Parkersburg police chief Board confirms the Ohio Co. remains are not Gretchen

PARKERSBURG, W.Va. (WTAP) - “It’s the focal point of the Parkersburg police department right now. And it will remain so until we get the answers that we need,” says Parkersburg police chief, Matt Board.

Thursday evening, a report about human remains being found in Elm Grove came out.

After much speculation, both Board and Ohio County Sheriff Tom Howard confirmed that the remains are not connected to Gretchen Fleming.

“This morning, a national news outlet had released that they believe that we had potentially located Ms. Fleming in Ohio County. Which was not true. It was a miscommunication on their part,” says Board. “As soon as this agency realized what had happened, I reached out to the sheriff of Ohio County, spoke to him and at this time there is no reason to believe whatsoever those two cases are related in any capacity.”

Board says that this case is still something the department is doing its due diligence to make sure it has all of the facts straight. And Board says that the Parkersburg community wants to make sure about this same thing.

“The community has not slowed down at all,” says Board. “A small example, I was in the detective bureau speaking with the detectives the other night – about 6 p.m. – and Detective Zimmerman’s phone rang three times in a matter of about 15 minutes of people giving new information. And we are currently at a month – approximately since the initial report. And, you know, three calls in 15 minutes just shows the level of the community’s involvement, concern and cooperation with us.”

And the police are looking for all of the avenues they can to find that missing piece of the puzzle as Board says. Including checking for any and all video footage that can possibly be available for the investigation.

“If somebody that we haven’t checked with that is not within the area that we have checked would have video that we may not know about we would like them to come forward. But yes, officers and detectives have canvassed a large area and have retrieved a multitude of videos,” says Board.

If you have any information on Gretchen Fleming, contact Detective Zimmerman 304-424-1072 or for after hours dial 304-424-8444.