MACOMB TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Authorities were set to resume excavation work in a wooded area northeast of Detroit for the remains of a 12-year-old girl and the bodies of up to six others missing for decades.
Warren police, the FBI and other agencies started work at the site in Macomb Township on Monday and began digging in earnest Tuesday with shovels and excavation equipment for Kimberly King’s remains before ending for the day. The work was to restart Wednesday.
King was last seen in 1979 in Warren. Police began searching the Macomb Township site after speaking with a man serving life in prison for the slaying of another girl whose body was found near the wooded area about 30 miles (50 kilometers) northeast of downtown Detroit.
“We have probable cause to believe that (Kimberly) is buried there,” said Bill Dwyer, Warren’s police commissioner. “We also believe that there’s maybe four to six other girls that have been reported missing that are buried there. We certainly are convinced we have the right area. It’s just a sad type of situation.”
Dwyer did not give the names of the other missing girls. In 2008, Arthur Ream led police to the body of 13-year-old Cindy Zarzycki in the wooded area. She was last seen in 1986 after being lured to a Dairy Queen in Eastpointe, just north of Detroit.
Ream was convicted of first-degree murder in her slaying. After his conviction, Ream told investigators that Zarzycki’s body was buried near a creek. He also drew a map of the site and spent about an hour at the search scene with authorities before being returned to prison.
Zarzycki had been dating Ream’s son at the time of her disappearance. Authorities said Ream, now 68, tricked her by telling her that he was planning a surprise party for his son. At the time of his conviction for Zarzycki’s killing, he already was serving a 15-year sentence on an unrelated molestation charge involving a 14-year-old girl.