New Search For Missing University of Florida Student Tiffany Sessions Yields No New Clues
MIAMI (CBSMiami/AP) - A new search for missing University of Florida student Tiffany Sessions, who disappeared in 1989 yielded no new clues, sheriff's officials said Friday.
Investigators searched a pine stand on a tract of commercial timberland after getting a tip corroborating earlier information that a man and woman were seen along the road at the time Tiffany Sessions disappeared.
The descriptions matched Sessions and now-dead convicted rapist Paul Rowles, Alachua Sheriff Sadie Darnell said Thursday during a news conference.
Sessions' remains have never been found.
"If someone held onto information for a variety of reasons... please bring that forward. You never know how one piece of information can complete the puzzle," Darnell said.
Sessions was 20 years old when she went out for a jog on Feb. 9, 1989. An exhaustive search followed.
Her father, Patrick Sessions, was a South Florida developer who enlisted the help of Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino and future Gov. Jeb Bush to get publicity for the case.
In 2014, authorities searched another location in Alachua County, near where the remains of Santa Fe College student Elizabeth Foster were found in 1992.
DNA later linked Rowles to Foster's death.
Rowles died in state prison in 2013 and authorities dubbed him Sessions' killer after the 2014 search.
Rowles was convicted of killing Linda Fida of Miami in 1972. He was sentenced to life in prison but was paroled in 1985 and moved to Gainesville.
In 1994, Rowles was sentenced to 19 years for kidnapping and sexually assaulting a teenager from Clearwater.
Kevin Allen, who is a cold-case detective for the Alachua County Sheriff's Office, said Rowles was interviewed before he died about Sessions and Foster but became extremely hostile.
On Thursday, Allen said investigators walked through the property when it was covered in pine trees. The land was cleared about a month ago and a more extensive search was conducted.
He said no new leads were found.
Sessions' mother, Hilary Sessions, was at the scene and said she remains hopeful.
"God told me I had to learn patience...," she told reporters. "I can't tell you how happy I am that we are still out here 31 years later, and I am not going to give up."
(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
