Investigators, cadaver dogs comb the woods for missing Christine Flahive

Reporter: Taylor Petras
Published: Updated:
Photo by WINK News.

Deep in the woods, Detectives are on the hunt for clues to solve a 24-year-old cold case. Investigators are searching for a missing mother, utilizing a tip that brought them back to an area they previously searched.

“It’s slow,” said Mike Vogel, of Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office. “It’s tedious, but that’s what cold cases are.”

Cadaver dogs search for signs of Christine Flahive.

“You know, we don’t give up on doing whatever we have to do recover an individual or at least find out what happened to the individual,” Vogel said.

Cold case Detective Vogel said a recent tip led them back to the woods on Rollins St. After clearing out brush Wednesday, the dogs got to work Thursday morning. This time, the dogs are concentrating on a smaller location.

“We’ll come back as often as we have to or as often as we feel like we need to,” Vogel said.

Detectives said Rollins is where a person of interest in the case, Jonathan Payne, lived when Christine Flahive went missing in 1995.

It is also where a convicted killer lived 6 years later.

“Now this is also where Philip Barr lived as well — are we connecting those two as knowing each other at all at this point?” WINK News asked Vogel.

“We don’t actually have any information that connects the two of them other than the location back here,” Vogel said. “Whether or not Mr. Barr and Mr. Payne knew each other during that time we really don’t know.”

Thursday, Detectives were also joined by the State Attorney’s Office Homicide Unit.

“If this turns out to be a criminal prosecution,” said Ben Feinberg of the State Attorney’s Office, “it really helps for us to be on the ground floor to see what they see and be there to assistant them from the beginning.”

All are hoping to bring closure to the case.

“We’ll continue to move forward and do whatever it takes to get a resolution,” Vogel said.

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