Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.metro From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Hound to rejoin hunt for Houghteling Date: Wed, 11 Nov 92 14:23:38 EST Message-ID: \SE B;METROPOLITAN \HD Hound to rejoin hunt for Houghteling \SH Investigators plan New Jersey return \BY Arlo Wagner and Matt Neufeld \CR THE WASHINGTON TIMES Montgomery County police will return to New Jersey later this week with a specially trained bloodhound to search for the bodies of Laura Houghteling and a 6-year-old girl who disappeared in 1986, officials said yesterday. A bloodhound named Sherlock will travel to Warren Township, N.J., as part of the investigation of Hadden Irving Clark, who has been charged with Miss Houghteling's murder and is a suspect in the disappearance of Michele Dorr during the Memorial Day weekend in 1986. Four homicide investigators spent most of Monday in Clark's New Jersey hometown looking for the body of Miss Houghteling, 23. They found freshly turned dirt but no grave or body and decided to return with Sherlock. His sharp nose helped trace what may have been the last trail of Miss Houghteling from her home in Bethesda Oct. 19, police spokesman Sgt. Harry Geehreng said. But the lead to New Jersey may be false, officials warned. Though he told Montgomery County police "they could find her body" near Warren, Clark has a history of mental problems, police spokeswoman Ann Evans said. "You just don't know what to believe, but we can't afford not to check out every lead," Mrs. Evans said. Police questioned Clark at the time of Michele's disappearance from her father's Silver Spring home, but they did not consider him a suspect until this week. "We're looking for at least two bodies," Montgomery County Detective Richard Fallin told the Courier-News of Bridgewater, N.J. He said FBI research shows that "people do tend to return to places where they feel comfortable in situations like this, and maybe some of his happiest days were spent here." Although investigators are now looking for a possible break in the Dorr case, there is no new evidence linking Clark to the girl's disappearance, and Mrs. Evans said detectives are concentrating on the Houghteling case. Five days after Miss Houghteling was reported missing, Sherlock sniffed some of her clothing and backtracked from the woods where her bloody pillowcase was found to her home in the 9900 block of Julliard Drive in Bethesda. Police are convinced it was the path over which her body was carried. The bloody pillowcase was found about 25 yards from the North Bethesda United Methodist Church parking lot, where Clark said he slept the night of the disappearance in his 1983 Nissan pickup, according to court records. Clark had done some yardwork for Miss Houghteling's mother, Penny, and had access to the house. Police found a camp in the woods where Clark sometimes stayed, but Sgt. Geehreng yesterday objected to Clark being described as homeless. "Besides over $6,000 in a checking account, he has $40,000 in assets," Sgt. Geehreng said. "He chooses to live that way." Despite those assets, Clark was represented by a lawyer from the Public Defenders Office in 1989 when he was convicted of two felony theft charges, and Assistant Public Defender Donald Salzman appeared on his behalf Monday at a bond hearing. As a 10-year-old, Clark lived with his father, mother and three siblings 30 years ago in Warren Township, a community of about 11,000 about 35 miles west of New York City in Somerset County. The search for Miss Houghteling's body has created quite a stir, according to some Warren residents who said they were scared. "They're just finding out about it, and they are kind of spooked," said Cort Parker, an editor with the Echoes-Sentinel, a weekly newspaper in the township. "Things like that don't happen around here. The most you ever hear is someone punching someone or a car accident or a damaged mailbox. "That's about the size of it with crime. It's a pretty quiet place, a pretty peaceful place." The search for a missing body is "the big news of the year" in Warren Township, he said. "It's quiet and sleepy and upscale," said Michele Van Ness, president of the Jaycees in nearby Plainfield. "If you want to see big houses, go to Warren Township. They're the upper reaches of the upper class." The search for Miss Houghteling began shortly after a notable murder and carjacking occurred in nearby Piscataway, Miss Van Ness said. A man there stole a vehicle with a mother and her 3-year-old inside. The child was found alive a day later, but the mother was killed. That incident and the search have created an atmosphere of fear in the area, residents said. "It's horrible. You don't even want to go out," said Sue Niemeyer, a waitress at the King George Inn restaurant in Warren Township. She said the digging for Miss Houghteling was "right around the corner from my house." "Usually you feel safe around here; people don't even lock their doors," said Miss Niemeyer, 21. "Now you don't want to walk around by yourself. You don't want to open the door for anyone." "The last time there was a murder in Warren Township was 1981," Mr. Parker said. "That was the last one. It's very unusual around here." This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM