Vigil held in Ladson
Teista Burwell, 20, disappeared in 2007
By Diane Knich
The Post and Courier
Tina Swain recalls memories of her daughter Teista Burwell who has been missing since December 2007.
Teista Burwell
Previous story
Woman finally listed as missing; Teista Burwell disappeared at mall in December 2007, published 06/17/09
LADSON — The family of Teista Swain Burwell held a candlelight vigil Saturday night to draw attention to the missing young woman's case.
Even though the candles wouldn't stay lit in the evening downpour, more than 50 family members, friends and law enforcement officers gathered under tarps in her mother, Tina Swain's, yard in Ladson. People shared their grief, offered support to each other and to family members and listened to music.
On the day after Christmas in 2007, Burwell's car was found unlocked and abandoned in the parking lot at Northwoods Mall.
The young woman, who was 20 at the time, hasn't been seen since.
Swain tried to get authorities from at least four state and local jurisdictions to show an interest. But nobody did until earlier this month, when the Dorchester County Sheriff's Office posted Burwell's name on a national crime computer as "missing."
Deputies would like to talk to David Allen Kornahrens, with whom Burwell had formerly been involved, about the case.
Lt. Tony Phinney of the sheriff's office has dealt with Kornahrens before.
He has as many as 12 aliases, Phinney said, and a criminal rap sheet at least 27 pages long dating to 1988. His convictions include crimes such as burglary, harassment, grand larceny, bank fraud and noncustodial parental abduction.
A number of agencies are looking for him, including Charleston County, which has an armed robbery charge outstanding on him.
Swain said her daughter isn't the kind of person who would simply disappear and not call home.
She suspects her daughter is dead. But she wants to know what happened her, and she wants to bring her home.
"I just need to be able to say goodbye," she said. "I put my daughter on this earth, and I have a right to put her back in the earth."
Anyone with information on the disappearance of Burwell is asked to contact the Dorchester County Sheriff's Office at 832-0300 or Crimestoppers at 554-1111.
Reach Diane Knich at dknich@postandcourier.com or 937-5491.
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Comments
MC29461 (anonymous) says...
Sadly, this is the cost in human lives that families are enduring because of the shoddy leadership at the North Charleston Police Department.
Where is Chief Zumalt who is so quick to position himself on TV to promote immigration reform when his officers just blew off starting a missing persons investigation for this poor victim?
How many more young folks will go missing before North Charleston starts getting serious about protecting ALL of its citizens?
June 28, 2009 at 6:54 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
usa99 (anonymous) says...
You're quick to throw blame on the brass about stuff. Are you in law enforcement?
June 28, 2009 at 7:16 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
moonpie (anonymous) says...
There is plenty of blame for the "brass" on this one. And I think LEO does a great job for the most part but the ball was dropped in this case. The girl shouldn't have got mixed up with this creep either.
June 28, 2009 at 8:06 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
TheTruthFighter (anonymous) says...
I'm not suprised at all that the brass dropped the ball. Unfortunately, it's calm place.
June 28, 2009 at 9:23 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
stillfree1 (anonymous) says...
Why did the police wait so long to put the young woman on the missing database? There is also a tourist close to her age missing that was visiting Myrtle Beach.
June 28, 2009 at 10:22 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
realman (anonymous) says...
Not to take away from the tragedy of the article, but isn't there some type of journalism software that has a spell and grammar checker? I'm always noticing spelling and grammar errors in articles I read here.
June 28, 2009 at 5:23 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
usa99 (anonymous) says...
My things is, unless you're in on the case then you don't know who is to blame, if anyone. The brass aren't the ones who enter someone in as missing. An officer is completely capable of doing that his/herself. It's kind of hard to believe that the responding officer was told not to enter her as missing, especially the following days of not being able to contact her. Also, it would have been nice for the aliases the man she got 'mixed up' to be published, for just in case purposes. Considering he has 12 of them, there's no telling who has spoken with him and not known it was him.
June 28, 2009 at 5:54 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Brycolbay (anonymous) says...
Please try to keep Teista Burwell's name and story alive. If you see David Alan (Allen)
Kornahrens, please notify Law Enforcement. Someone has to know where Teista is and where David is.
Now Katherine Waring from Charleston is missing, too.
July 26, 2009 at 12:06 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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