Jeanette Zapata, Missing Oct. 1976 WI.
Investigators search landfill for trace of missing woman Mar 7, 4:04 PM EST MAUSTON, Wis. (AP) -- Investigators and a cadaver-sniffing dog sifted through mounds of garbage at a landfill Tuesday, looking for the remains of a woman who disappeared in 1976. Madison police also used backhoes to dig into the landfill near Mauston in Juneau County. Jeanette Zapata, a Madison flight instructor, was 38 when she disappeared on Oct. 11, 1976, after sending her three children to school. Police said no one has seen her since. Investigators started looking into the case again in 2004 after a childhood friend inquired about its status. Cadaver-sniffing dogs found human hair in December 2004 in the basement of the Madison home where Zapata was living when she vanished. The dogs also indicated the presence of human remains in a storage locker once leased by a man who authorities suspect in Zapata's disappearance, according to a search warrant in the case. A search in August of some wooded land in Juneau County owned by the man failed to turn up the woman's body. This week, law enforcement officers wearing protective suits sifted through the garbage piles at the Mauston-area landfill. Their previous searches in the case led them to the landfill, Madison police spokesman Mike Hanson said. "We did 18 piles yesterday and will keep going today," Hanson said Tuesday. "We plan to be there until Friday." He said it's too early to say whether investigators found any evidence at the landfill. At age 16 in 1954, Jean Zapata was the youngest pilot with a license in Wisconsin. She was reported missing after she failed to show up for work two days after she vanished. --- Information from: The Capital Times, http://www.captimes.com http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WI_MISSING_WOMAN_WIOL-?SITE=WIFON&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Police Search Landfill for Clues in Woman's Disappearance Updated: 6:42 PM Mar 7, 2006 Dana Brueck Investigators will dig deep in a Juneau County landfill all week in search of new evidence in a 30-year-old missing person case. Police call Jean Zapata's ex-husband the prime suspect in her disappearance. He now lives in Nevada. Detectives, retired police officers and a few state patrol troopers will spend this week at a rural landfill. Madison police refuse to say -- specifically -- what kind of evidence they hope to find there, or why it's a target of the investigation. But they say the Dane County District Attorney considers the excavation -- essential. "It's not real pleasant, but it's something that needs to be done," Det. Clare McCoy says. McCoy is one of two dozen investigators, sifting through what a backhoe digs up. Behind the protective suits and masks of the volunteers, is a drive to find out what happened to Jean Zapata. "It's a large-scale operation, not commonly done. It's unprecedented for the Madison Police Department," Capt. Tom Snyder says. Zapata disappeared nearly 30 years ago. But police say what they're looking for was likely dumped here within the past year and possibly down ten feet. A K-9 trained for detecting human remains also will cover the 60-by-100 foot area. "I know people are focusing on human remains. There are other items that we're looking for that, we believe, if found, legitimize our purpose for being here," Capt. Snyder says. Police say, back in December, they interviewed their prime suspect -- Zapata's ex-husband -- Eugene Zapata. He now lives in Nevada. "We executed three search warrants in Henderson, NV, one for DNA, one for home and computer and a third for a safety deposit box located at a bank," Capt. Snyder says. Records from those searches remain sealed, but police say, last year, cadaver-sniffing dogs hit on a former home in Madison and a Sun Prairie storage locker, rented by Eugene Zapata. "At this point, Eugene Zapata is the only suspect in this case," Capt. Snyder says. Juneau County records show Eugene Zapata still owns about six acres of property west of this landfill in the Town of Fountain. "We fully realize there's a possibility that nothing of evidentiary value will be recovered, but again, this is an investigative lead and the case will continue regardless of what happens here," Capt. Snyder says. "Everybody's very invested and emotionally involved. We wouldn't be out here if we didn't think it was important," Det. McCoy says. Police have found nothing yet. A local reporter says it's relatively easy to come and go from the landfill unnoticed. Police say Eugene Zapata is aware of this search. http://nbc15.madison.com/news/headlines/2424356.html

Jeanette Zapata Missing since October 11, 1976 from Madison, Wisconsin Age at Time of Disappearance: 36 years old Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Clothing: Blue corduroys and a striped top AKA: Jean Circumstances of Disappearance Jean Zapata sent her two teenage daughters and 6-year-old son to school shortly after 8 a.m. October 11, 1976. They last saw her as she sat at the kitchen table in their East Side home near La Follette High School. Two days after Zapata's children saw her for the last time an accountant at Frickleton School of Aeronautics, reported her missing because she hadn't come to work. Immediately after she disappeared, her purse and other belongings, including her new car, were found at the home, but a .30-06 rifle was missing. Police said that they believe Jean Zapata is dead, but don't say the mother and flight instructor was murdered. Jean Zapata was in the middle of a divorce and had a temporary restraining order against her husband when she disappeared. Investigators If you have any information concerning this case, please contact: Madison Police Deaprtment Criminal Intelligence Unit Or Madison Area Crimestoppers 608-266-6014 http://www.doenetwork.us/cases/1804dfwi.html

Madison Police Re-Examine Nearly 30-Year-Old Cold Case Police Suspect Missing Woman Is Dead UPDATED: December 15, 2005 MADISON, Wis. -- Madison police are reinvestigating the case of a mother who disappeared nearly 30 years ago. Authorities are re-examining the circumstances surrounding the woman's disappearance and they said that they suspect foul play, WISC-TV reported. The disappearance of Jean Zapata left her three children in limbo. The renewed interest in her case has cast a spotlight on her once-estranged husband. Authorities said that Eugene Zapata is their one and only suspect. Police said that they believe Jean Zapata is dead, but don't say the mother and flight instructor was murdered. Search warrants released on Thursday indicate that detectives have been searching for human remains since last year, WISC-TV reported. Last December, at Zapata's former East Side house, two cadaver dogs identified decomposing human remains in a crawl space in the basement. Later, a human hair was found. Last August, two dogs also identified the presence of human remains at a storage locker rented by Eugene Zapata. Warrants said that Eugene Zapata turned in his locker key the day after Madison police rang his Nevada home to question him. "We believe he was involved in the disappearance, and we believe he's a suspect in that," said Capt. Tom Snyder of Madison police's Criminal Intelligence Unit. "Obviously, we have to follow every investigative lead that comes in regarding this case." Jean Zapata was in the middle of a divorce and had a temporary restraining order against Eugene Zapata when she disappeared without a trace in 1976, WISC-TV reported. In August, a search of some Juneau County land owned by Eugene Zapata turned up nothing. WISC-TV was unable to reach Eugene Zapata by phone. Authorities said that anyone with information is urged to call Crimestoppers at (608) 266-6014. http://www.channel3000.com/news/5547005/detail.html

30-Year-Old Cold Case May Be Solved Young Mother's Disappearance Now Labeled A Homicide UPDATED: February 28, 2006 MADISON, Wis. -- A 30-year-old disappearance case has now turned into a homicide investigation. Authorities call it the ultimate cold case. Jean Zapata, 36, disappeared without a trace in 1976. She sent her three young children off to school and was never seen or heard from again. "She would not abandon those children and go wandering off," said Zapata's friend Peg Weekley. Weekley, a longtime friend of Zapata's, who now lives in Oklahoma, recently convinced some new detectives to take a second look at the case. "I thought the children deserved to know the truth of what happened to her if at all possible," said Weekley. Now Zapata's children may finally get some closure, though not the kind anyone had hoped for. "I believe she was murdered," said Capt. Tom Snyder. The case was once labeled a disappearance, but is now a homicide investigation and Zapata's former husband, Eugene, is the one and only suspect. "She was in the midst of a messy divorce with her husband Eugene Zapata at the time," said Snyder. "There was a restraining order against him. They were going through a custody battle regarding their children." It was Jean's boss who first reported her missing, two days after she failed to report to work as Madison's only female flight instructor. Eugene was then caring for the children. At the time, police searched the home and found Jean's purse, coat, clothes and new car as well as other red flags. Eugene became a suspect back then, too after giving police conflicting alibis about the day she disappeared. Investigators learned the former state transportation worker also argued with his wife about visitation rights a few days before she disappeared and had hired a private detective to follow her a month before that. "Until she told me why she was divorcing him, I didn't realize that he wasn't the man I thought he was," said Weekley." Weekley told News 3 that Jean had confided in her that Eugene had secretly put semi-nude pictures of her in swinger magazines. Zapata accidentally found out when a call from the postmaster led her to a secret post office box and ultimately her own face. "And there were these swinger magazines and she opened one up and there was a picture of her scantily clad that he had taken," said Weekley." Eugene Zapata, 68, now lives with his second wife in Henderson, Nev. News 3 found that is where Madison detectives executed search warrants in December. The search warrants covered Eugene's house, computer, a bank safe deposit box and a sample of his DNA. "We are very hopeful that there will be a prosecution in this case, hopefully in the near future," said Snyder. Snyder said he believes it will happen despite the lack of a body. Officers used two trained cadaver dogs to sniff out some new evidence in the case. Inside the former Zapata home, police say the dogs were able to detect human remains. "In a crawl space in the basement two independent searches by cadaver dogs found or indicated the presence of decomposing or decomposed human remains," said Snyder. Authorities also say cadaver dogs also detected human remains inside and outside a Sun Prairie storage locker rented by Eugene Zapata from 2001 until last April. He cleaned it out one day after police contacted him asking about Zapata's disappearance. So far, the new police investigation has yet to produce charges or even prove Zapata is dead. News 3 spoke with two of Zapata's children who say they have now accepted that. Zapata's youngest daughter told News 3, "Although it is a gift to know my mother didn't abandon my brother, sister and me, it is devastating to now know that she has been dead all these years. My greatest hope is to recover her remains for a long-overdue memorial service. I need to honor her memory and grieve her loss, again." News 3 talked to Eugene Zapata who denied all allegations that he was ever involved in Jean's disappearance. He said he is not at liberty to discuss the case on the advice of his Madison attorney, Stephen Hurley. Hurely did not return calls or e-mails from WISC-TV. http://www.channel3000.com/news/7525919/detail.html

Zapata Case: Police Find No Evidence At Landfill Woman Disappeared 30 Years Ago UPDATED: March 10, 2006 MADISON, Wis. -- A muddy, week-long search of a Juneau County landfill has turned up no new evidence in the 30-year-old investigation of a missing Madison woman. Madison police said that they finished searching a small area of the dump around noon on Friday. Authorities were looking for Jean Zapata's human remains and some containers, which police thought to be placed there a year ago, WISC-TV reported. The investigation, long a cold case, is now an active murder investigation. One of Zapata's daughters who still lives in the area said that the lack of evidence found at the landfill is "disappointing" and "frustrating," but she remains confident that police will ultimately succeed. Zapata was a 36-year-old Madison woman and mother of three who mysteriously disappeared from her home in 1976. Police said that they are acting on a tip that led them to the landfill located off Ceylon Road. The landfill search follows earlier ones where cadaver dogs picked up the scent of decomposing human remains at Zapata's former Madison home and at a Sun Prairie storage locker last year. Police have called Zapata's former husband their only suspect and executed three search warrants at his Nevada home in November. However, Eugene Zapata said that he had nothing to do with her disappearance, WISC-TV reported. http://www.channel3000.com/news/7892617/detail.html