Md. Police ID Remains As Woman Missing Since 1997
WESTMINSTER, Md. (AP) -- Skeletal remains found two years ago among construction debris in a steep ravine belonged to a Baltimore woman who went missing 14 years ago, Maryland State Police announced Wednesday.
After the remains were discovered in March 2009 in Westminster, investigators contacted police departments across the country, reviewed missing persons files, compared multiple dental records and released a forensic artist's sketch with no luck. But a tip received earlier this month led investigators to the name of Toni Dee Vogel, and a DNA comparison confirmed the identity, police said.
Vogel, who had a drug habit and was involved in prostitution, was sometimes known by the nickname "Madonna," police said. She was 29 when she was last seen in May 1997 in Southwest Baltimore and had no known ties to Carroll County, where her body was found more than a decade later.
Vogel's death was ruled a homicide, but the cause was not released. Investigators and Vogel's family hope that someone who knew Vogel will come forward and help them solve the mystery of her disappearance and death.
Vogel was a daughter, mother, sister, aunt and friend who loved and was loved by her family, but "made some bad decisions and took the wrong path," Vogel's family said in a statement issued through police. The family said she didn't "deserve to be murdered and dumped off somewhere like someone's trash."
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
