Where is Dawnette Harrell?

Feb. 14, 2007

Since her disappearance in April, there has been no sign or word of Dawnette Harrell, the missing young woman with the fair skin and dark ponytail who has appeared on billboards around Northern Michigan.
The Michigan State Police have a foot-thick file of the investigation of the missing Traverse City woman, who was last seen in the wee hours of April 2. Harrell, who was about 10 weeks pregnant at the time, left behind a letter that indicated she was leaving the country with the “real father” of her baby, but police are still investigating the possibility of foul play.
Police have interviewed her boyfriend, her husband with whom she was separated, her friends, and family members. Police declined to name their strongest suspects or whether they passed lie detector tests, as it might compromise the investigation.
But officers did say the case is still active and, in fact, were questioning another person last week.
A few days before her disappearance, Harrell and her boyfriend repeatedly discussed what they should do about the baby. On April 1, the day before Harrell disappeared, she had moved out of her trailer at the North Star trailer park in Honor and into her mom’s Traverse City home. She called her estranged husband, Tim Harrell, to help her clean the trailer, but he declined since he had not lived there for some time.
Also on that day, Harrell worked at the Michigan Discount Cigarette Outlet in Traverse City.

ABANDONED CAR
That evening was warm and foggy. Her boyfriend told police that he and Dawnette were in two different places, but at 3 a.m., they met up at the K-Mart parking lot at the Cherryland Center. He told police that they talked, and then she walked toward her car, a red Toyota Tercel. He did not wait for her to get in before
he drove off. Harrell’s brother-in-law found her Tercel still in the parking lot several days later.
Harrell, 28, at the time, was never seen again. Over the next couple of days, she failed to show up for a court hearing over an issue of late rent on her trailer, and she missed a medical appointment.
After the disappearance, around April 5, her boyfriend went to the cigarette store where they both worked, and dropped off her cell phone, which he said she had left behind. He also dropped off a letter that he said she’d left on his dresser (he lived with his parents in Williamsburg). Her keys and purse were never found. (Police questioned the boyfriend multiple times between April and late December.)
Harrell wrote in the letter that her husband was not the father of her baby and neither was her boyfriend. She indicated that she was leaving town with a third
man, the real father of the baby. The problem is that no one interviewed by police has ever heard of a third man, either as the father of the child or even as a friend, said Michigan State Police Detective Sgt. Mark Harris.
“There’s nothing other than the note that I’m aware of that leads us to believe that a third guy was involved,” he said.
DEEPLY CONCERNED
The police submitted the letter to a handwriting expert, who said that it appeared to be in Harrell’s handwriting.
Shortly after Harrell’s disappearance, her boyfriend moved to the Lansing area and has since returned to Traverse City. Police searched the house where he was staying in Lansing, but found nothing incriminating.
Barb McPherson, Harrell’s mother-in-law, said she is deeply concerned about Harrell’s disappearance.
McPherson said she wonders whether someone coerced Harrell into writing the letter. She pointed out that Harrell had just added cell phone minutes to her account. If she had planned to leave the area, it’s highly unlikely that she would have purposely left the cell phone behind or added minutes.
In late March, Dawnette told Tim Harrell, with whom she was separated, that he was not the father of the child. They amicably agreed to begin divorce proceedings, McPherson said.
Tim asked Dawnette to get in writing from her boyfriend that he was indeed the father so he wouldn’t be held responsible for child custody. Their marriage had been a rocky one with accusations and counter-accusations; both were ready to move on, McPherson said.
On the day before Harrell’s disappear-ance, McPherson said that she believes Tim was at home with herself and her husband: “To the best of my knowledge, we had pizza at lunchtime, we were kicking back, watching TV, just having a normal evening.”

ON THE LOOK-OUT
On April 5, Harrell’s mother told police that her daughter was missing. Police immediately posted a “be on the look-out” message on the Law Enforcement Information Network (LEIN). They began investigating the case and gave notice to Border Patrol agents in case Harrell decided to leave the country. If she wasn’t the driver of the car, however, there is no way the Border Patrol could have identified her.
The State Police decided not to put up posters immediately, as they would for a child, because the disappearance of an adult is more complicated. Most adults either want to be missing or are soon found, Harris said.
In Harrell’s case, the police notified media and put up missing posters in October.
Police have heard nothing from Dawnette since she disappeared, which they said is highly unusual. Harrell’s name is in the database of the National Center for Missing Adults. If she was stopped by police for any reason, her name would pop up on the police computer network. So far it hasn’t.
Harris said they have no major leads, nor have they hit a “hopeless dead end.”
“We’re somewhere in between the two,” he said.
McPherson, who is distraught over her disappearance, said she is haunted every minute by where Dawnette could be.
“I wish I could beat the streets, stop every car I see. When I see someone who looks like Dawn from behind, I go up and tap them. It’s hard,” she said. “Was there a third person involved? I’ve exhausted every theory. Nothing makes sense. Nothing does.”
Harrell is 5’2” and was 98 pounds when she disappeared. Her baby was due in November.
She has a tattoo of a blue dolphin on the outside calf of her left leg, and an outlined tattoo of a quarter moon on her navel. If you have any information or tips, please call the Michigan State Police at 946-4646.