Natalie Putt disappearance: Family want closure after 14 years
'This isn't what we wanted – but we've got to have closure now.'
Those are the heartbreaking words of Natalie Putt's half-sister, as police launched a second hunt for the mother-of-one's body in just four months.
Natalie has not been seen since heading out to buy cigarettes in September 2003.
Today police are searching woodland less than a mile from her home in Lower Gornal in the latest bid to find her.
Community intelligence has led to two searches for Natalie's body in 2017 – including the ongoing hunt in Ellowes Hall Wood which got under way yesterday.
They previously exhumed four graves in a nearby cemetery but uncovered no new evidence.
Now 20 officers are combing through the woods, with specialist divers also due to wade through pools in the nature reserve.
Earlier this year West Midlands Police chiefs confirmed they are treating Natalie's disappearance as murder – rather than a missing person inquiry.
In the wake of the new search, her half-sister Rebecca Coggins said the family are desperate for closure.
She told the Express & Star: "I'm hopeful they will find her, but not hopeful for her to be alive.
"It's just a case of bringing her to us so we can lay her to rest.
"We're looking for that closure – it's not nice for anyone especially if she has been there all those years, she wouldn't have been buried with any dignity.
"If she has been left there then it's degrading to her.
"Someone knows what happened to her and they need to pack this in now and tell the police what's happened and what they know.
"We've been preparing ourselves that there will be a horrible outcome.
"It's hard to accept after 14 years, but I think we did that in June.
"This isn't the end that we wanted but we've got to have closure now."
WATCH as Detective Superintendent Tom Chisholm explains the background to the search
Natalie was just 17 when she vanished without a trace on September 1, 2003 from her home in Thornleigh, Lower Gornal.
She had an 11-week-old son, Rhys.
Natalie, a former Dormston School pupil, had been out for the night with a friend the day before she went missing.
She returned home at around 9am and stayed until noon before heading out on the shopping errand.
At the time there were unconfirmed sightings of her in Cradley Heath and Coseley, while officers checked hostels, hospitals and spoke to Natalie’s friends in a bid to trace her.
But she did not take her mobile phone or any possessions.
Officers have said from the day she went missing her bank account remained untouched.
They said the last communication she made was a voicemail on the day suggesting she was planning to visit friends in Tamworth.
In the wake of her disappearance, police scoured the area surrounding her home and launched a major poster campaign.
There was an appeal on the Missing Persons Helpline, as well as a search by the National Crime Faculty police team, which helped to solve the Soham murders.
The Kidderminster-based Central Counties Search and Rescue Team also tried to try and trace Natalie's whereabouts.
In March 2009, Natalie was featured on a missing person programme, sparking reported sightings of her in Tipton, Cardiff, Bournemouth and Scotland dating back to 2005. Despite investigations police drew a blank.
Then in 2012 officers conducted extensive searches of stables in Himley and near Penn Common where the family kept horses, but found nothing suspicious.
Another appeal was launched on the 10th anniversary of her disappearance, in 2013, which featured a computer image showing what Natalie could look like.
Earlier this year a photo of Natalie was broadcast on Britain's Got Talent during a performance by a choir made up of relatives of missing people.
Then in June officers exhumed four graves in Ruiton Cemetery, close to her family home, but again nothing was found.
