FBI, police digging at southwest Louisville home in connection with 2017 murder, disappearance

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Jeffersontown Police, Louisville Metro Police, and the FBI are digging in a yard at a home in Louisville's Beechmont neighborhood in connection with the 2017 murder of Teressa McCoy and disappearance of Austin Gamez.

Jeffersontown Police said they worked at the home on Ottawa Avenue for most of Monday and will be back Tuesday.

The search is not connected to the person who lives inside the home, but is connected to the disappearance of Gamez and the murder of McCoy, 27, in 2017.

Police said they received several leads that led them to the property on Ottawa Avenue.

McCoy was found dead in an SUV in the parking lot of a business on Strawberry Lane, not far from the house, in December 2017. Gamez was never found.

Since then, two people have faced charges in the case. Thomas Lanham was arrested in January 2020 in connection with the case, charged with two counts of complicity to murder and complicity to tampering with physical evidence. But he was released later that month after the charges against him were dropped. Prosecutors dismissed the case against him after determining that DNA taken from blood found in his vehicle did not tie him to the crimes.

Another man, Larry Sauer, was arrested in December 2019 after police said they were able to tie him to the case using search warrants, witness statements, phone records and video recordings. Police also said their investigation led them to finding "several items of evidentiary value" pointing to his alleged involvement in the case. He pleaded not guilty weeks after his arrest on charges of murder and tampering with evidence.

In February 2020, amended charges were filed against Sauer. He was initially charged with murder and tampering with evidence, but prosecutors dropped those charges on Feb. 21, 2020, citing a misread DNA analysis report on Gamez. He was then charged with complicity to murder and tampering with physical evidence in the case.

A court search conducted Monday didn't show any current charges against Sauer.

This is a developing story and will be updated if and when any new information becomes available.

Anyone with information in the case can call LMPD's anonymous crime tip line at 502-574-LMPD (5673). Tips can also be submitted anonymously online through the department's crime tip portal by clicking here.