15 year old Jean Marie Berlinghoff has been missing for 20 days. The last time anyone saw Jean, she was with her uncle, on November 10th. Her uncle, 44 year old Charles Berlinghoff has a criminal record and law enforcement considers that Jean is endangered.
Jean and her uncle disappeared on Wednesday November 10th, 2010, shortly after she told one of her other uncles she was “wanting to talk to my dad.”
She had been grounded by her father, Jacob Berlinghoff, at 7:38 AM for being up late with her abductor, Charles, and another uncle watching movies. Her cell phone was confiscated, as part of her punishment. When examined later, it contained messages from Charles calling her “baby,” but this was not sexually suggestive at that point.
Jean was last seen wearing torn blue jeans, and a black long sleeve shirt, van shoes.
Jean Marie Berlinghoff
DOB: May 1, 1995
Missing: Nov 10, 2010
Age Now: 15
Sex: Female
Race: White
Hair: Black
Eyes: Blue
Height: 5’3″ (160 cm)
Weight: 120 lbs (54 kg)
Charles Berlinghoff’s grey 1987 Oldsmobile Cutlass was found about 50 miles north of Redding, California, on Friday 27th November, in a turnout on Mears Ridge Road, south of Castella.
After searching a wide area around the car’s location, Police say there was no evidence of a crime there.
It had been snowing for several days and when found, the car had approximately seven inches of snow on it.
Charles Berlinghoff
Charles David Berlinghoff was born on July 20th 1966, and is now aged 44.
Charles Berlinghoff did plead guilty to one count of felony child molestation in 1998, but this has apparently been expunged. He was not listed on Megan’s Law nor was he required to register as a sex offender.
Charles never told anyone in his family that he had been convicted or even accused of child molestation.
Charles has two young children under the age of ten, who have previously accompanied him to visit his brother for the weekend, or weeks at a time, but he has had no contact with them since November 10th.
Charles was to respond to documents, relating to child custody of his children. A default judgment was issued against him, because he did not submit the documents back to Tehama County Courthouse prior to November 15th 2010.
Jean took none of her possessions, all of her clothes, make-up and personal belongings are still sitting where she left them.
The area where the car was found has a number of mines, but they were not searched on Sunday, due to the weather.
Secret Witness of Shasta County Inc. and an anonymous source have each offered $5,000 – $10,000 in all – for information leading to Charles Berlinghoff’s arrest and conviction.
If you have information on the whereabouts of Jean Marie Berlinghoff, please contact Secret Witness at (530) 243-2319 or the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office at (530) 245-6540.
Website dedicated to finding Jean:
www.findjean.org
A facebook page “Help Us Find Jean Berlinghoff” has been set up by a family friend.
See Also this story about the weekend search, from the Redding Record Searchlight: No sign of uncle, missing Redding teen; ‘huge’ search combs county’s northern edge
Please help find Jean Marie Berlinghoff.
