Shouldn't We Be Combing the Landfills for Stacey & Amy Too?

Last November some of you may recall a post on this blog called "All She Wanted, the Disappearance of Stacey Lynn Balas". It was a detailed description of the 1996 disappearance of a young woman from Northern Ohio who vanished without a trace after closing the local Subway shop where she was employed.
At the time it was going on nine years that Stacey had been missing and suspicion had fallen a long time earlier on the last person to see Stacey that night --- Larry Wade. Larry Wade was later arrested and charged with a violent rape and attempted murder of another woman less than three months after Stacey vanished, but up until last year (2005) he was never cooperative in the investigation into the disappearance of Stacey.
Friends, family members, and others were left with only memories and the haunting mystery of what happened to Stacey on that fateful Novemeber night in 1996, as they never believed she would leave on her own accord.

Just as the anniversary of Stacey's disappearance was to come and go as it does every year, the District Attorney's office announced that they were charging Larry Wade with Stacey Balas' 1996 murder although her remains have never been located. Immediately Larry Wade claimed he was innocent and it appeared he was going to fight the charges. He was due for parole from his current prison sentence in June 2007. Apparently the State of Ohio realized just what a threat Wade was and had more information regarding this case than many of us knew about and they decided to move on this just at the right time.

In May of 2006, Larry Wade changed his plea of NOT GUILTY to GUILTY and I believe this was done to avoid facing any possible death penalty. Wade told authorities what I had feared along with many others who had silently searched for Stacey all along. Larry Wade claimed that he had disposed of Stacey's body in a landfill. This makes it difficult if not impossible to ever locate Stacey. Which brings me to the purpose of this blog entry today..........

Just weeks ago we learned that Joanna Rogers who had been missing for two years was located in a landfill in Texas. An in depth search began for Joanna after her suspected killer confessed to her murder and told authorities pretty much where he disposed of Joanna. The county was able to set aside special funds to begin a massive excavation for Joanna and this search went on for at least two or possibly three months until she was found. The search was tedious and I'm sure it was unpleasant.

My question here is if we have a case like Stacey Balas and that of Amy Derewitz where these killers have confessed to the murders of these young women, and they've pretty much given the location of where these people were disposed of, how can it ever be acceptable to just tell the family, "we know what happened, but the chances of locating your loved one is probably never going to happen" when we've had a clear example of how it can be done?


The Derewitz family have told me that they pretty much know the area where Amy is located, but this place has been closed down or condemned, and therefore no searching will take place. How on earth could anybody deal with driving past a place knowing their loved one's body is lost in that pile of trash, murdered at the hands of some sicko and they cannot even have one piece of them back? I just don't understand.

We have had Lori Hacking located, John Fiocco, and Joanna Rogers that massive excavations were done until they were found. People this should be available for every single person because these cases do not end just when somebody is arrested and put behind bars. Although the family knows their loved one is dead and they'll never be home again, they need to have that physical body they used to hold back for a proper burial. This eats away at me to think that this is happening. There has to be a way to find funding for this.

Read All She Ever Wanted - Last November's Story on Stacey