50 Year Old Kidnapping Case Maybe Coming To a Close
Posted on Jun 16, 2011 12:41pm PDT
Seven year old Ramona Price went missing on Sept. 2, 1961, now, 50 years later, there may be a explanation as to what exactly happened. New developments have surfaced that may link a suspect to her disappearance.
Santa Barbara authorities disclosed this week that she may have come across Mack Ray Edwards, a serial killer who worked in the area and confessed to killing six Southern California Children.
On Wednesday, four specially trained dogs found what police are calling "an area of interest" near a bridge spanning U.S. 101 in Goleta. "It's about as strong a reaction as we could have expected to receive," said Lt. Donald Paul McCaffrey, a police spokesman.
Edwards was a heavy-equipment operator who helped build the bridge, which opened just a few weeks after Ramona vanished. The bridge is soon to be torn down and replaced by a new one, giving authorities time to search the area.
"When he was in San Quentin [State Prison], he told other inmates he had victims no one would ever find," said Santa Barbara Police Chief Cam Sanchez. "He said no one would ever tear up the freeways."
All four dogs were taken to the area around the bridge to investigate and all four alerted in the same area.
"We're hoping and praying that some great things come out of this," said Sanchez. "Everyone deserves some kind of closure, whatever that might mean to them."
According to Sanchez, police would have to further analyze the canine team's finding before deciding whether to excavate at the site. This process could take weeks, but finding remains half a century old is possible says Lynne Englebert, one of the group's directors.