Pittsburgh police cold case unit will search land for human remains next week

PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Police Cold Case unit will search a plot of land Monday in hopes of finding human remains related to a case from the 1980s.

Channel 11 has learned police have enlisted the help of a local plumbing company, Greater Pittsburgh Plumbing.

“This is a first,” Greater Pittsburgh Plumbing owner Kelsey Hussak said. “We’ve been asked to help the City of Pittsburgh Police and detectives to use our excavator to dig up land now to see if we can find a body.”

She says they’ve been asked not to give out the exact location of the dig. We can tell you it’s in Perry South where a home used to be.

“It’s crazy. It’s not something you hear every day. It’s not something you expect to hear,” Donald Terranella said. He’s been living near the plot of land for his entire life.

“I’ve heard that some of the houses on my street might be haunted but I never thought there might be a body on my street,” he said.

Police tell us their cold case unit received a tip from someone that a body could be there. There is no guarantee anything will be found.

“It’s crazy but we hope that we can help someone find closure in this case that’s been open for awhile,” Hussak said.

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