Former Resident’s Remains Found in Scott County
April 7th, 2020 by iPhone
Wanda Gill, a former resident and bank employee in Monticello and Warren, had been missing since 2018.
According to the Montgomery County sheriff, on March 18, 2020, a property owner in Scott County notified authorities that there were human remains on his property. The remains were sent to the state medical examiner where DNA was confirmed to have matched the missing woman, Wanda Gill.
At this time, the investigation is still underway.
More information on this case is posted lower on this page
On May 23, 2018, Sheriff David White, (Mt. Ida, In Montgomery County) received a call from the owner of a local business in Mount Ida, Arkansas. She stated that an employee, Mrs. Wanda Gill, had not shown up for work on April 27, 2018.
When Mrs. Gill finished her shift at 5 p.m. on April 26, 2018, she had not stated anything regarding not being able to work her shift the following day. The owner attempted to call Wanda on April 27, 2018 without any answer. She then contacted the alternate number that belonged to Joe Gill, Wanda Gill’s husband. Mr. Gill answered the call and stated that Wanda was physically not able to work there anymore.
Also on May 23, 2018, Sheriff White went to a local campground and spoke with the owners where Wanda Gill and Joe Gill were renting a campsite. He then made contact with an individual at a neighboring campsite that stated he had not seen the small white SUV that Wanda Gill drove for a while. A few days later, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office received a phone call from the neighbor stating Joe Gill was at the campsite. Sheriff White went to the campsite and spoke to Joe Gill. Mr. Gill stated that he and Wanda had gotten into an argument. Sheriff White requested that Mr. Gill contact him if he heard from Mrs. Gill. While there he looked around his truck, the campsite and woods behind and saw nothing to led me to believe Wanda was there and I saw no signs of a struggle.
On July 6, 2018, Sheriff White spoke with the owner of the local business to see if she had made contact with Wanda Gill and he was advised that she had not. He then called the previous employment of Wanda Gill in Monticello, Arkansas and spoke with a former co-worker and friend of Mrs. Gill, who stated she had not heard from her in some time. She was able to provide me the name of a relative in Jacksonville, Arkansas. Sheriff White reached out to the relative on Facebook and received a call back. The relative stated she had not heard from Wanda in several months. The relative filled out an affidavit so the sheriff’s office could officially enter Wanda Gill as a missing person in ACIC/NCIC.
On July 12, 2018, Sheriff White received information that Wanda Gill’s vehicle was parked behind a house in Arkansas City. On July 13, 2018, contact was made with the land owner and he said the car was parked behind his shop. Joe Gill and his son parked it behind there earlier this week. When officers arrived at the shop, the vehicle was gone.
UPDATE – On July 13, 2018, Wanda Gill’s vehicle was located at a motel in Lake Village, Arkansas where the vehicle was seized.
As Sheriff White knocked on the motel room door, the missing woman’s adult stepson, Hunter Gill eventually answered the door. When asked where his father was, he looked toward the restroom, then slowly replied, “in the bathroom.”. At that point the officers heard a gunshot from the bathroom, where Joe Gill had taken his own life with a handgun.
Gill’s son was taken in for questioning, but has been released.
Sheriff White said, “He answered a lot of questions, when he took his own life. The only question he didn’t answer is where Wanda Gill could be found.”
According to the Arkansas State Police, Gill was transported to the Chicot Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead the by Chicot County Coroner. The body will be submitted to the medical examiner’s office to determine official cause and manner of death.
No information was provided as to where Wanda Gill could be, so the public’s help is still extremely important in locating her.
Ms. Gill is a Warren High School graduate and is well known in the Monticello / Warren areas, where she worked at multiple bank locations.
Several agencies across the state have assisted in the case including Desha County Sheriff’s Office, Chicot County Sheriff’s Office, Bradley County Sheriff’s Office, Lake Village Police Department, Monticello Police Department, 10th Judicial Drug Task Force, 18th West Judicial Drug Task Force, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, and the Arkansas State Police.
If anyone has any information regarding the location of Wanda Gill, if anyone has had contact with Wanda Gill, or if anyone remembers seeing Wanda Gill’s 2011 White Toyota RAV 4 prior to July 13, 2018, please contact the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office at 870-867-3151, or Monticello police at 367-3411.
As other information becomes available, it will be posted on MonticelloLive.com.
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