ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — One man is suspected in two missing persons cases, Tracy Ocasio from Ocoee and Chris George from Apopka, but James Hataway hasn't been charged.
George's mother had never talked to the media until Monday, and nearly two years after her son's disappearance she still has no answers. She's now going public for that one tip that could bring closure to the case.
It has been nearly two years since Rachael George's son Chris vanished. His case was thrown into the spotlight 15 weeks after his disappearance when Ocasio disappeared and investigators discovered they were both last seen alive with Hataway.
"I'm really shocked that it's taken this long to determine what happened," George said.
Apopka investigators have searched eight different times in the last year acting on tips, but admit they've run out of leads. The Ocasios and Georges are now going public together in hopes of generating new leads.
"Nobody is brave enough to come forward and say anything," Liz Ocasio, Tracey's mother, said.
George says her son Chris knew a man named Paul Hutto. Hutto was Hataway's employer and WFTV learned that Ocasio had a run in with Hutto at the Tap Room three weeks before she disappeared.
An affidavit shows police wanted him for assaulting Ocasio.
Also, a recent lake search was prompted by a text that Ocasio sent to a friend the night she disappeared, just moments after video was captured at the Tap Room she texted "gone to the lake."
In both cases the victims' cars were abandoned.
George's car was found deserted along an Apopka road.
Detectives say they would have handled his case differently had they known then Hataway would be connected to another crime.
"If we were able to look down the road eight months to a year and foresee this car had any value during those times down the road, we would have processed it more extensively," said Cpt. Donald Heston, Apopka Police Department.
Chris George was known to have a drug problem and, while police maintain they conducted several extensive searches initially, they acknowledge their investigation was hindered by witnesses who were not truthful in the beginning.
"It could put us weeks and months behind in any type of case we're investigating," Heston said.
Hataway is expected to be in court next month for a hearing on unrelated charges. He's accused of trying to kill a woman in Seminole County, one year before Tracy Ocasio disappeared.
Hataway could spend life in prison if he's found guilty. His next pre-trial conference is scheduled for November 10.
WFTV
