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Spotsylvania County Sheriff Ron Knight has asked the county's school bus drivers to be alert for strangers once school starts Sept. 2.
"Carry a log book with you," he told them during a meeting at Spotsylvania Middle School yesterday. "When you observe something that doesn't look good, write it down."
Many Neighborhood Watch patrols began doing just that after 12-year-old Kati Lisk and her 15-year-old sister, Kristin, disappeared from their Block House Road home May 1 shortly after getting off their school buses. Their bodies were found in a Hanover County river five days later.
Investigators say they were slain by the same person who abducted 16-year-old Sofia Silva from her Spotsylvania County home Sept. 9. Her body was found in a King George County creek five weeks later.
Many neighborhood patrols will be following buses in their communities to make sure students get on and off the buses safely, Knight said. His office is trying to get magnetic signs for their cars.
Until then, he asked bus drivers to report anyone following them, even if they think it might be a Neighborhood Watch car.
"We'll at least be able to put your mind at ease," he said.
Knight also said that some neighborhoods are designating houses where students can go if their parents aren't home.
Neighborhood Watch patrol tips have helped boost the number of calls the Spotsylvania County Sheriff's Office has been getting from 19,000 calls a month to 26,000, Knight said.
"We've followed up on 8,000 leads [on the slayings] so far," he said. "We're working on this case 16 hours a day, six days a week. Everything that can be done is being done in the Lisk and Silva cases."
Experts on serial killers say there is a strong possibility the person responsible for the three girls' deaths will strike again. Bus drivers are being asked to help watch out for their charges because the Lisk sisters disappeared soon after they got off their school buses.
Their father, Ron Lisk, didn't realize anything was wrong until he made his daily afternoon call to check on them and no one answered.
"A lot of the drivers would not do night trips after that," said Betty Kelly, a Spotsylvania County bus driver. "They were afraid. We're not only responsible for ourselves, but the children. We're the last ones they see when they get dropped off at school after an event."
Concern about the recent slayings prompted Louis Dominquez of the National Crime Council to present the school system with the first copies of the organization's new CDöROM on safety. It features McGruff, the crime-fighting dog.
The council is also trying to find a sponsor to buy a toy version of the trench coat-wearing hound for each school bus.
"We want to remind kids to Îtake a bite out of crime,'" Dominquez said.
School bus drivers were also asked to drive with their headlights on as a reminder to others to drive safely. And they were told to report the license number of any car that passes their buses while they are stopped. Knight said a deputy would issue the car's owner a warning instead of making bus drivers miss work to testify in court.
"I've had parents tear up their kids' licenses because they were the ones who were driving."
