Marcia Hulihan 50, Msg 09/07/08, Sebastian FL [REMAINS FOUND]

[sarahhod]

Police have no leads in case of missing Sebastian woman

By Lamaur Stancil (Contact)
Originally published 06:31 p.m., January 16, 2009
Updated 06:31 p.m., January 16, 2009

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2009/jan/16/police-have-no-leads-case-missing-sebastian-woman/




http://i41.tinypic.com/ng3bea.jpg
SEBASTIAN — The search for a missing Sebastian woman enters its fifth month, with her family members facing the prospect of moving her belongings out of her apartment and police unable to find a lead.

Marcia Hulihan, 50, lived at the Pelican Isle Apartments south of Main Street west of the railroad tracks and worked at Wal-Mart, police said. She was last seen Sept. 7.

“There’s been no developments and no activity on any of her accounts,” Sebastian police spokesman Steve Marcinik said.

The date of her disappearance holds few clues as to where Hulihan would have gone, police said. Her confirmed activities that day include calling off from work, having her car towed to a local garage and making a phone call to her son, Christopher Hulihan Jr., who was away at college, Sebastian police said. Phone records obtained by the police showed no other significant phone calls, Marcinik said.

Hulihan is a divorcee and the eldest of five sisters.

“We’re all dealing with it in our own ways,” said one of Hulihan’s sisters, Alison Lapierre, who lives in Maine. “It’s been really difficult for her son.”

Lapierre said the family will have to move Hulihan’s belongings out of her apartment by the end of the month. Police said the apartment yielded no clues about the woman’s disappearance.

“They did a forensic search in there,” Marcinik said. “There’s nothing to show that it’s a crime scene.”

Searches of the grounds surrounding the apartments have also provided no clues, police said. Investigators have also kept track of reports of bodies found in other parts of the country, but none have been connected to Hulihan’s disappearance.

Police described Hulihan as 5 feet 7 inches tall, 100 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information on Hulihan’s disappearance should call Sebastian police at (772) 589-5233. �

[sarahhod]

Volunteers to search for Sebastian woman

BY KAUSTUV BASU • FLORIDA TODAY • January 31, 2009

Detectives and officers of the Sebastian Police Department will organize a search effort today for a 50-year-old woman missing since September.

Marcia Hulihan, who possibly has some kind of mental deficiency, has not been since Sept. 7.

Sebastian police, along with the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office, have searched for her numerous times with helicopters, boats, all-terrain vehicles and trained police dogs.Lakes in the area also have been searched.

Hulihan worked at a local Wal-Mart store. Her vehicle was found in a local garage where she had taken it in for repair work.

Detectives also have monitored her financial accounts, but no activity has taken place since her disappearance.

Today’s search will involve several search dogs. The search begins at 9:30 a.m., and groups will gathers at 1225 Main St. in Sebastian before the search.

Anyone with information about Hulihan can Call Sebastian police at 772-589-5233.

http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20090131/BREAKINGNEWS/90131004/1006/NEWS01

[sashand]

http://http://tcpalm.com/news/2009/jan/31/police-believe-they-have-found-remains-missing-seb/

Very sad. They think they have found her remains near her apartment. I worked with Ms. Hulihan 11 years ago. A very sweet woman. So sad to hear this.

[annalyzer]

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2009/jan/31/police-believe-they-have-found-remains-missing-seb/

Police believe they have found remains of missing Sebastian woman

By Keona Gardner (Contact)
Originally published 04:22 p.m., January 31, 2009
Updated 04:22 p.m., January 31, 2009


SEBASTIAN — Sebastian Police believe they have found the remains of a 50-year-old Sebastian woman who was last seen Sept. 7, Sebastian Police Department spokesman Officer Steve Marcinik said Saturday.

About 2:30 p.m. Saturday, police found what they believe to be the remains of Marcia Hulihan in a wooded area by the Pelican Isla Apartments, south of Main Street, where she lived.

Hulihan was last seen Sept. 7, day on which she called off from work and had her car towed to a mechanic's shop, police said.

[annalyzer]

So sorry to hear this Sashand. :1222423:

[Nut44x4]

Police find female skeletal remains while searching for missing Sebastian woman

Saturday, January 31, 2009

SEBASTIAN — Police found female skeletal remains just off Main Street Saturday, but can’t say if they are a 50-year-old Sebastian woman who was last seen Sept. 7, Sebastian Police Department spokesman Officer Steve Marcinik said.

“We’re optimistic,” he said. “But there has to be forensic identification to say who the person is.”

Police and volunteers were searching the area for signs of Marcia Hulihan, who has been missing for five months.

Hulihan, who lived in the Pelican Isles apartment complex, was last seen Sept. 7. She had called off from work and had her car towed to a mechanic’s shop that day, police said.

Phone records obtained by the police showed no significant calls made by Hulihan the day she disappeared, police said.

About 2:30 p.m. Saturday, police found the remains partially submerged in a canal in a wooded area south of Main Street, by the Pelican Isles Apartments near Power Line Road.

Marcinik said female undergarments were found near the remains but couldn’t say if foul play was suspected until investigators finish processing the scene. DNA testing will be performed against the remains and hair samples found in Hulihan’s apartment. It could take up to a month until testing results are known, Marcinik said.

Hulihan’s family, who live out of state, were told that female remains had been found, Marcinik said.

Police aren’t releasing more details until the investigation is closed.

Police brought in more than 20 K-9 and cadaver dogs and 21 volunteers searched the area surrounding Hulihan’s home Saturday.

Fred Golba, of Coast to Coast Canine Service in Massachusetts, whose dogs participated in the search said he is happy to help.

“It is great to give closure to the family,” he said.

Before Saturday’s recovery, Marcinik said officers performed an extensive search of the wooded area but to no avail.

“It is more conducive to search in drier times when the wooded areas are not as dense because the leaves have dropped,” he said.

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2009/jan/31/police-believe-they-have-found-remains-missing-seb/

comments at the link

[Search Dawg]

For the second time in two weeks, the Florida-3 Airboat Search and Rescue team has participated in a search for a missing person. After spending a grueling 5 days in Immokallee, Florida searching for 6-year old Adji Desir, the FL-3 team deployed to Sabastainian, Florida to assist the Indian River Sheriff's Office in a search for Marcia Hulihan.

Within two hours of the start of the search, members of the FL-3 team discovered the skeletal remains of a woman partially submerged in a canal in a wooded area. Positive identification is pending, but law enforcement officers are confident the remains are those of Marcia Hulihan.

The FL-3 Airboat Search and Rescue team continues to remain ready, willing and able to respond to requests for search assistance anywhere they are needed.

[Nut44x4]

Last Update: 2/27 6:26 pm
SEBASTIAN — State officials have used dental records to identify the body found late last month as that of a woman reported missing in September, police announced Friday.

However, authorities won't be able to determine why Marcia Hulihan's place of death was a watery canal just north of her apartment complex. Police do not suspect foul play in the case, but the state Medical Examiner's Office was unable to say how the 50-year-old woman died.

"There was an anthropology examination performed, but there wasn't sufficient material for examiners to determine a cause of death," police spokesman Steve Marcinik said.

Hulihan, a mother of one who worked at Wal-Mart in Sebastian, was last heard from on Sept. 7 when she called off from work and had her car taken into a repair shop, police said. Officers searched the grounds of the area near her home at Pelican Isle Apartments off of Main Street. No search proved successful until a team of volunteers from across the state found her body waist deep in a canal north of her apartment on Jan. 31.

Police had previously searched the area. However, Tropical Storm Fay in August dumped almost 2 feet of rain on Sebastian, Marcinik said. The area was saturated with water when police conducted searches there in September, Marcinik said.

Searchers on Jan. 31 also found Hulihan's purse nearby her body, Marcinik said.
http://www.wptv.com/news/local/story/Body-identified-as-missing-Sebastian-woman/cGKraA_yakeP1MfJ7r-3MQ.cspx

[annalyzer]

From above link, "Police do not suspect foul play in the case, "

I wonder how she died? Guess we'll never know.

RIP Marcia :1222423:

[Amusedtdth]

From above link, "Police do not suspect foul play in the case, "

I wonder how she died? Guess we'll never know.

RIP Marcia :1222423:

I Imagine it would be impossible to tell unless she was shot or beaten.
My sympathies to Marcias family and friends..

[Nut44x4]

Death of Sebastian woman who went missing in September ruled accidental drowning
Updated 01:32 p.m., April 2, 2009
SEBASTIAN — State officials have ruled the death of a woman who went missing last September as an accidental drowning, according to her family.

The family of Marcia Hulihan said they are still making plans for a memorial for the woman, who lived in Sebastian until her death last year. Hulihan, 50, was reported missing by her family after she disappeared on Sept. 7. Her remains were found Jan. 31 in a watery canal near her home at Pelican Isle Apartments.

“Although the family accepts the medical examiner’s findings, they still have many unanswered questions as to how she got there and under what circumstances,” said Hulihan’s sister, Cindy Sullivan. “It was extremely uncharacteristic of Marcia to go anywhere on foot, especially by herself into a wooded area.”

Hulihan’s remains were studied by the state Medical Examiner’s Office in Fort Pierce and the University of Florida’s anthropological center, Sullivan said. Researchers told the family they found no trauma to Hulihan’s skeletal remains, Sullivan said.

Police previously had searched the same area where the woman was found. However, Tropical Storm Fay in August dumped almost 2 feet of rain on Sebastian, police said. The area was saturated with water when police conducted searches there in September. Hulihan’s body was found waist deep in water, police said.

Sullivan encourages anyone with information about Hulihan’s activities on Sept. 6 and 7 to contact the Sebastian police. Officers said they have ruled out foul play in the case and have not done any other investigation into Hulihans’s death since her body was discovered in January.

Hulihan’s memorial will be held in either Virgina or Maryland, Sullivan said. She credited Martin Funeral Home in Stuart for retrieving Hulihan’s body and handling the cremation at no cost.

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2009/apr/02/state-officials-rule-death-sebastian-woman-who-wen/

COMMENT at LINK =
Posted by kzlager on April 2, 2009 at 2:57 p.m. (Suggest removal)

how does the medical examiner know this death was "accidental?"

the fact is he doesn't know.

so now because a medical examiner has made this shockingly unscientific determination based on the examination of a skeleton with no soft tissues law enforcement can stop investigating this most unfortunate tradgedy and go eat donuts.

forensic pathology has several categories for a manner of death including accident, suicide, homicide, natural and undetermined.

an honest scientific non-political determination of the manner of death in this case would be "undetermined."

[annalyzer]

How are so many people "accidentally" falling into bodies of water and drowning? :confused:

[Amusedtdth]

How are so many people "accidentally" falling into bodies of water and drowning? :confused:

Anna you took the thought right outta my head. I imagine that being the remains were such that physical findings couldn't be determined, no crime scene at her home etc...logical reasoning would be drowning..accidental? Who knows but they don't seem to believe otherwise and I don't understand either why so many seem to be just walking into water and dying....a lot of questions left unanswered.