New tips on Deanie Peters disappearance

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) -- Cold case detectives are investigating a handful of tips they received after Target 8's special, Finding Deanie: Secrets Revealed, uncovered new details in the disappearance of Deanie Peters.

The Kent Metro Cold Case team also monitored WOOD radio talk show, Mouth to Mouth, which discussed the project with listeners during the first hour of Friday's show.

Cold case team leader Sgt. Sally Wolter said she believes one of the show's callers was a classmate of Deanie's whom they've been trying to reach.

Deanie was 14,  29 years ago today, when she disappeared from Forest Hills Central Middle School. She was getting ready to leave with her mother after watching her little brother wrestle when she asked to use the bathroom. Her mother never saw her again.

Target 8 learned that cold case detectives have identified and interviewed people still living in West Michigan who they believe know where to find the body.

We also learned that a man named Bruce Bunch, who died two years ago, is considered the lead suspect. He lived in Lowell and was 17 at the time Deanie vanished.

The former classmate had little to say when she called WOOD radio today. "She was a really good kid, and she was excellent, got good grades, too," she said.

By Friday morning the cold case team had received five calls, though three were from psychics, Wolter said.

The team also says it is monitoring the blog at www.woodtv.com, and 24 Hour News 8's Facebook page. One Facebook entry came from a woman, now living in Hawaii, who identified herself as Bunch's niece.

In a telephone interview today, she told 24 Hour News 8 she'd heard stories about Uncle Bruce killing a girl and burying her under a building's foundation. She said she planned to call the Cold Case team today.

Detectives have promised that anyone with information on the location of Deanie's body won't face criminal charges, unless they also to confess to killing her.

Silent Observer Director Chris Cameron says two tipsters called last night, though she couldn't reveal details. Silent Observer doesn't have caller ID and won't take callers' names, she said. Instead, callers are given ID numbers.

"There are some memories in there, personal memories, of Deanie, in one of those (calls)," Cameron said.

Police, she says, are waiting for that one call.

"Often, we'll receive tips and they're vague, but it just might be the piece of the puzzle they need to solve the case."