Police say man is "significant focus" of investigation - updated 4:36 p.m.
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In these video still images taken from a camera on the building of a jewelry store and released by Burlington police department show Michelle Gardner-Quinn, 21, of Arlington, Va., right, who was last seen Saturday, Oct. 7, 2006, in Burlington, Vt., walking with a man, whose cell phone she had borrowed. Police on Thursday, Oct. 12, requested information from anyone who may have seen them together. AP Photo/Burlington Police Dept. |
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By DAVID GRAM
Associated Press Writer - Published: October 12, 2006
BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) - Still video images of a University of Vermont senior and the man she was last seen walking with were released Thursday, but police were "not close to an arrest" six days after Michelle Gardner-Quinn went missing.
The man pictured in the video had become "a significant focus" of the investigation, said Police Chief Thomas Tremblay, but he declined to release the man's identity and would not say whether he was a suspect in the disappearance.
"He still is a significant focus because we are not satisfied," said Tremblay, who said the man had been interviewed by police. "We have no evidence at this time that suggests a criminal offense. We're not close to an arrest."
Gardner-Quinn, 21, of Arlington, Va., was last seen Saturday at 2:34 a.m. walking back to campus on Main Street after a night out downtown with friends. Police said she was walking with a man, whose cell phone she had borrowed.
Video of Gardner-Quinn and the man was captured from a camera on a Main Street jewelry store and posted on the Burlington Police Web site. Police also posted still photos taken from the jewelry store video camera of other people who walked past in the few minutes after Gardner-Quinn was seen.
"We are seeking those people to contact us _ they are not suspects," police said on the Web site.
Gardner-Quinn was reported missing Saturday night when she didn't show up for dinner with her parents, who were visiting.
Thursday's search spanned areas east of the city in Jericho and Richmond. Police had searched a house in Richmond earlier in the week and Tremblay said of the man seen in the video with Gardner-Quinn: "There is a connection to the Richmond home." He did not elaborate.
Police also were conducting searches in two city parks along Burlington's Lake Champlain shoreline. Tremblay said police prioritized their searches based on leads that had been collected, but he would not further describe what that information was.
UVM volunteers scanned the city's Hill Section on Wednesday, where Gardner-Quinn was last seen, looking for her gray peacoat, cardigan sweater and the black purse she had been carrying.
Police have executed more search warrants but would not disclose the locations of those searches.
They've also ruled out a man who had been described as trying to lure a woman into his white "Subaru-style" hatchback around the same time Gardner-Quinn was last seen. "We remain hopeful that he has been eliminated" as a possible suspect," Tremblay said.
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