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A dog-tracking team made some discoveries Tuesday night in its search for a missing North
Charleston woman, but authorities came away without a solid trail to find 32-year-old Brandy Hanna.
Monica Caison, founder of the North Carolina-based CUE Center for Missing Persons, said the
session was fruitful and the five-dog team uncovered possible clues to Hanna's direction of travel
when she vanished May 20.
The dogs and their handlers planned to continue to search Wednesday night around Hanna's Florida
Avenue apartment, the last place she was seen, Caison said.
Hanna's mother reported her missing May 23 after Hanna didn't show up for work at Alex's Restaurant
on Dorchester Road. Family members and co-workers told police it was unlike Hanna to miss work or
go off without telling someone. She left her belongings and no hint as to where she had gone.
North Charleston police say they are treating Hanna as a missing person. Though police have no
evidence that she was hurt or abducted, her family suspects that is what happened. Police, however,
say they have no clues that point to foul play.
North Charleston spokesman Spencer Pryor said the search dogs hit upon at least three trails
Tuesday, but the effort uncovered nothing solid. Police are assisting the team and welcome the help,
he said.
Some in the bloodhound field, however, question Caison's claims that the tracking team can pick up
the scent of a person who has been gone for two months or more.
Joyce Dillon, director of Southeast Bloodhound Rescue in Charleston, said such claims breed false
hope in the people who are searching and unrealistic expectations for the dogs. "There is no way a
bloodhound is going to work on cement and find a trail that is three months old," she said. "They are
good, but they are not superdogs."
Jack Shuler, a nationally recognized trainer in Illinois who has worked with bloodhounds for nearly 30
years, said he has seen no conclusive proof that scent trails can remain viable for weeks at a time.
"The oldest trail I've ever worked successfully was nine days old, and I've worked over 1,600 cases,"
he said. "But it doesn't cost anything to go out and try."
Caison and her team, from V K-9 Scent Specific in Virginia, are volunteering their time to search for
Hanna.
Margie Spencer of V K-9 said she isn't put off by skeptics. The dogs in her team are specially trained
to focus on older scents and their success has been documented in several cases, she said.
Spencer, whose efforts were featured in a recent Washington Post article, said she participated in a
North Carolina case last year in which one dog followed a trail for 21 miles until it reached a bloody
bag belonging to a victim who had died 30 days earlier.
Donna Parent, Hanna's mother, said the volunteers promised her nothing but their help and she is
thankful for their efforts.
A dog-tracking team made some discoveries Tuesday night in its search for a missing North
Charleston woman, but authorities came away without a solid trail to find 32-year-old Brandy Hanna.
Monica Caison, founder of the North Carolina-based CUE Center for Missing Persons, said the
session was fruitful and the five-dog team uncovered possible clues to Hanna's direction of travel
when she vanished May 20.
Hanna's mother reported her missing May 23 after Hanna didn't show up for work at Alex's Restaurant
on Dorchester Road. Family members and co-workers told police it was unlike Hanna to miss work or
go off without telling someone. She left her belongings and no hint as to where she had gone.
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| The Post and Courier Aug 11, 2005 |
| Bloodhounds' efforts yield skepticism. But family, AND police say noses valuable. |