By By James Crawford
News Editor
The search for Melinda McGhee expanded last week as investigators from Escambia County Sheriff Grover Smith's office traveled to Louisiana to met with investigators of the Louisiana Serial Killings to discuss the possibility of the two cases being linked and to have those investigators review the evidence Escambia Deputies have found.
"We sent someone to Louisiana for two reasons," said Escambia County Sheriff Grover Smith. "The most important reason to us at the time was that those guys have been working quite a while on these cases and we wanted to take a look at their methods and techniques and kind of peak over their shoulder a bit. We let them take a look at our case to make sure there wasn't something we were missing. We just don't want to leave a stone unturned.
"The second reason was to compare notes on the off chance that the cases may be related. But, we don't have a body and they've found all of their victims. We don't have anything to link the two cases at this time but we can't rule it out," said Smith.
Louisiana television station KATC Channel 3 reported on their website Friday morning that Louisiana investigators are exploring the possibility that the serial killer may have been involved with the abduction of McGhee from her home in the Poarch community on March 24.
According to KATC, Escambia County Sheriff Grover Smith said his department contacted the serial killer task force a few weeks ago because of similarities between the serial deaths in Louisiana and the March 24th disappearance of Melinda McGhee. Officials said the task force regularly consults with other agencies about unsolved crimes.
The Baton Rouge Area Foundation, in conjunction with CrimeStoppers announced a new $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killer.
To be eligible for the new reward, the information must be called into the Crimestoppers tip line between Monday, April 21st and Friday, August 1st.
The family of Pam Kinamore, the killer's third known victim, is still offering a 100,000 dollars.