Investigators restarted their search for evidence and answers in Cass County Thursday morning.
A mushroom hunter found one set of remains on Monday, and a second set of remains were found by law enforcement on Tuesday. Some of those remains were positively identified as missing 21-year-old, Jessica Runions.
Their search was postponed on Wednesday because of severe rain and wind.
In all, 110 investigators combed the area. They searched 15 acres of wooded land three times. On Friday, the search area will be scaled down to 2 acres.
"Today that is our primary mission: gather and collect as much evidence as we can out here on the scene. I don't know if we will finish today, maybe tomorrow. We are prepared to stay out here as long as we need to," said Kevin Tieman, with the Cass County Sheriff's Office.
Tieman said anything they find will be documented and passed along to the medical examiner.
"I can say we did identify several pieces of evidence," Tieman said Thursday afternoon. "I'm not ready to tell you if they are human remains or something else, but we are recovering evidence and things we believe will help us identify possibly the second person and help with the ongoing homicide case."
Several agencies participated in the search on Thursday, including academy classes from Wyandotte County, Kansas City Police and Blue River Academy. The FBI, Kansas City Police Department, Belton and Raymore Police, Cass County Sheriff's Office and Missouri Highway Patrol are all involved.
Taking It To The Streets, a metro volunteer group, also assisted with giving out food and drinks to search crews on Thursday.
Scott Lamaster, the founder of the group, said he was glad he could help the crews.
“What we try to do is help eliminate the PTSD and the stress levels that these searchers are going through,” he explained. “We try to help with keeping a good spirit and a good attitude.”
After talking with the investigators and seeing the search efforts nearby, Lamaster hoped crews could bring some answers.
“Hopefully through this, it will bring closure and give those families some comfort and peace,” he said. “They want to find anything they can and to whoever did it they can find the evidence to convict that person and put them away."
For neighbors who live near the search area, seeing the amount of investigators on Thursday and yellow crime scene tape in the woods brought a sense of unease.
“It's kind of an eerie feeling,” explained Andrew Collins, who lives across the street from where law enforcement officers have set up a staging area. “Everybody knows the case of Jessica."
On Friday, investigators plan to be back out at the site in Cass County.
After searching 15 acres with 110 investigators on Thursday, they plan to scale down the amount of officers and look over about 2 acres.
-----
Follow 41 Action News on Twitter:
Like 41 Action News on Facebook:
