CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY, N.Y. — According to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, there are seven missing people from Chautauqua County, and the sheriff's office is focused on the cases of three missing women.
"Our hope is to be able to get some closure for one of the families," said Chautauqua County Sheriff James Quattrone.
The Chautauqua County Sheriff and his team of investigators are focusing in on three missing person cases going back to 1976.
"We are hoping that with some dental records and some DNA, that we may be able to rule many of them out and, but at this point, we don't have any definite answers," says Sheriff Quattrone.
28-year-old Patricia Laemmerhirt disappeared in 1976. Living in Westfield, less than ten miles from the trail where the remains were found, sheriff's deputies have DNA samples from the New York State Police, but do not have any dental records for her.
According to records we found online, Laemmerhirt's husband reported her missing.
Along with the challenge of no dental records, another potential issue is that all of the investigating officers in the case have retired.
The next case is from the 1990s. Lori Bova was 26 when she disappeared from Lakewood in 1997. Lori's family last saw her at a dinner celebration, and her sister says she seemed tense the whole time. Bova's husband later told police he had a fight with Lori later that night, and she went out to get some air and never came back.
2 On Your Side's Leanne Stuck recently spoke with Bova's family.
"The biggest prayer we have is if we could find her so that we could have the information to at least put some closure on this," said Renee Shutters.
Corrie Anderson disappeared in 2008. The Jamestown mother of three was 36 at the time and was reported missing after missing an afternoon meeting and not picking her son up from school. Anderson was last seen at a car dealership. Her van was found two days after she disappeared.
We spoke with Anderson's family in 2019.
"You can relive it, and being that you have no closure, that's a hard thing," says Vicki Acquisto.
There are other missing person cases in our region, but these are the three the sheriff says they're focusing on right now. He also says it could take a week or two to identify the remains.