Cadaver Dogs Used in Mooresville Search For Woman Missing 14 Years

MOORESVILLE, NC -- State investigators alongside Mooresville Police detectives searched property on East Wilson Street and Ketchie Drive with cadaver dogs Monday, looking for remains of a Pennsylvania woman who went missing in the area 14 years ago.

Bernadette Mildred Rodko, then 44, was last seen Oct. 17, 2003 on Interstate 77 near mile marker 43, according to the Mooresville Police Department.

MPD and North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation recently received new leads in the cold case, “that provide new potential information her remains will be found and her killer(s) identified and arrested,” MPD said Aug. 28.

In addition to cadaver dogs, investigators brought in a forensic unit from Western Carolina University who used ground penetrating radar to search for her remains. (Get Patch real-time email alerts for the latest news in Mooresville — or other neighborhoods. And iPhone users: Check out Patch's new app.)

The locations investigators targeted in the search Monday are thought to be places she had visited, the Mooresville Tribune reported. Rodko, who’s car was found after her disappearance in 2003, also told friends she was coming to Mooresville to “collect a debt,” the newspaper said.

This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.

Photo courtesy of Mooresville Police Department

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