By David Lohr

(Continued)

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Due to the circumstances surrounding the discovery, investigators began to suspect Pitts might know more than he was letting on. Anderson Police Department Detective Joel Sandefur went to Judge John Shanks and asked him to authorize a search warrant for Pitts' apartment. Sandefur told Shanks that investigators were suspicious of Pitts because the body was not in a location where it could easily be found.

"The body was not in clear view," Sandefur told Shanks at a probable cause hearing Thursday. "It was hidden."

Upon hearing the details of the investigation, Shanks granted the Anderson Police Department permission to search Pitts' apartment, located on the 1600 block of Southwood Road. During a search of the property, investigators found two very incriminating pieces of evidence. Inside a trash bag, they found a shirt stained with blood, and in a 1993 Chevrolet Cavalier, they found a jack handle with human blood and what appeared to be particles of hair and flesh. According to the car's owner, Jennifer Lawler, Pitts had borrowed the car earlier that morning so he could pick up Amanda at her school bus stop.

Jesse Pitts

Investigators had substantial evidence linking Pitts to the crime, so the decision was made to book him on suspicion of murder.

"The severity of this is horrorendous," Detective Terry Sollars told Newslinkindiana.com Friday. "It places a major burden on all of the police involved in this to want to be able to solve this quickly. We don't want someone out there walking around the streets, who has killed a 14-year-old girl in such a horrible fashion."

Contact David Lohr  at           crimewriter74@adelphia.net

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