Weekend search for missing Florence girl unsuccessful

BARBOURVILLE, Ky. - An anonymous phone call late Thursday evening regarding the disappearance of Florence teenager Paige Johnson led to a meeting between several law enforcement agencies in the Tri-State.

Acting on that tip, three prosecutors, three detectives and four secret service agents made a three-hour drive to a farm just outside Barbourville, Ky., in Knox County in hopes of finding Paige.

Investigators say the tip led them to a wooded area just off KY 229 near the farm where they searched for anything that may have resembled a shallow grave.

According to Sanders, law enforcement officers cleared a very large area of brush and overgrowth. After sifting through bucket after bucket of dirt turned up nothing, a backhoe was called in to slowly unearth the entire area. Before the search ended, shortly after midnight, investigators had dug six to eight feet deep in an area about the size of an Olympic swimming pool with no luck in finding the missing girl.

In a post on his website, Sanders said the information received was obviously not accurate in its exact location but he would not rule out the possibility Paige Johnson's body is in Knox County.

"Paige could still be close by but I assure you she's not where we were lead to believe," Sanders said. "About thirty prosecutors, police officers, sheriff's deputies, state troopers, and Secret Service agents, along with the Knox County Coroner and his brother, gave up their Friday nights to dig up that land without hesitation. We even had KSP troopers who lived nearby stop and pitch in on their own time."

Paige went missing nearly two years ago in September of 2010. Anyone with information should call Covington police at (859) 292-2222 or contact the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.