Prime-time crime show “America's Most Wanted” will air a second segment on the abduction, molestation and murder of 8-year-old April Marie Tinsley on Saturday.
The segment will be a follow-up to the April 11 airing that introduced Tinsley's cold-case murder to the nation and prompted more than 100 leads.
“We're just doing an update on April's case,” said Jenna Griffiths, “America's Most Wanted” producer. “There's no new information.”
The segment will include interviews with former police investigator Dan Camp and Janet Tinsley, April's mother; footage from the FBI's local command center that was constructed to receive case-related tips; and shots of the Tinsley billboards posted in Fort Wayne, Griffiths said.
April Tinsley was abducted April 11, 1988, as she walked to a friend's home through her south-central Fort Wayne neighborhood to pick up an umbrella.
The Fairfield Elementary first-grader's body was found by a jogger three days later in a ditch along a rural DeKalb County road. She had been sexually molested, suffocated and dead for at least two days.
Tinsley's killer remains unknown, despite at least five separate written taunts and threats that were sent in years apart. Even with that, police - with no leads or suspects - considered the case “cold.”
After the episode aired in the spring, “America's Most Wanted” received more than 100 tips.
The outpouring led to a task force that brought FBI agents and state, county and city officials into the city and region, following tips.
The new episode, although it contains only background information, is designed to reintroduce the case to the public and generate tips.
After a command center was set up following the “America's Most Wanted” airing, workers fielded dozens of calls per day.
That lasted just a week, however, before the tips and the call center fizzled out, said FBI Supervisory Special Agent Bob Ramsey.
The center, which employs only FBI personnel now, answers few calls now.
“Nothing's breaking, there's nothing new,” said Ramsey.
“We're still going through the leads that were generated from the original deployment and, of course, any new ones that do come in.”
Any incoming leads are now dispatched to the region where the caller suggests police look. (A city lead will go to the Fort Wayne Police Department, a county lead goes to the Allen County Sheriff's Department, etc.)
All departments involved do meet biweekly, however, in meetings to share any leads or information.
“We're not focusing on any one person or individuals,” said Ramsey.
“It's still rather open-ended at this point, unfortunately.”
The episode will also include a 90-second segment about the three Michigan City prison escapees, and will close with pleas for the public's assistance in tracking down the remaining two, Griffiths said.
