The Hayward Police Department received a bone fragment on Oct. 11, 2012 that is believed to belong to a child between the ages of 5 to 14 years old. The bone fragment was found in a well in Linden where authorities have been digging up remains related to the "Speed Freak Killers" case. Because of the estimated age range, they thought the bone fragment could possibly belong to Michaela Garecht who was abducted from Hayward on November 19th, 1988.
On Wednesday, Hayward police said the bone fragment does not belong to Michaela. It was identified as the remains of a previously identifies murder victim and not related to the Hayward kidnapping case. The police notified Sharon Murch, Michaela's mother, about this information and Michaela's case is still ongoing.
In her living room, Murch told us she felt a wave of relief when police broke the news to her Wednesday afternoon.
"In all these months that they have spent conducting these tests, I haven't run around saying, 'Hurry up, hurry up, I want to know the answers because there's a large part of me that is not sure that I could deal with the answers, if I were to find out that she has been killed," said Murch.
Twenty-four years ago, Michaela was kidnapped in front of a Hayward market as a 9 year old and she was never found. Last winter, police developed a potential connection to the Speed Freak Killers, who went on a murder spree in the 80d and 90s. Inmate Wesley Shermantibe told authorities another parolee who had hung himself may have abducted Michaela.
Authorities searched an abandoned well in Linden, California and found human bone fragments. But DNA tests ultimately revealed they did not match Michaela's profile.
So now Michaela's family must shift gears again back into hoping, as they have been doing for 24 years now.
"Missing her, looking for her, hoping and praying for some answers and perhaps dreading them all at the same time," said Murch.
