Horne family searched desperately for murder victim: relatives
Posted Jun 10, 2010 05:35:38 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Two years and a half years after her death, Jennifer Horne’s family is telling their story.
Horne’s younger brother and father took the stand on Wednesday, the first day of testimony in the first-degree murder trial of Desmond Maguire.
The court heard how Horne’s family made every effort to find the 20-year-old when she didn’t come home after a date with the accused December 29, 2007.
Horne’s step-uncle Steve Andrews says for any other young woman, not coming home after a date might have been normal – but for Horne’s family, it was an immediate red flag.
“She was a stay-at-home, sweet young lady,” he said. “It was so uncharacteristic that everybody who knew her, we just knew that this was, this was not Jennifer. Something was terribly wrong.”
Adults can’t be considered a missing person until they’ve been gone for 24 hours. So Andrews says the family launched its own search, combing her neighbourhood and anywhere she may have gone.
[We had] photographs, and going to neighbours, restaurants, bars et cetera.,” he said. “Any little bits of information we were able to get to give us a lead.”
The family searched wooded areas and school grounds, called everyone in Jennifer’s old cell phone and tracked the accused to a hotel room.
Family member Jeanne Rokosh says the only concern was finding their beloved Jennifer alive and well.
“Perhaps that kind of diligence speaks to what a young woman Jennifer was,” she said. “She was worth every second of every moment that people went out and searched and tried and committed to finding her.”
Maguire is facing first-degree murder charges in Horne’s death. Co-accused Ashley Haley pleaded guilty to the charge as laid earlier this week.
