In search for body possibly buried under Pittsburgh home in 1980s, police come up empty
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Pittsburgh police spent Monday digging where a home once stood in the city's Perry North neighborhood.
They were looking for a body allegedly buried there since the 1980s.
Neighbors living along Bonvue Street woke up to the sound of a tracked excavator looking to dig up a potential mystery.
"Almost on an everyday basis, I will say there's never a dull minute here," neighbor Michele Wine said.
Pittsburgh police said the digging started after a phone call.
"We received a phone call approximately two weeks ago from a woman who was very, very young at the time," Pittsburgh Police Det. George Satler said. "She gave us information on her father possibly burying a body in the basement of their home."
The woman's father is a now-deceased man named Thomas Smith.
"It was confirmed through the mother that there were shovels in the basement, but she did not see a body or anything related to that," Satler said.
Detectives said they had good reason to check into this. Not long after this alleged body incident in Pittsburgh, the family moved to Maine. In the early 1990s, a young woman named Pamela Webb disappeared close to where Smith moved his family.
"It was confirmed through the Maine State Police that he was interviewed several times," Satler said.
Webb's body was eventually found in New Hampshire. Investigators said she was the victim of a homicide.
"He didn't seem like a violent person," neighbor Dan Hart said. "He was tough, like a person who wouldn't take any crap, but not the type that he would hurt someone.
Nothing was found on Monday. By about 12:30 p.m., excavation operations had ended. Police said it was better to be safe than sorry.