Body of missing woman may have been found
Friday, November 13, 2009 11:15 AM PST
COQUILLE (AP) — Coos County searchers believe they have found the body of a missing Coquille woman.
District Attorney R. Paul Frasier said a grave site was found Thursday night, and investigators believe the body of Jayme Austin is buried there, a short distance off Middle Creek Road. The scene will be processed Friday.
Austin’s brother-in-law, Patrick Lee Horath, was arrested Thursday night on a murder charge, Frasier said.
He said Austin’s family was notified of the grave site and arrest. Frasier and Sheriff Andy Jackson have scheduled a 1:30 p.m. Friday news conference in Coquille at the Owen Building.
Austin was reported missing Monday. Her mother, Cindy Gisholt, contacted police after her daughter’s boss at Oregon Satellite in Coos Bay called to say she never arrived for work.
Austin had called her boss to say she would be late because she had well troubles and planned to shower at her mom’s house, two doors away on a rural road.
Horath lives between Austin’s home and Gisholt’s home.
Since Monday, more than two dozen searchers scoured mountainsides, river bottoms and the dense woodlands for any trace of the 31-year-old mother of two. The North Bend Dive team examined a river and a pond, and a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter flew over the area.
