Click here to subscribe today or Login.
HUNLOCK TWP. — It’s been 15 years since Phylicia Thomas disappeared, presumed dead, murdered at the hands of one or more people.
And the case remains unsolved. Phylicia has never been found.
Another vigil for Phylicia will be held Monday at 6 p.m. on Patriot Square in Nanticoke. Phylicia’s mother, Pauline Bailey, will again make an impassioned speech, asking anyone with information to please come forward so that her ordeal can end.
Bailey has said many times over the agonizing years since her daughter’s brutal death that she wants to bring Phylicia home, give her a proper burial and bring closure to it all.
At this point, not even Bailey expects those responsible to be brought to justice. Pennsylvania State Police have said the investigation is continuing, but there has been nothing new released in years.
Many, including Bailey, believe Phylicia was murdered in a trailer along Timber Lane and Golf Course Road in Hunlock Township on Feb. 11, 2004.
Judy Lorah Fisher, a friend of Bailey’s and the person who has spearheaded the search for the girl’s remains, said people have told her and Bailey that Phylicia was last seen alive while attending a party in the trailer. Phylicia, then 22, was reported missing by her mother on Feb. 13, 2004.
Land near where the trailer in question once stood has been searched repeatedly. And search dogs have indicated several times that they detected something. The dogs are trained to only detect human remains, Fisher said.
Steve Martin, the man who was a target of state police investigators, was 32 when he took his own life while at the state prison at Camp Hill on Aug. 10, 2005. He was serving a sentence for causing a fatal vehicle crash in Wilkes-Barre in December 2004.
State police have not released names of any possible suspects in the Phylicia Thomas case.
But Fisher and members of Phylicia’s family believe that investigators feel Martin was responsible for Phylicia’s death. The family believes as many as three others were involved with Martin.
‘On right track’
There were some 13 searches on the site in 2018 before cold weather set in and more are planned for the spring when the land thaws.
Fisher said she has received several tips from people who claim to know details of the night Phylicia went missing, including where she was buried on the site. So far, those tips have not produced any results.
“We just need to find the spot,” Fisher said. “We need to find Phylicia. I’m never going to give up. I know we’re on the right track. It’s such a big area — they could have walked anywhere to bury her. We believe Phylicia is there, buried somewhere on the site. And the search dogs tell us the same story.”
State police have said they conducted a search with cadaver dogs and no hits were recorded. Fisher said she can’t explain that.
A mother waits
Bailey, 62, said the last 15 years have felt like 115 years, waiting to find her daughter and bring closure and peace to her life.
“We are all still in shock,” Bailey said. “We get evidence and tips and we think something will happen, but nothing ever does.”
Bailey said over the years she has lost faith in the investigators. She claims she has not been treated kindly when she has asked for updates.
“Perhaps it’s time for an outside investigation,” Bailey said. “It seems to me that the local investigators just don’t want to listen. No matter what we tell them, they don’t listen. We no longer have a connection to investigators.”
Bailey said no family deserves this to happen to them. She recalled Jennifer Barziloski, a friend of Phylicia’s, who went missing in June 2001. It was along Roaring Brook Creek on April 2, 2010, when two boys found a human skull, identified by dental records as the skull of Barziloski, who was 18 when she was reported missing.
Bailey has previously said she believes Phylicia was killed because she was asking questions about Barziloski’s disappearance.
Deserves answers
“We deserve answers,” Bailey said. “It’s taking a toll on me and my family. Why won’t investigators act? What happened to her is horrible. Why don’t we know who did it and why can’t they find her?”
Chief Bruce Barton, of Stroudsburg-based Rescue International, has volunteered at the site several times with a team of cadaver search dogs.
Barton has 45 years of experience in conducting searches for human remains. He and his team were utilized at Ground Zero following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack in New York City.
Barton said if anyone wants to donate to the effort, they can do so by going to the Rescue International website: www.PASERT.org.
.neFileBlock {
margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
padding-bottom: 5px;
padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
font-size: 85%;
}
