Probation Officer Stint Studied in Search

Authorities continued to search the woods near Blairsville, Ga. Monday for missing 38-year-old mother Kristi Cornwell. Police say she was abducted a week ago, and they're investigating whether her past job as a probation officer has any connection to her disappearance.

On "The Early Show" Tuesday, criminologist Dr. Jack Levin of Northeastern University said investigators can't rule out that work history.

"They have to look at her probationers. After all, she had worked in a prison. She had a large number of clients," Levin said.

Cornwell was a probation officer as late as 2002. However, Levin said, if her abductor or abductors were her clients, she likely would have recognized them. "It's either a stranger or an acquaintance, but it isn't, in my view, someone she knew very well," he said.

In fact, if she had known her abductor or abductors, Levin said, she would have let her boyfriend, whom she was talking to on the phone during the abduction, know.

"The first thing that someone would have said, if the abductor had been a friend or a neighbor or someone she knew pretty well was, 'Hey, John, Ralph, Joe. What are you doing here?'"

Cornwell's boyfriend, Douglas Davis, who lives in Atlanta, is likely being ruled out as a suspect by police because he was miles away, Levin said.

"If she hadn't been on the cell phone with her boyfriend, (Davis) may have been the prime suspect," Levin said, "but we know he was far away from the crime scene."

Police say Davis was told by Cornwell a car was approaching her, and then, what sounded like a scuffle ensued. Cornwell's cell phone was found Friday three-and-a-half miles from the site of Cornwell's abduction on Jones Creek Road.

Georgia officials are also investigating whether or not the abduction was random or targeted on Cornwell.

"At this point, we don't know if it's a random abduction or a targeted abduction," said John Bankhead, a spokesman for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Authorities spent much of the day Monday probing a 3.5-mile swath around where Cornwell disappeared, and a dive team searched the water near a bridge in the area, Bankhead said. But he said the window of opportunity to find her may be closing.

"Time is an enemy, as far as that's concerned," Bankhead said, adding the heat has also slowed the search as volunteers had to stop periodically to stay hydrated.

Cornwell, who graduated from nearby North Georgia College with a degree in criminal justice, worked at the state prison in Blairsville, the Towns County Sheriff's Office and the state probation office.

Cornwell has a 15-year-old son.

Kristi Leigh Cornwell (Cody)
LAST SEEN: Tuesday August 11th - 9:00 p.m.
Walking on Jones Creek Road, Blairsville, Georgia
Age: 38
Height: 5′ 5″
Weight: 150
Hair: Dark Brown
Eyes: Blue

If you have any information on Kristi Cornwell's disappearance, contact the Georgia Bureau of Investigation or KristiCornwell.com.