Dec 29, 2008 4:51 pm US/Eastern
Police Expand Search For Missing Brooklyn Woman
25-Year-Old Has Not Been Seen Since Leaving Chelsea Nightclub With Sex Offender On Dec. 3
MIDDLETOWN, N.Y. (CBS) ―
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Laura Garza, 25, was last seen leaving Marquee nightclub in Manhattan with two men on Dec. 3, 2008.
NYPD
Where is she?
The weather is now having an impact on the desperate search for Laura Garza, the 25-year-old Brooklyn woman who vanished after a night on the town nearly a month ago.
With the melting of the recent snow, the search for Garza is heating back up. Troopers and police dogs trudged methodically along I-84 west of Middletown, looking for any sign of the missing woman.
"At this stage of the game were looking for any evidence, and possibly a body," said State Police Lt. Pierce Gallagher, who added cops have treated this as a likely homicide case since Dec. 3.
That's the day Garza disappeared after leaving the trendy Manhattan nightclub "Marquee" with Michael Mele, a 23-year-old level one sex offender. Evidence from Mele's Middletown apartment points to foul play, but he's lawyered up and not talking.
And so police must use leads and logic to plot their course. They've searched I-84 from Middletown east to Newburgh, where Mele's parents live.
They've also checked Route 17 near the home of Mele's girlfriend.
Divers have searched nearby Echo Lake and on Monday the search expanded to I-84 west of Middletown.
The long days of searching have yielded some tantalizing finds: a machete taken from the woods behind Mele's apartment - and a shotgun found under the ice of Echo Lake. But neither of those weapons appear to have any connection to the disappearance of Laura Garza.
"Suffice it to say when we do a search, we end up finding things. And not all of them are relevant to this particular case," said Gallagher.
Gallagher said troopers will continue searching and he urges anyone with information on Mele or Garza, no matter how insignificant, to contact police. In the meantime, police will continue to search as long as the weather allows.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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