Cadaver dogs being used Thursday to find Okemos resident Paige Renkoski, who was last seen in 1990 on an expressway near Fowlerville, hit on “four very positive strong” locations in Conway Township.
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Mike Frayer, an investigator with the Livingston County Sheriff’s Department’s cold-case team, said the four areas where the dogs indicated the possible presence of remains is located on private property in the 7700 block of Sober Road, near some trees and a driveway about 300 feet north of the road.
He said it is a similar area marked on a “precisely drawn map” that showed up anonymously on the desk of a Lansing-based Michigan State Police detective in 1999, but it is not an area that was searched in the summer with ground-penetrating radar.
“We don’t know what it is or who it is,” Frayer said.
Investigators hope, however, the cadaver dogs have found a clue into the whereabouts of Renkoski or her remains. Renkoski was last seen talking to a man standing between her car and a minivan between 3 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. May 24, 1990, on the shoulder of westbound Interstate 96 about a quarter-mile east of the Fowlerville exit.
“We’re encouraged and optimistic,” Sheriff Bob Bezotte said. “I’m cautiously optimistic this will lead to something; we’re not going to give up.”
Investigators were working to get permission and/or a search warrant to begin digging at the four spots the dogs, which are from the Michigan Search and Rescue group, indicated may contain remains. The dig is expected to begin today.
Police found Renkoski’s 1986 Oldsmobile Cutlass at around 8 p.m. the day she disappeared in the same location she was last seen. It was unlocked, with the engine running and the headlights on. Her shoes and purse were still inside the vehicle.
Police have ruled the case a homicide even though Renkoski’s body has never been found.
The search in Conway Township follows an unsuccessful search Nov. 4 in the area of Interstate 69 and I-96 in Delta Township.
In October, the team released threw new sketches of possible suspects. Those sketches included one based on a tip from a retired police officer, who said he saw a black man in his late 20s to early 30s, about 5 feet 8 inches to 5 feet 9 inches tall and of stocky build, peering into the window of Renkoski’s car.
Other tips included a woman who accepted a ride from a trucker after her vehicle broke down on I-96 about six months before Renkoski went missing and an accountant traveling to Wisconsin on Interstate 94 near Kalamazoo in 1990 who noticed a man flashing a police badge in an attempt to get him to stop on the expressway.
Frayer said he believes the man the female witness described resembles a trucker convicted of four murders, including one where he threw a woman off a bridge.
He said the third tip may not be related to Renkoski’s case but may be similar to it. One of the cold-case team’s working theories is that someone posed as a person of authority, such as a police officer, in order to get Renkoski to stop along I-96.
If you have information for the cold-case team, call the Sheriff’s Department at (517) 540-7879.
Contact Daily Press & Argus reporter Lisa Roose-Church at (517) 552-2846 or at lrchurch@gannett.com.
