Police, FBI Search Hines Park For Evidence Connected To Danielle Stislicki's Disappearance

LIVONIA (WWJ) - More than 100 local, state and federal authorities spent about seven hours searching Hines Park in Livonia for evidence in the 2016 disappearance of Danielle Stislicki.

The multi-agency search, complete with cadaver dogs, started Wednesday morning in the area of Hines Drive and Newburgh Road. Officials are asking anyone in that area to be on the lookout for signs of human remains.

The area of focus is not far from where a woman was allegedly attacked by Floyd Galloway, Jr., who has been named a person of interest in Stislick's disappearance.

"We're not prepared to say what ties there are to the case but we know that because of the connection to the case, this would be an obvious place to search," Farmington Hills Chief Chuck Nebus told WWJ's Vickie Thomas. "There's no specific information that Danielle Stislicki would be here. ... Patterns would tell us that if a person is a serial criminal, they very likely go back to a place where they're comfortable with if they would be disposing of a body. We know from the Livonia case that their suspect was believed to be here so this would be a natural place for us to search."

Nebus said searchers were instructed to look for very specific items while out in the park, which is heavily wooded.

"(They're looking) for particular clothing, this three-in-one sky blue-colored Eddie Bauer jacket, a black zip-up top, a pair or jeans, burgundy boots," he said. "Those are the items we're focusing on."

The public, especially neighbors in the area, is also encouraged to look for anything suspicious.

"If you're outdoors and you see a trunk, a suitcase, a bag, it might be something that needs to be checked out, and we ask the public for any of these same (clothing) items that I just mentioned, if they would come across them to notify police," said Nebus. "It's just, we really don't know where Danielle Stislicki could be located. It's just very common that sometimes when a criminal would dispose of a body that could be in a bag, in a suitcase, it could be covered up with a tarp, anything like that. So we'd just like the public, when people are outdoors and they're hiking and recreating and out by the water, just to be alert or those kinds of things."

Stislicki has been missing since Dec. 2, 2016. The 28-year-old left her job at MetLife in Southfield and was supposed to meet a friend for dinner -- but she never showed up. Stislicki's Jeep was found a day later, parked outside her home at the Independence Green apartments in the area of Halsted and Grand River in Farmington Hills — with her purse inside. Although police found no signs of a struggle, Ann Stislicki has said she suspects that her daughter was abducted.

The attack on the Hines Park bicycle path, allegedly carried out by Galloway, happened two months before Stislicki went missing. In that case, a 28-year-old woman was jogging east on the path, west of Levan, when a man grabbed her by the neck, hit her in the face and began dragging her into the woods toward the Rouge River. While she struggled, the man allegedly tried to take her clothes off, telling her he wanted to have sex — but the woman was able to fight him off. She flagged down a passing motorist and used his phone to call 911 while the suspect fled on foot, police said.

Galloway, who was charged with attempted rape in June, is the same man whose Berkley home was searched a couple of weeks after Stislicki disappeared. Police didn't say much about the search at the time, but neighbors say they saw officers taking a mattress and other items out of the 30-year-old's home.

Galloway was also employed by a company contracted to provide security for MetLife, where Stislicki worked, at the time of her disappearance, according to police.

Although Galloway has been named a person of interest, he has not been charged in the case. He remains held on a $750,000 bond.

The Hines Park search was their largest to date.

"This has never been a case where we've been out of work to do. We've actually executed over 60 search warrants since December ...in several locations, kind of under the radar, by air, land and water," Nebus said. "We have been very, very active continuing to gather evidence and we remain optimistic that this case will one day be solved."

Nothing was found, apart from some animal bones. Nebus said the search at the park was not expected to resume on Thursday.

Anonymous tips on the Stislicki case can be submitted to the Farmington Hills Police Department at 248-871-2610.