Amber Wilde Search Takes Frustrating Turn
Amber Wilde's Family Talks About New Leads
By Heather Shannon
Archived Content
SHAWANO COUNTY - The search for UW-Green Bay student Amber Wilde takes a frustrating turn.
Investigators say they have exhausted all of the areas in a cornfield dug up in Shawano County last week.
They once again used two search and rescue canines to check the site and found nothing.
Wilde was four months pregnant when she disappeared in 1998.
Search teams had been digging in a corn field after a Green Bay detective who has been working on the case got some information, but they won’t say what type of information. That information led them to believe the corn field could help them solve the Amber Wilde case.
Police also said that this continues to be a missing person, and not a homicide case.
"It’s still classified as a missing persons case until we have evidence that it's not a missing persons case,” Green Bay Police Department Captain Karl Fleury said. “It's an ongoing investigation and remains open and will continue to remain open until we find out what's taken place and until we are able to close it out and we're not at that point at this time."
The area that police are focusing on is on private land, but police say the land owner is not involved and is cooperating with the investigation.
The Wilde family has always hoped that some day they would know what happened to Amber, but even this news caught them off guard.
"I was just stunned," Amber's grandmother Jane Wilde said. "I couldn't believe they were doing this. I had absolutely no idea."
Click on the link under related content to see an interview with Jane Wilde.
Jane Wilde got the news Monday that investigators had new leads, but the family has been down this road before.
"We are sure hoping something turns up that's it’s not all in vain again," Jane Wilde said.
Jane's 19-year-old granddaughter disappeared in September 1998. Amber was four months pregnant and a student at UW-Green Bay.
A new lead sent investigators back to a field along Highway 29 in Shawano County to dig for possible evidence Monday. They were there once before in 2001.
It's hard for Amber's mother and father according Jane Wilde.
It's been more than nine years since Amber went missing and not a day goes by that the family doesn't think about her. They even have a license plate that reads “Missing Amber.”
Amber's grandmother wears a guardian angel pin.
"She has a guardian angel. She's around waiting for somebody to find her," Jane Wilde said.
Until that happens, Jane will continue her nightly ritual.
"I give her a little kiss. I say ‘miss you, I love you, good night,’” Jane Wilde said.
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