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Nanticoke Area softball coach Stetz steps down after run to state semifinals

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‘Sharks’ award $5,000 to longtime business

<p>HUNLOCK TWP. &#8212; Walking over fallen trees and huge rocks hidden by thick brush and tall ferns, Jocelyn Thomas had hope.</p><p>The rough, heavily wooded terrain wasn&#8217;t going to stop Jocelyn or four others in their latest endeavor Friday to find Phylicia Thomas, who has been missing for more than 14 years.</p><p>Jocelyn carried rope and a grappling hook she intended to throw in a pond in a desperate effort to find her sister.</p><p>When they reached the pond, disappointment fell over them.</p><p>&#8220;We didn&#8217;t expect it to be this big,&#8221; Judy Fisher said, standing on the shoreline. &#8220;This is absolutely disgusting. We shouldn&#8217;t have to be the investigators doing the state police work.&#8221;</p><p>Upset at seeing the large pond, Jocelyn went off on her own in the woods for a short time.</p><p>On the shoreline, Fisher, Kevin Ryan and Gina Becker concluded that all the tips and information they received over the years have one thing in common: Phylicia&#8217;s remains are within walking distance of a farm on Timber Lane and the former residence of Steve Martin on Golf Course Road.</p><p>The pond poses the latest obstacle in the puzzle of trying to find out what happened to Phylicia.</p><p>&#8220;I was told to go look at these ponds that Steve Martin and his pals used to go back there riding their quads all the time,&#8221; Jocelyn said.</p><p>Martin, 32, was the target of state police investigators who searched his house and seized his all-terrain vehicle, according to Times Leader reports.</p><p>Martin took his own life while at the state prison at Camp Hill on Aug. 10, 2005, where he was serving a sentence for causing a fatal vehicle crash in Wilkes-Barre in December 2004.</p><p>One discovery was made Friday.</p><p>An old, disintegrating shower curtain was found beneath a fallen tree, about 50 yards from the pond and about 30 yards off a trail.</p><p>Becker and Andrew Ostrowski used Jocelyn&#8217;s grappling hook to dig out the old shower curtain.</p><p>There are no houses within miles of where the shower curtain was found.</p><p><strong>GoFundMe account</strong></p><p>Phylicia was reported missing by her mother, Pauline Bailey, on Feb. 13, 2004, when she received a phone call from Phylicia&#8217;s place of employment indicating her paycheck was never picked up. Phylicia was 22.</p><p>Fisher and Bailey believe Phylicia was killed while attending a party in a house trailer on a farm on Timber Lane on Feb. 11, 2004, and her body then carried to a barn where it was kept. They believe her body was either buried in a vegetable garden on the farm or dumped in the pond, which discharges into Roaring Brook Creek.</p><p>It was along Roaring Brook Creek on April 2, 2010, when two boys, 12 and 15, found a human skull.</p><p>Dental records were used to identify the skull as Jennifer Barziloski, who was 18 when she was reported missing in June 2001.</p><p>Bailey previously said she believes her daughter was killed because she was asking questions about Barziloski&#8217;s disappearance.</p><p>Investigators did search Roaring Brook Creek, 1 mile upstream and 1 mile downstream, finding no other human remains.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re disappointed but we turn that disappointment into something positive,&#8221; Fisher said Friday.</p><p>Fisher created a gofundme account &#8212; Cadaver Dog for search for Phylicia &#8212; to raise $8,000 in donations to hire a private detective and cadaver dogs to search the pond and possibly the farm on Timber Lane.</p><p>Cadaver dogs did conduct a search of the Timber Lane farm in August 2016, making hits inside a barn and at the vegetable garden. When police searched the farm with cadaver dogs in September 2016 and again last month, they did not hit on anything suspicious.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re at the point where we are reacting to information we receive, like going out to the pond,&#8221; Fisher said. &#8220;But it takes money to hire professional cadaver dogs. All we want is to bring Phylicia home.&#8221;</p>
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<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/web1_Pond-06152018-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Gina Becker, seated, and Judy Fisher discuss the size of the pond they were told to inspect for the body of Phylicia Thomas during a new search Friday in Hunlock Township. Thomas has been missing since 2004. </div></div><div class="metaInfo">https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/web1_Pond-06152018-1.jpgGina Becker, seated, and Judy Fisher discuss the size of the pond they were told to inspect for the body of Phylicia Thomas during a new search Friday in Hunlock Township. Thomas has been missing since 2004. Ed Lewis | Times Leader  </div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/web1_Shower-curtain-find-06152018-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">While walking through woods, Gina Becker stepped on an old shower curtain off a trail in Hunlock Township on Friday. There are no houses within miles of the discovery. </div></div><div class="metaInfo">https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/web1_Shower-curtain-find-06152018-1.jpgWhile walking through woods, Gina Becker stepped on an old shower curtain off a trail in Hunlock Township on Friday. There are no houses within miles of the discovery. Ed Lewis | Times Leader  </div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/web1_Phyllicia-Thomas-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Thomas </div></div><div class="metaInfo">https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/web1_Phyllicia-Thomas-1.jpgThomas Ed Lewis | Times Leader  </div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><p>By Ed Lewis</p><p>elewis@www.timesleader.com</p></div>

New search: Disappointment fuels drive to find Phylicia Thomas