Who Killed Yolanda Bindics?

Earlier this week I was in Jamestown, N.Y., looking into the case of 36-year-old Corrie Anderson, a southern-tier mother of three who went missing on Oct. 28. Since that time, I have received several e-mails from readers alerting me to similar cases in the area. While there does not appear to be a connection to Corrie's case, I did find one involving a missing mother of four that I found particularly interesting.

Aug. 10, 2004, started out as a typical day for 25-year-old Yolanda Bindics. She left her kids in the care of her brother and went to her job at the Family Dollar store in Jamestown. Later that night, at about 8:20 p.m., Yolanda called her brother and told him that she was on her way to the store to pick up a few groceries and would be home soon. Yolanda's brother called her back roughly 15 minutes later, but she never picked up the phone.

The following day, police found Yolanda's car in the parking lot of an Arby's restaurant on Fluvanna Ave. The location is about a half a mile from the Family Dollar store. In the days that followed, dozens of volunteers began searching wooded areas around the region for any sign of Yolanda. During this time, it was revealed that Yolanda had been involved in a relationship with Michael Watson, a Jamestown police officer. As a result, the officer was placed on paid leave to avoid a conflict of interest.

On Sept. 8, 2004, police found Yolanda's purse, keys, and other personal items in two separate storm drains in Jamestown—one at the intersection of 8th and Monroe and the other near the intersection of 6th and Jefferson. All of the items were sent to a forensics lab so that they could be examined for fingerprints and DNA evidence.

Roughly one month later, police arrested Michael Watson on unrelated stalking charges, which included one count of official misconduct, two counts of stalking, two counts of harassment, and four counts of aggravated harassment.

"It's certainly disturbing to find out that something has gone on and that it's been going on over a period of time," Capt. Lee Davies of the Jamestown Police told WKBW.com. "It's certainly problematic, and we want to make sure that we take steps to ensure that in the future any of that type of information would come forward much more quickly."

Watson was released after posting a $10,000 bond. Investigators said the charges were not related to Yolanda's case; however, they did say that he was considered a "person of interest."