EL DORADO, Kan. – A missing Kansas college student believed to be the victim of foul play apparently led a double life as a nude Internet model by the name of Zoey Zane.
Nude photos of 18-year-old Emily Sander appeared on a Zoey Zane Web site before she vanished, and investigators are looking into whether her modeling had anything to do with her disappearance last Friday.
"She enjoyed it. She is a young teenage girl and she wanted to be in the movies and enjoyed movies. She needed the extra money," Nikki Watson, a close friend of Sander's at Butler Community College, told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "Nobody in El Dorado knew besides her close friends."
Sander's brother, Jacob Sander, confirmed that the nude woman pictured on the site is his sister, but he refused further comment.
El Dorado Police Chief Tom Boren said FBI and state experts on Internet crime have been called in.
"Investigators are aware that Ms. Sander was apparently involved in a Web site situation," he said. "Allegations that this may factor into her disappearance are being thoroughly investigated."
Sander was last seen leaving a bar in El Dorado, about 30 miles from Wichita, with a man identified as Israel Mireles, 24, authorities said. Sander and Mireles had met that night at the bar, according to Watson.
After Mireles did not show up Saturday at his job at an Italian restaurant, his employer went to the motel room where he was staying.
"His motel room was found to appear in great disarray and a large quantity of blood was found in the room," Boren said. "Bed clothing was found to be missing. The police were called."
A nationwide manhunt was under way for Mireles and his 16-year-old girlfriend. A rental car he had been driving turned up Tuesday in Texas, where he had family. On Tuesday, authorities released a photo of a white bedspread with a floral design and asked for the public's help in locating it.
"Our hopes kind of diminish each day we don't hear from her," the police chief said Wednesday.
Sander recently signed a contract for the nude work on the Web site, and told her parents about it on Thanksgiving, Watson said. Her boyfriend broke up with her because he did not approve, Watson said.
Sander's grandmother, Shirley Sander, said: "What you are telling me now is things we have never been told or heard. I don't know what to say. We have never heard anything like this and truthfully I don't believe it."
The company listed as the domain registrant for the Web site lists a Wichita address.
Watson said she does not believe Sander's pornography work had anything to do with the disappearance.
"Nobody even knew about this until one of our close friends came out and told everybody because Emily did not want anybody to know," Watson said.
The brown-haired, blue-eyed Sander was last seen wearing low-rider jeans and a "Don't Mess With Texas" T-shirt. She has tattoos and body piercings.
On Tuesday, authorities released a photo of a white bedspread with a floral design and asked for the public's help in locating it. As divers searched Walnut River dam area, police asked the public to pay attention to areas east of El Dorado along U.S. 54 to Fort Scott and along U.S. 69 to Baxter Springs.
Sanders' car was found Saturday at the bar. The rented 2007 Ford Taurus Mireles was believed to be driving was found by Texas Rangers in Vernon, Texas, about 50 miles northwest of Wichita Falls. Detectives and special agents from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation were at that location to help process the vehicle and interview Mireles family members who lived in the area.
El Dorado Detective Justin Phillips on Wednesday declined to reveal whether the relatives saw Mireles or knew where he went after abandoning his rental car.
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