Detectives dedicated for Donovan

Tuesday's lead editorial notes the end of one of the Grand Strand's most enduring mysteries.

Forensic science and good police work have confirmed that bone fragments found in January are remains of Alice L. Donovan, abducted more than six years ago.

The Galivants Ferry woman was taken from a Wal-Mart parking lot in Conway in November 2002 by two Kentucky prison escapees, Brandon Basham and Chadrick Fulks. They are on death row at the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind. They also pleaded guilty to killing Saman tha Burns, 19, a West Virginia student.

Now the fragments have been identified at the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification.

For the family of the victim, confirmation of the remains is indeed an import ant piece of the puzzle, missing until now, but not closure. ``It's painful all over again, but also it's the last piece,'' says Carol McKeel of Greenville, a sister of Alice Donovan. ``We have answers to this, where she was, where did it happen. ... We don't have to wonder where she is.''

Monica Caison, along with area law enforcement officers, did not give up on finding the remains. Caison founded Community United Effort and was involved in finding Alice Donovan immediately after she was reported missing nearly seven years ago.

Last year, Caison corresponded with Fulks in an effort to help the daughters of the victim, Jennifer Warner and Angie Gilchrist, who had renewed their search.

On Jan. 17, Caison received photos and a letter from Fulks with details of where the remains were.

``I have to thank Conway police for believing me when I called them,'' Caison said. Horry County Police Department investigators and agents of the FBI searched in the rain, literally on their hands and knees in a wooded area near Water Tower Road and Long Bay Road.

As Caison says, identification of the remains is ``a resolution to the unknown fate of a missing person.''

The Galivants Ferry woman was taken from a Wal-Mart parking lot in Conway in November 2002 by two Kentucky prison escapees, Brandon Basham and Chadrick Fulks. They are on death row at the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind. They also pleaded guilty to killing Saman tha Burns, 19, a West Virginia student.

Now the fragments have been identified at the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification.

For the family of the victim, confirmation of the remains is indeed an import ant piece of the puzzle, missing until now, but not closure. ``It's painful all over again, but also it's the last piece,'' says Carol McKeel of Greenville, a sister of Alice Donovan. ``We have answers to this, where she was, where did it happen. ... We don't have to wonder where she is.''

Monica Caison, along with area law enforcement officers, did not give up on finding the remains. Caison founded Community United Effort and was involved in finding Alice Donovan immediately after she was reported missing nearly seven years ago.

Last year, Caison corresponded with Fulks in an effort to help the daughters of the victim, Jennifer Warner and Angie Gilchrist, who had renewed their search.

On Jan. 17, Caison received photos and a letter from Fulks with details of where the remains were.

``I have to thank Conway police for believing me when I called them,'' Caison said. Horry County Police Department investigators and agents of the FBI searched in the rain, literally on their hands and knees in a wooded area near Water Tower Road and Long Bay Road.

As Caison says, identification of the remains is ``a resolution to the unknown fate of a missing person.''