Lawmen draining mine pit in search for girl missing since 1992Associated Press
JOPLIN, Mo. - Police have started draining an old mining pit in a search for the remains of a teenager who disappeared 13 years ago.
Tracy A. Pickett was last seen on Aug. 12, 1992, leaving a friend's Webb City apartment with a man who offered to give her a ride to her home in Joplin for a change of clothes. He had attended the same party as the 14-year-old the night before her disappearance. Witnesses told police that the man had a gun in his black van.
Police located the man in Oklahoma within a week of her disappearance and questioned him, but no charges were filed. The man, who has not been publicly identified, claimed to have dropped the teen off near a Joplin pawnshop and denied any knowledge of any foul play. He remains a "person of interest" in the case, police said.
Joplin police Lt. Carl Francis said authorities began draining the mining pit Tuesday after receiving information "from a person who was very close to the investigation from the beginning that leads us back to this location."
The crew from the Missouri Department of Conservation had hoped to have the pit in a remote, densely wooded area cleared of water by Thursday afternoon, but mechanical problems stalled their progress. Authorities also believe they may have underestimated the depth of the water at 30 to 40 feet deep.
The pit and the area around it were searched in 1992.
"But the only way we looked before was with a cadaver dog," Francis said. "Divers said the water was too murky, with low visibility. So, now we're draining it."
Once drained, Detective Keith Meyer said police may have to wait several days before the bottom of the well is dry enough to search for the girl's remains.
Jackie Rowden, Pickett's maternal grandmother, said she hopes the girl's remains are found, especially for her daughter's sake.
"When I saw her picture on TV on that Friday (in 1992), I knew she was dead," said Rowden, who lives in Galena, Kan.
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Information from: The Joplin Globe,
http://www.joplinglobe.com 
