Family of Joanne De Guio waiting on report of body found Friday in state park
UPPER DARBY >> The mother of a Drexel Hill woman missing since June 2014 is waiting on pins and needles to hear if the remains found in Ridley Creek State Park Friday is her daughter.
Joanne De Guio received a call from the Pennsylvania State Police asking for information on her child.
Her daughter, Amanda De Guio, 25, was reported missing by the family a year and a half ago and was never found.
The township’s police department has conducted an exhaustive search to locate the woman and are waiting as well for forensic findings after an autopsy on the remains found is concluded.
“We have been notified by the state police on Friday,” Joanne De Guio said. “We just gave a description but haven’t heard anything. We’re all very distraught. Right now it’s hard. We don’t know what to do. Until we hear a name, it’s very nerve wracking. Say a prayer please.”
Upper Darby police is working with the state police on the investigation.
“The remains could very well be Amanda De Guio,” police Superintendent Michael Chitwood said. “Her body could have been there since 2014.”
De Guio, the 25-year-old mother of two daughters, 4-yearold Sophia and Ava, 6, reportedly walked out of her mother’s Drexel Hill home and never returned that early summer day.
“We have an entire case folder on her,” Chitwood said. “We followed up on every lead and entered her fingerprints into NCIC (National Crime Information Center). We had her fingerprints from a prior arrest. Her DNA was also provided to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.
“We did a major comprehensive missing person investigation interviewing all the relatives and friends and the fathers of her children. I’ve said all along I thought she was dead because of not reaching out to her children which was unlike her. She didn’t reach out to her children and she didn’t reach out to her mother. You just don’t disappear like that.
“My assumption has been that she was deceased and buried somewhere based on my gut and based on not having anybody missing for that length of time and finding them alive.
“We all feel there is a strong possibility it is her. It’s sad if it is her after all this time but it will be closure for the family.
State police will probably use DNA for a positive identification of the remains found.”
According to Chitwood, Lt. William Kane is the lead investigator on the De Guio case.
Amanda’s sister, Nicole De Guio, spoke to Daily Times writer Cindy Scharr, on the one year anniversary of the missing woman in June who has posted a “Help Find Amanda De Guio” page on Facebook.
Sgt. Daniel Lanni was the lead investigator in June reportedly receiving and following up on tips, some putting De Guio in Kensington section of Philadelphia that were unfounded.
“People are saying she is in the Kensington area, but all leads have been insignificant,” Nicole De Guio told Scharr. “One man said he saw her on Aramingo Avenue in a Shop Rite saying she need money to get back to Upper Darby. We got the footage from Shop Rite, but of course it wasn’t her.”
There is an outstanding arrest warrant for Amanda for theft and related offenses for allegedly attempting to obtain a narcotic with a prescription from a pharmacy.
Amanda is 5 feet 3 inches tall and weighs approximately 120 pounds. She has several tattoos, an image of Italy and the word “Tommy” on the right side of her rib cage, the letters “MF” on the inside of her lower lip and the letters “SC” on her left ring finger.
“The state police is handling the investigation on the remains found,” Chitwood said.