April 14, 200521 yr http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...ap/missing_girl Sex Offender Questioned Over Missing Girl 1 hour, 57 minutes ago U.S. National - AP RUSKIN, Fla. - Authorities investigating the weekend disappearance of a 13-year-old girl from her family's mobile home questioned a convicted sex offender who once had a relationship with her mother, officials said. Volunteers continued searching Thursday for Sarah Michelle Lunde, who has a troubled past and has run away before, Hillsborough County Sheriff's David Gee said. But she has usually returned after a few hours, and officials don't believe this is "a typical runaway," he said. The man being questioned, 36-year-old David Onstott, was arrested Tuesday night in an unrelated incident in nearby Apollo Beach. Authorities say he threatened another man with a screwdriver. "Obviously, he has our attention," Gee said, declining to talk about the details of the investigation. Sarah disappeared after returning home Saturday night from a trip with a church youth group. Her 17-year-old brother, Andrew, said he saw her at about 9 p.m. Saturday and later went out with friends. When he returned home about 4 a.m. Sunday, the front door was open and Sarah was gone, he said. A half-empty bottle of beer had appeared on the kitchen table, he said. About an hour later, Andrew told The Tampa Tribune, Onstott showed up at the family's home before dawn that morning and asked for the teens' mother. Lunde said that when he told Onstott that his mother wasn't home, Onstott grabbed the beer bottle and left. "He just showed up out of the blue," Lunde said. "It was strange." Sarah's mother, thinking her daughter was at a friend's house, didn't report her missing until Monday. The relationship between the girl's mother and Onstott had ended months earlier, Gee said. Onstott spent 5 1/2 years in prison after being convicted in 1995 of sexual battery on an acquaintance. The victim testified that Onstott knocked on her door, asked to use the bathroom then threw her on the floor and raped her. David Onstott Sr. said he doesn't think his son is involved in Sarah's disappearance. "I can't believe he would hurt a young girl," he said. The sheriff's office also interviewed the girl's father, who lives in Zephyrhills, about 50 miles north of this Tampa Bay area town. He is not considered a suspect, Gee said. Ruskin is about 100 miles south of Homosassa, where a three-week search for a missing 9-year-old, Jessica Lunsford, ended with the discovery of her body last month. A registered sex offender who stayed at a home near hers has been charged with her slaying. for Sarah..
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