Missing Woman's Mom Calls for Mercy

A massive search through the Georgia mountains continues for 38-year-old Kristi Cornwell, who was apparently abducted during a walk down a two-lane road near her family home in the rural town of Blairsville, Ga.

The only evidence found so far in her disappearance is her cell phone, police say, adding Kristi was using her cell phone last Tuesday as she walked down the desolate Jones Creek Road. She was talking to her boyfriend, Douglas Davis, who lives in Atlanta. That's when, police say, Kristi told Davis a car pulled up. Seconds later, police say, Davis heard a struggle on the line, then the line went dead. Davis called Kristi's mother, Jo Ann Cornwell, who then called police.

Kristi's cell phone was found Friday by a private citizen, three-and-a-half miles from where she disappeared.

No further clues have been found in her disappearance, authorities say, and Georgia officials note they haven't focused on one suspect.

On "The Early Show" Monday, Jo Ann called for compassion from her daughter's abductor: "Whoever took her, (I want to) just ask them to please have mercy on her, and know that she has a 15-year-old son who needs his mother. And we need her back."

Jo Ann called her daughter's disappearance "the worst nightmare" of her family's lives, adding she wanted Kristi to know, if she was watching the show, that hundreds of people are looking for her.

Kristi was living with her mother in Georgia while on break from school, and had walked Jones Creek Road often.

Jo Ann told "Early Show" co-anchor Julie Chen she always considered the road and small neighborhood safe.

However, she described the road as "very isolated, (with) no houses nearby."
John Bankhead, spokesman of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, said on "The Early Show" Monday, "We have no indication of where she might be."

As for Davis, Richard Cornwell, Kristi's brother, refused to answer any questions about him on "The Early Show."

Richard said, "He's very critical in this investigation, since he was apparently the last person to talk to her before the abduction. So we're just going to withhold any comments about Mr. Davis right now."

Bankhead didn't indicate whether Davis is considered a suspect in the investigation.