Investigators in Palm Bay, Fla., are hoping that possible blood evidence found in a pickup truck belonging to missing volunteer Malabar firefighter Brandy Hall could shed light on what may have happened to her, according to a Florida Today report.
"We found what appeared to be blood," Palm Bay Police Chief Bill Berger said. "Because the car was filled with water, there wasn't a lot of it."
The evidence was turned over to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for testing, officials said of the six-day old case.
"She was a 'woodsy' person," Berger said, adding that Hall was an outdoor enthusiast and that the blood could have come from a number of sources.
Detectives are still working Hall's disappearance as a missing person's case but added that they are reviewing a number of scenarios. Florida Today reported.
"There are no changes. There is no body so we're treating this as a missing person case," said Jess Suelter, one of the lead detectives working the case.
Authorities started looking for Hall on Friday afternoon, shortly after her yellow fire gear -- boots, pants and a helmet -- was found floating in a pond off of Treeland Boulevard.
The green pickup was pulled out of the pond hours after the mother of two children was supposed to show up in court on behalf of her husband Jeffrey Hall to testify at his drug sentencing.
Wednesday, Palm Bay police along with a 16-member urban rescue team from Dade County are combing through dense brush and searching along the muddy bottoms of several area ponds.
"We don't believe we're going to find anyone here," said Capt. Joe Eakins of the Palm Bay Dive Team. "Hopefully she's alive somewhere."
Police said Hall was last seen leaving the Malabar Fire Department late Thursday. Her husband Jeffrey, who is not a suspect, was at their Malabar home -- about two miles east of where the truck was found -- at the time.
Police have also been talking with her fellow firefighters, including some from Palm Bay Fire-Rescue where she worked for a decade before being fired in December.
"They are a tight-knit group of folks," Suelter said.
Police also said they do not believe that Hall's disappearance is connected to the Osecola County drug case involving her husband. Jeffrey Hall was sentenced to 18 months in state prison on a cultivation of cannabis charge after prosecutors accused him of running a $1 million marijuana operation.
Brandy Hall was also arrested in that case but charges were later dropped.
Anyone with information on the case is asked to call police at 321-952-3456.
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