Police find nothing in search of yard for Shipp

Rumors and unwelcome media attention apparently pressured an Independence woman to ask the police to search her backyard regarding the disappearance of Summer Shipp.

Independence Sgt. Dennis Green said the woman contacted police last week and complained that the media had portrayed her son as the prime suspect. Green said the mother wanted to ease the minds of Shipp family members, who might have thought that crucial evidence was hidden in her backyard.

Police today used cadaver dogs and metal prods to search the woman’s property for roughly two hours. They found nothing.

Shipp, a Kansas City resident, disappeared nearly six months ago while conducting a market survey in an Independence neighborhood, near Forest Street and West College Terrace. Police said Shipp last was seen heading toward the woman’s home, where she lives with her son.

The woman could not be reached for comment.

Previously in the investigation, police had called the woman’s son “a person of interest.” They also have said that some Shipp friends and family members were “persons of interest.”Police today said they have no evidence to link Shipp’s disappearance with either the woman’s son or with other Shipp family members or friends.

Brandy Shipp, the missing woman’s daughter, said little about the search.

“One could search an area briefly or intensely,” she said. “I think they’re (the police) still actively working the case to the best of their ability.”