SOMERSET —
State police and FBI divers are searching Lake Somerset for evidence regarding the disappearance of an ex-convict who served time for rape.
Thomas Conrad, 56, of Garrett Borough, went missing after he was released from state prison in 2007. The investigative trail has led officials to the body of water in Somerset Township.
Divers from the FBI Underwater Search and Evidence Response Team in Washington, D.C., have been probing the water off Gilmour Road since Monday. But authorities were tight-lipped on what they hope to find.
“We can’t comment at this point on what evidence we are looking for,” Somerset state police Cpl. Edward Thomas said. “We just received some information there could be some evidence there.”
Lake Somerset is 8 to 12 feet deep on average, according to the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.
Conrad was released from State Correctional Institution-Somerset on Jan. 29, 2007, after completing a 15-year sentence stemming from a rape that occurred in Delaware County, according to the state Department of Corrections.
He pleaded guilty to rape, indecent deviate sexual intercourse, displaying obscene materials and child endangerment, court records show.
As recently as January, state police said they thought Conrad had been a victim of foul play.
But Thomas backed away from that statement Tuesday, saying only that, “At this point, we are unable to locate him.”
Investigators have been to Berks County. They located Conrad’s Jeep in Reading, where it reportedly had been sold.
Thomas could not disclose the next step in the investigation.
“They’ll search a certain area of the lake and, when that’s done, that will be it at this point,” he said.
In January, Conrad’s wife was taken into custody in an unrelated matter.
Jeannette Battle-Conrad, 55, of Somerset, had been charged with two counts of arson in connection with a house fire nine months earlier. According to state police, the April 2009 blaze at a home on Berlin Street in Garrett Borough was intentionally set.
Troopers initially had said the woman’s brother told them that Battle-Conrad “confessed to him that she had intentionally set the house on fire.”
At the time, authorities thought Battle-Conrad started the fire to collect insurance money. But the charges since have been withdrawn.
Local News
Related Photos
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Conrad submitted photo
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An FBI diver enters the waters of Lake Somerset on Tuesday, looking for evidence in the disappearance of Thomas Conrad. Dave Lloyd
Discussion
Search leads to lake
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