TAUNTON, Mass. — Investigators are expected back in a Taunton neighborhood Friday morning in a search that a source tells Boston 25 News is connected to a 17-year-old cold case.
That case concerns the disappearance of Debbie Melo, then 30-years-old, who hasn’t been seen since June 2000.
"Closure would be nice,” Melo’s former brother-in-law Steve Demoura said. "This has been this family's life for the past 17 years."
Neighbors say the sudden search caught them off guard when it began around 8 a.m. Thursday, and continued until about 6:30 p.m. at the home on Bryan Drive.
MORE: Taunton dig connected to search for woman missing since 2000
Sky25 was overhead as investigators dug up a portion of the home’s front yard, and neighbors said a crew was on hand to remove a large rock and tree around the area where police were searching.
“The dog actually went to that big rock and was around that big rock and was digging gin a couple of spaces,” neighbor Sally Myatt said. “The cops came and started digging a little more.”
Debbie's husband, Luis Melo, told police he let her out of a car during a fight while on Route 18 in Weymouth.
She hasn't been seen since.
Luis Melo waited an entire day before reporting her missing to police.
Her family said she would never have abandoned her two children.
"If it's meant to be it's meant to be. When her time is here, it will happen but you can't find something unless you look," Demoura said.
Neighbors watching Thursday’s search shared what they witnessed.
“They took some pictures, random pictures here and there, but, no. I didn’t see them pull anything up,” Sally Gorman said.
No arrests have ever been made in Debbie Melo’s disappearance.
The District Attorney’s Office would only say the dig was connected to an ongoing investigation and doesn’t comment on pending investigations.
Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/7QOJU3BNCJERBNKJC5LWTBYFLU.png)
