08-18-2012, 01:27 AM
LAFAYETTE -- A Texas private investigator says witness accounts and vehicle records make him suspect Brandon Scott Lavergne is involved in the April 2010 disappearance of a 15-year-old Texas girl.
Lavergne is expected to appear in court at 10 a.m. today in Lafayette. He has been indicted on two first-degree murder charges here, one in the case of Mickey Shunick, 21, and the second in the 1999 death of Lisa Ann Pate. He is currently being held without bond.
The Texas girl, Alexandria "Ali" Lowitzer, was last seen outside a Burger Barn restaurant in Spring, Texas, just three doors down from her home, said Houston-based investigator Mac Sanford. Lowitzer had recently started working at the restaurant and was walking there to pick up her first paycheck, Sanford said.
But Lowitzer never picked up the paycheck, and there has been no trace of her in more than two years.
Sanford said a tip line established shortly after Lowitzer's disappearance yielded calls from two unrelated witnesses who said they saw a girl they believed to be Lowitzer talking to a man in a white, extended-cab pickup. The man appeared to be trying to coax the girl into the vehicle. One of those witnesses was able to get a partial license plate number.
"I've been following the (Mickey) Shunick case since the beginning, and when I saw that Brandon Lavergne was arrested and he reported his vehicle stolen in Montgomery County, that's just a few miles from where Ali went missing," Sanford said.
A search of Louisiana vehicle records showed that Lavergne's vehicle, a white 2005 GMC extended-cab truck, had the same numbers in its Louisiana license plate that one of the witnesses saw, Sanford said.
"From there, it all started falling into place," he said.
Sanford said he learned that Lavergne sold that truck in March. Police in Harris County, Texas, are now following up on the vehicle, as well as any other records that might place Lavergne in the area at the time of Lowitzer's disapperance.
A spokesman for the Harris County Sheriff's Office would not provide additional details on the case Thursday.
This is not the first time Lavergne's name has been associated with other missing person cases. Several local law enforcement agencies have gone on record saying the the 33-year-old St. Landry Parish man has been looked at as a suspect in missing cases in their jusisdictions.
Lowitzer's parents, John and Jo Ann Lowitzer, have a website dedicated to their daughter's disapperance. On the site, they describe her as an artistic teen who enjoyed spending time at home and having friends over. She was also active in softball, Girl Scouts, choir and art.
Several volunteers and organizations searched for Lowitzer in the area in the weeks after her disapperance, but those searches yielded no clues.
"We hope and pray that you would help us by doing what you can," the site read. "Please download Ali's flier, keep it visible, pass the word, say a prayer and keep a watchful eye out for her."
http://www.shreveporttimes.com/article/2...Texas-girl
Lavergne is expected to appear in court at 10 a.m. today in Lafayette. He has been indicted on two first-degree murder charges here, one in the case of Mickey Shunick, 21, and the second in the 1999 death of Lisa Ann Pate. He is currently being held without bond.
The Texas girl, Alexandria "Ali" Lowitzer, was last seen outside a Burger Barn restaurant in Spring, Texas, just three doors down from her home, said Houston-based investigator Mac Sanford. Lowitzer had recently started working at the restaurant and was walking there to pick up her first paycheck, Sanford said.
But Lowitzer never picked up the paycheck, and there has been no trace of her in more than two years.
Sanford said a tip line established shortly after Lowitzer's disappearance yielded calls from two unrelated witnesses who said they saw a girl they believed to be Lowitzer talking to a man in a white, extended-cab pickup. The man appeared to be trying to coax the girl into the vehicle. One of those witnesses was able to get a partial license plate number.
"I've been following the (Mickey) Shunick case since the beginning, and when I saw that Brandon Lavergne was arrested and he reported his vehicle stolen in Montgomery County, that's just a few miles from where Ali went missing," Sanford said.
A search of Louisiana vehicle records showed that Lavergne's vehicle, a white 2005 GMC extended-cab truck, had the same numbers in its Louisiana license plate that one of the witnesses saw, Sanford said.
"From there, it all started falling into place," he said.
Sanford said he learned that Lavergne sold that truck in March. Police in Harris County, Texas, are now following up on the vehicle, as well as any other records that might place Lavergne in the area at the time of Lowitzer's disapperance.
A spokesman for the Harris County Sheriff's Office would not provide additional details on the case Thursday.
This is not the first time Lavergne's name has been associated with other missing person cases. Several local law enforcement agencies have gone on record saying the the 33-year-old St. Landry Parish man has been looked at as a suspect in missing cases in their jusisdictions.
Lowitzer's parents, John and Jo Ann Lowitzer, have a website dedicated to their daughter's disapperance. On the site, they describe her as an artistic teen who enjoyed spending time at home and having friends over. She was also active in softball, Girl Scouts, choir and art.
Several volunteers and organizations searched for Lowitzer in the area in the weeks after her disapperance, but those searches yielded no clues.
"We hope and pray that you would help us by doing what you can," the site read. "Please download Ali's flier, keep it visible, pass the word, say a prayer and keep a watchful eye out for her."
http://www.shreveporttimes.com/article/2...Texas-girl