NORFOLK, Va. (WVEC) -- Investigators said a hatchet found in a car connected to a missing woman's ex-fiancé may have had human blood on it.
The information was contained in court documents related to the Reshaunda Gerald case.
Gerald's mother last saw the 32-year-old on January 3. Gerald's father reported her missing on January 10.
Since then, family members told 13New Now's Steven Graves they've been searching for answers.
"It's just, it's just. It doesn't sit right," said Arviette Cason, Gerald's cousin. "There's still things we know that we cannot reveal and so we have to carry that for the sake of the investigation."
In search warrant affidavits for phone and Internet records, a police detective stated those records from Gerald's ex-fiancé "may lead to the discovery of Gerald and/or her remains."
The detective said that police interviewed the ex-fiancé on January 4, the day after Gerald's mother last saw her. During the interview, the ex-fiancé said he took Gerald to pay her water bill, drove to a car wash in Portsmouth where they had sex, then returned to Norfolk where he dropped Gerald off near Lincoln Street and Olney Road. The ex-fiancé said he and Gerald were in his wife's black Nissan Altima that day.
Police checked records at Elizabeth River Tunnels and the South Norfolk Jordan Bridge. The last time the Nissan went through the Downtown and Midtown tunnels was in August 2016. The Nissan never had been on the South Norfolk Jordan Bridge. That information appears to contradict the ex-fiancé's statement to police.
Investigators found that cellular records also did not support information the ex-fiancé provided to them, including where he and Gerald had been.
From the beginning, family members said they believed the man was involved in Gerald's disappearance. The two had a rocky relationship over a year and a half.
The affidavit said that when police searched the Nissan, they found a hatchet wrapped in a plastic bag. The hatchet as well as the trunk mat reacted to Bluestar, "a chemical that reacts with the presence to hemoglobin in human blood and glows blue."
"That hatchet was found not bloody, but with some traces of blood on it, which is still being tested," Cason defended. "Nobody knows whose blood is on that."
The hatchet had a tag on it from a hardware store in Chesapeake. Records showed that the store sold a hatchet of that type the day after Gerald was reported missing.
Last month, family members said detectives told them Gerald was most likely deceased. They've come to grips with the possibility of the worst. Gerald has three children and all have had a birthday since her disappearance.
"We still have a lot of questions. How do we plan a memorial without a body? How do we go on?" Cason cried.
"Just bring my baby back!" yelled Gerald's mother.
Norfolk police have made no arrests connected to Gerald's disappearance.
Reshaunda Gerald Search Warrant Phone by 13News Now on Scribd
Reshaunda Gerald Search Warrant Internet by 13News Now on Scribd