Published: July 03, 2009 09:09 pm      

After seven years, still no answers

Investigators continue to seek justice in Finley case

Another year has come and gone and there are still no arrests in the murder of one of Orange’s little angels, Dannarriah Finley.

Across the nation, people are celebrating Independence Day, while locals ponder why her life was taken and what will become of the case.

Since her disappearance on July 4, 2002, the community still feels the heartache of a life taken too soon, but so do the investigators who have worked the case.

For some it is a case that nags at them as investigators, as they seek to see the case solved.

Detective Sarah Jefferson-Simon of the Orange Police Department says she prays and thinks of the case often — even more so as the anniversary of the death approaches and again at Christmas.

“To solve it at Christmas time would be like a present to the city,” Jefferson-Simon said. “Everybody wants to see it solved.”

Jefferson-Simon said the department still receives calls about once a month on the case. She then follows up on the lead. She is asking anyone with information to call the OPD detective division at 409-883-1095 or her cell phone at 409-920-0776.

The incident began when Dannarriah’s mother, Jamie Arnold, reported her missing after she discovered her gone from her bed at their house located in the 1000 block of 4th Street. Arnold reported she had last seen her daughter asleep around 4 a.m. When Arnold awoke around 10 a.m., Dannarriah was nowhere to be found. Dannarriah was last seen wearing a white floral shirt and purple shorts.

Arnold admitted to officials she often left the front door unlocked at night because her mother often came by the house.

The house was destroyed in 2005 by Hurricane Rita when a tree fell through it. Since then, the city of Orange has removed the remains of the house.

Now a grave serves as the tiny girl’s resting place. Scattered across the granite are pine needles from a nearby tree. In small plastic boxes are gifts left behind of a doll and a stuffed animal. However, they have faded with the weather and time.

The four-year-old girl with the shy smile and long braids in her hair captured the hearts and attention of thousands of people across the nation. Hundreds of volunteers from across Texas searched the town over the next few days following her disappearance. Some volunteers brought helicopters and horses.

However, Dannarriah’s body was found four days after she disappeared, 27 miles from home. On July 8 she was found by a pipeline inspector in a remote part of Pleasure Island in Port Arthur.

Everyone held their breath while they waited for autopsy results, but the results would later reveal that it was indeed Dannarriah.

She been sexually assaulted and strangled. It is believed the suspect left her body wrapped in a flowered bed sheet. Orange police distributed a picture of a flowered bed sheet in hopes that information would come forward. The picture of the sheet was like the one her body had been wrapped in although the manufacturer had discontinued the pattern.

Rodney Harrison, former Port Arthur detective and now Orange County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy, was initially called out to work the case. Harrison and another Port Arthur detective, Ron Robertson, worked the scene on Pleasure Island and joined forces with OPD in the months to follow.

With the case on his mind, Harrison recently conferred with forensic analysts with the DNA lab in Quantico Va. to see if new technology could be used to enhance the evidence.

“After all, you just never know what new technology can do,” Harrison said.

Orange County District Attorney John Kimbrough agrees with Harrison.

“I think this case will be solved forensically in a laboratory,” Kimbrough said.

He added, he has seen some progress in the case over the past few years. For now, the case still haunts Kimbrough as he thinks about it frequently.

K.C. Breshears, Orange County DA investigator, keeps the case file in boxes within arm’s reach of his desk. He also keeps the case close to his heart as well.

Breshears often pulls the file out to take a look through it to see if something “jumps out” that he may have not thought about before.

Now and then he brainstorms with Harrison. Other times when the pair are together, the conversation turns to the case.

“This has been a difficult case for everyone because of certain elements,” Robertson said.

However, as most investigators know, there is a personal gratification when solving a case, he said.

“For the officers involved its like giving the gift of closure to the family and seeing the expression on their faces is so rewarding,” Robertson said.

For Dannarriah’s family and the community they are still seeking closure.

More than 700 mourners turned out 15 days after she was reported missing at Mount Zion Baptist Church to say good-bye. Her tiny body lay in the white casket next to several school photos and about a dozen pink floral arrangements.

Dannarriah’s family, including her parents, Jamie Arnold and Johnny Edwards sat in the pew directly in front of the casket. Also in attendance were Dannarriah’s sisters who were 2, 6, and 8 years old at the time.

Dannarriah attended North Early Learning Center in the pre-kindergarten program. She would have entered kindergarten the following fall. Teachers at the center put together a photo album with pictures of Dannarriah at various school functions and presented it to the family.

Following a tragedy such as this, the investigators try to give closure to not only the family, but also the community and to themselves as well.



Debby Schamber is a reporter for the Orange Leader. She can be reached at 409-883-3571 ext. 2603 or at dschamber@orangeleader.com.