Officials: Searches of last 24 hours prompted by lies

MUNCE -- After two days of searching for missing Dunkirk resident Brianna DiBattiste, authorities on Thursday arrested the man whose claims of knowledge about her fate had prompted extensive searches of a South Council Street house and a rural area near Upland.

Curtis Ray Neal, 33, an ex-convict from Dunkirk, is accused of leading police on what one official called a "wild goose chase."

Neal was preliminary charged with obstruction of justice and false informing.

When contacted by The Star Press for reaction to the news, Albany Police Chief Shannon Henry, one of the lead investigators in the DiBattiste case said, "We don't know some of these (informants). It's difficult to tell what's good and what's not."

Authorities said Neal at first told investigators that Jeremiah Rupel, 33 – who lives in the Muncie apartment house searched by police on Wednesday – was responsible for DiBattiste's death, and was hiding her body in the Council Street house's basement.

When police arrived to serve a warrant at 311 S. Council St., they arrested Rupel after he was found to be in possession of heroin and another controlled substance. No sign of DiBattiste was found in the house or basement, however.

Investigators said Neal was brought to the scene of the search and began to provide different accounts, at one point claiming he had disposed of a gun used to kill the Dunkirk woman.

Still later, Neal claimed DiBattiste had been killed at a house near the Ball State University campus and said he could lead officers to the scene, but was unable to do so.

He apparently later changed his story yet again and suggested DiBattiste's remains were in a secluded area near Upland in southeastern Grant County. An extensive search there on Thursday also produced no evidence.

The Dunkirk man eventually admitted he had been providing false information to police, authorities said.