GOOCHLAND COUNTY, Va. (WTVR) - Goochland investigators tell CBS 6-they've extracted Andy Holzgrefe's cyber fingerprint from a computer hard drive at his Manakin-Sabot home. It's now en route to Arizona for further analysis.
The missing persons mystery is three weeks cold, but now Goochland investigators are hoping the computer from Holzgrefe's mom's house will help heat things up and bring the 34-year-old back to his family.
“We are hoping to get information from that computer since he used it to network with his business and speak with folks in chat rooms," said Lt. Chuck Hensley of the Goochland County Sheriff’s Dept.
Holzgrefe, a licensed firearms dealer, disappeared December 11th, just two days after telling his mom on a cell phone call that he’d be on a flight back home December 12th. He apparently then took a leisure trip to Flagstaff, Arizona where there's surveillance video of him leaving the area in a rental SUV that he never returned.
“His family and his business partner say it's out of the ordinary for Andy to leave and not tell people where he's going,” said Hensley. “And he'd definitely be in contact with them."
Family members know the odds of a safe return are getting longer. "I'm realistic, I know it doesn't look good for him,” said his uncle J.D. Holzgrefe.
But with the hard drive now in hand, family members are clinging to hope, praying something on it will shed light on where Holzgrefe could be, before it's too late.
“Any emails he sent or received will be on it, as well as contact information with people he spoke to," said Hensley.
Investigators shipped the hard drive to Arizona Friday morning. In Flagstaff, forensic officers will take a swipe at retrieving valuable information.
Investigators also confirm federal agents are playing a part in the search for Holzgrefe.
