Editor's note: The original version of this story misstated the date of the last known contact with Megan Waterman. It has been corrected in this version

By David Harry

Staff Writer

 

As the search for 22-year old Megan Waterman continues, a candlelight vigil will be held from 7 to 8:30 tonight on Congress Square in Portland.

The vigil will be in the square at the corner of Congress and High streets near the Eastland Park Hotel. On Saturday, poster balloons with pictures of Waterman will be launched at 8:30 a.m. from the parking lot at Wal-Mart on Gallery Drive.

Scarborough Police Detective Don Blatchford said there are no new developments in the search for Waterman, who last was seen early on June 5 at a Holiday Inn Express in Hauppage, N.Y., a town on Long Island.

“The breaks you want to hear are that someone has seen her,” Blatchford said. Waterman’s mother Lorraine Ela said her daughter had gone to New York to visit friends with her boyfriend, 20-year-old Akeem Cruz. Ela said Waterman and Cruz often visited New York, but she called three times a day to check on her daughter when she was away from home.

Police said some of the trips may have occurred because Waterman had placed Internet ads as an escort. Waterman was charged with prostitution in October 2009 by police in Bethpage, N.Y., a town on Long Island.

Ela said the family was aware of her activities.

“I knew what she was doing. We were trying to get her out of this,” she said.

Because this is a missing person investigation as opposed to a crime investigation, Blatchford said there are no suspects to consider.

Cruz, who was arrested in South Portland in May on drug trafficking charges and in Portland last week on a criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon charge, is considered a witness, Blatchford said.

Court dates for Cruz have not been scheduled, according to clerks at Cumberland County Superior Court in Portland.

Ela said the family has received help from Londonderry, N.H.-based LostNMissing, which organized the vigil and balloon launch.

“They have been amazing,” Ela said of the nonprofit established by Cynthia Caron.

Caron said she began helping families looking for missing loved ones about four years ago when she noticed posters about missing children drew little attention from shoppers.

Caron said she began making posters and developed a Web site about two years ago. LostNMissing now has a staff of nine volunteers and strives to keep families of missing people active.

“The first absolute emotion people feel is helplessness,” Caron said.

Ela said 30 balloons with cards containing information about Waterman will be launched at the vigil and 20 more on Saturday morning.

Caron said the balloon launch also is a chance for volunteers to get posters to circulate around town and the Portland area.

While Waterman was reported missing in New York, Caron said circulating posters locally could prompt someone who knows Waterman to come forward with crucial information for police.

Waterman is described as 5 feet 5 inches tall, about 145 pounds, has a birthmark inside her left forearm and a mole on the right side of her face. Police said she has brown or bleached blonde hair, and tattoos on her back and left forearm.

The tattoo on Waterman’s upper left arm says “Liette,” the one on her lower left arm is the Capricorn horoscope sign and she has a tribal design tattoo with a heart in the center on her lower back.

Anyone with information on Waterman’s whereabouts is asked to call Scarborough police at 883-6361. For more information about Waterman, visit the Facebook “Help Find Megan Waterman” page or www.meganwaterman.com.

 

Staff writer David Harry can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 219