Search For Remains Of Oregon Girl Planned

PORTLAND - Portland police announced plans yesterday for a large-scale search near Kelso, Wash., for the remains of a missing 10-year-old girl.

Police spokesman Derrick Foxworth said bones found in the area Tuesday were not human.

About 100 volunteers will search a wooded area east of Kelso on Sunday, Foxworth said. He said investigators also planned to examine the area in the next several days.

The searchers will look for the remains of Kacey Ann Perry, who ran away in September from the home of her father, Mike Ferdina, in southeast Portland.

No arrests have been made but Foxworth confirmed that police have a suspect in custody on an unrelated charge. He declined to identify the suspect.

Ferdina said he was told by police that a man in custody on a bank-robbery charge confessed to the killing.

Ferdina said he and Perry's mother, Tami L. Perry of Jefferson, know the suspect well and that the man appeared at his home the day after the disappearance and led efforts to distribute fliers.

Foxworth declined to confirm or deny Ferdina's account of his conversations with police.

Oregon State Medical Examiner Dr. Larry Lewman said he examined two bones Tuesday morning and determined they came from an animal. Additional bones found later also turned out to be from animals, Foxworth said.

Kacey disappeared Sept. 14 and became the target of a massive search that included an episode in December of "America's Most Wanted" television program.

The child was visiting her father when she ran away, telling him she was going to return to her mother, who has legal custody of the girl.

She reportedly was seen hitchhiking in Albany and at Interstates 5 and 205 near Wilsonville, Ore.