Police appeal for help after emergency worker due to testify in rape trial vanishes from her home
30-year-old Lachelle Jordan was last seen on Saturday (6 May) night when she went to retrieve something from her car
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Authorities in Cleveland, Ohio, are searching for a missing EMT worker who was set to testify in a rape case and is believed to be in danger.
Thirty-year-old Lachelle Jordan was last seen on Saturday (6 May) night when she went to retrieve something from her car, CBS reported. Ms Jordan’s twin sister realised she never returned inside the home on Fairport Avenue when she put Ms Jordan’s two children to bed and reported her missing the next morning.
Ms Jordan, who had to be pulled from field work as an EMT due to recent threats she had received, was set to testify in a rape case against her former co-worker 65-year-old Michael Stennett. The mother-of-two had told her family she believed she was being watched, and had filed a restraining order against Mr Stennett.
On Sunday, a window in the residence where Ms Jordan lived was shot through. Mr Stennett has been arrested, according to local news station WKYC.
Mr Stennett has since been charged with menacing by stalking and violating a protection order while committing a felony.
He has not been named as a suspect in the case and authorities have not confirmed a link between Stennett’s most recent charges and the rape case.
Mr Stennett, a former basketball coach, was charged with two rape counts last year.
Last week, Ms Jordan reportedly told authorities that she felt Mr Stennett “was watching her from his vehicle,” News 5 Cleveland reported. She also reportedly told relatives that a female friend of Stennett had tried to run her off the road so she wouldn’t testify.
After she complained that Mr Stennett would also show up when she was responding to 911 calls, Ms Jordan’s boss took her off the streets to keep her safe.
“I want my daughter back, I want her well. If you can do that, then that’s what works for me,” Ms Jordan’s father Joseph Jordan told News 5. “That would take away the hurt, that would take away the pain, that would take away the sorrow.”
CrimeStoppers is offering a $5,000 reward for information regarding Ms Jordan’s whereabouts.
Anyone with information about her disappearance is asked to call the Cleveland Police Department at 216-252-7463.