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Forensic test results could generate new leads in case of missing Ross Twp. mother

ROSS TOWNSHIP, Pa. — The case of a mother of two who seemingly vanished into thin air may be closer to a conclusion, now that the results of forensic tests ordered years ago have finally been returned to authorities.

"She didn't leave on her own. Something bad had to happen,” Darlene Peterson told Channel 11’s Courtney Brennan about her daughter’s disappearance.

Darlene Peterson’s only daughter, Jaime Peterson, sent her children to school the morning of Sept. 26, 2011, and hasn’t been heard from or seen since.

For weeks on end, search parties combed the area near North Fremont Street in Ross Township, where Jaime Peterson lived.

Darlene Peterson told Brennan that the circumstances around her daughter's disappearance seemed very unusual then and still do now as she looks back on it.

"Things were missing. I cleared out her apartment, but things like the kids' birth certificates and pictures of my daughter were not among her things,” she said.

With no witnesses or key pieces of evidence in Jamie Peterson’s case, Ross Township Detective Brian Kohlhepp turned to forensic science.

"She's not at all forgotten. It's still very much an active case. The case file is still sitting on my desk,” Kohlhepp said.

Kohlhepp said just last month, he conducted new interviews in the case and recently received DNA samples that had been sent in four years ago.

Darlene Peterson said she believes police are close to generating a new lead or even bringing the case to some kind of resolution. She still holds on to the best case scenario.

"My daughter was a fighter. She was a strong woman. Until I am proven otherwise, I believe she's still fighting somewhere,” she said.