Putting an end to 24-year-old rumors, Lowndes County sheriff”s investigators emptied a well early today without finding the body of Madeline “Midge” Teresa Ponds.
Ponds, of Pickens County, has been missing since Nov. 20, 1986, when she was 17. She was last seen at PJ”s One-Stop, which has been renamed Country Village.
The well under the store, near the Alabama state line on Highway 182, was drained within an hour by Hydrovac Industrial Services Inc. of Columbus at about 7 a.m., said Chief Deputy Greg Wright.
The company is expected to give the sheriff”s department a final quote for the work this afternoon, Wright said.
Hydrovac used a camera system to observe the well”s contents as they were drained, Wright said. After that, the company looked into the well for any other evidence.
“We went all the way to the bottom and then some,” Wright said.
Investigators “felt confident” after watching the draining that Ponds was still missing, he added.
Even though the well proved a false lead, Wright said this was a normal part of an investigation.
“The only way to put a rumor or tip to rest is to investigate it,” he said. “This is a rumor we can put to rest and we can move on to other areas.”
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