Missing Woman April Beth Pitzer (UPDATE 022208)

[Clutch]

April Beth Pitzer, age 30, went missing June 28, 2004. As of November 2006, April's case was updated from a missing case to a missing/homicide case. April was last seen in the vicinity of the 30000 block of Caspian Way in Newberry Springs, CA. She indicated she was going to travel to Arkansas to see her mother but never arrived.

Starting April 19, 2008 and continuing through April 27, 2008, volunteers will be needed to excavate two or more abandon mine shafts and scour the surrounding area. The primary target is approximately 200 feet deep and is dug into the earth at a 30–45 degree angle.

Items that we need for the search/excavation:

generator (X2)
gas cans (empty/no gas)
outdoor Christmas lights (large bulb/200 ft)
other useful lights
extension cords (200 ft.)
5 gallon buckets (50 or more)
shovels (2)
port-a-potty (2-4)
bottled water (enough for 200 people for 2 days)
2x4 & 4x4 beams
plywood (5 sheets)
sandbags (50)
quickcrete (4 bags)
paper nose/mouth masks (200)

If you can donate or loan any of the above items please contact me directly at the number or email below.

Some forum members have already pledged to send Home Depot gift cards. Anyone that does will receive a copy of the receipt for the items purchased with their donation.

FYI: There is (was) a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for April’s death. I am ineligible to claim the reward. Furthermore, I am not being paid for my time or talents. Any leftover donations will be turned over to April’s mother, Gloria Denton to offset her travel expenses.

UPDATE 020508:

Two companies have signed on in the search for April. Lamar Advertising will provide 10 giant posters to promote the search and tip line website. VideoRay has tentatively agreed to send a high-tech underwater camera to search potentially flooded mine shafts.

UPDATE 020808:

General Advertising has agreed to provide time and materials on TWO of their billboards in the Barstow/Newberry Springs area to advertise the tip line website.

UPDATE 021508:

The website design is done. Production starts next week and should be finished and live by Friday. $1,100 has been donated as well as much needed equipment, some of that from our FFCars Forum members. Thanks Chet, Jay! Requests are out for porta potties, and support from the local Marine base. A meeting has been scheduled for Saturday March 1 for those familiar with the case/search efforts to discuss previous efforts and plan for the next.

UPDATE 022208:

The website is up (www.whereisapril.org). It needs some refining and I will be tackling that as I have time. Photos of April will be posted soon. Take a peek and tell me what you think. Also, the billboard designs are complete and, like the website, are awaiting photos of April. I am going to postpone the meeting scheduled for March 1 due to schedule conflicts.

We still need donations of materials above. Thanks everyone!

Clutch

AKA
Mat Richter
Creative Professional
858-386-9895
mat@mat-creativepro.com
www.mat-creativepro.com

[Clutch]

ttt!

[turboguy]

um....as attractive as the WEBsite front page is, wouldn't it be better to have a picture of the place she was last seen on there? Maybe several of them. Plus maybe an "everyday" pic of her that might be more identifiable. This all went down 4 years ago, so to say you are fighting an uphill battle here is the understatement of the decade. I understand the WEBsite has other purposes, but to bring about new tips you need to trigger people's memories.


What about soliciting free WEB advertising. You could generate a short clip with pics of her from the time she disappeared, pics of the place she was last seen, etc. You know pictures to go with captions like "have you seen this girl?"; "...last seen here..."; "...before that seen here..."; "...believed to be heading here..."

Having an ad like that playing could reach millions and millions of people all over the internet. You never know what will shake loose.



Another note.

When I click on a front page "photos" link I am expecting to see the best clear shots of her taken near or at the time she disappeared, and pics of any areas she might have recently been or visited. I mean she looks great all dolled up, her kids are cute and artistic renditions are neat, but NONE of those things are going to help trigger anyone's latent memory....


The pictures on the site also strike me more along the lines of "tug-your-heart" pics aimed at raising donations. Pics like this can always be in a "get to know April" album, of sorts, but in my opinion that should be buried on the site. The top-level pics on the site need to help the cause of finding her so they need to be functional in that respect.

You will likely only get 1 chance with each WEBsite visitor......maximize your chance of results.

[Clutch]

Thanks for your input Turbo. Unfortunately there are no pictures of her during the last nine months of her life, nor where she went missing from (because nobody knows where she actually was last).

As for advertising, we really only need to target the immediate area. We don't have a huge budget requirement to fill, and it's the people in the community that will know where she is, what happened to her, or will volunteer to help us search. So, we're targeting them with billboards, posters, newspaper articles, radio PSAs, and maybe if we're lucky TV.

Thanks again! Send donations Turbo. That's would be a nice gester.

Clutch

[turboguy]

Originally Posted by Clutch

Thanks again! Send donations Turbo. That's would be a nice gester.

Clutch

Clutch- no offense dude, but this is the kind of thing that gives people a bad vibe.

The most crucial element of my first post was that the WEBsite came across to me as -first and formost- a mechanism to generate donations, not as a site looking to help her. That can leave a bad taste in your mouth, and can get people questioning motives....

[Clutch]

Dude,

Half of the purpose of the website IS to be a mechanism to generate donations. This is a 100% volunteer effort. I am being paid ZERO. And I am not eligible to collect the reward. So I feel that the website that I created can ask for donations. If that gives you a bad vibe then don't donate. That's cool.

What's not cool is you generating more bad vibes by telling us how you think the search should be run. While I appreciate your input, it is in the wrong forum. Suggestions and criticisms should be conveyed via private communications so as not to taint the rest of the readers.

As for April's search, we are well ahead of the game. Hundreds of dollars have been donated, much of the equipment we need has been pledged, numerous companies have signed on to help (some giving thousands of dollars in product), and a handful of experts will be at the search. Media coverage and some logistics concerns are the only large hurdles left to overcome and I will be addressing those during the next couples of weeks.

Clutch