FOSTER TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- Investigators in Luzerne County have spent hours searching a property near Weatherly connected to a missing person's case.
State police, forensic experts, and an excavation company searched that property along Buck Mountain Road in Foster Township for most of the day Wednesday.
"I was shocked to hear about it. We've always passed it, and it looked always abandoned to me, and a couple times, we saw people on there, but it always just looked scary," said Greg Ovens of nearby Lausanne Township.
Investigators said they were looking for the remains of New Jersey man reported missing in 2015. They said they have information he may have been murdered and his body may be on the property.
"For them to be looking for bodies or bones, yeah, I was really a little concerned about that thinking I mean I’m less than half a mile from there,” said Ovens.
Investigators also tell Newswatch 16 this property is owned by Roberto Torner, who is no stranger to the law.
Torner was arrested and charged last year with arson, drug trafficking, illegal firearm sales, and conspiracy. He was also charged with threatening to kill a person in the Freeland area.
"There's always a lot of problems with the people in that mobile home, so I wasn't surprised,” said Donna Halechko of Nesquehoning.
"I've heard a lot of bad things about the area they're digging into there and we'll really have to just wait and see what's going on,” said Bob Sotack of Lausanne Township.
"This is a nice quiet area here and it's amazing that something like this does happen in our area, but it can happen anywhere, you know?" said Sotack.
There's no word whether law enforcement found anything at the property or if they believe Torner may be connected to the New Jersey man's disappearance.