Reward offered to find woman

The woman, who had lived near Rogers, disappeared when she was 24.
& lt;a href=mailto:leigh@vindy.com & gt;By NORMAN LEIGH & lt;/a & gt;
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
SALEM -- Cindy Starling's thoughts are haunted by the dark waters of Shreve Swamp.
Local lore has it that this vast, submerged landscape near Wooster is favored by killers as a place to dispose ofbodies.
Starling is convinced that the remains of her missing niece, Tracy Hill of Columbiana County, are among the unconsecrated dead lying beneath the swamp's icy waters.
"It's the perfect place to put someone," added Starling, of Burbank in Wayne County.
Authorities have searched the swamp but without success.
Hill, who once lived near Sprucevale Road near Rogers, is considered missing, a bureaucratic limbo to which she has been consigned for more than 21/2 years.
"There's no doubt in my mind that she's not alive," Starling said Monday as the family of the former Wayne County resident prepares for its third Christmas without her.
Hill, who was 24 when she disappeared, "would never have left and not contacted her mother," said Starling.
Plus, Hill's personal things were left at her rural Middleton Township home. Hill would have packed if she intended to go away, Starling reasoned.
What's planned
She reflected on the length of time her niece has been gone and spoke enviously of the Laci Peterson case. If only Hill's vanishing could have received the kind of massive media attention lavished on the Peterson affair, Starling said, maybe her niece's disappearance would be solved by now.
Her family holds no hope of national press exposure but it is willing to give one untried strategy a try -- reward money.
Starling said a man whom she declined to identify has promised to provide $10,000 cash for information leading to the conviction of someone in Hill's disappearance.
So far, the anonymous benefactor has given Starling $350 to set aside and expects to provide the rest soon, Starling said.
She said she's confident the man is serious.
If he doesn't produce the money, Starling said she'll provide the cash herself.
"Maybe some people will come forward if they think they'll get some loot," she said.
Columbiana County authorities who are investigating the case were unavailable Monday to discuss it.
Previously they have expressed frustration with the probe, which has produced leads but no answers.
Meanwhile, Starling clings to a sad kind of hope. "Even if we just found her body," she said.
& lt;a href=mailto:leigh@vindy.com & gt;leigh@vindy.com & lt;/a & gt;