BLYTHEWOOD – Part of McNulty Road was blocked off Thursday morning in front of the Richland County Sheriff’s Region Six office in downtown Blythewood as a large number of Richland County Sheriff’s Department vehicles arrived at the Station Six headquarters, several pulling trailers carrying 4-wheelers.
The Voice spoke with Capt. Gavin Walmsley at Station Six who said deputies were conducting a ground search in the area concerning the woman who went missing near Blythewood last week.
“We do not have an investigative update at this time,” the Sheriff’s Public Information Office said in response to an email inquiry from The Voice. “We can confirm RCSD conducted a ground search this morning of the area Ms. Heinz’s vehicle was found.”
Heinz has been missing since Friday, Jan. 30, when her supervisor notified RCSD that she had not shown up for work at the Shell gas station on SC-200 in Winnsboro. She was last seen on Wednesday around 10 p,m. at the same gas station. Her vehicle, a 2010 Honda CRV was found abandoned on the shoulder of the southbound lane of I-77 approximately two miles north of Blythewood.
A heavily redacted incident report stated her vehicle had “run out of gas and had cut off.” The report stated that Heinz’s personal belongings were found inside the abandoned vehicle.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
