2: International Story

Strangled teen left on Brooklyn curb with trash

She was just 16 years old, a beautiful girl, straight-A student, with her whole life ahead of her. She hoped to become a nurse.

Chanel Petro-Nixon, 16, disappeared in broad daylight and her body was found in a trash bag.

Brooklyn teenager Chanel Petro-Nixon left her family home at 6:30 p.m. on Father's Day 2006, to walk to an Applebee's restaurant a few blocks away. She'd planned to meet friends there and fill out an application for a summer job at Applebee's.

Friends say she never showed up. No one ever saw her alive again. Four days later, her body was found in another area of Brooklyn, several miles from her home. She'd been strangled and stuffed into a large garbage bag left to be collected with the morning trash on the sidewalk in front of a brownstone.

Chanel went missing in broad daylight in an extremely busy area of Brooklyn. Family, police and community members are certain that someone must have seen something, but no witnesses have come forward.

Also troubling to police: The coroner says Chanel died within 24 hours of her body being found on June 22. She went missing on June 18. So, where was Chanel for the 48 hours she was alive but missing?

She was strangled, but not sexually assaulted, according to police. Robbery does not seem to be a motive. But Chanel's cell phone and the tennis shoes she was wearing are missing.

Chanel's father, Garvin Nixon, insists that his daughter would not stay out after dark without calling home.

"When we called, she always answered her phone, or would call back immediately within a few minutes to tell us where she was," he said.

Nixon tried calling his daughter to check on her within an hour after she'd left the house. When he didn't get a return call and couldn't reach her, he and Chanel's mother began calling her friends. Her friends had not seen or heard from Chanel either, even though they'd been calling her cell phone repeatedly and leaving urgent messages.

Authorities speculate that perhaps she went with someone she knew and trusted, which could explain why no witnesses observed any struggle between Chanel and her abductor.

Police have investigated Chanel's MySpace page, searching for clues to whom she may have communicated with before leaving her home the day she disappeared.

One theory is that her slaying is linked to that of another local teenager, Jennifer Moore. Like Chanel, she was strangled and her partially-clothed body was found in a garbage bag. But unlike Chanel, Jennifer Moore was raped.

Jennifer Moore's suspected killer, Draymond Coleman, was arrested and police have not ruled him out as a possible suspect in Chanel's slaying.

Police are asking anyone who finds Chanel's cell phone or sneakers to call the anonymous tip line at 1-800-577-TIPS. The cell phone is a Silver Sanyo Sprint phone, model 8200. The shoes are size 6½, white Nike Air Jordan retro sneakers with green trim and the number 14 on them.

A reward of $34,000 is being offered for any information leading to the arrest of the person or people responsible for Chanel's death.