FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 1, 2012
Contact: Liz Mills, Director of Media Relations and Communications, 571-251-5568 (mobile)
Liz.mills@loudoun.gov
Sheriff to Present Information on Status of Erica Heather Smith Homicide Investigation
-LCSO Announces First Annual Child Victim Awareness Day-
Loudoun County, VA: Loudoun County Sheriff Michael L. Chapman will present information to the media on the status of the Erica Heather Smith homicide investigation at 3PM on Saturday, August 4, 2012.
The statement by Sheriff Chapman will be held during the first annual Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office Child Victim Awareness Day. The event will take place from 2PM – 6PM at the Junction Plaza Shopping Center located at 43330 Junction Plaza in Ashburn, Virginia.
The event will provide information to parents on how they can best protect their children from becoming a victim of a crime. The Virginia Ident-A-Kid program will also be in attendance to offer parent’s cell phone electronic child identification, eKid-ID, along with a traditional child ID card.
Specialty units from the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office will be on hand, including the Motor Unit, the Crime Scene Unit, the Bicycle Unit, the Underwater Search and Evidence Recovery Team and many more. Residents will also be able to view the agency’s specialty vehicles. For more information on this event, please visit www.loudoun.gov/childvictimawareness.
This year's event will remember Erica Heather Smith. The fourteen-year-old disappeared on July 29, 2002. Her body was found eleven days later in a grave along Broad Run Creek near an old pump house. The area is in Ashburn near the intersection of Beaumeade Circle and Loudoun County Parkway (Adjacent to Redskins Park).
Anyone with any information regarding the murder of Erica Heather Smith is asked to call the Loudoun Crime Solvers anonymous tip line at 703-777-1919 or 1-877-777-1931. If this information leads to an arrest and indictment, the caller is entitled to a cash reward.
For more information on the Erica Smith case and for case updates, or to submit a tip online, please visit www.loudoun.gov/ericasmith.
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