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Viewer Believes She Saw Missing Teen On TV

UPDATED: 8:59 am EST March 20, 2006

Three years after Amanda Berry mysteriously disappeared from the streets of Cleveland, police continue searching for her.

Last week, a NewsChannel5 viewer thought she saw the teenager on television. 5 On Your Side chief investigator Duane Pohlman and Cuyahoga County sheriff's detectives wasted no time picking up the trail.

A young woman giving a testimonial on camera during the March 4 episode of the Ohio Lottery's show "Cash Explosion" triggered the tip.

"You gotta come, try it out," said a woman with blue hair.

March 20: Amanda Berry Sighting?

The viewer thought the face looked very much like Berry. The teenager disappeared three years ago, the day before her 17th birthday. She was walking home from work on Lorain Avenue.

Her case was in the news nearly every day for months. Amanda's picture was everywhere.

Detective Jamie Bonnette was stunned by the similarities of the blue-haired woman in the video and Berry.

"I think you might have her," Bonnette said.

"What's your gut say?" Pohlman asked.

"It's too close not to look into," Bonnette said.

Berry's mother, Louanna Miller, died two weeks ago. Her sister Beth is now the closest living relative. Pohlman asked her to view the tape.

"I just can't see her hair like that and stuff, but it has been so long and things, you know," Beth Serrano said. "See right there, right there's her face. I mean, when she does that, I can see the side of her face."

Serrano thought she saw her missing sister.

"Do you think that's her?" Pohlman asked.

"Yeah. From the looks, yeah," Serrano said.

Together, the 5 On Your Side investigators and the detectives put everything they had into an all-out search to identify the woman on the tape.

The search led investigators to Columbus, where the game show was taped.

Detectives searched the records and interviewed everyone who remembered the blue-haired girl on the tape.

"She was smiling. She was friendly," Johnny Douglas said.

But no one could put a name to the face.

Finally on Thursday, there was a break. Investigators tracked the blue-haired girl to a suburb outside of Toledo.

Pohlman arrived moments after the detectives. The blue-haired girl was not Berry, but a shy 22-year-old named Crystal, who shares the features of the missing girl from Cleveland.

Pohlman said that means a girl who mysteriously disappeared here Lorain Avenue is still missing, and there are no new leads.

He said it would be easy to write off the results of the investigation as disappointing, but Bonnette said no one is giving up on finding Berry.

If you have any information about Berry, contact Cuyahoga County sheriff's detectives at (216) 443-5578.





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