One Year Later - 05/15/2007

One Year Later

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5/15/2007

KMOT - TV News Stories

Reachelle Smith was last seen one year ago. Leads have nearly dried up but police, her family and a community remain hopeful. Police in Minot say they will never stop looking for clues in this case and they are determined to bring some kind of closure to the family. Since the amber alert went out nearly one year ago the mystery of Reachelle Smith continues to linger in the front of everyone`s mind.

In a town like Minot people don`t worry about murder and kidnapping. In Minot everybody knows everybody, and everybody believes their children are safe. But Minot`s safe reputation was shattered last year when Minot police issued an amber alert in the case of a missing three year-old girl.

"That was the first amber alert I had ever issued. We were definitely concerned. You don`t see a child for 6 days and nobody is really sure where she is at. You are concerned," says Sergeant Winston Black of the Minot Police Department.

Reachelle Smith was last seen with Leigh Cowen a live-in family friend. Police suspected he had Reachelle. Shortly after the amber alert was issued a worker at the Upper Souris Wildlife Refuge found Cowen and his van.

"When they found the car they found Cowen`s body deceased on the inside. There was a tube running from the exhaust into one of the windows. It was later determined he died of carbon monoxide asphyxiation," says Detective Jason Sundbakken of the Minot Police Department.

Police are not sure why Cowen killed himself although they do believe he probably knew something about Reachelle`s disappearance.

"He left us with a lot of questions. He didn`t leave any indication of what had happened. Why it happened. Why it was he felt the need to kill himself and just left us with unanswered questions that we are still dealing with today," says Sundbakken.

Although a year has passed, the desire to find Reachelle has not faded. And while leads are few and far between, police still investigate every new piece of information that comes in.

"To date, this is the case that leaves the most questions in your mind. I am always thinking about it and trying to figure out what happened," says Sundbakken.

And one day bring closure to a community and a family.

Of course if you have any information about the disappearance of Reachelle you can call the Minot Police Department at 852-0111.