Tallapoosa County remains sent off to be ID'd

Tallapoosa County, Al.

Remains located Tuesday night in a heavily wooded section of Walker Road west of Camp Hill have been sent to the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences in Montgomery to determine if they are human, Tallapoosa County Sheriff Jimmy Abbett said Wednesday.

Tallapoosa County Sheriff's Dept.

Abbett would not confirm any connection between the remains and Cherri N. Dawson, 31, of Auburn who was reported missing earlier this month and whose burned out vehicle was located on Chambers County Road 95 more than two weeks ago. Dawson was reportedly five months pregnant at the time of her disappearance.

Nearly 100 officers from the Auburn Police division and 10 other law enforcement agencies scoured a wooded area just off Highway 431 on Tuesday, the same area where Dawson’s charred 1993 Honda Civic was found.

A steady procession of law enforcement vehicles continued to stream in and out of an unpaved section of Walker Road in Tallapoosa County as members of the Tallapoosa Sheriff’s Office and several other law enforcement agencies processed the scene Wednesday.

Tallapoosa County deputies began searching the location approximately a half-mile down an unpaved stretch of Walker Road after receiving a call at their office on Tuesday, Abbett said.

“We cannot determine at this time if they are human remains or not,” said Abbett, who added that his office was working closely with investigators from the APD and Chambers County Sheriff’s Office. “We’re canvassing the area gathering anything that might be pertinent to this case. There is a lot of speculation because of the close proximity of the other incident in Auburn, but we cannot connect it at this time whatsoever.”

Word on whether the remains are human will hopefully be determined over the next 24 hours, Abbett said.