Divers retrieve barrel from Grand Lake in missing woman case

Divers today retrieved a 55-gallon barrel from Grand Lake, that officials thought might contain the remains of Peggy Sweeten, who’s been missing since 1998.

But District Attorney’s office investigator Mark Wall says none were found.

Portions of the barrel did crumble as it was pulled to the surface, but Wall is confident that nothing fell out of it during the process.

“We had divers, very well-experienced trained divers, with the barrel. Nothing fell out,” Wall said. “An area around the barrel for several feet was searched by the divers, in case something had washed out and was laying there, but nothing was found.”

When Sweeten went missing, her husband, James, claimed she had run off with a man she met online.

But her family says she never went online.

Later, her son noticed a 55-gallon barrel missing from the property, and the same size barrel was found underwater in the cove next to the Sweeten home, prompting officials to do today’s retrieval.

Wall says investigators are not giving up on the search and are now deciding how to proceed next.

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