ORWELL - Federal and local law enforcement agents from as far away as Columbus searched a nine-acre wooded area in this small rural town Tuesday looking for the body of a Warren mother they believe was slain and then buried there 14 years ago.
About 20 agents descended on 4507 Old Plank Road around 11 a.m. to began searching for Anna Zirkle, 22, of Columbus, who previously lived in Warren with her two small sons and the father of the children.
The Ohio State University Anthropology Department, including professors and students who volunteered, assisted and will lead the excavation process if a body is found in order to preserve evidence.
"They're assisting us with the excavation because they have the expertise," Agent Bill Boldin of the U.S. Marshal's Office said. "They are basically using the skills they use to excavate any archaeology site. They use those skills to help us coordinate the excavation."
Four K-9 units were on scene, and dogs searched the area. Agents seemed focused on an area about 50 yards from the road near a tree and digging could be heard, but no body was found Tuesday. Boldin said authorities would return today to search the area.
The investigation is being led by the Columbus Police Cold Case Squad assisted by tips given to the U.S. Marshal's Office last summer in Warren during a V-GRIP (Violence and Gun Reduction Interdiction Program) investigation.
Zirkle went missing Feb. 1, 1997. Reports said she was last seen with her children's father's brother, Troy Austin, leaving her home in Columbus.
"At the time this occurred, she was 22 and she had two small children," Boldin said. "It's our obligation as law enforcement to find those people responsible and hold them accountable. It should be just as important to people in the communities, in Warren, in Columbus, in Ashtabula."
Zirkle grew up in Ashtabula County. Kathie Watts, who was Zirkle's foster mother for six years, said she remembers that Zirkle would make her a card every Mother's Day to show she cared for her.
"She was a very pretty girl, she made friends easily,'' Watts said of Jefferson Tuesday evening. "She could take care of herself pretty well. She didn't let people step all over her. She was very friendly."
Watts fostered 50 children in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Ohio.
After she graduated from high school, Zirkle moved to Warren, where she lived with the children's father, Derrin D. Williams. She then moved to Columbus and went missing shortly after.
Her two children, now both in their late teens, still live in Warren, authorities said. The boys were 1 and 3 years old at the time of her disappearance.
"Her two sons grew up without a mother," lead investigator Kathie Justice of the Columbus Cold Case Squad said. "They don't know the full story yet. Down the road, they're going to want to know. I'm sure a lot of questions have been asked up until now, but there hasn't been any answers."
A missing persons report said Zirkle left her home at 354 N. Roosevelt Ave. in Columbus on Feb. 1, 1997, with Troy Austin. The report states that she told Austin she was "tired of everything and that she had to get away."
Williams was in Warren, and reports said she gave Austin money to put her children on a Greyhound Bus to stay with him.
Five days later, Zirkle's neighbor reported her missing because she said she would never have left her two children behind. Several others interviewed by police said the same, reports said.
According to Tribune Chronicle archives, the two boys arrived in Warren with Austin, who lived in Warren at the time.
Investigators in Columbus immediately believed she was murdered at the time and investigations into her disappearance were conducted in both Columbus and Warren.
Archives said although Zirkle's home showed no signs of a struggle, she left behind an uncashed welfare check for $388, her identification card and her clothing.
Recent information given to the U.S. Marshals sparked the investigation.
Since, Justice said, she's interviewed numerous people with knowledge of the case, including a lot from Warren, and they now believe they have substantial evidence that Zirkle was murdered and her body was buried.
Justice said she doesn't have a definite suspect, but believes she knows who is responsible for Zirkle's presumed murder.
"A lot of people came forward, and we developed a lot of information," Justice said. "We have a pretty good idea of what happened to her."
The information led agents from Columbus Police Department, U.S. Marshal's, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, Ashtabula and Geauga County sheriff's offices, and Windsor Fire Department to the wooded area at about 11 a.m.
