skip to nav skip to content

Police: No Human Remains Found in Marzo Search

  • Print

MILWAUKEE - Milwaukee Police said Wednesday morning that the remains they have found on the site of the search for Becky Marzo's body are not human remains, and they have no evidence of human remains at that site.

According to Milwaukee Police spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz, the Medical Examiner's office confirmed that those bones aren't human, and she also said they do not have any hair or teeth recovered from there.

Becky's mother, Karen Kraemer, had believed they may have found her remains.

"Am I disappointed?  Yes," said Kraemer upon hearing the news from Milwaukee Police. "Am I going to stop?  Absolutely not."

"She's somewhere.  I will not quit.  If nothing comes out of this, we will dig again."

Schwartz also said that police have followed each credible lead in Marzo's disappearance, and had also looked at each private excavation and exhumation done to see if any evidence in Marzo's case was found, and no evidence had come from those leads and searches.

For years, Kraemer begged police to search an abandoned fallout shelter.

With volunteers, Kraemer started digging herself Tuesday and thought she might have found the remains of her daughter, Becky Marzo.

Video: 
Raw Video and Interview with Karen Kraemer from the scene

Milwaukee Police made the location of the dig for her daughter's body a crime scene on Wednesday morning.

The excavators discovered what was originally thought to have been blonde hair, teeth and decomposing body parts found under a layer of lime, which is used to help decompose bodies.

Crews began to search Tuesday in the concrete bunker in the backyard of the home where her daughter, Becky Marzo, lived with her boyfriend.

"I think my baby is down there," Kraemer told TODAY'S TMJ4 reporter Tom Murray.

Marzo went missing in 2003. Investigators focused on the last person known to have seen her alive - her boyfriend Carl Rodgers. He claimed innocence until he took his own life in 2007.

"He would have had access to the whole backyard and the whole property," said Jackie Rodgers, Carl Rodger's stepmother, who now lives in the home.

Worksmart, a Michigan subsurface imaging company, first scanned the top of the shelter Tuesday morning.

"There's some anomalies," said Worksmart's owner Mike McGarry.

McGarry found enough for contractors to bust open a hole in the 8-inch thick roof.

"This is one of the last places I have left to look," said Kraemer, as she watched the hole open up.

Karen's friends went down for a first look. They found an old purse, but no body. There is suspicion that remains could be buried in the bunker's dirt floor.

"If my daughters remains are in that hole, the City of Milwaukee will know I've asked police for six years to look it that hole," Kraemer said.

Homicide detectives closed the bunker off for a few hours Tuesday afternoon, calling it an "investigation scene." They then allowed Kraemer and her volunteer corps to resume excavating. 

Milwaukee Police detectives were called back to the scene and hauled away the potential evidence.

Today, three human remain detection dogs will continue scouring the bunker as part of Kraemer's volunteer excavation team.

Next Article in Local: Speedbusters: Blazing drivers on Becher Street

0 COMMENTS

ADD A COMMENT

Storm Team 4

    advertisement

    advertisement

    TODAY'S TMJ4