Police expanding area of exploratory dig at landfill

The Columbia Police Department is expanding the area of its search of the Columbia landfill as a part of the investigation into a missing woman from 2006.

The Columbia Police Department began searching a 14-acre section of the landfill Monday in an effort to pinpoint where trash was being buried when Megan Schultz went missing in 2006.

During the dig this week, a spokesman for CPD, Jeff Pitts, said detectives were able to locate dated items in the landfill. Pitts said Friday the goal of the expansion is to identify boundaries and define a smaller section for further exploration.

In August, Shultz’s ex-husband, Keith Comfort, allegedly admitted to police that he strangled her to death, then put her body in a dumpster in August 2006. Comfort, who was in Wisconsin when he reportedly made the admission, is charged with second-degree murder and is awaiting trial in Boone County.

Columbia police said Wednesday the exploratory dig yielded some clues to help investigators in their investigation of the alleged murder but more work is needed.

Shultz is still listed as missing on the Columbia city and state highway patrol websites.

Police started evaluating whether to search the landfill for Shultz’s remains after Comfort’s alleged confession in August.