Nearly 5 months later, search renewed for missing Burke County woman

WAYNESBORO, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - The Burke County Sheriff’s Office says neighbors along Terrell Forth Road will see law enforcement and K-9 teams in the area Tuesday as the search for missing 31-year-old Starr Moretti intensifies once again.

Deputies say crews will be in the Terrell Forth Road area throughout the day on, and are asking people who live nearby to be mindful of personnel working along the roadway and in nearby woods.

The renewed push comes nearly five months after Moretti disappeared from the same stretch of road in the Keysville area, where she was last seen June 7 around 10:30 a.m. in the 800 block of Terrell Forth Road.

In the days after she vanished, search crews fanned out around the neighborhood, using ground teams and other resources to comb woods and nearby properties.

Deputies said then that they believed Moretti was alive but vulnerable, describing her as having an altered mental state and saying her mind is younger than her body.

Family members told News 12 they had been trying to get her into a hospital for mental health treatment in the week before she disappeared, saying she was hearing and seeing things and struggled to tell reality from imagination.

They said she first ran away on June 6 but was located, then took off again the night of June 7 when she was supposed to go get ice cream with her family. Loved ones said she ran off without her keys, wallet, phone or money.

Deputies later found an abandoned house nearby where food and clothing were missing, raising hopes she might have taken shelter there, but searches in that area did not turn her up.

Moretti is described as 5 feet 2 inches tall and about 160 pounds with shaved brown hair. She was last seen wearing a black tank top, beige shorts and blue-and-black shoes.

As they return to the Terrell Forth Road area this week, investigators are again asking anyone who may have seen Moretti or has any information – even if it seems minor – to contact the Burke County Sheriff’s Office.

“We appreciate the community’s continued patience, understanding, and support as we work to locate Starr Moretti,” the agency said.