Missing Woman Case Turns Into "Fish Tale"

Missing Woman Case Turns Into "Fish Tale"

LAST UPDATE: 5/4/2006 12:23:27 AM


A local police chief is relieved after what looked like a murder mystery, but
with the help of Local 12, turns out to be an unforgettable fish story.


It all unfolded Wednesday evening in Augusta, KY. That's where a man caught a
fish, and that fish spit out a Columbus woman's high school class ring from
1984.


The story ends in Idaho.


Shawn Ley has the amazing details that had investigators fearing the worst.


Police say the woman's classmates list her as "missing in action." Police asked
us to show her old yearbook photo, hoping someone could help track her down.
They wanted to know if more than her ring was thrown in the water.


That class ring is in perfect condition, from Columbus-area Franklin Heights
High School's class of 1984.


The student's name, "Lisa Marie Certain," is inscribed inside.


Wait until you here where this ring was found:


"There was two or three hooks, and that ring."


150 miles south of Columbus, just outside Augusta, Kentucky, Wayne Nickerson
caught a catfish last weekend out of this tiny fishing hole, tucked away off
Long Stretch Road.


When he checked his live box Sunday, there was the ring, he thinks spit out by
one of the fish ... but where was the person who once wore the ring?


"Hopefully someone might find her," said Nickerson. "But not in here."


"First thing that ran across my mind," said Col. Greg Cummins, Augusta Police
Chief. "That a body might have been put there."


It took Augusta Police Chief Greg Cummins just 30 minutes to find Franklin
Heights High School online, and a class of '84 alumni site...there he found Lisa
Marie Certain's senior photo, and her name listed under "missing in action." One
former classmate told the chief she hadn't been heard from in years.


What worried Chief Cummins: That pond where the ring came out of is a dumping
ground, just off Route 8. Evidence from major crimes has been there in the past.


"It's in an out of the way area. You can stop there, throw stuff in the pond
from the highway. It's that close."


This mystery quickly turned into a fish story. Local 12 alerted Columbus CBS
affiliate WBNS-TV about the ring and the woman. They tracked down Lisa Certain,
now Lisa Peterson, at home in Idaho Falls, Idaho. She told the chief by phone,
the ring was stolen from her mother's central Ohio home 15 years ago, and was
long gone.


But how that ring ended up in a fish in this pond:


"Still a mystery how it got there."


Lisa Peterson told the chief her ring holds a lot of sentimental value to her.
He's mailing the ring off to Idaho Thursday.


Chief Cummins says he was so concerned about tracking down the ring's owner, he
alerted law enforcement in Columbus to begin checking missing persons reports,
and he was prepared to have the pond drained to look for a body.

http://www.wkrc.com/news/local/story...9-3F97EB6097B9