GRANITE FALLS — A team of detectives used a backhoe to search a swamp here last week for signs of a missing Everett man whose 1995 disappearance is being investigated as a possible homicide.
The search was prompted by a tip the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office received that the body of Rory Neal Shoemaker could be buried on property in the 16500 block of 115th Place NE, according to documents filed Monday in the Everett division of Snohomish County District Court.
The tipster said Shoemaker was killed near the burial site, then placed in a car that was buried in the swamp, documents show.
Four detectives and a sheriff’s sergeant used a backhoe to search the area Wednesday.
"They found nothing," sheriff’s spokeswoman Jan Jorgensen said.
Detectives are undecided whether they will conduct additional searches at the property. Last week’s search was approved under a judge’s order.
Shoemaker was 34 when he left his Everett-area home on Sept. 1, 1995, for a Labor Day camping trip with friends at the Red Bridge Campground near Granite Falls.
Neither he nor the white 1979 Datsun coupe he was driving have been seen since.
This is the second time land near Granite Falls has been excavated as part of the search for clues to Shoemaker’s disappearance.
Reporter Scott North: 425-339-3431 or north@heraldnet.com.
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