Relatives of Americans Missing in Haiti Angry - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News - FOXNews.com

Relatives of Americans Missing in Haiti Angry - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News - FOXNews.com

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Florida Student and Two Professors Missing After Haiti Quake

from abcnews.com:

"One student and two professors from a Florida university mission group are missing in the chaos and rubble of Haiti's earthquake, despite the efforts of a private search team hired by the school to find its missing staff and students.

The private contractor was commissioned by Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla. So far, the contractor has located 11 members of the aid group Food for Poor that had landed in Haiti just a day before the earthquake hit.

The search is still on for 22-year-old Christine Gianacaci and faculty advisors Dr. Patrick Hartwick and Dr. Richard Bruno.

"The game plan today is to try and find these people," university spokesman Jason Hughes said. "The mood here is somber, but hopeful."

"We still have three members of our community that we're eager to hear about," he added.

Hughes did not name the contractor on the ground in Haiti helping to evacuate the students and look for the three missing group members, but said that the contractor's staff were provided to them by the insurance that the university routinely takes out for groups traveling abroad.

The severity of the situation in Haiti, said Hughes, prompted the use of a private search team.

"It is not routine in any way to use this sort of service," said Hughes. "Only in extraordinary circumstances would you have this ability."

Hughes said that the contractors arrived Wednesday morning on two helicopters, but did not know how many people were involved in the rescue effort.

Hartwick is the dean of the schools' college of education and Bruno is an assistant professor in the College of Liberal Education.

A MySpace page appearing to belong to Gianacaci was last visited on Jan.3, and lists elementary education as her major. A quote on the pages says, "These are the best days of our lives."

The group of 14 had been staying at the Hotel Montana in Port-au-Prince when the earthquake hit shortly before 5 p.m. Tuesday.

The 11 students who have been found are reported to be in or near the U.S. Embassy, according to Hughes, and the university is working with the contractor to get them home.

Other Americans Missing in Haiti

"What we know is that when students are identified they are taken to the safest location that they can be taken to the quickest, and that may be the Dominican Republic," said Hughes. The Dominican Republic shares the island of Hispanola with Haiti.

Several family members who had children traveling to Haiti convened at Lynn University to wait for news together, said Hughes.

Around the country, student groups and missionaries are working to account for members of their communities.

Two student groups traveling from the University of Wisconsin-Madison were accounted for and are now trying to get out of the country.

In Indianapolis, two churches are still waiting to find out whether members on missions trips to Haiti are safe, according to the Associated Press. The nine-person group was working at an orphanage 45 miles from the epicenter of the earthquake.

According to the Virginian-Pilot, Andrew Foster, an eighth grader from Virginia Beach is missing in Haiti with an older relative, according to the child's father, Robert Foster.

Foster said he spoke to his son just after the earthquake hit when he was driving with his uncle from the airport in Haiti. The last he heard was when the uncle said, "Oh, my god, I have to get out of here," before the line went dead.

Two New York University students, Nathalie Pierre and Greg Childs, who arrived in Haiti just before the earthquake have not been heard from since.

The missing are both history students, doing research in Haiti as part of their doctoral program."

Florida College Scrambles for Information on Students in Haiti

from foxnews.com:


"

Officials at a Florida college continue to pursue "all options and avenues" to locate 12 students and two faculty members who had been staying at a 4-star hotel in Haiti that toppled following Tuesday's devastating earthquake.

Lynn University President Kevin Ross said the group was registered at Hotel Montana in Port-au-Prince, a popular tourist destination that collapsed after the magnitude-7.0 earthquake in the impoverished nation.

Among the group studying in Haiti were Dr. Patrick Hartwick, dean of the university's College of Education, and Dr. Richard Bruno, an assistant professor with the university's College of Liberal Education.

The students who accompanied Hartwick and Bruno were identified as: Thomas Schloemer, of Fox Point, Wis.; Nikki Fantauzzi, of Simsbury, Conn.; Daniela Montealegre, of Managua, Nicaragua; Julie Prudhomme, of East Greenwich, R.I.; Michael DeMatteo, of Southlake, Texas; Melissa Elliott, of Hartland, Wisc.; Lindsay Doran, of Clearwater, Fla.; Paul Tyska, of Wilmette, Ill.; Stephanie Crispinelli, of Katonah, N.Y.; Christine Gianacaci, of Hopewell, N.J.; Courtney Hayes, of Boca Raton, Fla.; and Britney Gengel, of Rutland, Mass.

"Despite some early second-hand information regarding the group's conditions and whereabouts, the university's Crisis Management Team continues to try all channels to establish reliable contact, and reliable data regarding the condition and location of our community members in Haiti," a statement on the university's Web site read.

Classes at Lynn University, a liberal arts institution with roughly 2,000 undergraduates, were to be suspended as of 11 a.m. Wednesday, according to its Web site.

Lisa Elliott said she last spoke to her 20-year-old daughter, Melissa, on Sunday and received a text message from her just prior to Tuesday's earthquake, citing the "horrible" conditions in the poor nation.

"She said, 'Mom, you wouldn't believe it, it's just horrible,'" Elliott told FoxNews.com.

Elliott said Lynn University Vice President Greg Malfitano informed her that rescue teams — complete with two helicopters — has been hired by the school to fly to Haiti in an effort to locate her daughter and her fellow students and faculty.

Elliott said her daughter, who is majoring in fashion merchandizing, had been volunteering at a hospital for disabled children.

"She's a very loving, caring person," Elliott said of her only child. "And she's done this before — she went to Panama to work in an orphanage."

Elliott said she intends to fly to Florida to meet her daughter as soon as she is found.

"We're doing the best we can," she said. "We're just sitting by the phone and sitting by the TV, hoping to see her. There's nothing more we can do."

Calls to Jason Hughes, a Lynn University spokesman, were not immediately returned Wednesday afternoon.

Reached by phone Wednesday, Henry Hartwick said he has been told by university officials that his brother is safe but has yet to speak with him directly.

"I heard everybody's OK," Henry Hartwick told FoxNews.com. 'Everybody in their party was accounted for."

Hartwick, of Varysburg, N.Y., said his younger brother had visited relatives in upstate New York last month.

Meanwhile, administrators at Blue Ridge Community College in Virginia are reportedly awaiting word from a team of students who arrived in Haiti on Monday and visited a rural area believed to be near the area where the magnitude-7.0 earthquake hit.

The Students in Free Enterprise Team traveled to the Riviera Froide, about 20 miles southwest of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital, to work with tradespeople in setting up businesses, NewsLeader.com reports.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with them, and for their families here who I'm sure are very worried," Bridget Baylor, coordinator of public relations for BRCC, told the Web site.

School officials at Notre Dame University in South Bend, Ind., say four faculty and staff members currently studying on the island nation are safe.

Dennis Brown, a Notre Dame spokesman, told FoxNews.com that an unidentified faculty member was able to contact university officials immediately after the earthquake, before phone service was interrupted. School officials have been unable to reach the team by phone as of early Wednesday, Brown said.

Notre Dame's Haiti program is based in Leogane, roughly 20 miles west of Port-au-Prince. The quake's epicenter was 10 miles southwest of the capital.

"We are thankful that these dedicated members of the Notre Dame family are safe," Notre Dame University President Rev. John Jenkins said in a statement. "Our prayers are with them and all of those in Haiti in the wake of the disaster."

No information was immediately available regarding damage to the university's facilities in Haiti, Brown said.

Officials at Connecticut's Fairfield University are also trying to confirm the whereabouts of two students who returned to Haiti late last month to visit relatives during the college's winter break. Professor Gisela Gil-Egui told FoxNews.com the two undergraduate students were expected to return to the university this upcoming weekend.

"We don't know yet if they are fine," Gil-Egui said. "We are really worried, obviously."

One of the students was identified by Gil-Egui as Francesca LeGros, a sociology major originally from Port-au-Prince.

Administrators at Alvernia University in Pennsylvania said about a dozen students and faculty at a mission in the neighboring Dominican Republic were not injured.

"Our students and faculty are safe," Alverinia President Thomas Flynn told ReadingEagle.com.

Flynn said the Alvernia delegation was on an annual trip to Santo Domingo, which is about 300 miles east of the quake's epicenter. The students are enrolled in a community-service course at Alvernia, Flynn said."

Police Increasingly Suspicious of Missing Utah Mom's Husband

from foxnews.com:

"SALT LAKE CITY — Authorities have upgraded their investigation into the disappearance of a Utah mother to a criminal probe and say her husband's "lack of cooperation" has made them increasingly suspicious of him.

Susan Powell, a 28-year-old mother of two young children, was reported missing Dec. 7, when she didn't show up for work. She was last seen a day earlier.Josh Powell said he went camping with their boys, ages 2 and 4, in subfreezing temperatures about 12:30 a.m. on Dec. 7 and returned in the evening.

"Every lead we've been offered so far would leave us to believe this is out of character (for Susan) and thus suspect foul play is involved," West Valley City Asst. Police Chief Craig Black said Wednesday.

He said that her husband, Josh Powell, has not been named a suspect but investigators are highly interested in him.

"Josh's unusual lack of cooperation for a husband looking for his wife with the police department, you know, it certainly causes us to ask questions as to why would he do things to exclude the resources that we can bring to the table to find Susan," Black said.

But Josh Powell has been uncooperative in providing any details that might explain what happened to his wife, Black said.

Among other things, Josh Powell hasn't specified where he went camping or where he was all day on Dec. 7, he said.

Case of missing Utah mom is "suspicious"

According to Fox News:

"The disappearance of a missing Utah stockbroker and mother of two has turned "suspicious," police say." Susan Powell failed to show up for work at her job with Wells Fargo on Monday. Coincidentally, her husband Joshua Powell also failed to report to his job on Monday also. According to him, he went on a weekend camping trip with his two sons, ages 1 and 4, while his wife stayed home in bed. Police found Susan's phone, purse, and car all at the home. I don't like to jump to conclusions, but I have a bad feeling where this story is going to end up.