Sister looks for closure as crews search for Gayle McCaffrey - Live5News.com | Charleston, SC | News, Weather, Sports

Helen Banach is helping to serve lunch and provide drinks to crews in West Ashley searching for her sister Gayle McCaffrey, who went missing nearly a year ago.

"We never expected it to drag on this long," Banach said. "We really though that someone would find her."

On Monday, the Charleston County Sheriff's Office revisited a site off Highway 61 near Magnolia Plantation which was previously searched by investigators on May 3 and May 4 of 2012.

"We know that she's gone, we have no doubt about it," Banach said. "Not being able to move on, not being able to do anything for the children and give them any closure."

Sheriff's office spokesman Brady said the return search in West Ashley was not based on new case information, rather, investigators wanted to canvass the site after a change in the terrain due to the change of the seasons.

The search concluded at 3 p.m. and Brady said no additional evidence was discovered.  He also said no additional searches had been scheduled. The community also helped in the recent search with the First Baptist Church Choir providing lunch to searches and Sam's Club providing funds for water and food.

"It's amazing to me that she hasn't been found yet," Banach said. "We just want to know where she is."

McCaffrey, then 36, was reported missing on March 18, 2012 by her husband, Robert McCaffrey, who investigators say is the prime suspect in the case.

McCaffrey told authorities his wife was last seen at their residence one day prior, when he left the home to head to Easley in the Upstate around 10 p.m. following an argument.

McCaffrey told deputies he arrived home the next morning at 6:30 a.m. to find she was not at the residence, and had left behind a typed note.  Sheriff Al Cannon said the note appeared to be "bogus."

Around 2 a.m. that morning, McCaffrey was pulled over by a Traveler's Rest Police Department officer who said he was driving 65 miles per hour in a 45 mile-per-hour zone.

According to the police officer, McCaffrey admitted he was having wife and girlfriend problems.  During the stop, Lavery spotted a gun in McCaffrey's truck.

"I think there is a tremendous amount of information and evidence pointing to[McCaffrey]," Cannon said last summer, "But at this point, it's circumstantial."

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