Police in Missouri are investigating a flood of tips they've received since they releasing a surveillance video that could be related to the disappearance of a missing woman.
Police on Saturday released photos of a truck and a woman, saying they might be related to Renee Pernice's Jan. 2 disappearance. Police said tips have been pouring in since they released the photos. Now, her family and police hope those leads will bring them closer to ending three weeks of frustration.
"Maybe we're on the verge of cracking open this mystery," Renee’s father, Rick Pretz, told MyFOXKC.com.
The footage showed the truck driving near the area where Pernice, of Northland, was last seen, MyFOXKC.com reported. It was also close to where her cell phone was found shortly after she disappeared, miles away from the woman’s home.
Meanwhile, Renee Pernice's husband Shon Pernice has made inconsistent statements about when he last saw her, according to court documents.
Shon Pernice told his wife's relatives that he last saw her on New Year's Day, according to the affidavit, but told detectives several days later that he last saw her on Jan. 2.
The affidavit for a search warrant says Shon Pernice, an Independence firefighter, used an electronic keycard to enter the back door of the Independence hazmat station — where solvents and other cleaning materials are stored — at 4:26 a.m. Jan. 3, even though he was not assigned to that station.
Renee Pernice, a 35-year-old nursing instructor, has two sons and a stepdaughter and is not the kind of person who would separate herself from her children for any reason, family members have told police. Investigators believe she is a victim of foul play.
On Jan. 6, detectives saw Shon Pernice drive the family minivan to a park more than a mile away from his home, drop his wife's dog off and drive away. Detectives picked up the dog after Pernice did not return.
Shon Pernice's attorney, Kevin Baldwin, said he has instructed Pernice not to comment or allow police to interview him because Pernice believes he is being blamed for his wife's disappearance.
According to a returned search warrant, investigators found a fake Navy Seal identification card with Shon Pernice's name and photograph when they searched the family's home, which Renee Pernice bought before she married him.
Investigators also removed from the home satellite equipment, an external thumb drive, a nursing notebook, a pineapple-style grenade with a hollowed-out bottom and a spent fuse.
Police said Shon Pernice, who is a member of the National Guard and has served with the Army in Iraq, was scheduled to leave for a three-week military session and then was planning to move out of the home.
Investigators interviewed the mother of Shon Pernice's daughter, who visited with her dad on Jan. 2. The woman told police that her daughter sent an e-mail around 9:30 p.m. telling her that she was ready to come home and was worried because Renee Pernice was not there.
The woman said she noticed the family van parked outside the home when she picked up her daughter from the Pernice home the next morning, the affidavit said. She said that was unusual because the van was always parked in the garage, police said.
Renee Pernice is described as white, 5 feet 9 inches tall and slender, with blue eyes and shoulder-length brown hair.
Click here to watch an interview with Shon and Renee Pernice.
Click here for more on this story from MyFOXKC.com.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox