MPD Police Chief Cathy Lanier on efforts to recover Latisha Frazier’s body:
(Note: Apologies for the delayed posting on this statement.)
We considered it an extremely high priority to recover the remains, and to suggest that this was a decision based solely on resources is inaccurate. I tried to place myself in the shoes of Latisha’s family. The main considerations for such a search are probability of recovery and safety. We consulted experts in the field of the recovery of human remains from landfills. We visited the site with these experts, and MPD was told that the likelihood of recovery in a landfill of this size after this much time has passed would be dangerous and would have an extremely low probability of success. Hazards include collapse, disease and even explosion from the concentrations of methane gas. The experts determined that the remains are likely buried at a minimum of seventy feet, and the search would take a minimum of six months. With the high potential for injury and the low probability of recovery, we made the very difficult decision that this search was not feasible. This decision is disappointing for us as well.
