Search Expanded for Missing Stuart Woman-Letisha Faust
January 6, 2010
Authorities searched a lake and a wooded area in Franklin County looking for a missing woman. It's been almost a month since Latisha Faust from Patrick County disappeared after leaving a pharmacy.
Authorities say the 50-year-old from Stuart, was reported missing on December 9th. Faust was last seen in Floyd County, and then last heard from on a phone call with her mother.
Two and a half weeks after that, Faust's car was discovered in Franklin County, just off the Blue Ridge Parkway in an area known as Walnut Knob.
"According to her mother, she knows no one up here. And she would not have any reason to be here, that her mother is aware of," says Lt. S.D. McGuire with the Franklin Co. Sheriff's Dept.
On Monday, cadavor dogs found a sandal, which authorities say Faust's mother identified.
Anyone with more information is asked to call the Franklin County Sheriff's Office.
As reported by WDBJ Channel 7 TV
Nearly a month after a Patrick County woman went missing, investigators in Franklin County used an underwater camera Thursday to search a pond close to where her car was discovered.
Letisha “Tish� Marie Faust, 50, has been missing since Dec. 9, when she was seen at a pharmacy in Floyd County. Last week, police found her 1994 Honda Accord at an abandoned house in the Walnut Knob area of Franklin County, near its border with Floyd County.
On Monday, a sandal, which has been identified as Faust’s by her mother, was found between the residence where the car was located and a half-acre pond on the property, said Franklin County Sheriff’s Lt. Steve McGuire.
The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office and Department of Public Safety conducted two searches earlier this week with Patrick County authorities, McGuire said. A foot search and a search using canines were restricted by steep terrain, freezing temperatures and frozen snow on the ground.
The area of the search is about 2,800 feet in elevation and about 15 degrees colder than in Rocky Mount, McGuire said. Rocky Mount’s high on Thursday was in the upper 30s.
During the third search Thursday, public safety officials with the Smith Mountain Lake Marine Fire Department used a robotic underwater camera to search the pond, McGuire said.
“We have walked all over this ridge and checked all the residences in the area, but we have not located the missing woman,� McGuire said. “The pond is covered with ice, so that makes using the camera rather slow.�
Faust’s purse, cash and food were found inside the vehicle, McGuire said. The window was down, and snow was inside the car.
From Martinsville Bulletin, Jan. 7
