Sep 5, 2007 3:57 pm US/Pacific
Family Of Missing Girl Urges Suspect To Cooperate
LOS ANGELES (CBS) ―
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Burgess has not been charged in connection with the disappearance of Donna Jou, who was last seen by her family June 23 leaving her Orange County home on the back of a motorcycle.
CBS
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Shortly after Jou was reported missing, authorities said they were looking to question Burgess, who also goes by the name, Sinjin Stevens, but he disappeared before they could.
CBS
Friends and parents of a missing Rancho Santa Margarita college student urged the man suspected in her disappearance to answer police questions about the woman's whereabouts.
"Not hearing her voice is devastating," Reza Jou said of his missing 19-year-old daughter, Donna. "I cannot function without her. I live in misery not knowing my child's whereabouts."
Donna Jou's parents, along with attorney Gloria Allred and friends of the girl, took part in a demonstration outside the Los Angeles Airport Branch courthouse, where 35-year-old John Steven Burgess was scheduled to appear for a pretrial hearing on a charge of failing to register as a sex offender.
That hearing was postponed until Oct. 10.
The family wants to give Burgess a letter, urging him to answer questions about their daughter.
"We just want to ask Mr. Burgess please, please, Mr. Burgess help us," Jou's mother, Nili, said. "Help us to find my daughter."
Burgess has not been charged in connection with the disappearance of Donna Jou, who was last seen by her family June 23 leaving her Orange County home on the back of a motorcycle. She was later seen by witnesses at Burgess' West Los Angeles home at a party, authorities have said.
Investigators said Jou met Burgess through Craigslist.com. They said he passed off another man's photo as his.
Burgess was convicted of three counts of battery in 2002 and performing a lewd act against a child the following year, and sentenced to 146 days in jail, placed on three years' probation and required to register as a sex offender.
Shortly after Jou was reported missing, authorities said they were looking to question Burgess, who also goes by the name, Sinjin Stevens, but he disappeared before they could.
Los Angeles police later found a tool box one and a half miles from Burgess' house in the Palms district of Los Angeles, containing a motorcycle helmet and a license plate with SINJIN1, as well as rope, a pair of gloves and a scrub brush, authorities said.
Burgess was arrested July 25 in Jacksonville, Fla., after dropping a baggie with cocaine inside when he saw police while riding a bicycle near a Motel 6.
Orange County investigators traveled to Florida to speak with him, but he refused to meet with them.
Earlier this month, Burgess pleaded guilty to felony possession of drugs and sentenced to time served. Burgess, who had been held on a $1 million warrant, waived extradition and was brought to Los Angeles to face the failure to register charge.
During his last court appearance, a judge lowered bail to $250,000, which Burgess posted last week. During that same hearing, authorities for the first time named Burgess a suspect in Jou's disappearance.
Jou, a San Diego State University honors student and a pre-med student who wants to be a neurosurgeon, had corresponded about a month before meeting Burgess, investigators said.
Her family has offered a $15,000 reward for information leading to her safe return.
Jou, who was taking summer classes at Rancho Santiago Community College in Orange, is said to have a 4.0 grade-point average.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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