Iosco County News-Herald and Oscoda Press
SECTION B
August 10, 2011
by Holly Nelson
WILBER TWP. – For more than four decades, a story has persisted that two missing Oscoda teenagers were buried in a Wilber
Township barn. There have been many variations over the years, including the location of the barn. Oscoda Township Police Chief
Mark David said he recalls hearing the story as a teen and, later, as a new police oficer. He took action last week af- ter locating a tip in the ile on the girls’ disappearance. The anonymous tip was given to the Oscoda-AuSable Police Department, now the Oscoda Township Police Department, in 1985, 16 years after the girls went missing, according to David. According to the informant,
the girls were murdered by two area men, then buried under Jack Searle’s barn on Brooks Road. There was nothing in the report
to indicate that the tip was ever investigated, David said. The Searle barn was well known to area youth, reportedly the site of both teen horse shows and wild parties. Searle is now dead and his farm has been divided and sold.
David located the site of the old barn, which had deteriorated and fallen down years earlier. Its roof remained, as did a concrete slab poured over ield stone ill. After David obtained permission from the owner of the barn site, the owner of the neighboring old Searle house, Fred Roulo, volunteered his equipment, labor and time to clear debris from the slab. The chief then asked Sgt. David
Yount, commander of the Michigan State Police Canine Unit in Lansing, if it would be possible to check out the scene with a cadaver
dog. While Yount said it was possible that his dog, a 3-year-old black German shepherd named Lightning, might be able to detect
the unmistakable odors which linger at grave sites for many years, it would be a stretch. But he agreed to give it a try.
Lightning is one of 32 MSP dogs and is used only for searches of dead bodies. Other of the dogs are trained to track the missing,
such as the one which found an alleged abductor and his victim in Oscoda Township last month; while some dogs scent explosives
or drugs. Yount raised Lightning since he was 8 weeks old and says he is a successful cadaver dog who likes to work.
According to Yount, this is likely because the dog located three bodies on one of his first assignments, a fire scene in Ann Arbor.
He was 11 months old at the time. Yount brought Lightning to the Searle barn site on Friday, where he, David and OTPD Sgt. Erik
McNichol were met by Roulo, who brought both a tractor and backhoe, along with volunteers. As a dozen members of the
Roulo family watched, joined at times by neighbors, the site was probed, scraped and the concrete was lifted from the earth.
“It’s just like C.S.I.,” one of the spectators said, also later expressing appreciation at the time Yount took to explain how cadaver dogs work. Lightning found nothing, but David said that only means scent is no longer viable. Further excavation is planned, according to the chief. Meanwhile, he and the department are following up on other leads, as is former Oscoda resident (SNIPED OUT PERSONAL INFORMATION) a volunteer group which assists families and law enforce- ment in inding the missing.
As previously reported, new attention has been focused on the disappearance of Pamela “Pam” Sue Hobley, 15, and Patricia “Patty”
Ann Spencer, 16, at the urging of Hobley’s younger sister, Mary Buehrle. The girls vanished, apparently without a trace, almost 42 years ago on Oct. 31, 1969. They were last seen around 2 p.m. as they walked along River Road between Oscoda High School, where they were students, and the business district. Foul play is suspected and both the family and police believe the girls were murdered. Information about the case can be phoned to David at 989-739-9112 or, if anonymity is sought,
emailed to
otpd@oscodatwp.com
Iosco County Crime Stoppers is also accepting tips at 1-800-422-5245. Callers remain anonymous
and may be eligible for a reward up to $1,000.