LATEST: Search continues for critically missing Columbus woman
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The urgent search for a critically missing woman is ongoing this week as law enforcement across state lines are now involved.
The search began on December 1, 2024, after 37-year-old Portia Wheeler was reported missing to Columbus police. Police say she was last seen in the 6000 block of Shadybrook Trail.
Wheeler is believed to be driving a blue Honda Odyssey with an Alabama tag of #A2PPRE. Wheeler has black hair and brown eyes. She weighs 189 pounds and stands at 5′3.
According to an article from WSB-TV, the family hired an Atlanta-area private investigator since the search began. According to the article, her mother, Emmie Wheeler “tried to call her Sunday night but no answer,”
Wheeler told the Atlanta news agency, “It’s been hard because we don’t know anything, we just know something is not right.”
While the investigation by the Columbus Police Department’s Special Victims Unit has been ongoing, tips have been sent in which led to a multi-agency search, involving the Columbus Police Department, Lee County Sheriff’s Office, and the Muscogee County School District Police Department K9, on Wednesday afternoon.
The search took place in a wooded area off Lee Road 236 near the Mallard Creek subdivision in the Phenix City area of Lee County. Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones confirmed his deputies assisted in the search where a van was located.
‘It was reportedly last occupied by a missing female from Columbus,” Sheriff Jones said. Nothing was located during the search.
Anyone with information is asked to call 911, the Columbus Police Department’s Special Victims Unit at 706-25-3449, or lead investigator Cpl. Eric Schwind at 706-225-4339.
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