The search continues for a Columbus woman missing since Sept. 17.
Kaila Morris, 21, was last seen by her stepfather, Robert Triplett, leaving the house he shared with her mother, Bonnie Morris Triplett, at 181 Golding Road.
“We”re still looking,” said Lt. Tony Perkins of the Lowndes County Sheriff”s Office, which is investigating Morris” disappearance, along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation and other law enforcement agencies. “We”re still doing property searches. We”re still following up on any leads we get and we”re still talking to people and interviewing folks. We always have hope (she”s alive), until there”s proof otherwise.”
“I understand they had the National Guard helicopters out searching different properties yesterday,” Bonnie Triplett, who was vacationing in Florida when her daughter was last seen by Robert Triplett, said Saturday. “They”re still interviewing people, talking to different people, some of the people she knew in Starkville, but there”s no leads yet that have panned out to anything.
“I am somewhat frustrated with the length of time it”s taking to interview people she knew,” she added. “That”s been a great concern of mine.”
“We have covered several, several areas,” said Kathy Doty, of the GTR K-9 Search Team, which was engaged by the LCSO, to help in the effort to find Morris.
“I have been searching for her since around the 20th when I got called out, and we started searching different locations,” Doty said, declining to offer specifics on search areas.
“I don”t know how much I can say since the investigation is ongoing,” she said.
Doty handles Belgian Malinois dogs specializing in human-remains detection.
Lakota, the dog involved in the Morris case, has found human remains in cases throughout the state. In March, Lakota located the remains of a man later identified as Ted Ward, a 46-year-old, black male, from Louisville, The Winston County Journal reported. According to the paper, the death is being investigated as a homicide.
Most recently, said Doty, Lakota on Jan. 31, found the remains of a woman in Louisville who had been missing since Dec. 4.
The dog also worked on the April drowning case of Taylor Smith, 15, of Smithville, she noted. Smith had gone swimming with friends and apparently was dragged under water by the current; his body was found in the Buttahatchie River in Monroe County.
A part-time Mississippi State University student, who owned a Starkville condominium, Morris also worked at The Cookie Store in Leigh Mall.
Robert Triplett said he saw Morris leave the Golding Road home Sept. 17, in a dark-colored van or sport utility vehicle with an unknown person or people.
Robert Triplett was arrested by the LCSO Oct. 3 on charges of exploitation of children after pornographic images of minors were retrieved from family computers during the course of the investigation into Morris” disappearance; he remains in the Lowndes County Adult Detention Center awaiting his hearing on violation of probation.
He was denied bond on Oct. 6 and remains on probation following a 2003 sexual battery charge, which was reduced to aggravated assault in 2007, in Jackson County.
Robert Triplett, 56, also was found guilty of forcible rape in Covington, La. in 1997; the charges were remanded for hearing in 2001 and subsequently reduced to simple battery. After the victim refused to testify in the case, the charges were dismissed.
“I”m getting calls every day,” Bonnie Triplett responded, when asked how she”s coping with her daughter”s disappearance. “I”m getting e-mails every day. I”m getting cards every day. I”ve had lots and lots of support from my family and friends. There”s always somebody cooking and bringing me things and trying to keep my mind occupied with visits.
“But it”s extremely, extremely difficult, because you never stop thinking about it, and I can”t describe what it feels like,” she added.
Morris is about 5 feet, 6 inches tall, 230 pounds, with brownish-blond, waist-length hair, green-gray eyes and a rose tattoo on a toe, as well as a tattoo of a white and gray wolf head on her right hip and a star and moon tattoo on her lower back.
“We”ve had a couple calls, but nothing has led to anything,” Perkins said.
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