SAMANTHA BURNS - 19 yo - ( 2002 ) - Wayne County / Charleston WV

New leads have volunteers searching a remote area of Wayne County for the remains of missing Marshall student Samantha Burns.

The volunteers are with CUE, a national group that helps families find missing children.

Monica Caison, the founder of the group, told WSAZ.com that they are digging with an excavator behind the railroad tracks on Maple Lane. She says her group will keep searching until dark.
Burns disappeared more than six years ago. Chad Fulks admitted to killing her and Alice Donovan in South Carolina.
Caison says Fulks led them to a body that was identified as Donovan during a search in South Carolina. New information from Fulks has brought the group together again in Wayne County.
Caison says,"we'll stay out here as long as it takes to find Samantha."

* * * *
The search is underway for a second victim of the men convicted of kidnapping and murdering Alice Donovan of Conway nearly
seven years ago.Brandon Basham and Chadrick Fulks were convicted and sent to death row in 2004 for the deaths of West Virginia college student Samantha Burns and Conway's Alice Donovan.The two men escaped from prison in 2002 and went on a crime spree which included the murders of Donovan and Burns. For years, the bodies of those two women were never found.In late 2008, Fulks reached out and offered to help locate the victims. He sent letters and maps to Monica Caison with the CUE Center for Missing Persons in Wilmington, NC. After about a week of searching in January 2009, Caison and her team found
human bones in Horry County. The remains were later positively identified as Alice Donovan.Caison received similar maps from
Fulks for Burns, and conducted a couple of searches that led them nowhere. Further communication of late with Fulks gave Caison new information, and they have been searching an area in Wayne County, W Va., throughout the weekend.Crews have narrowed it down to a small area around some railroad tracks near the town of Lavalette.

Cadaver dogs have searched the area, and volunteers are digging up ground looking for clues."I think we are at the best area that we believe now that Samantha Burns could possibly be," Caison told television station WCHS on Saturday."We will do everything we can to unearth this area, to make sure we haven't missed anything," Caison said.

Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance

Missing Since: November 11, 2002 from Huntington, West Virginia

Classification: Endangered Missing

Date Of Birth: April 23, 1983

Age: 19

Height: 5'4"

Weight: 110 lbs.

Hair Color: Brown

Eye Color: Hazel

Race: White

Gender: Female

Distinguishing Characteristics: Chicken pox scars on the
right side of forehead. Tattoo of a butterfly on lower back,
pierced ears and pierced tongue.

Clothing: Orange fuzzy sweater with a tank top underneath,
low-cut rider jeans that flared at the bottom, light tan suede
mule shoes and leopard print purse.

Jewelry: Diamond stud earrings, a heart-shaped ring with a
diamond in the center of the heart.

AKA: "Sam", "Sammy"

NCIC Number: M-772839413

Case Number: 5200-24308

Details of Disappearance

Samantha Burns was last seen by her aunt at the Huntington Mall in
Barboursville, WV, at 6:30 on the evening of November 11, 2002. At 9:45
p.m. that evening, Burns used her cellular phone to call her mother and
said had been visiting friends at Marshall University Court Yard
Apartments but was coming home. Burns lived in East Hamlin, West
Virginia. She never arrived there and has never been heard from again.
The call to her mother was the last one Burns made on her phone. After
her disappearance the phone was discovered to be turned off, which is
uncharacteristic of Burns.
At 3:30 a.m. on November 12, Burns' 1999 burgundy Chevrolet Cavalier with a tiger
sticker in the back window on the driver's side and a license plate
numbered 5X9326 was found abandoned in Wayne County, West Virginia. The
vehicle was discovered in a secluded area at German Ridge and Haneys
Branch Roads, near the Cabell-Wayne county line. It had been set on
fire; when the police found it, it was still burning. There was no sign
of Burns near the vehicle.
In July 2005, Chadrick Fulks and Branden Basham pleaded guilty to a federal charge of
carjacking resulting in death to avoid a possible death sentence.
Basham and Fulks had escaped from the Hopkins County (Ky.) Jail in
November 2002. They have said that they carjacked Burns shortly
thereafter and killed her, though her body has not been found. They are
currently on death row for another killing, that of Alice Donovan from South Carolina. Donovan's remains have not been found.

Investigating Agency
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:

West Virginia State Police

(304) 528-5555

UPDATE: Search for Samantha Burns on Hold for Now

Reporter: Randy Yohe Email
Posted: Mon 11:23 AM, Mar 09, 2009
Updated: Mon 11:23 AM, Mar 09, 2009
UPDATE: Monday 3/9 @ 11:18am

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- The latest search for murder victim Samantha Burns' remains is on hold for a few weeks, with new information likely on the way from her convicted killer.

Working with the FBI and State Police, a missing person’s search team out of North Carolina combed 4 locations in Wayne County for four days last week.

But the team leader tells WSAZ.com that the information from Chad Fulks conflicted with the map he provided.

Monica Caison says a recent South Carolina search with information provided by Chad Fulks did turn up human remains, possibly those of murder victim Alice Donovan.

Caison says Fulks had videotape and pictures to work from with Donovan, but did not with Samantha Burns. She says the FBI took video and pictures in Wayne County and will show them to Fulks this week.

Caison says Fulks will then refine his map, and she expects to resume the search for the Marshall students' remains around March 23rd.

http://www.wsaz.com/home/headlines/40532337.html