Missing man's family urges search of Shelton woods

SHELTON, Conn. (AP) — The family of a Waterbury man missing since 2004 is urging police to perform a broader search of a wooded area in Shelton where a local resident believes she saw the man's truck around the time he vanished.

Relatives of William "Billy" Smolinski told the New Haven Register and Register Citizen that police should do a more thorough search of the area near Wigwam Drive.

State police didn't find anything when they searched the area with dogs last fall. This week, the medical examiner's office determined that bones found in the wooded area by volunteer searchers in February were animal bones.

State police insist their search of the woods was thorough.

A local resident believes she saw Smolinski's truck and a car in those woods in the summer of 2004.