Jessica's Dad Doing Own Search
Jessica Lunsford's father says he's taking with a "grain of salt"
word that police want to question a known sex offender about his 9-year-old daughter's disappearance last month.
And Mark Lunsford vows to continue a
Jessica, 9, vanished from the bedroom of her home in Homosassa, Fla., north of Tampa, one overnight late last month.
John Evander Couey was taken into custody by deputies in Georgia on Thursday, officials said. The sheriff's office in Richmond County, Ga., placed him under arrest because he didn't notify Florida officials that he was leaving the state, a requirement for sex offenders, said Ronda Hemminger Evan, spokeswoman for the Citrus County sheriff's office.
She had no details about Couey's arrest but said he would be questioned in the disappearance of Jessica Lunsford.
CBS News Correspondent Mark Strassman reports that while police are not officially calling the 46-year-old Couey a suspect, authorities want to talk to him about Jessica. Couey was staying in Jessica's neighborhood before he fled the area, raising suspicion.
"He's makes a, uh, comment that, 'Police are going to be looking for me' or 'are looking for me.' Those all start to do some building blocks for us," says Citrus Count, Fla., Sheriff Jeff Dawsy.
"I've never seen him before. I don't know him. I've never even heard his name," Mark Lunsford told The Early Show co-anchor Julie Chen Thursday.
"I just try to keep in mind what the Sheriff's Department said, you know, that it's just a person they want to question. Kind of take it like a grain of salt," Lunsford continued. "I'm just going to continue with my search efforts this weekend.
"I got to make every effort I can to find her, you know? (Police aren't) searching on the ground. They're doing other parts of the investigation. So that's why I kind of took it upon myself to keep looking around here as much as I can, until we cover a wide enough area."
One night last month, Jessica was tucked in by her grandmother, but gone by the time her father looked in on her the next morning.
For five days, volunteers searched in vain.
Lunsford tells Chen, "(In) my heart, I mean, I know my little girl is OK and that she's coming home, and that's just the way I believe it. And I think it's just a matter of time."
Investigators note that various members of Jessica's family took polygraph tests. And they say some answers from her grandmother, Ruth Lunsford, "raised red flags."
Asked about that by Chen, Ruth Lunsford responded, "I have no idea. I don't know what 'red flags' are. …Remember, I'm under severe stress."
Dawsy says no one's been ruled out as a suspect, not even family members.
But clearly, Couey's the new focus, although for now, officially, he's not a suspect, but a "person of interest," Strassman notes.
"This is just one avenue," Dawsy adds. "I think it's the strongest lead we've had."