"Best Friends" - The Two Main Witnesses, siblings never questioned.

Cobb County police were provided with most of their information by the father of Gerard J. Sniffen, III,  Assistant Vice President of Norfolk Southern Railroad, Gerard J. Sniffen, Jr.  The father had received a phone call Tuesday night at his home, at 10:08 p.m. and reported his son missing on 12/9/1998.  The location of the phone call was determined after a subpoena was issued to Mahoney of  Bell South at the father's request, in order for the police to get the information.

Information provided by the father to police to aid in the search for his son included two "best friends," D.J. Call, and Mary (Badovinac) Rose - Badovinac, her maiden name, the wife of Howard Rose;  Jeff Locke of West Side Bank where his son had a checking account;  Kathy Mahoney of Bell South who should be contacted to gain information of the location of the phone booth from which his son had telephoned for help.

[Years later I discovered that Ms. Mary Rose/Badovinac was very well connected to prominent Kentucky and Colorado families.  Why would she, as a mother of four or five young children, be seducing a young man who was nearly half her age?  And if she was working at Michaels Arts and Crafts while she was mothering her children, how did she arrange to attend a burial service for her young lover in a state three states north of Georgia?  According to Gerard's father, and Cobb County police reports Howard Rose was well-aware of his wife's adultery and approved of it, as they had an "open" marriage.]

According to available police reports the names of Gerard's siblings who were ages 17 and 23 and also lived with their father, and his mother who had been ordered out of the house in a divorce situation two months prior to his disappearance were never mentioned to police by the father, who reported his son missing.

Although Gerard had been a student at Kennesaw State University, and was employed there, the names of his teachers and immediate supervisors were not mentioned.  Only two "friend" or "family" witnesses were given and for nearly two weeks there was no body found nor identified that might match the missing person.

On 12/9/1998, in the first Cobb County police report, the two best friends, D.J. Call and Mary Rose, told Gerard's father they had not heard from him on this date  (ref: Cobb: CCI)

On Friday, 12/11/1998, contact was made with Cobb County Investigator D.E. Thomas of Cobb County by Gerard's father at 10:15 a.m. the father provided the officer with phone numbers for witnesses and needed subpoenas, a contact at Bell South named Kathy Mahoney, and best friends,  "D.J." - "David Kall" and  "Mary Rose."  Gerard's father provided Investigator Thomas with their telephone numbers. (ref: Cobb: CCIR01)

12/14/1998 Missing person's mother, Fielda Michelle Sniffen, was contacted through attorney George Childs of Childs and Knight Lawoffices of Marietta. (ref: Coweta Co. report page #1)

On 12/15/1998 Cobb County Investigator D.E. Thomas was advised by the father there should have been a $500 or $750.00 deposit made to the victim's Westside Bank account.  He also named Mary Rose and her husband as Howard Rose,  saying Rose had no problems that his wife was involved with a younger man.  Thomas phoned Rose, "D.J.",  got a subpoena for the bank, for Bell South, contacted Coweta County about the car, giving them Sgt. Dempsey's contact info.   Thomas was told  by Lt. Banks to send all files to P.J. Coalson who was working on the case.  (ref: Cobb: CCIR01)
(sources say this money had been given him by the recently widowed paternal grandmother, Frances Sniffen, of Matthews, N.C.)

On 12/15/1998 victim's father contacted Pamela J. Coalson of the Cobb County police department and advised that his son, Jerry, is currently seeing a married female, Mary Rose.  According to the father, Rose's marriage is an open marriage.  Sniffen provided a home number for Mary Rose and named Westside Bank as the banking institution that should be checked.  On the same day, Coalson interviewed Mary Rose who told Coalson to interview D.J. Call, and she interviewed both by telephone and D. J. Call.  (ref: Cobb: CCIR08, CCIR02)

12/16/98 a subpoena was issued and served to Jeff Locke of Westside Bank in Marietta, Ga., effective 12/17/98 for the bank account (which should have shown a deposit of $750.00), last activity was cleared checks on 12/8/98.  (ref: Cobb: CCIR01, CCIR10)

12/16/1998 - helicopter and ground search, Coweta County.  Vehicle processed by Lanny Cox of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. (ref: Coweta pg. 2)

12/16/1998 - Alabama Department of Public Safety (ABI) received by mail one copy of ten prints of unknown individuals fingerprints (ref: Baldwin Co., Alabama police records)

12/17/1998 - Detective P.J. Coalson made contact with the victim's mother, Fielda Michelle Sniffen.
(ref: Cobb: CCIR11)

12/21/1998 - Baldwin County, Alabama sheriff's department had "received a faxed fingerprint card from  the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.  The print card was from Roswell P.D. in Georgia and was taken on 6/17/96. Both Lt. Mack and Lt. Bryars compared the prints and agreed they were a match." (Ref: AL hand written police report dated 12/22/98, Corporal John Garner)

12/21/1998 - Cobb Detective R.B. Smith contacted by Fielda Michelle Sniffen to verify her son was dead in Alabama.  Smith discovered Sniffen's file had been removed from the system 12/16/1998. (Ref: Coweta Pg. 2, and Cobb: CCIR12)

12/22/1998 - Alabama Department of Public Safety (ABI) received (7) faxes of fingerprint cards bearing the name of Gerard Joseph Sniffen (ref: Baldwin Co., Alabama police records)