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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; There are several unsolved homicide and missing persons cases in Luzerne County.</p><p>All of them need to be solved. Whatever effort and expenditure of time and dollars it takes, these cases have to be closed.</p><p>Phylicia Thomas and Jennifer Barziloski have been missing and presumed dead for years &#8212; Barziloski since 2001, Thomas since 2004. Barziloski was 18 and Thomas was 22. They were friends in high school.</p><p>Barziloski was reported missing to the now-defunct Lake Township Police Department on June 23, 2001. Her skull was found along the bank of Roaring Brook Creek on April 2, 2010.</p><p>Steve Martin, now deceased, was a suspect in both cases.</p><p>In the Thomas case, people close to the family wonder why nothing has been uncovered in 14 years. They wonder how active the investigation is. They wonder what the investigation has uncovered &#8212; any physical evidence, any suspects, any witness input?</p><p>These are all fair questions. Have the State Police pursued all clues, leads, ideas? Are they close to solving the case?</p><p>We understand that investigators will not, should not, reveal details of any investigation, but in the Barziloski and Thomas cases, perhaps some sort of updates would be in order.</p><p>We don&#8217;t know the status of either case. More importantly, Thomas&#8217; mother, Pauline Bailey, doesn&#8217;t know. All she wants is to have her daughter returned to her so she can bury her. That would bring some peace, some closure.</p><p>Bailey has said she&#8217;s often gone long periods without hearing from police about the case. Bailey also feels investigators resent her.</p><p>Trooper Tom Kelly, spokesman for State Police Troop P in Wyoming, last week told Times Leader reporter Ed Lewis that the case remains active, but that he could not comment on specifics.</p><p>What will it take to get police to be more forthcoming about the status of this investigation? Who can put enough pressure on State Police to get some answers?</p><p>Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Lehman Township, said she took a file on the Thomas case to the State Police barracks in Wyoming and dropped it off. She has not heard anything back to date.</p><p>If a state senator can&#8217;t get answers, who can? The governor? The State Police commissioner? Who?</p><p>We are not insinuating that investigators are not doing their jobs. But for crying out loud, after 14 long, grief-stricken years, shouldn&#8217;t we know something as to why the case remains unsolved?</p><p>Suspect Steve Martin died in 2005, hanging himself at the state prison in Camp Hill. It&#8217;s hard not to wonder whether the investigation effectively came to a halt at that time.</p><p>Bailey has been told by several people about a party in a trailer, attended by 17 people. Pauline believes Phylicia went to the party and was taken in a room, raped and beaten and carried out in a bloody blanket.</p><p>Pauline said she has heard several versions of the story, all with the same key details: Phylicia&#8217;s body was taken first to a barn, and later to a burn pile; the burned remains were then placed in a vegetable garden nearby.</p><p>In August 2016, Pauline had a team of cadaver dogs scour the site off Golf Course Road and Timber Lane in Hunlock Township. The dogs, in three separate teams, registered &#8220;hits&#8221; on the areas where the the burn pile was, the vegetable garden and the barn.</p><p>State Police took one of the same dogs back to the site two weeks later and no hits were recorded, Pauline said she was told. The dog owner said he can&#8217;t explain why no hits were recorded on the second search.</p><p>Journalism often can help in situations like this. Reporters can dig into areas and sometimes, leads can be uncovered. Just look at the homicide cases against Glen Wolsieffer and Joann Curley, as two examples.</p><p>So we have decided to pursue this case with vigor. We have sought out people with information and we have spoken to a few. We have uncovered a few things that we have not heard from investigators. This is not to say that State Police have not pursued the same leads, or talked to the same people. Maybe they have.</p><p>The fact is, we don&#8217;t know what investigators have uncovered. We don&#8217;t know who they have spoken to. We are unaware of any suspects other than Martin. We haven&#8217;t been told how much time is being devoted to this case some 14 years later.</p><p>Meanwhile, Bailey waits, heartbroken. She says she knows something bad happened to Phylicia at the hands of some very bad people. She knows this in her broken heart.</p><p>The 14th annual candlelight vigil in Phylicia&#8217;s memory will be Sunday at 6 p.m. on Patriot Square in Nanticoke. Pauline would like to see all of you there.</p><p>Pauline will once again make an impassioned plea for anyone with any information about what happened to her daughter to come forward.</p><p>Again, we are not investigators by any stretch. But we are journalists and we care. We want to see the Phylicia Thomas and Jennifer Barziloski cases solved. We want those responsible brought to justice.</p><p>But most importantly, we want Pauline Bailey to have peace and her daughter to rest in peace.</p>
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<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/web1_Phylicia-Thomas.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Phylicia Thomas </div></div><div class="metaInfo">https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/web1_Phylicia-Thomas.jpgPhylicia Thomas </div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/web1_phyliciathomas03.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Pauline Bailey </div></div><div class="metaInfo">https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/web1_phyliciathomas03.jpgPauline Bailey </div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/web1_Oboyle_Bill-2-1-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Bill O'Boyle</div></div><div class="metaInfo">https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/web1_Oboyle_Bill-2-1-1.jpgBill O'Boyle</div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><p>By Bill O&#8217;Boyle</p><p>boboyle@www.timesleader.com</p></div><div class="metaInfo"><p>Reach Bill O&#8217;Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle, or email at boboyle@www.timesleader.com.</p></div>

Beyond the Byline: Peace be with you, Pauline