Lebanon, July 30 - The Boone County Sheriff's Department says that the arrest warrant is for a Topeka, Kansas woman named Donna Walker, accused of calling the Shannon Sherrill family and claiming to be the girl that has been missing since 1986.
Walker will be charged with one count of identity deception, a felony, and one count of false reporting, a misdemeanor.
Police say she knowingly obtained identifying information of another person with the intent to harm or defraud another person, although State Police Sgt. Dave Bursten says, it is "virtually impossible to even guess as to what her motive was."
Shannon's sister, Betty Ames, says the family has been on a rollercoaster ride since the first phone call on July 26. "We've been up. We've been down."
At first, Mike Sherrill, Shannon's father, was hopeful when he learned of the news conference. "When they called me saying they were going to have a news conference I thought they were going to bring Shannon in here." He then broke down in tears.
Police talked to Walker on the phone several times. During those conversations she claimed to be three different people using three different voices. It was during those conversations that her story began to fall apart and police became suspicious.
It is also believed that Walker made calls to media organizations to alert them to the case.
Sgt. Bursten says Virginia Beach police have a "previous history (with Walker) of similar type of events." Citing agency policy, Bursten would not go into more detail.
He did add that Walker at one time lived in the Virginia Beach area.
Authorities believe that all the information she had about the case came from published reports, mostly available on the Internet.
While Walker claimed to be living in Virginia, the phone calls all originated from the Midwest and West.
Bursten says police are "Seeking help from across the land in locating this woman." Her last known residence was an apartment in Topeka, but attempts to contact her there have failed.
Boone County Prosecutor Todd Meyer says that once she is arrested it will be his job to "prosecute (her) to the fullest extent of the law."
