Woman, 33, Disappears in Mason

Enquirer Regional Bureau   

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Manson, Ohio - Vendetta Cox would never leave home without telling her daughter where she was going, her friends say, but Tuesday she apparently did - and now police are searching for her.

     Her 13-year-old daughter, Cresta, and boyfriend, Gary Heath, of Hamilton, saw her at 9:30 a.m. at her Mason apartment, police said Friday.

     Cox, 33, of Mason, last was heard from Tuesday morning, a few minutes after Cresta and Heath left the apartment.  Cox called a friend to say she would be late for work at the Four Seasons Garment Co.

     She had said she would be at work between 10 a.m. and noon, but never showed up said Mason police officer Patty Connor.  Cox and Heath had planned to shop for a new car that night, and she was scheduled to play in a volley- ball game with friends.  Cox never made any of her appointments.

      Cox is white, with brown, shoulder-length hair parted off-center and cut into feather bangs.  She is 5-foot-5 and weighs 140  pounds, and last was seen wearing blue jeans a yellow satin jacket and white Nike sneakers.

Female Body Discovered In Mason

     MASON, Ohio - the body of a white female adult was found Wednesday in wooded area in mason by a man helping in the the search for a woman missing for nine days, police said.

     Police have been looking for Vendetta Cox, 33, since Oct.22, her 13-year-old daughter, Cresta, and boyfriend, Gary Heath, of Hamilton, last saw her that morning at her Mason apartment.  The body has not been identified as Cox's but Warren County Coroner Ralph Young said a ring found on the body belonged to Cox.

     She last was heard from when

she called a friend to say she would be late for work, police said.    

     A former, brother-in-law of Cox was looking in the wooded area near US 42 and the International Paper Co. about 11:30 a.m. when he found the partially clothed body, said Sgt. Matt Connor.

     "There was no indication of how she got there," Connor said. "There are a few tire tracks in the tall grass, but not good ones."

     The body showed signs of a struggle or fight," he, said, but the cause of death had not been determined.

     Young, who was called to the scene, said the death was "traumatic and possibly homicidal."  No immediate signs of gunshot or stab wounds were evident, he said.