League City Area News Online

Victoria Ariell Sterner Still Missing

By Marilyn Clark, League City Area News Online

March 4, 2006

Victoria Ariell Sterner disappeared from her home in the 1000 block of Third Street in League City around 10:30 p.m. the night of Feb. 10.

Tim Miller, director of Texas EquuSearch, says that Ariell has still not returned home or contacted friends, parents or relatives. Therefore, Texas EquuSearch has upgraded her status to “endangered.”

Miller said Ariell was wearing a pink muscle shirt with a pink dragonfly, blue jeans and tennis shoes laced with black and white laces. Her backpack is grey and has Hawaiian-style flowers in a variety of colors.

Sgt. Dan Krieger, public information officer of the League City Police Department, said the Police Department uses different guidelines for classification and lists her as a runaway.

“In this case, it looked like she had been angry with her parents because she had not been able to go out the way she wanted,” Sgt. Krieger reported. “And she took most of her belongings with her. She took clothes and personal effects.

“In an abduction situation, that is not what we generally see. Generally, in those situations, it is just a missing child.”

“My own daughter, Laura, was listed as a runaway and 17 months later they found her body,” Miller said.

To minimize the risk of a teenager running away, Krieger’s advice to parents is “Maintain a good relationship with your kids, know who their friends are, know where they are going, be very familiar with people they are hanging out with and what they are doing.”

Krieger said that the department had to put out an Amber Alert in the past month or so because the parents were not aware of what their child was posting online.

Krieger said MySpace.com is a place where both teens and adults go to socialize. He is concerned about some of the adults who form friendships with teens and the nature of these associations.

“The Internet provides a tremendous feeling an anonymity and people in many cases pretend to be someone they are not,” Krieger said. “Children have an amazing ability to post all kinds of information that may lead a predator right to their front door.

“Parents need to pay attention to what web sites their children are visiting, who they are conversing with, and the content of what they are looking at and what they are putting out there themselves.”

Krieger shared that Robert A. Wise, 38, recently made sexually explicit comments to a 14-year-old that was on MySpace. The girl shared this information with her parents who alerted the police. We were later able to arrest him.

Krieger added that another 14-year-old reported that Wise had sex with her and that Wise met her on MySpace also.

“So, I understand children wanting privacy, but there are very real predators out there trying to turn their fantasy into reality,” Krieger said.

“If parents think that a computer could be misused, we recommend that it be in a commonly used area of the house where everybody can see what is going on.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for Connecticut announced on March 2 that two men were recently arrested on federal charges of illegal sexual contact with minors. They met the girls on MySpace.com. One of the girls was 11 years old. The other was a 14-year-old.

Kevin J. O’Connor, U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut, advised that parents talk frankly with their children about the dangers of Internet use and keep track of their online activities. He suggested that computers with internet access be placed in a frequently used room in their home. He pointed out that parental controls and monitoring software can be readily obtained and installed.

“Also, carefully review the information contained in a child’s screen name or internet profile, as predators will often use that information to target and pursue their victims,” U.S. Attorney O’Conner said.

“Finally, children must be warned never to arrange a face to face meeting with someone they meet online; to disclose their name, home address, school, or telephone number to others online; or to upload or download pictures to or from people they meet online and do not know personally.”

“A Parent’s Guide to Internet Safety” is available from the FBI at
http://www.fbi.gov/publications/pguide/pguidee.htm .

Police: Victoria Ariell Sterner Missing Person Picture to View

  • This poster version is quicker to load because the pictures' dpi is perfect for viewing on the web but not for printing - 72 dpi.

Police: Victoria Ariell Sterner Missing Person Poster to Print and Post

  • This poster version is slower to load because pictures' dpi is higher in quality - 200 dpi.

Sources: Texas EquuSearch, including photos

Sources: Texas EquuSearch

Interview with Sgt. Dan Krieger, public information officer of the League City Police Department

Interview with Tim Miller, director of Texas EquuSearch

U.S. Attorney’s Office for Connecticut March 2, 2006 press release – “Connecticut Computer Crimes Task Force: Two Out-Of-State Men Arrested, Charged with Using Internet to Engage in Sex with Minors” available at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/ct/Press2006/20060302.html

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