Search for Blairsville woman ends

By Rhonda Cook

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has called off the ground search for a missing Blairsville woman but the disappearance of Kristi Cornwell will continue to be investigated as a missing person.

“We’re shutting down the general searches today,” GBI spokesman John Bankhead said Wednesday. “You can only search so much. We’ve covered the area where we thought she might be.”

Since Aug. 11, law enforcement officers from local, state and federal agencies have been scouring northeast Georgia, looking for evidence that might explain what happened to Cornwell while she was walking near her parents’ house.

The only significant find in the past eight days has been her discarded cell phone. A man cutting the grass found it last Friday about three miles from where investigators believe she was abducted.

Struggling with furloughs and other investigations across the state, the GBI had already begun to scale back earlier in the week even as FBI agents joined the operation two days ago.

“We had a debriefing from agents who did the road checks and neighborhood canvassing. After that, the command post was shut down. We will continue to search when and if we receive any tips or leads to a particular area,” Bankhead said.

Bankhead said Cornwell’s family was told of the decision and “they understood.

Bankhead said investigators are confident they will eventually find Cornwell but “we feel that she’s not in that area. We used every resource available to search that area of Union County and didn’t come up with anything.”

Cornwell left the house wearing flip-flops and carrying her cell phone around 9 p.m. on Aug. 11. She talked to her boyfriend in Atlanta as she walked along a secluded road.

Around 9:20 p.m., the 38-year-old woman told Douglas Davis there was a strange car. Davis said he then heard a struggle and Cornwell say “don’t take me” just before the call ended.

Investigators are still trying to determine if Cornwell’s attack was random or if she was targeted. They are leaning toward the theory that whoever took Cornwell was from the area.

Cornwell’s family said they are worried residents will forget about the search as time goes on and are asking the public to print out the woman’s photographs from www.kristicornwell.com.

“When you are out and about doing things, take the pictures and look around. When pumping gas at the gas station, look in the car next to you. Look at restaurants,” said Keith Hogsed, Cornwell’s cousin. “We want people actively looking for her, not just seeing the picture once and saying ‘I didn’t see her.’”