Sunday, March 27, 1994

Gotlib family wants to search Fort Knox

again for girl’s body
By Mark E. McCormick
The Courier-Journal

With the pain of their daughter Ann's disappearance nearly 11 years ago still haunting
them, Anatoly and Lyudmila asked for help yesterday in laying their grief to rest.

They said at a news conference that Fort Knox officials won't allow Child Connection
Inc. -- specifically Keith Herron and his dog, Opti -- to search for Ann's body at Fort
Knox, where a death-row inmate who said he killed the girl claims to have dumped her
body. Fort Knox officials, however, said they had not been contacted by the Gotlibs.

Anatoly Gotlib said the pain of Ann's disappearance has never subsided and they
continue to search for answers.

Ann Gotlib, an 85-pound sixth-grader, disappeared from Bashford Manor Mall on June 1,
1983.

"We want this to be over, so that my family can have the closure that we deserve," he
said.

The latest tip came after Lyudmila Gotlib wrote to Michael Lee Lockhart, a Texas death-
row inmate who claimed to have killed Ann, asking him to direct them to the body.

Lockhart asked that a topographic map be sent to him in prison so he could pinpoint the
exact location of the body.

Child Connection Inc. and the FBI have copies of Lockhart's map, but law-enforcement
agencies think Lockhart is lying and want to question him again.

But, according to the Gotlibs, Lockhart refuses to talk to the FBI and said that if he was
contacted he would not cooperate.

Lockhart, who was stationed at Fort Knox when the girl disappeared, failed a polygraph
test about his involvement in the girl's death and was unable to answer specific questions
in 1990. An extensive search -- involving more than 15 people with shovels and a
bulldozer -- of a remote southern area of Fort Knox turned up nothing.
Lockhart already faced three death sentences when he "confessed" to killing Ann Gotlib
in 1990. Police initially considered his confession their most promising lead, but within a
few weeks some of the investigators talked about their frustration.

Authorities never said much about Lockhart's role in pinpointing the spot of the search in
1990, but he was brought in from Texas.

It was unclear yesterday if that site was near the site mentioned most recently by
Lockhart because the Gotlibs would not reveal the new map.

Fort Knox spokesman Mike Martin said he could not find anyone with the military police
or the post's criminal investigation division who had heard from the Gotlibs.

He said the military police cooperated fully with the FBI in 1990 and would work with
them again. They also would entertain the Gotlibs' request to search parts of the post, but
the military's response would depend on what evidence they provided.

Law-enforcement authorities, though sympathetic to the Gotlibs' frustration about not

having found their daughter, had little comment yesterday but insisted they are
continuing to work on the case.

"This is a case that has had national attention focused on it several times and had
produced a number of leads, all of which have been pursued," said FBI spokesman Bill
Cheek.

Though the family's criticism was aimed mostly at the FBI and Fort Knox, the case is
primarily being handled by Jefferson County police. Police spokeswoman Wendy Peters
said yesterday that police were continuing to work with the FBI and are taking all tips
seriously. "This case is not being forgotten."