Reno Police Link 2 Local Missing Person Cases

Police in Reno linked a pair of week-old missing persons cases from Ventura County on Monday when they arrested the alleged kidnaper of a 16-year-old girl and found that he had been driving a missing Westlake Village nurse’s car.

Ventura County detectives flew to Reno to question 19-year-old Scott Thornton about the alleged abduction of his ex-girlfriend, Stephanie Campbell, from her Thousand Oaks home last Tuesday night and the disappearance of 34-year-old Kellie O’Sullivan nine hours earlier.

Campbell escaped unharmed. O’Sullivan, who disappeared while running errands Tuesday afternoon in Westlake Village, remains missing.

Thornton became a prime suspect in the nurse’s disappearance after detectives found her car in Reno and learned that the suspect had used it to abduct Campbell, Ventura County Sheriff’s Lt. Lary Reynolds said.

“We fear the worst,” Reynolds said of O’Sullivan. “We’re hoping that something may turn up as to her whereabouts, but it’s really looking kind of bleak.”

The cases meshed just after midnight Monday at the Circus Circus Hotel and Casino in Reno.

While Thornton was engrossed in a video game in the casino’s circus area, Campbell stole away and flagged down a security guard, telling him she had been kidnaped in Ventura County, said Deputy Chief Jim Weston of the Reno Police Department.

When the officers cornered Thornton, he pulled out a .38-caliber revolver, Weston said. But when the officers drew their guns, Thornton set his down and submitted to arrest, Weston said. O’Sullivan’s car was found in a casino parking lot.

The two teen-agers had met in early July and had dated for about six weeks, said Linda Campbell, the girl’s mother.

Thornton had seemed “very polite, very nice,” even helping with the dishes when he came over for dinner at Stephanie’s house, her mother said. But last Tuesday, Thornton muscled the girl into a dark sport utility vehicle, fired a shot at the mother and sped off, Linda Campbell said.