GOODYEAR, Ariz. – Police say a 78-year-old suburban Phoenix woman who disappeared this week remains missing and might have been killed in a case that involves evidence found in the desert about 50 miles away.
Police say an adult grandson who lived with Hellen Jean Lee in Goodyear is a "person of interest" in the case. Meanwhile, 40-year-old Jason Eric Howell faces charges stemming from an unrelated carjacking in another Phoenix suburb.
Lee was reported missing from her home Wednesday, the same day Howell was arrested in the theft of an SUV from a Chandler school. A preteen girl in the vehicle was able to jump out.
TV news footage of Lee's home Thursday showed heavy damage to the garage door.
Goodyear police spokeswoman Lisa Kutis says authorities found unspecified evidence of a crime in the rural Gila Bend area, based on information Howell provided.
He has not yet been appointed an attorney.
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