Leila Lewis Bryan 36/Mary Rachel 4, Msg 05/10/1941, NC

[sarahhod]

Authorities set to dig for human bones in Carolina Beach

http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20081231/ARTICLES/812310282/1177?Title=Authorities_set_to_dig_for_human_bones_ in_Carolina_Beach


Published: Wednesday, December 31, 2008 at 7:52 p.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, December 31, 2008 at 8:02 p.m.

Next week authorities plan to break ground at a home in Carolina Beach which might hold the answer to a 67-year-old mystery, according to the homeowner.

The plan is to start by cutting a 2-foot by 2-foot hole in the kitchen floor at 214 Raleigh Road, said Ken Florence, who owns the house. The excavation is to see whether images captured by geological surveying equipment are the remains of a mother and daughter who disappeared May 10, 1941.

The disappearance of Leila Lewis Bryan, 36, and her 4-year-old daughter Mary Rachel sparked an investigation decades ago, but was never solved.

At one point, Leila’s husband E.C. Bryan, who once lived at the house with his wife and daughter, was a suspect, though he was never charged. Bryan is now deceased.

Leila Bryan’s nephew, Lewis Smith, 66, has said the disappearance shocked generations of his family and that he would like to see it solved.

Florence also said he’s curious to see whether the dig solves the mystery.

“It’s an interesting part of Carolina Beach history,” he said. “It’d be nice to go ahead and put it to an end.”

[sarahhod]

A 67-year-old Wilmington missing persons case is closed for the family, but no remains were found

http://www.wect.com/Global/story.asp?S=9626647&nav=menu157_2

Posted: Jan 6, 2009 09:50 PM

Updated: Jan 6, 2009 09:54 PM


Reported by Max Winitz - bio|email
Posted by Debra Worley - email



WILMINGTON, NC (WECT) - The SBI returned to a home in Carolina Beach where family members believe a woman and her daughter were buried under concrete 67 years ago.

41-year-old Leila Bryan and her 4-year-old daughter Mary Rachel vanished in 1941, and family members have always thought Bryan's husband, E.C. Bryan, buried the bodies in the house.

In November of 2008, state investigators used high tech equipment to look beneath the concrete.

Teams dug up the foundation under a bedroom and just inside the front door of a home in Carolina Beach Tuesday, January 6, but didn't find anything.

Investigators focused on an area near the front door. They tore up the concrete, shoveled dirt from underneath and searched for teeth or body parts, but came up empty handed.

They had the same results when they dug up another spot in the living room.

"This was the best shot," said Leila Bryan's nephew Lewis Smith. "The indication was she was there, but it's evident she's not. This is kind of the last hoo-rah, so it's closed as far as I'm concerned."

E.C. Bryan died many years ago. Family members say there is a possibility the bodies may have been dumped in the Snows Cut River.

Smith plans to reimburse the homeowner for the floors that were damaged in the investigation.

[sarahhod]

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[sarahhod]

http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20090106/ARTICLES/901060297?Title=Family_gathers_for_closure_to_a_67 _year_old_mystery

Family gathers for closure to a 67-year-old mystery

By Chelsea Kellner
Staff writer

Published: Tuesday, January 6, 2009 at 9:55 a.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, January 6, 2009 at 10:07 a.m.

Lewis Smith arrived at the little yellow house on Raleigh Street this morning before even the officials from the State Bureau of Investigation.

Today is the day a 67-year-old unsolved mystery will be put to rest for Smith, after the disappearance of his aunt and her daughter on May 10, 1941. The SBI will cut into the concrete floor of their former home in Carolina Beach to see whether images captured by geological surveying equipment are their remains.

Smith, 66, has been working on getting the case re-opened for the last eight years, he said.

“She’s got to be somewhere, and this is the most logical place,” Smith said, as he gazed at the house from across the street.

The plan is to start by cutting a 2-foot by 2-foot hole in the kitchen floor at 214 Raleigh Road, said Ken Florence, who owns the house.

The disappearance of Leila Lewis Bryan, 36, and her 4-year-old daughter Mary Rachel sparked an investigation decades ago, but was never solved.

At one point, Leila’s husband E.C. Bryan, who once lived at the house with his wife and daughter, was a suspect, though he was never charged. Bryan is now deceased.

If the bodies are found, Smith said, they will be buried in the family cemetery in Bladenboro, where headstones are already waiting.

If they don’t find anything, he added, it’s the end of the road for him. There’s nowhere else he can think of to look.

Either way, it will provide long-awaited closure for his family.

“My mother was concerned about it all her life. That was her closest sister,” Smith said. “After today, it will be over, one way or another.”

His cousin, William Lewis, is there today as well.

"I think my father always wondered about it," Lewis said. "It was just as if they evaporated from the earth."

This is the end of a journey for Florence, as well. He bought the house 18 years ago, and lived in it himself for several years. Now he rents out the top floor, and keeps the ground floor furnished for his five grandchildren.

“I really would like to find the bodies,” Florence said. “It would be a great closure for the family, and for a really interesting piece of history for Carolina Beach.”

[TigressPen]

I wish this family peace. They sure gave it all they had to find Leila and Mary. What a shame E.C. took it to his grave with him whether he killed them and where they were buried if he did.

[Amusedtdth]

I wish this family peace. They sure gave it all they had to find Leila and Mary. What a shame E.C. took it to his grave with him whether he killed them and where they were buried if he did.

My sentiments exactly Tigress...RIP now Leila and Mary, wherever you are.

[grammybears]

What a heartbreak for this family. People do not just disappear off the face of the earth. Somebody does or did know where they were. No matter what happens when judgement day rolls around the true killer will have to deal with this and answer for it.
I feel so bad for this family. They gave it their all. May they have some form of closure now that the search has been completed.

jmoo

[foxfarmboxers]

My heart, truly goes out to this family.