ADDISON COUNTY — Vermont State Police divers on Monday continued their search for a missing Connecticut woman, this time in Orwell.
VSP Lt. Reginald Trayah said divers searched Johnson’s Pond, a 35-acre body of water that straddles the town line between Orwell and Sudbury.
Trayah said the search was related to the disappearance of Denise Hart, 25, of Hartford, Conn., who was last seen Jan. 25 in Sudbury. Police suspect foul play had a hand in Hart’s disappearance.
Divers on Monday did not find Hart, but Trayah said this does not mean the effort was fruitless.
“What we don’t find is almost as important as what we do find,” Trayah said, adding that police would be evaluating the results of the search.
VSP announced in mid-February that Hart was last seen leaving Sudbury late on Jan. 25 driving a silver Pontiac Grand Am. In the early hours of the following morning, police received a report of a car fire at the Swamp Road covered bridge in Cornwall. By the time firefighters arrived, the vehicle was fully engulfed. Police determined it was the Pontiac driven by Hart.
State police and other agencies have searched for Hart since she was reported missing Jan. 31. On Feb. 11, police searched a property in Sudbury.
On March 4, divers drilled through the ice on the Otter Creek in Cornwall, near where the burning car was found, to search for Hart.
Trayah said police are still treating the case as a missing person rather than a homicide, as police have no evidence to suggest the latter.
The lieutenant declined to say when or where divers would search next, but said state police would continue to evaluate evidence.