Excavation Of Largo Property To Find Missing Woman Yields No Results

LARGO, FL — The excavation of a Largo property in search of a woman who has been missing since 1982 yielded no human remains or any other evidence of a crime, the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office reported Thursday.

Forensic and cold case investigators have been excavating the property at 1201 Gooden Crossing since June 28 after receiving several tips that human remains belonging to Retha Hiers were buried there, said the sheriff's office.

On the morning of Dec. 19, 1982, Hiers, 43, drove away from her home at the Breakers Apartments on Campbell Lane in Largo to purchase laundry detergent, according to the Black And Missing But Not Forgotten Facebook page.

A few days later, her husband received a letter from Hiers saying she had left him to be with her Cleveland Hill Jr., a married asphalt contractor, and she wanted her six children to stay with their father. She was never heard from again, according to the Facebook site.

Her white two-door 1976 Ford Elite was found in March 1983, four months after her disappearance, near the 2900 block of Gulf to Bay Boulevard in Clearwater, according to law enforcement.

The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office said Hill, who died in 2018 at the age of 70, was the main suspect in Hiers' disappearance. At one time, he owned the property at 1201 Gooden Crossing that forensic investigators had been excavating up until Wednesday.

Donyelle Johnson and Margaret Dash, both of Pinellas County, also disappeared while dating Hill. Margaret Dash disappeared in 1974 and Johnson in 1989, according to sheriff's records.

Hill also served time in prison on two counts of assault after shooting his wife and mother-in-law in 1968.

Up until his death, however, Hill maintained his innocence, according to the sheriff's office.