News
New technology used in Brooksville cold case
By Wendy Joan Biddlecombe | Hernando Today
Published: December 5, 2012
BROOKSVILLE - Megan Lee Ann Pratt's body has been missing for more than 21 years.Published: December 5, 2012
On Tuesday, Hernando County sheriff detectives revisited the cold case scene on Pointview Road with volunteers from USF's anthropology department, who brought with them new tools that might help locate Pratt's never-recovered remains.
The technology, called ground penetrating radar (GPR), uses radiation to determine inconsistencies in a ground's soil. GPR is useful for covering large pieces of land in a non-invasive manner, but because GPR does not produce actual images of the underground objects, false-positive readings can result.
Denise Moloney, public information officer for the Hernando County Sheriff's Office, said the team dug several holes looking for skeletal remains, but did not find any. USF also collected data on areas to dig in the future, and the information will be shared with the sheriff's office when available.
According to published reports in Hernando Today, Pratt was three years old when she went missing in 1991, though she wasn't reported missing until 2002. Sarah Mowery, Pratt's maternal grandmother, was told the child died in a car crash. Unable to locate a death certificate, Mowery called the Hernando County Sheriff's Office, and then Sheriff Richard Nugent eventually opened a murder investigation.
Pratt's stepfather, Jessie James Schober, was arrested in 2003, and eventually admitted to striking Pratt over the head in the bathtub. The toddler was knocked unconscious; Pratt did not receive medical attention and died from her injuries.
Schober said Pratt's body remained in a closet for a few days. With the odor spreading through the house, Schober said he took the toddler's body outside, set it on fire and buried the remains.
In 2005, Schober was sentenced to 25 years in prison for second-degree murder, even though the forensics team that scoured the property never recovered the girl's remains. Pratt's mother, Vickie Anne Grossberndt, was sentenced to six years in prison after pleading no contest to aggravated child abuse and testifying against her ex-husband. Grossberndt was paroled in 2006; Schober is eligible for parole on Sept. 12, 2015.
wbiddlecombe@hernandotoday.com (352) 544-5283