The Times West Virginian

Local News

September 28, 2008

Search for human remains continues

Montana Mines site secured by guards during overnight hours

By Mary Wade Burnside

MONTANA MINES — Police officers and workers spent 12 hours Saturday in a continuing search for human remains on a one-acre site in the Montana Mines community near Pricketts Fort.

Officers started at 7 a.m. and shut down a large excavator and a smaller backhoe just before 7 p.m., with an expectation to begin again 12 hours later.

A tip from a confidential source led the Fairmont Police Department to cordon off the land — owned by a woman who lives in Tennessee — with yellow crime scene tape.

Workers begin clearing tall brush Tuesday on the property, which is surrounded by homes. By Saturday, workers had gone through what appeared to be at least half of the land with the machinery in a systematic grid fashion.

In the first few days of the search, officers used a cadaver dog in an effort to pinpoint a specific area. The dog hit on a few areas of interest, but apparently nothing was found.

For most of the time Saturday, a worker drove the excavator, picking up a bucket-load of dirt while one or two police officers watched as the dirt dropped into a pile on the ground.

At one point, the excavator driver said, “Hey, what is that right in front of me? Is that something?” as the police officers took a moment to examine an item before continuing the search.

Earlier this week, members of the media and onlookers had staked out an area in a field next to the roped-off area. But on Saturday, just a few spectators spent at least part of the day at the site.

Occasionally, a car would drive by the nearby narrow road and slow down, and maybe take a few more passes before leaving.

“We haven’t seen so much traffic here since the mines left,” said one neighbor, who watched as officers worked for a good part of the day.

Police have not disclosed the missing-person case involved in the search, although friends and family members of FaithAnn Willis, a Barrackville woman who disappeared Aug. 6, 2005, have shown up during the week and spent time at the site.

On Saturday, one man who said he was a friend of Willis’ spent about an hour or so watching the workers, both from his car and from the adjacent field, before leaving. Michael McCauley said rumors that the search might involve Willis had drawn him to the site.

Fairmont Police Chief Mark Hayes did not return phone calls Saturday seeking comment.

On Friday, Hayes told a reporter that he believes the tip that led officers to the site came from a credible source. Hayes also has requested additional help from the U.S. attorney’s office, which had not come through as of Friday.

Workers kept the search up Saturday during two bouts of rain, one that brought a downpour mid-afternoon and another that turned into a steady shower that only begin to let up just before 7 p.m., when dusk made it necessary for the officers to call it a day.

As they have since the search began, officers planned to secure the site with guards overnight.

E-mail Mary Wade Burnside at mwburnside@timeswv.com.

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