Thursday's Internet Edition, September 09, 2010.

Sgt. O.S. Starsick of the State Police detachment in Grantsville confirmed the search effort was related to David Wayne Beach III, a Spencer resident who was 17 when he was reported missing in 2006.

Police from Roane and Calhoun County spent last Tuesday at property on Beech Road that includes an unoccupied home that served as the residence of the William Denmark family.

“We were searching for clues or indications the missing person may have been at that property,” Starsick said.

“Nothing concrete was found,” he said

State Police and Roane Sheriff’s Dept. cruisers were at the property, marked off with crime scene tape, as were vehicles from the offices of the W.Va. Medical Examiner and Wood County Coroner.

Starsick said the medical examiner’s office and coroner were contacted in case something was found.

“We didn’t find any bodies,” he said. “We just wanted to be prepared in case we did find something.”

Officers were at the property until late Tuesday night. The Hur Herald reported State Police called for a tow truck to remove an ATV from the property.

Starsick said the Denmark family is living elsewhere and the home had been vacant for a time before the search. The property is located off Beech Road, less than a mile from U.S. 33/119 near Arnoldsburg.

Chief Deputy Todd Cole of the Roane Sheriff’s Dept. said the sheriff’s department is following up leads in the case with the help of State Police in both counties.

He said the information gathered so far seems to point in one direction.

“If something happened, it happened in Calhoun,” Cole said.

Starsick, who said Cpl. D.P. Starcher is heading up the investigation in Calhoun County, said officers are not sure if foul play was involved in the disappearance.

“We don’t even know that,” he said.

Beach, who previously lived in Calhoun County, was living with his mother in Spencer when he was last seen on May 14, 2006.

Barbara Hicks said she’s heard nothing from her son since that day which, ironically, was Mother’s Day.

After having lived in Charleston, Grantsville, Parkersburg and Ripley, Hicks said she and her son had been in Spencer about a year at the time he disappeared.

Hicks said she was leaving her home in the Matthews Trailer Park on Ripley Road that afternoon and asked Beach if he wanted to go along. She said he planned to go to town to see a friend.

She told him if he changed his mind to give her a call and she’d come get him. She said she never received a call.

A neighbor said later Beach had come over to pump up his bicycle tire.

When Hicks returned home, she said her son’s bicycle was there, but he was not.

Beach was described as 5’2” and 115 lbs. when he was reported missing almost four years ago. He would now be 21 years old.

Hicks said her son was friends with William Denmark’s son, Seth.

“They were good friends,” she said.

Starsick said Beach had been to the Denmark home in the past.

“He’s been to the property several times,” Starsick said.

Hicks said she continues to hold out hope her son will be located.

“I hope they do find something,” she said. “I’d like to know where he’s at.”

Persons with information about the case are asked to contact the State Police detachment in Grantsville at 304-354-6334 or the Roane Sheriff’s Dept. at 304-927-3410. Messages, including anonymous information, may also be left on the Roane Sheriff’s Tipline at 304-927-8800.