Actions

Relatives of missing girls disappointed after search for their remains called off

Posted at 6:55 PM, May 15, 2018
and last updated 2018-05-15 18:55:34-04

"Those girls have been sitting in the ground for 44 summers. Doesn't that bother anyone?" said Brenda Handloser whose sister, Nadine O'Dell, went missing in 1974. O'Dell was last seen in Inkster, but Warren Police believe the teenager could have been murdered by Arthur Ream decades ago.

Ream once tended to beehives in an area of Macomb Township. And for over a week, Warren Police and the FBI searched two acres of land in hopes of finding the remains of O'Dell, Kimberly King, and several other girls who went missing decades ago. 

But Tuesday, the search was called off. 

Warren Mayor Jim Fouts says that because money and manpower are not unlimited, he needs more information before allowing the search to expand in Macomb Township and into other cities.

"You promised you wouldn't leave those girls behind," said Handloser.

Konnie Beyma, whose sister Kimberly King disappeared in 1979 at the age of 12, said searching for the remains of Kimberly and the other girls is like looking for a needle in a haystack. 

"It's extremely disappointing. I know that they are very confident in their evidence that led them to this site, they still stand by that evidence. They still maintain that he is the killer, that they know he is," said Beyma. 

"I understand this reevaluation process," said Beyma. "I think it's better to reevaluate and look at it that way rather than waste any resources or time."

Ream is serving time in prison for the murder of 13-year-old Cindy Zarzycki. And the attorney who prosecuted Ream in that case does not believe he killed anyone else. Warren Police disagree.

Click on the video to hear from the women and Warren city officials in Kimberly Craig's report.