“There is nothing more that can be done here,” Lees said. “I’ve exhausted all available resources that are available to me.”

On the second day of searching, officials used ground-penetrating radar on plot 270 to identify where the box would be buried at the Laurel United Cemetery in Cambria Township.

Other than a reported ground disturbance, officials did not find anything of significance in the dirt.

Lees said he was “very disappointed, very frustrated” with the unsuccessful results from the search, adding, “I feel like I let these babies down in some way.”

Cambria County Coroner Jeff Lees (left) talks with fellow investigators in the search of the remains at Laurel United Cemetery. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski

Calling all forces

Friday morning, 25 individuals arrived at the cemetery to help reunite the Williamson babies.

“When we started off in the morning, I was very sure that we were going to succeed,” Lees said, “and as time went on, we gave it one last effort and went a little bit below.”

Utility Service Group Inc. project manager Jerry Contino drove the ground-penetrating radar equipment around plot 270. Orange flags were placed throughout the plot of dirt, which Lees said would be very useful “to accurately pinpoint where we need to be.”

Dennis Dirkmaat, professor of forensic anthropology, and his students from Mercyhurst University also extended their services on Friday, helping officials sift and shovel through the dirt.

They planned to exhume the vault containing the two baby skulls, then dig deeper with the backhoe, operated by Ed Myers, and use ground-penetrating radar “to see where we’re at,” according to Lees.

Because the plot has been dug up multiple times, Contino also said they could not get a “true reading over the area.”

Later, Lees said “there was no sign or trace of anything else there” after sifting through the dirt with the Mercyhurst team.

“I just did not want any regrets when I left here today. There are no ‘what ifs,'” Lees said. “We did everything possible to locate these babies and reunite them.”

Speculations arise

When the three Williamson babies were buried in the 1980s, former Cambria County Coroner John Baron was concerned the grave could have been robbed in the future.

Lees said he “can’t imagine somebody doing that,” but he went on to say that he can’t believe someone took the two baby skulls and donated them to the museum in Philadelphia, either.

Since there was a ground disturbance, Lees believed Baron’s statement “holds some credibility.”

“Anything is possible,” he said. “I’ve seen it all with this case. Anything is on the table.”

Another potential explanation for the empty plot is that the box disintegrated in the dirt. Dirkmaat said that since the Williamson babies were buried in a pine box over 40 years ago, there is a high likelihood that the box collapsed.

“That’s where our expertise came in,” Dirkmaat said. “I’m not sure that the remains would be preserved.”

Regardless of why the remains aren’t found in plot 270, Lees said the rest of the babies “are not where they are supposed to be.”

Nowhere to go

About 2 p.m., Myers began to push dirt back into the hole while it began to rain.

“The whole situation is sad,” Myers said, who has reburied plot 270 twice in the last month.

Father Brian Warchola from Holy Name Catholic Church in Ebensburg said a prayer over the burial plot before Myers buried it completely, sprinkling holy water onto the dirt.

“They will be buried with the utmost dignity and respect,” Lees said.

After two failed searches for the Williamson baby remains, Lees believed that the team should stop looking for now.

“We just can’t go digging up the entire cemetery,” Lees said.

He specifically thanked Cambria County EMA, Box 11, the Mercyhurst anthropology team and Myers. He said they gave 100% of what they had.

“I will never be satisfied until these babies are all together,” Lees said. “But at this point, there’s just nowhere for me to go.”