LARGO, Fla. — An excavation at a construction site for a new home prompted following tips in a 1980s cold case did not turn up any evidence, the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office said Thursday.
The agency last week said it received word of possible human remains buried at the site located adjacent to the Pinellas Trail and Gooden Crossing. Cleveland Hill Jr. owned the property, and he was considered a suspect in the 1982 disappearance of 43-year-old Retha Hiers.
The excavation was completed Wednesday, July 6, with "no evidence related to the case" located, the sheriff's office said in a statement. Crews digging up the site also worked their way through a concrete slab with a lot of drilling and hammering; nothing of any significance was found.
Dana Hiers, who credited 10 Tampa Bay coverage earlier this year that highlighted her mother's disappearance, had said that she prayed investigators find something.
Retha Hiers disappeared in 1982 after leaving her Largo home to go buy laundry detergent. She was described as someone who loved to cook and had a beautiful smile and laugh.
Her car was found four months later in Clearwater. Investigators say she had an affair with Hill, an asphalt contractor and former minister. Detectives say two other women he dated also disappeared: Margaret Dash in 1974 and Donyelle Johnson in 1989.
Hill was never charged with a crime in the women's disappearances; he was later sentenced to drug trafficking in 1992. Hill was released from prison in 2008 and later died in Virginia.
The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office says its investigation into the case continues.