It's been nearly three years since 11-year-old Celina Cass was found dead in the Connecticut River and cops are still no closer to solving her murder.
Celina, of New Hampshire, was reported missing on July 26, 2011 after she was last seen at her family's apartment, the Associated Press reported. Police and residents of West Stewartstown searched the neighborhood for the missing child, whose body was found a week later near a dam less than a mile from her home.
Investigators say they continue to hunt down leads but as the third year anniversary approaches, residents are beginning to lose faith that the killer will be caught.
"We recently had a case of someone grave-robbing in Colebrook, and it was solved in two weeks," Kirsten Lyons, a school nurse who spoke at a previous memorial service for Celina, told the AP. "You wonder how that can be so quickly resolved when we have the death of a young girl coming up on three years and it's still not solved."
Celina's stepfather, Wendell Noyes, and her half brother, Kevin Mullaney, were ordered to testify before a grand jury in connection to the investigation.
Noyes, who lived with Celina and her mother Luisia Cass, had a history of mental illness, according to court records obtained by the AP. He was charged in 2003 with threatening his ex-girlfriend after breaking into her home, but he was deemed mentally unfit for trial.
Mullaney, who also lived with the family, is currently incarcerated on unrelated charges involving stolen property and illegal weapon possession.
Phone calls the AP made to Luisia Cass were not returned.
Neither family member has been arrested or charged in relation to Celina's case. Yet investigators remain hopeful they will apprehend whoever is responsible as they continue to trace leads. The case has not been handed over to the cold case department.
"The initial team, including myself, continues to work on this," Jane Young, a prosecutor for the attorney general's office, told the AP. "There has not been a period of time when it's been dormant or there haven't been leads to investigate."
Young added that as soon as they have strong evidence linking a suspect or suspects to the murder, an arrest will be made.
But in the meantime, "it just kind of rubs it in your face that whoever did this is still out and about," resident Shannon Towle told the AP.
