Search for remains of missing girls continues as families hold out hope

The search for the remains of the girls continued for the fourth straight day.

ByEva Pilgrim
May 10, 2018, 1:17 PM

Investigators continue to search the 24-acre plot of land Thursday in Macomb Township, Michigan, looking for what they believe is a possible serial killer's burial site.

“It's like finding a needle in a haystack, “ said Warren Mayor Jim Fouts.

Authorities searched the land for a fourth straight day.

Arthur Ream is currently imprisoned for the 1986 murder of his son's girlfriend, 13-year-old Cindy Zarzycki.

Arthur Ream, 68, in an undated handout photo from the Michigan Department of Corrections, May 8, 2018.
Michigan Department of Corrections via Reuters

Authorities believe he may have abducted and killed up to six more girls, ranging in age from 12 to 17 years old.

The plot is where Ream led authorities to Cindy's body 10 years ago; investigators suspect he buried the other girls there, too.

PHOTO: Investigators set up their equipment under tents before beginning their work at a dig site along a rural wooded area in Macomb Township, Mich., May 9, 2018.
Investigators set up their equipment under tents before beginning their work at a dig site along a rural wooded area in Macomb Township, Mich., May 9, 2018. Authorities were set to resume excavation work in a wooded area northeast of Detroit for the remains of a 12-year-old girl and the bodies of up to six others missing for decades.
Todd McInturf/Detroit News via AP Images

“The suspect in this case also did brag about murdering four to six people to inmates where he's being housed," said Warren Police Commissioner William Dwyer.

Missing cold cases in Michigan, from left to right, Kimberly King, Kellie Brownlee, Kim Larrow, Nadine O'Dell.
Handout via National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

Dwyer said other missing girls who could be connect to Ream include:

-- Cynthia Coon, 13, who disappeared from Ann Arbor in 1970

-- Nadine O'Dell, 16, who vanished in Inkster in 1974

Nadine O'Dell went missing Aug. 16, 1974, at age 16, from Inkster, Mich.
Handout via National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

-- Kimberly King, 12, who went missing from Warren in 1979

-- Kim Larrow, 15, who went missing in Canton in 1981

Kim Larrow went missing Jun 8, 1981, at age 15, from Canton, Mich.
Handout National

-- Kellie Brownlee, 17, who hasn't been seen since November 1982

Kellie Brownlee went missing May 20, 1982, at age 17, from Novi, Mich.
handout

Kimberly King’s family is one of the families holding out hope. The girl disappeared back in 1979 when she was 12 years old, last seen leaving her best friend’s backyard.

PHOTO: Annie Godbout, in dress, the best friend of Kimberly King and Konnie Beyma, Kimberly's sister, walk to a press conference in Macomb Township, Mich., May 9, 2018.
Annie Godbout, in dress, the best friend of Kimberly King and Konnie Beyma, Kimberly's sister, walk to a press conference in Macomb Township, Mich., May 9, 2018. Warren Police Commissioner Bill Dwyer told reporters at the press conference that investigators suspect 69-year-old Arthur Ream, a man serving life for the 1986 killing of a Detroit-area girl, could be responsible for cold-case slayings, including Kimberly King, who was reported missing decades ago.
Todd McInturf/Detroit News via AP Images

She was living with her grandparents in Warren at the time.

It was Kimberly's cold case, which was reopened last year, that led investigators to the plot.

A handout photo of Kimberly King, 12, who went missing Sep 15, 1979 in Warren, Mich.
Warren Police Dept via Facebook

“Police are very confident that they will find something today so I am trying to hold on to that hope. Something brought us all here,” said Kimberly King’s sister, Konnie Beyma.

Investigators focused in on Ream as a suspect after several interviews and a failed polygraph test.

In 2008, before Ream was sentenced, police say he led them to the same plot of land they are currently searching, eventually finding Zarzycki’s remains.

The new search could last several days, but investigators say they've found a clue.

PHOTO: Warren Police Commissioner Bill Dwyer speaks at a press conference about Arthur Ream in Macomb Township, Mich, May 8, 2018.
Warren Police Commissioner Bill Dwyer speaks at a press conference about Arthur Ream in Macomb Township, Mich, May 8, 2018. Dwyer told reporters that investigators suspect 69-year-old Ream, a man serving life for the 1986 killing of a Detroit-area girl, could be responsible for cold-case slayings of other girls reported missing decades ago.
Todd McInturf/Detroit News via AP

Ream has not been cooperative with police, Dwyer said.

The families of the alleged victims are hopeful he will talk.

“Please just tell us where she is so we can move on,” said Beyma.

ABC News' Erin Keohane contributed to this report.

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