Samantha Burns, a college student at Marshall University, of West Hamlin, West Virginia went missing November 12, 2002. Burns was last seen by her aunt at the Huntington Mall, where she worked part-time at J.C. Penney, around 7:30 pm on Monday, November 11, 2002. Burns called her mother at 9:46 pm on November 11, 2002 to say she was on her way home from visiting friends at the University Courtyard apartments in Huntington. Burns has not been seen or heard from since.

On Tuesday, November 12, 2002, Samantha's vehicle was discovered in northern Wayne County by the Wayne County Sheriff's Office. The vehicle was located in a secluded area and had been burned.

Investigators began looking at the two Kentucky fugitives, Chadrick Fulks and Branden Basham, who may have come through the area about the time Burns came up missing and could possibly link this case to them. The two escaped November 4, 2002 from the Hopkins County Correctional Facility.

The escaped inmates also are suspects in the abductions of a Kentucky man and a South Carolina woman, along with a burglary in South Carolina and numerous car thefts between the states.

Family, friends and local businesses have chipped in to create a $35,000 reward for Burn's safe return or for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone responsible for her disappearance.

HUNTINGTON -- Investigators conducted a third search of the Guyandotte River Saturday in their hunt for evidence regarding Samantha Burns, a Marshall University student who has been missing since Nov. 11.

Police also were looking into another lead, the latest in more than 100 that investigators have received, said Sgt. Arthur Arnold with the Huntington detachment of the West Virginia State Police.

"We’re going to continue to follow every lead we get," he said. "Like I’ve said a thousand times, it’s a process of elimination."

Arnold said he hopes to get permission from attorneys to visit and talk with suspects L. Branden Basham, 21, and Chadrick Fulks, 25, two Kentucky jail escapees linked to crimes in other states and possibly to Burns, a 19-year-old from Lincoln County.

Arnold had hoped on Friday to go to South Carolina, where the men are being held on charges linked to disappearance of Alice Donovan, a 44-year-old from Galivants Ferry, S.C. An affidavit introduced in U.S. Circuit Court indicates that Basham has admitted to kidnapping Donovan. The men also are charged in connection with the kidnapping of a Kentucky man who was found tied to a tree in Indiana.

Police said last week that Basham had given information about Burns to a West Virginia State Police officer, but police did not divulge the information.

What Basham said about the case did not include a lot of details, Arnold said.

"I’m hoping to get to South Carolina to interview him in great detail," he said. He was unable to go Friday because of a switching of attorneys. A new attorney needs time to get acquainted with the case, Arnold said.

Meanwhile, police will send evidence to an FBI lab for analysis Monday or Tuesday, Arnold said. "We have to get all the evidence out that we think is relevant to the case and then tell them what we’re looking for," he said.

At a news conference last week, FBI senior agent Joe Cicarelli said he expects to have no results in the case until next week at the earliest.

"We had some investigative leads that weren’t what we’d hoped," Cicarelli said, giving no further details.

And until police find a reason not to search the Guyandotte River, near the 5th Avenue bridge, they will continue to do so, Arnold said.

"So far, we haven’t found anything," he said.

Trainers told police that canines used in the search had a reaction, but it has not been confirmed as positive, Arnold said. Dogs sometimes react to other elements, he said.

The Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Coast Guard are among those helping with the search, he said. A camera borrowed from the Ohio River Valley Volunteer Fire Department has been used as well to send underwater video images to an above-ground monitor.

As the investigation continues, police are in constant contact with Burns’ family, talking to them at least once a day and often more than that, Arnold said.

"Right now, we all want the same thing," he said. Prosecution will be a concern at some point, he said, but now the main goal is to find Burns.

"Hopefully, we’ll find Samantha and she’ll be fine, but the family needs closure," he said.

For more on the Samantha Burns story and case, as it developes, please visit HeraldDispatch.com: Samantha Burns