Remains found near Houston may be teen missing for 25 years

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

WHARTON, Texas (AP) — Authorities near Houston have uncovered the possible remains of a 15-year-old girl who was missing for 25 years, after the family of a suspect in her death came forward with a tip, sheriff's officials said Wednesday.

The tip led Wharton County deputies to property owned by the suspect's family in a neighboring county where the likely remains of Rosemary Diaz were found on Tuesday, county officials said at a news conference.

Diaz went missing in 1990 from a general store in Danevang, about 70 miles southwest of Houston, and the property where the remains were found is not far from that unincorporated rural community. A ring found near the remains resembles one given in 1990 to the teen for her quinceanera, a coming-of-age celebration for Latinas.

Forensic tests must be conducted to confirm the remains are Diaz.

FULL story at link.


This undated image provided by the Center for Missing & Exploited Children, shows Rosemary Diaz, who went missing went missing in 1990 from a general store where she worked in a small community south of El Campo, Texas, about 70 miles from Houston. Wharton County Sheriff's officials say human remains found in a rural area southwest of Houston are believed to be those of Diaz, a 15-year-old girl missing for 25 years. (Center for Missing & Exploited Children/Houston Chronicle via AP)

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/5d21e95dfad2486d962584aa603f8c0d/remains-found-near-houston-may-be-teen-missing-25-years

[EL34x4]

1. Hope her family can find closure

When I was in college, a long time ago, I took a forensic anthropology course. It was one of those "easy A" electives that my beer drinking and dope smoking friends suggested. The major course assignment was facial reconstruction. Each student received a plaster cast of a skull, nothing else, and from what we learned in the course, we were expected to generate an accurate face using carefully measured markers and clay.

Not giving a shit about putting forth any effort, my quickly-assembled project looked like Fred Flintstone. Only after we turned in our assignments did we receive the backstory of the skull we had been given.

Turned out mine belonged to a 16-year old girl who died of a heroin overdose in the mid 1970s. Her junkie friends panicked and took her body to the woods in Colorado where she would be discovered by hunters years later.

Ever since then, I have had a macabre fascination with missing persons cold cases. I can peruse http://charleyproject.org for hours, amazed at the sheer number of people who have vanished off the face of the earth. It is really staggering, mind-boggling, those who left and have never been seen again. Some intentional, others accidental, and then there are those who crossed paths with some very bad people, many of whom are still walking amongst us.

Yes, I know my post has nothing to do with this story. It just made me think of this.

[Skittles]

2. years ago I read a Readers Digest story by a woman whose brother disappeared

she was telling the story decades later.....after years of searching her mother had said she had to accept he was gone, and to please never mention his name again because it was so painful. At one point the author said she found a box with some of their childhood drawings and cards at her mother's house, and asked if they could talk about him. Her mother replied, "I know you'd like me to talk about him but I can't, I just can't" and she cried just like she had the first week.....it is a terrible thing. Shortly before his death, her father had cried that he would die never knowing what happened to his boy. I'm trying to remember the author's final words in the story, the gist being "With a death, you bury your loved one and you try to move on.....but with a disappearance, you just never stop wondering".

[Uben]

3. We are going thru this now

My fiancee's grandson disappeared March 30th. Law enforcement know who killed him, the suspect failed his polygraph, but they do not have enough evidence to convict him. He is a known child molestor and drug dealer. He served four years for embezzlement of $4 million back in the eighties (he was a bank president). He inherited a lot of money and land, and authorities believe he disposed of the body somewhere on that land. Two searches with cadaver dogs have turned up nothing, so far. We're talking hundreds, maybe thousands of acres in a very remote area of Texas.
I just hope someday the bastard will reveal what he has done with the body so his family can get some closure. But, being the worthless POS he is, I doubt they'll ever get to know where his remains are. Authorities know of at least 29 young boys he has molested and we hope he tells us where the boys body is before he is either killed by one of his victims or kills himself. He is headed back to prison. He has three jury trials this month on 42 counts of unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon. There are other charges being persued, but the family thinks he will either commit suicide or be killed in prison without ever revealing the location of the boys remains.
This is the first Christmas without him, and its going to be a tough one.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

4. I am so sorry for your loss

I hope you and your family are able to get thru this.

How old was your fiancee's grandson?

[Uben]

5. He turned 18 two weeks before disappearing

Since the statute of limitations on reporting child abuse has been lifted in Texas, there are individuals willing to come forward and press charges against him for that, as well. The local DA's office is working with them now. Child molestors do not bode well in prison.