Aliayah Lunsford, 3 YR OLD, MISSING IN WEST VIRGINIA/ Lunsford home declared a "crime scene"/ Mother of Aliayah Lunsford Indicted for Federal Fraud Charges/Reward of $20K Offered by the FBI/Mother released after serving eight months for welfare fraud

Could not agree more!!

I agree with both of you!

I agree, artgal. It really gets my panties in a wad when kids disappear, parents clam up, and the case goes cold. I swear I would not be opposed to waterboarding these monsters to get to the bottom of where our missing children are. Give those kids a decent burial after collecting any forensic evidence that might be on/around the body.
Lock these freaks up so they can't hurt any more children.

For those of you not familiar the program w/ the food stamps/ vouchers is one that the government came up with so at risk kids are asssured milk, cheese, healthy cereal, fruits, etc so they have a good start in the first few years of their life. THIS is what the SNAP program is about and this is the food she took from her childrens mouths. Beyond shameful.

I have never seen such a sad little girl and that picture of her just breaks my heart everytime I see it.

FBI To Discuss W.Va. Missing Girl Case Thursday

By: Associated Press | NBC4
Published: March 29, 2012

WESTON, W.Va. --
The FBI is planning a public update on the case of a 3-year-old Lewis County girl who vanished more than six months ago.

The supervisory special agent in charge of the Clarksburg office, John Hambrick, will lead a briefing Thursday in Weston with state and local authorities.

Aliayah Lunsford disappeared from her Bendale home Sept. 24, and there has been no sign of her since. Her mother,Lena, has told police the child was in bed around 6:30 a.m. but gone when she checked on her later.

Last week, Lena Lunsford's attorney said she believes there is no way her daughter wandered off.

Authorities are treating Aliayah's disappearance as a crime, but they've named no suspects, made no arrests and refused to say what they think happened.

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Well, I sure hope the FBI does more than talk. They need to arrest Lena Lunsford. Period.

Well I don't live far from where she went missing I remember the first time I saw the pic of that sad lil girl ( the missing poster is in the window at my work ) and I felt horrible I always do when I see a missing poster but this one was real bad because it hit home. I remember you could not watch the local news and not see her face and everybody was talking about it. Now things are not like that anymore seems like nobody cares most of the posters are down ( not mine and it will stay up and if I have to raise hell !! ) Anyhow it seems like nobody cares there are no news nobody thinks of her anymore and it pisses me off ! I mean at least keep up the poster perhaps somebody remembers something perhaps someone has seen her. At least make sure who ever it is who did something to her will go to jail it's not like a baby like that can fight for herself !

OMG Riley's Mom, there's NO way I could take that poster down either! I would keep those missing (especially children) up until the day they were found, one way or another. Good for you keeping it up at your place of employment!

That much everybody can do ! Oh and I mean missing poster and not what I wrote

March 29, 2012
FBI: Aliayah Lunsford not abducted by intruder
Investigators keep information about missing Lewis County girl close to the chest

By The Associated Press

WESTON, W.Va. -- The FBI has a working theory about what happened to a 3-year-old Lewis County girl who vanished six months ago, and it doesn't involve a break-in.

Supervisory Agent John Hambrick wouldn't say during a news conference Thursday what investigators believe happened to Aliayah Lunsford or whether they think she's still alive. Hambrick also would not name a suspect, predict when an arrest might be made or offer any details about the ongoing investigation.

Asked about persons of interest, he said only: "It's a small universe."

Hambrick did, however, seek to assure residents of north-central West Virginia that they need not fear for their own children's safety, saying investigators have ruled out the notion that Aliayah was taken by an intruder.

"The initial concerns of somebody slipping in and taking Aliayah -- a break-in -- we found no evidence of that," Hambrick said. "We were not able to develop that as a theory."

Aliayah disappeared from her Lewis County home on Sept. 24, 2011, and there has been no sign of her since. Her mother, Lena Lunsford, told police her daughter was in bed at 6:30 a.m. but was gone when she checked on her a few hours later.

Last week, Lena Lunsford's attorney said his client believes there is no way her daughter wandered off. He also said she is cooperating with investigators and "is convinced that no blood relative of Aliayah knows what has happened to her."

Asked whether Lunsford believes a non-blood relative might have been involved in the disappearance, attorney Mike Woelfel told The Associated Press, "She doesn't know what has happened to Aliayah."

Lena Lunsford recently filed for divorce from her husband, Ralph Keith Lunsford. She's been living at her mother's house for months and also is awaiting sentencing for federal welfare fraud.

In a hearing on that case last fall, Ralph Lunsford suggested he's been the focus of some scrutiny. He told a judge he'd "been questioned by authorities day after day for the last month or two."

Hambrick wouldn't say Thursday if Ralph Lunsford is a suspect or if investigators are still talking to him.

Lena Lunsford, meanwhile, pleaded guilty in January to selling $114 worth of credit on her food stamp card for $50 cash. She had been indicted in October on multiple counts, accused of swapping for cash five times in two months.

U.S. Magistrate John Kaull ordered her to live apart from her husband after he admitted buying and using synthetic drugs called bath salts.

A small crowd of volunteers who have been searching for Aliayah Lunsford gathered outside the West Virginia State Police detachment here, shouting out questions along with reporters in the first public briefing authorities have given in months.

Among them was Tina Smith, Aliayah Lunsford's aunt and Lena Lunsford's half-sister. Her voice choked as she described the family's agonizing wait for news.

"It kills us all," she said. "It's on our minds day and night. We don't sleep. We don't eat.

"It's all you think about, all you do," Smith said. "You just hope and pray every day that there's some closure. The phone rings and you jump, and you think, 'There's the call.'"

Hambrick said the silence of investigators should not signal a lack of concern. He insisted "it's a priority matter."

He said two full-time FBI agents and two state troopers are dedicated to the case, along with the resources of the Lewis County Sheriff's Office.

Hambrick said the agencies have used "sophisticated investigative techniques" and "have done extensive video analysis," Of what, he would not say.

The West Virginia Fusion Center and law enforcement agencies have taken as many as 150 tips, and the FBI is offering a $20,000 reward for the one that leads to an arrest.

Smith said her family joins the volunteer search for Aliayah every day. She's talked to Lena Lunsford only once recently, for about five minutes at a family funeral, and said her half-sister is keeping her distance from everyone.

Smith also said she's frustrated that Aliayah Lunsford's case hasn't garnered national attention.

"We have tried and tried and tried," she said. ". . . If us family members wouldn't have kept it going, her case would have been swept under the rug. We wouldn't even be here today."

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FBI Gives Update on Search for Aliayah Lunsford

Posted: Jul 25, 2012 4:41 PM CDT
Updated: Jul 25, 2012 4:41 PM CDT
By Stacy Jacobson, Gilmer, Harrison and Lewis County Reporter

This Sunday will be Aliayah Lunsford's fourth birthday and the Federal Bureau of Investigations is still trying to figure out what happened to her last September.

Special Agent John Hambrick said the case continues to develop.

Hambrick has reemphasized the need for help from the public whether it is tips, or just staying interested in the case.

He said the FBI is convinced that someone knows what happened to Aliayah Lunsford.

"Her fourth birthday is Sunday," Hambrick said. "We need to find her. We simply want to emphasize the urgency of the matter and that we are not stopping. It may sound like a broken record. But we have to do it. We have to continue to reach out to the community because our belief is the answer is out there."

The FBI is still offering a $200,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest and conviction.

You can call the West Virginia Fusion Center at 304-558-4831 with an anonymous tip.

You also can leave a tip online, by visiting WV Fusion Center link is [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Aliayah Lunsford would have been 4 yesterday

Posted on 30 July 2012 by humbleopinion

Today is the 311th day since Aliayah Lunsford has been missing, but yesterday would have been her 4th birthday! Aliayah went missing on 24 September 2011. Her mother, Lena Lunsford, went to wake her up on Saturday morning between 9-9:30 am and Aliyah was missing. Her mother had contact with Aliyah 3 hours prior to her going missing. She was last seen wearing a pink princess sweatshirt, purple Dora pajama bottoms and no shoes. She has pierced ears and is missing her top four teeth.

Lena Lunsford who is currently in prison for selling the family food cards, was sent to prison on 28 June 2012 for 8 months. She also has to pay restitution to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food & Nutrition Service, plus one year probation after her prison time. Lunsford is divorcing her husband Ralph and before going to prison was living with her mother.

The FBI has said that the case will continue and they are looking for information.

If you have a tip, please contact the West Virginia Fusion Center at 304.558.4831 or 1.866.WVWATCH. The FBI is still offering a $20,000 reward for anyone who leads investigators to Aliayah, or for any information that leads to their identification, the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for her disappearance.

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Posted: Thursday, August 2, 2012 12:09 am | Updated: 12:12 am, Thu Aug 2, 2012.
by Jim Davis STAFF WRITER

WESTON — The investigation into what happened to Aliayah Lunsford remains a top priority almost a year after the Lewis County girl disappeared, an FBI spokeswoman said Wednesday.

The special agents assigned to the case are leaving no stone unturned, said Kelly Kochamba, with the FBI’s Pittsburgh field office.

“The case remains one of the top priorities,” Kochamba said. “We’re still following leads.”

Some of those leads pertain to possible suspects, she added.

The scope of the investigation has not changed despite the time that has elapsed, Kochamba said.

“We still treat the investigation the same as we always have,” Kochamba said. “We’re really hoping to make some key strides in the near future.”
Kochamba said anyone with information should contact the FBI at (304) 624-6200 or the West Virginia Intelligence Fusion Center at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] or (304) 558-4831.

Aliayah’s mother, Lena Lunsford, reported the girl missing on the morning of Sept. 24 from the family’s home in the Bendale section of Weston.
At the time of her disappearance, Aliayah was 3 years old, about 3 feet tall and 35 pounds.

Professional and volunteer teams searched the area for days before the FBI took over the investigation.

Authorities ruled Aliayah’s disappearance a criminal case in October and have labeled it a homicide, concealment or abduction.

Searches by various concerned groups resumed this year.

In March, FBI agent John Hambrick said Aliayah’s disappearance was not the result of someone breaking into the Lunsford home.

Hambrick also said the FBI had a theory of what happened to the girl, but would not elaborate.

In an unrelated case, Lena Lunsford is serving an eight-month prison term after pleading guilty to one count of federal food stamp fraud.

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This is NOT Rocket Science. FBI or NO FBI.

MORGANTOWN, W.VA. — Her mother is in prison for welfare fraud. Her stepfather is lying low. Her six siblings, some just infants, are in the custody of child welfare authorities. And Aliayah Lunsford, the brown-eyed 3-year-old who vanished from her West Virginia home a year ago Monday, is still missing.

"It just seems like everybody's forgotten her," said Aliayah's great-aunt Vickie Bowen, "but we're never going to forget."

In the year since Aliayah disappeared from her family's rented house in the Bendale section of Lewis County, Bowen has concluded the girl is probably dead, though she avoids using the word.

"But we still need to know. We need that closure," Bowen said. "We need to take care of her."

Aliayah's mother, Lena Lunsford, told police her daughter was in bed, wearing purple pajama pants and a pink sweat shirt, at 6:30 a.m. Sept. 24, 2011. But she said the child was missing when she checked on her a few hours later.

Six months later, an FBI official said investigators had a working theory about what happened - and it didn't involve a break-in. The agency has since refused to say what agents believe happened to Aliayah or whether they think she's still alive, though it is offering a $20,000 reward for information leading to her recovery or an arrest.

Authorities have made no arrests and named no suspects, only describing the people of interest as "a small universe."

Lewis County Sheriff's Deputy Lt. David Parks declined to discuss details of the investigation this week and referred questions to the FBI, which didn't return several messages. However, local authorities have put information about Aliayah in a brochure for people attending a hunting and fishing expo this weekend.

"It's something that stays in our minds all the time here," Parks said. "It's not something you can forget: There's a little girl missing."

Parks said the case is still active and tips are still coming in, though relatives complain they've had no updates in months.

"If there were more to do, we'd be doing it," he said. "Unfortunately, right now we're doing what we can with what we have."

Aliayah Lunsford's case has gotten little attention beyond the boundaries of her small home state, failing to resonate with the public in the way that Caylee Anthony's story did even though both girls were toddlers with chubby cheeks and brown hair.

The body of the 2-year-old Florida girl was found a month after she was reported missing in 2008. Anthony's mother, Casey, was charged with murder after telling a string of lies to police but was later acquitted.

However, Aliayah's case is different in several ways: Neither the immediate family nor the police sought national media attention. Investigators have been tight-lipped about the case, the family and their working theories from the start.

Aliayah's parents were also poor, and their family relationships were splintered before the girl vanished, so there has been no prominent spokesman.

And Aliayah has never been found, dead or alive.

The girl's mother was indicted weeks after Aliayah's disappearance on charges she illegally swapped welfare benefits for cash five times in two months. She was sentenced in May to eight months in prison after pleading guilty to selling $114 worth of credit on her food-stamp card for $50 cash and reported to prison in late June.

Attorney Mike Woelfel, who has represented Lena Lunsford in unrelated civil matters, has said Lena doesn't believe her daughter wandered off and has cooperated with investigators. She's also certain "no blood relative of Aliayah knows what has happened to her," though Woelfel has never elaborated.

Woelfel said he spoke to Lena Lunsford on Friday, and she told him she still believes "Aliayah is out there, alive."

"She's told the FBI everything she knows," he said, "so she's basically powerless to do anything other than sit and wait."

Lena Lunsford filed for divorce from her husband, Ralph Keith Lunsford, after her daughter's disappearance, and is still waiting for it to be finalized. She'd been ordered by a judge to live apart from Ralph after he acknowledged buying and using synthetic drugs called bath salts.

Both parents have repeatedly refused to comment on Aliayah's disappearance, but in a court proceeding, Ralph Lunsford acknowledged police had considered him a person of interest and repeatedly questioned him in the case.

Lena Lunsford gave birth to twins after Aliayah disappeared and before she went to prison. Bowen, their great-aunt, has never met them. Nor does she know where the other children are.

"Until we find answers for Aliayah," she said, "there's no chance of seeing them."

After a year with no solid leads, Bowen is frustrated - but she and a group of about 10 people still search regularly for Aliayah.

"If we hear anything, anything at all, we're there. No matter how unbelievable it seems to us, we go check it out," she said.

On Monday, Bowen and others will plant flowers near the welcome sign in Weston to honor Aliayah. They'll distribute flyers with her picture and post them at area businesses. They're even planning a small afternoon demonstration at the Lewis County Courthouse.

"We're not giving up," Bowen said. "There's no way we're going to give up. A child does not simply disappear."
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Posted: Sep 24, 2012 4:47 PM CDT
Updated: Sep 24, 2012 4:53 PM CDT
By Jamie Stover, Barbour, Doddridge, Randolph and Ritchie County Reporter - bio | email

On September 24th, 2011 law enforcement officials received a call about a missing girl.

A year later, officials still haven't received any calls leading to the safe return of now Aliayah Lunsford, 4.

But the community of Weston hasn't forgotten the missing child and it won't, until she's brought home.

The Lewis County Courthouse lawn was filled Monday with pictures of Aliayah and hopes for her safe return.

As Monday marks a milestone in her disappearance, little Aliayah has missed some milestones of her own, including her fourth birthday and the sentencing of her mother.

Lena Lunsford is currently in federal prison serving time for a welfare fraud conviction.

Lena Lunsford is expected to be released in February 2013.

In the meantime, the FBI is still actively investigating Aliayah's disappearance.

Special Agent John Hambrick with the FBI was unable to release any details on the case Monday.

The FBI is still offering a $20,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in this case.

If you have any information, call the W.Va. Fusion Center at 866-WV-WATCH.

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About two dozen employees took their oaths of office in Lewis County . Some will be back in their same positions. Others will be picking up after winning the election. One of them, Sheriff-Elect Adam Gissy is taking on a task of a few big cases.

Two of the most notable include the recent Alum Bridge fire where three people were found dead. The other is the disappearance of then 3-year-old Aliayah Lunsford.

The department is still trying to find out how the family died and where Aliayah is. Although he's been watching both cases from afar, Gissy plans to dive into the case files as soon as possible.

"Make sure that we're up to speed on the statements that were taken and try to do our best to get some closure on those two incidents that you were talking about. I, like the rest of the folks in the community, would like to have some closure and hopefully we'll do our best to hopefully attain that closure," said Gissy.

He officially takes office January 1.
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Good!! I am amazed this case has zero resolution and that mother has not been charged for at the very least, neglect. The poor child has a black eye and the mother is or was locked up for selling her food stamps. There is ONLY one reason a person sells food stamps. Drugs. This is NO "Mother".

WESTON — In office less than a week, Lewis Sheriff Adam Gissy is familiarizing himself with the case of a missing child that has confounded county residents and law enforcement alike.
A second new year has arrived since Aliayah Lunsford disappeared Sept. 24, 2011, from her home in Bendale, south of Weston.
Gissy said he and Chief Deputy Randy Hyre are going over the case file to become acquainted with the ongoing investigation and hopefully notice something others may have missed.
“We’re going to heavily and intensively investigate and do our best to bring about some closure, if at all possible,” Gissy said.
Gissy — whose father, Mike, was sheriff when Aliayah disappeared — also will give plausible tips his full attention.
“As information comes in, it will be handled aggressively and intensively,” he said.
Federal authorities also continue to investigate the case, which they have labeled a homicide, concealment or abduction.
But FBI spokeswoman Kelly Kochamba said investigators have nothing new to report.
“We’re still investigating it actively,” Kochamba said.
Kochamba said the FBI was “dedicating the appropriate amount” of manpower to the case, but couldn’t elaborate.
“It changes day in and day out,” she said.
Kochamba also declined to discuss if there were any suspects.
Aliayah was living with her family when she disappeared almost 16 months ago. She was 3 years old, 3 feet tall and 35 pounds at the time.
Professional and volunteer search teams scoured the area for days before the FBI took over the investigation.
Searches by various groups resumed last year.
Last February, authorities released a flier with a photo showing Aliayah with her hair closely cropped and what looks like a bruise extending from below her left eye down her cheek.
A month later, FBI agent John Hambrick said the bureau had a theory of what happened to the girl, but would not elaborate.
In an unrelated case, Aliayah’s mother, Lena Lunsford, is completing an eight-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to charges of federal food stamp fraud.
Lena Lunsford is scheduled to be released Feb. 26 from a community corrections facility in Maryland, according to the federal Bureau of Prisons website.
Anyone with information about Aliayah should contact the FBI at (304) 624-6200 or the West Virginia Intelligence Fusion Center at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] or (304) 558-4831.
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Ralph Lunsford and wife Lena are seen leaving the federal courthouse in Elkins in November 2011.

This poster for missing girl Aliayah Lunsford hangs on a bulletin board in the Lewis County Courthouse, directly below a poster for two Jane Lew women who have been missing since 1999.

Three-year-old Aliayah Lunsford remains missing after missing since 2011, but a positive update is available. A new sheriff is looking over the case, which is great news considering how quickly cases like these go stale when they remain unsolved. The new sheriff of Lewis County is having a look through the case files and going over things to see if anything might have been missed.
It's always good news when fresh eyes go over cases like these because sometimes things are missed the first time around. Vital evidence may have been overlooked and other details may have not raised red flags that might with this new sheriff.

It should also be noted that the FBI is also on the case, investigating the disappearance of the missing West Virginia tot. Aliayah Lunsford vanished from her home in Sept. of 2011, but officials have long acknowledged that her disappearance is the result of a crime. Unfortunately no arrests have been made, but the online speculation surrounding the child's case is thick to this very day. Hopefully the new sheriff will take some of the speculation into consideration as he delves deeply into the case.

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She has the sweetest little face but she looks miserable in all the photo's I've seen of her.

Monday February 18, 2013

In September 2011, a sad-eyed 3-year-old named Aliayah Lunsford disappeared from a home in Lewis County. Despite the best efforts of law enforcement, no trace of her has ever been found.

In October 2011, the state Department of Health and Human Resources filed an abuse and neglect petition, alleging Lena and Ralph Lunsford's other six children were in imminent danger.

The investigation into Aliayah's disappearance also led within weeks to Lena Lunsford's indictment on charges that she illegally swapped welfare benefits for cash five times within two months.

The little girl's mother pleaded guilty to selling $114 worth of credit on her food-stamp card for $50 cash.

Lena Lunsford gave birth to twins after Aliayah disappeared, and then went to prison in June 2012.

The state Supreme Court last week upheld the Lewis Circuit Court's ruling terminating her parental rights. She's scheduled to be released Feb. 16, but she will not get her other six children back.

The whole story is an outrage. Here's hoping Aliayah Lunsford receives justice in the end.

But state officials also ought to commission an unsparing report on how much such fraud occurs in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Here was Lena Lunsford, mother of seven, selling taxpayer-provided food assistance six times in two months - once for less than 50 cents on the dollar.

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel found that in 2010, nearly 2,000 food stamp recipients reported "losing" their electronic benefit cards six or more times. Sixty food stamp recipients had received replacement cards 12 or more times in one year.

More than 46.2 million Americans are getting SNAP benefits. That includes 350,217 in West Virginia.

All Americans would help hungry children. But public support for food stamps is severely damaged when taxpayers find out they give benefits to people who sell them to get cash.

West Virginia needs to study its own caseload and report its finding to the public. Governments need to be able to prove they work hard to prevent fraud.

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She's a disgusting POS.

Posted: Feb 27, 2013 8:38 AM CST
Updated: Feb 27, 2013 8:38 AM CST

MORGANTOWN (AP) -
The mother of a 3-year-old West Virginia girl who vanished in September 2011 is out of prison.

U.S. Bureau of Prison records showed Wednesday that Lena Lunsford was released from a Maryland facility after serving eight months for welfare fraud.

It's unclear whether she's returning to West Virginia. Lawyers who have previously worked with Lunsford won't return phone calls or emails.

Lunsford was living with her mother before she went to prison. Her mother has since died, and Lunsford filed for divorce from husband Ralph.

No one has been charged in the disappearance of Aliayah Lunsford.

Lunsford's other six children are in state care. Earlier this month, the state Supreme Court unanimously upheld a Lewis County judge's order terminating her parental rights.

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18 months ago Sunday, a three year old girl went missing from her Lewis County home. The disappearance of Aliayah Lunsford is tragic and still unknown.

911 Center: 911, what's your emergency?
Lena Lunsford: My baby's missing.

This was the call made by Lena Lunsford the morning of September 24th, 2011. She told police Aliayah was in her bed at 6:30 and was gone when she checked on her just a few hours later.

"I want her home with us where she belongs because we all love and miss her so much," said Aliayah's Aunt.

Some people are wondering why an amber alert wasn't set out, but FBI said it was because they had nothing to send. there was no sign of a break-in or any leads on a vehicle or person.

"I plan on doing anything I have to to keep Aliayah's name out there and a live so that people don't forget about her," said Aliayah's Aunt.

Family members said they just don't want the world to forget who she was.

"If it was anyone else's child. Would you want them to be forgotten? I mean she's a three-year-old. a three-year-old doesn't just vanish into thin air," said Family Member.

Unfortunately no one wanted to go on camera with their thoughts Sunday, but one woman said she doesn't know what happened to this little girl. She just hopes she's in a better place.

The investigation is technically still underway since nothing has been found to close the case.

"My personal feeling is that from day one we haven't been given the proper information and until that proper information comes out and is made public or is least brought to our desk then this is going to continue on," said Sheriff Mike Gissy, Lewis County Sheriff's Department.
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WHEELING — The lawyer for the mother of missing Lewis County toddler Aliayah Lunsford says a U.S. probation office plan to require his client to move from Wheeling to the Clarksburg area is unsound.
Federal Defender Brian Kornbrath filed the motion late Thursday in the case of Lena Lunsford. She’s on federal supervised release after serving prison time for federal food stamp fraud.
The motion notes that Kornbrath specifically asked that his client come from her prison term to Wheeling because of “extreme notoriety ... generated in the Clarksburg area” due to the investigation into the whereabouts of the still missing 3-year-old Aliayah Lunsford.
Defendant Lunsford was allowed to reside at the YWCA and participate in a substance abuse program in Wheeling after Kornbrath voiced these concerns.
However, the defendant was told April 22 by the YWCA that she wasn’t a viable candidate for the substance abuse program “because she recently became pregnant and because her substance abuse history was in remission.”
Also, Lunsford has been told by the YWCA that she owes $720 in back rent for staying there “these last several months,” Kornbrath asserts. She can’t pay and will have to leave the YWCA in the very near future, Kornbrath asserts.
Based on that, the federal probation office has ordered Lunsford to relocate to the Clarksburg area and transfer her supervised release in the very near future.
Kornbrath says there’s no “sound and rational basis to transfer” Lunsford and, “in fact, it will adversely affect the defendant and undercut her chances of success on supervision.”
He notes she has a job at a pizza shop in Wheeling, and that she’s enrolled at a business college there and is doing well.
Lunsford also can find temporary lodging with the Salvation Army in Wheeling, according to Kornbrath. And once she gets her next paycheck, she can afford an efficiency apartment, Kornbrath asserts. Plus, she can work to pay back the YWCA, the lawyer says.
Kornbath is asking Chief District Judge John Preston Bailey for a status conference.
He plans to call a work supervisor, a college administrator, a counselor and the probation officer who wants the move from Wheeling to the Clarksburg area.
Aliayah Lunsford went missing while Lunsford and her husband were living in the Weston area. What happened to her remains a mystery, with the FBI and local law enforcement continuing to investigate.
We'll have more in Saturday's print and electronic editions.
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I sure hope this female is sent back to jail to serve out her time! I'm sure thinking there isn't going to be any justice for little Aliayah....MOO.
Thanks for the update Turtle, I would have missed this one!

What a loser!!! How many LIVING, non-missing kids does she have?She makes me sick!

WHEELING, West Virginia — The mother of a missing West Virginia girl may soon learn whether she'll remain behind bars.

U.S. Magistrate James Seibert is set to hear arguments Thursday in Wheeling on whether Lena Lunsford's probation should be revoked.

The mother of missing 3-year-old Aliayah Lunsford was arrested twice in two weeks for violating the terms of her supervised release.

She'd served eight months in prison for welfare fraud after her daughter disappeared from their Lewis County home in September 2011. The child has never been found, and no one has been charged in her disappearance.

Probation officials are recommending Seibert revoke her probation. They say Lunsford has been maintaining contact with a convicted felon.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] has been held at the Northern Regional Jail in Moundsville since her last arrest.

Good Lord I stopped following this one awhile back, can't believe all that has transpired.
Hope she stays locked up, has her baby in jail and its taken from her for good and adopted by a nice family. Obviously she is unable to keep her own children safe. Worse yet what if she was involved in her daughters death/ disappearance, she shouldn't ever be in charge of any child again. LOOK court system, probation system, and Child Protective Services and don't eff this up by letting her ever parent again.

And she is trash, she runs with trash, all she knows is trash. A change in location would serve her well to get her away from those people and she could start fresh (with counseling of some kind) so she doesn't fall into the same trap of befriending druggies and peeps who sell their food stamps, etc. Otherwise, we will be hearing about her again and again. J M O

Hippy

February 25, 2014


Aliayah Lunsford as she might look today, 2 1/2 years after she disappeared.
By The Associated Press
Advertiser

WESTON, W.Va. -- The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has released an age-progressed photograph of a West Virginia girl who disappeared in 2011.

Aliayah Lunsford was 3 years old when she was reported missing from her home in Lewis County on Sept. 24, 2011. The photograph depicts what she might look like today.

Authorities have made no arrests and identified no suspects. The FBI has refused to say whether agents believe Aliayah is still alive, but it has offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to her recovery or an arrest.

The girl's mother, Lena Lunsford, spent eight months in prison for welfare fraud after her daughter vanished.

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