Deputies come up empty-handed in another search for Gayle McCaffrey

A search crew on Friday completed its sweep of a wooded area near Drayton Hall without finding any new evidence in the case of missing mother Gayle McCaffrey.

Maj. Jim Brady, spokesman for the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office, said about a dozen deputies and dog handlers combed the area for about four hours, more finely examining the areas they traipsed through the day before.

After a large search Thursday involved 12 agencies and about 150 people, Friday’s effort involved only the Sheriff’s Office and S.C. Search Dogs. Sheriff Al Cannon met with searchers on both days, according to Brady.

All searches within a few miles of McCaffrey’s Limestone Boulevard home have proved fruitless in the six weeks since she was reported missing March 18.

More are possible, Brady said.
This week’s endeavors were started because investigators said they tracked signals from McCaffrey’s and her husband’s cellphones to the area off S.C. Highway 61.

Her husband has been named the suspect in what Cannon deemed a homicide this week.

The sheriff said Bob McCaffrey had been pursuing a love interest and traveled Upstate to see the woman on the night his wife disappeared. He returned the next morning and reported 12 hours later that his wife was gone and that she had left behind her wedding ring, Jeep and cellphone.

Bob McCaffrey’s attorney has said his client remains hopeful that Gayle McCaffrey will return home alive.

Reach Andrew Knapp at 937-5414 or twitter.com/offlede.