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Family still awaits word on missing MSU student

January 13, 2009

As the search for missing MSU horticulture student Krista Lueth enters a third month, friends and family are awaiting closure to a painful process.

Roy Lueth, Krista Lueth’s father, said Monday he’s hoping the $5,000 in reward money he has offered for information will help lead to her discovery, whether she is found alive or dead. Although police continue investigating the case as a missing persons case, Roy Lueth said he has given up hope of finding his daughter alive.

“We’re trying to find out where her body is,” Roy Lueth said. “It’s not a fact that she’s dead, it’s just my opinion.”

Krista Lueth, 34, was last seen Nov. 11 by her friend of eight years, Rick Stilgenbauer. He has lived in the unit below Lueth on the 1100 block of Eureka Street in Lansing since last summer.

Detective Sgt. Kevin Mark of the Michigan State Police said in December that in order to change the case from missing persons to homicide, police would need some sort of evidence that Krista Lueth is dead. State police also are offering a $5,000 reward for tips leading to Krista Lueth’s discovery.

Mark, the lead investigator in the case, could not be reached for comment on Monday.

Crime Stoppers of Mid-Michigan, a nonprofit organization that works with police to get information on open cases, is offering a $1,000 reward for any information leading to Krista Lueth’s discovery.

Horticulture junior Kathy Koch, who organized a candlelight vigil for Lueth in December, said she’s still hopeful that Lueth’s body will be found, but like Roy Lueth, she does not believe Krista Lueth will be found alive.

“I’m a realist,” Koch said. “I think her family deserves some type of closure from a human standpoint.”

Roy Lueth said police investigating the case have done ?their best to keep him informed.

“They have to be tight-lipped so things don’t get out that can hurt the case later on, assuming they find her and the person who did this to her,”? he said.

Koch said even though not everyone in the Department of Horticulture knew Krista?Lueth personally, her disappearance has affected ?many people.

“I know I just talked to (professor) Art Cameron’s wife, and they’re still really affected,” Koch said. “(Lueth) was going to be working for him, so it really bothers her.”

Roy Lueth said he had a message for the person who has kidnapped his daughter.

“Just tell us where she is so we can put her to rest,” he said. “We just want closure.”

Anyone with information on Krista Lueth’s disappearance should call the Michigan State Police Lansing Post at 517-322-1907 or Crime Stoppers at 517-483-7867.

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