By Lucia I. Suarez Sang, Fox News
The body of a young girl who disappeared nearly 40 years ago — and the remains of perhaps four other victims — could be uncovered Tuesday as authorities continue a desperate dig at a vacant Michigan farm that officials believe may have been a burial ground for a potential serial killer.
A spokesman for a task force led by the Warren Police Department confirmed to Fox News that cops are searching a property in Macomb Township for the remains of Kimberly King, a 12-year-old who was reported missing in September 1979.
(There’s a new push for answers in the 1979 disappearance of Kimberly King. Courtesy of WXYZ-TV Detroit | Channel 7 and YouTube. Posted on Dec 11, 2017)
The spokesman said officials believe the location is also the burial ground for at least four other teenage girls.
“It’s bittersweet, but by finding those remains we might bring closure to these families,” Warren Police Commissioner William Dwyer told Fox News.
The site, located near 23 Mile Road and North Avenue in Warren, is in the same area where police found the remains of 13-year-old Cindy Zarzycki in 2008.
Convicted child murderer Arthur Nelson Ream led police to Zarzycki’s body.
The girl went missing in 1986 after meeting Ream, her boyfriend’s father and her killer, at a Dairy Queen.
Authorities said Ream, now 68, tricked the teenager by telling her he was planning a surprise party for his son, the Detroit Free Press reported.
Ream, a convicted pedophile who raped a 15-year-old, is currently serving a life sentence for Zarzycki’s murder.
Other cold cases that could be connected to Ream include Kellie Brownlee, from Novi, who was 17 when she disappeared in 1982; and Kim Larrow, who disappeared from Canton Township in 1981 at the age of 15, WDIV reported.
While Dwyer did not elaborate on what prompted the search that began Monday, he said they had interviewed Ream prior to launching the investigation.
FOX2 Detroit said crews were seen on the property with a backhoe, shovels and other tools.
The task force investigating what may be hidden beneath the farm’s dirt is composed of the Warren Police Department, the FBI, Michigan State Police and Macomb County Sheriff’s Office.
King was reported missing on Sept. 15, 1979, during a stay at her grandparents’ home in Warren, Michigan.
The girl had planned to sleep over at her friend’s house across the street. Around 11:30 p.m. that night, however, King called her sister from a public telephone near their grandparents’ home.
Her sister Konnie Beyma said she told her sister to go back to her friend’s house, but that never happened. The next day she was reported missing.
“It’s a day I won’t forget,” Beyma told WXYZ last year.
(The search for multiple bodies is underway in Macomb Township. Courtesy of Detroit | Local 4 | WDIV and YouTube. Posted on May 7, 2018)
Nearby property owner Ron Dehondt told FOX2 Detroit that the property had been vacant for about 20 years or so.
“The front part was farm up until a few years ago, the back part is open but I think it’s not being developed right now,” Dehondt said.
“There’s a river that runs through it, the north branch of the Clinton River.”
The search on the property is expected to continue for several more days.
