That's because John Couey was living at the wrong address and had slipped off law enforcement's radar screen.
Thirty days into the search, Couey confessed to raping and killing the girl.
Now her grieving father is on a mission: to close the gap in sex offender laws that make it easy for men like Couey to prey on children. That goal brought him to Utah on Thursday.
"It's not fair to the people to wait for something to happen to make changes," he said.
Lunsford, who was advocating "Jessica's Law" on Capitol Hill, said sex offender registries don't work unless there is a reliable way to track offenders.
The Jessica Lunsford Act, which became Florida law Sept. 1, puts an electronic monitoring device on every sexual predator released into the community for as long as 30 years.
Lunsford is teaming up with Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clearfield, to introduce similar legislation in Utah that not only requires electronic monitoring, but risk assessments and mandatory minimum sentences for re-offenders.
The bill, which does not yet have a number or a fiscal note, would require a sentence of 25 years to life, without the possibility of parole, for repeat offenders. Additionally, a person convicted of murdering a child would be eligible for the death penalty.
How warmly the bill will be received when it is introduced this legislative session is unclear. In 1995, the Utah Legislature abolished a 12-year-old statute that provided for 5-, 10- or 15-year minimum-mandatory prison terms for certain child-sex offenses.
"I'm not sure how it's going to go over, but we're going to put it out," Ray said.
Jessica's Law also would require schools to conduct more thorough background checks on its employees, and stiffer penalties for those people who hide sex offenders, Lunsford said.
Ray said he would also like to change the statute of limitations for filing charges to 10 years after the incident, or five years after the child is emancipated.
"It's about protecting our kids and doing the best that we can to make sure they have a bright future," he said.
