Posted on May 21, 2012.
Marilyn Greene of Schenectady, N.Y., has been searching for missing people for more than 40 years.
Many of her cases led to discoveries – some found alive, many found dead.
Other people have never been found at all.
Even after all her years of search and rescue that many times have led to gruesome discoveries, Greene sounded emotional and melancholy Sunday when describing her latest find – human remains she “strongly suspects” is 33-year-old Danny Goldstein of Rutland.
Goldstein, a man diagnosed to be suffering from depression, off his medication, went missing from his 116 North Main St. apartment July 26.
After leaving Spring Lake Ranch rehabilitation center in Cuttingsville, Goldstein found a job as a food services worker at Rutland's Mountain View Center.
“He was loved by family, well liked by coworkers, had a lot of friends in the community that loved him very much,” Greene said Sunday.
The certified private investigator, hired by Goldstein's family, is credited with finding unidentifiable human skeletal remains in the woods of Rutland Town off Kathy Drive at noon Saturday.
Although Greene stressed that she and her search team didn't get close to the findings, she did see a white T-shirt – an item of clothing believed to be worn by Goldstein the day he disappeared.
Autopsy results and identification via dental records are expected to be released later this week, according to Vermont State Police.
On Saturday, Greene had pinpointed an area, about 1 mile north of Danny Goldstein's apartment, where she left off.
Greene elicited the help of a team of search specialists she trained 20 years ago.
The Massachusetts Air-Scenting K9 team – Roland Hamel, Sherry Miner and their dogs – began searching the area north of Bellevue Avenue Saturday morning.
Greene segmented off wooded areas near Goldstein's apartment into manageable search areas and the dogs, much like avalanche dogs, combed through the woods.
The dogs weren't given a scent of Goldstein or a trail to follow, she said.
Hamel's dog found the human remains an hour into the search, Greene said.
“If Danny is missing from a suburban area and not being harbored by someone, its reasonable to suspect he would be in a secluded, wooded area,” Greene said. “I went street by street to determine secluded areas and used topographical maps.”
At the same time, Greene had a call out to all hospitals and shelters in New York because Goldstein had expressed, before his disappearance, that he wanted to take a train trip there.
Greene said the medical examiner will make the final determination as to whether the remains are Goldstein or not.
“You don't know how a case is going to turn out until it's solved,” Greene said. “I want to make sure that the missing person isn't in a wooded area before dismissing that as a possibility ... we really hoped we wouldn't find him.”