Professor aids Prince search

By Times Staff Writer
Published January 14, 2008

ADVERTISEMENT [Melissa Lyttle | Times] Erin Kimmerle, center, works the scene in the backyard of 3908 W. Vasconia Street in South Tampa in connection with the 2005 disappearance of Sandra Prince. Kimmerle and her team were looking at soil samples for any sign of a disturbance.

Visiting professor of anthropology Erin Kimmerle and other experts from the University of South Florida spent months sorting through dirt from beneath 3908 W Vasconia St., searching for Sandra Prince.

Temple Terrace police secured a warrant to return to the South Tampa home Thursday, saying the results from their $21,000 dig in October indicated the presence of human remains. Kimmerle has declined to comment on the investigation.

Prince, who was 59 when she vanished, was reported missing from her Temple Terrace home Jan. 3, 2006. Her boyfriend, Earl C. Pippin III, whom police have named a "person of interest," began construction on the Vasconia Street house about the same time.

For three days last week, Temple Terrace police detectives resumed their search beneath the home. Detectives from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and Tampa police joined them, as did two cadaver-sniffing dogs.

After taking off Sunday, investigators planned to return to the house today.

[Last modified January 13, 2008, 22:35:47]