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Clues to A Killing
posted (December 31, 2018)
Tonight, Anisha Young's family is one step closer to knowing what happened to their loved one, but many painful steps away from unravelling the mystery of her disappearance and apparent murder.

The search team had a breakthrough on Saturday evening. They found a shallow grave off a feeder road in Maskall Village on the old Northern Highway. In it they found a hair weave and skin tissue believed to be Young's. Courtney Weatherburne has more on this major update.

Courtney Weatherburne reporting
The search for Anisha Young led the family to this shallow grave in Maskall Village. A relative is seen scooping out the mud and murky water - hoping to find Young's body. Well, they didn't find her remains but they found other crucial pieces of evidence.

Jose Espat, Search Party Leader
"When I put the shovel into the ground and I pulled it out you could hear the suction which means there are some vacuums underneath the top dirt so when I pulled it out, water came out so we continued and when one of shovels came up the skin just floated up on top of the water, we continued to dig we found on the right hand of the side of the shallow grave, we found the weave."

"Natural rows of plaited hair was attached to that weave so we have enough to get the DNA from that. So from there, the way that was placed, we found the weave on one end which we believe the head was and the part of the heal was on the other end of the grave and we could make out the shape, a small grave which could connect to the size of Anisha as well."

The search party also found a chain outside the grave but it is not for Young, they believe it may belong to the suspect. They also got information from police about a wristband that was found in the same area.

Jose Espat, Search Party Leader
"We had gotten a picture of a band which is a very important piece of evidence, this band was found right in that vicinity where we found the shallow grave, This band was from some sort of party or night club. Mr. Cowo said they had checked sit and sip and it wasn't theirs so I went all along that Northern Highway where we have camera footage and I checked "Eruption", "Blue House" is closed now and I checked all those little clubs along the Northern Highway and it doesn't check out for them."

Although the search team has made significant progress with these clues, Young's remains are still out there somewhere. But Espat believes that if the police had been more vigilant on their initial search of that area, they would have found her body.

Jose Espat, Search Party Leader
"The police had gone through the same area where we went and where we found the shallow grave with the remains and the partial remains and they had gone through there and they said it was only swamp and they had already discarded that area. I believe what happened is that the full remains if it is that the DNA results come back positive for Ms. Anisha Young or whoever was there, was there."

"We believe that when the police went through there and they came up empty and they didn't find that shallow grave, the people in the area got out the news and the body was moved."

Now it is back to the wild goose chase - following more leads and searching. Espat has a hunch that her body is still in Maskall.

Jose Espat, Search Party Leader
"They won't move that body too far from where that shallow grave was so I still believe if the rest of the remains are still around, it would be in close proximity to that area."

But the family still has to re-group and figure out their next move.

Sheree Salgado, Cousin
"So to say what next, that is what we are asking ourselves because we know that we were very close so where should we go and look now, what should we do?"

As it relates to the wristband police found, Espat says the police has to investigate to determine if the band was from Young's staff event.

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