Investigators conduct futile search for woman’s body
New Boston chief says that articles of interest found at dig
NEW BOSTON, Texas—A daylong search here by local and federal law enforcement officials yielded no skeletal remains of a New Boston woman who disappeared more than a decade ago.
New Boston Police Chief Tony King said a couple of articles of interest were found during Thursday’s search of about 1 acre of land for the remains of LaDana Renee Newton Wiley, but he declined to say what they are.
“I’m disappointed we didn’t find her, but I hope this will generate more leads,” he said.
The items were turned over to the FBI and will be taken to their lab, he said.
Acting on new information about the cold missing-person case, New Boston Police Department and members of the FBI Evidence Response Team, based in Dallas, started using an excavator to dig about 8:30 a.m. Thursday at a home site on Nelson Street.
FBI agents used ground-penetrating radar to help search for Wiley, who was reported missing by her mother on her birthday, Jan. 2, 2000, King said.
The Nelson Street home burned in 2002, and was not Wiley’s residence.
About 2 p.m., a scoop of dirt yielded a cloth-like article, and agents began using hand shovels and trowels to dig and erected a blue screen around the site.
Nelson Street was blocked off, and media was asked to move to the end of the street.
However, the search resumed about an hour later using
the excavator in another location, and the screen was removed.
The operation wrapped up about 6:30 p.m., and King said there is no plan to return to the site.
Wiley’s mother, Darlene Newton, lives in New Boston.
No one returned a message left on her answering machine, and no one answered knocks on the door at her home Thursday afternoon.
The property’s owners live in Dallas and gave police permission to dig, King said.
FBI agents were called to assist because of their resources and equipment, he said.
Information on the Missing Persons Database Website shows Newton dropped her daughter off at her residence on Jan. 1, 2000, and “noticed that her daughter appeared nervous and jittery.”
Newton tried to call Wiley about an hour later, but Wiley did not answer the phone, information on the site shows.
Wiley would be 42 years old today, and was described at the time of her disappearance as 5 feet, 2 inches tall and 160 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes.
Anyone with information about her case is asked to call New Boston Police Department at 903-628-3771.