No charges to be filed in case of missing woman found dead

By Matt Smith/msmith@trcle.com

Cleburne police have no plans to pursue charges against anyone connected to a missing woman who was later found dead, Sgt. Amy Knoll said.

“We can’t say for sure because we’re awaiting results from the autopsy,” Knoll said Thursday. “But at this time, we have no plans to pursue any charges and don’t anticipate that we will.”

Virginia Burns, 67, disappeared from a residence in the 700 block of North Main Street in Cleburne on Oct. 9. Police found her body on Oct. 30 in a wooded area about five blocks from where she was last seen.

Burns had been living at Town Hall Estates, a retirement home in Keene, but was staying with relatives when she disappeared.

A relative picked Burns up from the nursing home on Oct. 8, according to police reports.

A staff member from the nursing home called the relative at about 11:45 p.m. Oct. 9 and offered to pick Burns up, according to reports.

Relatives said Burns did not want to return to the home but said they would bring her back by 8:30 a.m. the next morning.

Because there was only one bed in the apartment, it was decided that Burns would sleep in the car in the driveway, Knoll said. Relatives last saw Burns a little after 1 a.m. on Oct. 9 sitting in the car, according to reports.

Several readers commenting on the Times-Review Web site have questioned why Burns’ relatives were not charged with anything for letting her sleep in the car.

“From all indications we have, she was fine with that arrangement and that’s what she wanted,” Knoll said. “There’s no indication that she was forced to do that. There’s no charge that exists to file against having someone sleep in a car, not like if she were a 2-year-old child. If it were a case of abuse that would be different. Or if she were suffering from dementia or Alzheimer’s, but she wasn’t suffering from either.

“There’s also the fact that people from the nursing home offered to pick her up, and she didn’t want to go back.”

Other readers questioned why Burns was not signed out from the nursing home.

“I don’t know why, or if she was required to sign out,” Knoll said. “I know she had a voluntary living arrangement there and could’ve come and gone anytime she wanted. There’s no legal requirement to sign out of a nursing home, but different homes may have their own requirements on that. I don’t know.”

Noemi Blanco, director of nursing at Town Hall Estates, said much the same.

“Miss Burns was here voluntarily and doesn’t have to sign in or out,” Blanco said. “It would have been nice if she would have perhaps, and I don’t know why she didn’t, but it isn’t required.”

Knoll disagreed with claims by some readers that the police didn’t search for Burns thoroughly enough.

The ground search of Buffalo Creek focused in the area near Burns’ last known location and south because Buffalo Creek flows that direction, Knoll said, but a wider search was conducted.

“We twice searched the creek all the way up and down by helicopter,” Knoll said. “And we walked north up and down the area too. She wasn’t found in the creek but on a hillside slope area with trees and heavy brush. Some of the family members told me they had walked by that area when they were out looking for her.”