The search for a Jefferson County woman missing for nearly a year has been suspended after it led to the discovery of human remains and items of clothing on Friday, but police could not confirm Friday night that the remains were those of the missing woman.
Maranda Merrell Neal, who would now be 39, was reported missing on May 22, 2022.
Deputies located the remains shortly after 4 p.m. Friday, Jefferson County sheriff’s office Major Gary McClain announced. A search and rescue dog alerted officers to the finding, which was southeast of President Circle, a road about 5 miles southwest of Pine Bluff.
The remains were found in an area of thick vegetation, approximately a half-mile from where an ATV ridden by Neal was located last November.
“Based on the location, condition and other circumstances, investigators believe the remains to be those of Maranda Merrell Neal,” McClain said in a news release, though he added that the remains would be sent to the state Crime Laboratory “for analysis and positive identification.”
Jefferson County Sheriff Lafayette Woods, who is out of the county and was not part of the search, said his deputies searched the Watson Chapel area looking for Neal, who was reported missing to the sheriff’s office after she was last seen on an ATV.
Deputies led by McClain teamed with the Quapaw Nation Office of Emergency Management and the Morgan Nick Foundation, among other first responders, to conduct multiple searches in Watson Chapel. They had planned to do so through Sunday. Multiple K-9 units joined enforcement officers in the search, according to a news release.
Neal’s family has been contacted, Woods added.
“It may be a while before we can connect the DNA of the remains to Ms. Neal,” Woods said, more than an hour before a release indicated investigators’ beliefs about the identity.
Woods added that deputies searched a wide area and plotted the search so as to not duplicate any efforts.
Deputies last year had responded to a nearby wooded area where a resident told authorities that screaming was heard. But after extensive searches of what was said to be hundreds of acres, no leads to Neal’s whereabouts were revealed.
Neal has been described as a white female with red hair and blue eyes standing 5-foot-4 and weighing 140 pounds. Neal’s voice would carry over the densely populated woods at night, the sheriff said, but he cautioned that searching for her is like finding “a needle in a haystack.”
The sheriff's office had given an update on the search in November, when a hunter discovered an ATV in a wooded area off of Robinson Road, which connects twice with President Circle. Officials said the hunter had been checking out some property in relation to deer season.
The hunter told officials about the ATV, and the officials confirmed that it matched the description of the one Neal was last seen riding. Authorities conducted what they called an “extensive search of the vicinity” for any evidence or indication of circumstances surrounding Neal’s disappearance.
Anyone with information on the case is asked to call the nearest local law enforcement agency; Sgt. T. Wingard at (870) 510-0395, or the sheriff’s office’s Criminal Investigation Division at (870) 541-5300.