Sex Offender Wanted For Questioning About Missing Calif. Student Arrested In Florida

Thursday, July 26th 2007, 2:05 pm

By: News On 6

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) _ A sex offender wanted for questioning in the disappearance of a 19-year-old college student has been arrested in Jacksonville, Fla., a sheriff's spokesman said Thursday.

John Steven Burgess was arrested late Tuesday on a California warrant for failing to register as a sex offender, said Jim Amormino, spokesman for the Orange County sheriff's department. Amormino said homicide investigators from Orange County were in Florida investigating.

Donna Jou, a student at San Diego State University, has not been seen since June 23, when she went with Burgess to a party. A day later, her mother received a text message that said her cell phone battery was dying, but she'd be home soon.

Burgess was convicted of three counts of battery in 2002 and of performing a lewd act against a child the following year.

On July 8, the license plate of a pickup truck belonging to Burgess and his motorcycle helmet were found at a Los Angeles intersection about 1 1/2 miles from his house.

Sheriff's investigator Dan Salcedo said at the time that Burgess had sent authorities an e-mail message offering his ``attempt to communicate his thoughts and his feelings of essentially what may have occurred.''

Investigators initially sought two men as persons of interest. They now believe Burgess used the photo of another man while contacting Jou online.