Lunsford Cops Seek Sex Offender

Florida officials are seeking a "person of interest" who lived near the Lunsford family, has an extensive criminal history including fondling a child under the age of 16 and left the area around the time Jessica Lunsford went missing.

The 9-year-old girl had known 46-year-old John "Johnny" Evander Couey, whom Citrus County officials are seeking for questioning, according to County Sheriff Jeff Dawsy.

Jessica Lunsford was found missing from her bedroom Feb. 23.

Officials have been trying to contact Couey, a registered sex offender, since Feb. 28, but have been unable to track him down recently, despite being in contact with his relatives.

He voluntarily went to police in Savannah, Georgia, and was interviewed. But by the time he was wanted for another interview Monday, he couldn't be located.

There are now two outstanding warrants for Couey. One alleges violation of probation for marijuana possession, and the other is for failure to notify authorities he had moved.

Dawsy said at a press conference Wednesday that a relative of Couey's told officials he had not lived at the Homosassa, Fla., residence at which he was registered as a sex offender. Upon a second visit to the residence by officials, the relative changed the story, admitting that Couey had lived there.

Couey is thought to have gone to the Savannah area and have used a bus ticket that was intentionally not in his name.

"We believe he's in a specific region," Dawsy said. "I need to find this individual."

The man being sought is aware that investigators want to interview him, the sheriff added. Dawsy was careful to phrase the search for Couey as just one facet of the Lunsford investigation.

The father of the missing girl said Wednesday he is convinced she will be found safe as investigators searched for a "person of interest" in connection with the girl's disappearance.

Mark Lunsford said Citrus County sheriff's detectives have told him little about their investigation and nothing about the man they are seeking, but he remains confident.

"I truly believe my daughter is alive and is coming home," Lunsford told reporters.

Couey's criminal history, according to the Citrus County Sheriff's Department, includes: burglary, carrying a concealed weapon, indecent exposure, and fondling child under the age of 16.

Most notably, Dawsy said, in 1978, Coolie was convicted of executing a burglary while residents were home. Officials are drawing comparisons to the Lunsford case, because in this burglary, Coolie entered a child's bedroom, put his hand over the child's mouth and fondled the child.

After 3,000 leads in the case, the unidentified person of interest has clearly become the focus, and police will release his name Wednesday evening if he is not found, reports CBS News Correspondent Mark Strassmann.

Although Dawsy stopped short of calling the man a suspect, and said no one has been ruled out as being involved, the disclosure marked the first time investigators have provided public details of any progress in the case since Jessica disappeared from her bedroom, reports Strassman.

"This particular lead led us to believe there was some true credence and that we needed to go out and start looking for this individual," Dawsy said.

A statement issued earlier Tuesday by the sheriff said that "red flags" were raised in an FBI polygraph test given March 4 to the girl's grandmother, Ruth Lunsford, regarding two of her responses. But investigators were unable to determine what, if anything, she might know about Jessica's disappearance, the sheriff said.

"I'm not sure it wasn't stress-induced," Dawsy said. "We have totally not been able to rectify one of the answers she gave or why we got this type of response."

He declined to elaborate.

Reached Tuesday by telephone at the family's home, Ruth Lunsford, 73, said investigators have told the family nothing.

"I have no idea what they are talking about. I'm sorry, I'm under a lot of stress," she said. She told NBC's "Today" show Wednesday that she doesn't remember what she was questioned about.

No concerns were raised in polygraph tests given to Mark Lunsford, 41, and the girl's grandfather, 72-year-old Archie Lunsford, Dawsy said.

The reward for Jessie's safe return and information of her whereabouts had grown to $115,000. Atlanta Braves pitcher Mike Hampton, who grew up in Homosassa, donated $25,000.