Police seek help investigating notes claiming girl's 1988 killing

FORT WAYNE, Ind. -- Authorities on Monday sought the public's help in finding whoever wrote a series of notes boasting of responsibility for the 1988 abduction, molestation and death of an 8-year-old girl.\nThe murder of April Marie Tinsley has gone unsolved since the first-grader disappeared April 1, 1988, while walking to a friend's home near downtown Fort Wayne. Her body was found three days later in a ditch in rural DeKalb County, about 15 miles north of the city.\nIn the new plea for assistance, investigators released details of handwritten notes left in zip-closed plastic bags during 2004 at the homes of four young girls in and around Fort Wayne.\nThe note writer claimed to have killed April. The writer also threatened that if the notes did not receive news coverage, the girls who received them would become the next victims.\nInvestigators said the 2004 notes had similar writing, misspellings and wording as a message found in 1990 scrawled to the side of a barn in northeastern Allen County that said, "I kill 8-year-old April Marie Tisley (sic) I will kill again ha ha."\nAuthorities had not previously released any information about the notes, but Fort Wayne Police Chief Rusty York said city detectives and FBI agents had been working on them since their discovery.\nThe decision to seek the public's help was made with the FBI, and investigators would work around the clock if necessary on any new clues, he said.\n"We think we have a lot of potential here. But we really have to mine that information," York said. "We'd be remiss if we didn't take this tremendous opportunity."\nInvestigators hope someone will recognize the writing or the writer's use of certain phrases. They also said it was possible someone had received another communication from a neighbor, coworker or relative that bears a resemblance to the writing.\nYork said it was also possible that the writer might have left other notes or graffiti in and around Fort Wayne that were not reported to police.\n"It is understandable that a citizen finding such an item may not have recognized its significance because of the age of the Tinsley case and therefore may have discarded or even destroyed the note," York said.