Florida police seek missing teen; car found in Pearl River

By Matthew Penix
St. Tammany News
Published on Friday, April 25, 2008 8:56 AM CDT



The Escambia Country Sheriff’s Office in Pensacola, Fla. is asking the public’s help to locate a 15-year-old missing girl who may be in east St. Tammany.

Jasmine Leos, a black female, is 167 pounds and 5 feet, 7 inches tall with brown hair and brown eyes. She also has a pierced nose.

Leos, whose nickname is Jazz, was last seen five months ago on Dec. 20, 2007, according to her profiled posted on the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children’s Web site www.missingkids.com.

JASMINE LEOS

Leos is suspected of stealing her grandmother’s gold 2006 four-door Chrysler PT cruiser that was later discovered abandoned on Murray Road in Pearl River.

Pearl River police found the car April 10, likely abandoned for a week, after an unidentified man contacted Rock and Roll Motors in Jefferson, La., offering to sell the car, said Troy Brown, the case’s lead detective for the Escambia Country Sheriff’s Office. A Carfax revealed the car was stolen, and the unidentified man contacted the Florida sheriff office, Brown said.

The case has since fallen cold, Brown said.

Leos went missing after her grandmother suspected the teenager of having an affair with Lonnie Urquhart, a 34-year-old white male originally from the Slidell and surrounding New Orleans areas.

“She did call last month and stated she did not know where she was and she was being held against her will,” Brown said, adding the grandmother, however, didn’t buy her story, instead “believing the girl ran away.”

Detectives are worried because rumors have surfaced that Urguhart’s girlfriend, Leslie Ruth, discovered the affair and stabbed Urguhart, Brown said.

However “this is no hard evidence of this, and it was never reported to our agency,” he said.

If Leos is found to be in Urguhart’s custody he could face felony kidnapping and rape charges, Brown said.

Anyone with information on Leos’ whereabouts should contact Brown at 850-436- 9199.


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