After interviewing dozens of neighbors and 180 sex offenders, police still are no closer to finding a Blairsville mom who went missing a week ago.
Kristi Cornwell, 38, has been missing since Aug. 11.
At 6 p.m. Monday, divers called off their search of Lake Nottley, which is about five miles from where Cornwell’s cellphone was found. Police also completed a search of the three-mile radius surrounding the location where Cornwell was last seen, Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokesman John Bankhead said.
Police say Cornwell, a former probation officer, was taken while on an evening walk along a little-traveled road near her parents’ Blairsville home. At the time, police believe she was on her cellphone telling her boyfriend Douglas Davis in Atlanta that a car was following her.
Divers had hoped to find possible evidence thrown off a bridge by the abductor, but the search turned up nothing, Bankhead said.
Divers said the 27-feet deep lake was murky and visibility was limited, but they are confident there is nothing in the lake.
The Hall County Sheriff’s dive team does not plan to return on Tuesday, but GBI agents and local law enforcement officers will continue their search on foot and all-terrain vehicles.
Although the number of searchers will be less than previous days, the GBI said it remains committed to finding Cornwell.
“We’re going to try and not allow budget cuts to interfere with our mission to find Kristi,” Bankhead said, referencing the GBI’s furloughs.
On Monday, the GBI sent 30 extra agents to knock on doors and interview residents in the neighborhood surrounding the location where Cornwell was abducted.
Meanwhile the family set up a fund at United Community Bank in Blairsville to solicit money for a reward, said Keith Hogsed, Cornwell’s cousin.
On Monday, agents interviewed 30 sex offenders who live in North Carolina along the Georgia border. The GBI has already interviewed 150 sex offenders in Union, Fannin, Towns and Lumpkin counties, Bankhead said.
Bankhead said the sex offenders and divers were standard procedure and the only main evidence is the cellphone.
Fred Roberts found the cell while mowing his yard on Friday night. He checked out the numbers, which his son recognized, and called the GBI, he said.
“We’re just proud that we found something that might help,” Roberts said Monday.
Investigators ruled out the possibility that Cornwell’s abductor had staked her out as she exercised, saying that she normally doesn’t walk that four-mile loop that late at night.
“The most difficult thing is we still don’t know whether it was random or a targeted abduction,” Bankhead said.
On Monday, the family made a national plea for help and appeared on ABC’s “Good Morning America” and NBC’s “Today” show.
Although concerned a possible kidnapper may be loose in the area, Blairsville residents said they are skeptical about the abduction being a random act.
The boyfriend, Davis, told investigators he was on the phone when he heard the struggle between Cornwell and her abductor. She said “don’t take me,” and then hung up, investigators said.
Davis then called Jo Ann Cornwell, his girlfriend’s mother, Bankhead said. The mother called 911.
Davis, who was in Atlanta at the time, also called police, the GBI said.
Details about those calls and the 911 tapes are part of the investigation and not available, Bankhead said Monday.
Investigators questioned Davis and Kristi Cornwell’s three ex-husbands – and have ruled them out as suspects, said her brother Richard Cornwell.
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