Clues surface in case of mother who disappeared in Alabama in 1998

Traci Pittman Kegley, 30, the mother of a 2-year-old daughter, disappeared in 1998. (Alabama Law Enforcement Agency)

Police divers have discovered potential evidence that could lead to a breakthrough in the cold case disappearance of a 30-year-old mother in Alabama two decades ago.

Traci Pittman Kegley was last seen at a gas station in Elmore County on April 26, 1998. Her car was found the next day with her 2-year-old daughter inside. The baby had been left unattended. Foul play is suspected in Kegley's disappearance.

Last week authorities searched a 300-acre property in Elmore County for her body pursuant to a search warrant. Cadaver dogs assisted in the search.

Authorities wouldn’t say what evidence the divers found in a pond on the property, WSFA-TV reported. It was sent to the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences lab for testing.

If the testing shows it is connected to Kegley, authorities say they will make arrests in the case, the station reported.

Suspects in Kegley’s disappearance have reportedly been identified.

"If they don't come see us, we're going to go see them," Elmore County District Attorney Randall Houston said, according to the station.

Law enforcement personnel searched a 300-acre property in Elmore County, Ala., in connection with the 1998 disappearance of Traci Pittman Kegley. (Alabama Law Enforcement Agency)

The owner of the property is not a suspect, the Montgomery Advertiser reported.

The search warrant was based on information a tipster called in to a Crime Stoppers hotline after WSFA ran a report on Kegley’s disappearance in 2015.

Authorities said it took them until now to verify the tip.

According to various reports, Kegley was working as a trained phlebotomist in Montgomery, Ala., and had just been granted a divorce when she disappeared.

Her parents Steven and Linda Pitman spoke to reporters when they visited the search site Wednesday.

Linda Pitman said she was surprised when she heard about the search, the Tallassee Tribune reported.

“I knew they had been working on this since Traci disappeared and of course it’s been 20 years or will be this April, so I was really surprised, as long as it’s been, that they would come up with something that might lead us to her,” she said.