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Authorities probe 1993 missing persons case
Mother, daughter last seen May 23, 1993
Derek Jordan/Wick Communications
New information in a 16-year-old missing-persons cold case led the sheriff's office to excavate property last week in Elfrida.
The search was for the bodies of a mother and daughter who disappeared in 1993.
On May 24, 1993, Cochise County sheriff's deputies were sent to the home of John Pitcher in Sunizona. Pitcher told deputies his wife, Dorothy Pitcher, 47, and daughter, Danielle, 14, had left the previous afternoon to walk to a store but had not returned.
After reviewing old leads in the case, new evidence was recently uncovered by Bill Ivory, reserve officer and cold case investigator for the sheriff's office, spokeswoman Carol Capas said.
Ivory was unavailable for comment.
The new evidence, which included witness testimony, led investigators to search for the remains of the mother and daughter at a property along North Moore Road in Elfrida, about eight miles south of the Pitcher home.
"The leads were that they were potentially on that property," Capas said.
From Monday thro-ugh Wednesday, about 19 acres were searched and excavated by sheriff's office deputies, detectives and volunteers with the Search and Rescue and Sheriff's Assist Teams, she said.
In addition, two University of Arizona instructors, professor Ben Sternberg, director of the Laboratory for Advanced Subsurface Imaging, and Bruce Anderson, a forensic anthropologist, were brought in to help.
Utilizing equipment such as ground-penetrating radar and a proton magnetometer, Sternberg and his students were able to locate and identify "anomalies" in the soil under the surface, such as holes or pits that had been dug and refilled.
"When someone has dug an excavation, for whatever purpose, ... they're not piling soil back in anywhere near the conditions in which it originally was," Sternberg said.
A series of "exploratory trenches" also were dug, Anderson said. At least three "very large" pits were discovered, some under a home on the property, Sternberg said.
No one is living on the property, according to the sheriff's office, which confirmed "items of evidence" were uncovered during the search, but would not elaborate.
The initial search for Dorothy and Danielle Pitcher lasted several months, Capas said
According to sheriff's office records of the incident, the two left their home at Ash Creek Road and Highway 181 about 1 p.m. on May 23, 1993, to walk to the A and M Market a few miles away.
When deputies asked why John Pitcher did not report them missing until the next morning, he told deputies he worked nights and did not have access to a telephone.
Along with canine units, members of Search and Rescue in 1993 walked the path identified by John Pitcher as the one his wife would take when walking to the market.
The most recent sighting had been two hours after they left their home. A witness said he saw them sitting on the side of Highway 181 near milepost 40.
Later, law enforcement dogs tracked the pair to a nearby store and ice cream parlor in a recreational vehicle park. The owner had seen the mother and daughter the day before they left for the store, but not the day they apparently disappeared.
The Arizona Department of Public Safety helicopter searched "all of the roads in the Sunizona area" and far beyond that area.
The Cochise County Sheriff's Office is asking anyone with any knowledge or information on the case to call (800) 362-0812. All information will remain confidential.
(Derek Jordan is a reporter at the Sierra Vista Herald/Bisbee Daily Review.)
Remembering the events of 1993
Carol Broeder/Wick communications
In a 2003 interview with the Arizona Range News, Dana Pitcher Hills said her mother and sister left their home near the Ash Creek School about 1 p.m. May 23 to walk to the "RV park store" at the intersection of Highways 181 and 191.
They went to buy cigarettes for Dorothy's husband, John "Jack" Pitcher, who stayed at home with the other five brothers and sisters to cook dinner, she said.
The mother and daughter intended to make the walk from their home to the store. They were last seen at about 3 p.m., heading back along 181 toward their home, Hills said.
Dorothy and Danielle Pitcher haven't been seen or heard from since.
The Arizona Range News reported in its June 3, 1993, edition that Jack Pitcher called the sheriff's office on May 24, 1993.
The article quoted Sgt. Les Wolslagel (now retired) as saying a tracking dog led searchers from the Pitcher residence to the store, but failed to pick up any other tracks.
A helicopter search of the area also failed to find anything.
Deputies also went door-to-door, hoping to find someone who might have seen the mother and daughter or have information that could help the investigation, the article stated.
With very few bits of solid evidence, the case remained unsolved.
The search of the immediate area was ongoing for several months with various leads being followed, and the investigation remains open.
"I just do not want the public to forget that my mother and sister have been missing just about 10 years now," Dana Pitcher Hills said in the 2003 interview. "I miss my mom and sister so very much."
(Carol Broeder is a reporter at the Arizona Range News in Willcox.)
Derek Jordan/Wick Communications
New information in a 16-year-old missing-persons cold case led the sheriff's office to excavate property last week in Elfrida.
The search was for the bodies of a mother and daughter who disappeared in 1993.
On May 24, 1993, Cochise County sheriff's deputies were sent to the home of John Pitcher in Sunizona. Pitcher told deputies his wife, Dorothy Pitcher, 47, and daughter, Danielle, 14, had left the previous afternoon to walk to a store but had not returned.
After reviewing old leads in the case, new evidence was recently uncovered by Bill Ivory, reserve officer and cold case investigator for the sheriff's office, spokeswoman Carol Capas said.
Ivory was unavailable for comment.
The new evidence, which included witness testimony, led investigators to search for the remains of the mother and daughter at a property along North Moore Road in Elfrida, about eight miles south of the Pitcher home.
"The leads were that they were potentially on that property," Capas said.
From Monday thro-ugh Wednesday, about 19 acres were searched and excavated by sheriff's office deputies, detectives and volunteers with the Search and Rescue and Sheriff's Assist Teams, she said.
In addition, two University of Arizona instructors, professor Ben Sternberg, director of the Laboratory for Advanced Subsurface Imaging, and Bruce Anderson, a forensic anthropologist, were brought in to help.
Utilizing equipment such as ground-penetrating radar and a proton magnetometer, Sternberg and his students were able to locate and identify "anomalies" in the soil under the surface, such as holes or pits that had been dug and refilled.
"When someone has dug an excavation, for whatever purpose, ... they're not piling soil back in anywhere near the conditions in which it originally was," Sternberg said.
A series of "exploratory trenches" also were dug, Anderson said. At least three "very large" pits were discovered, some under a home on the property, Sternberg said.
No one is living on the property, according to the sheriff's office, which confirmed "items of evidence" were uncovered during the search, but would not elaborate.
The initial search for Dorothy and Danielle Pitcher lasted several months, Capas said
According to sheriff's office records of the incident, the two left their home at Ash Creek Road and Highway 181 about 1 p.m. on May 23, 1993, to walk to the A and M Market a few miles away.
When deputies asked why John Pitcher did not report them missing until the next morning, he told deputies he worked nights and did not have access to a telephone.
Along with canine units, members of Search and Rescue in 1993 walked the path identified by John Pitcher as the one his wife would take when walking to the market.
The most recent sighting had been two hours after they left their home. A witness said he saw them sitting on the side of Highway 181 near milepost 40.
Later, law enforcement dogs tracked the pair to a nearby store and ice cream parlor in a recreational vehicle park. The owner had seen the mother and daughter the day before they left for the store, but not the day they apparently disappeared.
The Arizona Department of Public Safety helicopter searched "all of the roads in the Sunizona area" and far beyond that area.
The Cochise County Sheriff's Office is asking anyone with any knowledge or information on the case to call (800) 362-0812. All information will remain confidential.
(Derek Jordan is a reporter at the Sierra Vista Herald/Bisbee Daily Review.)
Remembering the events of 1993
Carol Broeder/Wick communications
In a 2003 interview with the Arizona Range News, Dana Pitcher Hills said her mother and sister left their home near the Ash Creek School about 1 p.m. May 23 to walk to the "RV park store" at the intersection of Highways 181 and 191.
They went to buy cigarettes for Dorothy's husband, John "Jack" Pitcher, who stayed at home with the other five brothers and sisters to cook dinner, she said.
The mother and daughter intended to make the walk from their home to the store. They were last seen at about 3 p.m., heading back along 181 toward their home, Hills said.
Dorothy and Danielle Pitcher haven't been seen or heard from since.
The Arizona Range News reported in its June 3, 1993, edition that Jack Pitcher called the sheriff's office on May 24, 1993.
The article quoted Sgt. Les Wolslagel (now retired) as saying a tracking dog led searchers from the Pitcher residence to the store, but failed to pick up any other tracks.
A helicopter search of the area also failed to find anything.
Deputies also went door-to-door, hoping to find someone who might have seen the mother and daughter or have information that could help the investigation, the article stated.
With very few bits of solid evidence, the case remained unsolved.
The search of the immediate area was ongoing for several months with various leads being followed, and the investigation remains open.
"I just do not want the public to forget that my mother and sister have been missing just about 10 years now," Dana Pitcher Hills said in the 2003 interview. "I miss my mom and sister so very much."
(Carol Broeder is a reporter at the Arizona Range News in Willcox.)
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