Leads scarce in search for missing baby

Friday was supposed to be a big day for 11-month-old Harmony Jude Creech.

Harmony had waited her whole life to meet her father, a soldier with the 82nd Airborne Division.

But when Robert Earl Creech II -- fresh off the plane from a 15-month tour in Iraq -- walked into his daughter's bedroom Friday, she was gone.

Harmony had vanished during the night, sometime after her mother put her down to sleep and before late Friday morning, Harnett County Sheriff Larry Rollins said. Also missing: a pink sheet, a handful of bibs and nearly all of Harmony's clothes.

Since midday Friday, Harnett County officials have been searching for the baby girl. A Federal Bureau of Investigation team of child abduction specialists joined the hunt Friday night. Saturday, investigators had no leads. Anxious to narrow their search, Rollins said a scarcity of promising tips had his investigators pacing tracks they'd worn the day before.

"We feel like we're behind the eight-ball," Rollins said Saturday.

Harmony's disappearance has shaken the rural southeastern pocket of Harnett County outside Spring Lake, near Fort Bragg in Cumberland County.

Harmony's mother, Johni Michelle Heuser, told police she didn't see her daughter after she laid her in the crib late Thursday night until about 11 a.m. Friday, when she walked into the nursery, Rollins said. Heuser's mother had gone to pick up Creech from Pope Air Force Base, where he landed late Friday morning after more than a year's deployment. Heuser stayed home with Harmony and her three other small children.

When Heuser entered her daughter's room, she noticed the window was open. A screen was propped against the house outside. Nothing else seemed amiss, Rollins said.

Harmony's bedroom window faced Ray Road, a busy thoroughfare traveled by dozens of families navigating the modest neighborhood. The house is but 50 feet from the road, and even in the quietest moments of the night, a steady string of cars roll down the street, said Louis DeBerry, a neighbor who lives a stone's throw away and has rarely seen the family since they moved in about 15 months ago.

Investigators tried to stop every car Friday and Saturday, showing each driver a dated picture of blonde, blue-eyed Harmony as they asked for clues.

Harmony was last seen wearing pink footie pajamas with the words "Daddy's Girl" on one arm. Harmony weighs 18 pounds, and stands 2 feet, 7 inches, tall.

Anyone with information is urged to call the Harnett County Sheriff's Office at (910) 890-6039 or call 911 or *HP.