GNOSIS the wonder dog is now home with me; if you know Amos please come over and welcome Gnosis home Call or email me and I will give you my address. A HUGE THANK-YOU to everyone that has cared and loved Gnosis during Amos' disappearance, I know Amos appreciates that, as I do too, so much:                                          Thank you Hickory Hills Kennel (especially Margaret for taking Gnosis into her household) Thank you Dean & Jan H. for sharing your home and caring for Gnosis                         Thank you Rachel, Josh, & Phil for giving Gnosis the care, love, & attention he needs   3.3.06 - Isthmus article Making it a federal case Feds join probe into disappearance of Amos Mortier By Jason Shepard Local police are now working with the US. Attorney's Office in their inves­tigation into the disappearance of Amos Mortier, the Fitchburg man who has been missing for 15 months and who police believe was likely murdered in connec­tion with selling marijuana.   A police official confirms that the U.S. Attorney's Office has been involved since fall.   Fitchburg Deputy Police Chief Don Bates says several federal agencies "have become partners" in the investigation and have a "vested interest" in solving the case. Bates wouldn't say whether the case has been referred to a federal grand jury.   Mortier was last seen Nov. 8, 2004. His mother, Margie Milutinovich, hopes her son is alive, perhaps on the run or con­sumed by amnesia.  Last week,  she direct­ed a message to him on her Web site, www.findamos.com. "I know that you are out there," she wrote. "I need to know if you are safe."   Police, however, continue to work on the theory that Mortier was murdered. Two detectives are still assigned to the case full­time.   As detailed last summer in Isthmus ("What Happened to Amos?" 7/22/05), wit­nesses at a secret John Doe proceeding tes­tified that Mortier was worried about drug debts and was involved in large-scale mar­ijuana sales with links to Mil­waukee and the East Coast.   At the time, police were focusing on a "prime suspect," who provided them with "inconsistent statements." Wit­nesses testified that this man had sold marijuana for Morti­er. One said he was skimming proceeds; another said he owed Mortier money   A few months earlier, in a letter submitting Mortier's DNA to the FBI's missing per­sons database, local police acknowledged three suspects with ties outside of Wiscon­sin.   Last week, Bates confirmed that detectives have interviewed people "in several different states."   Generally, the federal government doesnot investigate local crimes. But according to two Madison defense attorneys, the feds may be involved because the investigation is now national in scope.   Other reasons, they speculate, include the powers of federal grand jury subpoe­nas, the ability to threaten harsher drug sentences in order to gain cooperation from witnesses, the possibility of federal drug conspiracy charges,and the greater resources of federal agencies like the FBI.   Stephen P Sinnott, the acting U .S. attorney in Madi­son, "can't confirm or deny" his office's involvement.   In December, Fitchburg police contacted Miluti­novich to schedule a meet­ing between her and the U.S. attorney. After waiting two months for the meeting to be scheduled, a frustrat­ed Milutinovich provided copies of those e-mail exchanges to Isthmus.   She's convinced police are wrongly focused on the drug connection: "They won't let it go because it has cost them too much time, money and personnel, but they are so wrong the path they are going down and they won't stop or admit it."