Posted on Wed, Oct. 10, 2007 10:58 AM

Search continues at site where Shipp's remains found

By KEVIN HOFFMANN

The Kansas City Star

Still pursuing evidence this morning in Summer Shipp’s death, dozens of police officers from Jackson County and Independence converged on the area where her remains were found earlier this week.

The site, near Missouri 78 and Fisher Road in Independence, is near the bank of the Little Blue River. Shipp’s skull was found there by two fishermen Sunday afternoon.

Deputies and officers headed on foot into a wooded area near the river before 10 a.m. today, accompanied by several others on horseback.

At a late-morning news conference, Deputy Ronda Montgomery of the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office said that even though authorities had not released a cause of death, they were treating the area as a crime scene.

“We know that she was found here, miles away from where her car was,” Montgomery said. “We don’t think she got her on her own.”

Authorities were still trying to determine how long the skull, or other bones found Sunday night and Monday, had been there.

“We don’t know how long the body has been here; it very well may have been here for three years, or not,” she said.

Shipp, 54, disappeared in December 2004 while conducting a door-to-door marketing survey in Independence. Her disappearance triggered an extensive media campaign by friends and family, who bought billboards, set up a Web site and passed out 25,000 fliers seeking information on her whereabouts.

To reach Kevin Hoffmann, call 816-234-7801 or send e-mail to khoffmann@kcstar.com.