Philip Whaley
/ 1996 file photo
AMBOY, OSWEGO CO. -- After a renewed search, it appears investigators will never find the bodies of two murder victims.
Philip Whaley was convicted in 1996 for the murders of Josephine Chatraw and Peggy Reiley. At the time, it was the first conviction in Onondaga County to use DNA evidence. Whaley was sentenced to 50 years in prison.
Whaley is reportedly in declining health, and agreed to lead investigators to the locations of the bodies. Police searched an area in northern Oswego County this week. They went to an area off Cusson Road in Amboy. One of Whaley's relatives owns property nearby. A man drilling a well in the area had reported seeing a bone, but investigators were not able to find anything.
Whaley also directed police to a garage near Pulaski, where he said Peggy Reiley's body was. That garage has been demolished. Investigators say Reiley's remains were probably taken to a landfill.
Investigators now believe it is unlikely the two womens' remains will ever be found.
