NEW MADRID - The search for a missing New Madrid woman continues as law enforcement rules out the most recent lead in the 18-month-old case.
A car spotted in the depths of the Mississippi River last fall is not Barbara Stoffer's, said New Madrid Police Chief Joey Higgerson. Stoffer, 83, was driving a 1997 green four-door Volvo 850 with Missouri license plate number 073RYW on Aug. 20, 2013, in the Parma area of New Madrid County, shortly before her disappearance.
According to Higgerson, last week his department, working with the Missouri State Highway Patrol's dive team twice scanned the site where fishermen spotted a vehicle at Marsh Landing on the Mississippi River near Portageville. What the officers found, he said, was not just one vehicle, but three.
On Tuesday, divers hooked marker buoys to each vehicle in preparation to retrieve them.
At approximately 10 am. Wednesday, working with Satterfield Wrecker Service, divers returned to the water. Higgerson said they began with the vehicle located nearest the boat ramp.
"They felt around and determined it was very rusty and old," Higgerson said, adding divers described the vehicle as a small SUV. "We decided it wasn't worth pulling out if we had ruled out it wasn't Barbara Stoffer's car."
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