(News release) – The FBI is seeking the public’s assistance across the nation with obtaining identifying information regarding an unknown female who may have critical information pertaining to the identity of a child victim in an ongoing sexual exploitation investigation.

The unidentified woman being sought—known only as Jane Doe 39—can be seen in a video with a child who is being sexually exploited.

The video was obtained during an FBI investigation and forwarded to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), an organization that works closely with the Bureau to stop child predators. Further investigation revealed that the images have surfaced elsewhere online, said Special Agent Susan Romash, who investigates child exploitation cases as part of the FBI’s Violent Crimes Against Children program. “We know the video has been traded on the Internet,” Romash said, “and we know this child is a victim who needs our help.”

In the video, an adult woman is heard speaking Vietnamese, and at one point her face is shown. “Our hope,” Romash said, “is that someone will recognize this individual’s face—or her voice—and come forward with information.”

The publicity efforts to identify and apprehend Jane Doe 39 are part of the FBI’s Operation Rescue Me and Endangered Child Alert Program (ECAP) initiatives.

Operation Rescue Me identifies child victims of sexual exploitation by using sophisticated image analysis to obtain evidence. ECAP seeks public and media assistance to help identify the John and Jane Does who display their faces—and other distinguishing characteristics such as tattoos—in pornographic images and videos of children.

The FBI has a longstanding partnership with NCMEC, which maintains a database of pornographic images traded online to help law enforcement coordinate and solve investigations. Working closely with NCMEC, FBI investigators look for metadata embedded within images that might contain GPS or other details that can reveal critical information.

“We also search for clues within the images,” Romash said. “Those clues often help us determine where the image was produced or who created it. If those approaches don’t work,” she explained, “but there is an adult in the image whose face is shown, we publicize it through ECAP and ask for the public’s help.”

“We know the video has been traded on the Internet, and we know this child is a victim who needs our help.” said Susan Romash, special agent, FBI Headquarters

The video depicting Jane Doe 39 and a child victim was first noted by NCMEC in April 2016. The woman is described as an Asian female, likely between the ages of 25 and 35, with long black hair. She is wearing a white, yellow, blue, and red floral dress. In addition, she could be heard speaking Vietnamese.

Anyone with information can submit a tip online or call the FBI’s toll-free tip line at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324).

Since its inception in 2004, ECAP has resulted in the identification of 26 of the 39 John/Jane Does, and in the recovery of more than 40 child victims. Operation Rescue Me, established in 2008, has resulted in the recovery of more than 200 child victims. “These programs work,” Romash said, “and we are again asking for the public’s help to save an innocent child from being victimized.”

(Missourinet) – State Representative Nate Walker is calling for a review of all public funds used in the construction and maintenance of NFL facilities.

The Kirksville Republican said he thinks the league is disrespecting the U.S. flag, the country and the state by allowing recent protests during the national anthem. Walker says the state tax dollar investment in NFL stadiums and facilities is substantial.

“Since 1991, the Missouri tax payers have spent more than $150 million on facilities for Missouri NFL teams,” said Walker. “That includes the St. Louis Rams, who are no longer in St. Louis, and also training facilities for the Kansas City Chiefs.”

WDAF-TV reports the “Sports Complex Authority” claims $3 million from the state are for both the Kansas City Chiefs (NFL) and the (Major League Baseball) Royals. The Complex Authority declined to comment on Walker’s statements Monday afternoon.

The state of Missouri still owes in excess of $43 million for the St. Louis stadium vacated by the Rams, who left for Los Angeles last year.

Walker said he thinks public funding is at risk of being misused when player demonstrations are permitted at games.

“The NFL has an obligation to sort through and make sure that they conduct themselves, and their players conduct themselves in a way that’s honoring our flag, honoring our country. Certainly, people have First Amendment rights, but those rights have to be tempered a little differently when you go into the workplace.”

Walker says when Missouri first conceived the idea of publicly funding NFL stadiums, nobody thought the league would put political protest ahead of good business and civic responsibility. He said he thinks the NFL must be held accountable for its use of taxpayer dollars when it impacts local communities.

“If the NFL is a big business, we want to make sure that if we invest in something in the state of Missouri with tax payer’s money, we have to look toward the impact on our own local and state economy.”

Walker says he wants to debate if taxpayer dollars should continue to support the NFL.

Walker told Missourinet affiliate KWIX Monday that he plans to ask the legislature to form a joint committee to review all NFL stadium funding and determine what options are available to protect Missouri taxpayers.

He said measures such as suing the NFL are on the table, as well as modifying existing contracts and banning future taxpayer funding of stadiums.

Walker also says he’ll call on national organizations such as the National Conference of State Legislatures and the American Legislative Exchange Council to share information and develop strategies for legislators in every state with publicly financed NFL stadiums.

Player protests have sparked political controversy across the country. Vice President Mike Pence left a football game between the Indianapolis Colts and the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday after some players knelt during the National Anthem, saying he did not want to “dignify” the demonstration. Some Democrats criticized the move as a political “stunt” and an expensive use of federal tax dollars because Pence traveled several thousand miles from, and back to the west coast after the brief appearance in Indianapolis.

(Missourinet) – For the ninth time, a convicted triple killer from southeast Missouri will face the parole board.

Seventy-eight-year-old Dallas Delay will go before the board next week. He is serving three life sentences for first degree murder for the January 1973 killings of Bank of Grandin president Robert Kitterman, Kitterman’s wife Bertha and their 17-year-old daughter Roberta.

The case received national media coverage.

The “New York Times” sent a reporter to Grandin in 1973. Reporter B. Drummond Ayres Jr. wrote: “They (the victims) were found dead Wednesday afternoon in a hardwood thicket a few miles west of here, tied by their wrists to scrub trees and shot through the head with .32-caliber bullets.”

The “Times” story indicates that the suspects may have strapped Mr. Kitterman with dynamite. There were 20 FBI agents who worked the murder case.

Carter County Sheriff Richard Stephens says he opposes Dallas Delay being let out on parole.

“From what I’ve heard (about the murders), it’s just horrendous,” Stephens says. “Pure evil what this family had to go through and the terror that they must have felt.”

Delay is currently incarcerated at the maximum-security Potosi Correctional Center in Mineral Point.

Missouri Department of Corrections (DOC) spokeswoman Karen Pojmann says Missouri’s Probation and Parole Board has scheduled an October 16th parole hearing for Delay, who’s been incarcerated since 1973.

Sheriff Stephens tells Missourinet the Kitterman family opposes Delay getting out on parole.

“Even speaking to the family members that are the surviving family members of the victims, there are still some concerns,” says Stephens. “They do not want parole to be granted, and I would have to side with them and the community.”

Stephens confirms he will travel to the Potosi Correctional Center for next Monday’s hearing, and will urge the board to deny parole.

Missouri’s Probation and Parole Board has previously denied parole for Dallas Delay eight times.

Grandin, a town of about 243 residents, is northwest of Poplar Bluff. Stephens says residents there remember the case.

“This case kind of resonates with the (Carter) county in general, and even me when I first came to the area, people were talking about this case years later,” Stephens says.

Prosecutors also convicted Lloyde Cowin and Jerry Rector of three counts of first degree murder for the 1973 killings.

Missouri Department of Corrections (DOC) spokesman David Owen tells Missourinet Cowin was sentenced to prison in 1973, and was paroled in September 1995. Owen says Cowin returned to prison in 2008 for a parole violation, and was paroled again in November 2013. Owen says Cowin, who is now 65, is currently under parole supervision in Springfield.

Jerry Rector went to prison in 1973. Owen says Rector was paroled in January 1994, and died while on parole supervision in October 2004.

(Missourinet) – Monday is Columbus Day, a federal, Missouri and county holiday.

It celebrates the anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ arrival in the Americas in 1492.

Most federal, state and county offices are closed on Monday, with the exception of emergency services like the Missouri State Highway Patrol, county Sheriff’s departments and state prisons.

County courthouses will be closed on Monday.

Most banks and financial institutions will be closed on Monday. There will also be no regular mail delivery. Regular mail delivery will resume on Tuesday morning.

Columbus Day is one of 12 Missouri state holidays. The next one will be the November 10 Veterans Day observance.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt (D) signed legislation into law in 1934, making Columbus Day a federal holiday.

The holiday has been observed on the second Monday in October, since 1970.

(Missourinet) – The state of employment across the country and in Missouri has been one of slow job growth and stagnant wages since the Great Recession of 2007.

But a trade group representing one industry claims conditions are far better for its workers. The Associated General Contractors of Missouri (AGC) says construction workers are in short supply and their wages are far higher than average.

The organization released the new AGC of America Workforce Survey during its annual “BuildMO Week” which wrapped up Friday. It found that the industry contributed almost 4%, or $11 billion of the state’s $301 billion Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Construction wages totaled $7 billion in Missouri. According to the survey, industry workers’ pay averaged $56,000, which is 20% more than all private sector employees in the state.

The study also showed that there’s a critical shortage of skilled workers statewide. About 71% of Missouri contractors surveyed said they have difficulty filling some hourly craft positions and 20% report they are having trouble filling some salaried field positions. About 41% report they are having difficulty filling some office salary positions.

Republican State Representative Bill Reiboldt of Neosho recently told Missourinet that the Missouri Transportation Department sent construction workers south of the state border to help with interstate highway construction.

“A lot of our construction people have gone to Arkansas to work through the northwest Arkansas area,” said Reiboldt. “I-49 has really changed.”

AGC Missouri kicked off BuildMO Week Monday with a conference in Springfield, which included a bipartisan group of elected and business leaders.

Democratic state Representative Crystal Quade of Springfield, Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce President Matt Morrow and Springfield Mayor Ken McClure joined AGC President Len Toenjes to highlight a partnership that could help connect job seekers with positions in the worker-starved Missouri construction industry.

The AGCMO Student Chapter at Ozarks Technical Community College (OTC) was recently established, which offers networking and industry opportunities for students.  Toenjes thinks the partnership will help boost employment numbers in Missouri’s construction sector.

“The career and technical education programs provided at OTC and other schools throughout our state are so important,” said Toenjes.  “The hiring situation is very favorable right now for students trained in the trades.”

OTC Chancellor Dr. Hal Higdon says the job picture is outstanding for people who get the proper training.

“We know from our follow-up surveys that 100% of our construction technology graduates are employed,” said Higdon. “There are plenty of job opportunities in construction for people with the right skills who are willing to work hard.”

According to the AGC survey, construction employed more than 118,700 people throughout the state in August. Toenjes thinks the shortage of available construction workers is tied to acute economic problems during the previous decade.

“In 2008, when we had our severe economic downturn, we lost a lot of skilled craft workers. And now 10 years later as we’re coming back out of this, those folks are gone. They’ve gone on to other careers or they’ve retired.”

A second BuildMO Week conference was held Tuesday at North County Technical School in Florissant, near St. Louis.

AGC of Missouri says it represents more than 500 commercial, industrial, heavy and highway contractors, industry partners and related firms in 110 counties in the state.