Wednesday, January 3, 2007

Search area widens for Rye woman

By CHRIS A. COUROGEN

A search party will comb the wooded, mountainous areas surrounding Elaine Pierson's home today as the hunt for the Perry County woman missing since Thursday continues.

Searchers will meet at 9 a.m. at the Rye Twp. municipal building to begin a second, wider search for Pierson, 48. Areas closer to her Trout Lane home in the township, about two miles west of Marysville, were covered on Friday.

Rye Twp. Police Cpl. Clinton Shoop said the search is prompted by a lack of leads in the case, not by any new evidence. State police at Newport are heading the investigation.

"It's the process of elimination, narrowing down the possibilities. You eliminate one thing at a time," Shoop said. "We want to make sure she was not out walking maybe and fell and hit her head."

State police have not labeled the disappearance as suspicious, despite concerns of friends and family.

"Right now, it is wide open. We are following all angles," said Trooper Jackie Capriotti, a state police spokeswoman. "We have no real leanings."

Pierson was last heard from the night of Dec. 27, when she had a cell phone conversation with an acquaintance. She was reported missing by family members after she failed to keep appointments the next day.

Family members said that when they checked her house, they found Pierson's wallet, car keys and cell phone as well as her German shepherd, Radcliffe. A gas fireplace was turned on, they said.

Pierson is described as 5 feet 5 inches tall with a medium, athletic build, dark brown hair and brown eyes. She is known as an outdoors enthusiast who enjoys hiking, kayaking and mountain biking.

"There are no credit cards to track, no vehicles to try to find," Capriotti said. "What caught our eyes is that nothing is missing or disturbed."

Capriotti refused to comment on what that might mean, but an FBI spokeswoman said the lack of anything missing is usually an indicator of foul play.

"When a person is planning to leave, they usually take clothes, their driver's license, car keys, things of that nature," said FBI Special Agent Verria Williams, who emphasized that her comments applied to missing-person cases in general, not specifically the Pierson case. The FBI has not been asked to assist in the investigation.

"If everything in their house is untouched and everything is there, the thought is this is not planned. They didn't plan to be away at the time," Williams said.

She said the FBI is usually called in on cases at the request of the investigating local agency.

"Usually that happens if they believe the person is no longer in their jurisdiction or maybe is out of the state," Williams said. "Usually the local agency would already have made a determination it could be suspicious."

State police at Newport have made the case their priority, Capriotti said, with several troopers assigned to the investigation.

"This is their main focus," Capriotti said. "It is a case they are working pretty hard on."

She urged anyone with information to call state police.

"Even if they think it is inconsequential, please call," Capriotti said. "Even a small piece of information could help locate her."

CHRIS A. COUROGEN: 255-8112 or ccourogen@patriot-news.com

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