Police Search Field In Missing Woman Investigation
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Three years after a Hallandale Beach woman vanished after leaving her condo, the investigation has led police to a field in Opa-locka.
Monday morning police officers and crime scene investigators from Hallandale Beach, Opa-locka and Miami-Dade descended on seven acres of empty land off NW 18th Avenue and Service Road.
This came after Hallandale Beach police received an anonymous tip regarding the disappearance of Lynda Meier, according to Opa-locka police spokesman David Chiverton.
"It was a tip that came into the city of Hallandale in regards to a possible body, the body of Lynda Meier, someplace on this site," said Chiverton.
Heavy equipment including back hoes were brought in as investigators fanned out over the area. Hallandale Police Chief Dwayne Flournoy said they're using cadaver dogs in their grid search.
"It could be property, it could be her remains, it could be items that we know that she was in possession of at the time that she disappeared," said Flournoy.
Meier, 40, was last seen in the early morning hours of June 4, 2010. After she left her condo, she withdrew money from an ATM. Next, she was captured on a red light camera at the intersection of Federal highway and Hallandale Beach Boulevard going west on Hallandale Boulevard.
Meier's red Cadillac Escalade with chrome wheels was found a week later in a parking lot in Opa Locka.
Though they deny any involvement in her disappearance two men remain persons of interest in the case: Meier's longtime friend Antwan Kennedy and his friend Dallas King.
Kennedy was the last person to talk to Meier.
"Within feet, there's an individual that lives in a residence that said that Dallas King showed him Lynda Meier's drivers license and credit card on the same night that she disappeared," said Flournoy.
King was captured on surveillance using Meier's credit card at a bank after her disappearance. King is currently serving two life sentences for violating his probation after committing an armed robbery.
Police said the lot being searched is where King is known to have dumped evidence from previous crimes, such as burglaries.
Two women, Suzanne Panchoo and Jessica Morales, were captured on surveillance cameras using Meier's credit cards a Walmart in Miami. Police said they are not suspects in Meier's disappearance.
This is not the first search of a lot looking for clues to Meier's disappearance.
In June 2011, police did an exhaustive search on a large tract of land in Miami Gardens including having divers search a pond on the property.
"I miss her every day, every day; there's not a day that I don't think about her," said friend of Meier, Sharon Moses Solano.
She fears that dreaded moment of knowing what happened to Meier will come soon.
"Closure, I think at this point is what everyone is really searching for, but does it make it worse? Yeah, because you wonder is she going to be found alive and how are they gonna find her."
A $75,000 reward is still being offered for information that may lead to an arrest.
