Human remains have been discovered in the search for an 81-year-old Overland Park woman who has been missing for nearly a month along with some of her personal belongings, authorities in Cowley County, Kansas, say.
Jerry McConnell was last seen on the afternoon of Wednesday, May 14, in Harrisonville, Missouri, and was believed to be driving back to her residence in Overland Park that day.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation issued a statewide Silver Alert for McConnell on May 17.
On May 20, McConnell’s vehicle, a gray 2009 Honda Accord with Texas license plates, was found abandoned in rural Cowley County Kansas, on the Oklahoma border south of Wichita.
In a statement Thursday morning, the Cowley County Sheriff’s Office said investigators found human remains on Wednesday about a mile away from where McConnell’s abandoned vehicle had been discovered previously on private property in a rural area near the 4000 block of 327th Road.
During the search, which occurred with “the assistance of local landowners,” some of McConnell’s personal property was also found, the sheriff’s office’s statement said.
An autopsy is pending to determine the identity of the remains.
The Cowley County Sheriff’s Office said the discovery Wednesday came after “weeks of intensive search operations,” following the discovery of McConnell’s abandoned vehicle on May 20.
“Despite daily search efforts since the vehicle was located, no further leads were developed until the discovery on June 11,” Undersheriff Christina McDonald said in the statement. “We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all those who contributed time, resources, and support in the effort to locate Jerry over the past three weeks. Our thoughts and prayers remain with her family during this difficult time.”
On Facebook Thursday, McConnell’s son Rick McConnell said the Cowley County Sheriff’s Office had informed the family that a body presumed to be that of Jerry McConnell’s had been found.
“The family wishes to express our gratitude and appreciation for the tireless efforts of both the Cowley County Sheriff’s Department and the Overland Park Police Department. Unless you have personally experienced such an unfathomable situation, you cannot comprehend the enormous efforts such an operation entails,” Rick McConnell wrote on Facebook.
In a previous statement posted to Facebook, Rick McConnell said that at some point in May a man tried to assist Jerry McConnell at a gas station in Severy, Kansas, about an hour’s drive northeast of Cowley County and that “she indicated she was not feeling well, and seemed anxious, but refused help from him.”
Over the course of the search in Cowley County, investigators used drones, K9 units and aircraft to comb the area where McConnell’s vehicle had been found, Rick McConnell said.
