Miamisburg police urge help with clues about missing woman

More than a dozen federal, state and local investigators searched 14 hours Tuesday for a missing Miamisburg woman but have offered few public answers about what they found.

Court documents allowing the search of the property at 551 Lower Miamisburg Road have been sealed.

Authorities also are not disclosing why it happened this week, what was found or whether they believe Chelsey Coe is still alive.

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However, the Miamisburg Police Department is “committed to locating” Coe, and Sgt. Jeff Muncy is urging public help in the case.

Coe lived at the Lower Miamisburg address for several months, according to Muncy. Coe, then 25, was reported missing in September 2017 by her mother, who talked this week about the possibility that her daughter is dead.

“Closure is what I need right now,” said Shula Woodworth. “I need that as a mom. If she is dead, then I guess kind of — I don’t know — I kind of want them to find her because I want closure.”

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Documents approving the search are off-limits. “Any and all” warrants related to Tuesday’s effort — one that involved ground-penetrating radar, back hoes and jackhammers — have been sealed, according to Miamisburg Municipal Court.

Miamisburg Police Chief John Sedlak and three detectives were on site at the search while other city officers worked traffic control nearby, according to Muncy.

The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation had five staff members on scene, including three scene agents, a special agent supervisor and an intelligence analyst, according to the Ohio attorney general’s office.

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The FBI would not say how many agents it had on site, but all of its personnel were members of the evidence response team, bureau Public Affairs Specialist Todd Lindgren said.

Muncy stated in an email: “Information and items gathered from the scene (Tuesday) will hopefully assist us as the investigation continues. This is an ongoing investigation, and the Miamisburg Police Department is committed to locating Chelsey Coe.”

Coe was described as 5-foot-7, 150 pounds with blue eyes, blonde hair with a “Love” tattoo on her hip, and one of stars on her lower back, according to police.

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Coe had been staying with “an older gentlemen” in Miamisburg prior to her disappearance, Muncy said last year.

Lower Miamisburg residents interviewed this week said they did not know much about the man living at the 551 property, where Sedlak said the current occupants were told Tuesday morning “that they could not remain.”

But six-year Lower Miamisburg resident Morgan Roberts said she spoke that morning with a man – whom she did not know — living at the address searched.

“He said that he brought in a young girl that was on heroin, and he was trying to help her get clean,” Roberts said. “And she came up missing, and he said he reported her missing (some) months ago.”

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When Coe was reported missing, she was among at least six missing women – including four from Middletown – in the region. But police in that city do not believe Coe’s case is connected to those.

“We are aware of the Miamisburg investigation,” Middletown Police Maj. Scott Reeve. “I believe the circumstances in that case a little bit different.”

Meanwhile, Muncy said, “We will continue to follow up on those and any other leads the community can provide.”

Anyone having information to help in the Coe case is asked to call Muncy at 937-847-6612.

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