Kristi Cornwell spent years securing violent felons in prison and never got hurt.
She took firearms classes, taught self-defense and whizzed down the Dragon’s Tail – one of the most popular roads for bikers in the country – on her motorcycle. Yet she never had any problems.
But last week, the 38-year-old mother known for taking risks became victim at what her family calls one of the safest places in the world – near her Blairsville home.
“She could fight off almost anyone. She had firearms training, self-defense training,” her brother Richard Cornwell said Sunday. “I think she’s better prepared for this situation than anyone else. That’s what keeps us positive. She has the tools she needs.”
For the fifth day in a row, more than 100 officers scoured the small Union County town on foot, horseback and ATV searching for Cornwell.
Police say Cornwell, a former probation officer, was abducted Tuesday while on an evening walk along a little-traveled road near her parents’ Blairsville home. At the time, she was on her cellphone, telling her boyfriend in Atlanta that a car was following her.
The next thing the boyfriend heard was a struggle and then Cornwell was gone. He called police and that’s what began the second massive police search in the tiny Blue Ridge Mountain town in less than a year.
Last year, some of the same officers spent days searching the same woods for Meredith Emerson, a hiker who was later found raped and killed in nearby Dawson County.
Such a horrible crime can’t happen here twice, residents say.
“It’s very unusual for this to happen, much less in the same county where you don’t see this type of thing,” Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokesman John Bankhead said.
That’s what keeps the Cornwell family going.
They know their missing loved one is strong and they are convinced she is alive.
Despite few clues coming in, temperatures above 90 degrees and budget cuts, the GBI said it remains committed to finding the woman. Officers, divers and K-9s plan to return to the search Monday morning, Bankhead said.
“The most difficult thing is we still don’t know whether it was random or a targeted abduction,” Bankhead said.
Family members say Cornwell worked with some of the worst of society – in prisons and with ex cons on probation. But they don’t think any one would want to hurt her.
GBI agents have already looked at all of those cases anyway and found no possible suspects.
Other than finding Cornwell’s cellphone about two miles from the site of the abduction, investigators have few leads.
On Sunday, more than 100 officers from 17 agencies rotated shifts and walked up and down rural roads throughout the Blue Ridge mountain town. They looked under bushes, scanned woods and climbed into ditches.
Bankhead said the search is like “finding a needle in a haystack” because Cornwell could be anywhere. Since the cellphone was found near the highway, officers initially assumed the abductor was fleeing the county, but no new leads in that area panned out.
“This is just the logical area to search,” Bankhead said Sunday afternoon. “But she could be anywhere. We have to start some place.”
By mid afternoon Sunday, officers had stopped searching the field where the phone was found and moved the search back to Jones Creek Road, the area where Cornwell was last seen walking.
Meanwhile, Cornwell’s family gathered at her parent’s house, making fliers, calling friends and soliciting money for a reward fund.
Kristi Cornwell spent most of her life in Blairsville. After graduating from North Georgia College with a degree in criminal justice, she worked at the state prison in Blairsville, the Towns County Sheriff’s Office and the state probation office.
But after years of counseling prisoners, she wanted to focus her help elsewhere, her brother said.
She enrolled in the medical technician program at Dalton State College and worked an internship at Union General Hospital.
“She’s dedicated her life to helping people. She just wanted to do something different,” Richard Cornwell said.
In her spare time, Cornwell took mission trips with her church to help disadvantaged children and got a motorcycle’s license.
She would let loose on the weekends, riding her bike with friends on U.S. 129 – the Dragon’s Tail – or camping, her brother said.
Her brother said she fell in love several times, resulting in three divorces and a 15-year-old son with whom she shares custody with her ex-husband, Richard Cornwell said.
Richard Cornwell said he met his sister’s most recent boyfriend Douglas Davis, but he didn’t want to talk about him – including the boyfriend’s claims that the couple was engaged.
“He was talking to her on the telephone. He is one of the few witnesses in the investigation. That’s why I’m not going to make any comment regarding him,” the brother said.
Investigators questioned Davis and the ex-husbands – and have ruled them out as suspects, Richard Cornwell said.
“I think there are a lot of questions about the whole situation,” said Denise Murphy, whose daughter was taught third grade by Cornwell’s mother.
“I’m not scared, I’m suspicious. This just doesn’t happen twice here,” Murphy said, referring to the Emerson killing.
Linda Wilson, a Blairsville mother of three, said her family has changed their routine since Cornwell’s abduction. She didn’t let her 21-year-old daughter go to a party this weekend and hasn’t let her 5-year-old son play outside.
“We’re not driving anywhere by ourselves,” said Wilson as she stopped at the Bi-Lo Sunday. “I mean this is Blairsville. I don’t lock my doors. I don’t even know where my house key is. We have to rethink how we do things.”
Although concerned, many residents said they are comforted by the dozens of law enforcement officers who have filled town – selling out the Holiday Inn at least two nights this week.
“It’s amazing how the community can come together like this,” Richard Cornwell said. “There’s been all these volunteers and many have experience in this type of operation. They have all worked together on the Emerson case. They know one another. ... They’ll find Kristi.”
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