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June 7, 2006

Stepfather said he was suspect in girl's disappearance

CRANSTON – The stepfather of an 11-year-old girl who was missing for more than a day said this morning that he was the police's lead suspect until she was found yesterday in downtown Providence.

Clifton Choiniere said he was suspected because he told police he was the last to have seen Shai Ramsdell on Monday morning at their Montgomery Avenue home, just before she was supposed to leave for school.

Choiniere said that he was preparing to take a lie-detector test around 6 p.m. yesterday at Cranston police headquarters when word arrived that Shai had been found across from the Providence Place mall.

Cranston police officials would not comment this morning. A receptionist said that a news conference on the incident would likely be held later today.

After Shai was found last night, she was taken to Cranston police headquarters and to
Hasbro Children’s Hospital, her stepfather said. Since then, Choiniere said that Shai has been sequestered with her mother. He wouldn't say where they were.

Later this morning, Lydia Choiniere, Shai's mother, came to the door of her mother's house, which is nearby in the neighborhood. “We can’t talk to you right now,” she told a reporter. “We can’t talk to you right now.”

-- projo.com staff writer Kate Bramson

Posted by Kate Bramson  at 12:15 PM | Permalink

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