Missing Astoria Womans Scent Discovered In Suspects Trunk

What a search team, helicopters and family and friends could not accomplish, may have been achieved by a dog this week, as the crime sniffing canine detected the scent of an Astoria travel writer missing since May in the Caribbean.
The woman, Claudia Kirschhoch, 29, has not been heard of since May 27, when the editor from Frommers Travel Guides went to Jamaica with another writer and mysteriously vanished. The case had seen little movement since her disappearance, but was given a major boost this week when Harry Oakes Jr., the head of International K-9 Search and Rescue said his dog Valorie detected her smell in the car owned by a man that Kirschhoch admittedly spent the night with.
Both Kirschhoch and writer Tania Grossinger were supposed to be on their way to Cuba, but, according to spokesman Leo Lambert, were denied the complimentary stay in the Sandals Resort because of the Elian Gonzales controversy going on at the time.
"I always have hope, but reality dictates that the chances for her survival are diminishing," Grossinger said. "We didnt know each other that well, but I got a chance to see the lively personality that everyone loves about her."
Deciding to stay in Jamaica, Kirschhoch went out to have a good time, and the night before her disappearance, Kirschhoch met Anthony Grant, a bartender at the Beaches Negril Resort. According to his lawyer, Michael Erskine, Grant admits to going out on a date with Kirschhoch, but says that he later drove her to a reggae bar and never heard from her again. Grant, however, failed two lie detector tests in which he denied smoking marijuana, going skinny dipping and having sexual relations with Kirschhoch. That was when Valorie was brought in.
According to Oakes, his 6-year-old collie has been key in helping find people after the Oklahoma City bombing, Hurricane Mitch in Honduras and an earthquake in Turkey. In Kirschhochs case, Valorie detected her scent in a number of locations, especially in the back seat and trunk of Grants car. There was also a detection
of the young woman on a pair of Grants work gloves stashed in a blue suitcase in the closet of his grandmothers home. Oakes said that the dogs reaction, tail down, ears back, whining and barking, indicated that Kirschhoch was in distress while in the car, but not yet dead.
Despite the dogs credentials, Jamaican police, who do not use dogs in such a manner, have little faith in his findings. Sgt. Det. Orell Simpson of the Negril Police Department said that the dog is a distraction and is not helping the case, just before storming out of a press conference in an angry huff.
"The dog sniffed the car, but as I have said before, there have been no conclusive findings," Simpson told The Queens Courier. "There are still, I repeat, still, no leads to this case."
Despite the of time passing, those closest to Kirschhoch still have hope for the young woman. If anyone has information, they can call the toll free Claudia hotline at (888) 967-9300.