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Noblesville, Ind. PD locate wedding ring of missing woman
Missing woman's credit card buy being investigated
By Gregg Montgomery and John Tuohy
June 27, 2011
NOBLESVILLE, Ind. – Police are investigating a transaction by the nephew of a missing 74-year-old woman.
Donald L. Burns, 47, Elwood, pawned the wedding ring of Dorothy Mae Heard on the day she was last seen, June 13, police said Monday.
Noblesville Police Lt. Bruce Barnes said the 50-year-old ring was recovered at the EZ Pawn in Marion. Police said the shop's records indicated Burns pawned the ring at 5:23 p.m., about 81/2 hours after Heard was last seen.
"It is definitely her ring," Barnes said. "Her family identified it."
A person who answered the phone at the pawn shop Monday said she could not comment on the transaction.
Police would not identify Burns as a suspect.
Burns, who was arrested June 14, is being held in the Madison County Jail on charges of fleeing police and a parole violation, which carries no bond. He is scheduled to appear in Madison Superior Court at 9 a.m. Aug. 22.
Burns refused a request for an interview Monday. His lawyer, Blanchard Shearer, Anderson, was unavailable for comment.
Police said that shortly after the ring was pawned, a purchase was made on Heard's credit card for $378.78 in assorted jewelry at a Walmart in Marion, about a mile from the pawn shop. A security camera at the Walmart showed a man making the purchase at 5:40 p.m., but police cannot determine whether it was Burns.
Fifteen minutes later, the card was used again at the Walmart. But the $698 purchase was denied because the card had a $700 credit limit, Barnes said.
Heard was last seen about 8 a.m. June 13. She did not respond to a phone message left by a family member at 8:30 a.m. that day.
She apparently took her purse, but nothing else appeared to be missing from her Noblesville home. She left her car in the driveway.
Burns owns a gray 1994 Mitsubishi Gallant with "In God We Trust" Indiana license plate number TN8575. Barnes said Burns used the Mitsubishi to flee Elwood police, but it died on him. Investigators are not sure whether the car could have made it to Marion and back, about 20 miles away, and are asking anyone to call them if they saw it that day.
"We think he had access to other vehicles, but on the chance that he drove this, we'd like to locate some people who saw it," Barnes said.
Burns was twice convicted of child molesting -- in 1997 in Madison County and in 1999 in Tipton County -- and he's on the state's sex offender registry. He told police he ran because he was scared.
Heard's step-great-granddaughter was briefly abducted in Tipton the same day that Heard went missing, and Burns is not a suspect in that incident. The 10-year-old was dropped off unharmed about four hours later at a Westfield fast-food restaurant. Her abductor remains at large.
Police have conducted several searches for Heard, including one at the Overdorf Lake Fish-Camp-Park, about eight miles north of Noblesville near Arcadia. They also have searched areas in Tipton, Madison, Grant and Wabash counties and the Mississinewa Reservoir in Miami County.
Police also were handing out fliers Monday at a four-way stop near the missing woman's home. The flier shows photos of Heard, Burns and his car.
Heard's family made a plea to the public for help at a news conference Monday at Noblesville City Hall.
Rex Heard, Tipton, one of Dorothy Heard's five children, issued a statement but took no questions, as other family members stood behind him holding roses.
"We believe that there is someone out there that knows something about her disappearance," Heard said.
He said the response to his mother's disappearance has been overwhelming, and the family has experienced constant anguish and suffering in the two weeks that she's been missing. Many people have offered the family prayers and messages of support. Local churches have provided hot meals for the family, he said.
"She is still missing," he said. "Please continue to spread the word of her disappearance."