here is the latest.....
[ The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: 9/26/02 ]
Phone call brings bad news
Missing woman's body found in Henry; suspects arrested
By BETH WARREN and PETER SCOTT
Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writers
Margaret Samples waited by the phone in her Duluth home for news of the missing teen her son loved and her family befriended.
When the phone rang at about 3:15 p.m. Wednesday, she jumped to answer it and then buried her face in her hand and sobbed.
"She's dead," Samples said. "She was only 19."
Police had suspects in custody, the voice on the phone said.
Hours earlier, someone overheard two men bragging they knew something about Alisson Alvarez's disappearance and discussing how her body was found at a Henry County racetrack, police said. An anonymous call was made to police.
Two Griffin brothers were arrested. Toby Dearing, 24, who worked for a car show vendor, was charged with murder. His brother, Joshua Dearing, 20, was charged with concealing a death.
Investigators believe Alvarez's killing was "a random act," said Lt. Michael Gaddis, a Henry County police spokesman.
Alvarez was at an auto show Saturday at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton. She left her boyfriend's side about 2 p.m., feeling sick and heading to find a bathroom.
She never made it back.
Police searched the area earlier this week and could find no signs of Alvarez. They went back after getting the anonymous tip and and focused on a secluded area of the racetrack.
They found Alvarez's body in an area of the speedway that was not open to the public at Saturday's NOPI Car Show. An autopsy is being conducted, police said. They said they were still investigating the motive in the slaying.
"At this point, we are trying to piece all parts of the puzzle together," Henry County Assistant Police Chief Jim Simmons said Wednesday night.
Alvarez left Colombia after graduating from an all-girls Catholic high school in 1999. She moved to Miami and then to Gwinnett County, where she found a second family through her boyfriend, Josh Samples, 21.
For two years, the two lived with Samples' parents in the Chattahoochee mobile home park off Sugarloaf Parkway. All four were close and had talked about buying a house together, Margaret Samples said.
Her husband, Mike, taught Alvarez all about Elvis and needled her about her South American accent. Alvarez helped him navigate his home computer and showed Margaret Samples how to style her curly hair.
"We just miss her so bad," Margaret Samples said before the call from police. "She's a family member now."
Mike Samples' birthday was Saturday, but his presents were still wrapped and piled in his bedroom Wednesday.
"I never got around to cooking him a cake," Margaret Samples said.
She said her husband had told her: "Don't worry about it. We'll celebrate when Alisson comes home."
Josh Samples had spent the days since Allison's disappearance blaming himself for not escorting his girlfriend to the bathroom, his mother said.
He tried to stay busy and was at work managing a Duluth fast-food restaurant when he got word Wednesday to get in touch with police detectives.
"I don't know how Josh is going to get through this," his mother said through sobs. "They did everything together."
Alvarez and Josh Samples met while working at another Gwinnett restaurant in the same chain.