November 14, 2024
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Investigators comb woods in Canaan case

CANAAN – For the fifth day in a row, detectives and forensic investigators searched the woods off Route 23 for evidence in a case involving homicide and a missing person.

Using cadaver dogs and digging carefully in the same area where Cheryl Murdoch’s body was found 30 feet off a dirt track last Friday, police continued Wednesday to seek any clue that would help them find either Murdoch’s killer or Shirley Moon Atwood, who is missing from the same Canaan home.

Murdoch, 37, Atwood, 35, and Atwood’s husband, Shannon Atwood, 36, shared a mobile home on Route 23. Both women went missing in July, according to police.

Murdoch was last seen around July 27, police said, and Shirley Atwood was last seen at least a week earlier than that. Police will not say how or when Murdoch died or what her relationship was with the Atwoods.

Shannon Atwood remained Wednesday in Somerset County Jail under $20,000 bail after his arrest Sunday following a standoff with police. Atwood was charged with terrorizing and reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon after he threatened police with a bow and arrow and said he was going to blow up the home.

State police investigators had gone to the home the Atwoods and Murdoch shared, armed with a search warrant and seeking information about Murdoch’s death.

“Investigators continue to talk with friends of Shirley Atwood, who has been missing for more than a month,” said Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety. “But there are no new developments in locating her.”

According to town records, Shirley Atwood owned the mobile home and an acre, which she reportedly inherited from a grandfather when she was 14. The town of Canaan placed a lien on the property on Aug. 8 because of back taxes of $828.

Police consider Atwood to be an endangered person and are seeking the public’s help in finding her. She is 5 feet, 2 inches tall and weighs 104 pounds. She has brown hair and green eyes. Anyone with information should call the Maine State Police at 1-800-452-4664.


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