that he didn’t call his parents,” Danny’s aunt, Nancy Harrison, said three years ago following the one-year anniversary of her nephew’s disappearance. “It made no difference where he was, he always called them. Sometimes Danny called three or four times in the same day. They have heard nothing, that is just not Danny.”
She said that even if the worst has happened, Danny’s parents would still like to know.
“They would like to know so they could put a closure to it,” she said.
Bird said that if nothing else, he would like to find the body so that Harrison’s teenage daughter can receive some death benefits from social security.
“It is my understanding that there are some death benefits she may be entitled too, but she can’t receive those benefits until the body is found. As of right now, he is a missing person,” Bird said. “He has a daughter, who is getting close to graduating high school and she will be going to college. It is hard for them. They contact me on a regular basis.”

Organizing the search
Bird said he contacted Whitley County Disaster and Emergency Services Director Steve Schwartz and Jerry Rains, a regional state Emergency Management Coordinator, about two months ago to organize a search for the possible remains.
Officials were finally able to organize the search last week when they got a break in the weather.
Thursday, volunteers began the search near Cemetery Road, and walked about one mile toward Watts Creek. The following day, they started at Watts Creek and worked their way back to where they had stopped the day before.
The volunteers walked in a line hand in hand down the riverbank, and marked anything suspicious with a marker. Schwartz said officials would then examine the item, and take a reading with a portable global positioning system (GPS) device.
Over a two-day period, searchers worked for about 12 hours..
“We didn’t find anything related to this case – any clothing, any bones, or anything like that,” Schwartz said.
Schwartz said workers did bring in a cadaver dog to search a possible gravesite, which turned out to be the foundation somebody laid for a cabin.
“We found a spot with three tires full of railroad gravel about six yards off the railroad tracks that were stacked real nice and neat. Then there were two tires on top of them filled up flush with gravel. It was all you could do to turn one over. Then there was one on top of that filled up with gravel,” Schwartz said.
Theorizing someone could have placed the tires filled with gravel there to keep a body from floating up, Schwartz said searchers started digging, and brought in a dog.
“Long story short, we found out a guy was building a log cabin next to the river that we tore up, but what was so bizarre is he doesn’t own the land. The railroad owns it,” Schwartz said.
Searchers turned up a number of old campsites, tents, and other debris, but no signs of a body, Schwartz said.
Schwartz said searchers did turn up a survival knife that was buried in the mud, but he said he has no idea whether the knife has any connection to the missing man.
He said the knife was turned over to Whitley County Coroner Andy Croley, and that forensic tests will be conducted on it.
Last week’s search was done on the riverbank adjacent to US25W.
Schwartz said a search is planned for possibly late this week or early next week to search the mile and a half area on the other side of the riverbank.
Once searchers have gone over both sides of the riverbank, cadaver dogs may also be called out that will go back over the area just to make sure searchers didn’t miss anything, or to see if a body might be buried, Schwartz said.
Bird admits that after all these years, it’s a long shot finding Harrison’s body if it is in fact along the riverbank.
“Suppose the body is along the railroad tracks near the river, the river had probably flooded 15 to 20 times in a five year period. If the remains were uncovered, animals could have taken portions of the remains to other locations. If there is anything there, it is going to take luck to find it,” Bird said.

Long running case
Bird said this is the longest running missing person investigation he has been involved with during his nine-year tenure at the Williamsburg Police Department.
“It is unusual for someone to go missing for four years, and not make contact with any family or friends, or there be no sign of them whatsoever,” Bird said.
Most missing person cases are usually solved within a few days.
“In most of the ones with teenagers, we will take a missing persons report, and a lot of times before we even get a chance to enter their name in NCIC (National Crime Information Computer), somebody is calling us to say they know where they are at,” Bird said.
“If it is an adult, sometimes they will go two or three days to another state where a family member is at, and somebody will eventually call back, and say they have been found. It is not that way in this case.”

Information needed
“Anybody that knows anything about this case should contact me at the Williamsburg Police Department,” Bird said. “They don’t have to leave a name. Anybody that wants to give information on it, just please call us.”
Anyone having information about the case can call the Williamsburg Police Department at 549-6038, and ask for Bird.
“The case isn’t at a standstill now. We are a little more active on it, and are looking at areas that we didn’t know about before. Whether we will find anything or not I don’t know,” Bird added.